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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … Now, the airlines were just about the first customers to clamor for advanced biofuels. In 2006, Richard Altman of the recently-formed Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative showed up at one of the earliest advanced biofuels events, and when he laid out the intent of the
Mississippi
The Kodak Moment: The World’s Airlines Consider Their Low-Carbon Options in an Era of Flight-Shaming
December 14, 2019
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) For 17 years, Velocys has been working on XTL projects and their FT technology has operated on syngas derived from natural gas, landfill gas, coal and biomass. Philipp Stratmann, VP Biofuels at Velocys shared the latest from Velocys at the recent IATA Sustainable Aviation Fuel Symposium.
December 5, 2019
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by Philipp Stratmann (Velocys/Biofuels Digest) At this year’s ABLC Next Conference in San Francisco Velocys presented on the opportunity to produce negative emission fuels at our planned Bayou Fuels facility in Natchez, Mississippi. Whilst we were not the only company presenting on advanced biofuel products at the conference, our integration of
December 3, 2019
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Amyris is working on a MegaBio goal. Mega because it’s a big goal – develop a fully integrated and scalable process to produce farnesene from cellulosic sugars at $2 per liter in the U.S. Quinn Mitrovich from Amyris gave this illuminating presentation at the DOE’s BETO 2019
November 25, 2019
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(SJR Group) HES Botlek Tank Terminal B.V. and SJR Group are pleased to announce that the last storage tank which is built offsite will be transported to HES Botlek Tank Terminal, a full subsidiary of HES International B.V., on Friday 21 July. This special transport concludes a project in which
November 8, 2019
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by Marc S. Reisch (Chemical & Engineering News) Despite a spotty track record, companies keep trying to convert trash into energy, fuels, and chemicals — … Local press reports noted weather-related construction delays, a challenge to the plant’s environmental permits, and difficult markets for recycled materials. Those delays point to
October 31, 2019
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Mississippi, Velocys’ Bayou Fuels project has signed with Oxy Low Carbon Ventures to capture carbon dioxide from Velocys’ planned Bayou Fuels biomass-to-fuels project in Natchez, Mississippi, and securely store it underground in a geologic formation. OLCV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Occidental, will take,
October 11, 2019
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(Biofuels International) Velocys has secured a purchase order and technical service agreements with Toyo Engineering (Toyo) for its biomass-to-jet fuel technology in a demonstration facility in Japan. The company has also secured an advanced deposit for the use of the same technology by Toyo in a subsequent commercial plant, Velocys
October 3, 2019
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by Dave Blower Jr. (The News Gazette) The Indiana Soybean Alliance (ISA) and the Indiana Corn Growers Association (ICGA) along with 12 other Indiana farm, ethanol and biodiesel plants and allied industries wrote to Indiana’s congressional delegation expressing frustration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and to compel the
September 27, 2019
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(Biorenewable Deployment Consortium) BDC is a 501c3 organization focused on education and brokering partnerships in order to accelerate the deployment of economic bioprocesses and assist the forest products industry to get the most value from the tree. BDC membership represents bioprocess companies and the major forest products companies. BDC believes
September 16, 2019
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by Meghan Sapp (Biofuels Digest) In the UK, Velocys announced that it has raised £7 million in a private placing, selling shares at 3 pence each, complementing commitments received by the company from the Altalto Imminghamwaste-to-sustainable-fuels project’s strategic partners, British Airways and Shell, of £2.8 million in total. Net proceeds of
July 18, 2019
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by Chris Hubbuch (Wisconsin State Journal) … “There’s (a) civil war within the Republican Party,” said Scott Irwin, chairman of agricultural marketing at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “It’s pitting two significant Republican constituencies of the president and neither one is now in a position to issue any kinds of
July 15, 2019
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Velocys has developed proprietary and commercially-proven Fischer-Tropsch technology that can cost effectively produce low-carbon fuels from a variety of waste materials, including woody biomass and municipal solid waste, at a scale that matches feedstock collection logistics. Philipp Stratmann, Vice President of Biofuels at Velocys, gave this
April 2, 2019
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(University of California – Santa Barbara/Science Daily) In efforts to curb our use of greenhouse gas-generating fossil fuels, plant-based biofuels are among the top contenders as alternative liquid energy sources for transportation. However, strategies to produce high yields of biomass for fuels are not a one-size-fits-all proposition, according to a new
February 5, 2019
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The Renewable Fuels Association, in partnership with TRANSCAER®, will host ethanol safety seminars in Vermont and Mississippi this month. All of the seminars are free to attend, but registration is limited. Certificates of Completion will be awarded to attendees at the completion of the course. The seminars are designed for
January 3, 2019
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by Betsy Lillian (NGT News) Today (December 4, 2028) the Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas (RNG Coalition) commenced the North American renewable natural gas (RNG) industry’s annual conference program in Dana Point, Calif., by celebrating industry growth and recognizing 12 companies for their development roles in eight of the RNG production
December 6, 2018
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by Cici Zhang (Chemical and Engineering News) Increasing the fatty acids in crops’ seeds, leaves, and stems could make biofuels more economically viable — … Plant scientist Heike Sederoff of North Carolina State University, however, is very familiar with the oils that camelina offers. The highly concentrated fatty acids produced by
December 5, 2018
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by Mario Parker and Jennifer A Dlouhy (Bloomberg) Company acquired Andeavor this month to become largest refiner; Trump promised to allow year-round sales of E15 gasoline — Marathon Petroleum Corp., the largest U.S. oil refiner following its $23.3 billion acquisition of rival Andeavor this month, is weighing a plan to start sales of high-ethanol
October 26, 2018
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(World Energy/Globe Newswire) $350 million investment will result in 306 million gallons of annual production — World Energy, a global leader in low-carbon transportation fuels production, announced today a $350 million investment over the next two years to complete the conversion of its Paramount, California facility into one of the cleanest
October 25, 2018
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by Cindy Zimmerman (Energy.AgWired.com) For the second year in a row, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) sponsored team in the Crappie Masters National Championship helped a young angler win a $1000 scholarship. This is also the second year that RFA has been co-title sponsor of the tournament trail that helps fuel knowledge of
September 29, 2018
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Resilience through Regional Partnership: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to the SPARC Consortium
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The Southeastern Partnership for Advanced Renewables from Carinata (SPARC) is a consortium consisting of the University of Florida (lead), the University of South Florida, the University of Georgia, Auburn University, and other institutions, government agencies, the civil aviation industry, and Agrisoma Biosciences and Applied Research Associates (ARA) from
September 20, 2018
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(Velocys) The USDA has issued a Finding of No Significant Impact on the environmental assessment report for Velocys’ planned Mississippi biorefinery. Velocys plc (VLS.L), the renewable fuels company, announced today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) on the environmental assessment report
August 7, 2018
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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. And most recently has repositioned from being a technology component supplier into initiating and drive the development of biorefineries from concept to full operations. By
May 25, 2018
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(Air Liquide/Biomass Magazine) Since the beginning of 2018, Air Liquide has commissioned three new biomethane production units, in the U.S, France, and the U.K. With these units, Air Liquide has doubled its biomethane production capacity, which now stands at 60 MW, the equivalent of 500 GWh for a full year of
April 25, 2018
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The Paramount Deal: World Energy takes off with audacious $72M acquisition of AltAir and the Paramount oil refinery — In Massachusetts, World Energy has acquired renewable jet and diesel producer AltAir Paramount, and its Paramount Petroleum refinery assets, both collocated in Paramount, CA, as well an adjacent
March 20, 2018
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by Ron Kotrba (Biomass Magazine) D7 renewable identification numbers (RINs) generated at a biorefinery in Oklahoma City producing cellulosic diesel fuel have been verified by Weaver and granted Q-RIN status. Weaver is an independent third-party auditor and U.S. EPA-approved RIN Quality Assurance Program provider whose QAP program is called RIN-tegrity. The
March 16, 2018
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(University of Illinois, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology/Biomass Magazine) The U.S. Department of Energy awarded the University of Illinois a $10.6 million, five-year grant to transform two of the most productive crops in America into sustainable sources of biodiesel and biojet fuel. The new research project Renewable Oil Generated
February 27, 2018
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) To date, North America is the most active of all regions in terms of deploying advanced technology — whether it is cellulosic ethanol, isobutanol for fuels and chemicals, or renewable chemical plants, you see the first and the most, here. There are three drivers for that:
January 19, 2018
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by Erin Voegele (Biomass Magazine) Velocys plc has announced that Envia Energy, the joint venture plant that utilizes its technology, has applied for a fuel pathway approval under the Renewable Fuel Standard to produce D7 cellulosic diesel renewable identification numbers (RINs). According to Velocys, Envia makes drop-in fuel from biogas and
January 17, 2018
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by Jan Tucker (Your Daily Globe) A public announcement of the construction and development of a $300 million advanced biofuels plant at the site of the closed paper mill in Ontonagon is “expected shortly,” Pat Tucker told the Ontonagon County Economic Development Corporation Wednesday. He indicated SynSel Energy’s closing on the funds – which are
January 15, 2018
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(Algae Industry Magazine) … In September, the US Department of Energy (DOE) awarded $22 million in grants to fund projects for marine biomass farming for production of commercial products, including feedstock for domestic transportation fuels. The funding was provided through the Advanced Research Projects Agency — Energy (ARPA-E) for 18 projects
January 3, 2018
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by Todd Neeley (DTN The Progressive Farmer) Cellulosic technology companies have invested time and millions of dollars to explore ways to convert biomass into cellulosic ethanol for the better part of 20 years. Most technologies have fallen victim to high capital and development costs, changing political winds and economic recession. Many
November 22, 2017
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Nothing rang clearer as an industry imperative at ABLC Next last week than the theme of diversification in a Year of Living Dangerously, and we saw it in the news this week from Velocys, Pacific Biodiesel and ICM. Respectively, these are feedstock, product and geographic diversification
October 24, 2017
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Our goal is to strengthen the capability, empower, and provide technical support for small, limited resource and socially disadvantaged farmers, ranchers and landowners. Farmers will have the opportunity to share and evaluate materials and programs from around the country that are successful. Hosted in Partnership with Association of American Indian
by Roslyn Anderson (MS News Now) Jackson Councilman Kenneth Stokes urged his colleagues to fight the expansion of a biodiesel plant in the city, citing potential dangers. The Ward Three representative questioned JaxOn Energy’s processing and suggested potential health and safety risks. The plant is located in the Industrial Park in
October 11, 2017
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by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) … Regardless of which side of the fence you are on, the chopping continues and there are literally tons of wood waste left behind that doesn’t get used up, but we can all agree we should do something with that waste. Today, we look at
October 2, 2017
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Yes, ARPA-E has unveiled its latest moonshot and is investing $22M in Macroalgae Research Inspiring Novel Energy Resources — also known as MARINER. The projects that comprise ARPA-E’s Macroalgae Research Inspiring Novel Energy Resources (MARINER) program seek to develop the critical tools to allow the
by Vanessa Dietz (The Daily Mining Gazette) … SynSel Energy Inc., of Elmhurst, Illinois, chose Ontonagon as one of two U.S. sites to build advanced biofuels plants that will produce synthetic gasoline, diesel and aviation fuels the company sells in commodities markets. SynSel has partnered with Lost Bowl Development of Ontonagon
August 10, 2017
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … In Botswana, jatropha’s adventures are just beginning according to the Ministry of Minerals Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security’s advisor, Freddie Motlhatlhedi. He was referring to a joint research project done by Botswana and Japan that shows quite a bit of promise for commercial production of jatropha
July 25, 2017
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Washington, U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry today (July 17, 2017) announced $40 million in Department of Energy awards for the establishment of four DOE Bioenergy Research Centers (BRCs), which will provide the scientific breakthroughs for a new generation of sustainable, cost-effective bioproducts and bioenergy.
July 19, 2017
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by Jan Tucker (Your Daily Globe) Ontonagon has been selected as one of two initial sites in the U.S. for the construction of an advanced biofuels plant. SynSel Energy, Inc., is partnering with a U.S.-based financier and Lost Bowl Development, LLC, to develop the $300 million biorefinery at the site of
by Steven Mufson and Chris Mooney (The Washington Post) The White House has branded this week “energy week,” rolling out a buzzword, “dominance,” and replaying lines from last year’s Trump campaign in an effort to portray the United States as a global energy superpower — and to label previous administrations as obstacles
June 29, 2017
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by Jeff Amy (Fox Business/Associated Press) A federal judge has approved a $4.5 million settlement for private shareholders of failed biofuel maker KiOR, and a lawsuit by the state of Mississippi seeking to recover a much larger amount continues. U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal issued the order Monday in Houston
June 12, 2017
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … Where Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto joined the mayors of more than 175 cities in a rebel yell that has been heard nationwide since President Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate Accords last Thursday. Peduto said: “As the Mayor of Pittsburgh, I can assure you
June 5, 2017
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by John Fialka (E&E News/Climatewire) … As a major U.S. exporter that has dealings with over 150 countries, Boeing had worked with airlines in the development of more fuel-efficient aircraft and better flying practices. Now it helped form and lead the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group (SAFUG). It currently represents 27 airlines
May 23, 2017
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(Ventures Africa) Nigerian Oil Billionaire and Non-Executive Chairman/Founder of Taleveras, Igho Sanomi has signed a Joint Venture deal to build a biofuel refinery in the United States of America (USA) with African feedstock. Igho Sanomi, was featured in the last edition of Ventures Africa’s rich list as one of the
May 19, 2017
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by Chuck Zimmerman (Energy.AgWired.com) When it comes to using ethanol blended fuel in your boat engine it is important to follow manufacturer directions and actually just properly maintain your equipment. That is advice from pro fishermen like Terry Richard here. Terry and teammate Casey Rayner will be competing in this
March 24, 2017
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by Bob Dinneen (The Hill/Renewable Fuels Association) In the flurry of post-election punditry and analysis, much credit was given to disenfranchised factory workers and coal miners in the Rust Belt and Appalachia for delivering Donald Trump’s surprising swing state victories on Election Day. To be sure, those voters played a
January 6, 2017
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(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 site, owned by the Northeast Mississippi Solid Waste Management Authority, is operated by national solid
December 12, 2016
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In 2011, KiOR raised $150 million in its June IPO, claiming that it was generating yields of 67 gallons per ton in its Demo unit operations. But it was miles short of that. In our previous installments, we have charted how KiOR moved from a
November 25, 2016
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … But so far, the company and its celebrity investors and directors such as former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and famed venture capitalist Vinod Khosla had escaped close scrutiny. … The methods for keeping the truth bottled up were not pretty. According to our sources
September 19, 2016
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) This season, we are conducting Strategic Intent, our 19 webinar series on major companies and their partnerships, progress and plans in the Advanced Bioeconomy. In this edition, we explored Bayer, Bunge and Monsanto in the interactive webinar format. Here are the slides from our Digest
August 25, 2016
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … The company was beginning to hurtle towards an IPO. But the fuel yields were low; the fuel was not usable by their initial chosen downstream partner; the catalyst they were using to get even down to this unsatisfactory product, ZSM zeolite, was in the $7,000
August 4, 2016
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(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 in 39 states. USDA continues to lead the way in promotion of advanced biofuel production,
by Jim Lane (Biofuels DIgest) … Old KiOR was exciting, dramatic, and fast, and the headlines it produced between 2008 and 2011 were candy for a renewables-hungry world. A Breakthrough in Catalytic Pyrolysis to make cost-competitive, drop-in renewable fuels. A “Magic Catalyst”. The backing of a celebrity investor in Vinod Khosla.
May 18, 2016
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by Roger Wicker (Daily Journal) America’s energy landscape has changed dramatically since the creation of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) a decade ago. What began as a federal program to incorporate more biofuels – such as corn ethanol – into the fuel supply and reduce oil imports has failed to
March 16, 2016
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by Patricia McDaniels (University of Tennessee) A small stand of poplar trees harvested from a University of Tennessee AgResearch Center is set to help scientists progress further down the path toward low-cost, high-quality biomass and a bioeconomy. Located on UT’s East Tennessee AgResearch Center in Blount County, the 10-acre plot
March 4, 2016
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by David MacNeal (Ars Technica) The facility smell? “That’s money,” Todd French says. “That’s what it smells like.” — “By the time it gets here, David, it’s no longer my poop,” says microbiologist Todd French with conviction. “I don’t want you to think there’s solid turds coming in over there.
by Carla Caldwell (Atlanta Business Chronicle) Atlanta-based United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) will supply its fleet in two states with renewable natural gas produced by landfills. UPS says its fleet in Jackson, Miss., and Memphis, will use an estimated 15 million diesel gallon gas equivalents of renewable natural gas
December 23, 2015
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(U.S. Department of Energy) How is funding from BETO a part of the emerging bioeconomy in some states? Find out with our new state fact sheets. For select states, these fact sheets give information about efforts to develop the advanced bioenergy industry. The U.S. Department of Energy provides joint funding
October 29, 2015
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by Kati Moore (Duke Environment) Zackary Johnson, Arthur P. Kaupe Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology in Marine Science at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, has received a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to establish a consortium to study the extraction, development and commoditization of various products
August 17, 2015
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by Bruce Dorminey (Renewable Energy World) A rapid-growing tree, many researchers think poplar is missing its calling as a high-quality cellulosic bioenergy feedstock. — As the world’s fastest growing temperate tree species, poplar can add a dozen feet annually and reach maturity in as few as four years. One of its hybrids,
August 5, 2015
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by Bruce Dorminey (Renewable Energy World) As the world’s fastest growing temperate tree species, poplar can add a dozen feet annually and reach maturity in as few as four years. One of its hybrids, populus x generosa, has the widest land suitability footprint of any bio-energy crop, including willow and
July 21, 2015
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by Megan Sapp (Biofuels Digest) In Washington, nearly half of the US Senate has written to the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Energy and the EPA administrator strongly urging the agencies to streamline support of biomass for energy across all agencies, providing policies that work to ensure more use of
July 2, 2015
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by Ronnie Shows (The Daily Caller) As the first legislator to introduce a biofuels bill in the Mississippi State House, I am deeply concerned that the Obama administration is making a huge mistake when it comes to determining the United States’ commitment to renewable fuels. Last week, the administration released a
June 2, 2015
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by Dennis Seid (Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal) … In fact, if you visit Enerkem’s website, there’s no mention of Pontotoc. Nothing on its facilities or projects – where Pontotoc once had a prominent location. Nothing when you do a search for “Pontotoc.” It’s as if the project never existed. But
March 30, 2015
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by Jeff Amy (The Dispatch/Associated Press) The state of Mississippi has sued billionaire Vinod Khosla and others, saying they knew long ago that bankrupt biofuel firm KiOR had poor prospects for success, but misled the state into loaning the company $75 million. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Hinds County
January 16, 2015
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Bunnies, liposuction fat, Prince Charles’ leftover wine, day-old whale, the human poo bus, fire ants dipped in hexane, old beer, raging fireballs, vibrating blobs, dope, and even the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Take your pick and, yep, it’s all true, as the Digest discovers. If you’re
December 31, 2014
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(Biomass Blog) The Mississippi State University Department of Agricultural Economics is reaching out to agricultural producers in the Southeast region and asking them to participate in an on-line survey. The survey is part of a study titled “Policies to Develop Perennial Grass-based Advanced Biofuel Supply Chains in the Southeast U.S.”
December 19, 2014
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(EIN PressWire) … BioEnergy Spectrum Solutions, or BESS, has a plan based on technology developed by Mississippi State University that can take the sludge from waste water facilities and use it to make fuel that can be used to power the vehicles that we drive. … In order to bring this
December 18, 2014
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by Steven Mufson (The Washington Post) Just over a year ago, billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla was bubbling with optimism about one of his latest investments: KiOR, a biofuel outfit he said would turn wood chips into hydrocarbons that could be poured straight into a refinery, pipeline or vehicle. …
November 30, 2014
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by Jack Weatherly (Mississippi Business Journal) Finding a buyer for the idled KiOR biofuels plant at Columbus would be a tough sell, according to Pavel Molchanov, an equity analyst who had covered Pasadena, Texas-based KiOR Inc. until it filed for bankruptcy protection on Nov. 9. The state will be
November 21, 2014
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) How does a technology take municipal solid waste and turn it into liquid fuels and chemicals? What’s the “death of landfill” all about in terms of creating value streams from waste streams? We take you through the world’s first commercial-scale waste-to-fuels project, in Edmonton, Alberta.
October 31, 2014
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by Brent Erickson (Biotechnology Industry Organization/The Hill) In a recently released report entitled “Why Biobased?” the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) answers the question of why America should invest in a biobased economy. The report explores the economic impacts of biobased products in the United States, which include more jobs
October 29, 2014
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BlueFire Plays the China Card? Ex-Im Bank of China Issues $270M LOI for Mississippi Biofuels Project
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In California, BlueFire Renewables has received a Letter of Intent from The Export Import Bank of China (China EXIM) to provide up to $270 million in debt financing for its 19 million gallon bioenergy project in Fulton, Mississippi. The companies said they will continue to
October 27, 2014
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(Globe Newswire/BlueFire Renewables) BlueFire’s Mississippi Fulton Project Paves the Way for Other U.S./China Renewable Energy Projects BlueFire Renewables, Inc. (OTC:BFRE), a company focused on changing the world’s transportation fuel paradigm through the production of renewable fuels, announced that it has received a Letter of Intent from The Export Import Bank
October 24, 2014
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(Global BioBusiness) A former cofounder of biofuel maker KiOR says he tried to warn other board members about problems with KiOR’s technology. The claims come from Mr. Paul O’Connor, who cofounded the company and worked there until June 2012 and then was hired back as a consultant but definitely quit
October 10, 2014
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Cellulosic ethanol arrives at scale — “The five years away forever” put to rest — but are there troubling waters still ahead? For whom, and why? Part I of II There’s a gigantic disconnect between two sections in the country as to whether the United
October 10, 2014
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IN SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER THE IBSS PARTNERSHIP WILL TAKE TO THE ROAD TO SHOW OFF RESEARCH PROGRESS FROM THE REGIONAL PROGRAM, WHICH IS FOCUSED ON BIOFUEL PRODUCTION IN THE SOUTHEAST! During the tour, IBSS will feature Auburn University’s mobile biomass gasifier, demonstrating how to turn biomass into electricity on
September 16, 2014
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) POET-DSM’s 20 million gallon cellulosic ethanol plant opens with hoopla, and heartfelt messages about the spirit of innovation, and a time for technology change and policy firmness. “Once, we all lived off the land, sun, wind and water and it provided everything we needed,” said
September 8, 2014
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) 1. The Hot 50 and Hot 30: A perennial favorite. This year, Solazyme topped the list while LanzaTech slipped into second place. … 2. The Top 100 People: Another perennial. This year, international project developers made a big move while some policy figures slipped. But
July 31, 2014
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(US Department of Agriculture) Farm Bill Implementation Continues at Brisk Pace with Universities and State Cooperative Extension Programs Now Set to Help Educate Farmers Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is awarding $6 million to universities and cooperative state extension services to develop
June 3, 2014
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The following is excerpted from KiOR’s most recent 10-Q quarterly report, as filed with the SEC. “We have substantial doubts about our ability to continue as a going concern. To continue as a going concern, we must secure additional capital to provide us with additional liquidity.
May 14, 2014
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Delayed 2013 results includes going concern statement. Future Khosla financing contingent on milestones. Default looms as soon as April. Financing after August unclear. In Texas, KiOR announced a $347.5M net loss for 2013, and issued a “going concern” statement that focused on its ability to
March 18, 2014
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by Mark Peplow (Nature) Pioneering biofuel producers hope that US government largesse will ease their way into a tough market. …Thousands of tonnes of corn stover — the leaves, stalks and husks left over after the maize harvest — are already waiting, stacked in square bales, at the 1.6-square-kilometre site. By
March 13, 2014
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The following notice was filed Friday with the SEC by Bluefire Renewables: On December 23, 2013, Bluefire Renewables received notice from the Department of Energy indicating that the DOE would no longer provide funding under the Company’s DOE grant for the development of its cellulosic
December 30, 2013
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(MarketWatch/KiOR) KiOR, Inc., provided today (December 23, 2013) an update on the operations at its Columbus, Mississippi, facility. KiOR expects that, given current and anticipated operations through the remainder of the year, the Columbus facility will produce approximately 410,000 gallons of fuel during the fourth quarter of 2013, bringing full
December 26, 2013
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by Jonathan Fahey (Associated Press) The first trickle of fuels made from agricultural waste is finally winding its way into the nation’s energy supply, after years of broken promises and hype promoting a next-generation fuel source cleaner than oil. … Cellulosic makers are expected to turn out at most 6
November 14, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Slow pace, low yields have depressed KiOR’s share prices, but tripled production and revenue has recently delighted the markets. What’s up with the cellulosic biofuels leader? Good news, bad news? … You have one of the first next generation advanced biofuels plants at commercial scale.
November 13, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …“Cowcookies”, the lost Marx Brothers script Scene, an office on Wall Street. Enter a lender, Harold P. Cheesebreath — and his prospective borrower, Al Cohol. Cohol: (confidently) See here, it’s a no-brainer. Mandated fuel, pilot-proven technology, no food crops, carbon-friendly. Cheesebreath: I don’t care about carbon. Cohol: (brightly)
October 30, 2013
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by Frank Esposito (Plastics News) Less than a year after opening its plant in Indonesia, Elevance Renewable Sciences Inc. has announced plans to open another bioplastics feedstock plant in Natchez, Miss., by 2016. Current customer interest in the firm’s Inherent-brand biofeedstocks – which can be used to make nylon, polyurethane and
October 29, 2013
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(US Environmental Protection Agency) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced the 2013 recipients of EPA’s People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) Phase I grants. Forty teams of graduate and undergraduate students from across the country are each receiving a $15,000 grant for research proposals that develop solutions to
October 29, 2013
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(MarketWatch/BlueFire Renewables) BlueFire Renewables, Inc., a company focused on changing the world’s transportation fuel paradigm, has integrated a synergistic wood pellet production plant to its facility in Fulton, Mississippi. The reconfigured design will be a 9 million gallon per year ethanol plant integrated with a 400,000 ton per year wood
October 4, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Texas, KiOR announced that it is pursuing plans to double production capacity at its Columbus, Mississippi, cellulosic fuels facility through construction of a second facility incorporating KiOR’s commercially proven technology. KiOR estimates that the project – Columbus II – will cost approximately $225 million, will
September 27, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Landmark cellulosic drop-in biofuels producer releases update on early-stage production: is the increasing gallonage enough to silence the critics? … In July and August, the Columbus facility produced 172,398 gallons of fuel, bringing the 2013 production total from the facility to 357,532 gallons through August
September 23, 2013
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by Josh Bergeron (Selma Times-Journal) …Algix, a company based in Georgia, opened its newest facility in Dallas County that will help turn catfish-pond algae into biodegradable plastic. “It’s really quite a revolutionary to take algae, which is seen as waste, into a usable product,” marketing specialist Denise Hobart said during Friday’s
September 18, 2013
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(The Economist) Energy technology: Making large amounts of fuel from organic matter has proved to be more difficult and costly than expected …As well as being available to countries without tar sands, shale fields or gushers, biofuels can help reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by providing an alternative to releasing fossil-fuel carbon into
September 6, 2013
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by Paul Tullis (The New York Times) …But big drawbacks have prevented the wholesale adoption of trash-to-gas technology in the United States: incineration is polluting, and the capital costs of new plants are enormous. Gasification systems can expend a tremendous amount of energy to produce a tiny amount of electricity.
August 27, 2013
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by Justin Doom (Bloomberg BusinessWeek) Rentech Inc. (RTK:US), a U.S. supplier of wood pellets and nitrogen fertilizer, sold about 450 acres of land in Mississippi where it had planned to build a renewable-energy project. READ MORE and MORE (Biomass Magazine) and MORE (Canadian Biomass Magazine) Excerpt from Biomass Magazine: While the
August 21, 2013
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(U.S. Department of Agriculture) The Farm Service Agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that purchase invitations have been extended to solicit bids to the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) through the Feedstock Flexibility Program (FFP). Congress created FFP in the 2008 Farm Bill which requires the purchase
August 20, 2013
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Advocates for biomass utilization and renewable energy development from across the state and region will gather in Tunica, Mississippi on September 17-18, 2013, to learn, promote and network. This is the 12th year for the Southern Bioproducts and Renewable Energy Conference and promises to be an informative meeting. Since 2001,
August 15, 2013
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by Jim Lane (BioInvest Digest) …KiOR’s fallen into the penalty box this week — it’s stock falling from a high of nearly $5 just a week ago — now disappearing into the sub-$3 range as the company missed production forecasts. By some margin. It was in May that the
August 14, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In today’s Digest – visit our 5-Minute Guide to Loan Guarantees — INEOS Bio, Myriant, Sapphire Energy, Abengoa, Chemtex, Enerkem, Fiberight, Fulcrum, ZeaChem – Plus POET-DSM, Diamond Green Diesel, Coskata and Range Fuels Projects open for business INEOS Bio … Myriant … Sapphire Energy … Projects under construction Abengoa
July 30, 2013
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by Patrick J. Kiger and Marianne Lavelle (National Geographic) … KiOR’s breakthrough is one part of a wide-ranging effort by a number of companies and government-supported researchers to develop and perfect “drop-in” biofuels—fuels so similar to their petroleum-based counterparts that they could be pumped through the same pipelines and used to
July 23, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Advanced biofuels – mirage or reality? In January we wrote: “When these 12 projects open for business (or not) in 2013, you’ll know for sure.” So, what do we know? … We identified 12 “Bellwether projects” in January that were scheduled to open in 2013.
July 22, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Singapore, Wilmar International and Elevance Renewable Sciences have just announced that they have begun shipping commercial products, including novel specialty chemicals, to customers from their first world-scale joint venture biorefinery, located in Gresik, Indonesia. The biorefinery is the first based on Elevance’s proprietary metathesis
July 18, 2013
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Momentum: 12 Biobased Ventures Raise $435M in Q2 2013; 32 Projects Being Built off the Balance Sheet
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Despite negative press from Bloomberg, biobased investing is surging, both direct and via strategics. The Digest has the data and the scoop. After we profiled, last April, 17 biobased ventures who raised $434 million in new capital in Q4 2012 and Q1 2013, a report
July 10, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Texas, KiOR announced that its Columbus, Mississippi facility made its first shipment of cellulosic gasoline on June 28, which represented the first fuel shipment since March, 2013. The company added that it has “commenced regular shipments of both gasoline and diesel” also as of June
July 2, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …“Building on the first gallons of cellulosic diesel we shipped in March, we continue to make progress with operations at our Columbus facility,” said KiOR CEO Fred Cannon. “The on-stream percentage of our core technology in the first quarter improved approximately 500 percent over the
May 10, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Despite the sluggish economic recovery and questions over policy stability — biofuels ventures have been busy raising lots of capital. In the past 6 months, $434 million. Who got what, where, when and why? …supplemental oxygen, in the form of equity, is the mother’s milk
April 8, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In California, Algenetix, an industrial biotech company incubated from the pipeline of Kapyon Ventures has closed $2.0M in Series A-1 funding to further commercialize its PhotoSeed platform. The groundbreaking technology vastly improves oil productivity in microbes by accelerating oil accumulation and subsequently preventing its degradation
April 5, 2013
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by Dana Blankenhorn (TheStreet) These are desperate times for Big Oil. Fracking (which involves shooting water and sand into a wellhead, at high pressure, fracturing the surrounding rock) brings enormous profits, but anyone can frack. The price of natural gas has rolled over. The price of oil seems poised to follow. If
March 25, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Although no commercial-scale cellulosic biofuels facilities are operating in the United States at present, at least ten projects exceeding 20 million gallons per year are expected to begin operations by 2014. Tristan R. Brown and Robert C. Brown at the Bioeconomy Institute at Iowa State
March 22, 2013
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by Katie Feherenbacher (Gigaom) Companies that are still looking to produce biofuels from plant waste (and not corn) are making slow, but steady progress on milestones in 2013. On Monday, KiOR, which was largely funded by Khosla Ventures before it went public, announced in its fourth quarter and annual year
March 20, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Texas, KiOR announced the initial shipments of cellulosic diesel from its first commercial-scale facility in Columbus, Mississippi. KiOR’s facility uses pine wood chips previously feeding a shut down paper mill at Columbus and produces gasoline and diesel, the first renewable hydrocarbon fuels in the
March 20, 2013
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(Associated Press/WJTV.com) Four years after announcing plans for an ethanol plant in Pontotoc, a Canadian company has yet to begin construction. Enerkem Inc. spokeswoman Annie Pare tells The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (http://bit.ly/WCsH7v ) the company remains committed to building the for Enerkem Mississippi Biofuels plant. …Pare says the plant
March 12, 2013
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by Adam Armour (Itawamba County Times) Work on the proposed Fulton ethanol plant has come to a standstill. But does that mean the project’s been canceled? … After the project’s announcement in 2009, two years of securing finances from across the world and site clearing in preparation for construction, work
March 7, 2013
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by Jane Yu (Orange County Business Journal) Irvine-based renewable fuels maker BlueFire Renewables Inc. has halted construction work on a plant planned for Fulton, Miss. plant. BlueFire converts non-food resources, such as trash, wood waste and other agricultural residues, into ethanol. It also has a subsidiary called SucreSource LLC in
March 4, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In California, Rentech announced plans to cease operations at, reduce staffing at, and mothball its research and development Product Demonstration Unit, in Commerce City, CO, and to eliminate all related R&D activities. As a result of these changes, Rentech will eliminate 65 employee and contractor
March 1, 2013
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(Associated Press/Omaha.com) After decades of talk, the ethanol industry is building multimillion-dollar refineries in several states that will use corn plant residue, wood scraps and even garbage to produce the fuel additive. The breakthrough comes at a key time for the industry, after the drought heightened criticism about the vast
February 14, 2013
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by Jeremy Martin and Jim Collins (Politico) The fuels of the future are here today, and we can thank Congress for enacting the Renewable Fuel Standard. This bedrock policy has brought us to the point where the first commercial facilities producing cellulosic renewable fuels are up and running, and several more
February 11, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) You’ve heard about the crack spread, and the crush spread — as means to value oil refining and crop refining. Let’s think about biomass densification and compression, and in that context, a little about KiOR. … What is a BFCC? It is a fluidized-bed catalytic cracker
February 8, 2013
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(Ohio State University) OARDC has received a $6.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy to test and expand OARDC-developed technology that can produce biogas from a variety of solid organic wastes and bioenergy crops. Awarded through the Biomass Research Development Initiative (BRDI),
January 29, 2013
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) A long war of opinion has been waged for years between advanced biofuels’ detractors and supporters. Mirage or reality? Completion of 6 key projects 2012 decided much of the debate. When these 12 projects open for business (or not) in 2013, you’ll know for sure.
January 1, 2013
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by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com) What do people in the Southeast think about biofuels? Do they support biofuel ventures? Who will grow the biomass? Will those in established industries fight against it? These are just a few of the questions researchers from the University of Georgia and the U.S. Forest Service
December 27, 2012
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(ClarionLedger.com) A team of Mississippi State University agricultural economists recently received U.S. Department of Agriculture funding to study policies impacting biofuel supply chains. Keith Coble is the principal investigator for a project to develop a model to assess how state or federal policies might affect the development of the Southeastern
December 26, 2012
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by Robert Rapier (Biofuels Digest/Energy Trends Insider) Last month KiOR announced the start of production of biocrude from their Columbus, Mississippi plant. KiOR CEO Fred Cannon stated in an earnings call that when the product shipped it would be “the world’s first cellulosic gasoline and diesel fuel products.” While I can
December 21, 2012
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(Clarion Ledger) …Today, Redalje’s Marine Science lab at Stennis Space Center is studying algae, grown from Mississippi coastal waters, and recreating that ancient process. “We now look for one that produces large oil droplets that what became oil in past million years ago,” said Redalje. “Now we’re finding ways to
December 20, 2012
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by Andrew Herndon (Bloomberg/Renewable Energy World) Cellulosic biofuel companies will boost production almost 20-fold in 2013 as the first high-volume refineries go into operation, signaling a shift from an experimental fuel into a commercially viable industry. Production of the fuel made from crop waste, wood chips, household trash and other
December 18, 2012
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by Jeff Ayres (Clarion Ledger) Mississippi alternative-energy development projects that have received more than $400 million in state backing through loans, grants and other incentives in recent years have seen widely varying degrees of success. KiOR, a Texas biofuels company, recently started operations in Columbus and is in the preparatory stages
December 17, 2012
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(US Department of Agriculture) Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced $10 million in research grants to spur production of bioenergy and biobased products that will lead to the development of sustainable regional systems and help create jobs. Vilsack highlighted the announcement with a visit to Michigan State University, a grant
December 17, 2012
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by Matthew L. Wald (New York Times) For years, scientists and engineers have been juggling various combinations of acids, steam, bacteria, catalysts and the digestive juices of microorganisms to convert agricultural waste and even household garbage into motor fuel. So far, such alternative fuels have not moved beyond small pilot
November 17, 2012
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Brent Crude trades this past week at a transorbital $109 per barrel (West Texas Intermediate at a suborbital, if high, $85). It puts the conventional wisdom that biofuels are too infrastructure incompatible and too costly to the test. Are they? Let’s look today at progress
November 12, 2012
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(ACORE) The American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) released the 2012 edition of its report, Renewable Energy in the 50 States, as an interactive, online resource. Compiling updated financial data, resource potentials, market and policy information in one easily-accessed, online format, the report is intended to be an executive summary
November 12, 2012
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) 500 ton per day wood biomass to biocrude plant commences oil production – the long wait for cellulosic biofuels at scale is over. …But the news from Columbus, Mississippi, that cellulosic biocrude production has started up, on schedule, on budget, and at scale — it’s
November 9, 2012
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … Today, we’ll look at the bigger balance sheets to see who is investing what, and when, with whom, and why. …We’ve also focused here, for the sake of brevity, on those financing commercial scale projects. So, Exxon’s $300 million commitment into algae biofuels R&D is
October 23, 2012
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by Prafulla D. Patil, Veera Gnaneswar Gude, Aravind Mannarswamy, Peter Cooke, Nagamany Nirmalakhandan, Peter Lammers, Shuguang Deng (Fuel) In this comparative study, direct conversion of algal biomass into biodiesel using supercritical methanol (SCM) and microwave-assisted (MW) transesterification methods was investigated. Wet algal biomass was used as feedstock in the supercritical methanol
September 20, 2012
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(US Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service) …Of the five regions, the Southeast has the greatest natural capacity in the continental United States, with sufficient sunshine, soils, water, and other natural resources to produce more than 10 billion gallons of advanced biofuels each year, nearly a third of the 36
(Environmental and Energy Study Institute) Cleaner, more sustainable, more climate-friendly, more affordable advanced biofuels are closer to reality than many outside the industry seem to think. At least three new, advanced biofuel biorefineries are being commissioned this year, and at least four others will have shovels in the ground soon.
August 25, 2012
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …Like many states (or countries) that have limited oil reserves or reserves that are economically unfeasible to extract at this time – the path to energy independence lies generally in Missouri’s substantial “above-ground oil fields” – which is to say, in her considerable biobased resources.
August 23, 2012
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(US Department of Agriculture) Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced payments for 125 advanced Biofuel producers across the country to support the production and expansion of advanced biofuels from a wide variety of non-food sources, including waste products. “Advanced biofuels are a key component of President Obama’s ‘all-of-the-above’ energy strategy
July 31, 2012
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by Luke Geiver (Biomass Magazine) The U.S. EPA has granted KiOR Inc. the necessary permit to sell renewable cellulosic gasoline in the U.S. According to Fred Cannon, the EPA’s acceptance of KiOR’s advanced biofuel blendstock “is a landmark” for the company and for the renewables sector. “KiOR’s gasoline is the
July 25, 2012
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Mississippi State University Sustainable Energy Research Center (SERC) and the Mississippi Biomass Renewable Energy Council (MBREC) are partnering this year for the inaugural Southeast Biofuels and Renewable Energy Conference, to be held August 8 – 9, 2012 at the Marriott Hotel in Jackson, Mississippi. With over 15 years of combined conference experience
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Section 9011 of the Farm Bill – the Biomass Crop Assistance Program – USDA deploys $9.6M in new investments in bioenergy crops as questions revolve around the program’s future and effectiveness. Is BCAP important? Will it survive? How will it change? In Washington, Agriculture Secretary
June 14, 2012
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by Guy Chazan (Financial Times) In the world of biofuels, all eyes are on the tiny northern Italian town of Crescentino, site of the world’s first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant, which will start production this year. The venture might be small, with output of just 60,000 tonnes of fuel a
June 5, 2012
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by Vershal Hogan (Natchez Democrat) Alcorn State University has conducted research into using bamboo as a feedstock for biofuels production. READ MORE
June 1, 2012
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … Regardless of its naming deficiencies, waste has been hot and getting hotter as a bioenergy feedstock because it solves three of the most pressing problems blocking capacity expansion. 1. The feedstocks are available at fixed, affordable prices – sometimes free, sometimes even transitionally available with
May 29, 2012
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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …Emerald Biofuels announced that it will build an 85 million gallonrenewable-diesel refineries at a Dow Chemical site in Plaquemine, Louisiana. The company will use Honeywell’s UOP/Eni EcoFining process technology for the production of Honeywell Green Diesel Fuel. …The UOP Ecofining process, developed in conjunction with Italian
May 21, 2012
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