by John Bøgild Hansen (Senior Scientist, Haldor Topsøe A/S)   Topsøe is a Danish company that develops catalysts and process technology for gas-to-liquid conversions. Hansen details Topsøe’s integrated conversion of synthesis gas to gasoline, which was developed …

 Sustainability & Forest Biorefinery IV will highlight the biorefinery capacity that is already in existence – the realities of what we can achieve on the energy front. The biorefinery IS here, it is real. Who …

Short rotation woody crops (SRWC) are being developed as a sustainable supply of woody biomass for the production of bioenergy, biofuels and bioproducts as well as for traditional solid wood and fiber products. Interest in …

by Jim Lane (Biomass Digest)  Following the all-but-certain defeat of a renewal of the ethanol tax credit, left-wing environmental activists, confederated into the National Anti-Biomass Incineration and Forest Protection Campaign, are making a move to destabilize …

(US  Forest Service)  Roadmap Includes Scorecard System for Rating Effectiveness in Dealing With Climate Change Initiatives Across Forest Service
The USDA Forest Service today announced the release of the National Roadmap for Responding to Climate Change …

(Alternative Energy Africa)  Stellenbosch Biomass Technologies (SBMT) has been officially launched in Sandton, South Africa holding the rights to commercialize and adapt the latest conversion technology developed by US-based Mascoma Technologies.
Mascoma is rated one of the …

(Washington Post)  Editorial     …Many lawmakers want the government to require utilities to derive a certain percentage of their electricity from clean sources. And one of the sources that would probably qualify is so-called renewable biomass …

(North Carolina State University)  Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a more efficient technique for producing biofuels from woody plants that significantly reduces the waste that results from conventional biofuel production techniques. The technique …

(CORE Biofuel)  CORE BioFuel Inc., a Canadian biofuel company that is commercializing an advanced biomass to gasoline production process, today announced that it will pursue an additional production facility to be possibly located in northwest Montana. …

by Jim Lane (Biomass Digest)  In Washington, the Environment Working Group has released a study that claims the impacts of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACESA)—which has already passed the House of Representatives—would …

(Novozymes)  Partners to develop a commercially viable process for making ethanol from forestry waste. Aiming for a cost down to $2 per gallon, a price competitive with gasoline and corn ethanol.
Novozymes, the world’s leading producer of …

(WebWire)  Biomass has now surpassed oil to become the number one source for energy generation in Sweden. The increased competition for logs and wood chips between the pulp industry and energy sector has pushed wood …

(Oxford Catalysts Group)   Oxford Catalysts Group PLC, the leading technology innovator for clean synthetic fuels, is pleased to announce that following successful mechanical completion and pre-commissioning, start-up of its Fischer-Tropsch (“FT”) demonstration is currently underway.
The …

by Leon Kaye  (Triplepundit)  …Regardless of party affiliation, senators in the northern prairie states have a history of opposing any bill focused on energy independence or energy efficiency.  These senators are good, however, in promoting …

by Ryan McBride (Xconomy.com)  Lebanon, NH-based Mascoma has made strides with its process for producing ethanol from non-food plants such as wood chips and grass. Yet the firm is likely to delay the start of production …

(Chempolis)  Chempolis Oy, engaged in the development and delivery of environmentally sustainable biorefining technologies, has expanded its biorefinery and R&D centre in Oulu (Finland) to the production of bioethanol. This enables the company to strengthen its position …

by Andres Pollack   (New York Times)  Federal regulators gave clearance Wednesday for a large and controversial field test of genetically engineered trees planned for seven states stretching from Florida to Texas.
The test is meant to …

(Brookhaven National Laboratory)  You might think bacteria that “invade” trees are there to cause certain destruction. But like the helpful bacteria that live within our guts, some microbes help plants thrive. To find out what …

(Ecological Society of America)  Analyzing biofuel sources and predicting effects on water, soil and the atmosphere:  The promise of switchgrass, the challenges for forests and the costs of corn-based ethanol production: Ecological scientists review the many …

by Meredith Cohn   (The Baltimore Sun)  In response to a national call for homegrown, Earth-friendly fuels to fill Americans’ gas tanks, a couple of University of Maryland researchers are planting trees.
Fuel derived from the hardy, …

(CBC News)  An Ontario biofuels company is building a test plant in Sarnia to produce ethanol from wood and farm waste rather than corn.
Don Hewson, managing director of the Sarnia-Lambton research park where the facility …

By Jocelyn Tutak (Conservation Biology Institute). This presentation was mostly focused on developing a method of incorporating ecological considerations into woody biomass. The presentation contains many slides of the studied area, the data, methods of …

HCL CleanTech, a U.S.-Israeli biofuels technology development company, has chosen North Carolina as the site for its administrative headquarters and first pilot plant.
The Biofuels Center of North Carolina has assisted the company and will provide …

Companies would evaluate non-food Indian feedstocks for the production of green diesel and green jet fuels as well as the development of renewable power applications from biomass waste.

UOP, a Honeywell company, announced March 31, 2010, …

(Biofuels International)  According to Bio Base Europe the first crop of genetically modified poplar plants will be converted into ethanol in a Flemish-Dutch pilot installation.
The poplars were planted in May 2009 in an outside field …

In 2008, the Florida Legislature passed legislation requiring the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, in conjunction with the Department of Environmental Protection to conduct an economic impact analysis on the effects of granting financial …

(Nashville Business Journal)  Another green energy company is coming to Tennessee, but this one doesn’t have anything to do with solar power, unless you count photosynthesis.
Hawaii-based ClearFuels Technology has agreed to partner with Hughes Hardwood …

E. Detlef Schulze and Inge Schulze(Science) letter to editor   It is commonly held that planting forests helps to mitigate climate change, because forests sequester carbon dioxide into long-lived biomass and soils.  However, our personal experience shows …

by Mikkel Pates (AgWeek)  Need some help in deciding what to make into biofuels and what the government should be spending on it?   If you’re a North Dakotan, you’ve hired Cole Gustafson to do some …

by Smriti Rao (CBS)  Now that many U.S. farmers have grown used to genetically modified (GM) soy and corn, the controversy surrounding GM crops may shift over to GM eucalyptus-a fast-growing Australian tree that, in …

President Obama announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a proposed rule for the new Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) that intends to spur the expansion of dedicated non-food crops for renewable energy and …

Evolution Resources, Inc., an advanced biofuels production company focused on the production of cellulosic ethanol using the latest in modern processes and technologies, today announced the signing of a Testing Services Agreement with North Carolina …

UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, announced  it has been selected for negotiation of a $25 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to build a demonstration unit in Hawaii to convert cellulosic biomass …

by Eric Mcguinness (Hamilton Spectator)  SunOpta BioProcess Inc. of Brampton is getting $5.5 million from the federal government to demonstrate that it can turn wood chips into fuel-grade ethanol and the sugar substitute xylitol.
The cellulosic …

by Juliet Eilperin (Washington Post) 
It sounded like a good idea: Provide a little government money to convert wood shavings and plant waste into renewable energy.

But as laudable as that goal sounds, it could end up …

… “The Government of Ontario has recognized the need to move the Province to the forefront of the commercialization of chemicals, fuels, fibres and energy that can be produced from forests,” added Lorne Morrow, Chief …

(Property and Environment Research Center)  Federally owned forests in the United States are facing financial and ecological problems. At the same time, the public’s growing concern over environmental issues and future energy sources are pushing …

Ensuring a sustainable supply of woody biomass for the state’s first cellulosic ethanol plant is the goal of a research partnership between Michigan State University and Michigan Technological University supported by Frontier Renewable Resources, of …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In Montreal, ZeaChem, … confirmed that it is on track to complete a demonstration-scale plant in Boardman, Oregon where yields of more than 2,000 gallons per acre per year can …