The Standing Committee on Rural Development, in its report on the demands for grants of the land resources department, noted that the bio-fuels programme was started in 2003 and “in-principle” approval had been given for “demonstration phase” involving plantation over 300,000 hectares of bio-diesel producing non-edible oilseeds (jatropha and pongamia) on degraded forest and waste land.

…It noted that funds have not been allocated for bio-fuels programme in the current fiscal (2012-13) as the decision on its future “has been pending for long.”

…A senior official of the department told the panel that a study by TERI had found the programme to be financially unviable.  READ MORE and MORE (Biofuels Digest Asia)

…BRISK (Biofuels Research Infrastructure for Sharing Knowledge) is rooted in the recognition that engineering new production processes for fossil fuel alternatives is among the most promising technological fixes for reducing carbon emissions. A European network of 26 leading universities, hosted by KTH, the BRISK programme is designed to cross-fertilise experimentation in thermochemical biomass conversion by funding the movement of researchers among at least 60 test facilities and pilot plants stretching from Turkey and Greece in the south to Scandinavia and the UK in the north.

Established last autumn, BRISK began accepting proposals for trans-European research projects in April.

…BRISK aims to give researchers the tools to answer fundamental questions about every step in conversion of biomass to fuels: preparing the feedstock, reaction processes such as pyrolysis or gasification, treatment of the resulting products, and catalytic processing.  READ MORE

“We think the model will help policy makers and forest managers make informed decisions to maintain forest productivity while minimizing the environmental impact of managed forest plantations,” says Dr. Shiying Tian, a Postdoctoral Researcher at NC State, and lead author of a paper on the model, just released in the Journal Of Environmental Quality. “It also will help us understand how these forest systems will respond if we see changes in temperature or precipitation related to climate change,” says Dr. Mohamed Youssef, Assistant Professor of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at NC State, and co-author.

…The new model is timely, due to a number of emerging uses for forest land. One example, the national interest in identifying new means of growing biofuels crops, like switchgrass, by planting it in the space between trees in commercial forests. DRAINMOD-FOREST will help determine whether such an “inter-crop” method is viable and sustainable. Would it hinder tree growth? What would the environmental consequences be? “We could also use the model to determine the viability and environmental impact of introducing new commercial tree species,” Tian says.  READ MORE  Abstract

The agreement provides for the construction and operation of a micro-crop scientific research program in Hainan Province, China. After the success of the research program, build-out of ten commercial-scale units of approximately 5,000 hectares will be implemented step by step at locations to be determined around the world.

…Parabel’s product platform will enhance global food and energy security, and directly address deficiencies in critical feed, food and fuel industries. The company’s protein product could qualify as the first major new plant protein source for humans since soy entered the human diet in the 1950s, while third-party tests have confirmed the value of Parabel’s animal feed applications as a local feedstock for renewable “drop-in” fuels.

“This is an exciting and unique opportunity,” said Anthony Tiarks, CEO of Parabel. “Not only does this agreement simultaneously accelerate our commercialization process and deepen our relationship with CECEP, but it also envisions the construction of commercial-scale production units outside of mainland China. We look forward to working closely with CECEP to serve critical market needs in China and beyond.”  READ MORE

• Conversion efficiency of sweet sorghum sugars were similar to sugarcane.

Energy crop company Ceres, Inc. (Nasdaq: CERE) today announced its improved sweet sorghum hybrids were successfully processed into renewable diesel by Amyris, Inc. …

The pilot-scale project evaluated both sugars and biomass from Ceres’ sweet sorghum hybrids grown in Alabama, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana and Tennessee. To process the sugars that accumulate in the plants, known as free or soluble sugars, the sorghum juice was first extracted from the stems and concentrated into sugar syrup by Ceres. The syrup was then processed by Amyris at its California pilot facility using its proprietary yeast fermentation system that converts plant sugars into its trademarked product, Biofene, a renewable hydrocarbon commonly known as farnesene, which can be readily processed into renewable fuels and chemicals.

The inedible plant fibers of the sweet sorghum, known as cellulosic biomass or bagasse, provided an additional source of what are called cellulosic sugars. The DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), at its Colorado pilot-scale biochemical conversion facility, converted the biomass from Ceres’ hybrids into cellulosic sugars, which Amyris subsequently fermented into renewable farnesene. The joint evaluation project was funded in part by a U.S. Department of Energy Integrated Biorefinery grant awarded to Amyris. The grant included a sub-contract award to Ceres.

“We believe that sweet sorghum could be an important and complementary source of fermentable sugars as the U.S. expands the production of renewable biofuels and biochemicals through the use of non-food crops outside of prime cropland,” said Spencer Swayze, Ceres director of business development. He noted that the free sugars in sweet sorghum are readily accessible, and with new technology as demonstrated by NREL, larger quantities of low-cost sugars could be made available. “As an energy crop, sweet sorghum is an impressive producer of low-cost, fermentable sugars. A second stream of sugars from the biomass would be highly compelling,” Swayze said.

“The results from these evaluations confirmed that the Amyris No Compromise renewable diesel production process performs well across different sugar sources. Ceres’ sweet sorghum hybrids produced sugars that yielded comparable levels of farnesene as sugarcane and other sugar sources Amyris has utilized,” said Todd Pray, Amyris director of product management. “Sweet sorghum can provide timely feedstock flexibility with environmental benefits. We look forward to utilizing Ceres’ sweet sorghum in our commercial-scale production facilities,” Pray concluded.

As a dedicated energy crop, sweet sorghum has a number of advantages. It is fast-growing and can efficiently produce both large amounts of fermentable sugars and biomass. The plants require substantially less fertilizer than sugarcane, and can be grown in drier areas since they utilize water more efficiently.

Ceres first commercialized its improved hybrids in Brazil this season. This spring, Ceres also introduced its first two hybrids to supply larger-scale evaluations in the United States. Ceres anticipates Florida and the Gulf Coast as well as California’s Imperial Valley, Arizona and Hawaii could be markets for sweet sorghum production.  READ MORE

OriginOil, Inc., developer of breakthrough technology to convert algae into renewable crude oil, and Algasol Renewables, a technology company with a unique patented technology for low-cost cultivation of micro algae for biofuels and high value products, today announced that they intend to collaborate on the development of an integrated algae growth and harvesting system. By bundling their products, the two companies plan to achieve new levels of cost and performance in micro algae cultivation for biofuels and high value products.

“Algasol’s patented system focuses on how to grow algae in floating bags, and their testing has indicated this can be much more efficient than other cultivation methods,” said Riggs Eckelberry, OriginOil’s CEO. “Now with NASA and Lawrence Berkley working with Algasol, we are excited and eager to contribute our own breakthrough harvesting system to help us collectively achieve a cost breakthrough in the race to compete with petroleum.”

Algasol’s floating bags or photobioreactors (PBRs) can operate in the ocean or in salt water ponds on land. Because they float, Algasol believes their PBRs achieve optimal light exposure with outstanding productivity results and avoid the high temperature and excess salinity often encountered in solar growth systems. Algasol has received a patent in 70 countries for its unique method of floating bags using relative water density.

“With customer demand for an integrated algae production process rising, we need to offer our customers a means of harvesting as well,” said Miguel Verhein, executive director of Algasol Renewables. “We plan to recommend OriginOil’s field-proven chemical-free, high flow and low-energy harvesting system, and once available, the integrated biocrude system they are developing with the Department of Energy.”

Algasol recently entered into a partnership with NASA and the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy. In addition, Algasol has collaborated and maintains a close relationship with Arizona State University (ASU), and is a cornerstone of the recently inaugurated Arizona Center for Algae Technology and Innovation (AzCATI).

OriginOil is working with the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory to implement a downstream fuel conversion process which it plans to offer as part of the Algasol-OriginOil bundle.   READ MORE

This marks a total of close to $50 million in funding that Heliae has received since launching in 2008.  As a start-up venture spun out of Arizona State University with the support of Science Foundation of Arizona, Heliae’s mission is to develop and validate technology solutions for the commercial production of algae for a variety of potential uses including food & feed, fertilizer, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and fuel.

This new round of investment will support tangible steps toward creating an international presence for Heliae’s technology by funding continued research and development at Heliae’s demonstration facility in Arizona and taking steps toward operating an R&D center in Indonesia, aiming for commercial production in 2014.

… With the Mars family investment, the company tapped former BioFuel Energy COO Dan Simon as CEO and, unsurprisingly but critically, expanded the focus beyond fuels and into foods, feed and fertilizers. But it had not, by any means, abandoned fuels. Last year SkyNRG signed an MOU with Heliae to produce algae-based jet fuel, and at last year’s Paris Air Show, Heliae Development and Azmark Aero Systems announced a collaboration to develop and promote algal fuels in jet engines.

…We do know that the Helae solution is designed as a bolt-on solution for industrial CO2 emitters or nitrogenous waste sources – and their algal strains are reported to be producing at rates that are well above industry norms.

… In the US and Europe, Anthoni Salim is not all that well known in the US and Europe, but he’s Indonesia’s 5th wealthiest individual (net worth, reported by Forbes at $3.6 billion), and multiple food, cement, real estate, banking, and mining public companies in his control. Over in Asia, his name is an established brand.

The Food Factor. Over the next few years, expect a fairly healthy number of algal companies to pivot to the feed and food sectors, en route to entering fuels.

…Feed and food, while smaller markets than fuels, offer vast gulfs of opportunity, and higher per-ton prices. More importantly, Asia is long capital and short feed.

READ MORE

In a quid pro quo arrangement, Panama Green Fuels has agreed to transfer agronomy practices and seed technology to the school, and to work with them to ensure knowledge is current and students have access to high-quality information and data. According to Panama Green Fuels CEO Adrian Harvey, his organization is a social enterprise formed specifically to assist low-income rural communities in Panama to grow biodiesel feedstocks.  READ MORE

The first project, with Prime Inc of India, will grow algae on 250 acres at a cost of $100 million and produce $150 million in biodiesel as well as protein for animal and fish feed or that can be turned into ethanol, WHEN Chairman Chaim Lieberman said.

Prime, which provides infrastructures and transportation services to oil companies, will put up the funding in exchange for a 70 percent stake in the project.

The second project, with SHK Energy Projects of India, will comprise a $25 million, 45-acre algae farm expected to bring in $35 million in revenue.  READ MORE