Sterilized tobacco leaves as biomass source for a biorefinery: CAS QIBEBT

https://www.cell.com/the-innovation/fulltext/S2666-6758(24)00125-5

https://www.cas.cn/syky/202408/t20240823_5029609.shtml

A research team led by Zhang Haibo and Fu Chunxiang, researchers at the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Wang Qian, a researcher at the Tobacco Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and Sang Yup Lee, a professor at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology, found that tobacco can be used as an energy crop to achieve efficient and low-carbon utilization of biomass energy and help the sustainable development of biorefining. Compared with traditional biomass raw materials, tobacco leaves have the characteristics of high water solubility, high nitrogen content and low lignocellulose content. After the tobacco leaves are sterilized with water, a liquid with comprehensive and rich nutrition and strong biocompatibility can be obtained. This liquid can be used as a culture medium directly for the cultivation of prokaryotes and eukaryotes, and can also be directly used for the biosynthesis of bio-based fuels and bio-based chemicals.

In addition, tobacco is a field crop with strong stress resistance, salt and alkali tolerance, large biomass, and easy genetic modification, and can adapt well to the environment of marginal land. Planting tobacco on marginal land is expected to produce at least 1.17×1010 Mg of tobacco leaves per year, and theoretically 2.21×1012 L of ethanol. The results of life cycle assessment show that compared with corn straw ethanol, tobacco ethanol has reduced carbon emissions by about 27% and energy consumption by about 26%. Among them, carbon emissions in the bioconversion stage have been reduced by about 76% and energy consumption has been reduced by about 81%. This study directly sterilized tobacco leaves as a culture medium, omitted two steps, improved the biorefining route, reduced carbon footprint, and laid the foundation for achieving carbon negative emissions from bioenergy utilization.

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RamEx: high-throughput microbial ramanome analyses with accurate quality assessment

https://www.cas.cn/syky/202602/t20260226_5102870.shtml

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-026-02339-3

A research team at the CAS Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology has developed RamEx, an integrated analysis framework for Ramanome big data. This platform, tailored to the characteristics of Raman spectroscopy data, establishes a one-stop workflow from data reading and standardized preprocessing to downstream data mining, centered on automated quality control algorithms and efficient parallel computing processes. It also demonstrates a systematic analysis of microbial metabolomical heterogeneity and metabolic pattern differentiation at the single-cell level.

Raman genomics deep analysis can track the dynamic changes in the composition of macromolecules such as lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids in different cells, thus revealing the differentiation and succession patterns of microbial metabolic states at the population scale with single-cell precision. This provides new research ideas and technical pathways for understanding the functional organization and environmental adaptation mechanisms of complex communities.

RamEx removes spectral noise in Raman-based microbial cell sorting

http://english.cas.cn/newsroom/research-news/202602/t20260224_1151116.shtml

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40168-026-02339-3

Scientists from the CAS Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology have developed a novel computational tool, RamEx, designed to resolve the computational bottleneck in high-throughput microbial Ramanomics.

RamEx streamlines the full Ramanomic analysis pipeline, from data preprocessing and automated quality control to advanced data mining. An Iterative Convolutional Outlier Detection (ICOD) algorithm tackles spectral noise in an unsupervised manner to dynamically identify and eliminate spectral artifacts, ensuring high-quality input for downstream analysis.

The platform’s performance was validated using diverse datasets, including pathogenic bacteria, probiotics, and yeast fermentation systems. Notably, RamEx successfully captured phenotypic heterogeneity in genetically identical yeast cells by detecting subtle metabolic fluctuations and tracking the dynamic accumulation of intracellular macromolecules, including lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids.

Qingdao Port achieves fully unmanned operation of a container ship

https://japanese.cri.cn/2026/02/21/ARTI1771656131487329

The “Zhifei,” China’s first commercially operational smart container ship, accurately docked at a berth at the automated wharf in Qingdao Port, using unmanned autonomous navigation mode. This marks the first time that China has achieved an unmanned operation of a container ship, including navigation, berthing, and operation.

After the “Zhifei” container ship arrived at its designated location, the vacuum suction cups installed in its vacuum automatic mooring system powerfully attracted the hull, firmly securing it to the berth in less than 30 seconds, without any manual mooring work. The terminal’s fully automated loading and unloading equipment then operated simultaneously, and China’s A-TOS (Atelier Terminal Smart Management System) and A-ECS (Analytical Equipment Control System) worked together to precisely coordinate equipment such as automated cranes and automated guided vehicles at millisecond speeds, completing the container loading and unloading process.

The Zhifei is equipped with smart navigation core system, and as China’s first smart cargo ship for commercial operation, it features three navigation modes: manned, remotely controlled, and unmanned autonomous navigation.

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