by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Tough questions asked at industry conferences, and elsewhere on the industry circuit. Q. We’ve heard a lot about carbon capture, but what about carbon capture and conversion (to a more soluble, transportable and storable form), for
carbon capture and utilization (CCU)
Back TO HOMEAlgae: 2015, the Year in Review
by Matt Carr (Algae Biomass Organization/Biofuels Digest) ... Low oil prices, company mergers or evolving business strategies may be easily spun by the skeptics as reasons to fret, but in the case of our industry they are almost all illustrations of
November 23, 2015 Read Full Article
De Gruyter Publishes Textbook: Biorefineries - An Introduction
(De Gruyter) The use of biomass as a resource for fuels and chemicals is a very important topic in chemical research and chemical industry. -- The field of biorefineries combines cutting-edge research with innovative industrial goals. Biorefineries compiles the basic science
October 05, 2015 Read Full Article
Introducing the $20M NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE
by Paul Bunje (NRG COSIA) More than a decade ago, a group of researchers published a landmark study showing the correlation between human development and energy consumption. The conclusion? Industrialized countries and those that have been growing quickly in recent
September 29, 2015 Read Full Article
China! Boeing, Algenol, Inventure Deals Propel Industrial Biotech Momentum
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... As President Xi visits North America, China signs 3 major deals in industrial biotechnology. The East is Red, it’s been said, and the future looks that way too. The US is no place to deploy
September 28, 2015 Read Full Article
Crack Spread, Crush Spread, Fuse Spread
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... The most fundamental economic in the oil & gas business has historically been the crack spread, which is the price difference between the value of crude oil and the underlying products after refined, or “cracked”.
September 24, 2015 Read Full Article
China Looks to Algenol’s Carbon Mitigation Technology to Reduce Rising Global CO2 Levels and Help Combat Climate Change
(Algenol) U.S.-based Algenol will partner with South China’s Fujian Zhongyuan New Energy Company, Ltd. (ZYNE) to develop projects throughout Southern China, utilizing carbon emissions to create renewable fuels. The goal is to provide solutions for China’s three biggest challenges: access
September 23, 2015 Read Full Article
Algae at the Crossroads: Tackling Big Markets, Big Challenges in the New Carbon Economy
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The make-or-break moment for algae-based and cyanobacteria fuels is nigh upon us, and it turns on the prospects for carbon capture and use. Will policymakers enable low-cost carbon to become available for this nascent, petroleum-displacing
September 22, 2015 Read Full Article
PhyCO2, MSU Develop Algae Tech to Capture Power Plant CO2
(PhyCO2/Biomass Magazine) Michigan State University and PHYCO2 have entered into a partnership to develop algae technologies produced from PHYCO2’s revolutionary and patented concept that promotes algae growth and sequesters, or captures, carbon dioxide from power plant emissions. The collaboration is a
September 21, 2015 Read Full Article
Algenol to Distribute Ethanol through Protec Fuel
(Algenol/Ethanol Producer Magazine) Offering ethanol made from algae for the first time commercially, Algenol Biotech LLC and Protec Fuel Management LLC have entered into an agreement to market and distribute ethanol from Algenol’s Fort Myers, Florida., commercial demonstration module. The two
September 14, 2015 Read Full Article
Tailpipe to Tank
by Robert F. Service (Science Magazine) Stuart Licht has designed the ultimate recycling machine. The solar reactor that he and colleagues built in his lab at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., takes carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere—a byproduct of
September 14, 2015 Read Full Article
Conjuring Chemical Cornucopias out of Thin Air
by Robert F. Service (Science Magazine) Liquid fuels aren't the only things made from oil. Chemical companies start with oil to make thousands of different products, including plastics and pharmaceuticals. Most of these other commodities are worth more than fuels. So
September 14, 2015 Read Full Article
Joule Unlimited: The Digest’s 2015 8-Slide Guide
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) 1. Who are Joule? Joule is advancing a production platform for Liquid Fuel from the Sun, expected to eclipse the scale, productivity and cost efficiency of any known alternative to fossil fuel today. Its transformative
September 08, 2015 Read Full Article
Carbon Dioxide and Its Practical, Green Uses
by Sam A. Rushing (Advanced Cryogenics, Ltd/Biofuels Digest) ... WHEN CO2 is the subject of discussion, outside of those in the gas trade, it is usually associated with greenhouse gases, a gas exhaled endlessly, and soft drinks. As those in the gas
September 08, 2015 Read Full Article
Could Diesel Made from Air Help Tackle Climate Change?
by Padraig Belton (BBC) ... German company Sunfire produced its first batches of so-called e-diesel in April. Federal Minister of Education and Research, Johanna Wanka, put a few litres in her car, to celebrate. And the Canadian company Carbon Engineering has just
September 04, 2015 Read Full Article
Stepping Up Progress in Algal Biotechnology
by Matt Carr (Algae Biomass Organization/Industrial Biotechnology) Algae, with their ability to consume carbon dioxide and create oxygen, are widely credited with creating the environment for life as we know it on the planet. Today, they are increasingly being seen
August 28, 2015 Read Full Article
Making Cash from CO2 Trash: The Digest’s 2015 8-Slide Guide to Accelergy
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Accelergy uses advanced catalysts and state-of-the-art process technologies to transform natural gas, biomass, and/or coal into clean specialty products and transportation fuels. Accelergy’s Hydroconversion to X (where X = solvents, lubricants, performance fluids, or fuels)
August 21, 2015 Read Full Article
The Climate Change Parrot Sketch: Is Coal Dead, or Merely Resting? Can Carbon Capture Save the Day?
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... Generally, Digest readers around the world fall into a third category, because they are NEMBEEists. That is, Never Employ Materials Badly, Even Energy. Digesterati generally favor higher-use cases. The Unloved Coalition of Better Use Cases That’s why
August 21, 2015 Read Full Article
Microalgae-Based Carbon Capture Tech Developed
by Tang Chia-ling and Jake Chung (Taipei Times) An inter-university research team has developed a microalgae-based carbon capture technology and established the nation’s largest pilot microalgae farm at a university in Tainan in hopes of helping the nation conserve energy
August 19, 2015 Read Full Article
Energy Bill iIncludes Language Benefiting Bioenergy, Algae
by Erin Voegele (Biomass Magazine) On July 22, the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources introduced a bipartisan energy bill, titled the “Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015.” ... A summary of the bill published by the committee indicates
August 04, 2015 Read Full Article
EPA's Endorsement of Carbon Utilization in Clean Power Plan A Huge Win for Algae Industry
(Algae Biomass Organization) Opens the door for projects to convert waste CO2 into valuable products -- The Algae Biomass Organization (ABO), the trade association for the algae industry, issued the following statement regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s release of the final
August 03, 2015 Read Full Article
Algae Biomass Organization Applauds U.S. Reps. Peters and Salmon for Bi-Partisan House Bill to Increase R&D Funding for Carbon Capture & Utilization
(Algae Biomass Organization) The Algae Biomass Organization, the trade association for the algae industry, applauded U.S. Reps. Scott Peters (D-CA) and Matt Salmon (R-AZ) for introducing a bill designed to amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that would spur
July 29, 2015 Read Full Article
Algae Biomass Organization Hails Carbon Utilization Language in Senate Energy Legislation
(Algae Biomass Organization) Latest bill to encourage using carbon dioxide as a feedstock for valuable products -- The Algae Biomass Organization, the trade association for the algae industry, hailed language included in the energy reform package released last Wednesday by the Senate
July 28, 2015 Read Full Article
Air Liquide Commissions New Carbon Dioxide Plant in California
(Air Liquide) Air Liquide Industrial U.S. LP (“Air Liquide”) has commissioned a new state-of-the-art carbon dioxide liquefaction plant in Tulare County, California. The new 450 ton-per-day facility is one of three carbon dioxide liquefaction facilities owned and operated by Air
May 29, 2015 Read Full Article
Oakbio Announces New Green Biofuel Production Platform
(Oakbio/Digital Journal) his ecoli based microbe platform expands the sources of waste materials Oakbio can convert to green, renewable fuels and other chemicals to include agricultural and municipal waste products. Oakbio announced today (May 14, 2015) the development of a novel
May 15, 2015 Read Full Article
ABO Applauds Senators Manchin and Heitkamp on Introduction of Carbon Utilization Legislation
(Algae Biomass Organization) Addition of just 12 words could accelerate pace of large scale, emissions reducing algae projects at fossil fired power plants -- The Algae Biomass Organization (ABO), the trade association for the US algae industry, today applauded new legislation
May 14, 2015 Read Full Article
Major Advance in Artificial Photosynthesis Poses Win/Win for the Environment
by Lynn Yarris (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) Berkeley Lab Researchers Perform Solar-powered Green Chemistry with Captured CO2 -- A potentially game-changing breakthrough in artificial photosynthesis has been achieved with the development of a system that can capture carbon dioxide emissions before
April 28, 2015 Read Full Article
15 Hot and Novel Low Carbon Fuel Technologies to Watch
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) An effort is underway in the UK to classify, within the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, “novel low carbon fuels” made by companies such as LanzaTech, Joule, Solar Jet, Velocys, Sunfire, Pyreco and others. -- In the
April 28, 2015 Read Full Article
Audi Produces Its First Batch Of E-Diesel
(TopSpeed.com) According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, carbon dioxide levels are at an 800,000-year high, but what if we could pluck CO2 particles out of thin air to use as a raw material for a carbon-neutral fuel? It’s
April 24, 2015 Read Full Article
Residue or Residon’t: Untapped Fuel Yields from the US Corn Production System
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Why not use the materials we don’t need, to produce the fuels we do need? ... (R)educe, re-use, recycle. Use what’s already there. And there’s nothing more powerful in the Imperial Department of Re-Use than sustainable agricultural
April 08, 2015 Read Full Article
Algenol Joins U.S. Mission to China
(Algae Industry Magazine) Fort Myers, Florida-based Algenol has joined the U.S. Secretary of Energy, Ernest Moniz, and the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker, on a business development mission to China. Other influential companies including GE, Southern Company, Honeywell, Praxair,
April 08, 2015 Read Full Article
The Algae Whisperer
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) A new project aims to capture atmospheric CO2, affordably, using traits and techniques known to algae for millenia. ... To date, no one has figured out how to get the CO2 out of the air, or the air
April 07, 2015 Read Full Article
Opportunity: Lab&BenchScale Application of Transformational CO2
(U.S. Department of Energy) This Funding Opportunity Announcement is focused on developing transformational technologies for CO2 capture and purification at the lab-scale, TRL 3-4, through bench-scale, TRL 5, for pulverized-coal and Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle power plants, and transfer and
March 24, 2015 Read Full Article
Green Expectations
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) A Florida algae-to-ethanol operation is poised to go commercial scale with a project colocated with a natural-gas-fired power plant. By harnessing CO2, sunlight, saltwater and algae, Algenol’s technology takes only 25 days to produce maximum concentrations
March 10, 2015 Read Full Article
Middle East OPEC Countries See a Future in Algae
by Imran Khan (Algae Industry Magazine) The global demand for fossil fuels is swelling against a tight economic environment and the Middle East is no exception. The domestic consumption of energy in the region is increasing at an astonishing rate.
February 25, 2015 Read Full Article
Biomass Power Generation the Key to Carbon-Negative Energy, Study Concludes
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In California, a new UC Berkeley study shows that if biomass electricity production is combined with carbon capture and sequestration in the western United States, by 2050 power generators could reduce emissions up to 145
February 11, 2015 Read Full Article
4 Minutes with… John Marano, President, JM Energy Consulting
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... For the last several years, I have been working in carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) evaluating CO2 utilization options for the DOE. I am a cheerleader for this cause! ... Given a choice, consumers would
February 10, 2015 Read Full Article
Closer Look at Flawed Studies behind Policies Used to Promote 'Low-Carbon' Biofuels
(Science Daily) Nearly all of the studies used to promote biofuels as climate-friendly alternatives to petroleum fuels are flawed and need to be redone, according to a researcher who reviewed more than 100 papers published over more than two decades. Once
February 08, 2015 Read Full Article
Brown Panel: To Cut CO2 Emissions, Make It Profitable
by Alex Kuffner (Providence Journal) To get power plants and other large polluters to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases that are driving climate change, make it financially attractive to them. That was the key takeaway from a conference held last
January 19, 2015 Read Full Article
Carbon Dioxide, an Important By-Product of Fermentation: Food Industry Applications and Usage
by Sam A. Rushing (Advanced Cryogenics, Ltd., Biofuels Digest) ... Much of the ethanol industry is concentrated in the nation’s regions which are also the regions which are the largest for much of the meat processing at large. Such regions
January 19, 2015 Read Full Article
Algae Biomass Organization Applauds Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) for Supporting Carbon Utilization Technology
(Algae Biomass Organization) Senators urge Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency to support carbon utilization throughout their programs. The Algae Biomass Organization, the trade association for the algae industry, applauded U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Joe Manchin (D-WV)
January 15, 2015 Read Full Article
Bioenergy Solutions Deserve a Major Role in U.S. Emission-Reduction Strategy
(25 x '25) A broad survey of farmers has documented a yield boost from the use of cover crops in corn and soybeans. The increased yields reflect an upward trend in all of the benefits that come from planting cover
December 12, 2014 Read Full Article
Biomass Producers Today, Carbon Kings Tomorrow
by Matt Carr (Biomass Magazine/Algae Biomass Organization) ... To control carbon dioxide (CO2), the agency (Environmental Protection Agency) places a significant emphasis on burying emissions underground (carbon capture and sequestration or CCS), but I believe it should equally encourage the
December 11, 2014 Read Full Article
Carbon Fee Bill Would Benefit Algae Industry
by Erin Voegele (Biomass Magazine) Legislation recently introduced in the U.S. Senate includes a provision that would encourage carbon utilization technology. The Algae Biomass Organization has spoken out to applaud the bill, which calls for greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations that
November 21, 2014 Read Full Article
Energy Department Announces New Investments in Gasification Research
(U.S. Department of Energy) Today, as part of the Administration’s all-of-the-above energy approach, the Department of Energy has selected four projects to receive funding for next-generation gasification systems that also reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Awardees will receive approximately $16
November 13, 2014 Read Full Article
ABO Expands Carbon Utilization Campaign
(Algae Industry Magazine) he Algae Biomass Organization (ABO), has unveiled a new website —recyclecarbon.org — as part of its ongoing campaign to persuade the EPA to explicitly recognize Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) technologies as approved emissions reduction strategies under
November 11, 2014 Read Full Article
Chicago Based NZ Company LanzaTech Has Helped Develop a Process that Turns CO2 Emissions into Omega-3 Rich Fatty Acids.
(The New Zealand Herald) A leading carbon recycling company has developed a way to turn CO2 emissions into essential omega-3 fatty acids - offering a sustainable alternative to feeding the world's demand for fish oil. Now based in Chicago, New Zealand-founded
November 10, 2014 Read Full Article
Carbon Correctness, or Alice in Carbonland
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... Let me get this straight. The EPA says that emissions from petroleum are bad. Landfilling carbon is really bad. Climate change is really, really bad. Recycling is good. So far, understood. But now the
November 03, 2014 Read Full Article
Liquid CO2, or Liquid Gold? Maybe Both, as Aemetis Adds CO2 Liquefaction at Its Keyes, CA Plant
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... To Aemetis, a route to improved margins that will also help the environment. Here’s how. News arrives from Aemetis, via its latest SEC filings, that the company has “entered into an agreement with Denmark-based Union
October 28, 2014 Read Full Article
DE-FOA-0001162: Targeted Algal Biofuels and Bioproducts (TABB)
(US Department of Energy) The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is issuing, on behalf of the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0001162, entitled “Targeted Algal Biofuels and Bioproducts (TABB)”. The TABB FOA seeks alternative
September 30, 2014 Read Full Article
OMEGA System Tests for Marine Animal Durability
(Algae Industry Magazine) Much has been written about the innovative Offshore Membrane Enclosures for Growing Algae (OMEGA) developed by NASA scientists for deployment on water. OMEGA, an integrated aquatic system to produce biofuels, treat and recycle wastewater, capture CO2, and expand aquaculture
July 01, 2014 Read Full Article
A-Gas Launches 'Even Greener' Carbon Dioxide, Derived from Sugar Beet
by Andrew Gaved (Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Magazine) Refrigerant, branded ‘eCO2’, offers sustainable sourcing and lower moisture content than current offerings, distributor claims. In a first for the UK, A-Gas has launched a new high specification carbon dioxide refrigerant, produced sustainably
June 03, 2014 Read Full Article
EPA Outlines 30% Cut in Power-Gen CO2 by 2030: What’s the Role for Carbon Capture and Use, Algae?
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) EPA comes down hard on CO2, with proposed rule calling for deep emission cuts, but opts for highly-flexible, state-by-state approach. Carbon Capture and Use not deemed a key strategy, but algae advocates aim to change