Energy Harvesting

Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology have honed in on an enzyme belonging to the glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (GPAT) family as a promising target for increasing biofuel production from the red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae. Algae are known to store up large amounts of oils called triacylglycerols (TAGs) under adverse conditions such as nitrogen deprivation.

  Plans to turn every home, office and business into virtual power stations were announced today by Ecolution Group a fast growing, British supplier of renewable, energy solutions.

  Imagine if carbon dioxide (CO2) could easily be converted into usable energy. Every time you breathe or drive a motor vehicle, you would produce a key ingredient for generating fuels. Like photosynthesis in plants, we could turn CO2 into molecules that are essential for day-to-day life. Now, scientists are one step closer.

Fujitsu Electronics Europe (FEEU) is expanding its ultra low power linecard portfolio to include products from the Belgian manufacturer e-peas. Based on years of research, e-peas has developed energy-harvesting solutions with technical parameters. The offered components support a wide range of energy sources such as photovoltaic, thermal, vibration or RF. With the new partnership, FEEU seeks to strategically extend its portfolio and to create new synergies between the offered products and services.

One of the pillars of the Energy Industry Act is the basic supply of electricity and gas to the economy. However, the safe and reliable supply of energy is even more essential in the medical sector. Both electricity and heat can save lives here. In order to ensure this security of supply in the future, the University of Göttingen (UMG) and the University of Göttingen have jointly initiated an innovative energy supply concept. The central component is a 4.5MW CHP unit from ETW Energietechnik in Moers.

Launching a new service designed to provide a complete and compliant way of disposing of compressed gas cylinders, Veolia is keen to push this in a range of industries. To support this new service the company has invested in a dedicated facility, located at the Empire Treatment Plant in the Midlands, which safely removes and treats the contents of the cylinders to ensure full compliance with all statutory and environmental requirements.

  A new design of algae-powered fuel cells that is five times more efficient than existing plant and algal models, as well as being potentially more cost-effective to produce and practical to use, has been developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge.

  Analysts at IDTechEx have appraised the technology and potential commercialisation of triboelectrics, which is a new form of energy harvesting based on similar materials and think there is potential for partnerships. There has been considerable progress with self-healing polymers just lately, with the researchers dreaming of use in regular tires and phones.

A team of scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has developed a prototype device that mimics natural photosynthesis to produce ethylene gas using only sunlight, water and carbon dioxide. The novel method, which produces ethylene at room temperature and pressure using benign chemicals, could be scaled up to provide a more eco-friendly and sustainable alternative to the current method of ethylene production.

A 100% owned subsidiary of Dutch private equity investment firm Momentum Capital, Baltania OÜ, has made a conditional investment decision to commission an industrial scale torrefaction bio-coal plant in Vägari, Estonia. Value of the investment is approximately €45m. Providing, that all conditions of the investment decision are met the construction of the bio-coal plant will start in Q2 2018.