Worcester Polytechnic Institute researchers identify bamboo as fuel alternative

Bamboo-derived biofuel could rival gasoline and diesel on price, emissions; replace corn ethanol fuel production

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

image: 

Worcester Polytechnic Institute Professor Michael Timko 

view more 

Credit: Worcester Polytechnic Institute

A new study from researchers, including those in Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Department of Chemical Engineering, has found the fastest-growing plant on Earth may offer a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to petroleum-derived transportation fuels.

The researchers, including Michael Timko, the William B. Smith Professor of chemical engineering and head of the department, and Timothy Woodard, MS’23, PhD ’26, have demonstrated that bamboo could serve as a highly promising raw material for the production of sustainable liquid fuels to power vehicles, planes, and trains. The team’s study, published in the journal Sustainable Energy & Fuels, finds that bamboo can be turned into fuel at a production cost that is competitive to conventional petroleum fuels and with substantially lower greenhouse gas emissions. The study combined laboratory experiments measuring bamboo-to-biocrude conversion efficiency with economic and life-cycle assessment modeling.

“Our study suggests bamboo has a role to play in the future of fuel,” says Timko. “I think this research is especially timely and important because fuel prices are high and the transportation sector produces more greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. than any other. Bamboo would use different land than we are using for food production, so there is no food versus fuel trade-off. Farmers win, consumers win.”

Key factors in the study are the hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) technology that converts biomass to fuel and the choice of feedstock. Using bamboo for fuel can reduce greenhouse gasses in two ways: The process to convert it into biocrude is more efficient than when using other feedstocks, and bamboo itself captures and stores large amounts of carbon both above and below ground. Because of the plant’s fast growth even in poor soil conditions, the study finds that converting bamboo into fuel through HTL could match the level of corn-ethanol production in the U.S. while also using roughly 13% as much cultivated land. Unlike annual crops used for many biofuels, bamboo is a perennial grass that can produce large amounts of biomass with relatively low agricultural inputs. And, compared with other perennial grasses, bamboo has very low ash content (less than 1% by dry weight), meaning that the conversion process generates negligible waste.

Economic modeling indicates that bamboo-based fuel could sell for as little as $2.75 per gasoline-gallon equivalent under mature commercial-scale conditions, accounting for the money required to build and operate the fuel plant, suggesting strong economic competitiveness as the renewable-fuel industry expands.

The team’s analysis also finds that using bamboo as a fuel source creates a level of greenhouse gas emissions 26 times lower than those of conventional petroleum diesel fuel: A life-cycle assessment, considering the ability of bamboo to store large amounts of carbon in its underground rhizomes , finds producing fuel from bamboo and its use would generate a greenhouse gas intensity of 3.5 grams of carbon dioxide-equivalent per megajoule of energy.

In addition, the study suggests bamboo as a strong choice as a fuel source because it can grow faster and on smaller plots of land than other fuel feedstocks. “The U.S. has enormous land area under cultivation for corn ethanol, a fuel which is often blended into gasoline,” says Timko. “Freeing up at least some of that land could allow for more food production and reduce the burden on the environment.” The researchers also point out that bamboo can be cultivated on former industrial land or heavily farmed properties where other crops and vegetation may struggle to grow. 

“Bamboo may eventually offer industry a way to generate low-carbon liquid fuels at scale,” says Timko. “With further research and development, bamboo could be a compelling option for decarbonization in sectors that are difficult to electrify, including heavy-duty transport and aviation fuel supply chains.”

Timko and Woodard co-authored the research study with Charles Cai, associate professor in the Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems at Aalto University in Finland, and James Walters, CEO of Avos BioEnergy.

Using a reactor like the one seen in the background, bamboo can be processed into a biocrude.

Credit

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

---

Journal

Sustainable Energy & Fuels

DOI

10.1039/d6se00296j 

 

Indonesia targets 2mn hectare plantation expansion for domestic E20 biofuel mandate

/ Victoria Priessnitz - UnsplashFacebook

TwitterLinkedInTelegramFlipboardFeedly

By IntelliNews - Surabaya Bureau October 7, 2026

The Indonesian government plans to expand domestic sugarcane and cassava plantation areas to secure feedstock for its incoming E20 biofuel policy, which mandates a 20% bioethanol blend in commercial gasoline, Antara News reports.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Indonesia International Sustainability Forum in Jakarta on October 6, Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan confirmed that current domestic sugarcane supplies remain insufficient to meet blending requirements independently.

"E20 can be derived from sugarcane and cassava, among others," Hasan noted. "Should we aim for sugarcane, it is necessary to open new plantations because we are still lacking feedstock."

The agricultural expansion follows specific directives issued during a restricted cabinet meeting on September 16, where President Prabowo Subianto instructed Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman to prepare two million hectares of sugarcane plantations within a two-year timeframe.

As part of the institutional rollout, President Prabowo tasked Indonesia's newly established sovereign wealth fund, Daya Anagata Nusantara (Danantara), with mobilising capital and structuring industrial capacity for the domestic bioethanol processing sector.

The E20 directive serves as an intermediate stepping stone toward higher blending ratios, according to Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia.

Speaking on September 21, Lahadalia stated that Indonesia aims to progress toward an E50 standard without relying on imported bioethanol, framing the initiative as a key pillar of national energy sovereignty.

"We cannot afford to roll out E10, E20, or E50 while procuring ethanol from abroad," Lahadalia stressed. "If we can achieve the E50 standard, we will meet our target of no longer importing finished gasoline products."

 

Bioenergy Solutions for Climate Change: The Key to a Sustainable Future

Powering the Future: New Book Positions Bioenergy as the Key to Solving Climate Change

Bentham Science Publishers

LinkedInWeChatBluesky
Email

Bentham Books announces the release of Bioenergy Solutions for Climate Change: The Key to a Sustainable Future, a timely reference exploring how bioenergy technologies can drive the world toward a low-carbon, climate-resilient future.

About the Book

As the world races to decarbonize, bioenergy is emerging as one of the most versatile tools in the fight against climate change. This book presents a comprehensive examination of bioenergy technologies and their role in addressing climate change, energy security and environmental sustainability. Integrating scientific advances with practical perspectives, it explores the production, optimization and assessment of sustainable bioenergy systems while highlighting their contribution to the transition toward a low-carbon economy.

The chapters examine the fundamentals of bioenergy, microbial approaches to renewable energy generation, carbon capture and bioenergy integration, strategic planning for bioenergy projects and clean biofuel production from agro-food waste. Additional topics include sustainability assessment, water-energy interactions, organic waste degradation and the socio-economic implications of bioenergy adoption together offering a multidisciplinary perspective on innovative technologies, resource recovery and circular economy principles.

Key Features

• Explores emerging bioenergy technologies and biomass utilization
• Examines carbon capture, clean biofuel production and resource recovery
• Discusses sustainability assessment and strategic planning for bioenergy systems
• Highlights water-energy interactions and socio-economic impacts
• Presents multidisciplinary perspectives on climate change mitigation and the circular economy

Readership: Researchers, graduate students, policymakers and professionals working in renewable energy, environmental science and sustainable development.

About the Editors

Ashootosh Mandpe, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Indore, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India.

Maulin P. Shah, Industrial Wastewater Research Lab, Division of Applied & Environmental Microbiology, Enviro Technology Limited, Ankleshwar, Gujarat, India.

Sonam Paliya, Institute for Geology and Geochemistry of Petroleum and Coal, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Book Link: https://bit.ly/47fzjiR

DOI: 10.2174/9798898817657126010010
 

---

DOI

10.2174/9798898817657126010010 

Imperial Oil Becomes First Major Alberta Energy Company to Oppose Separatism

By Charles Kennedy - Sep 23, 2026

Imperial Oil chief executive John Whelan has stated his opposition to Alberta separatism, making this the first major energy company in the province to take a public position on the movement, Financial Post reported, citing Bloomberg. 

"As a national company, we believe a united Canada is the strongest position we can take to face the challenges and opportunities ahead," Whelan told a Calgary conference, adding that "Canada and Alberta work best when people, products, energy and investment can move freely and reliably across the country." 

On October 19, Alberta will vote on whether to authorize the provincial government to pursue a binding independence referendum, which would be in the form of a procedural question, not a direct vote to separate.

A government-commissioned study from the University of Calgary School of Public Policy models two different potential outcomes. In the first, a smooth transition costs Alberta's GDP an estimated 2.2% in the short term, but leaves it 3.4% higher over the long term compared to staying in Canada. The second scenario spells out a difficult transition that costs 10.1% in the short term and 16.2% over the long term. The province's own cost estimate for the first five years runs $50 billion to $170 billion, with $40 billion to $55 billion of that in start-up costs alone.

Other Alberta energy executives have not jumped on board. Cenovus Energy chief executive Jon McKenzie said earlier this year that separatist sentiment is rooted in genuine grievances and would subside if addressed. ATCO chief executive Nancy Southern called the separatist discussion "very unhelpful”.

Whelan also lent his support to Premier Danielle Smith's production goals, saying Imperial "has the potential to double our gross operated upstream production while also advancing additional downstream biofuel production" under a supportive fiscal and regulatory framework. Imperial, a unit of Exxon Mobil, operates the Kearl oil sands mine, the Cold Lake in-situ site, and refineries in Alberta and Ontario.

Alberta's separatist movement gained momentum after a meeting between separatist organizers and Donald Trump, and the province has pushed ahead with the referendum despite a court challenge to its legality. Recent polling shows most Albertans oppose separation.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

Electric Trucks Have Moved From Impossible to Inevitable

By Leon Stille - Sep 03, 2026

• Global sales of zero-emission trucks and buses rose 86% in 2025 to more than 520,000 vehicles, with battery-electric models overwhelmingly dominating.
• 
  
• Fuel-cell vehicles and renewable diesel will retain niches, but vehicle sales, model availability and operating economics increasingly point to batteries as the main road-transport solution.
• 
  
• The constraint is shifting from battery weight and range to depot charging, grid connections and high-power public infrastructure.
• 
  

Heavy trucks were supposed to be the place where batteries stopped working.

Electric cars could manage school runs and commuting, critics conceded. But long-distance freight needed range, rapid refueling and maximum payload. Batteries would be too large, too heavy and too slow to charge. Buses might electrify predictable urban routes, but serious trucking would require diesel, hydrogen or renewable liquid fuels.

The market is beginning to deliver a different verdict. Global sales of zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles rose 86% in 2025, exceeding 520,000 units, according to new data from the International Council on Clean Transportation. China accounted for nearly 90% of sales, but the European market also accelerated: zero-emission trucks rose from roughly 2.5% to 4.5% of new sales, while the battery-electric share of buses increased from 18.5% to 24.8%.

The absolute numbers remain modest beside the global diesel fleet. The direction is not. Electric heavy transport has crossed from technical possibility into commercial scaling. The question is no longer whether batteries can move trucks and buses. It is whether infrastructure can keep pace with the vehicles customers are starting to buy.

China Has Already Broken the Weight-and-Range Argument

China sold approximately 457,300 zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles in 2025. Heavy battery-electric truck sales alone reached nearly 240,000 and more than doubled in one year. Battery-electric models captured almost 30% of China’s heavy-truck market.

Some of that expansion reflects policy, purchase support and China’s unusually competitive battery supply chain. Battery swapping is also important in mining, ports and fixed freight corridors where standardized operations make rapid exchanges practical.

But policy alone does not explain fleet adoption at this scale. Commercial trucks are productive assets. Operators care intensely about utilization, energy costs, maintenance, payload and downtime. A vehicle that fails economically does not become attractive simply because it has a green label

Battery prices and vehicle performance have changed the calculation. The IEA reports that average battery prices fell another 8% in 2025, while battery demand from electric trucks more than doubled. Lithium iron phosphate batteries have lowered costs, improved durability and reduced dependence on nickel and cobalt. Better energy density has increased range without requiring battery weight to rise proportionall

China’s electric trucks have already reached total-cost-of-ownership parity with diesel in several applications. Europe is expected to reach broad parity by around 2030, according to the IEA’s Global EV Outlook.

Once that threshold is crossed, high annual mileage becomes an advantage rather than a barrier. Every kilometer gives the cheaper and more efficient electric drivetrain another opportunity to recover its higher purchase price.

Fuel Cells Are Losing the Market Test

Hydrogen fuel cells were long presented as the natural zero-emission solution for heavy transport. They offered familiar refueling times and avoided the largest battery packs. Technically, that remains possible. Commercially, batteries are pulling away.

At the end of 2024, the EU fleet contained more than 15,000 battery-electric trucks but only around 170 hydrogen trucks. During that year, approximately 7,500 new battery trucks were registered, compared with just 106 hydrogen models. The gap was similarly wide in buses: around 6,600 new battery-electric buses versus 113 hydrogen buses, according to the European Commission.

Across the wider European bus market in 2025, registrations reached about 11,607 battery-electric buses and 558 fuel-cell buses. Hydrogen is growing in some municipal fleets, but batteries outsold it by more than twenty to one.

Manufacturers are voting in the same direction. More than 100 battery-electric truck models were available in the EU in 2024, compared with around 20 fuel-cell models.

The reason is not merely vehicle cost. Green hydrogen must be produced, compressed or liquefied, transported and dispensed before being converted back into electricity in the vehicle. A battery uses electricity far more directly. Hydrogen stations are expensive and lightly utilized when fleets are small, which keeps fuel prices high and delays the scale needed to reduce them.

Fuel cells may retain niches where extreme range, remote operation or very high utilization make charging unusually difficult. But the burden of proof has shifted. Hydrogen is no longer the presumed winner for heavy transport waiting for infrastructure. It is the specialist alternative trying to keep pace with a battery market already scaling.

Renewable Diesel Cannot Scale Like Electricity

Biodiesel and hydrotreated vegetable oil offer a different advantage: they can reduce emissions from existing diesel vehicles without replacing the truck or building charging infrastructure.

That makes them useful during the long turnover of the fleet and potentially important in remote, legacy or specialized applications.

But renewable fuels preserve the central weakness of combustion: the operator must keep buying fuel. They also compete for limited supplies of used cooking oil, animal fats, vegetable oils and other sustainable biomass. Aviation, shipping, chemicals and existing road fleets all want the same feedstocks.

Even after recent oil-market disruption narrowed the price gap, European HVO has traded at roughly twice the price of fossil diesel. The IEA expects global biofuel use to more than double by 2030, but this would still equal only around 6% of current global oil supply.

Electricity is not unlimited, and grids require enormous investment. Yet renewable power can expand every year without waiting for another harvest of waste oils. Electric drivetrains also use that energy far more efficiently than converting biomass or renewable electricity into a liquid fuel and burning it in an engine.

Renewable diesel is therefore valuable precisely where direct electrification remains hardest. Treating it as the primary solution for the entire truck fleet would consume a scarce resource in a sector where batteries are increasingly viable.

The Bottleneck Has Moved to Charging

Electric trucks remain two to three times more expensive to purchase than diesel equivalents in many markets. Payload penalties still matter for the longest routes, cold weather reduces range and a long-haul truck cannot wait hours for an unreliable charger.

These are real constraints. They are increasingly infrastructure constraints rather than fundamental limits of the drivetrain.

Depot charging can already cover many urban, regional and return-to-base operations. Long-haul electrification requires high-power chargers at logistics hubs and along major corridors, combined with grid connections capable of supplying several trucks simultaneously. Europe now has more than 1,000 truck-specific charging points, but deployment remains far behind what a mass market will require.

Grid permitting may take years. A fleet operator can order trucks faster than a distribution company can reinforce a depot connection. Poorly located chargers can also sit underused while critical freight routes remain uncovered

The policy priority should therefore move beyond vehicle subsidies. Governments need coordinated freight-corridor planning, faster grid connections, transparent capacity maps, depot-financing support and predictable road charges that reward zero-emission operation. The vehicle is arriving. The system around it is late.

Heavy Transport Is Following the Familiar Curve

Electric trucks and buses will not replace every diesel vehicle within a few years. China dominates current sales, Europe is still below a 5% truck share and many emerging markets lack reliable grids and affordable finance.

But clean technologies often look marginal immediately before scale changes the market. Solar, batteries and electric cars all passed through the same stage: expensive demonstrations became improving products, then manufacturing volume drove costs down and adoption forecasts repeatedly proved conservative.

Heavy transport is now entering that cycle.

Fuel cells and renewable fuels will survive where their characteristics justify the extra cost. The mass market, however, is increasingly choosing the simplest energy chain: electricity into a battery, then directly into the wheels.

Electric trucks were supposed to lose because batteries were too heavy. They are starting to win because diesel is too expensive to keep burning.

By Leon Stille for Oilprice.com

 

Chonnam National University researchers investigate how biodiesel feedstocks and production pathways affect their life cycle sustainability

Study provides biofuel producers with a practical, multi-dimensional framework for choosing feedstocks by weighing both climate impact and air pollution together

Chonnam National University, The Research Information Management Team, Office of Research Promotion

Facebook

XLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

 

image: 

Researchers reveal that waste-derived pathways exhibit the lowest greenhouse gas emissions while plant-based pathways dominate by Scope 3 contributions from farming and indirect land-use change.

view more 

Credit: Professor Boreum Lee from Chonnam National University, Republic of Korea

For mitigating climate change and limiting global warming to within 1.5 °C, scaling up global renewable energy capacity is an important goal. However, this effort towards transition to clean energy faces significant resource constraints. To address this challenge, diverse approaches are required like biodiesel, which can serve as a crucial bridge technology for decarbonization of the transportation sector while renewable energy is scaled up.

Biodiesel is compatible with already existing diesel infrastructure and can be deployed quickly without extensive modifications, making it a particularly promising solution. However, not all biodiesel is equally sustainable. Its environmental impact depends strongly on the feedstock used and the way it is produced.  This creates a complex decision-making landscape for policymakers and stakeholders, necessitating comprehensive life-cycle assessments (LCAs) of different biodiesel pathways. Although previous LCAs have compared biodiesel pathways, most have focused primarily on total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and a limited range of feedstocks. They have also rarely examined feedstock-specific mitigation strategies or air-pollution impacts.

To address this gap, a research team led by Professor Boreum Lee along with Mr. Sanghyuk Koh, both from the Department of Environment and Energy Engineering, Chonnam National University, Republic of Korea, presents a comprehensive Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Technologies (GREET)-based framework for LCA across five different biodiesel feedstocks. Their study was made available online on July 01, 2026 and was published in Volume 422 of Applied Energy on November 01, 2026.

The study considered three plant-based feedstocks, namely soy oil, carinata oil, and palm oil, representing diverse agricultural systems, and two waste-derived feedstocks, namely used cooking oil (UCO) and beef tallow. A Well-to-Tank approach, based on the GREET model, was adopted aiming to capture emissions across the full life cycle. The full life cycle was divided into three categories: Scope 1 that covers direct emissions during biodiesel production, Scope 2 that encompasses indirect emissions from energy use, and Scope 3, which integrates emissions from major upstream and downstream processes.

For plant-based feedstocks, the upstream processes included farming, oil extraction, refining, transportation, and emissions from indirect land use change (ILUC). In contrast, waste-derived feedstocks included rendering, oil extraction, and refining as upstream processes, while overseas import and long-distance international transport were excluded.

Emissions analysis showed that waste-derived feedstocks consistently demonstrated lower GHG emissions than plant-based oils. This is mainly due to the absence of emissions from upstream agriculture and land use. Among plant-based options, carinata oil showed the lowest emissions as it avoids ILUC emissions. For plant-based feedstocks, Scope 3 farming processes had the greatest contribution to GHG emissions, while for waste-derived feedstocks Scope 1 and the Scope 3 refining stage were dominant.

“Waste-derived pathways, when paired with renewable energy inputs in processing, can achieve net-negative emissions, meaning they could actually remove more carbon from the atmosphere than they emit with a reduction of up to 346–352% relative to their own baseline (conventional-input) production,” says Prof. Lee.

Interestingly, air-pollution analysis showed that low GHG intensity did not necessarily mean uniformly low pollution. For example, carinata oil, despite its lowest plant-based GHG emissions, had the highest volatile organic compound (VOC) and carbon monoxide (CO) levels across all pathways. These findings highlight the importance of considering air-pollution impacts alongside GHG emissions when evaluating biodiesel sustainability.

Furthermore, Monte Carlo simulation-based uncertainty analysis, aimed at capturing the effect of data variability, showed wider emission ranges for plant-based pathways, compared to much narrower distributions for waste-derived feedstocks.

Importantly, best-case GHG mitigation scenarios revealed emission reduction potentials ranging from 66% to 352%. Waste-derived feedstocks offered the greatest mitigation potential, achieving net-negative GHG emissions through the use of renewable energy in rendering and refining processes.

“Our findings argue against one-size-fits-all biofuel mandates: regions with strong waste-collection infrastructure should prioritize used-oil-based biodiesel, while agricultural regions may benefit more from dedicated energy crops. In the near future, this feedstock-specific, region-aware analysis approach will help policymakers design smarter policies and foster the broader biofuel industry, including aviation and marine fuels, paving the way towards a more sustainable future,” concludes Prof. Lee.

 

***

 

Reference

Title of original paper: Decarbonizing biodiesel supply chains: a GREET-based life cycle assessment with Scope 1–3 emissions and best-case mitigation

Journal: Applied Energy

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2026.128326

                                

About the institute
Chonnam National University (CNU), established in 1952, is one of South Korea's leading national universities located in Gwangju. Building on its founding commitment to cultivating leaders of integrity and professional excellence, CNU contributes to national development and global progress through the pursuit of knowledge, ethical responsibility, and inclusive excellence. Guided by the core motto “Truth, Creativity, and Service,” the university advances research, education, and public engagement that strengthen resilient societies, foster sustainable development, and promote the well-being of future generations. As a trusted partner in the global community, CNU remains dedicated to addressing complex challenges in an increasingly interconnected world.

Website: https://global.jnu.ac.kr/jnumain_en.aspx

 

About Professor Boreum Lee
Dr. Boreum Lee is a Professor at the Department of Environment and Energy Engineering, Chonnam National University, Republic of Korea. His research focuses on the design and evaluation of carbon-neutral process systems, including hydrogen production, CO₂ capture, utilization and storage, ammonia synthesis and cracking, Power-to-X technologies, and water treatment. By integrating Aspen Plus process simulation with techno-economic and environmental assessments, he works to develop and optimize sustainable energy and chemical processes.

Website: https://boreumlee.com/

 

About Mr. Sanghyuk Koh
Mr. Sanghyuk Koh is a master’s candidate at the Department of Environment and Energy Engineering, Chonnam National University, Republic of Korea. His research focuses on the life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis of biodiesel supply chains and green hydrogen production to evaluate their environmental and economic sustainability.

---

Journal

Applied Energy

DOI

10.1016/j.apenergy.2026.128326 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Decarbonizing biodiesel supply chains: a GREET-based life cycle assessment with Scope 1–3 emissions and best-case mitigation

Article Publication Date

1-Nov-2026