National Science Foundation (USA) - Renewable Carbon News

Renewable Carbon News
National Science Foundation (USA)

4 July 20251 July 2025

Making Plastic from Carbon Dioxide, Water, and Electricity

Caltech chemists have developed a system that uses electricity from sustainable sources for the chemical conversion of carbon dioxide into ethylene and carbon monoxide for making more complex compounds

19 March 202517 March 2025

ReSource Raises $15M to Develop Safer and More Sustainable Plastics

Backed by Khosla Ventures and Fathom Fund, the company’s novel manufacturing technology aims to unlock scalable alternatives to traditional plastics and petrochemicals

7 March 20254 March 2025

Researchers show how to efficiently convert captured carbon dioxide into green energy

Thanks to a collaboration with Oregon State University researchers, methanol could soon be produced faster and more efficiently

Kohlendioxid in grüne Energie umwandeln: Neuer Katalysator verbessert CO2-Umwandlung

Dank der Zusammenarbeit mit Forschern der Oregon State University könnte Methanol bald schneller und effizienter hergestellt werden

3 March 202527 February 2025

Superglue Made from the Body’s Own Mucus

Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Freie Universität Berlin combined a mixture of mucilaginous and sticky proteins to produce an adhesive for biomedical applications

Ein Superkleber aus körpereigenem Schleim

Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler des Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in den USA und der Freien Universität Berlin kombinierten eine Mischung aus schleimigen und klebrigen Proteinen

27 February 202521 February 2025

Coffee grounds and Reishi mushroom spores can be 3D printed into a compostable alternative to plastics

The fungal mycelium could find its applications in compostable alternatives to Styrofoam

3D-Druck mit Kaffeesatz: Forschende entwickeln biologisch abbaubares Material auf Myzel-Basis

Das Material könnte als nachhaltige Alternative zu Styropor in Verpackungen oder für andere Anwendungen dienen

8 January 20253 January 2025

Converting vegetable oils into bio-based resins for 3D printing

Julius Adeyera has discovered a way to produce sustainable materials that are as effective as conventional petroleum-based materials

17 December 202412 December 2024

Rubi Secures $1 Million Phase II Grant from the National Science Foundation to Scale its Breakthrough Carbon-to-Cellulose Platform

Awarded to less than 5% of applicants, the grant accelerates Rubi's mission to decarbonize materials manufacturing

28 November 202425 November 2024

Liverpool – Georgia research team join forces to develop sustainable bioplastics

A collaboration between researchers from the University of Liverpool and the University of Georgia (UGA) aims to develop sustainable bioplastics

22 November 202419 November 2024

Researchers create novel electro-biodiesel more efficient, cleaner than alternatives

Joshua Yuan, Susie Dai and colleagues at WashU and Texas A&M create biodiesel with electrocatalysis and bioconversion

21 November 202418 November 2024

How will Trump’s return impact US biomanufacturing?

It’s difficult to say at this early stage, but here we break down what to watch for

30 July 202425 July 2024

Chemists design novel method for generating sustainable fuel

Using a special method researchers for the first time saw those molecules convert themselves into either methanol or carbon monoxide

2 November 202330 October 2023

Sway Awarded Competitive Grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to Advance Seaweed Packaging Technology

R&D funding accelerates the development of the next generation of Sway's commercially viable, home compostable polymeric materials predominantly derived from seaweed

Firms plan pilot plants for biobased acrylic acid

They all hope to succeed despite false starts to commercialize the process, but there are only few successful - Companies still have more work to do before they can compete with the petrochemical production

9 June 20237 June 2023

Equatic Launches Low-Cost, Gigaton-Scale Technology to Decarbonize at Unprecedented Speed

Equatic emerges from the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering’s Institute for Carbon Management with a carbon dioxide removal agreement from The Boeing Company

29 March 202328 March 2023

FACT SHEET: Biden-⁠Harris Administration Announces New Bold Goals and Priorities to Advance American Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing

The Biden-Harris Administration is announcing new bold goals and priorities that will catalyze action inside and outside of government to advance American biotechnology and biomanufacturing

14 February 20239 February 2023

How waste-eating bacteria digest complex carbons

New information could lead to bacteria-based platforms that recycle plastic and plant waste

18 January 202312 January 2023

Cheap, sustainable hydrogen through solar power

Withstanding high temperatures and the light of 160 suns, a new catalyst is 10 times more efficient than previous sun-powered water-splitting devices of its kind

2 November 202231 October 2022

Bioplastics made of bacteria can reduce plastic waste in oceans

A team of scientists of the Nereid Biomaterials team, including Rochester biologist Anne S. Meyer, is developing bioplastics to degrade in oceans

14 October 202210 October 2022

Biden’s $2 Billion Bioeconomy Plan Puts Biomanufacturing At Heart Of Federal Policy

How the plan marks a sea change in US green policymaking

14 June 20229 June 2022

Capturing carbon with crops, trees and bioenergy

MSU researchers find an integrated approach to land management practices can reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere far more than earlier estimates

17 May 202211 May 2022

PHAXTEC Awarded National Science Foundation SBIR Phase I Grant

The grant was awarded to conduct R&D on novel PHA biopolymers for foodservice barrier paper coatings

27 April 202220 April 2022

Method efficiently breaks down plastic bottles into component parts

Researchers first to demonstrate use of metal-organic frameworks to degrade plastics

14 April 202212 April 2022

Direct Air Capture Startup Heirloom Raises $53MM Series A, Among the Largest Investments in New Carbon Removal Technologies

Raise Co-Led by Carbon Direct Capital Management, Ahren Innovation Capital, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, for first major deployment

13 April 20228 April 2022

A better way to separate gases

A new membrane material could make purification of gases significantly more efficient, potentially helping to reduce carbon emissions

11 April 20225 April 2022

New Polymer Membrane Tech Improves Efficiency of CO2 Capture

New membrane filters work by allowing CO2 to pass through the membrane more quickly than any other constituents in the mixed gas

4 April 202229 March 2022

BioWRAP – Bioplastics with regenerative agricultural properties

New collaboration project created an all-in-one bioplastic system that can better manage weeds, add nutrients to soils, improve soil and plant health, and save water

7 March 20223 March 2022

Human Plant Solutions Makes New Strides in Prosthetics Using Hemp Fiber

Co-founders Sam Spallitta and Kyle Trivisonno developed a patent-pending hemp material that is improving lives of prosthetic wearers while offering a safer and more sustainable alternative for prosthetic manufacturing

18 January 202213 January 2022

Sustainable manufacturing

UD and LSU collaborate to advance manufacturing technologies that employ carbon dioxide and renewable energy

28 September 202123 September 2021

Research guides future of plastic waste chemical recycling

New Cornell University's paper highlights the benefits of consequential life-cycle optimization when compared with more traditional analytical tools

18 September 202016 September 2020

A new method for making a key component of plastics

Bacteria create ethylene in a tech-friendly way

1 September 202031 August 2020

Nanocrystals from recycled wood waste make carbon-fiber composites tougher

Researchers have used a natural plant product to pin and coat carbon nanotubes uniformly onto the carbon-fiber composite

28 August 202025 August 2020

All-New Soleic™ Biodegradable Polyurethane Foams Pass a Critical Test

New study shows algae-based polyurethane foam biodegrades in the environment

21 August 202017 August 2020

New Science Behind Algae-based Flip-flops

Biodegradable shoes meet commercial standards for products needed to help eradicate tons of plastic waste

7 May 20204 May 2020

Upcycling spongy plastic foams from shoes, mattresses and insulation

New method turns foam into higher value rubber and hard plastics

15 November 201912 November 2019

Nature might be better than tech at reducing air pollution

Ohio State researchers found that in 75 percent of the counties analyzed, it was cheaper to use plants to mitigate air pollution than it was to add technological interventions

29 August 201926 August 2019

University of Minnesota receives $20M grant for sustainable plastics research

Researchers used microbial engineering to develop an inexpensive, sustainable pathway for commercially viable flexible foams usable in everyday items

10 May 20199 September 2021

Harnessing sunlight to pull hydrogen from wastewater

New Princeton University hydrogen production process attractive for refineries and chemical industry

27 March 201922 March 2019

US Federal Agencies Release Framework for Advancing the Bioeconomy

New Framework to increase government accountability and accelerate innovative and sustainable technologies

20 March 201915 March 2019

Lygos Awarded Three Innovation Research Grants to Advance Applications for its Portfolio of Sustainable Specialty Biochemicals

Latest funding from DOE, USDA and NSF further validates company’s commitment to replacing toxic petrochemicals, reclaiming local manufacturing and reviving industrial chemical innovation

16 January 201911 January 2019

Researchers develop a new houseplant that can clean your home’s air

University of Washington scientists have successfully modified a house-plant’s genes to make them work like a carcinogen filter

28 September 201825 September 2018

Ecovia Renewables Awarded $500,000 Phase IIB NSF Grant to Develop High-Performing and Eco-Friendly Superabsorbent Biopolymers

Company to to develop a suite of low-cost, high-performing Ecovia™ Biopolymer products for use in agricultural and horticultural applications

4 April 201829 March 2018

Let them eat xylose: yeast engineered to grow efficiently on novel nutrients

Discoveries may lead to faster growth and higher cell densities in biological engineering applications

6 February 20182 February 2018

Tennessee Startup Awarded Competitive Grant from the National Science Foundation to turn Waste into Plastic

New start-up awarded grant to develop new biodegradable plastics from lignin

10 November 20172 November 2017

Better together: a bacteria community creates biodegradable plastic with sunlight

Cheap plastics abound, and they're a mixed bag – pun intended

16 October 20179 September 2021

Study: Sunlight and the right microbes convert Arctic carbon into carbon dioxide

Oregon State and University of Michigan research identified compounds that microbes prefer using high-resolution chemistry and genetic approache

11 September 20177 September 2017

New molecules, innovation, value

Scientists are proposing a new model for creating, applying and commercializing chemicals made from corn stalks, wood chips and other sources of biomass

16 June 201713 June 2017

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