by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... And yet, the critique has never quite felt complete. Because each explanation treated KiOR as if it existed on its own—like a machine that either worked or didn’t. Based on public reporting, industry accounts, and
FOAK (First of a Kind)
Back TO HOMEFragmentation, Often a Killer: The #1 FOAK Song
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... Because the moment you solve the one problem, it doesn’t disappear. It breaks. One problem becomes ten—permitting, financing, offtake, construction, commissioning, insurance, policy, feedstock logistics, currency risk, community acceptance. Each one smaller than the original
March 18, 2026 Read Full Article
Southern Energy Renewables Announce $1.4B Methanol & Sustainable Aviation Fuel Facility in Louisiana
(Louisiana Economic Development/Southern Economic Development Council) Southern Energy Renewables announced it will invest $1.4 billion to develop a green methanol and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production facility that will convert the region’s abundant wood-waste biomass into some of the lowest lifecycle-carbon fuels
March 17, 2026 Read Full Article
South Australia to Host HAMR Energy’s First-of-Its Kind Methanol-to-Jet Fuel Facility
(HAMR Energy) Leading low carbon liquid fuels (LCLF) company HAMR Energy has today (March 3, 2026) announced that its $700-800 million sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production facility will be located in South Australia after receiving backing from the State Government. -- Leading
March 09, 2026 Read Full Article
Biofuels Plant Gets Key Approval for Carbon Burial Well
by Alton Wallace (The Center Square/New Orleans City Business) KEY TAKEAWAYS: Strategic Biofuels received a draft Class VI well permit for carbon storage tied to its Louisiana Green Fuels project. The wood-fired biofuels plant in Caldwell Parish would capture and store carbon about a mile underground. The facility plans to convert 1.3 million
March 06, 2026 Read Full Article
Episode 56 – Khaki Is the New Green and Resilience Is the New Carbon with Jim Lane
by Cameron Begley (Tech Transfer Talk) In our first recorded abroad episode for 2026, I had the opportunity earlier this month to catch up in person with Jim Lane in Digestville, located in Key Biscayne, Florida. I hope that many of you recall
February 26, 2026 Read Full Article
Biosolids to SAF Is the Future
(Biofuels International) ... Even brighter is the future for one emerging pathway – sewage biosolids to jet (SBtJ) fuel –pioneered by British company Firefly Green Fuels. The technology behind converting biosolids to biocrude has been proven and the fuel that this process
February 23, 2026 Read Full Article
$24M for Climate-Neutral Flight: Metafuels Brings Synthetic Aviation Fuel to Market at Commercial Scale
(UVC Partners) Global sustainable aviation fuel production must increase more than 150-fold by 2050 to meet projected aviation demand – a scale that bio-based fuels alone cannot deliver. Metafuels, a Swiss aviation technology company, is addressing this challenge with a synthetic methanol-to-jet
February 20, 2026 Read Full Article
CF Tech Commissions a First of It's Kind Supercritical Fluid Brown Grease to Biodiesel System in Massachusetts
(CF Technologies) CF Technologies, Inc. hits critical milestones en-route to delivering commercial biofuel to local communities. In October, 2024, CF Tech's research team spent the warm days and cool nights operating and overseeing the first-of-its-kind integrated pilot scale demonstration of supercritical
February 13, 2026 Read Full Article
Four SAF Firms Bag £181,000 Funding from DfT
by Fayaz Hussain (SAF Investor) The UK’s Department for Transport (DfT) announced £181,000 in funding for four UK companies including Avioxx, Clean Planet Technologies, Green Lizard Technologies and Zero Petroleum through the Clearing House. This investment is meant to accelerate testing, certification
February 12, 2026 Read Full Article
Cemvita, Radix Make Progress in Front-End Engineering for Glycerin-to-Bio-oil Project in Brazil
(Radix/Biobased Diesel Daily) Radix announced Feb. 6 that it and Cemvita are progressing in front-end engineering for a first-of-its-kind circular bio-oil project in Brazil focused on converting crude glycerin, a biodiesel byproduct, into ultra-low carbon-intensity (CI) bio-oil used as a feedstock to produce sustainable
February 10, 2026 Read Full Article
The Starting Gate: Europe’s Biofuel Sprint to 2030
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... The release of the European Commission’s industrial mobilization study isn’t another policy paper — it’s the starter’s pistol. The 2030 targets under Fit for 55, ReFuelEU Aviation and FuelEU Maritime have moved the sector from R&D warmups
February 10, 2026 Read Full Article
Abundia Global Impact Group Appoints Burns & McDonnell as Front-End Engineer for Waste Plastics-to-Fuels Facility
(Abundia/Globe Newswire) Company commences Phase 2 and drives toward a 2026 final investment decision on first commercial waste plastics-to-fuels facility -- Abundia Global Impact Group, Inc. (NYSE American: AGIG) (“Abundia” or the “Company”), a low-carbon energy solutions company focused on converting biomass
February 05, 2026 Read Full Article
Here’s How the U.S. Can Outcompete Its Competitors: Parts 1 and 2
by CJ Evans (Alternative Fuels & Chemicals Coalition/Federal Funding Services/Biofuels Digest) ... He (CJ Evans) has seen far too many projects fall by the wayside, not because they were flawed or not any good, but because they could not get additional grants
February 03, 2026 Read Full Article
Resilience Is the New Carbon: Khaki Is the New Green
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Ten years ago, Visolis entered the federal innovation pipeline through Cyclotron Road—the DOE-backed fellowship that helped define the climate-tech generation. Founder Deepak Dugar was part of a wave of scientists trying to turn low-carbon chemistry into
February 03, 2026 Read Full Article
FOAKBall: Creating First-of-a-Kind Projects that Succeed, a New Paradigm
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... The spreadsheet worked. The chemistry was sound. The model penciled. And yet the project stalled, downsized, or died somewhere between final investment decision and steel in the ground. If you’ve worked on a first-of-a-kind (FOAK) project
January 28, 2026 Read Full Article
Notes from Peanut Butter Lake: Why SAF Is Moving Slower than It Should — and What Cascadia Teaches Us about Real Take-Off
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... Today, aviation accounts for 3% of global carbon emissions, and since hydrogen and electric aircraft remain decades from wide-scale deployment, SAF is the only drop-in solution available to decarbonize flight over the next 40 to
January 06, 2026 Read Full Article
Lift Off for NEG8 Carbon in Sustainable Aviation Fuel
(NEG8 Carbon) Irish Direct Air Capture (DAC) company, NEG8 Carbon, has signed a contract for Phase 1 of a major project in the UK to develop large-scale Sustainable Aviation Fuel (eSAF) production using a low-carbon energy source. This paves the way
December 02, 2025 Read Full Article
Hot Words, Phrases and Insights from the Alternative Fuels and Chemicals Coalition Conference (Recorded Presentations Available)
by Joanne Ivancic* (Advanced Biofuels USA) “U.S. is not where things are happening.” “Policy uncertainty.” “National Security” “Not replacing petroleum; complementing it.” “Not an alternative to electric vehicles (EVs); complementing them.” “Persistence.” “Hurdles.” “Syngas” “Bankability.” “AI” “In Nature, There Is
December 01, 2025 Read Full Article
LanzaJet Makes History as the World’s First to Produce Jet Fuel from Ethanol at Commercial-Scale Plant Delivering the Next Generation Fuel Solution for Aviation
(LanzaJet) LanzaJet’s Freedom Pines Fuels achieves ASTM on-spec jet fuel production and full plant operation with breakthrough that serves as a beacon of hope for innovators, farmers, fuel producers, and aviation -- LanzaJet, Inc., a leading next-gen fuels technology company and fuels producer,
November 13, 2025 Read Full Article
LanzaTech Awarded Significant Grant by UK Government to Propel Sustainable Aviation Fuel Production
(LanzaTech) Funding from Department for Transport to advance two commercial-scale plants in the UK -- LanzaTech Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: LNZA) (“LanzaTech” or the “Company”) a leader in carbon management solutions, announced it has received a grant of £6.4 million from the UK
July 22, 2025 Read Full Article
Builders Vision Backs Firefly Green Fuels to Accelerate Rollout of Sustainable Aviation Fuel Innovation
(Firefly) Strategic funding supports Firefly Green Fuels’ mission to transform biosolids into next-generation sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) -- Firefly Green Fuels, a pioneering developer of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) derived from biosolids, today announced a significant capital injection from Builders Vision, a
July 10, 2025 Read Full Article
The Digest’s 2025 Multi-Slide Guide to LanzaJet
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Jimmy Samartzis of LanzaJet spoke on building the new SAF industry. He highlighted the LanzaJet Freedom Pines Fuels (FPF) plant, their First-of-a-Kind (FOAK) facility. Mechanical completion occurred in May 2024, grand opening in August 2024. Despite
June 16, 2025 Read Full Article
The Digest (aka Biofuels Digest) Publishes Links to Recorded Presentations: On Demand and FREE!
(Biofuels Digest) 400+ never previously released recorded presentations and programs -- On demand & free! Just pick and click! Popular programs such as The Wolfpack, Digest Connect, ReEnergize, The Dish, more ALBC releases than ever, and more! The 2025 ABLC Presentations Pavel Molchanov, SVP,
June 11, 2025 Read Full Article
When the Spotlight Moves On, Does Carbon Still Matter? Looking at Big News from Pyran, Carbon Clean, HutanBio
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) We’ve rarely had a week in the bioeconomy where so much worthy advancement on carbon-smart technology won so less applause. Pyran announced that an independent cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment for its 1,5-pentanediol, confirms that Pyran’s bio-based PDO
May 27, 2025 Read Full Article
HMM Takes Delivery of Its First Methanol-Powered Containership
(HMM) HMM takes delivery of ‘HMM GREEN’, a 9,000 TEU methanol-powered containership. This vessel is the first of nine sister ships ordered in February 2023 from HD Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries (seven vessels) and HJ Shipbuilding & Construction (two vessels). Starting with
March 26, 2025 Read Full Article
Passengers to Enjoy Greener Air Travel as UK Backs Sustainable Fuel Production Public Comment DEADLINE March 31, 2025
(U.K. Department for Transport and Mike Kane MP) Have your say on how the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) revenue certainty mechanism could be funded. -- air travel to become greener as government introduces industry-led price guarantee to boost sustainable aviation fuel supply while keeping
March 04, 2025 Read Full Article
Biosolids to SAF Is the Future
(Biofuels International) Kip Cleverley, Chief Sustainability Officer, Synagro Technologies and James Hygate OBE, Chief Executive Officer, Firefly Green Fuels describe in detail how they think the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) market will fare this year. The future for the sustainable aviation fuel
February 05, 2025 Read Full Article
Catalyxx and Godavari Biorefineries Announce Landmark Technology License Agreement
(Catalyxx) Strategic partnership sets the stage for sustainable innovation in the chemical industry through Catalyxx’s advanced bio-based chemicals technology. -- Chesterfield, MO, USA – December 02, 2024 – Catalyxx Inc. (“Catalyxx”), a leader in sustainable chemistry, and Godavari Biorefineries Limited (GBL), a pioneer in renewable chemicals
December 16, 2024 Read Full Article
Southwest Kansas Set to Fuel the Future of Flight
by Craig Andres, Laura McMillan (KSN.com) The State of Kansas is taking a leap to be on the cutting edge of sustainable fuels with a new biofuel plant in southwest Kansas. Officials gathered for a groundbreaking at the SAFFiRE plant in Liberal
August 29, 2024 Read Full Article
Building e-Fuel Production in Europe by Creating Value from Biocarbon
(INERATEC) In a landmark move toward sustainable fuel solutions, SOLER and INERATEC announce their technology cooperation. The partners are planning to build an innovative biocarbon and e-Fuel production facility in southern France as the blueprint for following projects. This plant will
July 04, 2024 Read Full Article
OXCCU and px Group Announce New SAF Project
by Poppy Clements (Hydrocarbon Engineering)px Group has announced that OXCCU will develop a first-of-a-kind demonstration plant at its Saltend Chemicals Park in the Humber, UK, that will convert carbon dioxide and green hydrogen into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). OXCCU is a
June 26, 2024 Read Full Article
Syzygy Plasmonics Demonstrates Groundbreaking CO2-to-Fuel Solution with RTI International
(Syzygy Plasmonics) Joint project delivers drop-in fuel that can be used in today's engines -- Syzygy Plasmonics announced today that it along with the nonprofit research institute RTI International have successfully demonstrated an all-electric CO2-to-Fuel production pathway at RTI's facility in Research Triangle
May 17, 2024 Read Full Article
BioLPG Production at Scale in Sub-Saharan Africa: Key Elements Needed for Its Development and Efficient Use as a Clean Cooking Fuel
(The Global LPG Partnership (GLPGP), Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS), Loughborough University) ... The confluence of Global South development needs, inadequate progress on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the rapidly evolving “just transition” debate between Global North and Global South has
March 20, 2024 Read Full Article
Central Valley Man Sentenced to over 6 Years in Prison for $9 Million Cow Manure Ponzi Scheme
(U.S. Attorney's Office Eastern District of California) Ray Brewer, 66, of Porterville, and Sheridan, Montana, was sentenced today to six years and nine months in prison for running a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme where he purported to turn cow manure into green
June 29, 2023 Read Full Article
Liquid Biofuels Market Growth Looks Promising as Transportation Biofuels Create a Buzz: Fairfield Market Research
(Fairfield Consultancy Services/Globe Newswire) Rising consumer awareness regarding the massive clean energy potential of liquid biofuels will largely favor the liquid biofuels market. In addition, the supportive role of governments setting Net-Zero targets, and policy compliance will collectively accelerate the progression of
May 22, 2023 Read Full Article
UK Government to Provide £15 Million in Funding to Support Early-Stage Sustainable Aviation Fuel Production Projects DEADLINE: May 31, 2021
(GreenAir Online) The UK government has launched a £15 million ($21m) ‘Green Fuels, Green Skies’ competition to support early-stage development of UK sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plants with grant funding. Specifically targeted are projects undergoing a front end engineering design (FEED)