Energy Biosciences Institute

Organization for alternative-energy research

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Energy Biosciences InstituteEstablished| 2007

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Directors| John D. Coates, Chris R. Somerville
Location| Berkeley, California
Website| energybiosciencesinstitute.org

The Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) is an organization dedicated to developing new sources of energy and reducing the impact of energy consumption. It was created in 2007 to apply advanced knowledge of biology to the challenges of responsible, sustainable energy production and use.[1] Its main goal is to develop next-generation biofuels—that is, biofuels that are made from the non-edible parts of plants and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.[2]

Funded by BP, which initially agreed to contribute $500 million over a 10-year-period, with $350 million slated for academic research, EBI is a joint initiative between the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the energy company.[3] It is the largest public-private venture of its kind. All research from its academic labs is published and publicly available. More information about the EBI is available to the public through the EBI Bulletin and its magazine, Bioenergy Connection, which cover emerging trends in the field of bioenergy.)[4]

EBI was designed as a creative, multidisciplinary institution. Because bioenergy research is so complex, the institute promotes a holistic view by encouraging scientists from many disciplines – biology, chemistry, botany, environmental science, economics, and others – to collaborate on investigations. The institute's main research areas are:

* feedstock development (work on plant sources of biofuel)
* biomass depolymerization (breaking down the plant cell wall to enable sugar, or energy, extraction)
* biofuel production
* the environmental, social, and economic impact of bioenergy development
* fossil fuel bioprocessing (using microbial processes to help make oil recovery “greener” and to shrink its carbon footprint)[5]

## Achievements

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Since its inception in 2007, EBI has published nearly 500 papers in peer-reviewed journals, including Science and Nature. Among its significant investigations:[6]

* Using a former industrial fermentation process, EBI scientists have developed a way to extract the acetone, butanol, and ethanol from a fermentation mixture and reformulate the products using chemical catalysts to produce diesel-like fuels.[7]
* Designing modified yeast strains that could simultaneously use 5-carbon and 6-carbon sugars, an important step toward creating a platform EBI yeast strain for metabolic engineering
* Developing a series of chemical steps that convert sugars to diesel directly, without fermentation
* Holding annual conferences on the global bioeconomy and biofuel law and regulation
* Creating a 320-acre farm at the University of Illinois, where scientists monitor the gases emitted, the mineral content of water runoff, soil carbon, and plant and animal biodiversity
* Sharing and collaborating with scientists and visitors from the United States and many other countries, including Brazil, Norway, Argentina, China, the Netherlands, Germany, and India, at EBI's headquarters in Berkeley and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[8]

The EBI has come under scrutiny from some groups and individuals concerned about the influence of private corporations on public universities.[9] Berkeley campus officials dismiss charges that academic freedom is at risk, noting that BP does not influence EBI's academic research agenda and that all research in EBI's academic labs is unclassified and published.[10]

Critics also have expressed concerns about first-generation biofuels, such as corn ethanol, on food prices and the environment. EBI's focus is on next-generation biofuels, however, which include only non-food plant sources and agricultural waste material.

## References

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1. ^ Youngs, Heather; Somerville, Chris (2017-06-01). "Implementing industrial–academic partnerships to advance bioenergy research: the Energy Biosciences Institute". Current Opinion in Biotechnology. 45: 184–190\. doi:10.1016/j.copbio.2017.03.027. ISSN 0958-1669. PMID 28458111.
2. ^ Annual Report, Energy Biosciences Institute, 2012
3. ^ "BP selects UC Berkeley to lead $500 million energy research consortium with partners Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, University of Illinois, Robert Sanders, UC Berkeley News Center, Feb. 1, 2007, http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2007/02/01_ebi.shtml
4. ^ Annual Report, Energy Biosciences Institute, 2012
5. ^ EBI Bulletin, Energy Biosciences Institute, Spring 2013
6. ^ Annual Report, Energy Biosciences Institute, 2011, http://www.energybiosciencesinstitute.org/content/communication-materials Archived 2013-04-29 at the Wayback Machine
7. ^ "Biofuel Created by Explosive Technology," Peter Fimrite, San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 13, 2013
8. ^ EBI Bulletin, Winter 2013, http://www.energybiosciencesinstitute.org/content/communication-materials Archived 2013-04-29 at the Wayback Machine
9. ^ "Berkeley's energy deal with BP sparks unease," Nature, Vol. 2225, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v4445/n7129
10. ^ Research Administration and Compliance Guidelines, UC Berkeley, http://researchcoi.berkeley.edu/guidelines.html

## External links

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* Official website
* UC Berkeley Press Release
* BP Press Release
* San Francisco Business Times article
* San Francisco Chronicle article

* v
* t
* e

Bioenergy

Biofuels|

* Alcohol
* Algae
* Babassu oil
* Bagasse
* Biobutanol
* Biodiesel
* Biogas
* Biogasoline
* Bioliquids
* Biomass
* Cooking oil
* vegetable oil
* Ethanol
* cellulosic
* mixtures
* Methanol
* Stover
* corn
* Straw
* Water hyacinth
* Wood gas

Energy from
foodstock|

* Camelina sativa
* Cassava
* Coconut oil
* Grape
* Hemp
* Maize
* Oat
* Palm oil
* Potato
* Rapeseed
* Rice
* Sorghum
* Soybean
* Sugar beet
* Sugarcane
* Sunflower
* Wheat
* Yam

Non-food
energy crops|

* Arundo
* Big bluestem
* Camelina
* Chinese tallow
* Duckweed
* Jatropha curcas
* Miscanthus × giganteus
* Pongamia pinnata
* Salicornia
* Switchgrass
* Wood

Technology|

* Bioconversion of biomass to mixed alcohol fuels
* Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage
* Biomass heating systems
* Biorefinery
* Fischer–Tropsch process
* Industrial biotechnology
* Pellet fuel
* mill
* stove
* Sabatier reaction
* Thermal depolymerization

Concepts|

* Agflation
* Cellulosic ethanol commercialization
* Energy content of biofuel
* Energy crop
* Energy forestry
* Energy return on investment
* Food vs. fuel
* Issues relating to biofuels
* Sustainable biofuel

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Petroleum industry

* Petroleum
* Primary energy

Benchmarks|

* Argus Sour
* Bonny Light
* Brent
* Dubai
* Indian Basket
* Indonesian
* Isthmus-34 Light
* Japan Cocktail
* OPEC Reference Basket
* Tapis
* Urals
* West Texas Intermediate
* Western Canadian Select

Data|

| Natural gas|

* Consumption
* Production
* Reserves
* Imports
* Exports
* Price

|

Petroleum|

* Consumption
* Production
* Reserves
* Imports
* Exports
* Posted oil price
* Price
* of gasoline and diesel

Exploration|

* Core sampling
* Geophysics
* Integrated asset modelling
* Petroleum engineering
* Reservoir simulation
* Reservoir modeling
* Petroleum geology
* Petrophysics
* Reflection seismology
* Seismic inversion
* Seismic source

Drilling|

* Blowout
* Completion
* Squeeze job
* Differential sticking
* Directional drilling
* Geosteering
* Drill stem test
* Drilling engineering
* Drilling fluid
* invasion
* Lost circulation
* Measurement
* Shale oil extraction
* Ljungström method
* Tracers
* Underbalanced drilling
* Well logging

Production|

* Petroleum fiscal regime
* Concessions
* Production sharing agreements
* Artificial lift
* Gas lift
* Pumpjack
* Submersible pump (ESP)
* Downstream
* Enhanced oil recovery (EOR)
* Gas reinjection
* Steam injection
* Midstream
* Petroleum product
* Pipeline
* Refining
* Upstream
* Water injection
* Well intervention
* XT

History|

* 1967 Oil Embargo
* 1973 oil crisis
* 1979 oil crisis
* 1980s oil glut
* 1990 oil price shock
* 2000s energy crisis
* 2010s oil glut
* 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war
* Nationalization
* GECF
* OPEC
* Seven Sisters
* Standard Oil
* Canada
* France
* India
* Iraq
* Norway
* Saudi Arabia
* United States
* Venezuela

Provinces
and fields|

* List of natural gas fields
* List of oil fields
* Caspian Sea
* East Midlands Oil Province
* East Texas
* Gulf of Mexico
* Niger Delta
* North Sea
* Permian Basin
* Persian Gulf
* Prudhoe Bay
* Russia
* Venezuela
* Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin

Other topics|

* Abbreviations
* Classification
* sweet oil
* sour oil
* Oil shale gas
* Orphan wells
* Peak oil
* fossil fuel phase-out
* timing
* Petrocurrency
* Petrodollar recycling
* Petrofiction
* Shale band
* Shale gas
* Swing producer
* Unconventional (oil and gas) reservoir
* heavy crude
* oil sands
* oil shale
* tight oil

Companies and
organisations|

Major
petroleum
companies

| Supermajors|

* BP
* Chevron
* Eni
* ExxonMobil
* Shell
* TotalEnergies

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National oil
companies

* Abu Dhabi National Oil Company
* ANCAP
* Bharat Petroleum
* China National Offshore Oil Corporation
* China National Petroleum Corporation
* Ecopetrol
* Equinor
* Gazprom
* Hindustan Petroleum
* Indian Oil Corporation
* Iraq National Oil Company
* KazMunayGas
* Kuwait Petroleum Corporation
* Lotos
* Naftogaz
* National Iranian Oil Company
* National Iranian South Oil Company
* NNPC Limited
* Oil & Gas Development Company
* Oil and Natural Gas Corporation
* Orlen
* PDVSA
* Pemex
* Pertamina
* Petrobangla
* Petrobras
* PetroChina
* Petronas
* Petrovietnam
* PTT Public Company Limited
* QatarEnergy
* Rosneft
* Saudi Aramco
* Sinopec
* SOCAR
* Sonangol
* Sonatrach
* TPAO
* YPF

Energy trading|

* Enron
* Glencore
* Gunvor
* Mercuria
* Naftiran Intertrade
* Trafigura
* Vitol

Others|

* APA Corporation
* Cenovus Energy
* Cepsa
* ConocoPhillips
* Devon Energy
* Eneos Holdings
* Galp Energia
* Hess Corporation
* Husky Energy
* Imperial Oil
* Lukoil
* Marathon Oil
* Marathon Petroleum
* Occidental Petroleum
* OMV
* Phillips 66
* Port Harcourt Refining Company
* Reliance Industries
* Repsol
* Suncor Energy
* Sunoco
* Surgutneftegas
* TechnipFMC
* TNK-BP
* Tullow Oil
* Tüpraş
* Valero Energy

Major
services
companies

* Amec Foster Wheeler
* Baker Hughes
* Cameron International
* CGG
* CH2M
* Chicago Bridge & Iron Company
* China Oilfield Services
* Enbridge
* GE Power
* Halliburton
* Nabors Industries
* Naftiran Intertrade
* NOV Inc.
* Petrofac
* Saipem
* Schlumberger
* Snam
* Subsea 7
* TC Energy
* Transocean
* Valaris Limited
* Weatherford International
* John Wood Group

Others|

* American Petroleum Institute
* Canadian petroleum companies
* Intercontinental Exchange Futures
* International Association of Oil & Gas Producers
* International Energy Agency
* Society of Petroleum Engineers
* World Petroleum Council

* Category

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* United States

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