Policy / Systems / Technology

January 7, 2012

 

Toyota Announces High-Yield Biofuel Breakthrough, Urban Greening Products

Keywords: Climate Change Environmental Technology Manufacturing industry Renewable Energy 

Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. announced on October 3, 2011, two new business ventures. One focuses on using newly engineered yeast fungi to boost the production of biofuel (cellulose-based ethanol). The other provides urban greening products for parking lots and wall surfaces, as well as technology to simulate the effect of green shade and plant transpiration, aimed at creating a cool and comfortable environment, which they call a "technology to create cooler spots."

With the first venture, using genetic engineering techniques, Toyota developed a new type of yeast fungus that plays a key role in the fermenting process to produce cellulose-based ethanol, beating out natural yeast in efficiency to ferment xylose, a type of sugar produced when dietary fiber is decomposed by enzymic saccharification. The new yeast is also unsusceptible to fermentation inhibitors such as acetic acid. Combined, these characteristics make the concentration of ethanol fermented with the new yeast among the highest produced in the world so far, at approximately 47 grams per liter.

Meanwhile, the company also introduced two new greening products: "Smart Green Parking" and "Smart Green Wall" (hanging-on-wire type). It says that on a clear summer day of 35 degrees Celsius, the Smart Green Parking system maintains a temperature of 35 degrees compared to a non-greening surface temperature of 50 degrees, while the Smart Green Wall maintains a temperature of 32 degrees compared to the surface temperature of a non-greening wall at 42 degrees (on a clear summer day of 32 degrees), resulting in power saving by 25 percent for indoor air-conditioning.

Misawa Homes Unveils Home with PV Wall Panels for Year-Round Power Generation (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/pages/031418.html
Japanese Researchers Succeed in Producing World's First Bioethanol from Marine Alginate (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/en/pages/031143.html

Posted: 2012/01/07 06:00:15 AM

Japanese  

Reference

TMC Exhibits Biotechnology and Greening Technologies
http://www2.toyota.co.jp/en/news/11/10/1003.html


 

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