Sandia Truman Fellow Anne Ruffing (8622) has engineered two strains of cyanobacteria to produce free fatty acids (FFAs), a precursor to liquid fuels, but she also found that the process cuts the bacteria’s production potential. She published her work on one strain, “Physiological effects of free fatty acid production in genetically engineered Synechococcus elongatus PCC [...]
The latest edition of International Innovation features a Q&A with Malin Young (Director, Biological and Materials Science Center) and focuses on Sandia’s biosciences work. Malin describes how the Biological Science and Technology Department is working to protect the U.S. from biological threats, and how its innovative approach to biofuels could provide solutions to future energy [...]
Winemakers have long known that blending different grape varietals can favorably balance the flavor characteristics of the wine they produce. In the future, makers of advanced biofuels might use a similar strategy, blending different feedstock varieties to balance the energy characteristics of the transportation fuel they produce. A collaborative study by researchers with the DOE’s [...]
On October 24, 2012, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released the prepublication version of the report, “Sustainable Development of Algal Biofuels.” Although algal biofuels are gaining attention as a domestic renewable fuel source, the study found that with current technologies, scaling up production to meet even 5% of U.S. transportation fuel needs could create [...]
Sandia has signed a pair of umbrella cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs) with Northrop Grumman Information Systems and General Electric Global Research that will broadly add to the Labs’ research. “These strategic agreements envision long-term partnerships,” said Brooke Garcia, a Sandia business development specialist who helped negotiate the CRADAs. The Northrop-Grumman CRADA includes research [...]