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
precursors/biointermediates
Back TO HOMEMaking Sugars, Not Extracting Them: Proterro’s Technology
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... But very few are working in solid phase – where essentially instead of working with a liquid vat, microbes are growing on a fabric or film — and the organisms are provided with a
December 18, 2012 Read Full Article
A Sugar Fix: Proterro, Biofuels and Affordable, Renewable Sugars
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Why is making affordable renewable sugars potentially big business? Which intrepid investors have targeted biofuels’ biggest bottleneck? News has been circulating that Proterro raised $3.5 million for a demonstration-scale of their renewable sugars technology, and secured
December 18, 2012 Read Full Article
State Incentives for Alternative-Fuel Projects Linked to Success and Failure
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
December 17, 2012 Read Full Article
DE-FOA-0000812: Carbon, Hydrogen and Separation Efficiencies in Bio-Oil Conversion Pathways(CHASE BIO-OIL PATHWAYS)
(US Department of Energy) This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will address research and development (R&D) challenges that were identified at a stakeholder workshop held in December 2011 called “Conversion Technologies for Advanced Biofuels” (CTAB) and from a Request for Information (RFI)
December 17, 2012 Read Full Article
15 Burning Questions (and Answers) for Biofuels in 2013
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Policy, finance, technology, feedstocks, markets, prices, opposition. Here’s what’s on your mind, as the critical 2013 deployment year for biofuels looms. So here are 15 burning questions as suggested by various Digesterati — divided for convenience
December 14, 2012 Read Full Article
UnNintendoed Consequences: Biofuels and the Feedstock Challenge
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) It’s been years of struggle to get cellulosic feedstock supply chains downfield. Now, companies like Woodland Biofuels, Sweetwater Energy, Ceres, Delta BioRenewables and Commonwealth Agro-Energy are moving the chains. ...This week in Canada, the MaRS Cleantech Fund
December 12, 2012 Read Full Article
DOE Funds $650K for Algae Research at Stevens Institute
(Algae Industry Magazine) Funded by a $650,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Biomass Program, Dr. Adeniyi Lawal of Stevens Institute of Technology will be leading a team investigating microalgae as a biomass fuel source. Dr. Simon Podkolzin,
December 09, 2012 Read Full Article
DE-FOA-0000796: RFI - Carbon, Hydrogen and Separation Efficiencies in Bio-Oil Conversion Pathways (CHASE BIO-OIL PATHWAYS)
(US Department of Energy) This is a Request for Information (RFI) only. DOE will not pay for information provided under this RFI and no project will be supported as a result of this RFI. This RFI is not accepting applications
November 30, 2012 Read Full Article
US Company in Refinery Search
by Peter Hemphill (Grain & Hay WeeklyTimes) An American biofuels company is looking to build a refinery in Australia to produce ethanol from wheat straw and other residues. ...Investors in the biorefineries include Australia's Macquarie Bank and Japanese commodity trader Itochu Corporation. ZeaChem
November 29, 2012 Read Full Article
University of Kentucky Project Looks at Creating Biofuel on the Farm
by Tim Thornberry (Business Lexington) ...Producing biofuels on the farm, however, is a bit different and is the focus of a relatively new project being led by the University of Kentucky. Sue Nokes, professor and department chair of biosystems and agricultural
November 28, 2012 Read Full Article
The Solyndra Effect, or Why Alcohol-to-Jet Fuel Is a Tough Sell
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...What we keep running into is what Aemetis CEO Eric McAfee once described to me as the immutable “Natural Law of Alternative Commodity Markets”. ...NLACM states that “the value of any intermediate products produced in any
November 19, 2012 Read Full Article
A.I.M. Interview: Incitor’s Jacob Berman and Troy Lapsys
by David Schwartz (Algae Industry Magazine) There is a new process that algae producers can use in the conversion stage to help increase their capacity and add to the bottom line, says Incitor’s VP of Business Development Jacob Berman.
November 12, 2012 Read Full Article
Everyday Low (Fuel) Prices: Drop-In Advanced Biofuels for under $100 per Barrel
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
November 12, 2012 Read Full Article
Vnesheconombank, Bright Capital, and Renmatix Consider Implementation of an Investment Project in Biochemical and Biofuels Industries
(MSN Money/PR NewsWire) During the first Moscow International Forum for Innovative Development Open Innovations, the State Corporation 'Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs' (Vnesheconombank), venture capital firm Bright Capital Management, and Renmatix, the leading manufacturer of biobased sugar intermediates,
October 31, 2012 Read Full Article
ZeaChem Completes Construction of Cellulosic Ethanol Biorefinery
(ZeaChem) ZeaChem Inc., developer of highly-efficient biorefineries, today announced that it has completed construction of its 250,000 gallons per year (GPY) cellulosic ethanol biorefinery in Boardman, Oregon. The project was completed on budget and is expected to begin production of
October 30, 2012 Read Full Article
Wood Completely Broken Down into Its Component Parts
(Fraunhofer Center for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes) Crude oil is getting scarce. This is why researchers are seeking to substitute petroleum-based products – like plastics – with sustainable raw materials. Waste wood, divided into lignin and cellulose, could serve as a raw
October 26, 2012 Read Full Article
The Pine Beetle Problem: Making Renewable Energy Lemonade from Biomass Lemons
by Bruce Dorminey (Renewable Energy World) ...Armed with a $200,000 U.S.D.A. two-year research grant, Fernando Resende will start work on a fast pyrolysis mobile reactor next year that could revolutionize how foresters and the timber industry currently deals with millions of
October 24, 2012 Read Full Article
A.I.M. Interview: Sapphire Energy’s CJ Warner and Tim Zenk
by David Schwartz (Algae Industry Magazine) ... So now that Green Crude Farm is in operation, what’s the current activity there? CJ: We are about to do the next big thing with the Farm, which is the strain transition. We’re demonstrating
October 24, 2012 Read Full Article
The Dandelion Model: Two-Step Biofuels Technologies and the Emergence of Super-Refineries
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Can local communities pyrolize their wastes and residues, to make renewable fuels and chemicals at biobased super-refineries? Two-step processes could be the ticket to the future, according to an Iowa State team. Imagine, for a
October 24, 2012 Read Full Article
Aemetis Announces Expanded, Global Renewable Jet and Diesel Fuel Technology License Agreement with Chevron Lummus Global
(Business Wire/Daily Finance) Biofuels ISOCONVERSION process licensed by Aemetis to produce 100% replacement renewable jet and diesel fuels from plant and algal oils Aemetis, Inc., an advanced fuels and renewable chemical company, announced today (10/19/2012) that the company signed an expanded,
October 23, 2012 Read Full Article
RTI International to Build Energy Technology Development Facility to Support Biofuels Projects
(RTI) RTI International began construction last week on a new 3,000-square-foot energy technology development facility on RTI’s main campus in Research Triangle Park, N.C. The facility will house a biomass pyrolysis reactor to further extend RTI’s biofuels research efforts. Using RTI’s technology, the
October 23, 2012 Read Full Article
Local Firm Using Seeds for Biofuel for Jets
by Randal Yakey (The News Herald) Steve Baxley, the senior engineer at Applied Research Associates (ARA), stood Monday among jars of fluids, beakers and equipment, holding a tiny amount of seeds in the palm of his hand. They are carinata
October 15, 2012 Read Full Article
The Sherpas: 7 Biofuels Feedstock Developers Clearing Paths to the Summit
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Every great biofuels technology has its own companion feedstock strategy – with unique advantages and technical challenges. Who’s got what it takes to be a great Sherpa, providing that feedstock or intermediates edge that puts
October 15, 2012 Read Full Article
Renmatix Unveils State-of-the-Art R&D Facility at Pennsylvania Headquarters
(Renmatix) U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) visits facility to discuss job creation and growth of biobased markets Renmatix, the leading manufacturer of cellulosic sugars for biobased chemical and fuel markets, marked the opening of a new research and development center in
September 25, 2012 Read Full Article
Energy Sorghum Demonstrates Potential During Dry Summer
by Dan Conable (Cato Analytics LLC/Ethanol Producer Magazine) Despite weather challenges and the learning curve for farmers unfamiliar with this energy sorghum, one of the first commercial-scale plantings of the crop in the northeastern U.S. has been a success. More than 400
September 24, 2012 Read Full Article
Joule Commissions First SunSprings Plant to Demonstrate Commercial Readiness for Solar Fuels
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Massachusetts, Joule announced the commissioning of its first SunSprings demonstration plant in Hobbs, New Mexico, where the company will prove its scalable platform for solar fuel production – the first of its kind –
September 12, 2012 Read Full Article
Advanced Biofuels Pioneer Terrabon Files for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy: One-off or Trend?
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Closely-watched green gasoline producer collapses as Waste Management declines next financing round. What does it mean for companies like Fulcrum Bioenergy, Enerkem, Agilyx, Agnion, Renmatix, Genomatica, and InEnTec? The Digest looks at the inside story. In
September 10, 2012 Read Full Article
Biofuel Development Company Infinite Enzymes Wins Research Grant
by Michael Sheffield (Memphis Business Journal) Infinite Enzymes LLC has received a $450,000 Small Business Innovation Research Phase II grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to advance its enzyme development technology. This is the second Small Business Innovation Research grant the Jonesboro,
September 06, 2012 Read Full Article
Super-cali-thali-terpa-butyl-peta What? The Hockey-Stickin’, Flash-Mobbin’ Growth in Biobased Intermediates
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The new trend in biofuels is not a biofuel at all – it’s an (usually unpronounceable) intermediate that can be refined into an array of fuels, chemicals, flavors, fragrances, and construction or packaging materials. ... Amyris,
September 06, 2012 Read Full Article
Neste Oil Completes First Phase of Its Microbial Oil Pilot Plant
(Neste Oil Corp./Biodiesel Magazine) Neste Oil has completed the first phase of its project to build a pilot plant for producing microbial oil. Construction of the plant is on-schedule and on-budget. The first phase will enable the growth of oil-producing
August 30, 2012 Read Full Article
Aemetis Announces Renewable Jet and Diesel Fuel Technology License Agreement With Chevron Lummus Global
(Business Wire/Aemetis) Biofuels ISOCONVERSION Process licensed by Aemetis to produce 100% drop-in renewable jet and diesel fuels from plant oils Aemetis, Inc., an advanced fuels and renewable chemical company, announced today that the company signed a license agreement with Chevron Lummus
August 24, 2012 Read Full Article
Waste Management and Renmatix Announce Agreement to Explore Conversion of Urban Waste to Low-Cost Cellulosic Sugar
(Renmatix) Companies embark on program to explore viability of MSW as inputs for PlantroseTM process Waste Management, Inc. , the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services, and Renmatix, the leading manufacturer of biobased sugar intermediates for global chemical and fuel markets,
August 24, 2012 Read Full Article
Researchers Convert 'Beer' into a Better-than-Ethanol Biofuel
by Anne Ju (Cornell Chronicle) At Cornell, researchers are turning beer into biofuel. It's not the beer that's good to drink -- but fermentation broth, which is chemically identical to the imbibing beer, from which the fuel ethanol is produced. Using a
July 20, 2012 Read Full Article
Zero-Waste Tire Processor Targets Environmental Scourge
by Steve Clark (The Brownsville Herald) After a year in development, Tire Recycling & Processing, a facility unlike anything else in Texas and possibly the United States, has thrown the switch in Harlingen. On Friday, several large, expensive, German-made tire-processing
July 18, 2012 Read Full Article
Sorghum Should Be in the Biofuel Crop Mix, Experts Say
(Science Daily/Purdue University) Sweet and biomass sorghum would meet the need for next-generation biofuels to be environmentally sustainable, easily adopted by producers and take advantage of existing agricultural infrastructure, a group of researchers led by Purdue University scientists believes. The scientists
June 25, 2012 Read Full Article
ThermoEnergy's Sugar Recovery System Meets Key Environmental Demands
(PRNewswire) -- At a time when regulatory agencies are increasing pressure for the disposal of wastewater containing soluble sugars, ThermoEnergy Corporation's CASTion® Sugar Recovery System is a proven, cost-effective technology to capture and recover sugar in wastewater. Food and beverage wastewaters have
May 21, 2012 Read Full Article
Sugar Rush: The Race Is on to Commercialize Low-Cost, High-Quality Sugars from Nonfood Sources
by Bryan Sims (Biorefining Magazine) The biorefining industry is hungry for a low-cost, high-quality and readily available supply of sugar feedstock from nonfood biomass sources. A number of pure-play sugar technology developers and manufacturers like Renmatix, Virdia (formerly HCL CleanTech),
May 02, 2012 Read Full Article
Innovation Turning Wood Waste into Bio-Fuel for Transportation
by Denise Deveau (Financial Post) {ISSUE} Soaring energy prices are thinning profit margins in the transport sector and increasing operational costs in many manufacturing industries {SHIFT} Turning wood waste into bio-fuel helps industry find a cost-effective and environmentally sustainable energy
May 01, 2012 Read Full Article
Energy Department Announces up to $15 Million to Research Biomass-Based Supplements for Traditional Fuels
(U.S. Department of Energy) As part of President Obama’s blueprint for an economy fueled by homegrown and alternative energy sources, the Energy Department announced today up to $15 million available to demonstrate biomass-based oil supplements that can be blended with
April 30, 2012 Read Full Article
On the Road to Gobig: Refinery Intermediates Offer Scale for Advanced Biofuels
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...Honeywell’s UOP announced two projects this week, and generally more attention was paid by ABLC delegates to its ATJ (alcohol to jet) technology release, suggesting that, in the near term, the costs for producing aviation
April 12, 2012 Read Full Article
U.S. Announces Funding for 'Bio-Oil'
(UPI) The U.S. Energy Department said up to $15 million is available to help support nearly a dozen so-called bio-oil projects targeted for the transportation sector. ...The Energy Department said the so-called bio-oil precursors could find their way into gasoline, diesel
April 10, 2012 Read Full Article
The Distributed/Centralized BioProduction Approach: Sustainable Biofuels and Bioproducts Are Possible Through the Significant Reduction of Biomass Transportation Costs
by Robert Kozak (Advanced Biofuels USA) Problem Definition: The production of biofuels in the US is at a substantial roadblock. Due to the high cost of transporting large quantities of low density, low value biomass to biorefineries, the economies of
March 27, 2012 Read Full Article
Virdia Ups the Ante in the Race for the New Sugars
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...In California, Virdia, formerly HCL CleanTech, a leading developer of cellulosic sugars, today announced major company milestones, including a new brand and CEO, its latest funding round, and a $75 million deal with the Mississippi
March 06, 2012 Read Full Article
Improving Logistics of Biofuel Raw Materials
(EurekAlert/Michigan State University) MSU research looks for ways to improve shipping of materials for biofuels If the increased use of biomass to produce alternative fuels is to become a reality, more attention needs to be paid to logistics – how, for
February 23, 2012 Read Full Article
'Mini-Cellulose' Molecule Unlocks Biofuel Chemistry
(Science Daily) A team of chemical engineers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has discovered a small molecule that behaves the same as cellulose when it is converted to biofuel. Studying this 'mini-cellulose' molecule reveals for the first time the
February 20, 2012 Read Full Article
SucreSource Signs GS Caltex
(SucreSource/PRNewsWire) First Cellulose-to-Sugar Plant Sale and Partnership SucreSource, a wholly owned subsidiary of BlueFire Renewables, Inc., has signed agreements with GS Caltex, a Korean petroleum company, to build a cellulose to sugar plant in Korea. "This agreement validates SucreSource's business model of
February 16, 2012 Read Full Article
Gen2 Biofuel Feedstocks: The Coming Surge in Energy Crops and Cellulosic Sugars
by Pavel Molchanov (Raymond James) As energy investors know well, it is much better to own the oil than to refine it. In other words, the bulk of the value is in the upstream of the value chain. Next-generation (Gen2) biofuels
January 12, 2012 Read Full Article
Biomass and an Integrated Supply-Chain Model for Cost-Effective Bioplastics Production
(2012 BioPlastek/Atlantic Biomass Conversions) Because of their polymeric structures, C-5 and C-6 sugars produced from plant and woody biomass are a potential feedstock for the production of bioplastics. Second generation non-food sources of biomass avoid the issues of food shortages
January 08, 2012 Read Full Article
Boosting Biofuels for Sustainable Energy and Environment
(European Commission CORDIS) Europeans believe in a sustainable environment, and a way of ensuring its future is to promote and build energy resources based on residual biomass. Supporting this objective is the BIOBOOST ('Biomass-based energy intermediates boosting biofuel production') project. Set
December 28, 2011 Read Full Article
E. coli a Prime Engine for Biofuels Production
Louis Bergerson (Stanford University/Western Farm Press) When it comes to making biodiesel cheaply and efficiently enough to be commercially feasible, E. coli may prove to be "the little bacterial engine that could," say Stanford researchers. ...The bacteria, often discussed in terms
November 15, 2011 Read Full Article
BlueFire Forms Subsidiary SucreSource, LLC to Provide Cellulosic Sugars to Advanced BioFuels Company
(GreenTechMedia/PR NewsWire) Today, at the Advanced Biofuels Markets Conference in San Francisco, Arnold Klann, Chief Executive Officer and President of BlueFire Renewables (OTC BB: BFRE.OB), a company focused on shifting the paradigm for energy sources by converting non-food cellulosic wastes into renewable
November 09, 2011 Read Full Article
KiOR Breaks Ground, and Draws Customers, for Columbus Biofuels Plant
by Garthia Elena Burnett (Commercial Dispatch) FedEx is the latest company to sign an offtake agreement with Kior, a biofuels plant slated to begin production in Columbus in 2012. FedEx plans to use oil produced from biomass, mainly wood chips,
May 16, 2011 Read Full Article
Canadian Biodiesel Plant to Make Fuel from Flax
by Susan Taylor (Reuters) A tiny Canadian startup company that is preparing to open a biodiesel plant in Toronto this spring says it will produce clean fuel, animal feed and human food all from the modest flax seed. Privately held Energy