The US Department Of Energy has invested $35 million (£24.8m) in research to reduce emissions of biofuel production.

A total of 15 projects across nine states will be awarded to develop technologies to decarbonise biorefining processes used across the energy, transportation and agriculture sectors.

Most of the time, biofuel, including ethanol and biodiesel is produced through a process called fermentation.

This procedure creates carbon as a byproduct – it is estimated that some processes waste more than one-third of this carbon as carbon dioxide emissions.

Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said: “Biofuel is a powerful tool in the clean energy toolkit that has immense potential to power our ships and airlines with zero carbon emissions.”