(U.S. Department of Energy)  Today (September 20, 2017), U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry announced that the Department of Energy (DOE) has selected eight projects to negotiate for up to $15 million in total DOE funding to …

(CNH Industrial/PR Newswire)  A sustainable vision for the future of farming was unveiled today at the Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois, USA. It came proposed in the form of a methane powered concept tractor …

by Lorenz Bauer (Lee Enterprises Consulting/Biofuels Digest) … Methanol and bioeconomies are two of the buzz words of the last decade. They had their origin in the “peak oil” scare and the predicted sky rocketing …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Methane in biogas offers a renewable alternative to natural gas as a feedstock and intermediate in bioprocesses. The US DOE is supporting a development effort led by NatureWorks in collaboration …

by Liz Gyekye  (Bioenergy Insight)  The “first” pan-African expert network on food and non-food biomass has been launched by African and German researchers.
BiomassNet aims to ensure that food security and environmental sustainability are not compromised …

(Bioenergy Insight)  Lorries using the UK’s first gas filling station emitted 84% less carbon dioxide (CO2) than equivalent diesel vehicles, a newly released study claims.

The UK’s biggest gas network, Cadent, commissioned independent analysis of the …

(Bioenergy Insight)  A new plant for the production of biomethane and carbon dioxide has been inaugurated and started operation in Montello, Italy. The biogas upgrading plant is the ‘first’ in Italy able to produce biomethane …

by Nathan Skolski (University of British Columbia Okanagan) New research from a professor of engineering at UBC’s Okanagan Campus might hold the key to biofuels that are cheaper, safer and much faster to produce.
“Methane is a …

by Matt Mace  (edie.net) EXCLUSIVE: Biomethane generated from food and drinks process residues is emerging as a viable low-carbon alternative to diesel used in commercial vehicles, but a lack of political clarity has left the food …

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 …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  As we wrote in our Digest Top 10 Predictions for 2017:
Whether it is Intrexon, Calysta or potentially Synata Bio, companies have been switching to methane as a source of cleaner …

(Commercial Alternative Aviation Fuels Initiative) The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently released the aviation biofuels report, “Potential Avenues for Significant Biofuels Penetration in the U.S. Aviation Market.” The report finds that it is possible …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Can we enable the sustainable, nationwide production of biofuels that are compatible with transportation infrastructure, displace a share of petroleum‐derived fuels to reduce U.S. dependence on oil, and encourage the …

by RNG Coalition (Biomass Magazine) A new jobs study reveals that deploying trucks fueled by renewable natural gas could create up to 130,000 new jobs and add $14 billion to California’s economy. The ‘RNG Jobs Report’ …

(American Chemical Society/EurekAlert!)  Chicken is a favorite, inexpensive meat across the globe. But the bird’s popularity results in a lot of waste that can pollute soil and water. One strategy for dealing with poultry poop …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In our March Madness webinar series, a popular entry has been the session on “butanol and other 4C molecules: prospects and progress”. We looked at a number of companies in …

by Amelia Templeton  (OPB FM) For years, the sewage flushed away by Portland households has decomposed into methane gas captured by the city’s wastewater plant and turned into energy and electricity.
Now, the city’s wastewater agency, the Bureau …

by Meghan Sapp (Biofuels Digest)  In Canada, the long-awaited MSW-to-biofuel plant in Surrey is preparing for commissioning in June, making it North America’s first plant of such kind. Waste collection trucks and other city vehicles …

(Edie.net)  SEAT originally partnered with Spanish firm Aqualia to launch the SMART Green Gas project, aimed at creating 100% renewable biofuels to be used in compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles.
The partnership sees wastewater turned into …

(Bioenergy Insight)  US-based science and engineering centre Argonne National Laboratory has developed technology that synergistically uses two waste biomass streams to generate two bioproducts and enhance the process of anaerobic digestion (AD).
According to the organisation, …

by Joanne Ivancic* (Advanced Biofuels USA)  This morning at the “Defense Production Act (DPA) Advanced Drop-in Biofuels Production Project Round 2 Industry Roundtable” held at the US Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC, Zia Haq, …

(U.S. Department of Energy)  … U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announced the publication of a report, titled Biofuels and Bioproducts from Wet and Gaseous Waste Streams: Challenges and Opportunities. The report is …

(U.S. Department of Energy)  With joint funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Strategic Programs, Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), and Vehicle Technologies Office, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) published a report titled Analyzing …

(Scrivener Publishing)  The most comprehensive and up-to-date treatment of all the possible aspects for biofeedstock processing and the production of energy from biofeedstocks.
Audience
Chemical engineers, petroleum engineers, process engineers, students in chemical engineering, biotechnology, petroleum engineering, …

by Umberto Bacchi (Reuters)  A British supermarket has become the first retailer in Europe to use a new type of tank that keeps trucks motoring on fuel made from food waste for 500 miles, almost twice …

(Latin American Herald Tribune)  Two Brazilian researchers are expected to arrive Thursday in Montevideo, setting a distance record for a vehicle powered by biomethane, a gas obtained from anaerobic digestion of organic matter.
On arrival, the …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Velocys enables modular gas-to-liquids and biomass-to-liquids plants to convert unconventional, remote and problem gas and waste biomass into valuable, drop-in liquid fuels.
After 15 years and some $300 million in investment, …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Oklahoma, the team behind the ENVIA Energy gas-to-liquids plant confirmed that the first Fischer-Tropsch product has been successfully produced at the company’s first commercial-scale plant in Oklahoma City.
What makes it …

by John Downey (Charlotte Business Journal)  Piedmont Natural Gas has reached an interconnection agreement with Optima KV for construction of natural gas lines that would put swine-waste gas on Piedmont’s system for use by Duke Energy …

by Liz Gyekye (Biofuels International)  A UK sustainable energy company is the first ever to have successfully converted actual landfill gas into usable diesel fuel with no fossil fuel additives, during recent trials.
Renovare Fuels, which …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Last week we reported that Toray Industries has teamed with Mitsui to produce cellulosic sugars from bagasse leftover from the sugar production process at Thai sugar mills.
The companies will invest up …

(U.S. Department of Energy)  Today (January 10, 2017) the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announced the publication of a report, titled Biofuels and Bioproducts from Wet and Gaseous Waste Streams: Challenges and …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Outgoing Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack put it best: “The bioeconomy is a catalyst for economic development in rural America, creating new jobs and providing new markets for farmers and ranchers. …

by John D. Forcier (Lee Enterprises Consulting, Inc./Biofuels Digest)  Most trash and recycled waste materials are being processed on a regional basis to maximize the economy of scale. There have been various attempts to gather …

by Dina Bacovsky, Andrea Sonnleitner (Task39 Newsletter)  …  Domestic FAME (fatty acid methyl ester) production in 2014 was 292,009 tonnes based on rapeseed (72%), used cooking oil (19%), animal fat (8%) and fatty acids (1%). The feedstock …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Oberon Fuels is facilitating the growth of the DME transportation industry by converting biogas and other hydrocarbon rich waste streams to higher valued commodities such as DME. Using its proprietary …

(Infrastructure Canada & Government of Quebec/Biomass Magazine)  Officials of the governments of Canada and Quebec visited the city of Varennes on Dec. 19 to break ground for construction of the biomethanation facilities of the Société …

(U.S. Department of Energy)  The Regional Feedstock Partnership (the Partnership)—a multi-institutional collaboration of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the U.S. Department of Agriculture, representatives from land-grant universities, and industry—was first established to address issues …

by Lauren Tyler (NGT News)  A team from the University of California Davis conducted a study for the California Air Resources Board examining the feasibility of producing large quantities of renewable natural gas (RNG) fuels …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  LanzaTech has developed a fully sustainable integrative gas to fuels and chemicals platform that has no impact on food, water security or high biodiversity land use.
LanzaTech’s gas fermentation platform disrupts …

(Austrian Network Biofuels Newsletter)  The European Biogas Association (EBA) has published a new brochure aiming to serve as an introduction to biomethane in transport, going through its benefits and the challenges that lie ahead. Different …

(Air Liquide/Biomass Magazine)  Air Liquide will design, construct and operate its first landfill gas (LFG) to renewable natural gas (RNG) purification plant in the U.S. at the Northeast Mississippi Landfill (NEML), in Walnut, Mississippi. The …

by Bernard Cooker (Chemical Processing Solutions/Biofuels Digest)  This is a review of the biomass-fed chemical process projects to renewable chemicals which were published in Chemical Engineering Progress (CEP) and Chemical and Engineering News (C&EN) from 1/1/16 …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In Minnesota, Cargill and Calysta revealed that they will co-create the world’s largest gas fermentation facility in Memphis, Tennessee to produce Calysta’s FeedKind protein, a family of sustainable, traceable nutritional …

(Future Market Insights/PR NewsWire)  Future Market Insights delivers key insights on the global renewable methanol market in its latest report titled “Renewable Methanol Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2016-2026”. According to the report, global sales …

by Ralph Vartabedian (Los Angeles Times)  …
The problem began after the AQMD issued a complex 39-page rule requiring that by no later than Jan. 1, landfill methane power plant emissions meet the same standard as other types of engines …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  One of the newer arrivals in Florida’s small bio-based industry is Culture Biosystems, which produces attractive economics for its advanced algae  cultivation platform which enables large-scale production of algae to …

(Microvi)  Microvi has been awarded a grant from the US Department of Energy for a new groundbreaking biocatalytic technology that converts methane and carbon dioxide in biogas into valuable liquid chemicals, the company announced today.
The …

by John D. Forcier (Lee Enterprises Consulting/Biofuels Digest)  Farm-based anaerobic digestion systems have adapted in various regions of the world. The “European Model” relies on cash crops and manures with very high incentives and feed-in-tariffs. …

(Bioenergy Insight)   …  The project seeks to develop an innovative process for enhancing bioenergy production from municipal, agricultural, and industrial waste, and a progress report was presented at Biometa 2016, held in Barcelona in …

by Jim Lane and Ron Cascone (Biofuels Digest/NEXANT)  Recently, we held a popular webinar on Renewables and the Advanced Bioeconomy with NEXANT principal Ron Cascone, for which you can see the slides here.
During the webinar, we received …

by Danilo Gusmão de Quadros* and Joanne Ivancic** (Advanced Biofuels USA) After Dan Quadros’ oft-repeated criticism about biofuels education and the big gap between research and the job market, he was pleased to experience the best …

(CNBC MoneyControl)  Despite low prices globally, India at present is incurring a massive Rs 4.5 lakh crore on crude imports which was earlier Rs 7.5 lakh crore, Gadkari said addressing a conference on methanol economy …

(SUEZ)  At the Valenton plant (Val-de-Marne), Belaïde Bedreddine, the President of the inter-departmental syndicate for the sanitation of the Paris conurbation (SIAAP) with the administrators and Jean-Louis Chaussade, CEO of SUEZ, today presented BioGNVAL, the …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … The BBC is reporting that although microplastics form only 0.01% to 4.1% of the total plastic waste dumped into the seas, researchers have been especially concerned about microplastics because of …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  As Irshad Ahmed observed recently in The Digest, “until such time that we internalize the true life-cycle costs of extracting and using fossil fuels, and distinguishing fossil-BTUs from bio-BUTs, we will …

(GNA Journal)  GNA hosted its second-annual Rethink Methane Symposium on June 29-30 in Sacramento, California, which gathered more than 250 attendees to look at impediments and obstacles to harnessing the state’s substantial renewable methane feedstocks …

(American Biogas Council/Biomass Magazine)  Last week, Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Pat Robert, R-Kan., introduced new bipartisan legislation, the Agriculture Environmental Stewardship Act (S 3248). This latest bill is a companion to identical House legislation …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  What’s the Department of Energy working on with respect to feedstocks? The Bioenergy Technologies Office’s Alison Goss-Eng answered the question in this update, given at ABLC Feedstocks. In this deck, she looks …

by Nora Goldstein  (BioCycle)  …  SSFSC (South San Francisco Scavenger Company) has converted 27 of the 40 trucks in its fleet to run on compressed natural gas (CNG). It uses Cummins Westport CNG engines. The …

(El Paso Herald Post)  … On June 15, through a LEDA grant from the City of Tucumcari, ERD purchased the former ethanol plant at 1600 Rock Island Road. In partnership with Robert Lopez, a Tucumcari farmer, …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The indictment was handed down this week in The Motley Fool, which averred:  While investors have been told to expect the natural gas-to-fuels platform to be commercialized by 2018, real-world indicators …

(Bioenergy Insight)  German carmaker Volkswagen has showcased its algae biogas-powered vehicle at a biogas project based in El Torno Chiclana, a town in south-west Spain.
The presentation of the test vehicle was unveiled at a biogas …

by Anna Simet (Biomass Magazine)  A bill (H.R. 5489) recently introduced to the House Ways and Means Committee on Space, Science and Technology would add more biogas applications to the list of technologies that qualify for …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)Dimethyl ether has several fuel properties that make it attractive for use in diesel engines. It has a very high cetane number, which is a measure of the fuel’s ignitibility in …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Poor DME. it burns like natural gas, handles like LPG, powers like diesel, and it’s as well-known as a good place for sewing machine repair in Burundi.
San Diego-based Oberon Fuels …

(Bioenergy Insight)  Ireland-based renewable energy developer Stream BioEnergy has commenced construction in Northern Ireland on a new biogas plant that will process large volumes of chicken litter.
The plant, to be located just outside the town …

(Environmental and Energy Study Institute) On June 16, Representative Tom Reed (R-NY) and Ron Kind (D-WI) along with 12 Republican and Democratic co-sponsors introduced the Agriculture Environmental Stewardship Act (H.R. 5489), which would expand the eligibility …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  This analysis was presented by Jonny Rogers at ABLC Feedstocks 2016, and is the result of is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Department of Energy, Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), …

by Megan Greenwalt (Waste 360) With municipalities increasingly collecting organic waste, finding ways to convert that waste into clean energy is a hot topic in the solid waste industry.
A multitude of techniques are in use or being …

by Brooks Hays (UPI)  Researchers in South Korea have turned a bathroom into a laboratory for sustainable energy. They’re turning human waste into biofuel.
The experimental bathroom features a waterless toilet system that breaks down human …

by Anna Simet (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Not only does Tulare County, California-based Calgren Renewable Fuels LLC manufacture renewable transportation fuel and utilize renewable energy to power its operations, but starting next month, the plant will also …

by Nancy Hicks (Lincoln Journal Star)  The city’s public works staff members have a picture they like to point to when explaining their latest project. It shows city bus riders in the UK — sitting …

(US Department of Agriculture)  Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $8.8 million to boost the production of advanced biofuels and sustain jobs at renewable energy facilities …

(Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative) We are proud to announce the 10th Anniversary of the initiation of the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI) as of May 24, 2016, and more importantly, to reflect on the …

(ACS Green Chemistry Institute)  Global Bioenergies is one of the few companies in the world and the only one in Europe to develop a process to convert renewable resources into hydrocarbons through fermentation. The company …

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 …

(U.S. Department of Energy)  Recognizing the importance of biofuels to energy and climate security, the Energy Department today announced up to $90 million in project funding focused on designing, constructing and operating integrated biorefinery facilities. …

by Erin Voegele (Biomass Magazine)  The Renewable Fuels Association has released an analysis of recently published data on California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, noting grain-based ethanol provided nearly half of the greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions …

(Vermont Public Service Board/Biomass Magazine) The Vermont Public Service Board recently authorized the construction and operation of a renewable natural gas (RNG) facility on a farm in Salisbury, Vermont. The project will use primarily manure, corn …

by Valerie Sarisky-Reed (Department of Energy)  … Unfortunately, the American Society of Civil Engineers Infrastructure Report Card gives the wastewater infrastructure in America a D-grade, and says “capital investment needs for the nation’s wastewater and stormwater systems …

by Clare Lukehurst and Angela Bywater (IEA Bioenergy)  This report explores the viability of small scale anaerobic digestion for livestock farming where there is a need to deal with animal manure and slurry in a manner that …

by Dan Quadros* (Advanced Biofuels USA)  This article is the result of a technical trip to Germany and the UK to participate in strategic meetings and visit labs; to attend seminars, an expo, a short …

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 …

(Netzwerk Biotreibstoffe/IEA)  Renewable Power-to-Gas (RE-P2G) technologies like renewable methane or renewable hydrogen can substitute fossil conventional and alternative fuels (natural gas or liquefied natural gas) and thus decrease the share of transport-related emissions (NOx, particles, …

(Task 39 Newsletter) …  This article briefly introduces the regulative framework in the EU and in Germany before addressing current developments and perspectives of conventional and advanced biofuels.  …  The main instruments for decarbonizing the …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  A new generation of advanced technologies, based primarily in the United States but active in Europe and around the world, is changing our way of thinking about what a factory …

by Lucas Morais  (See News)  Brazilian power utility Copel (BVMF:CPLE6) is partnering Brazil’s International Centre for Renewable Energy (CIBiogas) to develop a 480-kW biogas plant in Parana state.
The project, which will use waste from pig …

(Green Car Congress)  California Air Resources Board (ARB) staff posted 32 new Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) fuel pathway applications for comments at the LCFS website. Among the multiple applications for different processing pathways of …

by Anna Simet (Biomass Magazine)  Construction of phase one of Roeslein Alternative Energy’s $80 million anaerobic digestion project is about halfway complete and on schedule to be operational by the middle of next year, the …

by Joanne Ivancic* (Advanced Biofuels USA)  A time for taking stock and giving thanks; for appreciating the value of creating a truly sustainable renewable energy future.
A recent press release, Vapor Capture System Fabricated by Greenbelt Resources …

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 …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Oberon Fuels is facilitating the growth of the DME transportation industry by converting biogas and other hydrocarbon rich waste streams to higher valued commodities such as DME. Using its proprietary …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Intrexon’s proprietary methanotroph bioconversion platform has the potential to transform the gas-to-liquids (GTL) industry through use of optimized microbial cell lines to convert natural gas into higher carbon compounds such …

(Roundtable of Sustainable Biomaterials/Biofuels Digest)  Camelina sativa; Carinata; Pongamia; Macauba palm tree; Gliricidia sepium; Starchy wastewater; Industrial waste gases; Seed tobacco  READ MORE

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In the EU, the European Biomass Association (AEBIOM) publicly released its annual Statistical Report, with MEPs Miapetra Kumpula-Natri (S&D, FI) and Benedek Jávor (Greens/EFA, HU) hosting. “Statistics confirm that, beyond …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  The high-octane idea that inexplicably struggles, the mid-grade idea that rocks.  Here, we look at the critical success factors that provide tail-winds for some technologies and head-winds for others.
…
To explain …

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, …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Methanol is gaining momentum as a low-carbon fuels target, as Enerkem starts producing in Edmonton.  Why methanol, why now? Here, we look at the technology and market rationale for this …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In a remarkable presentation at the Infocast Methane Bioengineering Summit in San Diego this week (and earlier at the Advanced Bioeconomy Feedstocks Conference in New Orleans, in June), Farmatic CEO …

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 …