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(Carbon X Prize) The $20 million NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE is a global competition to develop breakthrough technologies that will convert CO₂ emissions from power plants and industrial facilities into valuable products like building materials, alternative fuels and other items that we use every day. The NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE
Atmosphere
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
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by Angeli Mehta (Ethical Corporation) With the IPCC warning against growing crops for fuel, Angeli Mehta reports on how LanzaTech, SkyNRG and Velocys are trying to get the next generation of aviation biofuels to scale The first flight using a blend of kerosene and biofuel took place back in 2008. Eleven
November 5, 2019
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) USDA releases Report on the Bioeconomy: The USDA released its Report on the Bioeconomy Imiplementation Framework. The Bioeconomy Initiative: Implementation Framework will serve as a guiding document for the BR&D Board member agencies to increase government accountability and efficiency, maximize interagency coordination on bioeconomy research and other
November 1, 2019
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(University of Cambridge) A widely-used gas that is currently produced from fossil fuels can instead be made by an ‘artificial leaf’ that uses only sunlight, carbon dioxide and water, and which could eventually be used to develop a sustainable liquid fuel alternative to petrol. The carbon-neutral device sets a new
October 24, 2019
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) As the International Renewable Energy Agency observed of the next decades, “transport and industry will still require combustible fuels for many purposes,” and those “needs could be met with hydrogen, which itself can be produced using renewable power.” The opportunity is threefold, IRENA predicts: Industry
October 24, 2019
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by Max Hall (PV Magazine) Analyst WoodMac has spelled out the urgent need to decarbonize the global hydrogen production industry. While the fuel can offer a sustainable grid balancing act for intermittent renewables, in its current fossil-fuel driven form it is pumping out more than 800 megatons of carbon into
October 23, 2019
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by Jim Giles (Green Biz Group) … Each of these examples has developed a process that uses carbon dioxide to create valuable products — turning waste into revenue, the essence of circularity. In different ways, these circular technologies also lessen our overuse of fossil fuels and agricultural land. What’s more,
October 17, 2019
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(Hyundai/NGV Journal) … For the production of hydrogen and its delivery to the refueling stations, Hydrospider was founded at the beginning of 2019, in which H2E, Linde and Alpiq participated. The production of hydrogen at the hydroelectric power plant in Gösgen, which has been in operation for over 100 years,
September 30, 2019
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by Trent Knoss (University of Colorado Boulder) CU Boulder researchers have developed nanobio-hybrid organisms capable of using airborne carbon dioxide and nitrogen to produce a variety of plastics and fuels, a promising first step toward low-cost carbon sequestration and eco-friendly manufacturing for chemicals. By using light-activated quantum dots to fire particular
July 3, 2019
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(GreenAir Online) A project funded by the EU and Switzerland claims to have made a breakthrough in producing renewable jet kerosene from sunlight, water and CO2. The SUN-to-LIQUID project follows on from an earlier project, SOLAR-JET, that developed the technology to achieve the first-ever production of solar jet fuel in a
June 28, 2019
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by Kyle Saukas (Leaders in Energy) … On May 29th, Leaders in Energy (LE) members met to discuss how to better utilize the abundant fossil fuel resources we already have in order to move towards a cleaner future at the Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Fossil Energy: Searching for the Next Better Event.
June 11, 2019
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(Methanol Institute) Compared to conventional fuels, renewable methanol cuts carbon dioxide emissions by up to 95%, reduces nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 80%, and completely eliminates sulfur oxide and particulate matter emissions. The report, prepared for MI by ATA Insights, features case studies on renewable methanol production by Carbon Recycling International
May 23, 2019
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by Paul Grad (Chemical Engineering) … (C)onverting CO2 into a solid offers an attractive alternative method for safely and permanently removing CO2 from the atmosphere. To date, CO2 has only been converted into a solid at extremely high temperatures, making it industrially unviable. The team created a liquid metal electrocatalyst that contains metallic elemental cerium nanoparticles, which facilitate
May 15, 2019
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(Loughborough University) Loughborough University has been awarded £200,000 for two projects which aim to make the transport sector more environmentally friendly. Dr Jin Xuan, a Senior Lecturer in Low Carbon Processes, Dr Tanja Radu, a Lecturer in Water Engineering, and Dr Jonathan Wagner, a Lecturer in Chemical Engineering, successfully bid for the grant which
May 9, 2019
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(European Commission) An ‘artificial leaf’ being developed by EU-funded researchers to produce fuel from sunlight, carbon dioxide and water, could tackle soaring global energy demands, the growing impact of climate change, and dwindling supplies of fossil fuels. — Developing new sources of clean, renewable energy that can compete against fossil fuels is
April 30, 2019
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by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) … What was a nationwide celebration and peaceful demonstrations for environmental reform in the U.S. by some estimated 20 million Americans, Earth Day events have now expanded to over 193 countries and more than a billion people every year. … The top 5 CO2 producing countries in the
April 23, 2019
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by Rebecca White (iWi (Qualitas Health, Inc.)/Biofuels Digest) This Wednesday marks a major milestone in the history of the American algae industry: the first meeting in which the Biomass R&D Board Technical Advisory Committee officials will discuss algae as an agricultural crop. Up until now, the vast majority of governmental funding and support
March 27, 2019
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(Oak Ridge National Laboratory) ReactWell, LLC, has licensed a novel waste-to-fuel technology from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to improve energy conversion methods for cleaner, more efficient oil and gas, chemical and bioenergy production. ReactWell will bring ORNL’s electrochemical process, which converts carbon dioxide directly into ethanol, into
March 12, 2019
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(Politico’s Morning Energy) Senate EPW Chairman John Barrasso and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse reintroduced their bipartisan carbon capture legislation Thursday. The bill , dubbed the “Utilizing Significant Emissions with Innovative Technologies Act,” would support carbon dioxide utilization and direct air capture research, as well as support collaboration of carbon capture, utilization, and
February 8, 2019
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(Enagás/NGV Journal) The President of the Balearic Government, Francina Armengol, and the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, presented the agreements that the Government of the Balearic Islands has reached with Enagás, ACCIONA and CEMEX to promote several industrial projects in the Lloseta area of Mallorca. The agreements involve
January 14, 2019
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by Cory Shumaker (California Hydrogen Business Council/ACT News) The California Hydrogen Business Council (CHBC) hosted its 6thannual California Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Summit in Sacramento December 11-12. The Summit brought members of the industry together with government agencies to discuss the progress made in California and beyond in the continually developing hydrogen landscape.
January 7, 2019
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In California, on the final day of California’s 2018 legislative session, a bill sponsored by the Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas that would pave the way for a state renewable natural gas procurement program was approved by the Legislature, passing 29-10 in its reconciliation in the Senate.
December 26, 2018
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by Theresa Duque (Berkeley Lab) Researchers discover copper has potential as a catalyst for turning carbon dioxide into sustainable chemicals and fuels without any wasteful byproducts, creating a green alternative to present-day chemical manufacturing — For decades, scientists have searched for effective ways to remove excess carbon dioxide emissions from the air,
December 20, 2018
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Carbon Engineering is commercializing two clean energy technologies that can rapidly accelerate our shift to a net-zero world by removing carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere and converting it to fuel. Geoffrey Holmes,Business Development lead from Carbon Engineering gave this illuminating overview of their Direct Air Capture
December 20, 2018
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by Adele Peters (Fast Company) At a steel mill outside Beijing, reactors attached to the building capture emissions from the factory. Those waste gases can then be turned into fuel. LanzaTech, a biotech startup that designed a way to turn those emissions into ethanol, recently blended that ethanol into jet fuel that powered
December 5, 2018
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Where is the industry right now?What are the 25 Key trends, how the industry is organizing, what’s up, what’s hot, what’s down, and what 6 Future Technologies should we keep a sharp eye on? Let’s take a look. … It has an array of players —
November 7, 2018
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by Rob Cockerill (GasWorld) Switzerland-based Climeworks has just launched another of its second-generation Direct Air Capture plants (DAC-3) in Troia, Apulia in Italy. Climeworks has been developing the technology since 2009 and commissioned its first industrial-scale CO2 capture unit in late 2014 dubbed the ‘CO2 Collector’, which captures 50 tonnes of
November 5, 2018
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(nova-Institut GmbH) The winners of the first “Future Protein Award”: an insect bar, Proteins made from CO2 and Hemp protein – a guide to the future for modern consumers — During the new conference “Revolution in Food and Biomass Production (REFAB)”, nova-Institute presented the first Future Protein Award on 2 October
October 11, 2018
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by Theresa Duque (University of California Berkeley) A bacterium named Moorella thermoacetica won’t work for free. But UC Berkeley researchers have figured out it has an appetite for gold. And in exchange for this special treat, the bacterium has revealed a more efficient path to producing solar fuels through artificial photosynthesis. M.
October 10, 2018
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by Cole Latimer (Sydney Morning Herald) startup company backed by energy giant Shell has developed a method to turn carbon dioxide into fuel by adding fake sunlight. US company Dimensional Energy has developed an “artificial photosynthesis” process with a photoreactor that converts carbon dioxide, using sunlight and water, into synthetic fuels and
September 18, 2018
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(U.S. Department of Energy) Today, the U.S. Department of Energy announced the selection of 36 projects totaling $80 million to support early-stage bioenergy research and development (R&D). This R&D will enable cost-competitive, drop-in renewable hydrocarbon fuels, bio-based products, and power from non-food biomass and waste feedstocks. This work supports the Department
September 4, 2018
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) From Switzerland comes word of a technology for methanol synthesis plants which capture CO2 from the environment to create renewable methanol fuel. If you haven’t heard of it before, it’s appropriately named Silent-Power. The company produces both industrial and modular plants and is working to bring
August 28, 2018
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by Lexy Hamilton-Smith (ABC News) Two cars powered by hydrogen derived from ammonia will be tested in Brisbane today thanks to a Queensland breakthrough that CSIRO researchers say could turn Australia into a renewable energy superpower. … For the past decade, researchers have worked on producing ultra-high purity hydrogen using a
August 10, 2018
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by Elizabeth Montalbano (Design News) Researchers at the University of Turku in Finland have discovered a novel way to develop biofuel from green algae. — …One of the most promising alternatives has been molecular hydrogen, which provides carbon-free power in one of the cleanest ways possible. Now, researchers at the University of Turku
August 8, 2018
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(nova-Institute) The equivalent to decarbonisation in the energy sector is a transition to carbon from renewable sources in the chemical and plastics industries. The nova-Institute published a position paper on the future of chemistry. The chemical industry may only develop into a sustainable sector once it bids farewell to fossil
August 6, 2018
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(European Technology and Innovation Platform-Bioenergy) On 13 June 2018 the SET-Plan Steering Group approved the Implementation Plan of SET-Plan Action 8: Bioenergy and Renewable Fuels for Sustainable Transport. The plan was prepared by a working group, co chaired by industrial experts from ETIP Bioenergy, over 9 months. It details the European
July 18, 2018
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …In today’s Digest, wool without the sheep, fuels from water and C)2, bacteria-powered solar cells, spectral imagery in the sky, artificial intelligence in the crop field, sugar-based straws and more, ready for you now at The Digest online. #1 Sheep-free wool nabs PETA prize … #2
by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) In Arizona, Arizona State University researcher Kevin Redding is working on biological, light-driven energy extraction. Redding, a biochemist who leads the Center for Bioenergy and Photosynthesis at ASU, is producing hydrogen biofuel from water instead of from natural gas which is a fossil fuel. Redding said,
July 9, 2018
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by David Fridley and Richard Heinberg (Renewable Energy World) The headline of this article was composed simply by rephrasing the title of a popular recent piece in The Atlantic — “Climate Change Can Be Stopped by Turning Air into Gasoline” — as a question. That article, reporting on research by Harvard professor David Keith
June 20, 2018
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A recent Biofuels Digest article noted that Michael Tamor, a Henry Ford Technical Fellow at Ford, at a recent DOE Bioeconomy event in Washington observed that at least double our current electrical power capacity will be required to be able to charge all battery electrical vehicles. Also the recycling of
June 8, 2018
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) A technology for direct air capture of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, with a cost that “fully burdened with interest on capital, ranges from 94 to 232 $/t-CO2 depending on financial assumptions, energy prices, and the specific choice of inputs and outputs,” was the subject of
June 8, 2018
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Today, U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry announced four funding opportunities totaling up to $78 million to support early-stage bioenergy research and development under the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office. “The Department of Energy is focused on some of the most exciting research opportunities as
May 3, 2018
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Praj is an India-based process solutions specialist with continued leadership in ethanol & brewery space over many years — aiming to emerge as a significant water company within 5 years. The company is expanding its new technology pipeline, with 16 patents granted, and 79 patents at
April 26, 2018
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(U.S. Department of Energy) The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office’s (BETO’s) Rewiring the Carbon Economy: Engineered Carbon Reduction Listening Day Summary Report is now online! Read this new workshop summary for an overview of advanced strategies to use carbon dioxide (CO2) captured from the atmosphere or waste streams as a
February 27, 2018
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(International Energy Agency Bioenergy Task 41) The fourth IEA Bioenergy Task 41 workshop on Bio-CC(U)S was organized in Brussels 16 January 2018. The topic of the workshop was Market and regulatory issues related to Bio-CCUS. The workshop was a full day event divided into four consecutive sessions: Background and introduction: The session focused on
February 27, 2018
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(ArcelorMittal) The world’s most prestigious award programme for the circular economy, The Circulars, has highly commended ArcelorMittal for demonstrating leadership and innovation by applying circular economy principles to its business models. … Partnering with technical and industry leaders to develop and scale up ground-breaking carbon capture and utilisation technology, resulting in
December 11, 2017
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by Marcius Extavour (XPRIZE/Biofuels Digest) … Hydrocarbon drop-in fuels are among the leading products targeted by the CO2 conversion community, be it diesel, methanol, butanol, or others. New approaches to the science and technology of CO2-to-fuels may alter the energetics, the economics, and the business case to the point where bio-based CO2
October 11, 2017
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(Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) Solar-to-Fuel System Recycles CO2 to Make Ethanol and Ethylene — Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have harnessed the power of photosynthesis to convert carbon dioxide into fuels and alcohols at efficiencies far greater than plants. The achievement marks a
September 21, 2017
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … The most scalable solution is liquid fuels that use water, captured CO2 and renewable electricity. … Thinkers have been coming around to the realization that this might be the most sustainable path, notwithstanding the joys of electric vehicles. This article by B. Zhao from Energy
August 8, 2017
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(Energy Today/Carnegie Mellon University) How do you efficiently isolate hydrogen, unlocking its full potential as a primary, mainstream source of energy? — The universe consists of a number of elements, the most abundant of which is hydrogen – making up 75% of the matter in the universe. Rarely does it
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … There’s been the cellulosic wave, then waste — and alongside there has been steady progress in what are known as the electrofuels. These are fuels made directly from CO2, water and either sunlight or electricity. Generally if a microorganism is involved, there’s sunlight in the
July 5, 2017
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by Mark Schwartz (Stanford News) Most of the fuel additive ethanol used in the U.S. is made from corn. But new research reveals that copper can turn carbon dioxide into ethanol without using corn or other plants. … A recent discovery by Stanford University scientists could lead to a new,
June 21, 2017
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Arizona State’s Wim Vermaas gave this illuminating overview of Direct Photosynthetic Production of Biodiesel by Decoupled Cyanobacteria at the 2017 DOE Project Peer Review sessions. READ MORE
June 21, 2017
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Michael Huessmann and John Benemann gave this illuminating overview of Microalgae Biofuels Production on CO2 from Air at the 2017 DOE Project Peer Review sessions. READ MORE
June 21, 2017
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The Soletair process, developed by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Lappeenranta University of Technology, is using carbon dioxide and solar power to produce renewable fuels and chemicals and has reached an end-to-end small demonstration scale. The new power-to-liquid plant was initially launched at the
June 13, 2017
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … In the latest news, the Soletair process, developed by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Lappeenranta University of Technology, is using carbon dioxide and solar power to produce renewable fuels and chemicals and has reached an end-to-end small demonstration scale. … The new power-to-liquid
June 13, 2017
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(U.S. Department of Energy) Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced approximately $15.8 million for 30 new projects aimed at discovery and development of novel, low-cost materials necessary for hydrogen production and storage and for fuel cells onboard light-duty vehicles. Selected projects will leverage national lab consortia launched under
June 9, 2017
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) We reported this week that Avantium has acquired Liquid Light’s assets and will take the technology forward. Liquid Light developed electrocatalytic technology to make major chemicals from low-cost, globally abundant carbon dioxide. The company’s technoloigy propelled it to a #1 ranking in the Hot 40
January 13, 2017
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Newlight, founded in 2003, is harnessing methane-based carbon emissions as a resource to replace oil and reduce the cost of plastics production–fundamentally changing both the economics and environmental impact of the plastics industry. The AirCarbon production process begins with concentrated methane-based carbon emissions that would
December 29, 2016
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by Katherine Bourzac (Chemical & Engineering News) Technology to produce fuels from sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide faces scientific and economic challenges — READ MORE and MORE (Environmental and Energy Study Institute) Excerpt from Environmental and Energy Study Institute: Scientists are pushing the limits of artificial photosynthesis to try and
November 28, 2016
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(U.S. Department of Energy) Today (November 18, 2016), the Energy Department (DOE) announced approximately $30 million in available funding, subject to appropriations, for research and development of low-cost hydrogen production, onboard hydrogen storage, and proton exchange membrane fuel cells to advance the widespread commercialization of fuel cell electric vehicles. Selected projects
November 21, 2016
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Capturing and concentrate (ambient) CO2 at low prices for direct use and production of fuels and chemicals, using solar or wind energy. That’s Antecy. With the help of an organic, non-amine sorbent, ANTECY turns the negative of CO2 (greenhouse effects, environmental costs) into a positive, whereby
November 10, 2016
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … Here, we profile 15 techs that offer incremental to profound shifts in the economics of the Gen-1 ethanol fleet, and have implications for everything from passenger cars to jets. #15 Vertimass and Byogy #14 Croda #13 Hummingbird #12 Alliance BioEnergy #11 GeoSynFuels #10 BioProcess Algae #9 xF
June 17, 2016
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by David Roberts (Vox) … However, some uses of energy are not easy to electrify in the short term, maybe even in the long term. They rely on energy-dense liquid fuels. So if we’re ever going to get to net zero emissions, we badly need zero-carbon liquid fuelsthat can substitute directly for
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Joule is advancing a production platform for Liquid Fuel from the Sun, expected to eclipse the scale, productivity and cost efficiency of any known alternative to fossil fuel today. Its transformative Helioculture platform directly and continuously converts sunlight and waste CO2 to infrastructure-ready diesel, ethanol
by Mahmood Ebadian (Biomass and Bioenergy Research Group/Biomass Supply Chain Consulting Ltd./Biofuels Digest) …With specialization occurring in feedstock engineering, these new business entities will be well-positioned to produce multiple products including both intermediate and final bio-products. In other words, they will be multi-product firms that exploit the economics of scope
May 11, 2016
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by Vittorio Hernandez (International Business Times) A one-step conversion process that turns carbon dioxide and water into useable liquid hydrocarbon fuels makes change of current fuel distribution system in vehicles unnecessary. The inexpensive and simple new sustainable fuels technology has the potential to limit global warming. The process, developed by researchers
March 2, 2016
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Sweden, IKEA and Newlight Technologies have entered into a supply, collaboration, and technology license agreement that will supply IKEA with Newlight’s AirCarbon and enable IKEA to produce AirCarbon thermoplastic under a technology license. Under the agreement, IKEA will purchase 50% of the material from
March 2, 2016
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Joule is advancing a production platform for Liquid Fuel from the Sun, expected to eclipse the scale, productivity and cost efficiency of any known alternative to fossil fuel today. Its transformative Helioculture platform directly and continuously converts sunlight and waste CO2 to infrastructure-ready diesel, ethanol
January 19, 2016
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by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) For eight years, Joule has been working under the radar to develop and commercialize its CO2-to-fuel technology. — When it comes to ethanol production volumes per acre of land, Joule’s Helioculture technology leaves all other processes in the dust. “We can do several factors
January 18, 2016
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Patiently, assuredly, one cluster at a time, Canada has amassed a potent armory of renewable fuel and biobased technologies, people and clusters of activity. Where’s it going? The Digest looks at a whole slew of workshops north of the border and south of the North
December 8, 2015
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Switzerland, 11 leading low carbon fuel companies present a comprehensive guide that identifies a variety of available and accessible low carbon fuel solutions. … Today, only 3% of transportation fuels are low carbon. According to the International Energy Agency, 10% of fuels must be low
November 24, 2015
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In the terrestrial world, oxygen is colorless, odorless, and try to get through an hour without some. In the Bioeconomy Cinematic Universe, oxygen is harder than steel, heavier than a black hole, and higher than the Himalayas. Here’s the why and what’s being done about
October 14, 2015
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(Joule/BusinessWire) Joule, the pioneer of liquid fuels from recycled CO2, today announced that its fuel grade Sunflow®-E ethanol has been registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for commercial use in E10 and E15 gasoline blends. “We are approaching commercialization with a technology that is first of its kind,
October 2, 2015
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by Paul Bunje (NRG COSIA) More than a decade ago, a group of researchers published a landmark study showing the correlation between human development and energy consumption. The conclusion? Industrialized countries and those that have been growing quickly in recent decades have all benefitted from affordable, reliable energy—primarily in the
September 29, 2015
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by Jeremy Plester (The Guardian) Imagine if waste carbon dioxide in the air could be turned into useful products such as fuels, building materials or even baking powder. At a stroke it would help get rid of a greenhouse gas, slow down climate change and make money from a major pollutant.
September 28, 2015
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(Algenol/Ethanol Producer Magazine) Offering ethanol made from algae for the first time commercially, Algenol Biotech LLC and Protec Fuel Management LLC have entered into an agreement to market and distribute ethanol from Algenol’s Fort Myers, Florida., commercial demonstration module. The two will also offer Algenol’s future 18 million gallons per year
September 14, 2015
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by Joanne Ivancic* (Alberta Council of Technologies/Advanced Biofuels USA) Myths and misunderstandings about biofuels abound. You’ve heard them–food vs. fuel, land use change, energy return on energy invested, decreased mileage, harmful to engines, and more. Nevertheless, although fossil feedstock is finite, before we run out, extraction will become more dangerous,
September 14, 2015
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by Robert F. Service (Science Magazine) Stuart Licht has designed the ultimate recycling machine. The solar reactor that he and colleagues built in his lab at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., takes carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere—a byproduct of fossil fuel combustion—and uses the energy in sunlight to turn
September 14, 2015
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by Robert F. Service (Science Magazine) Liquid fuels aren’t the only things made from oil. Chemical companies start with oil to make thousands of different products, including plastics and pharmaceuticals. Most of these other commodities are worth more than fuels. So researchers and companies are also working to use renewable energy
September 14, 2015
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Why not reduce atmospheric CO2 by capturing it? Why pay $500-$1000 per ton to reduce CO2 via electric cars, if you could pay 80% less via a direct capture of greenhouse gases. Can it succeed? How, when, and how much? The Digest investigates. In western
September 9, 2015
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by Padraig Belton (BBC) … German company Sunfire produced its first batches of so-called e-diesel in April. Federal Minister of Education and Research, Johanna Wanka, put a few litres in her car, to celebrate. And the Canadian company Carbon Engineering has just built a pilot plant to suck one to two
September 4, 2015
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) It’s not just fish meal, it’s happy meal — for investors, we hear. As Calysta pivots towards methane-to-protein and supersizes its business plan, we visit with CEO Alan Shaw to find out who’s lovin’ it. … For now, Alan (Shaw)’s gone over to methane; that’s
September 3, 2015
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Oberon Fuels is launching DME (dimethyl ether) in North America as a clean-burning, alternative to diesel. Using various, domestic feedstocks such as food and green waste and natural gas, Oberon has developed a modular, small-scale process that cost-effectively converts a variety of methane DME is
September 2, 2015
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) No fossil fuel, no biomass, low carbon, no kidding. — … The top 10 new technologies. Note: Some amazing technologies such as Industrial Microbes, Trelys, Kiverdi and Mango Materials fell outside the concept for this rankings — generally because of a focus on chemicals, nutraceuticals, proteins
September 2, 2015
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Which microbes achieve a better, faster, cheaper transformation of the world around us? … Down there in the mud, too small to be seen with the naked eye, are some of your new best friends. Some of the most colorful and transformative little varmints that,
July 31, 2015
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In California, Newlight Technologies has signed a 20-year take-or-pay off-take agreement with Vinmar International for 1 billion pounds of AirCarbon PHA. Critical to the deal? Newlight’s catalyst aims to transform the economics of PHA-based plastics, solving low yields and high cost issues that have kept
July 14, 2015
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by Kelly Taylor (Chronicle Herald) … Still, ethanol does have some advantages, including lower net greenhouse gas emissions due to its recycling of carbon-dioxide emitted by today’s plants (or factories), as opposed to oil, which is releasing the CO2 of plants and animals that grew millions of years ago. … So,
May 29, 2015
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by Osaretin Omorodion* (Advanced Biofuels USA) During late March 2015, the US Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) offered what amounted to a seminar for the public consisting of a series of presentations from industry professionals and researchers from various bioenergy projects. The presenters came to the Washington,
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Massachusetts, news arrives from Joule that the company’s CO2-recycled ethanol meets US and European fuel specifications. No one is dying of surprise that they would do so, but getting Joule fuels registered for commercial sale is an important step towards commercialization of the technology,
May 11, 2015
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Massachusetts, the remarkable journey of Joule Unlimited towards commercial-scale continued to add exciting chapters with the news that the company has closed on $40 million in private equity and venture debt financing, supporting the company’s growth towards commercialization. The round was led by
May 11, 2015
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by Richard E. Engler, Ph.D. (Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. and The Acta Group) When I meet people from bioeconomy companies, I ask them about their products’ status under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The most common answers I receive are: “TSCA doesn’t apply because our product is not toxic,” “TSCA
April 27, 2015
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(TopSpeed.com) According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, carbon dioxide levels are at an 800,000-year high, but what if we could pluck CO2 particles out of thin air to use as a raw material for a carbon-neutral fuel? It’s not a pipe dream, because it’s exactly what Audi is
April 24, 2015
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In California, a new UC Berkeley study shows that if biomass electricity production is combined with carbon capture and sequestration in the western United States, by 2050 power generators could reduce emissions up to 145 percent from 1990 levels, even while retaining gas- or coal-burning
February 11, 2015
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Aviation biofuels on the rise, in the skies” tops the trend list; drop-in and cellulosic ethanol projects; M&A and cap raises, and action from strategic investors and customers dominate the headlines this year. You might know it as EAME or EMEA, but its some combination
December 29, 2014
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(Algae Industry Magazine) Algenol Biofuels has been named the recipient of the 2014 Global Energy Award for Industry Leadership in Biofuels, presented by PLATTS Global Energy Awards. PLATTS, a global provider of information for the energy industry, received more than 200 applicants from more than 25 different countries and selected
December 17, 2014
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Take CO2, add water and an energy source: voila, Fuels & Chemicals from Microbial Dairies. We revisit 3 top practitioners of the art and one outlier, and their progress. … There are a number of technologies based on the dairy model, or “milking mode”, where the
December 5, 2014
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(Audi) New Audi activity in the development of CO2-neutral fuels; Pilot plant for e-diesel production opened in Dresden; Audi partnership with Climeworks and sunfire Audi is active in the development of CO2-neutral, synthetic fuels. The latest project is a pilot plant in Dresden that produces diesel fuel from water, CO2 and green
November 26, 2014
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by Andrew Hard (Digital Trends) … Now Audi has announced the development of “e-diesel,” a CO2-neutral fuel made from sustainable raw materials like air, water, and electricity. Like e-gas, e-diesel is created by combining hydrogen and CO2. Using a method called air capturing — a technology developed by Swiss company Climeworks —
November 21, 2014
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Sapphire Energy’s new multi-market product approach Joule’s breakthrough photosynthetic efficiency Cellana – multi-products for algae, just like petroleum READ MORE
November 12, 2014
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by Erin Voegele (Ethanol Producer Magazine) A new agricultural outlook report published by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations predicts that the consumption and production of biofuels will increase significantly through 2023. The report, titled “OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2014,”
July 21, 2014
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Could a liquid fuel technology emerge that connects solar PV to the efficiency of electric engines — but, this time with long driving range and near-instant refueling instead of laborious recharging? And, could the liquid fuel be made from the very waste CO2 that bedevils
July 17, 2014
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … From Massachusetts, word arrived from Joule this week that the EPA has favorably reviewed the company’s Microbial Commercial Activity Notice for Joule’s first commercial ethanol-producing catalyst. This clears the catalyst for commercial use at the company’s demonstration plant in New Mexico, the company says. There’s
July 3, 2014
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by Will Dunham (Reuters Africa) … The scientists said their process turns carbon monoxide gas into liquid ethanol with the help of an electrode made of a form of copper. They said the new technique may be more environmentally friendly and efficient than the current method. Critics say that growing crops for
April 29, 2014
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) On ABLC’s opening morning, we have some of the top slides -an inside look from Inbicon, Ensyn, GranBio, Sapphire Energy, LanzaTech – hot topics such as product portfolios, refinery integration, policy cliffs, the use of biomass, and opportunities for US-Brazilian cooperation on technology, feedstock and
April 25, 2014
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by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Sweetwater Energy and Proterro, two companies using widely different approaches, aim for low-cost sugar that may give today’s corn ethanol plants a glide path into advanced ethanol production. They’re in different stages, but share similar promise. Fundamentally, ethanol production is about feeding the insatiable
March 12, 2014
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(US Department of Energy) In 2013, BETO implemented a comprehensive external review of its project portfolio through a Project Peer Review and Program Management Review. Results of this peer review process inform the Office’s strategic planning, budget formulation, FOA development, and other budget and funding decisions. The Final Peer Review
March 5, 2014
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Photobioreactor is a key innovation in Proterro’s patented sugar-making process now deployed at the company’s pilot plant in Orlando, Florida In New Jersey, the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued a notice of allowance to Proterro, Inc., for a device patent that protects
February 24, 2014
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Beta Renewables, Abengoa, Enerkem, Proterro among the winners for Project of the Year — as residues and waste are keys to the big wins. For Fuel of the Year, Renewable Chemical of the Year, Product of the Year, Yield Improvement, Process Improvement and more –
January 3, 2014
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The technology is there. Demand for alternative fuels, chemicals and materials is there. Feedstock is expensive. In so many of the signature developments announced around the world this year, there’s been an EU technology in the mix. Whether it is the host of EU technologies
December 27, 2013
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(BusinessWire/Proterro) The United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued U.S. Patent No. 8,597,914 to Proterro, Inc., protecting Proterro’s unique, biosynthetic sugar-making process. The only biofeedstock company that makes sugar instead of extracting it from crops or deconstructing cellulosic materials, Proterro has developed a process that integrates unique transgenic sugar-producing
December 9, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …The new technologies that come along have to provide pressure, temperature and feedstock at their own cost. So it’s the cost of those three elements, competing against the cost of locating, drilling and pumping. In recent years, the gap has narrowed considerably — the science
November 5, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Next-gen biofuels technologies may be key to making the International Space Station cost effective — not to mention, other destinations in the NASA agenda. Which may explain why a high-tech algae outfit, Evodos, is advertising on a Star Trek wallpaper site. Whether your attention is
October 22, 2013
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by Tim Stephens (University of California Santa Cruz) A novel device that uses only sunlight and wastewater to produce hydrogen gas could provide a sustainable energy source while improving the efficiency of wastewater treatment. A research team led by Yat Li, associate professor of chemistry at the University of California,
October 18, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) As ABLC-Next concludes, here is the first installment in a review of the hottest slides, stories, intrigue and perspective from the Big Conversation amongst the bioeconomy’s elite. … (see these slides and others here, here, here, here and here.) Kef Kasdin, CEO, Proterro Kasdin showed some of the fiurst images seen
October 15, 2013
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(Proterro) The biofeedstock company also validates low fabrication cost and completes preliminary design, layout, and cost estimate for demonstration-scale plant. – Proterro, Inc., the only biofeedstock company that actually makes sucrose instead of extracting it from crops or deconstructing cellulosic materials, has met key new development milestones. “We scaled up our
October 2, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … Long-term, there are numerous opportunities for developing the right kind of renewable feedstocks based on careful development of agricultural markets and gaining grower adoption. But anyone who has been through the wringer in trying to gain adoption for crops like jatropha, camelina or switchgrass can
September 26, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … “What you really are in the business of,” Aemetis CEO Eric McAfee reflects, “is capturing the arbitrage between the commodity price of your most expensive feedstock — and the price of your finished molecule plus the D value. That’s the RIN value in the Renewable
September 9, 2013
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by Alan Ohnsman (Bloomberg) …Mimicking the way plants turn sunlight and carbon dioxide in the air into energy and oxygen, the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis at the California Institute of Technology is in a race to trump nature and slow global warming. Nate Lewis, a Caltech professor and solar energy research
August 23, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Upstream, downstream, processing, policy, finance – opportunities and challenges abound in the bioeconomy – but which challenges are the most intractable and daunting of them all? In today’s part 2, #5 through #1. 5. The blend wall …Solutions? Here sayeth the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development
August 21, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …The financing of biofuels is founded, to put it as simply as possible, upon the economics of substitution. On the one hand, there’s the price of energy currently locked inside biomass; on the other hand, the price of energy currently locked inside crude oil. The
July 16, 2013
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by Carl Franzen (The Verge) …Chang-Yeob Lee of the Royal College of Art wants to radically transform London’s BT Tower at some point in the future, equipping it with exterior carbon fiber and steel rigging, designed to capture and convert air pollution into sustainable biofuel, Dezeen reported. The BT Tower is
Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Is the ultimate industrial fuel system going to be based on electricity, waste CO2 and brackish water – to return society to the days of energy abundance? It will take a mighty production microorganism, but R&D is well underway and a path is becoming clearer. …One
May 28, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Beyond biomass, beyond fossil fuels, beyond light itself. And now, the direct production of drop-in biofuel blendstocks. All available from a microbial “cow”. This week in California, a research team from Shota Atsumi’s lab at the University of California, Davis have reported that they engineered
May 23, 2013
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by Erin Voegele (Ethanol Producer Magazine) The International Energy Agency Bioenergy Task 39 group recently published a report that outlines progress on more than 100 advanced biofuel projects under development worldwide. The report, titled “Status of Advanced Biofuels Demonstration Facilities in 2012,” is the second edition published by the group.
May 8, 2013
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by Erin Voegele (Biomass Magazine) On April 23 Joule Unlimited announced it was selected as a 2013 Bloomberg New Energy Pioneer by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The award aims to recognize game-changing clean energy companies. A total of 10 winners were announced this year. Joule was the only biorefining company
April 26, 2013
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(US Department of Energy) The Bioenergy Technologies Office 2013 Project Peer Review will take place at the Hilton Alexandria Hotel from Monday, May 20, 2013, to Thursday, May 23, 2013. The peer review process will provide an opportunity for external experts from industry, academia, and government to review the projects
April 25, 2013
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by Pavel Molchanov (Raymond James and Associates/Biofuels Digest) …There is no question that there have been growing pains along the way, more than we would have hoped, but the industry continues along its trajectory towards scale. We expect 2013 to be a critical period as a wide variety of Gen2 biofuels approach
April 22, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The International Energy Agency, through its Task 39 group, has published its 207-page report on the “Status of Advanced Biofuels Demonstration Facilities in 2012″. The report, in its pages, contains detailed project summaries as well as summary tables that track the company, location, company, feedstocks,
April 5, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) A numbers of readers responding to “Biofuels from a raging fireball” (Friday’s Top Story, on research work with the raging fireball, Pyrococchus furiosus, to make biofuels and renewable chemicals from hydrogen gas and CO2) raised the question, where is all the hydrogen going to come
April 2, 2013
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On July 31–August 1, 2013, US Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office and Advanced Biofuels USA will co-host the sixth annual biomass conference, Biomass 2013: How the Advanced Bioindustry is Reshaping American Energy, at the Washington, D.C., Convention Center. This year’s conference will highlight the successes of the bioenergy industry
March 28, 2013
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by James Hataway (University of Georgia) Excess carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere created by the widespread burning of fossil fuels is the major driving force of global climate change, and researchers the world over are looking for new ways to generate power that leaves a smaller carbon footprint. Now,
March 27, 2013
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(The Economist) …A report published last year by the American Physical Society (APS) put the cost of extracting and storing carbon dioxide using an air-capture system based on known technology at between $600 and $800 a tonne. That is about 80 times the current price of European carbon credits. At
March 27, 2012
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