by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …The Portland-based company, once known as Plas2Fuel, is developing a novel, scalable technology that converts difficult-to-recycle waste plastics into synthetic sweet crude oil. Last year, it received TechAmerica’s 2010 Cool …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …For hot technology companies such as Amyris, Solazyme, LS9, Cobalt and Virent, it all comes down to low-cost sugars.
Which brings us to the case of that other sugar source: your …

(AllAfrica.com)  A project to grow the shrub jatropha for ethanol production is providing jobs for about 500 people in the northern Mozambican district of Nacala-a-Velha, according to the district administrator, Daniel Chapo.
The investor is the …

by Mary Rosenthal (Biofuels Digest/Algal Biomass Organization)  …Our federal tax policy actually discourages the production of low-carbon, renewable algae-based fuels, including drop-in gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, as well as ethanol, by failing to provide …

by Michael Kanellos  (GreenTechMedia)  There are some valuable commodities in waste products.
Professor Zeev Weisman and a team of researchers at Ben Gurion University here have adopted a low-power nuclear magnetic resonance device (NMR) along with …

(University of California, Riverside)  Research by UC Riverside’s Charles Wyman could lead to less expensive production of biofuels
New clues about plant structure are helping researchers from the Department of Energy’s BioEnergy Science Center narrow down a …

by Geoff Cooper (Renewable Fuels Association)  A new pseudo-analysis published by the controversial and discredited Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons claims that biofuels expansion is increasing hunger and poverty-related health risks in developing nations. The …

by Will Thurmond (Renewable Energy World/Emerging Markets Online)  The following article is an excerpt from a technology, investment, and market study titled Algae 2020, Vol 2 (2011 update) from market research firm Emerging Markets Online. …

(Dakota Spirit AgEnergy)   Dakota Spirit AgEnergy, a proposed cellulosic biorefinery near Spiritwood, N.D., has evolved from a 20 million gallon per year (MGY) cellulosic ethanol plant into a 58 MGY “hybrid” ethanol plant comprised of a …

by Bob Dinneen (Renewable Fuels Association/Biofuels Digest)   …This faux debate is as important to future ethanol producers as it is to existing ethanol producers. And those looking to capitalize on starch-based ethanol’s public relations …

by John Block (Chicago Tribune)  With food prices rising worldwide, some self-styled authorities on agriculture are claiming that producing ethanol in the Midwest causes food riots in the Middle East.
Their story is simple: Biofuels are …

(Platts)  Brazil’s imports of about 200 million liters of ethanol ahead of the official sugarcane harvest will fall short of demand for the fuel before mills around the country start the 2011-12 season by mid-April, …

by Inae Riveras   (Reuters)  Research to develop second-generation ethanol is advancing globally, but Brazil, which vaunts its sugar cane as the ideal raw material for such fuels, lags in the race, industry experts said on …

by Ruona Agbroko   (Reuters Africa)    South Africa’s Illovo Sugar may opt to produce biofuel from sugarcane if it makes commercial sense, its managing director said late on Wednesday.
South Africa’s Department of Energy said earlier …

by John Colson (The Citizen Telegram)  A new kind of economic development is being pursued in the West.
Area ranchers and farmers are being urged to grow grass that can be converted to a liquid “biofuel,” …

by Eartha Jane Melzer  (The Michigan Messenger)  Rep. Dan Benishek (R-Crystal Falls) campaigned on cutting federal spending. Now some of his constituents are asking him to keep the U.S. Dept. of Energy from spending $58 …

by Michael Finneran   (Yahoo! News/PR NewsWire)  In an RV nicknamed after an urban assault vehicle, scientists from NASA’s Langley Research Center traveled cross-country this month for an experiment with eco-friendly jet fuel.
The Langley team …

(Algae Industry Magazine)   …The objectives of the (Argonne National Laboratories) Algae LCA project include:

Assemble a life cycle inventory for algal biofuels
Implement an algae life cycle analysis (LCA)
Enable and stimulate additional LCA communications

The methods chosen …

(GreenAirOnline)  Sustainability and economics dominated debate at last week’s World Biofuels Market (WBM) event in Rotterdam as airlines gathered to make the case for aviation biofuels commercialisation to a wider biofuels industry audience. In a …

(Zacks Equity Research)  The wholly-owned subsidiary of Archer Daniels Midland Company’s  ADM Agri-Industries announced that it is going to double its canola seed receiving capabilities and storage capacity at the company’s Lloydminster, Alberta, processing facility, in …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …NGOs in Africa have been touting for some time the use of ethanol cook stoves, to replace three-stone, wood based stoves that can trigger local deforestation and expose women and …

by Kyle Alspach  (Boston Business Journal)  With the major costs associated with proving out new biofuels technologies, John McCarthy says he’s seen a number of Massachusetts startups in the space enticed to do larger-scale work …

by Dean Brickley  (East Oregonian)  Zea-Chem’s cellulosic ethanol demonstration plant is more than one-third finished.
Builders erected three 40,000-gallon fermentation tanks this week and continued bolting together the steel structure for the two-story operations building.
Excavation began …

by Jeff Zueger  (Inforum.com)  To read Ross Nelson’s column on ethanol (“Ethanol’s promise is empty, “ March 14, Forum), one could come away with the impression that ethanol production is an inefficient and outdated technology.
The …

by Surbhi Khyati  (IndianExpress.com)  The state department of science and technology is establishing a bio-diesel plant here for extraction of jatropha oil and its conversion into bio-diesel.
The plant, funded by the department of science and …

(Southeast Farm Press/United Soybean Board)  An updated, independent study funded by the United Soybean Board (USB) and soybean checkoff shows production of biodiesel continues to positively impact U.S. soybean farmers’ on-farm profitability, as well as …

(Algal Biomass Organization February 25 Newsletter)  …We are designing, manufacturing and operating systems that enable controlled, economical cultivation of algal biomass using attached growth technology.  We are currently beginning the second phase of a project that …

(Air Transport Action Group)  The Air Transport Action Group (ATAG) has released a new report, Powering the Future of Flight, which tracks progress in some key aviation biofuels projects worldwide and provides policymakers with a few …

by Caleb Denison  (IBTimes.com)   …(David) Correll, (a Ph.D. student at Iowa State University’s College of Business) … is the co-founder and president of “ISU BioBus” – a program created to convert spent cooking oil …

(MarketWire/Canadian Renewable Fuels Association)  The Canadian Renewable Fuels Association in partnership with the Grain Farmers of Ontario, Koch Farms and Koch Logistics, and biodiesel blender and marketer FS PARTNERS, today launched a “Powered by Biodiesel” …

by Kay Rossi    (KXLH.com)  …Five years ago, Montana State University-Northern received $800,000 in grant funding for infrastructure and staffing for a new biofuel lab at the MSU-N Bio-Energy Center
Now the nationally-certified facility performs a …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …The hottest companies in bioenergy all know it – the name of the game is low-cost sugars, or affordable syngas that competes with natural gas. For those who don’t make …

The Algal Biomass Organization is now accepting abstracts for speaking opportunities in breakout or panel sessions and poster presentations for the 2011 Algae Biomass Summit. Abstracts are due by May 30, 2011.
All subjects of …

(KRVN)  The New Hampshire House has passed a bill that would ban the sale of corn-based ethanol in the state. Earlier the House Science Technology and Energy Committee voted down the piece of legislation, however, …

by Tom Vilsack (Financial Times/US Department of Agriculture)  Recent news stories have stoked fears about rising global food prices. But today, only a few years after a devastating food crisis, we can avoid the mistakes of …

by Erin Voegele (Biorefining Magazine)    Morrisville, Penn.-based BARD Holdings Inc. recently announced its shift from research and development to the commercialization phase of its algae production technology. According to Avery Hong, BARD’s chief global …

(Novozymes)  General Wesley Clark: retired US Army general, 2004 Democratic Party presidential candidate, and now Co-Chairman of Growth Energy, an ethanol lobbying group.
A lot of people, when they think of biofuels – ethanol – have …

(VermontBiz.com)  Saint Michael’s College biologist Dr Mark Lubkowitz and his students join a team of researchers from the University of Missouri, University of Florida, Purdue University and the University Nebraska-Lincoln, on a five-year project to …

by by Ricardo Sequeiros Coelho   (CoolTheEarth)  A report by ActionAid, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Nature Kenya revealed that using biofuels from jatropha results in more greenhouse gas emissions than using …

by Kerry Reals (FlightGlobal)  Airbus has teamed with Tarom to establish a facility in Romania to produce aviation biofuel from the camelina crop, as part of the European airframer’s plan to develop at least one …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …At World Biofuels Markets 2011 in Rotterdam, the overwhelmingly remarkable impression is the ramp-up in the quality and quantity of strategic investment and off-take partners. Closely followed by the rise …

(Logos Technologies)  DOE commits full $20.5 million to retrofit and build pilot plant in Visalia, CA
Logos Technologies®, Inc. and EdeniQ, Inc., announced U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) approval to fully fund $20.5 million in federal …

by Bryan Sims  (Pacific Biodiesel/Biodiesel Magazine)  This month Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie introduced a new oilseed crop research program—the Biodiesel Crop Demonstration Project—that will span two years as part of the state’s effort to promote …

by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com)  Everything you ever wanted to know about corn is contained in the latest edition of the World of Corn from the National Corn Growers Association.
This year’s publication, available online now, highlights the wide …

by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com)   …Prairie Gold (PGI) of Bloomington, and GTL Resources USA of Itasca, Illinois have agreed to collaborate on the construction of a zein protein production plant. Zein is a high valued co-product …

(OriginOil)  Algae Screen technology protects algae from microscopic predators, integrates with Live Extraction

OriginOil, Inc., the developer of breakthrough technology to transform algae, the most promising source of renewable oil, into a true competitor to petroleum, …

by Annie Snider  (Greenwire/New York Times)   …Nelson, who has already served two tours in Iraq, spent this past winter tinkering with combinations of cottonseed oil and JP-8, the military’s universal fuel, to find a …

by Kerry Reals   (FlightGlobal)   One or two pioneering airlines may begin using jet fuel derived from algae and use it to create a competitive advantage in the nearer term, but the commercial airline …

(Algae Industry Magazine)  In the aviation biofuels market, as goes Boeing, so goes the industry. Boeing was a founding member of the Algal Biomess Organization (ABO) and is committed to a future of renewable fuels. …

(PhysOrg.com)  Deep inside the University of Connecticut’s chemical engineering building in Storrs, Professor Richard Parnas and a team of students quietly monitor a murky brown emulsion bubbling inside an enormous 6-inch diameter glass tube like …