A team of scientists from Montana State University in the USA have discovered a new source of biofuel in a fungus that grows on the Ulmo tree in the Patagonian rain forest. Named gliocladium roseum it naturally produces a number of different molecules composed of hydrogen and carbon that are found in diesel. Usually, plants that are used to make biofuels have to be processed before they can be turned into useful compounds by microbes. However, gliocladium roseum can make fuel directly from cellulose, the main compound found in plants and paper. When the fungus was grown in the lab, it produced fuel that was even more similar to the diesel used in cars.

Researchers from the universities of Jaén and Granada in Spain have discovered a way of producing ethanol from olive stones. The olive stone is a by-product produced in the processing of olive oil and table olives. It is rich in polysaccharides that can be broken down into sugar and then fermented to produce ethanol. In this way, olive stones that are otherwise wasted can be utilized as a source of energy, and as an alternative to food crops such as corn that are used to produce bioethanol.

Food shortage should be addressed before expanding biofuel feedstock production in southern Africa, warn analysts Frost & Sullivan. The country supports  a strong biofuel industry, however, it lacks the financial resources to include feedstock production in an agricultural sector that is straining to meet Africa’s domestic food requirements. The consultancy firm points out that the country’s priority should be to step up crop production for food requirements  and the formulation of  coherent  policies on biofuels.  

Scientists at the University of California, Berkley, are working towards diverting the normal function of photosynthesis from generating biomass to producing biofuels. To achieve this, they want to modify the micro-algae responsible for photosynthesis, by minimizing the number of chlorophyll molecules needed to harvest light without compromising the photosynthesis process in the cells. They say that  large numbers of chlorophyll molecules would hamper the process of converting sunlight into biofuel.