BioChemicals/Renewable Chemicals – Advanced BioFuels USA

Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) Announces Release of Complete Suite of TSCA Tutor™ Regulatory Training Courses Online and On-Demand

(Bergeson & Cempbell) B&C Launches TSCA Tutor™ Online, On-Demand Training Courses: Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) is pleased to announce the release of the complete suite of TSCA Tutor™ regulatory training courses online and on-demand at www.TSCAtutor.com. Professionals seeking expert, efficient, essential training can preview and enroll in on-demand classes to complete

February 15, 2020 Read Full Article

FORGE Announces Investment from Shell Ventures and Valent Low-Carbon Technologies — FORGE Builds Biofuel Production Plant in Ontario

(FORGE Hydrocarbons/Globe Newswire) FORGE Hydrocarbons Corp (“FORGE”), a Canadian biofuel start-up, announces an equity investment from Shell Ventures and a follow-on contribution from Valent Low-Carbon Technologies, which will help build a first-of-its-kind CAD$30 million commercial-scale, biofuel production plant in Sombra, Ontario. Clean technology FORGE’s patented Lipid-to-Hydrocarbon (LTH) technology creates renewable jet

February 14, 2020 Read Full Article

Catalytic Conversion at 93% Reduced Cost: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Vertimass’ Sustainable Jet Fuel from Biomass

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Vertimass had 300x scale-up in 12 months and increased liquid hydrocarbon yields from 36% to 80% in 8 months. And their tech can convert ethanol into jet fuel as well as diesel fuel additives and high value chemicals without adding hydrogen. Charles E. Wyman, PhD,

February 14, 2020 Read Full Article

7 New Changes in USDA Biorefinery Funding Opportunities – Now is the Time to Take Advantage

by Cynthia Thyfault (Global Biofuture Solutions) The USDA Biorefinery, Renewable Chemical, and Biobased Product Manufacturing Assistance Program, also known as the “9003” program, provides loan guarantees up to $250 million to assist in the development, construction, and retrofitting of commercial scale biorefineries using eligible technology and of biobased product manufacturing facilities

February 14, 2020 Read Full Article

Bringing Algal Biofuel Production to Scale: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Biocrude Production in Advanced Photobioreactor-Based Biorefinery

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Everyone wants more productive algal strains – but how do you get them? Can you advance the technology enough to get economical, large-scale algal biofuel production? Ron Chance and Paul Roessler, both of Algenol Biotech, shared this illuminating presentation at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies

February 13, 2020 Read Full Article

‘Reverse Fuel Cell’ Converts Waste Carbon to Valuable Products at Record Rates

(University of Toronto/EurekAlert!) Researchers develop enhanced device to transform CO2 into valuable chemicals 10 times faster than previous versions — Fuel cells turn chemicals into electricity. Now, a University of Toronto Engineering team has adapted technology from fuel cells to do the reverse: harness electricity to make valuable chemicals from waste

February 11, 2020 Read Full Article

Oberon Fuels, SHV Energy Partner up to Accelerate Renewable DME: Is This Tech a Carbon Removal Machine of Great Importance?

by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) In California, Oberon Fuels and SHV Energy are partnering to accelerate the use of renewable DME to reduce the carbon footprint of transportation fuel. For Oberon’s path to scale, the partnership will include funding to augment a recent $2.9M grant from the California Energy Commission

February 11, 2020 Read Full Article

Clariant Expands Production Capability & Launches New Products for EMEA Edible Oils & Biofuels Market

(Clariant) Investment in additional production capacity at Yuncos, Spain plant; New product line extends portfolio of highly activated bleaching earths; Production & service closer to customers in Spain of products for 3-MCPD reduction in edible oils Clariant continues to boost the supply of high-quality activated bleaching earths to the edible oil

February 10, 2020 Read Full Article

Ag-Chemicals, Ag-biologicals, Ag-seeds: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Multi-Slide Guide to Evogene’s Artificial Intelligence and Biological Big Data

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Revolutionizing the product development process in life-science based markets through the use of Computational Predictive Biology platform – sounds like a big mission, but for Evogene, it’s just what they do. They utilize artificial intelligence and other algorithms on unique biological BIG DATA with deep

February 10, 2020 Read Full Article

Gevo/Agri-Energy Earns Sustainability Certification from an Independent International Watchdog Group, the Roundtable of Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB)

(Gevo) Gevo, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEVO), a company producing a new generation of low-carbon, drop-in, liquid transportations fuels, has received certification from the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB). The certification is for Gevo’s sourcing of sustainable corn at its production facility in Luverne, Minnesota, and its production of intermediate feedstock Isobutanol. This

February 7, 2020 Read Full Article

Hahn & Co. to Buy SK Chemicals’ Biofuel Operation for W382.5b

by Son Ji-hyoung (The Korea Herald) Seoul-based private equity house Hahn & Co. agreed to buy SK Chemicals’ biofuel operation for 382.5 billion won ($322.2 million) in cash on Wednesday. The proposed acquisition of South Korea’s No. 1 biodiesel producer marks the first deal to be announced since Hahn &

February 6, 2020 Read Full Article

Circular Solution for Bioplastics, McDonald’s Fryer Oil to 3D Printing Resin, Human Hair to Fertilizer, Crab Shells and Seaweed to Yarn, and More: The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the Week of February 6th

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The infinity symbol…a figure 8 on its side, a lemniscate…no matter what you call it, it signifies the concept of limitlessness or eternity which is what the bioeconomy has been doing lately in its limitless innovations. It’s been a big week for bioplastics with Danimer Scientific

February 6, 2020 Read Full Article

Green Energy Researcher at U of L Wins Grant

by Matthew Keck (Louisville Cardinal) Joshua Spurgeon, a University of Louisville renewable energy researcher, won the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award. Along with the award, he will receive a $500,000 grant from the NSF that will go towards research and education over the next five years. Spurgeon is theme leader

February 5, 2020 Read Full Article

Enyzmes and Microbes Innovation: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Novozymes’ Biology Business

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) 20 product launches in one year is impressive and Novozymes is a world leader in biological solutions focusing on enzymes and microbes, but even leaders hit road bumps. While Novozymes had some improvement in the second half of 2019, they still had “unsatisfactory 2019 sales

February 5, 2020 Read Full Article

2020 Bioeconomy M&A Deal Review & Outlook

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The Digest published today a 2020 Deal Review and Outlook Bioeconomy M&A visual guide that looks at the slurry of recent mergers and acquisitions in the bioeconomy like Lygos and Librede, NuSeed and Agrisoma, FinCo Fuels and GoodFuels, The Andersons and Marathon Petroleum, Aemetis and Goodland

February 5, 2020 Read Full Article

Could Bacteria Help Recycle Greenhouse Gases in the Future?

by Florence Schulz, translated by Daniel Eck (EURACTIV.de) Could bacteria assist in the recycling of greenhouse gases in the future instead of releasing them into the atmosphere? European researchers are working to reverse the metabolism of intestinal bacteria that feed on CO2 so that they form products that can be

February 4, 2020 Read Full Article

Researchers Completely Re-engineer Yeast to Make More Biofuel

by John Timmer (Ars Technica) Systems-level engineering of a living thing is remarkably complicated. A little while ago, we covered the idea of using photovoltaic materials to drive enzymatic reactions in order to produce specific chemicals. The concept is being considered mostly because doing the same reaction in a cell is often

February 4, 2020 Read Full Article

A Novel Biofuel System for Hydrogen Production from Biomasss

by JooHyeon Heo (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)) A novel technology has been developed for hydrogen production from the process, which involves electron that is produced during the decomposition of biomass such as waste wood. The result produced after biomass decomposition is a high value-added compound, and

February 4, 2020 Read Full Article

Methanogenic Microorganisms as Workhorses of the Industrial Bioeconomy

(Technische Universitat Dresden/EurekAlert!) The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding the research consortium with a grant of more than two million euros. The Science Year 2020 has its focus on Bioeconomy with the aim of communicating state-of-the-art research on bio-based technologies and the associated concepts for a more

February 4, 2020 Read Full Article

Advanced Algal Systems: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Photosynthetic Production of Biodiesel by Cyanobacteria

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office’sBioenergy Technology Incubator 2 project is looking at how to directly produce ‘drop in’ ready biofuel (ethyl or methyl laurate) by cyanobacteria using CO2, water, and light as the main inputs. Check out the latest results of this project

February 4, 2020 Read Full Article

LADWP Helps Launch New Organization to Focus on Green Hydrogen

(Green Hydrogen Coalition) Today (January 21, 2020) marks the official launch of the Green Hydrogen Coalition (GHC), an educational non-profit dedicated to facilitating policies and practices to advance green hydrogen production and use in all sectors where it will accelerate a carbon-free energy future. Green hydrogen can be produced several

February 3, 2020 Read Full Article

Rapunzel, Rapunzel: Getting the Hydrogen We Need from the Garbage We Don’t

by Jim Lane (Hydrogen Digest) … In the case of municipal solid waste, there are a couple of reasons why hydrogen might be a smart target, and why gasification is the best route, where we use heat to convert mixed waste streams to carbon monoxide and hydrogen. With gasification, we

February 3, 2020 Read Full Article

LLNL Report Lays out Technology Pathways for California to Become Carbon-Neutral and Then -Negative by 2045; 3 Pillars of Negative Emissions

(Green Car Congress) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists have identified a suite of technologies to help California to become carbon-neutral—and ultimately carbon-negative —by 2045. To achieve the goal of carbon-neutrality, California will likely have to remove on the order of 125 million tons per year of CO2 from the atmosphere. In the report,

February 3, 2020 Read Full Article

HYPORT: Port of Oostende Unveils Plan to Produce Renewable Hydrogen

(Port of Oostende/NGV Journal) Port of Oostende, DEME Concessions and PMV announced HYPORT®, an exclusive partnership to have a plant operational in the port area of Ostend, in Belgium, by 2025 that produces green hydrogen. This end product will both serve as an energy source for electricity, transport, heat and fuel

February 3, 2020 Read Full Article

Rural America’s Bioeconomy: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Rural Energy for America Program, The Farm Bill

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Between droughts, trade wars, and more, Rural America has had so many challenges, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture is trying to help with various Rural Business-Cooperative Service’s programs including investment of approximately $2 billion across loan and grant programs just in FY 2019. Check out

January 31, 2020 Read Full Article

Who’s the Mystery Date? Green Hydrogen for Renewable Diesel’s Stealthy Project

by Jim Lane (Hydrogen Digest) From Planet Houston we’ve heard that ENGlobal inked a $20 million to supply process modules that will be used to construct a complete hydrogen production facility. The plant will be a major component of an otherwise unidentified renewable diesel facility with an expected maximum production of

January 31, 2020 Read Full Article

Light-Based Chemistry Could Increase Energy Density of a Renewable Fuel

(Photonics/Los Alamos National Laboratory) Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory used photochemical [2 + 2] cycloaddition to upgrade biomass-derived acetone — common nail polish remover — to higher-mass hydrocarbons, and produced a product that can be blended with conventional jet fuel for more energy-efficient flying. “We converted bio-derived acetone to

January 30, 2020 Read Full Article

The Versatile Ethanol Molecule: Ethylene, with a Similar Molecular Structure to that of Ethanol, Has Enormous Market Opportunity around the World.

by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Knock a water molecule off ethanol and you’ll get ethylene, C2H4—the most widely produced organic chemical globally that is the basis for scores of other chemicals and hundreds (maybe thousands) of products, from antifreeze and surfactants to synthetic fibers, plastics and packaging. Global

January 30, 2020 Read Full Article

Panel Discusses Benefits of Biofuels over Petroleum

by Rachel Clark (Badger Herald) Biofuels used in industry have shown promising signs of advancement in bioproducts –The Wisconsin Energy Institute held a panel to discuss the viability of biofuels and bioproducts as replacements to other, more harmful types of energy this Tuesday. Proposed biofuels would replace less sustainable forms

January 30, 2020 Read Full Article

Senate Refers Sustainable Chemistry Research and Development Act of 2019 to Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

(Bergeson & Campbell) On December 10, 2019, the U.S. Senate received and read twice the Sustainable Chemistry Research and Development Act of 2019 (Act). Passed by the U.S. House of Representatives one day prior to the Senate’s review, the Act — H.R. 2051 — if approved, will establish an interagency working

January 28, 2020 Read Full Article

Prehistoric Microbes Valorize Carbon Dioxide under High Pressure to ‘Green Gas’

(Krajete GmbH/TechXplore) A completely new kind of bioreactor for the biological production of methane has enabled the use of extremely high pressure levels for the first time—and set new efficiency standards for the conversion of CO2 and H2 into methane. This significant improvement compared with conventional bioreactors is down to billions of

January 27, 2020 Read Full Article

The New Carbon Economy: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Waste Carbon Utilization and Management

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Electrification and batteries can’t remove the need for carbon,and a more sustainable economy is not a low-carbon economy as much as it will be a renewable carbon based economy, according to Ian Rowe, Technology Manager at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office. Check out

January 27, 2020 Read Full Article

Turning CO2 into Fuel

by Andrew Myers (American Energy Society) … Recycling CO2 emissions themselves as researchers at Stanford University are doing has shown some promising results. They are turning carbon dioxide from car exhaust pipes and other sources into fuels like natural gas and propane. Several recent studies have shown some success in

January 27, 2020 Read Full Article

Energy Department Announces Up to $64M to Advance H2@Scale in New Markets DEADLINE: February 25, 2020

(U.S. Department of Energy) Today (January 23, 2020), the U.S. Department of Energy announced up to $64 million in funding to advance innovations that will build new markets for the H2@Scale initiative. This investment will support transformational research and development (R&D), innovative hydrogen concepts that will encourage market expansion and increase the

January 27, 2020 Read Full Article

Brightmark Energy Partners with Larson Family Farms on Florida Biogas Project

(Brightmark Energy) Project will convert 230,000 tons of manure per year into renewable natural gas, reduce methane emissions from Central Florida dairy farms — Brightmark Energy, a San Francisco-based waste and energy development company, announced today that it has partnered with four dairy farms in central Florida to build and

January 23, 2020 Read Full Article

Shell Uses Plastic Waste to Produce Resin Feedstocks

by Stephen Moore (Plastics Today) Shell says that it has successfully made “high-end” chemicals using a liquid feedstock made from plastic waste using a pyrolysis process that is considered a breakthrough for hard-to-recycle plastics. The initiative advances Shell’s ambition to use one million tonnes of plastic waste a year in its

January 23, 2020 Read Full Article

Dept. of Energy’s View on Transportation and National Energy: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Sustainable Transportation

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) With 3 trillion vehicle miles in the U.S. and 11 billion freight tons, transportation is key to our way of life, and the Department of Energy realizes it hits our national energy usage in many ways. That’s why they are researching it all levels from components

January 23, 2020 Read Full Article

Living Robots, Fungus Homes, Biobased Aquaculture Ropes, Biopolymer Food Films, and More: The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the Week of January 23rd

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) It was a week of lots of deal-making, like edible straw startup Loliware’s raising of $5.9 million to scale production, and deal-breaking, like Itaconix and Nouryon’s break-up over biobased chelating agents for detergent applications. But it was also a week of innovating like the development of

January 23, 2020 Read Full Article

B&C Launches TSCA Tutor™ Online, On-Demand Training Courses

(Bergeson & Campbell) Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) is pleased to announce the release of the complete suite of TSCA Tutor™ regulatory training courses online and on-demand at www.TSCAtutor.com. Professionals seeking expert, efficient, essential training can preview and enroll in on-demand classes to complete at their own pace and timing. In

January 22, 2020 Read Full Article

Cellulosic Mixotrophy: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Novel Platform for Algal Biomass

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) There’s a lot of flat, dry land in the U.S. but researchers at Arizona State University and others are looking at how that land could support biofuel production. How about evaporation-resistant reactors coupled with thermotolerant, high-productivity mixotrophic algae? Check out this Slide-Guide from P.I. Peter Lammers

January 22, 2020 Read Full Article

Cannabinoid, Meet Biochem – Lygos Acquires Librede to Scale up and Commercialize Cannabinoid Production

by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) … In California comes the hot news that Lygos, who you may know for their sugar converting advanced biotech platform, has acquired Librede, Inc., an emerging synthetic biology company focused on cannabinoid products for the consumer market. Say what? A specialty chemicals company acquiring a

January 20, 2020 Read Full Article

Waste2Tricity Awarded Grant for Pioneering Waste Plastic to Hydrogen Technology

(Power House Energy Group) Waste2Tricity, the UK technology company developing pioneering hydrogen production from waste plastic, has been offered a conditional £1.25m grant for its planned Plastics to Hydrogen Facility at Protos, near Ellesmere Port. The grant award follows a successful application to the £4.1m Energy Fund competition, run by

January 16, 2020 Read Full Article

Who’s the Mystery Date? Green Hydrogen for Renewable Diesel’s Stealthy Project

by Jim Lane (Hydrogen Digest) From Planet Houston we’ve heard that ENGlobal inked a $20 million to supply process modules that will be used to construct a complete hydrogen production facility. The plant will be a major component of an otherwise unidentified renewable diesel facility with an expected maximum production of

January 16, 2020 Read Full Article

FastOx Commercialization: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Sierra Energy’s Gasification Tech

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The U.S. Army has a FHL installation and there is an FTL demo, but did you know Sierra Energy has an online gasification calculator tool that you can use too? Check out this Slide-Guide from Sierra Energy’s VP of Engineering, Daniel Dodd where he shares

January 16, 2020 Read Full Article

Corrosion Calamities: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Corrosion Resistant Materials for Bio-Oil

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Biomass liquefaction technology and bio-oil storage has enough challenges to deal with so being able to identify corrosion-resistant, cost-effective structural materials so that materials issues isn’t one of those challenges, can come a long way to help successful commercialization. Jim Keiser and his team from Oak

January 10, 2020 Read Full Article

5 Early Applications for Green Hydrogen

by Jason Deign (GreenTech Media) Few energy-related topics are getting as much attention at the moment as green hydrogen. Europe’s biggest natural-gas infrastructure firm recently launched a new hydrogen business. A hydrogen economy in the U.S. could generate an estimated $140 billion per year in revenue and support 700,000 jobs by 2030, according to

January 9, 2020 Read Full Article

Decoupled Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting System for Centralized Hydrogen Production

by Avigail Landman, Rawan Halabi, Paula Dias, Hen Dotan, Alex Mehlmann, Gennady E. Shter, Manar Halabi, Omayer Naseraldeen, Adélio Mendes, Gideon S. Grader and Avner Rothschild (Joule) H 2 collection from distributed cells presents a critical challenge for PEC water splitting; Decoupled water splitting in separate O 2 and H

January 9, 2020 Read Full Article

Licella and BioLogiQ Join Forces to Accelerate Commercialisation of Cat-HTR™ Technology in Australia

(Licella) Licella and BioLogiQ join forces to accelerate commercialisation of Cat-HTR™ technology in Australia, to chemically recycle post-consumption plastic that would otherwise not be recycled. — Australia consumes 3.4 million tonnes of plastic each year, of which only 9% is recycled1. Licella Holdings Ltd (“Licella”), global technology pioneer, is delighted to

January 9, 2020 Read Full Article

Dimethyl Ether – Zero Emissions, Carbon Neutrality?: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to Oberon Fuels’ Renewable DME

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Dimethyl Ether – We know DME well, but do you know all of its advantages or about fuel-grade DME in North America? Did you know about Oberon Fuels’ small-scale DME production process and the latest on their pilot DME facility in Southern California? About Propane/DME

January 9, 2020 Read Full Article

Australian Tyre Recycler Signs Deal for First US Plant

(Green Distillation Technologies) Australian tyre recycler Green Distillation Technologies, which has developed world-first technology that recycles end-of-life tyres into oil, carbon and steel, has signed a deal to build their first plant in the United States, The agreement provides funding of up to US$100 million for the roll out of additional plants

January 8, 2020 Read Full Article

10 Reasons Why Algae Are Interesting: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to Non-Isocyanate Polyurethanes for Carbon Capture Reuse and Sequestration

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Algae is a wondrous thing…and here are 10 reasons why. But that’s not all! What about polyurethanes? Fully renewable polyurethanes from unsaturated lipids and protein-derived amine cross linkers? Check out this Slide-Guide from NREL’s Philip Pienkos presentation at ABLC NEXT in San Francisco where he shares

January 8, 2020 Read Full Article

Top Industrial Biotechnology Trends in the U.S. – The View from Europe

by Mark Warner (Warner Advisors LLC/Biofuels Digest) … Housed in a region with significant historic chemical operations, including the home of where buna rubber was first commercialized, Eastern Germany is similar to parts of the industrial midwestern United States. The area benefits from a strong infrastructure of research and scale-up facilities,

January 8, 2020 Read Full Article

The Work Ahead

by Vijay Swarup (LinkedIn/ExxonMobil) … That further work means continued technology innovation. We have to keep finding and inventing solutions to the myriad of individual problems posed by the dual challenge. These different efforts – both within and outside of our own research labs – are all essential to moving

January 7, 2020 Read Full Article

Corn and Ethanol Markets: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to Farmer Efforts to Drive the Renewable Economy

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The National Corn Growers Association is working hard to increase demand, improve productivity and environmental sustainability and more, but how are they doing this? How do their programs help drive the bioeconomy? What misinformation are they still dealing with regarding corn? Why do they think

January 7, 2020 Read Full Article

Cracking the Code of Bacteria: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to MicroByre’s Engineered Bacteria

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) “Working with only E.coli is like feeding dogs grass to make milk,” said Dr. Sarah Richardson during this presentation given at ABLC NEXT in San Francisco. With a background in genomes, she shared insight into why bioengineers have not domesticated more bacteria, how MicroByre combines

January 7, 2020 Read Full Article

Pioneering a Path to Cleaner Fuels and Fewer Emissions

by Matthew Menzies (University of Alberta) Unconventional greenhouse gas reduction research brings biology and chemistry together in engineering — … UAlberta engineering PhD candidate Fatemeh Bakhtiari Ziabari is investigating ways to eliminate atmospheric methane on an industrial scale while producing sustainable biofuels and biopolymers. To do so, she’s using microscopic bacteria

January 6, 2020 Read Full Article

Microbes to Materials: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to Lygos’ Sugar Conversion

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) By taking a low pH yeast platform and adding in some BioFab and software, machine learning and artificial intelligence, you get new materials development, said Eric Steen from Lygos during his presentation at ABLC NEXT in San Francisco. Check out this slide guide to get

January 3, 2020 Read Full Article

World’s 1st Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Powered Yacht, Hemp Airplane, Rock Snot to Biomaterials, Sisal-Based Thermal Insulation, and More: The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the Week of January 3rd

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The bioeconomy is kickstarting 2020 with a flurry of innovations, like a millennial entrepreneur who developed a method to convert invasive toxic algae commonly called “rock snot” into various materials including paper, fabric and bioplastic. Another entrepreneur developed thermal insulation made from sisal, a plant found

January 3, 2020 Read Full Article

The Digest’s 10 Top Advanced Bioeconomy Markets & Predictions for 2020

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) A mere “The Year in Rewind” as we sail into 2020? Not the good ship Digest! Instead, we dust off our crystal ball and offer our predictions for the year ahead. As the sunset of 2019 gives way to the dawn of 2020, once again roll the

January 2, 2020 Read Full Article

Converting Waste to Synthetic Crude Oil: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to Licella’s Thermochemical Tech

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Licella is transforming plastic and biomass waste into high value sustainable resources. Their Cat-HTR platform uses water at high temperature and pressure to transform wastes and residues to synthetic crude oil, chemically equivalent to fossil crude. Steve Rogers from Licella shared this illuminating presentation at

January 2, 2020 Read Full Article

Cellulosic Biofuel Technology: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to Mercurius Biorefining

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Reaching high is something Mercurius is familiar with, esp. with their REACH technology. Standing for renewable, acid-hydrolysis, condensation, hydrotreating, their REACH technology works at low temperature, low pressure and enzyme free. According to Knud Balslev at Mercurius Biorefining, drop-in hydrocarbon jet fuel and diesel fuel are

January 2, 2020 Read Full Article

Valuable and Viable: Changes to the 45Q Tax Credit Increase the Monetary Value of Carbon Dioxide for Ethanol Producers.

by Andrew Duguid (Battelle/Ethanol Producer Magazine) Changes to Section 45Q of the U.S. tax code have made it easier for ethanol producers to take advantage of tax credits for capturing and storing carbon dioxide emissions. However, producers must act fast to meet the Jan. 1, 2024, deadline to start construction.

December 31, 2019 Read Full Article

Carbon Recycling: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to LanzaTech’s CarbonSmart

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) LanzaTech is turning our global carbon crisis into a feedstock opportunity with the potential to displace 30% of crude oil use today and reduce global CO2 emissions by 10%. By recycling carbon from industrial off-gases; syngas generated from any biomass resource (e.g. municipal solid waste (MSW),

December 31, 2019 Read Full Article

50 Hottest Companies in the Advanced Bioeconomy for 2020

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Florida, the 2020 “50 Hottest Companies in the Advanced Bioeconomy” was published today, as voted by invited international Selectors and subscribers of The Digest, the world’s most widely-read bioeconomy daily. The full list can be found here. The Hot 50 winners are expected to join more

December 31, 2019 Read Full Article

Custom Chem: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to Kiverdi’s CO2 and Syngas Chemicals

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)Kiverdi is taking carbon-rich waste and converting it to sustainable chemicals with their carbon engineering. With CO2 and syngas fed into their reactor, they are creating targeted chemicals like hydrocarbon monomers, esters, terpenes and more. Jason Husk from Kiverdi gave this illuminating presentation at ABLC NEXT

December 30, 2019 Read Full Article

Advanced Biofuels – Where Are the Gallons?

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) From what is an advanced biofuel to why, we take a look at the gallons, the ethanol blend wall, the residue capacity, and over 30 advanced biofuels projects from around the world to watch. In today’s Digest, a Digest 2020 Multi-Slide Guide on advanced biofuels that

December 27, 2019 Read Full Article

Autothermal Pyrolysis: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to Rethinking Thermochemical Processing

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Iowa State University is working on fast pyrolysis, and Robert Brown, Director of the university’s Bioeconomy Institute looks at how their work is making us rethink thermochemical processing. By looking at autothermal pyrolysis, and more, Brown shared this presentation at ABLC NEXT in San Francisco. READ

December 27, 2019 Read Full Article

Methane Bioconversion: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to iMicrobes’ Methane to Chemicals

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Methane is proving to be a pretty valuable waste after all. iMicrobes is using their synthetic biology approach with industrial microorganisms to convert methane into methanol and their first product is 3HP, a key intermediate chemical. According to Noah Helman, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer

December 26, 2019 Read Full Article

Biobased Barbies, Pineapple Waste Paper, 3D Printed Fruit, Super Bowl’s Fiber Food Packaging, and More: The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the Week of December 25th

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) It’s Christmas morning for many and biobased Barbies are on the horizon with Mattel’s promise to use only recycled, recyclable, or renewable plastics in all products by 2030, starting with the Fisher-Price Rock-a-Stack made from sugarcane plastics. And soon you can write letters to Santa on

December 26, 2019 Read Full Article

From Ideation to Commercial Realization: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to Genomatica’s Chemicals and Materials

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) With over 1,500 patents, Genomatica is getting a move on the innovation engine with their 1,4-Butanediol, Brontide – a naturally sourced butylene glycol, a 100% biobased nylon-6, and their path to be the leading BG supplier for a major cosmetics ingredient. Christophe Schilling, CEO, co-founder of

December 24, 2019 Read Full Article

Finnair Participates in a Feasibility Study on Power-to-X Pilot to Advance the Development of Carbon Neutral Synthetic Fuels

(Finnair) Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology LUT in Finland and a group of companies, including Finnair, have started a feasibility study for a synthetic fuels pilot production plant. The intended industrial scale pilot facility is based on power-to-x technology, and the target is to produce carbon neutral fuels for transportation. The pilot

December 23, 2019 Read Full Article

Hydrogen Tech’s Diversified Future: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to Hydrogenics

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Hydrogenics is a unit of Cummins Inc. active in designing, manufacturing, building and installing industrial and commercial Hydrogen generation, Hydrogen fuel cells and MW-scale energy storage solutions. Based in Mississauga, Canada with manufacturing facilities located in Germany, Belgium and United States, the company offers PEM and alkaline

December 23, 2019 Read Full Article

Carbohydrate Industry Outlook: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to Carbs and Sugars

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Ah sugar, sugar, you are my candy girl. Fluid Quip Technologies is talking about industrial sugar of course, and its many challenges and opportunities. Check out this slide guide from Neal Jakel, Partner/Strategy and Technology at FQT who shared this at ABLC NEXT in San

December 23, 2019 Read Full Article

In the Hydrogen Roadmap Europe, a Path for EU Energy Transition

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) From Europe we’d like to shine a light today on “Hydrogen Roadmap Europe: A sustainable pathway for the European Energy Transition“ concludes that hydrogen is an essential element in the energy transition and can account for 24% of final energy demand and 5.4m jobs by 2050. The

December 20, 2019 Read Full Article

LEGO Bioplastic Bricks, Castor Bean Coats, World’s First Hydrogen Powered Ferry and Carrier Ship, and More: The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the Week of December 20th

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) For some, it’s holiday shopping season and now LEGO’s first bioplastic block set is an option! The kit—appropriately designed to make a treehouse—uses sugarcane-based polyethylene. Another great gift Top 10 Innovation from this week is French outerwear company Moncler’s new carbon-neutral jacket made from castor beans.

December 20, 2019 Read Full Article

The Bioeconomy Christmas: Uncle Sam puts $12B+ for Biomass-Based Diesel, Action on Biointermediates, Cellulosics, and Small Refinery Waivers into the Stocking This Year

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) This week, Congressional leaders announced a five-year extension of the biomass-based diesel tax credit as part of a year-end tax extenders package. As Christmas gifts go, the importance and value of this to the biomass-based diesel universe cannot be overemphasized. No phase down Unexpectedly, the five

December 20, 2019 Read Full Article

Biorefining Start-Up Wins Significant EU Funding to Scale-Up Business

(Bioenergy Insight) Biorefining start-up Chrysalix Technologies has won significant funding from the EU to scale-up its business. The company uses waste wood and agricultural by-products as well as sustainably-grown biomass to produce biofuels, biomaterials, greener chemicals and bioplastics. Its BioFlex process separates the various naturally-occurring components of wood – lignin,

December 19, 2019 Read Full Article

Heliogen Achieves Breakthrough Temperatures From Concentrated Sunlight for Industrial Processes, With Momentum Toward Commercial Hydrogen Fuel Creation

(Heliogen/Business Wire) Heliogen, the clean energy company that is transforming sunlight to create and replace fuels, today announced its launch and that it has – for the first time commercially – concentrated solar energy to exceed temperatures greater than 1,000 degrees Celsius. At that temperature, Heliogen can replace the use of

December 19, 2019 Read Full Article

Air Liquide, DLVA and ENGIE Are Entering into an Ambitious Partnership to Produce Green Hydrogen on an Industrial Scale

(Air Liquide) Air Liquide, the Durance, Luberon, Verdon urban area (DLVA) and ENGIE are signing a cooperation agreement to develop the “HyGreen Provence” project which aims at producing, storing and distributing green hydrogen. Initiated in 2017, “HyGreen Provence” will make it possible to develop and validate the technico-economic conditions for

December 19, 2019 Read Full Article

Research Yields Potential Bioblendstock for Diesel Fuel

(National Renewable Energy Laboratory/Phys.Org) The NREL scientists, along with colleagues at Yale University, Argonne National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, are part of the Department of Energy’s Co-Optimization of Fuels & Engines (Co-Optima) initiative. Co-Optima’s research focuses on improving fuel economy and vehicle performance while also reducing emissions. “If

December 19, 2019 Read Full Article

Lessons Learning on the Road to Commercialization: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to Ensyn’s Demo to Commercial Path

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) We all know going from demo to commercial isn’t easy. Ensyn, a company that produces biocrude from forest and agricultural residues using its proprietary thermal technology and focuses on low carbon fuels and chemicals, knows all about it. Ian S. Barnett, Chair of the Finance Committee

December 19, 2019 Read Full Article

One-Step Process: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to ETB’s Butadiene from Ethanol

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ETB Catalytic Technologies developed a unique technology of producing butadiene from ethanol production. But the big question is how do they commercialize the technology? Just ask Vladimir Trembovolsky, CEO of ETB Catalytic Technologies who shared this presentation at ABLC NEXT in San Francisco. Check out this

December 19, 2019 Read Full Article

Scientists Convert Plastics into Useful Chemicals Using Sunlight

(Nanyang Technological University/Science Daily) … Chemists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have discovered a method that could turn plastic waste into valuable chemicals by using sunlight. In lab experiments, the research team mixed plastics with their catalyst in a solvent, which allows the solution to harness light energy

December 18, 2019 Read Full Article

Neutrons Optimize High Efficiency Catalyst for Greener Approach to Biofuel Synthesis

(U.S. Department of Energy/Oak Ridge National Laboratory/Science Daily) Researchers used neutron scattering in the development of a catalyst that converts biomass into liquid fuel with remarkably high efficiency and provides new possibilities for manufacturing renewable energy-related materials. Researchers led by the University of Manchester have designed a catalyst that converts

December 17, 2019 Read Full Article

Conversion Technologies: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to BETO’s Carbon-Based Fuels and Co-Products

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Why is working with biomass so challenging? Jonathan Male, Director at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) set out to answer that question at ABLC NEXT in San Francisco. Check out his illuminating presentation on how BETO is exploring various strategies to reduce

December 17, 2019 Read Full Article

Show Me The Money!: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to 1st Cash Cover Crop for the Midwest

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Cover crops are not all the same – just ask Dr. Tim Ulmasov, CTO of CoverCress who shared this presentation at ABLC NEXT in San Francisco to introduce the first cash cover crop for the Midwest. It’s similar to canola, offers farmers a $50-70/acre cash margin, pluscover crop

December 17, 2019 Read Full Article

We Three Kings of the Bioeconomy Are: Novozymes & Green Plains, Arzeda & BP, and Inscripta & What Appears to Be the Entire Investing Universe Announce Massive Deals to Anchor a Big Bioeconomy Christmas

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Novozymes & Green Plains, Arzeda & BP, and Inscripta & a bunch of investors new and returning — three transformative market shifts this week of epic proportion. Grabbing the dollar headlines has to be Inscripta’s eye-watering $125 million Series D cap raise, which will accelerate applications expansion and

December 17, 2019 Read Full Article

Green Dreams: Agilyx and GE Enter Agreement to Advance the Circular Economy for Plastics

(Agilyx/PR Newswire) Bringing artificial intelligence, machine learning and predictive modeling to chemical recycling; Aiming to improve recycling of post-use plastics to >95% — Imagine a world where plastic materials would never go to waste. Agilyx Corporation (“Agilyx”), the leader in chemical recycling of post-use plastics back into plastics chemicals and low carbon fuels,

December 16, 2019 Read Full Article

Starting with the End in Mind: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to Codexis’s Enzymes and Scalable Proteins

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Codexis has reimagined the degree, and speed, of transformation of protein performance possible through protein engineering – Better libraries, better (bigger) data and a highly integrated workflow that leads to rapid, and very large, performance improvements. They are also engineering an ultra-stable enzyme for carbon capture.

December 16, 2019 Read Full Article

Water-Based Tech Converts Biomass into Food Ingredients – Renmatix and Cargill Sign Joint Development Agreement

by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) Functional food ingredients from unused plant materials is just what Renmatix and Cargill are aiming to explore with their new joint development agreement, but what makes this breaking news even more fascinating is that Renmatix is using their proprietary Plantrose Process which uses only water,

December 16, 2019 Read Full Article

Simplifying Biology for Biochemicals: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to DMC’s Metabolic Engineering Tech

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … Digital biology, synthetic biology and metabolic engineering are not all the same – just ask Matt Lipscomb, CEO and Founder of DMC who shared this presentation at ABLC NEXT in San Francisco. Check out this Slide-Guide to find out how DMC uses their novel

December 13, 2019 Read Full Article

DE-FOA-0002244: Notice of Intent: Bottle: Bio-Optimized Technologies to Keep Thermoplastics out of Landills and the Environment

(U.S. Department of Energy) The Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) intends to issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled “BOTTLE: Bio-Optimized Technologies to Keep Thermoplastics out of Landfills and the Environment.” This FOA, jointly funded by the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) and Advanced Manufacturing

December 11, 2019 Read Full Article

Global Biogas Industry Leaders Call on Governments around the World to Unlock the Full Potential of Biogas in Addressing the Climate Emergency

(World Biogas Association) -If all barriers were removed, the biogas industry could abate up to 4bn tonnes of CO2 equivalent annually, representing at least 12% of today’s global emissions, by 2030. -Today only 2% of the feedstock available globally to produce biogas is captured and recycled. -At the COP25 meeting,

December 11, 2019 Read Full Article

Thermochemical Technology to Turn Trash to Treasure: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to Enerkem’s Waste to Fuels

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Taking non-reyclable waste to sustainable chemicals and biofuels is Enerkem’s world. Current products from ‘trash’ include syngas, methanol and ethanol with alternative pathways currently under development. Andrea Redford, Chief Business Development Officer from Enerkem gave this illuminating presentation at the ABLC NEXT in San Francisco

December 11, 2019 Read Full Article

A Plastics Dichotomy – Durables versus Single Use

by Ronald Cascone (Nexant, Inc./Biofuels Digest) … Durable items are those that are in use for a long time, even years, mostly are rigid, have substantial weight per item, generally are not littered, are typically of more expensive performance polymers (polyamides, polyesters, polycarbonate, etc.) and have high potential for recycling,

December 11, 2019 Read Full Article

Department of Energy Launches Plastics Innovation Challenge

(U.S. Department of Energy) On November 21, 2019, U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry announced the launch of the Plastics Innovation Challenge, a comprehensive U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) program to accelerate innovations in energy-efficient plastics recycling technologies. Plastics are used in thousands of products essential to modern life, but

December 11, 2019 Read Full Article

9 Hot New CO2 Applications

by Sam A. Rushing (Advanced Cryogenics/Biofuels Digest) … Food and beverage applications often account for 70% of all tonnage consumed in the merchant sector. There are also demands of a captive and sequestration nature, which in my view, are generally categorized outside of the merchant markets, such as large EOR (enhanced

December 10, 2019 Read Full Article

Consolidated Production of Coniferol and Other High-Value Aromatic Alcohols Directly from Lignocellulosic Biomass

by Robson Tramontina, James L. Galman, Fabio Parmeggiani, Sasha R. Derrington, Timothy D. H. Bugg, Nicholas J. Turner, Fabio M. Squin and Neil Dixon (Green Chemistry) Sustainable production of fine chemicals and biofuels from renewable biomass offers a potential alternative to the continued use of finite geological oil reserves. However,