Feedstock – Advanced BioFuels USA

Raízen Raising the Roof on 2 New Cellulosic Ethanol Plants with $395M Investment

by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) Almost a year ago, The Digest reported that Raízen was rising with about $1.15 billion raised in the biggest Brazil IPO of the year. And this year is no exception to the continued Rising of Raízen with the just announced BRL$2 billion (about USD$395 million) investment

May 16, 2022 Read Full Article

The Limits of Forest Carbon Sequestration

by Julia K. Green and Trevor F. Keenan (Science Magazine) Although nations are grappling with reducing carbon emissions to minimize climate change risks, they actually need to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere if the goal is to keep warming to less than 1.5°C (1). Although there has been substantial

May 13, 2022 Read Full Article

Salmon Farm Waste Fuels Motor Launch

(The Fish Site) In a world first, a fuel produced from waste from Scottish salmon farms has been successfully used to power a motor launch. — The 100 percent renewable fuel demonstration was the culmination of SALMO (Sustainable Aquaculture Leading to Marine Opportunities), a Maritime Research and Innovation UK (MarRI-UK)

May 11, 2022 Read Full Article

Bunge, CoverCress, Chevron Taking Us into the Future and into the Past

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … When news arrived that Bunge and CoverCress signed commercial partnership to support the expansion of CCI’s CoverCress technology, a new winter oilseed crop, and that Bunge Ventures recently increased its stake in CCI through a Series C-1 round, we were suitably impressed. Buried in the

May 10, 2022 Read Full Article

Wood Fractionation Scale-up in Estonia: The Digest’s 2022 Multi-Slide Guide to Fibenol

by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) A full bioenergy value chain can be a beautiful thing. Check out this ABLC slide guide from Fibenol’s Chief Development Officer on how residual wood can be turned into valuable things like cellulosic sugars, hydrolytic lignin, and specialty cellulose, and more. READ MORE

May 9, 2022 Read Full Article

Low Carbon Cover Crop, Cash Crop: The Digest’s 2022 Multi-Slide Guide to CoverCress

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) At ABLC this spring, Mike DeCamp, CEO of CoverCress shared this emerging seed technology slide guide all about a novel winter oilseed crop that enables Midwest farmers to grow three crops in two seasons! With an ultra low carbon intensity score, find out why CoverCress

May 4, 2022 Read Full Article

Oilseed Cover Crops Are a Low Carbon Solution for Feedstocks in Biodiesel and Renewable Diesel

(Brownfield Ag News) In this episode of Managing for Profit, Alan Weber, an advisor to Clean Fuels Alliance America and a partner with Marciv, discusses future opportunities for oilseeds that provide climate-friendly feedstocks and cover crops. (LISTEN podcast)

May 2, 2022 Read Full Article

Bunge and CoverCress Inc. Announce Commercial Partnership to Meet Growing Demand for Renewable Fuel Feedstocks

(Bunge/CoverCress/Business Wire) Bunge, Chevron Make New Investments in CoverCress Inc. — Bunge (NYSE: BG) and CoverCress Inc. (“CCI”) announced today a unique commercial partnership to bring a new renewable oilseed and animal feed crop to market. The agreement establishes a long-term commercial relationship between the two companies and supports the expansion

April 29, 2022 Read Full Article

Whisky Generates a Lot of Waste. It Could Soon Help Fuel Your Car

by Rebecca Cairns (CNN Business) … But for every liter of whisky, there is a huge amount of waste: around 2.5 kilograms of solid by-products known as draff, 8 liters of liquid known as pot ale, and 10 liters of spent lees, a watery residue. This amounts to 684,000 metric tons of

April 25, 2022 Read Full Article

Giant Grass Miscanthus: Bioethanol Source with Negative CO2 Balance

(University of Hohenheim) European collaborative project led by the University of Hohenheim shows: Combining bioethanol production with carbon storage can effectively reduce CO2. A significant reduction in greenhouse gas is feasible. This is the conclusion reached by researchers at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart. The trick: A combination of bioethanol

April 22, 2022 Read Full Article

Competitive Edge: Algae for Future

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) On this Earth Day, we highlight a very green organization – literally green – Algae for Future. This Portugal-based biotech company has the world’s largest algae cascade raceway and is designing, building, and operating commercial-scale microalgae production facilities. In today’s Digest, an exclusive Digest Q&A with

April 22, 2022 Read Full Article

Illinois Tech Researchers Awarded Grant to Scale Up Innovative Carbon Capture and Conversion Process at the Source

(Illinois Institute of Technology) A team of Illinois Institute of Technology researchers received a grant from ARPA-E to scale up an innovative process of carbon capture and conversion directly from exhaust gas sources such as power plants and industrial sites — Illinois Institute of Technology Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering Mohammad

April 21, 2022 Read Full Article

Pilot Program Works to Turn Algae from Florida Waterways into Fuel

by George Waldenberger and Sarah Wilson (WFTV.com) From fish kills to ongoing high manatee mortality, algae is a major problem for Florida waterways. A pilot program to fight the issue at Lake Jesup is in its second phase, turning algae into biofuel. A barge has been harvesting the soupy green algae from

April 19, 2022 Read Full Article

Turning Wastewater into a Resource: A Graduate Student’s Solution to Climate Change

(UCLA Samueli) These days, civil and environmental engineering doctoral student Kevin Clack spends his time investigating innovative ways to improve water resilience in arid metropolitan regions such as Los Angeles, but he didn’t always know he wanted to pursue a career in engineering. Growing up in Orange County, California, Clack

April 19, 2022 Read Full Article

Ethanol under Attack and Creating Strange Bedfellows

by Damian Mason (The Business of Agriculture) In February of 2022 a “study” caught wide media attention (as it was designed by its sponsors to specifically do). The study, commissioned by National Wildlife Fund, found that corn ethanol is worse for the environment than fuel derived from oil. Groups ranging

April 19, 2022 Read Full Article

Giant Grass Miscanthus: Bioethanol Source with Negative CO2 Balance

(University of Hohenheim) European collaborative project led by the University of Hohenheim shows: Combining bioethanol production with carbon storage can effectively reduce CO2. — A significant reduction in greenhouse gas is feasible. This is the conclusion reached by researchers at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart. The trick: A combination of

April 6, 2022 Read Full Article

AltEn Environmental Pollution: Tracking Contamination around a Closed Ethanol Plant

(University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health) Scientists are investigating the contamination of water, soil, and air caused by a closed ethanol plant that is being sued by the State of Nebraska. Toxic piles of ethanol byproduct — called wet cake — are rotting on the grounds of the

April 5, 2022 Read Full Article

Not Your Average SOS: Research Methods to Respond to and Prevent Algae Crop Collapse

by Daniel B. Fishman and Anne Otwell (U.S. Department of Energy) National laboratories discover the telltale signs of algae distress to target effective treatments and mitigate crop collapse. — Algae are an exciting renewable feedstock for the future of sustainable fuels and products. One particularly interesting application, which the U.S.

April 1, 2022 Read Full Article

Bioconversion of Algae Proteins & Carbs: The Digest’s 2022 Multi-Slide Guide to Sandia National Lab’s Algae Work

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) If you want to know what is being done to overcome current limitations for conversion of algae biomass to fuels and bioproducts by efficient utilization of proteins and carbohydrates, which are the dominant components of algae biomass at high growth rate and more, check out

April 1, 2022 Read Full Article

Honda May Commercialize Carbon Capture Algae

(Bloomberg/Algae Planet) Honda Motor Co. is considering the commercialization of its algae-growing carbon capture technology, reports Shiho Takezawa in Japan’s Nikkei newspaper. The carmaker will test mass production of algae this fall and build a new facility of about 1,000 square meters (10,760 square feet), according to the newspaper. Honda

March 31, 2022 Read Full Article

Planting Trees on Marginal Cropping Country in WA to Produce Biofuel

by Chris McLennan (Farm Online National) Qantas has already started using biofuels in its fleet but wants an Australian industry to develop from trees grown on marginal farming land in the west. — Three big corporate companies have formed an unusual alliance to test out carbon farming in Western Australia. Japanese oil

March 31, 2022 Read Full Article

Increasing Sustainable Aviation Fuel Production with Feedstocks

by Marine Bessoles (ICF) There is pressure on the aviation industry to decarbonize coming from a myriad of sources including investors, passengers, government, and society at large. Popular protests such as the Swedish flygskam (translated in English as “flight shame”) movement combined with the contrail-free skies of the COVID-19 pandemic have

March 29, 2022 Read Full Article

RNG, Renewable Fuels from Solar, Waste Wood & Carbon: The Digest’s 2022 Multi-Slide Guide to Aemetis

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Third generation tech is what Aemetis calls it – using renewable fuels for carbon capture & sequestration siphons carbon from the atmosphere into crops which are converted into renewable fuels, then the solar energy is released as transportation energy while the CO2 from biofuels production

March 28, 2022 Read Full Article

Competitive Edge: AlgEternal Technologies, LLC

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)… The world desperately needs an alternative to fossil hydrocarbons. AlgEternal (www.algeternal.com) solves this problem by growing microalgae at scale faster, more reliably, cleaner and at a lower cost for use as alternative feedstock in multiple products and for carbon capture, water treatment, and soil rejuvenation.

March 25, 2022 Read Full Article

Three Partners, Two Problems, One Bioenergy Research Article Published

by Valerie Sarisky-Reed (U.S. Department of Energy) … The journal Nature Biotechnology recently published a paper featuring cutting-edge work funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO). The article details a carbon-negative platform that uses microorganisms to convert carbon captured from agricultural, industrial, and societal waste streams into useful chemicals.

March 24, 2022 Read Full Article

Facility Design: Managing Residuals From Food Waste Preprocessing

by Jim Miller and Craig Coker (BioCycle Magazine) Much of the reject stream becomes a mix of film plastic, food-soiled cardboard and paper, and smaller pieces of HDPE, PET, PP, and metals. Part II — Preprocessing/depackaging systems are fairly simple in concept, using the “switch” to act on the “code” of

March 24, 2022 Read Full Article

Greener Biofuel Production Beckons

(Chemical Processing) Novel electrocatalyst-based system operates at mild conditions and produces hydrogen — A research team at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, Wash., has developed a patent-pending system that uses a flow cell bioreactor to turn carbon previously considered unrecoverable from so-called biocrude (aqueous waste streams) into valuable

March 24, 2022 Read Full Article

New MSU Research Shows How Biofuel Crops Can Help Mitigate Climate Change When Grown on Land of Otherwise Little Agricultural Value

by Cameron Rudolph (Michigan State University) Newly published research from MSU Foundation Professor Bruno Basso shows how some Midwest farmers can see economic and environmental benefits of growing switchgrass, a biofuel crop, on traditionally less-productive land. — Newly published Michigan State University research details how switchgrass, a biofuel crop, can mitigate

March 24, 2022 Read Full Article

Comments on “Environmental Outcomes of the US Renewable Fuel Standard”

by F. Taheripour, S. Mueller, H. Kwon, M. Khanna, I. Emery, K. Copenhaver, M. Wang (Argonne National Laboratory) The Systems Assessment Center and its collaborators provide a detailed technical review of a recently published article “Environmental Outcomes of the US Renewable Fuel Standard” by Lark et al. (2022). Our review

March 22, 2022 Read Full Article

In Search of a Later Biomass Expiration Date

by Nichole Fitzgerald (U.S. Department of Energy) How Idaho National Laboratory’s Dr. Lynn Wendt has come to understand and mitigate the detrimental impacts of biomass decay after harvest. — Renewable biomass is one of the key clean energy resources that will help manifest a low-carbon future. However, the process of developing

March 21, 2022 Read Full Article

Biodiesel from Wild Castor Oil

by David Bradley (Inderscience/Phys.Org) The seeds of the wild castor oil plant, Ricinus communis, can be converted into biodiesel according to a new study in the International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology. The Mexican research team shows how the requisite transesterification reaction of oil from the seeds using methanol in

March 19, 2022 Read Full Article

Sustainable Scotland: A Scots-born Firm Creating Biofuel from Whisky Waste Has Big Plans for World Domination

by Ilona Amos(The Scotsman) The climate crisis doesn’t need to be all doom and gloom and signal an end to modern life as we know it, according to the entrepreneur behind Scotland’s first and only biorefinery. — Professor Martin Tangney, founder and president of start-up firm Celtic Renewables, says he’s

March 19, 2022 Read Full Article

Low Cost Green Hydrogen: The Digest’s 2022 Multi-Slide Guide to Omni Conversion Technologies

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Producing low-cost hydrogenwith negative CO2 footprint from minimally prepared waste or biomass is what Omni Conversion Technologies is all about. Take a look at this illuminating slide guide on how waste is the new frontier in clean energy, how their gasification and plasma refining system

March 17, 2022 Read Full Article

USA BioEnergy Announces Completion of Forest2Market Study Affirming Availability of Wood Waste for Renewable Fuels Production

(USA BioEnergy) USA BioEnergy Announces Completion of Forest2Market Study Affirming Availability of Wood Waste for Renewable Fuels Production — Forest2Market Confirms Abundant Biomass Supply for New Advanced Biorefinery — USA BioEnergy commissioned Forest2Market to conduct an extensive feedstock study, on behalf of its subsidiary, Texas Renewable Fuels, to confirm the volumes available

March 12, 2022 Read Full Article

UNT BioDiscovery Institute Is One Step Closer to Sustainable Plant-Based Fuel

by Amy Brundeen (University of North Texas) … Helping plants produce C-lignin could lead to crops that are useful for creating an economically feasible plant-based jet fuel, among other applications. The latest findings from (Richrd) Dixon’s lab at UNT’s BioDiscovery Institute, published in the journal Science Advances, could help plant scientists get

March 12, 2022 Read Full Article

Team Pennycress: Regional Institutions Take on Important Environmental, Economic Challenges

by John Moody (Illinois State University/Biobased Diesel Daily) John Sedbrook, a professor of genetics at Illinois State University, is in the midst of a project that may prove to be the most important research of his career. Sedbrook and a team of researchers—comprised of faculty and students—are working to rapidly

March 10, 2022 Read Full Article

Turning CO2 into Shampoo and Lawn Furniture? U of T Startup Doing What ‘No One Has Done Before’

by Tina Adamopoulos (University of Toronto Engineering News) … With a lab currently under construction on U of T’s downtown campus, CERT will soon be able to continue their work where their journey first began. The pilot unit will allow CERT to continue to refine their process in order to

March 10, 2022 Read Full Article

Atlantic Biomass Conversion System Economically Produces High Volumes of Biofuels from Residual Hemp and Cannabis Biomass

(Atlantic Biomass) Atlantic Biomass, LLC has announced results of their Phase I Maryland Energy Innovation Institute Scale-Up project to verify the use of residual hemp biomass for the production of biofuels including sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). Robert Kozak, President of Atlantic Biomass, said the results clearly showed that the very

March 10, 2022 Read Full Article

Sustainability in Times of COVID-19: Converting Face Masks into Valuable Fuel

(Korea University) Researchers propose a new and environmentally beneficial way of upcycling discarded masks into burnable fuel to produce energy — Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of single-use face masks are discarded every day, creating a huge surge in plastic pollution. In a recent study, researchers investigated the feasibility

March 9, 2022 Read Full Article

Could Algae Be the Answer to Aviation’s Big Carbon Problem?

by Jacob Dykes (Geographical) … Hydrogen, in both its liquid and gaseous forms, is light and powerful. If the supply chain can be made greener and cheaper, it’s seen by some as the long-term solution to decarbonising aviation. But others point to its constraints, in terms of both safety and capacity.

March 9, 2022 Read Full Article

Fitec Lands Contract to Build World’s First Avocado Biogas Facility

(Fitec Environmental Technologies Inc./Biogas World) Mexico-based Villa Avocado will digest the waste from their avocado oil production facility to close the loop and create renewable energy. — Fitec Environmental Technologies Inc., a Canadian biogas design and engineering company, has signed a contract to build a biogas facility for Villa Avocado, an

March 8, 2022 Read Full Article

Researchers Find Ways to Turn Bamboo into Biofuel

by Chris Conte (KBZK) Researchers have found a way to turn bamboo into biofuel, a process that could have major implications for the future of the clean energy industry. “This is a simple and yet cost-effective process,” said Ali Salifu, a researcher at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). Originally from Ghana, Salifu understands

March 8, 2022 Read Full Article

Singapore’s JOil the World’s First Corporate to Obtain Gold Standard Sustainability Certification for Its Jatropha Plantation

(Jatropha JOil Singapore Pte Limited/PR Newswire) NGO-backed Gold Standard certification obtained for Ghana plantation; JOil’s proprietary Jatropha varieties a highly productive non-food crop for multiple sustainable industrial applications including biofuel; Second certification following ISCC certification since 2019 Singapore-based Jatropha JOil Singapore Pte Limited (JOil) has become the first corporate to

March 8, 2022 Read Full Article

Artificial Intelligence Predicts Algae Potential as Alternative Energy Source

by Blair Fannin (Texas A&M University/AgriLife Today) Jet fuel, animal feed among potential products from algae — Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists are using artificial intelligence to set a new world record for producing algae as a reliable, economic source for biofuel that can be used as an alternative fuel source

March 7, 2022 Read Full Article

Dev Shrestha: Real-World Data Shows No Food Insecurity or ILUC from Biofuels

by Tammy Klein (Transport Energy Strategies) On this episode of the Fueling the Future podcast, I spoke with Dr. Dev Shrestha of the University of Idaho about the recent paper he co-authored, “Biofuel Impact on Food Prices Index and Land Use Change.” The paper found, among other things that short term food price

March 4, 2022 Read Full Article

Yield10 Bioscience Field Test Results Show Seed Oil Content Increase in Camelina and Canola

(Yield10) Increasing Oil Content in Oilseed Crops is Required to Meet the Projected Demand for Renewable Diesel — Yield10 Bioscience, Inc. (Nasdaq:YTEN) (“Yield10” or the “Company”), an agricultural bioscience company, today announced that 2021 field test results show that the trait C3020 tested in Camelina and C3007 tested in canola produce

March 2, 2022 Read Full Article

De-Risking Biorefinery Scale-up and Startup: The Digest’s 2022 Multi-Slide Guide to FCIC

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The Feedstock-Conversion Interface Consortium is led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) and coordinates efforts among 9 labs – big ones like NREL, ORNL, Sandia, INL and others. Check out the FCIC’s latest slide guide on their current research areas, feedstock

February 28, 2022 Read Full Article

Bioenergy Sorghum’s Roots Can Replenish Carbon in Soil

by Olga Kuchment (Agri-Life Today) Texas A&M AgriLife study shows the annual crop can sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide — The study, “Bioenergy sorghum’s deep roots: A key to sustainable biomass production on annual cropland,” was recently published in GCB Bioenergy. According to the research, bioenergy sorghum hybrids capture and sequester significant amounts of atmospheric

February 24, 2022 Read Full Article

Sorghum: A Sweet Proposition for Sustainable Biofuel

(U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service) Sweet sorghum is best known for the amber-colored syrup that’s made from its juices. Now, this hardy member of the grass family could also be tapped as a “home-grown” resource for making a renewable transportation fuel called bio-butanol. Towards that end, a team of

February 15, 2022 Read Full Article

Can the Little-Known Tamanu Tree Replace Palm Oil in Indonesia’s Biofuel Bid?

(South Africa Today) Government researchers in Indonesia believe oil from the tamanu tree (Calophyllum inophyllum) could serve an alternative feedstock for biofuel to palm oil. They say the plant has shown the ability to grow in burned areas and former mining sites, as well as in waterlogged peat soils. Oil

February 12, 2022 Read Full Article

U.S. Department of Energy Announces $19 Million for Carbon Utilization Funding Opportunity DEADLINE: March 18, 2022

(U.S. Department of Energy) The U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management’s (FECM’s) Carbon Utilization Program announced up to $19 million in federal funding for the advancement of technologies that utilize

February 11, 2022 Read Full Article

Farmers Get Newly Developed Pongamia Pod Decorticators & Oil Extraction Machines To Improve Biofuel Production

by Chintu Das (Krishi Jagran) The Centre, in collaboration with the Karnataka government, has distributed newly developed pongamia (karanj) pod decorticators and oil extraction machines to farmers to improve biofuel production in the country, in order to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s target of producing 175 GW of non-fossil fuel. According to a Science

February 10, 2022 Read Full Article

Garbage Changing the Game? How Municipal Waste Is Becoming a Bioenergy Champion

by Michelle Goff (Idaho National Laboratory) As our global need for sustainable fuel grows, bioenergy is one resource that holds the key to unlocking a cleaner, more renewable energy future. Idaho National Laboratory (INL) bioenergy researcher Rebecca Brown is leading new research that supports the Department of Energy’s efforts to decontaminate municipal solid waste, specifically

February 10, 2022 Read Full Article

Pablo de Olavide University Produces Fat for Biodiesel from Sewage Sludge

(EFE VERDE) Researchers at Pablo de Olavide University produce fatty matter for biodiesel that does not come from growing plants but from human-generated waste that circulates through urban wastewater treatment plants. Aware of the serious environmental and economic problem caused by the enormous amount of waste generated by human activity, researchers

February 9, 2022 Read Full Article

Hemp Grain : The Digest’s 2022 Multi-Slide Guide to New West Genetics

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Is hemp grain the next sustainable source of plant based protein and healthy lipids? What are the latest hemp varieties in the product pipeline? How does hemp compare to corn, canola, soy? Check out this slide guide from John McKay at New West Genetics on

February 9, 2022 Read Full Article

LSU Chemists Unlock the Key to Improving Biofuel and Biomaterial Production

(Louisiana State University Chemistry) As the world searches for and demands more sustainable sources of energy and materials, plant biomass may provide the solution by serving as a renewable resource for biomaterials and biofuel production. However, until now, the complex physical and chemical interactions in plant biomass has been a challenge

January 31, 2022 Read Full Article

Greasezilla Grows to Godzilla Size – More than Doubles Operational Systems in 2022

by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) Like a feeding frenzy that doubles Godzilla’s size, in West Virginia, Downey Ridge Environmental Company, developer of Greasezilla FOG (fats, oils & grease) separation and processing systems will more than double the number of Greasezilla systems in operation during 2022, and that’s on top of

January 31, 2022 Read Full Article

Safflower an Oil Alternative?

by Shannon Beattie (Farm Weekly) … Since the original creation, it has been further developed and marketed by GO Resources which holds the rights to the SHO (super high oleic) trait that produces an oil used in top-end machinery, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, cooking, plastics, polymers, resins and biofuel. SHO safflower was tested

January 28, 2022 Read Full Article

The Economic and Environmental Value of Brown Grease for the Biofuels Industry

(Greasezilla) Transforming brown grease from nuisance waste to renewable resource … The EPA estimates that between 800 and 17,000 pounds of grease trap waste is produced per restaurant, per year. When separated into its basic components, grease trap waste can yield resources for the biofuels and biodiesel industries. … Proper

January 28, 2022 Read Full Article

Algae Biomaterials Research Gets $6.4 Million Funding Boost from the US Department of Energy

(The Fish Site) Researchers with Montana State University have been awarded a series of grants totalling $6.4 million to identify ways algae can be used for biofuels and other products as it removes carbon dioxide from the air. — Building on more than a decade of MSU research on the

January 25, 2022 Read Full Article

Recent Algae Discovery Gives Clues to Boost Biofuel Production

(Michigan State University/Phys.Org) A new study from the Michigan State University-Department of Energy (DOE) Plant Research Laboratory (PRL) shows how some algae can protect themselves when the oxygen they produce impairs their photosynthetic activity. The discovery also answers a long-standing question about how algae survive when CO2 levels are low. The findings

January 25, 2022 Read Full Article

Feedstocks and a Growing Biodiesel, Renewable Diesel Industry

by Aimie Simpson (Brownfield Ag News) U.S. farmers are ready to meet demand for feedstocks in a growing biodiesel and renewable diesel industry. East Central Iowa farmer David Walton, a Clean Fuels Alliance America governing board member, says the industry is poised to see rapid growth in the next 10 years

January 21, 2022 Read Full Article

Animal, Vegetable or Mineral (Oil)? Exploring the Potential Impacts of New Renewable Diesel Capacity on Oil and Fat Markets in the United States

by Chris Malins and Cato Sandford (International Council on Clean Transportation) This report provides an overview of the U.S. renewable diesel market and explores the potential market and environmental impacts of increased renewable diesel capacity. The United States currently supports renewable diesel supply through the federal Renewable Fuel Standard, a biomass-based

January 19, 2022 Read Full Article

$2.5M for Food-Chain Microbiome Research Could Impact Agriculture, Biofuel Systems

by Marc Arakaki (University of Hawai’i News) World-renowned microbiome research at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa received a major boost by the National Science Foundation. The five-year, $2,499,432 grant will support new research led by School of Life Sciences Professor Anthony Amend and his team to study how microbiomes influence food chains, which may lead to the creation

January 18, 2022 Read Full Article

Microalgal Crops: The Digest’s 2022 Multi-Slide Guide to MicroBio

by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) From algal-based wastewater treatment plants and purification ponds with biofuels/co-products in California to aviation fuels and algae strain improvements, MicroBio is leading R&D and innovation of microalgae cultivation for bio products. Get all the details from MicroBio’s CEO John Benemann in this illuminating slide

January 17, 2022 Read Full Article

Microbial Production of Fourth-Generation Biofuels

(University of Exeter) Bacteria modified to produce fuel on demand have been produced by University of Exeter researchers in collaboration with energy and petrochemicals group Shell. Academics led by Professor John Love have found a way to get the organisms to produce fuel nearly identical to diesel. This will help meet future fuel demands

January 16, 2022 Read Full Article

Indian Refinery to Produce Bioethanol from Bamboo

(Biofuels International) Sulzer technology is helping to convert bamboo into bioethanol in a pioneering Indian refinery. India’s national objective of achieving self-sufficiency in energy and reducing its fossil fuel footprint is being supported by Sulzer’s expertise in pump manufacturing and refinery processes. The country’s first biorefinery, Assam Bio Refinery, built

January 15, 2022 Read Full Article

CropEnergies AG Unveils Plans to Produce Renewable Ethyl Acetate Using Johnson Matthey Technology

(Crop Energy AG) CropEnergies AG, Mannheim, and Johnson Matthey, London, a leader in sustainable technologies, have entered into an engineering, license and technical services agreement for a plant to allow CropEnergies AG to produce renewable ethyl acetate from sustainable ethanol near its production site in Zeitz, Germany. Using Johnson Matthey

January 14, 2022 Read Full Article

Carinata Cover Crops: The Digest’s 2022 Multi-Slide Guide to Nuseed

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Where are the opportunities for cover cropping? How can non-food, non-GMO, RSB-certified carinata make a difference? How can it be used for oil/fuel and high protein meal? Is it scalable globally? Check out this slide guide from Glenn Johnston at Nuseed. READ MORE

January 14, 2022 Read Full Article

Neste Successfully Concludes First Series of Processing Trial Runs at Industrial Scale with Liquefied Waste Plastic in Porvoo, Finland

(Neste) Neste has successfully concluded its first series of trial runs processing liquefied waste plastic at its Porvoo refinery in Finland. After kicking the series off with its first-ever industrial scale trial run with liquefied waste plastic in 2020, Neste has conducted additional runs in 2021. In the course of the

January 13, 2022 Read Full Article

Growing Algae Outside of Wastewater

by Brandie Jefferson (Washington University in St. Louis) Using wastewater to produce biomass has some drawbacks, namely, ‘what you get is messy’ — Growing algae in wastewater has been a hot topic in research for years. News reports for decades have touted the latest research as bringing us within reach of new

January 13, 2022 Read Full Article

Algal Jet Fuel from Istanbul’s New Carbon-Negative Biorefinery

(Bio Market Insights) Europe’s first and only carbon-negative biorefinery has opened in Istanbul. The 2,500 square metre facility will create jet fuel from algae whilst capturing 1,200 tons of carbon dioxide per year. Mustafa Varank, the Turkish Minister of Industry and Technology, says they want Turkish Airlines to carry out its

January 13, 2022 Read Full Article

Seeds of Beauty Leaf Tree Examined as Source of Low-Emissions Biodiesel

by Jasmine Hines (ABC Capricornia) The native beauty leaf tree could be grown in large-scale plantations on marginal land for biofuel; Researcher Nanjappa Ashwath says the trees could produce 4,000 litres of biofuel per hectare each year; The bioenergy sector could contribute an extra $10 billion to the economy annually

January 12, 2022 Read Full Article

Gene Editing Produces Breakthrough Canola Variety

by Jeff Melchior (Alberta Farmer) Shorter, highly branched canola plants with more pods show the power of the cutting-edge technology — University of Calgary researchers have used gene editing to bring to life a new shorter, highly branched variety of canola that has more pods and is easier to harvest. “Based on

January 12, 2022 Read Full Article

Which Is More Important To Biofuels – The Soil Or The Crop?

by James Conca (Forbes) … Plants take carbon from the air, build cells, then release some of the carbon into the soil through roots and root exudates. Some have suggested that growing biofuel crops in marginal soils, which generally have low carbon content, might be a way to remove carbon from the atmosphere

January 11, 2022 Read Full Article

Bio-Crude Production from Protein-Extracted Grass Residue through Hydrothermal Liquefaction

by Saqib Sohail Toor, Ayaz Ali Shah, Kamaldeep Sharma, Tahir Hussain Seehar, Thomas Helmer Pedersen and Lasse Aistrup Rosendahl (Energies) In the present study, the protein-extracted grass residue (press cake) was processed through hydrothermal liquefaction under sub and supercritical temperatures (300, 350 and 400 °C) with and without using a

January 11, 2022 Read Full Article

Barriers to Scale for Algae: The Digest’s 2022 Multi-Slide Guide to BETO’s Algae Crop Protection

by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) How can algae crop protection facilitate scaling of the algae industry? That’s what a BETO workshop focused on when it gathered experts in algal research and production, regulatory bodies and agriculture/aquaculture experts, to discuss where comparable issues have been solved or solutions are under

January 10, 2022 Read Full Article

Versalis, BTS Biogas Join Forces to Develop New Technology

(Bioenergy Insight) Versalis and BTS Biogas will develop and market an innovative technology for the production of biogas and biomethane from residual lignocellulosic biomass. BTS Biogas has over 25 years of experience in anaerobic digestion and is involved in the development, engineering, construction, and maintenance of more than 250 facilities

January 6, 2022 Read Full Article

Cummins, Sinopec, Oberon Fuels and More – The Latest Green Hydrogen Initiatives from Power-to-Hydrogen, Methane, DME

by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) … What about the different routes to get that lovely green hydrogen? From splitting water via excess green power (power-to-hydrogen), to stripping hydrogen out of renewable methane or out of DME, here’s a look at some of the latest hydrogen initiatives. In today’s Digest, from

January 5, 2022 Read Full Article

Off-Season ‘Cover’ Crops Expand as U.S. Growers Eye Low-Carbon Future

by Karl Plume (Reuters) … The purpose of cover crops is to restore soil, reduce erosion and to pull climate-warming carbon from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. The carbon trapped in roots and other plant matter left in the soil is measured to create carbon credits that companies can use to offset

January 4, 2022 Read Full Article

Sustainable Aviation Fuel: Decoupling Carbon from Commercial Flight Fact Sheet

(U.S. Department of Energy) The U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) empowers energy companies and aviation stakeholders by supporting advances in research, development, and demonstration to overcome barriers for widespread deployment of low-carbon sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). SAF made from renewable biomass and waste resources have the potential to deliver the performance of