Researchers at US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have discovered that during biofuel production, water in the conversion process helps form an impurity which, in turn, slows down key chemical reactions. The study, reported online at the Journal of the American Chemical Society in July, can help improve processes that produce biofuels from plants. The study examines the conversion of bio-oil, produced from biomass such as wood chips or grasses, into transportation fuels. Researchers used computer simulations to explore what happens to a common bio-oil byproduct. Water, everywhere during biofuels production, turns the byproduct into an… Login to continue

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