Department of Biotechnology, India launched the “DBT-Pan IIT Centre for Bioenergy” for Research on Advance Bio-Fuel Technologies

Dhirendra Kumar

News Curator cum Moderator

Indian Botanists

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India launched the “DBT-Pan IIT Centre for Bioenergy”, a virtual Centre spread across 5 Indian Institutes of Technology; Bombay, Kharagpur, Guwahati, Jodhpur, and Roorkee and coordinated by IIT Bombay signing a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) on September 3, 2015. 

DBT formalizes virtual centre for research on advance bio-fuel technologies like cyanobacterial bio-fuels, bio-fuels from micro-algae, ligno-cellulosic biomass to bio-fuels and also on techno-economic and life cycle analysis. The collaboration initiated in January 2015 and engaged a research team from the five participating institutes consisting of 32 investigators who have been working on bio-energy and will jointly undertake research activities in the said thematic areas.

The first virtual centre for collaborative research will focus on the thematic areas of research in advance bio-fuel technologies.

Though the first virtual centre, it is the fourth centre in Bio-energy research set up by DBT in addition to the DBT-IOC Centre for Advanced Bioenergy Faridabad, DBT-ICT Centre for Energy Biosciences, Mumbai and DBT-ICGEB Centre for Advanced Bioenergy, New Delhi. This is also the largest among the four Bioenergy Centers in terms of investigator participation.

Memorandum of Agreement was signed between DBT and the participating 5 IITs on Sep 3, 2015 in presence of Prof. K VijayRaghavan, Secretary DBT. The meeting was attended by Dr.RenuSwarup (Senior Advisor, DBT), Prof. Devang Khakhar (Director, IIT Bombay), Prof. Pradipta Banerji (Director, IITRoorkee), Prof.Gautam Biswas ( Director, IIT Guwahati), Dr.Sangita Kasture (Joint Director, DBT), Prof.Pramod Wangikar (Coordinator of the Centre, IIT Bombay), Prof.V.Narayanan (IIT Jodhpur) and Prof. Saikat Chakraborty (IIT Kharagpur).

The main objective of this centre is to develop advanced technologies in the area of biofuels, paving the way for a sustainable solution to the energy crisis. The Centre also aims to develop a mutually beneficial relationship with the bio-energy industry in India.

Source: Press Release, Press Information Bureau, India

Arenga Pinnata offers free food and job with alcohol and energy

Rabish Chandra
@rabishchandra on twitter

Arenga pinnata PicCourtesy: wikipedia

National Geographic News portal published a story on this plant as a part of special series that explores energy issues. Though the news is old but its significance is always new as the whole world is looking for an alternate source of energy. The story talks about the feather palm Arenga pinnata as an important source of energy.  Marianne Lavelle for National Geographic News quotes Willie Smits, a tropical forest scientists, "The deep-rooted feather palm Arenga pinnata could serve as the core of a waste-free system that produces a premium organic sugar as well as the fuel alcohol, ethanol, providing food products and jobs to villagers while it helps preserve the existing native rain forest".  Find out more A Rain Forest Advocate Taps the Energy of the Sugar Palm

In India, in the eastern part, the sap is harvested for yielding jaggery or gur. Fibres produced from this plant  are highly durable, resistant to sea water and easy to process. It goes well in agroforestry systems too. In some parts this is used in traditional system of medicine and is considered for its stomachic pectoral diuretic and atihemophilic properties.
Domestication and further exploration of this plant needs more attention.

Algae may be heterotrophic!

Basic features of  algae - unicellular to multicellular organisms, typically autotrophic (phototrophic). Yes they are typically autotrophic.

But in the recent issue of Nature Communications Vol. 3, Article number: 1214; doi:10.1038/ncomms2210 it has been reoprted that the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii not only engages in photosynthesis, it also has an alternative source of energy. A group of scientists from Department of Biology, Algae Biotechnology and Bioenergy–Center for Biotechnology (CeBiTec), Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany has presented another paradigm of adaptation for C. reinhardtii, highlighting its photoheterotrophic ability to utilize cellulose for growth in the absence of other carbon sources. They claim C. reinhardtii may thus serve as biocatalysts for cellulosic biofuel production.