Process – Advanced BioFuels USA

Siemens Energy to Drive the Development of Green Hydrogen Economy in the Middle East

(Siemens/ElectricEnergyOnline) Siemens Energy and Mubadala join strategic partnership to accelerate green hydrogen capabilities in Abu Dhabi; Siemens Energy to collaborate with Masdar and partners on developing clean hydrogen fuels Siemens Energy is advancing the development of green hydrogen ecosystems in the UAE. Around the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, two Memorandums

January 20, 2021 Read Full Article

From Waste to Profits and Products: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Sierra Energy

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) How do you recycle mixed and complex waste? What about waste that can’t be recycled? These are the questions that Mike Hart, CEO of Sierra Energy tackles in this illuminating slide guide that looks at waste generation by region, zero waste goals, FastOx gasification as

January 20, 2021 Read Full Article

Boost for the Global Deployment of Licella’s Innovative Cat-HTR™ Technology as Global Plastics Licensee Mura Technology Partners with Leading Engineering Firm KBR

(Licella) Licella Holdings (‘Licella’), Mura’s largest single shareholder, congratulate Mura Technology (‘Mura’), UK-based developer and licensee of their Cat-HTR™ platform, on announcing a global partnership with KBR, a leading international provider of science, technology and engineering solutions. The new partnership supports the global deployment of Licella’s commercial-ready Cat-HTR™ chemical recycling solution for post-consumer plastic

January 19, 2021 Read Full Article

Greenergy Invests in Advanced Biofuels Project

(Greenergy) Greenergy announces its continued commitment to renewables through an investment in advanced biofuels. Utilising a combination of existing technologies, the project will create low carbon fuels from waste tyre feedstock. The project will utilise pyrolysis and hydrotreating technologies to convert waste tyres into renewable drop-in advanced biofuels that can be

January 19, 2021 Read Full Article

Getting to Neutral Carbon: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Carbon Drawdown

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s A.J. Simon shared this illuminating slide guide at ABLC 2020 to look at the role that bioeconomy pathways play in drawing down CO2 from the atmosphere. From pathway selection, corn starch, switchgrass, forest residue, and a comparison of their net emissions

January 19, 2021 Read Full Article

Aemetis: Patent Award Enables Launch of ‘Carbon Zero’ Plants

(Aemetis/Ethanol Producer Magazine) Aemetis Inc. announced Jan. 15 that its exclusively licensed technology for the production of below zero carbon renewable fuel was awarded U.S. Patent No. 10907184 (to be published February 2, 2021), enabling the launch of Aemetis “Carbon Zero” production plants to commercialize the technology. Using patented technology exclusive to Aemetis

January 19, 2021 Read Full Article

Tired of Waiting on Washington, Ethanol CEO Bets on Animal Feed

by Kim Chipman (Bloomberg) Green Plains Inc. Chief Executive Officer Todd Becker is getting closer to his goal of never having to worry about U.S. ethanol policy again. Instead of awaiting Washington’s next move in the industry’s battle with Big Oil for share of gasoline tanks, Becker is working to transform Green

January 19, 2021 Read Full Article

Dan Szeezil of UOP: We’ve Never Been More Active in Renewable Diesel and SAF As We Are Now

by Tammy Klein (Transport Energy Strategies) Following the successful Q&A roundtable discussion on the future of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) last month, I decided to do a video podcast series with several SAF producers and technology developers to get their insight into the future of SAF. First on deck is a

January 15, 2021 Read Full Article

Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning in Bioeconomy: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Idaho National Laboratory

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Barriers abound in the bioeconomy, but this slide guide from Idaho National Lab shows how artificial intelligence and machine learning will lower the barriers to growing a bioeconomy. From biomass supply and logistics to preprocessing and conversion, AI and ML has many applications that can

January 15, 2021 Read Full Article

Renewable DME: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Oberon Fuels

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Taking trash to treasure to a new level, renewable Dimethyl Ethercan be made from animal manure, food and agriculture waste, landfill gas and wood. Oberon Fuels’ President, Rebecca Boudreaux, PhD shared this illuminating slide guide that dives into Oberon’s small-scale production process, the 1st fuel-grade

January 15, 2021 Read Full Article

New Discovery Could Make Biofuel Production Simpler and Less Expensive

(AZO CleanTech) Scientists have figured out a cheaper, more efficient way to conduct a chemical reaction at the heart of many biological processes, which may lead to better ways to create biofuels from plants. Scientists around the world have been trying for years to create biofuels and other bioproducts more cheaply;

January 14, 2021 Read Full Article

Honeywell Introduces Simplified Technology to Produce Renewable Diesel

(Honeywell UOP) Honeywell UOP Ecofining™ single-stage process produces cleaner-burning high-cetane transportation fuels chemically identical to petroleum-based diesel — Honeywell today announced that it has introduced a single-stage UOP Ecofining™ technology offering for the production of renewable diesel fuel. The new single-stage technology is a fast-to-market, low capital cost solution that is

January 13, 2021 Read Full Article

Gevo Announces Net-Zero Project Concept

(Gevo) Gevo, Inc. (“Gevo”) (NASDAQ: GEVO), announces the concept of Net-Zero Projects for the production of energy dense liquid hydrocarbons using renewable energy and Gevo’s proprietary technology. The concept of a Net-Zero Project is to convert renewable energy (photosynthetic, wind, renewable natural gas, biogas) from a variety of sources into energy

January 12, 2021 Read Full Article

Biogas Bull Market of 2021: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Vanguard Renewables

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The agriculture and waste revolution continues — these are not your Dad’s inputs, or Dad’s outputs either. If you missed last week’s DigestConnect, check out this slide guide from Vanguard Renewables CEO John Hanselman that takes a look at their newest biogas and renewable natural

January 12, 2021 Read Full Article

South by Yeast: Ginkgo Acquires a Venture that Sputtered but Never Failed to Intrigue

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) It was styled as a biofuels and biochemical producer, founded back in the heady days of the Recovery Act in February 2009, focused on developing high value oils and animal feeds by fermentation of low cost substrates. The business, as former CEO Colin South once described

January 12, 2021 Read Full Article

Enzyme Twin with Biotechnological Potential: Green Algae Are Popular Objects in Biotechnology because They Have Hydrogen-Producing Enzymes.

(Ruhr University Bochum) Green algae have two almost identical hydrogen-producing enzymes. One has been researched for decades, the other received little attention – until recently. Hydrogen-producing enzymes, so-called hydrogenases, could be a source of regenerative energy. The RUB photobiotechnology working group has now characterized a hydrogenase from the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii that has so far

January 11, 2021 Read Full Article

Battling America’s ‘Dirty Secret’: Climate Change Raises the Risk from Failing Sewage Systems.

by Sarah Kaplan (Washington Post) … (Catherine Coleman) Flowers has a vision for a better septic system. It’s cheap to buy and easy to run. It’s equipped with sensors that can monitor for signs of pathogens, including the coronavirus. Instead of allowing sewage to seep into the ground, the system separates

January 11, 2021 Read Full Article

Mining the Sky for CO2 with Metal Trees, Towers and Pumps

by John Fialka (E&E News) … “Can we afford not to do this?” was the way Steve Oldham, the CEO of Carbon Engineering, headquartered in Squamish, British Columbia, put it in a recent TED Talk. He estimated that climate-related damages will eventually cost the U.S. over $500 billion a year “if

January 7, 2021 Read Full Article

GWTI Notified of GTL Patent Allowance

(Morningstar/Globe Newswire) Greenway Technologies, Inc. (OTCQB: GWTI), an advanced gas-to-liquids (GTL) technology development company, today announced receipt of a Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for another of its United States utility patent applications relating to its GTL fuel conversion technology. Hunter Adams, of “AdamsIP”, Greenway’s patent attorney

January 6, 2021 Read Full Article

Biofuels Need Cost-Effective Separations Tech: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Bioprocessing Separations Consortium

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Four critical challenges in biochemical and thermochemical processing were addressed in the just released “Bioprocessing Separations Consortium Three-Year Overview” U.S. BETO report, including targeting the fractionation of lignin to enable valorization; Developing technologies to enable process intensification to cut bioprocessing capital costs and make processes

January 5, 2021 Read Full Article

Transforming Carbon Dioxide into Jet Fuel Using an Organic Combustion-Synthesized Fe-Mn-K Catalyst

Benzhen Yao, Tiancun Xiao, Ofentse A. Makgae, Xiangyu Jie, Sergio Gonzalez-Cortes, Shaoliang Guan, Angus I. Kirkland, Jonathan R. Dilworth, Hamid A. Al-Megren, Saeed M. Alshihri, Peter J. Dobson, Gari P. Owen, John M. Thomas & Peter P. Edwards (Nature Communications) With mounting concerns over climate change, the utilisation or conversion

January 4, 2021 Read Full Article

The 50 Hottest Companies in the Advanced Bioeconomy — Agriculture and Nutrition, 2021

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Florida, the 2021 50 Hottest Companies inAgriculture and Nutrition was published today (December 31, 2020), as voted by invited international Selectors and subscribers of The Daily Digest, the world’s most widely-read bioeconomy daily. The annual rankings recognize innovation and achievement in fuel, chemicals, materials, advanced

January 1, 2021 Read Full Article

DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences – When ‘Best-of-Both’ Traits Shine

by Tom Bryan (Ethanol Producer Magazine) … DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences, building on years of success with its high-yield, GA-expressing yeasts, is making the previously divergent characteristics of high yield and superior robustness—packaged together—a reality. “What we’ve seen in this industry is that you’re either going after yield or robustness,”

December 30, 2020 Read Full Article

‘Fiber Is the New Starch’

by Lisa Gibson (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Novozymes has released a platform to convert more fiber to ethanol, giving producers an attractive ‘D3 lift.’ The company is also helping its customers navigate the low-carbon fuels marketplace, streamlining certification and assisting where it can. … Novozymes has released its Fiberex platform, for

December 30, 2020 Read Full Article

IISc Researchers Turn Stubble into Ethanol

by Chiranjeevi Kulkarni (Deccan Herald) At a time when pollution from stubble burning has become a concern, researchers from IISc have devised a way to extract ethanol from it which is a valuable fuel. Professor T V Ramachandra and his doctoral student Deepthi Hebbale presented the result of their experiments at

December 30, 2020 Read Full Article

Biofuels, Plastics Upcycling, Cleaner Hydrogen: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to NextChem

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) NextChem is focused on 3 solutions that all tie in together – cleaner hydrogen, biofuels and a circular economy. Find out why and how in this exclusive ABLC slide guide that dives into their low-carbon hydrogen production, biofuels from used cooking oil, animal fats, vegetable

December 24, 2020 Read Full Article

These Metal-Based Catalysts Can Boost Biofuel Yields

by Mike Timko (Worcester Polytechnic Institute/Biofuels Digest) A recent study led by a team from Worcester Polytechnic Institute shows that metal-oxide-based catalysts reduce char build up during biofuel conversion processes, increasing bio-crude oil yield and decreasing yields of low-value byproducts. … Utilizing wet food waste requires a fast and efficient

December 24, 2020 Read Full Article

Greasezilla to Kick-off 2021 with New Installations

(Biofuels International) Downey Ridge Environmental Company, developer of Greasezilla, confirmed new installations will be completed in the next three months with at least 10 additional systems anticipated before the end of 2021. Chicago, New Orleans, Austin and Jacksonville will have the first Greasezilla systems to come online building upon the

December 24, 2020 Read Full Article

Agilyx and Braskem Announce Collaboration to Explore Advanced Recycling Project in North America

(Braskem) Agilyx Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Agilyx AS (Euronext Growth (Oslo): (“AGLX”), a pioneer in the advanced recycling of post-use plastics, and Braskem (B3: BRKM3, BRKM5 and BRKM6; NYSE: BAK; LATIBEX: XBRK), the largest polyolefins producer in the Americas and leading producer of biopolymers in the world, today announced the initiation

December 23, 2020 Read Full Article

Neste Successfully Completed Its First Industrial-Scale Processing Run with Liquefied Waste Plastic in Finland

(Neste) Neste has a target to process annually over 1 million tons of waste plastic from 2030 onwards. The company plans to use liquefied plastic waste as a raw material at its fossil oil refinery to upgrade it into high-quality drop-in feedstock for the production of new plastics. Neste successfully processed

December 23, 2020 Read Full Article

The Fuel for Thought Podcast

(Haldoe Topsoe) The world’s first podcast about renewables for the refinery industry season two. This time, Sylvain Verdier and Mikala Grubb from Topsoe look into some of the most pressing topics in renewables and the refining industry, including trends in advanced biofuels and hydrogen, pyrolysis and its challenges and opportunities,

December 22, 2020 Read Full Article

OMV to Coprocess Renewable Diesel at Schwechat Refinery Near Vienna

by Ron Kotrba (Bio-based Diesel Daily) Multinational oil, gas and petrochemical company based in Vienna, Austria, is investing 200 million euros at its Schwechat refinery southeast of Vienna to co-process up to 160,000 metric tons of vegetable oils—including used cooking oil and “advanced feedstocks”—into renewable diesel. The investment in the Schwechat

December 22, 2020 Read Full Article

This Biotech Startup Is Making Palm Oil-Substitutes and Omega-3s from Carbon Emissions

by Kristin Toussaint (Fast Company) Instead of having more carbon go into the atmosphere, making our planet warmer and speeding up the effects of climate change, you might soon be able to eat those emissions. Biotech company LanzaTech has successfully turned CO2 emissions into lipids and omega-3 fatty acids as

December 22, 2020 Read Full Article

First Delivery: AustroCel Hallein Supplies OMV with Advanced Bioethanol

(OMV) The test run of the world’s largest bioethanol plant based on wood has proven successful; OMV and AustroCel start cooperation with second-generation bioethanol; 1.5 million liters a month of the advanced biofuel will be delivered from January 2021; Substituting biofuel for fossil fuel will save around 45,000 metric tons

December 22, 2020 Read Full Article

Enzymatic Lignin Valorization: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to MetGen

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Sugar-based bioplastics and lignin-based foams and composites are making it possible to transform the huge amount of oil based materials and products in our lives to biobased products. MetGen is making it happen with zero waste biorefineries. Find out how in this illuminating slide guide

December 22, 2020 Read Full Article

Is Your Renewable Diesel Project Sustainable?

by Dave Collings (1898 & Co./Burns & McDonnell) For organizations looking to develop, construct and commission a new renewable diesel plant, it’s important to understand the various market conditions at play to avoid poorly made investments and the pitfalls of lost future opportunities. Since 2018, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) continued

December 21, 2020 Read Full Article

The Tri-Fecta – Machine Learning, Synthetic Biology and Automation: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Joint BioEnergy Institute

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Synthetic biology produces fabrics, food, biofuels, health products and more, but we need better predictive power. Machine learning can help and be used to design pathways or choose promoters to optimize production for example. Hector Garcia Martin, Deputy VP of Biofuels and Bioproducts at the

December 21, 2020 Read Full Article

SAF Takes-off to the Next Level – United’s Bold SAF Commitment, Boeing, Etihad Airways, World Energy’s 50/50 Blend, Gevo’s SAF in Seattle

by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) … In today’s Digest, United Airlines ambitious goal by investing in sustainable fuels and new tech – NOT buying carbon offsets – to reduce GHG emissions by 100% by 2050, Gevo’s SAF delivered for the Pacific Northwest region, Boeing, Etihad and World Energy using

December 21, 2020 Read Full Article

New Discovery Opens Novel Pathway for High-Titer Production of Drop-in Biofuels

(Aarhus University/EurekAlert!) Using an unusual, light-dependent enzyme and a newly discovered enzymatic mechanism, researchers from Aarhus University and MIT have enabled the biological synthesis of high-yield industry relevant production of climate neutral drop-in fuels from biowaste — … A special light-dependent enzyme, which was first discovered about three years ago, is

December 18, 2020 Read Full Article

Hydrogen Production Is Set to Increase 5000% in Just 5 Years

by Alex Kimani (OilPrice.com) After decades of stagnation and multiple false dawns, the hydrogen economy appears primed for a major takeoff. A growing number of countries and industries are proactively investing in hydrogen technologies, with hydrogen being touted as the ‘fuel of the future.’ Meanwhile, industry experts are predicting that hydrogen could become a globally traded

December 18, 2020 Read Full Article

Application of LCA on Innovative Biorefinery Concepts – REWOFUEL Webinar

by Lena Nordgren (SEKAB) The second webinar by the EU project REWOFUEL – REsidual soft WOod conversion to high characteristics drop-in bioFUELs, was held in the beginning of December. The specific topic of the webinar was to address the sustainability aspects in the value chain focusing on “Application of LCA on innovative biorefinery concepts –

December 18, 2020 Read Full Article

Advanced Membrane Tech: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Whitefox

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) If you missed last week’s DigestConnect, have no fear, check out the Whitefox slide guide here! Whitefox CTO Stephan Blum, advisor Bill Lee, Process Engineer Virginia Andrade and Field Engineer Sean Lorimer shared all about improved plant operations membrane technology, revolutionizing membranes for product diversity, where

December 17, 2020 Read Full Article

Yara’s Green Ammonia Behemoth: The 500,000 Tonner that Will De-fossilize Agriculture

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … Yara announces plans to fully electrify its ammonia plant in Porsgrunn, Norway with the potential to cut 800,000 tons of CO2 per annum, equivalent to the emissions from 300,000 passenger cars. … Yara’s the world’s largest ammonia fertilizer company, has 16,000 employees and operations in over

December 17, 2020 Read Full Article

Engineers Go Microbial to Store Energy, Sequester CO2

by Blaine Friedlander (Cornell University/Science Daily) By borrowing nature’s blueprints for photosynthesis, bioengineers have found a way to efficiently absorb and store large-scale, low-cost renewable energy from the sun – while sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide to use later as a biofuel. By borrowing nature’s blueprints for photosynthesis, Cornell University bioengineers have

December 17, 2020 Read Full Article

From Co-Product Lignin to Biodegradable Polyurethanes: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Lignin Valorization

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) There is such a thing as green polyols for polyurethanes! And as you probably know, cellulosic ethanol produces tons of co-product lignin, so check out this slide guide that dives into the basic polyurethane chemistry, how lignin-based polyurethanes are made, pretreatment, structural changes, the latest

December 15, 2020 Read Full Article

ABSL Secures Grant for Biohydrogen Research

(Advanced Biofuel Solutions) Advanced Biofuel Solutions Ltd (ABSL), University College London (UCL) and Wood have been awarded a £250,000 grant from Innovate UK to design a production line that makes high purity biohydrogen for fuel cell electric vehicles. The ABSL plant in Swindon will convert household waste into bio-substitute natural

December 11, 2020 Read Full Article

Energy Department Announces $33 Million to Advance Hydrogen and Fuel Cell R&D and the H2@Scale Vision DEADLINE January 15, 2021

(U.S. Department of Energy) Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $33 million in funding to support innovative hydrogen and fuel cell research & development (R&D), infrastructure supply chain development and validation, and cost analysis activities. This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) builds upon existing efforts funded by DOE’s Hydrogen and

December 11, 2020 Read Full Article

Enel Green Power and Maire Tecnimont Group’s NextChem Sign MoU for a Green Hydrogen Production Plant in the United States

(Enel Green Power) The MoU is related to a project for the production of green hydrogen via electrolysis using renewable energy from an Enel Green Power solar plant in the United States; The project, which is expected to be operational in 2023, will supply the green hydrogen produced to a

December 10, 2020 Read Full Article

The Green Hydrogen Catapult Aims for $2/kg H2 and Needs $110 Billion, If You’ve Any to Spare

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) From Europe comes news that major hydrogen project developers including ACWA Power, CWP Renewables, Envision, Iberdrola, Ørsted, Snam, and Yara have joined hands to scale-up green hydrogen production 50-fold in 6 years in a bid to slash the production cost to below $2 per kilo. This report

December 10, 2020 Read Full Article

Yara Announces World-Scale Green Ammonia Project

by Mary Page Bailey (Chemical Engineering) Yara International ASA (Oslo, Norway) has announced plans for 500,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) of green ammonia production in Norway, powering emission-free shipping fuels and decarbonized food solutions. “Ammonia is the most promising hydrogen carrier and zero-carbon shipping fuel, and Yara is the global ammonia

December 9, 2020 Read Full Article

Enerkem, Shell, Suncor, Proman’s New $669 Million Biofuels Baby

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Quebec, Enerkem, Shell, Suncor and Proman have proposed the construction of an $669 million biofuel plant in Varennes, Québec, in partnership with the Québec and Canadian governments. The project would use more than 200,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste and wood waste to produce nearly

December 9, 2020 Read Full Article

ADB to Help Improve Advanced Biofuel Production in India

(Asian Development Bank) The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $2.5 million technical assistance (TA) to support advanced biofuel development in India. The grant is funded from the Asia Clean Energy Fund, financed by the Government of Japan under the Clean Energy Financing Partnership Facility, and the Republic of Korea’s

December 8, 2020 Read Full Article

“Life in Plastic, It’s Fantastic” – Braskem Invests $67M in Recycling Line, DOE Plastics Innovation Challenge

by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) … Like Braskem’s news that they are expanding their post-consumer resin portfolio and investing $67 million in the construction of a recycling line with capacity to transform around 250 million pieces of packaging into 14,000 tons of high-quality, post-consumer resin per year. In today’s Digest,

December 7, 2020 Read Full Article

Microbioreactors for Fermentation Optimization: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to m2p-labs

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) If you missed ABLC this summer, check out this illuminating slide guide from Jeff Thornton at m2p-labs where he shares how microbioreactors can be used to de-risk larger scale, more expensive systems, increase throughput data density at low cost which can help you modify high

December 4, 2020 Read Full Article

Understanding Bacteria’s Metabolism Could Improve Biofuel Production

by Jules Bernstein (University of California – Riverside/Phys.Org) A new study reveals how bacteria control the chemicals produced from consuming ‘food.’ The insight could lead to organisms that are more efficient at converting plants into biofuels. The study, authored by scientists at UC Riverside and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, has been

December 3, 2020 Read Full Article

Security of Scale

by Tom Bryan (Ethanol Producer Magazine) As one of America’s largest biorefiners moves forward with two more installations of Fluid Quip Technologies’ 50% protein technology, critical production redundancy is in hand. Products with even higher protein levels are already in the pipeline. This fall, when Green Plains Inc. announced plans

December 3, 2020 Read Full Article

Fiberight Buyer Eyes Reopening

by Anne Berleant (Ellsworth American) Among the discussion topics for members of the Municipal Review Committee (MRC) board of directors at a meeting on Nov. 29 were a draft of the group’s 2021 budget and news of a prospective buyer of the Hampden waste-to-biofuel facility, which has been closed since May.

December 3, 2020 Read Full Article

Porsche and Siemens Energy, with Partners, Advance Climate-Neutral eFuels Development

(Porsche) Porsche, Siemens Energy and a lineup of international companies are developing and implementing a pilot project in Chile that is expected to yield the world’s first integrated, commercial, industrial-scale plant for making synthetic climate-neutral fuels (eFuels). In the pilot phase, around 130,000 liters of eFuels will be produced as early

December 3, 2020 Read Full Article

Is the Future Diesel-Free? 7 Hard Questions about Diesel, Biofuels and ICEs

by Samuel Morgan (Neste) The whole transport industry agrees on the need to decarbonize traffic fast. However, there’s confusion on what that means for diesel, renewable diesel and the internal combustion engine. Are their days numbered? Questions answered: How long will diesel fleets be allowed? Are the days of the internal

December 2, 2020 Read Full Article

Your Amazon Boxes Could Be Turned into Biofuel: A New Microorganism Munches on Cardboard to Create a Source of Energy.

by Mark Wilson (Fast Company) … The problem is that recycling centers, with so much excess cardboard, just toss the material into a dump. But what if we could do something else—anything else—with all these boxes? Like fuel a car? Thanks to Sun-Mi Lee, a research scientist at the Clean

December 2, 2020 Read Full Article

They Invest US $ 5 Million to Transform Sewage Waste into Biodiesel

(La Nacion (Google Translation)) The company Explora, which has its plant in Puerto General San Martín, Santa Fe, invested more than US $ 5 million in a new technology to transform sewage waste into biodiesel. In this way, it has already produced 12,000 tons of deacidified residual oil, which were exported

December 1, 2020 Read Full Article

Green Methanol Production in Container Format

(Ruhr University Bochum) Methanol is an important raw material for the chemical industry. So far it has mostly been obtained from fossil natural gas. A team with RUB participation wants to change that. — The idea is based on CO 2 recycling and renewable energies. Methanol is produced from fossil natural

November 30, 2020 Read Full Article

ORNL Joins Effort to Make Plastic More Recyclable

(Oak Ridge National Laboratory) From soda bottles to car bumpers to piping, electronics, and packaging, plastics have become a ubiquitous part of our lives. Advancements in materials have made plastics low cost, flexible, hygienic, lightweight, durable and readily available. While some plastics are recyclable, only a fraction — about 8.4% nationally

November 27, 2020 Read Full Article

Neste RE Enables a Future Where All Plastic Products Can Be Made of Renewable and Recycled Materials – and the Future Starts Today

(Neste) Neste is launching a new product, Neste RE, a 100% renewable and recycled raw material for plastics and chemicals production. It is a product for tackling climate change through reducing the need to use virgin fossil resources, while it also provides a new solution to the end-of-life related challenges the

November 27, 2020 Read Full Article

Feedstock Conversion Interface Consortium: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Feedstock Variability

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) We all know variability is inherent to biomass, but what can you do about it? Lots! This ABLC2020 slide guide dives into feedstock variability and the work FCIC is coordinating across an impressive 6 national labs to help address this major operational challenge for anyone

November 27, 2020 Read Full Article

Research Creates Hydrogen-Producing Living Droplets, Paving Way for Alternative Future Energy Sources

(University of Bristol) Scientists have built tiny droplet-based microbial factories that produce hydrogen, instead of oxygen, when exposed to daylight in air. The findings of the international research team based at the University of Bristol and Harbin Institute of Technology in China, are published today in Nature Communications. Normally, algal cells

November 27, 2020 Read Full Article

Modern Alchemy: University of North Dakota Aims to Turn Corn Stalks, Stems and Leaves into Jet Fuel

(University of North Dakota/News Wise) One of the significant challenges for renewable alternative fuels could be solved if a consortium of research laboratories led by the University of North Dakota can turn corn waste into jet fuel. Wayne Seames, Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering in the College of Engineering &

November 25, 2020 Read Full Article

Okeechobee: From Blooms to Biocrude

by Mary Ann Showalter (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) PNNL’s hydrothermal liquefaction shows promise for turning harmful algal blooms into biocrude — … Algal blooms can also raise treatment costs for drinking water suppliers, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Research and Development Center (ERDC)

November 25, 2020 Read Full Article

Cielo Announces Pre-Sale of Renewable Diesel and Provides Business Update

(Cielo/MarketWatch) Cielo Waste Solutions Corp. (“Cielo” or the “Company”) announces it has received pre-payment in full for a 60,000 litres of renewable diesel, which is now being produced at the Company’s Aldersyde waste to renewable fuel facility (“Aldersyde Facility”). The renewable diesel will be shipped to a third party of the

November 25, 2020 Read Full Article

Trash to Treasure, Waste to RNG and Biogas: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Greenlane Renewables

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Greenlane Renewables is “changing the nature of natural gas” via renewable natural gas to help decarbonize transportation and the natural gas grid. By producing low-carbon RNG from organic waste like landfills, wastewater treatment plants, dairy and hog farms and food waste, that can go directly

November 25, 2020 Read Full Article

The TIPping Point: Technology, Investment, Policy, and the advanced bioeconomy, Dioxide Materials, Genomatica, ADM, InnovaFeed, Aemetis, Nova Pangaea, and the UK Are Showing the Way

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) It’s possible to summarize the advanced bioeconomy in three words, technology, investment, policy. These are the sine qua non, the foundational forces. Technology without investment and policy is a bunch of pretty things on a shelf, policy without technology or investment is bound to fail, and

November 25, 2020 Read Full Article

3-D Printed Corals, New Bioreactors to Boost Microalgae Production for Biofuels

by Fintan Burke (Horizon Magazine/Phys.Org) Using light as an energy source, photosynthetic microalgae can be used to produce products like biofuels and cosmetics. But algae grown in a reactor block out the light on which they feed. New reactor designs could solve this problem and help the industry move forward. Photosynthetic

November 24, 2020 Read Full Article

Catalytic Conversion of Ethanol into Renewable Chemicals: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Catalyxx

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The world is awash in low-cost ethanol thanks to bioeconomy technology, but we’re not yet awash in high-value renewable chemicals — now, with new technology, we can make those high-value chemicals from ethanol. If you missed last week’s DigestConnect, Catalyxx CEO Joanquin Alarcon shared this

November 23, 2020 Read Full Article

Carbios Will Knock Your Socks off, Produces First Clear Plastic Bottles from Enzymatically Recycled Textile Waste

by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) Carbios will knock your socks off with their enzyme tech that is now converting textile waste and your old polyester socks and sweaters into clear plastic bottles. We’ve heard of clothing made from plastic bottles like Patagonia’s fleece vests, but now Carbios is making it

November 23, 2020 Read Full Article

IChemE Global Awards 2020 Highly Commends CPFD and TRI

(ThermoChem Recovery International) We are proud to announce that TRI‘s Dr. Ravi Chandran and our partners at CPFD were recognized for the innovative work we have done to model deep fluid bed gasification which is essential to the processing of wastes and biomass to renewable fuels and chemicals. The IChemE

November 20, 2020 Read Full Article

New Membrane Could Pave Way for Cheap, Efficiently Made Biofuels

by Sara West (Imperial College London) Scientists have developed a cost-effective method of biofuel extraction which could make them viable alternatives to fossil fuels in transport. Biofuels, which are made from renewable organic matter, hold great potential as green alternatives to fossil fuels in the aviation and transport industries. However, although

November 20, 2020 Read Full Article

Novel Cellulose Finding May Lead to New Chemicals, Biofuels

by Jamie Oberdick (Pennsylvania State University/Phys.Org) A multi-institutional research group led by two Penn State faculty members has identified, for the first time, how cellulose crystals orient themselves relative to the cell wall in plants, with potential implications for chemical and energy development. “A more detailed understanding of the structure of

November 20, 2020 Read Full Article

Utilizing CO2, as the Cause of Global Warming, as the Source for Fuel and Energy? Green Science Alliance Confirmed Artificial Photosynthesis with their Original Catalyst

(Green Science Alliance Co./CISION/PR Newswire) … Artificial photosynthesis is one of the innovative technologies to clean up our atmosphere. Just like plants, this technology utilizes the energy of sun light and from CO2 and water, they can produce organic substances including the raw material of fuel and chemical products, as well

November 19, 2020 Read Full Article

How to Build a Green Hydrogen Economy for the US West

by Jeff St. John (GreenTechMedia) The Intermountain and ACES projects may be the start of a regionwide green hydrogen generation and transmission network. — Out in Utah, a coal-fired power plant supplying electricity to Los Angeles is being outfitted with natural-gas-fired turbines that will eventually be able to run on hydrogen,

November 19, 2020 Read Full Article

Taking Off into Cleaner Skies with LANL Research

by Sheila Van Cuyk (U.S. Department of Energy) … One such project at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is targeting sustainable aviation fuels that can reduce harmful emissions, including greenhouse gases. Not all Transportation Fuels are Created Equal Relative to gasoline and diesel, jet fuel is governed by more stringent specifications

November 18, 2020 Read Full Article

LIFE SMART AgroMobility Project Will Produce Biomethane to Fuel Agricultural Vehicles

(UPM/Gasnam/NGV Journal) The LIFE SMART AgroMobility project will work and research for the next three years in the production of biomethane from the processing of agricultural waste to later be used as fuel for agricultural vehicles and for biofertilizers. Its main objective is to demonstrate the viability of a new model

November 18, 2020 Read Full Article

Advanced Fuels Production from Engineered Biology: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Seawater-to-Fuels

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) As part 2 of the seawater-to-fuels discussion from DigestConnect last week, get an insider look at the breakthroughs the U.S. Navy project to produce renewable fuels from seawater using synthetic biology, as shared by Professor Nigel Scrutton of the UK Future Biomanufacturing Research Hub. Details

November 18, 2020 Read Full Article

IIT-G Develops Method to Transform Industrial Wastes into Chemicals

(The Tribune) The Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT-G) on Monday said its researchers have formulated efficient ‘pincer’ catalytic systems that transform industrial/biomass wastes into valuable chemicals. According to the research team, tiny amounts of these ‘pincer catalysts’ repeatedly convert large amounts of industrial waste such as glycerol into lactic acid

November 17, 2020 Read Full Article

Bioo Launches Biological Battery that Feeds on Soil and Uses Plants to Produce Electricity

by Helena Tavares Kennedy) In Spain, Bioo, a biotech startup that generates electricity from nature, has developed Bioo Panel, which collects the electrons liberated in soil from the breakdown of organic substances by its natural microorganisms. Installed underground, Bioo Panel visually fits into the landscape of any yard, garden or park and constantly

November 17, 2020 Read Full Article

Waste to Fuels and Plastics: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Brightmark

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) W2X sounds like a new rock band name, but it’s what Brightmark’s CEO, Bob Powell, talked about at last week’s DigestConnect on fuels and plastics from dairy and MSW wastes. How do the technologies work? What are the economics? Where are the markets? When are

November 17, 2020 Read Full Article

Fuels from Seawater: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Office of Naval Research

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … Check out the U.S. Navy’s new gambit and get an inside look at the U.S. Navy’s breakthroughs to produce renewable fuels from seawater using synthetic biology. How does the technology work? What’s the future? Find out what Dr. Patrick Rose from the Office of

November 13, 2020 Read Full Article

NREL Recycles Biorefinery Waste Streams to Create High-Value Chemical Products

by Zia Abdullah (U.S. Department of Energy) Thermochemical conversion of lignocellulosic biomass is a promising route to produce renewable biofuels and oxygenated biochemicals while enabling the reuse, recovery, and recycling of materials containing carbon. Aqueous Waste Streams: A Drag on Biorefinery Profitability To convert biomass into renewable biofuels and biochemicals, biorefiners