(PR Web)  The ABBA Integrated Biorefinery project, to be built at the AVAPCO Thomaston Georgia site, will co-produce bio jet fuel and Bioplus® nanocellulose. It has received a Phase 1, $3.7 million award from the Department …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  The US Department of Energy is supporting a project led by Pacific Northwest National Lab to develop a new deconstruction technology to provide low ash and low impurity sugars and sugar-derived intermediates …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …  But pulp and paper markets have taken big hits. Headlines have centered around damaged balance sheets that make it difficult to modernize or expand, mothballed plants, bankruptcies, job losses that …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The US Department of Energy has a goal of developing industrially-relevant strains to meet titer, rate, and yield targets for fuel precursors for the 2022 BC Platform cost target goals of …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  The US Department of Energy has set a goal to “Select and develop at least one route for catalytic upgrading of sugars/related intermediates and/or biologically derived intermediates into fuel blendstockswith …

by Mike Hughes (Gazette Live)  Nova Pangaea Technologies at Wilton will convert trees into sugars to make household items  —  … One of the region’s newest tech companies needs 50 tonnes of it EVERY DAY to …

(U.S. Department of Energy)  The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced today that it will award a fourth project—up to $1.8 million—under the MEGA-BIO: Bioproducts to Enable Biofuels Funding Opportunity. In August 2016, DOE’s Bioenergy …

(Phys.Org/Arizona State University)  Despite several major national research initiatives, no one has been able to come up with the breakthrough renewable biofuel technology that would lead to a cheaper alternative to gasoline.
That research challenge led …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Last December , the U.S. Department of Energy announced it would support the country’s 10th Manufacturing USA Institute with $70 million over five years, subject to federal appropriations. Another $70 million is …

(Global Bioenergies)  European financing package amounting to €9.8 million, of which €4.4 million for Global Bioenergies; Industry consortium led by Global Bioenergies and bringing together Clariant, INEOS, IPSB, TechnipFMC and Linz University; Aim: converting agricultural residues …

(Commercial Alternative Aviation Fuels Initiative) The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently released the aviation biofuels report, “Potential Avenues for Significant Biofuels Penetration in the U.S. Aviation Market.” The report finds that it is possible …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The Digest had a well-received webinar on C5 and C6 sugars, featuring in-demand industry consultant David Dodds and Fluid Quip exec Jeffrey Robert — looking at transformative approaches to making sugars and …

Bernard Cooker (Chemical Processing Solutions/Lee Enterprises Consulting/Biofuels Digest)  Cheap, plentiful lignocellulosic biomass (LCB), consisting of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, is deconstructed to release useful chemical intermediates in the bioeconomy. These include glucose from cellulose, glucose …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Four axioms start this presentation by David Dodds, on C5 and C6 sugar opportunities, at a breezy pace:

If you are making a molecule from another molecule, you are a chemist, doing chemistry.
Synthetic …

(Lab Manager/U.S. Department of Energy)  Wood’s complex structure makes it highly resistant to biological or chemical decomposition. The structure includes cellulose, long chains of linked sugar molecules, embedded in a scaffolding of a chemical known …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  According to this presentation deck from NREL’s Melvin Tucker, “to produce high concentration sugar and reactive lignin streams at high yields and low costs from biomass to meet BETO’s 2017 ($5/GGE) and …

(Scrivener Publishing)  The most comprehensive and up-to-date treatment of all the possible aspects for biofeedstock processing and the production of energy from biofeedstocks.
Audience
Chemical engineers, petroleum engineers, process engineers, students in chemical engineering, biotechnology, petroleum engineering, …

by Prabhuraj Balakrishnan (University of Manchester/Nanowerk News)  … In a research work by The University of Manchester academics (Prof. Colin Webb’s research group at the School of Chemical Engineering), a new methodology have been developed, that …

by Blaine Friedlander (Phys.Org)  To unravel how intricate waste biomass converts to biofuels, a Cornell professor studied the bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum to decipher its metabolism. Understanding the bacterium’s sugar-processing complexities may lead to improved biofuel …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In California, researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) / Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed four new technologies available for license:
Streamlined Saccharification from Lignocellulosic Biomass, 2015-143
Translation Control …

by Bernard Cooker (Chemical Processing Solutions/Biofuels Digest)  This is a review of the biomass-fed chemical process projects to renewable chemicals which were published in Chemical Engineering Progress (CEP) and Chemical and Engineering News (C&EN) from 1/1/16 …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Clariant’s sunliquid technology for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into sugars, followed by fermentation to cellulosic ethanol, is flexible to be used to convert different feedstocks on a regional basis, for …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Lignocellulosic sugars and lignin have become necessary intermediates for advancing research towards economically producing biofuels and bioproducts. Recently, the US Department of Energy issued a Request for Information: Cellulosic Sugar …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Lignocellulosic sugars and lignin have become necessary intermediates for advancing research towards economically producing biofuels and bioproducts. Recently, the US Department of Energy issued a Request for Information: Cellulosic Sugar …

(Global Bioenergies)  Global Bioenergies (Alternext paris: ALGBE), Preem, Sekab and Sveaskog announce having joined forces to develop a high-performance fuel entirely based on forest resources. The consortium has signed a collaboration agreement to carry out a …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  “Shaping the future of bioenergy and renewable chemicals,” that’s the lofty technological goal which MetGen has set for itself. The company has made a name for itself via participation as …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Edeniq is a biorefining and cellulosic technology company. Edeniq delivers integrated process innovations that unlock sugars. These technological innovations uniquely combine mechanical and biological processes. Edeniq’s capital light and operationally …

(Alliance BioEnergy Plus, Inc.) Alliance BioEnergy Plus, Inc. (OTCQB:ALLM) (the “Company”), is very pleased to release the results from months of testing and data collection on dozens of lignocellulose feedstocks utilizing the patented CTS conversion process.  …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Amidst all the discussion this week of deal-making in cellulosic and sugar-based fuels — the likes of Tesoro-Virent and Lufthansa-Gevo — we were intrigued by this slide deck on a pathway …

(Phys.Org)  Fuel additives such as isooctane have so far been produced from mineral oil. Commissioned by the French-German company Global Bioenergies, the Fraunhofer Center for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes CBP in Leuna will soon be producing biobased …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  As Irshad Ahmed observed recently in The Digest, “until such time that we internalize the true life-cycle costs of extracting and using fossil fuels, and distinguishing fossil-BTUs from bio-BUTs, we will …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In Washington, U.S. Department of Energy is seeking input from industry, academia, national laboratories and other biofuels and bioproducts stakeholders to identify existing capabilities to produce lignocellulosic sugars and lignin …

by Lorenz Bauer (Lee Enterprises Consulting, Inc./Biofuels Digest)  What’s up with C5 and C6 sugars? Given that a significant portion of the several billion dollars spent on renewable fuels spending involves these molecules, it is …

(U.S. Department of Energy)  Recycling waste from biofuel production could lower cost for future biorefineries. — Ionic liquids (ILs) have been shown to be an excellent pretreatment solvent for biomass; the ILs prepare the plant matter …

(Brookhaven National Laboratory)  Fundamental enzyme study leads to increased access to bioenergy feedstocks and improves ethanol yield by modifying plant cell wall structures.
Lignin is a natural component of plant cell walls, the scaffolding that surrounds …

by Elizabeth E. Hood and Lorenz Bauer  (Lee Enterprises Consulting, Inc./Biofuels Digest)  … Biofuels can be produced by a number of processes, broadly categorized as biochemical and chemical. Biochemical processes utilize proteins called enzymes (biological catalysts).
Chemical …

by Krista Eastman (Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center)  Less input, more output. That’s the achievement of a new biomass pretreatment method that could help improve the economics of cellulosic biofuels, the second-generation biofuels made from …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Out of the unlikely bioeconomy hub of West Palm Beach, Florida, Alliance BioEnergy Plus has revealed what it describes as the “successful completion of its yearlong efforts to optimize its …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  As part of March Madness, we held a well-attended webinar on the markets and makers of 5C and 6C sugars, from pilot to player. Here below is a slide deck presented …

(Phys.Org/VTT Technical Research Center of Finland)  VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Aalto University investigated how willow biomass can be utilised more efficiently. When processed correctly, willow is eminently suitable as a source of …

by Ann Bailey (Ethanol Producer Magazine) American Science and Technology has completed the scale-up of its biorefinery in Wausau, Wisconsin.
The scale-up increase’s the processing capacity of AST, an emerging technology company in the biochemicals and renewable …

by Christina Maza (Christian Science Monitor) … Now, researchers across the US are pouring resources into discovering whether it’s possible to produce sustainable biofuel through selective plant breeding and genetic modification. That technique, which has generated …

(University of Copenhagen)  Vehicle fuels made of plant waste are sustainable and climate friendly. Unfortunately the energy in stems, bark and twigs is locked up in cellulose, which is tough to crack open by the …

(Phys.Org) … Today, scientists are exploring how grasses, and switchgrass in particular, can enrich the nation’s biofuel supply, which is currently dominated by corn, a crop relatively easy to convert to biofuel but also in demand …

(U.S. Department of Energy)  The Energy Department announces its intent to issue, on behalf of the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) entitled “MEGA-BIO: Bioproducts to Enable Biofuels.” This FOA supports BETO’s …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Goodbye glucose, hello xylose. The X-Factor in the advanced bioeconomy might just be a sugar that starts with an X.  …  When we think about C5s — that are liberated by …

(National Renewable Energy Laboratory)  National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Senior Scientist Min Zhang has a special relationship with Zymomonas mobilis, a rod-shaped bacterium that has bioethanol-producing capabilities. Of her 80 peer-reviewed papers and 21 U.S. patents …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Avantium is a technology company specialized in the area of advanced catalytic research. From 2005 onwards, Avantium has developed a proprietary technology to produce Furanics building blocks from plant based …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Clariant’s sunliquid technology for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into sugars, followed by fermentation to cellulosic ethanol, is flexible to be used to convert different feedstocks on a regional basis, for …

(Hamrick Engineering/Your Oil and Gas News)  Hamrick Engineering is pleased to announce the granting of a broad patent for extracting sugars and nanocellulose from lignocellulosic biomass by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
“This ground-breaking …

by Hirokazu Kobayashi, Hiroyuki Kaiki, Abhijit Shrotri, Kota Techikawara and Atsushi Fukuoka (Chemical Science)    Biomass is the sole carbon-based renewable resource for sustaining the chemical and fuel demands of our future. Lignocellulose, the primary …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Minnesota Awards $26 Million to Fund Sweetwater’s Biochemical Facility  —   In Minnesota, Sweetwater Energy has received commitment for $26 million in long-term loans from the state of Minnesota to construct …

by Melody M. Bomgardner (Chemical & Engineering News)  Researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute transform biomass into energy-rich fuel molecules  —   ..  JBEI researchers are zeroing in on concepts that others have decided are too …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Cobalt Technologies was commercializing cellulosic biobutanol, a versatile platform molecule for the renewable chemicals and fuels.  The Company’s technology efficiently converts diverse non-food feedstocks – initially, lignocellulosic extracts from woody …

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 …

by Michelle Ma (University of Washington Today)  Groves of poplar trees could one day fuel our vehicles and be the source of chemicals that we use in our daily lives.  A five-year, $40 million study …

By Charlotte Mace (Bangor Daily News/Sustainable Economy Program at Environmental Health Strategy Center)  … Yes, several Maine mills have closed and pulp and paper production statewide has declined. But the global market for advanced biobased products …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Clariant’s sunliquid technology for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into sugars, followed by fermentation to cellulosic ethanol, is flexible to be used to convert different feedstocks on a regional basis, …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In Ontario, Bioindustrial Innovation Canada has completed phase 1 of a project to assess the economic viability of the agricultural biomass to cellulosic sugar value chain in Canada.
The Cellulosic Sugar …

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 …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Leaf Resources is a process technology company, providing economical biobased solutions for commercial production of cellulosic sugars and other lignocellulosic platforms derived from biomass. Our technology, combines crude glycerine and …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Another step towards commercial scale, aimed at “secure supply” of cellulose-lignin solids for Renmatix’ Georgia facility
Renmatix announced that it has acquired existing assets of the former Mascoma corporation’s 56,000 square …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Though challenges remain, particularly in affordable feedstock, the US National Research Council says “Despite impressive recent and projected growth, the manufacturing of chemicals using biological synthesis and engineering could expand …

(Renmatix/Total/PR Newswire)  – Total invests in Renmatix – Takes equity and Board seat in Philadelphia based licensor of supercritical hydrolysis technology for conversion of biomass into economical cellulosic sugar   — Companies complete Joint Development …

(Science Daily/University of California-Riverside)  Researchers have invented a novel pretreatment technology that could cut the cost of biofuels production by about 30 percent or more by dramatically reducing the amount of enzymes needed to breakdown …

(Bio-Process Innovation Inc./Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Bio-Process Innovation Inc. has announced the completion of the construction of its 1-ton pilot plant and successful operation of its low temperature steep delignification (LTSD) pretreatment process at its pilot …

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 …

by Ann Perry (Phys.Org)  At the Agricultural Research Service’s Bioenergy Research Unit in Peoria, Illinois, field work and bench investigations keep ARS scientists on the scientific front lines of converting biomass into cellulosic ethanol.
For instance, …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  As Alberta looks at what might works for them in industrial biotech — Jacobs comes up with a useful take on Renmatix, GTI, LanzaTech, Enerkem, REG and OPX Bio — …

by Isabel Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Colorado, ZeaChem has signed a Collaboration Agreement with Leaf Resources. The agreement covers ZeaChem’s evaluation of the Leaf Glycell process for the production of fermentable sugars at ZeaChem’s demonstration plant at …

by Olatomiwa Bifarin* (Advanced Biofuel USA) Tim Worledge, the Associate Editorial Director of Platts Agriculture relayed some of the history and the status quo of the biofuel industry in Europe during a webinar hosted by …

(Institute of Food Research/Biomass Magazine)  Researchers at the Institute of Food Research are looking at how to turn straw from oilseed rape into biofuel. Preliminary findings are pointing at ways the process could be made …

by Phillip Fiorini and Cynthia Sequin (Purdue University)   Purdue University researchers are launching a company focusing on an innovative process that could revolutionize how lignocellulosic biomass is used to make biofuels and other bio-based products and chemicals.
Spero …

(Biomass Magazine)  Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a process that uses gamma valerolactone (GVL) to deconstruct plants and produce sugars that can be chemically or biologically upgraded into biofuels. The team is …

(Wageningen University/Biomass Magazine)  Chemical building blocks from lignocellulosic feedstock form a huge potential for the production of bioplastics. More specifically, they have potential for biodegradable plastic polylactic acid (PLA). The building block for PLA – …

by Jeremy S. Luterbacher, Jacqueline M. Rand, David Martin Alonso, Jeehoon Han, J. Tyler Youngquist, Christos T. Maravelias, Brian F. Pfleger, James A. Dumesic (Science Magazine)    Widespread production of biomass-derived fuels and chemicals will require …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  … In Pennsylvania and Germany, BASF and Renmatix signed a non-exclusive joint development agreement to scale up the Renmatix Plantrose process for the production of industrial sugars based on lignocellulosic biomass. …

by Chenlin Li, Deepti Tanjore, Wei He, Jessica Wong, James L Gardner, Kenneth L Sale, Blake A Simmons and Seema Singh (Biotechnology for Biofuels)  Ionic liquid (IL) pretreatment is receiving significant attention as a potential process …

(University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)   Scientists report in Nature Communications that they have engineered yeast to consume acetic acid, a previously unwanted byproduct of the process of converting plant leaves, stems and other tissues into biofuels. The …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … In Massachusetts, applied mathematicians Markos Katsoulakis and Luc Rey-Bellet of the University of Massachusetts Amherst will share a three-year, $2.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, with others, to develop …

by Tom Rickey (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)  Scientists looking to create a potent blend of enzymes to transform materials like corn stalks and wood chips into fuels have developed a test that should turbocharge their …

by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com)  Scientists from the University of Illinois have reported that they have engineered yeast to consume acetic acid, a previously unwanted byproduct of the process of converting plant leaves, stems and other tissues into …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  … Long-term, there are numerous opportunities for developing the right kind of renewable feedstocks based on careful development of agricultural markets and gaining grower adoption. But anyone who has been through …

(Flagship Ventures/PR NewsWire)  New Venture is Commercializing a Novel Catalytic Process to Convert Non-Food Biomass Into Sugar
Flagship VentureLabs announced today that Midori Renewables is globally deploying their Breaking the Biomass Barrier™ technology, a novel catalyst …

(Clemson University)  Clemson University researchers focusing on switchgrass as a renewable fuel source are looking to fungi and bacteria — nature’s specialists in decomposing plants and animals into elements that can be reused to support …

(Phys.Org)  … Researchers from VIB (the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology) who are associated with KU Leuven have developed yeast strains that produce bio-ethanol from waste with an unprecedented efficiency. As a result, they are well placed to …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Upstream, downstream, processing, policy, finance – opportunities and challenges abound in the bioeconomy – but which challenges are the most intractable and daunting of them all?   In today’s part 2, …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  … The Summer of Algae has passed, but dozens of companies have remained hot in pursuit of a solution for fuels, feed, nutraceuticals, fragrances, flavorings and tailored renewable oils.
Their technologies? Closed …