(U.S. Department of Energy) Today (September 20, 2017), U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry announced that the Department of Energy (DOE) has selected eight projects to negotiate for up to $15 million in total DOE funding to optimize integrated biorefineries. These projects
scale up
Back TO HOMEFermentation Frontiers: Top 10 Trendlines in Industrial Biotech Fermentation
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The most visible advanced industrial fermentation target for a number of years has been cellulosic ethanol, but the targets are diversifying and cellulosics themselves are shifting gears from process to feedstocks. There’s a fervent ferment
September 06, 2017 Read Full Article
Biorefinery Optimization Workshop Summary Report Published
(U.S. Department of Energy) The Biorefinery Optimization Workshop Summary Report is now online! Read this new report for an overview of industry challenges and opportunities discussed during the Biorefinery Optimization Workshop, which was held on October 5–6, 2016, in Chicago, Illinois. The
February 27, 2017 Read Full Article
A New Hydrocarbon Brew: The Digest’s 2017 Multi-Slide Guide to Technical Market Analysis for Biochemical Conversion
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) As the project team behind this presentation explains, there’s trouble right here in River City when it comes to accessing good market and technical data on making hydrocarbons from a biochemical process. Process and economic data
February 16, 2017 Read Full Article
The Uber Model for Industrial Biotechnology, on Display at REG Okeechobee?
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The REG Okeechobee facility is now “open for business” as a contract manufacturing site, and that’s a fascinating development worth exploring, even if you don’t have a microbe you would like to manufacture without the
February 07, 2017 Read Full Article
Imagine, with Us!: AkzoNobel Issues an Innovation Challenge to the Advanced Bioceconomy
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) AkzoNobel is launching Imagine Chemistry, an exciting opportunity to partner with start-up firms, students, research groups and career scientists from across the world to jointly exploit the knowledge of chemistry and solve several real-life chemistry-related
February 07, 2017 Read Full Article
Scaling-up through Contract Manufacturing
by Mark Warner (Warner Advisors LLC/Biofuels Digest) As companies consider options to commercialize their advanced biotechnologies, they are faced with the decision to either build their own demonstration scale facility or utilize existing contract manufacturing operations (CMOs). There are benefits and
January 20, 2017 Read Full Article
Attacking Carbon Intensity, Energy Intensity: The Digest’s 2016 Multi-Slide Guide to the Agile BioFoundry
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) With the Agile BioFoundry project, the National Lab consortium, in partnership with academia and industry, aims to achieve a 40% decrease in the energy intensity of current manufacturing processes. Plus, a 60% decrease in the carbon
December 27, 2016 Read Full Article
All Bioeconomy Processes Developed Upstairs: The Digest’s 2016 Multi-Slide Guide to the ABPDU
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) It’s known by the ungainly acronym ABPDU, which might as well decode as “All Bioeconomy Processes Developed Upstairs,” but actually stands for the far more modest “Advanced Biofuels Process Demonstration Unit.” It’s run out of the Berkeley
December 15, 2016 Read Full Article
Bolting Chemicals onto Ethanol Plants: The Digest’s 2016 8-Slide Guide to Greenyug
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Greenyug is a privately held technology development company with a mission to research, develop and commercialize production of commodity chemicals, specialty chemicals, polymers and fuels derived from renewable sources. The laboratory facility is based in
December 06, 2016 Read Full Article
Colorado Engineering Council’s Top Awards
(The Villager) The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) of Colorado announced the winners of its 2017 Engineering Excellence Awards (EEA) on Nov. 7 at a celebration luncheon held at The Brown Palace Hotel and Spa. A Grand Conceptor Award, presented
December 05, 2016 Read Full Article
A Strategic Approach to Scale-Up
by Mark Warner (Warner Advisors, LLC/Biofuels Digest) ... In my previous series “what makes scale-up of industrial biotechnology so difficult” (here), I introduced the concept of not pushing the rope. This notion involves identifying commercial scale equipment that can perform the
November 30, 2016 Read Full Article
What Does it Take? The Experts Report from Ottawa on Scaling up the Bioeconomy
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) This past week, a remarkable group of people gathered in Ottawa, perhaps described best as the “friends of Jeff” because the ostensible excuse for a get-together was Jeff Passmore’s Scaling Up Conference and because, to
November 21, 2016 Read Full Article
Scaling up Industrial Biotech: The Digest’s 2016 Multi-Slide Guide to Financing the Advanced Bioeconomy
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Building a low carbon, bio-based economy through sustainable innovation means scaling up technologies. And that means financing for scale. The opportunity is massive. As the OECD wrote in its Bioeconomy 2030 report, “The Bioeconomy will hit its stride in
November 18, 2016 Read Full Article
Scaling Biofuels Technology
by David Edwards ( Zeton Inc./Lee Enterprises Consulting) The recommended approach for scaling bioenergy and biofuels technology follows a similar stage gate process to that used in traditional Chemical Process Industry (CPI) processes. But the processing of solids in bioenergy
November 10, 2016 Read Full Article
Derisking: A Strategy for Growing the Biobased Economy
by Neil A. Belson (LeafPro Bioproducts/Biofuels Digest) ... Despite its potential benefits and some very real achievements, the biobased economy has overall progressed more slowly than many had hoped. There are several reasons for this slow progress. Technological challenges involved in
October 28, 2016 Read Full Article
Reaching Scale: The Digest’s 2016 Multi-Slide Guide to Leveraging Supply Chain Investments
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) This season, Faegre Baker Daniels’ John Kirkwood outlined the latest on leveraging supply chain investments into debt and equity placements to bring commercial projects to life. READ MORE
October 10, 2016 Read Full Article
White Dog Labs Looks to Build Delaware's Next Chemical Giant
by Scott Goss (The News Journal) ... Now the rather smelly, colorless liquid is poised to become the cornerstone of a Delaware startup that is seeking to revolutionize the biochemical industry and even possibly -- maybe someday -- upend the global fuel market. "That might
September 05, 2016 Read Full Article
Scale-Up: What Makes the Winners Win?
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... It’s worth some detail, before the cheering: BioAmber Sarnia demonstrated performance levels validating commercial operation, as defined in its loan agreement with Comerica Bank, Export Development Canada and Farm Credit Canada. It’s such a happy outcome
September 05, 2016 Read Full Article
Scale-up from Pilot to Commercial: The Digest’s 2016 Multi-Slide Guide to Fermentation 2.0
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) As part of March Madness 2016, Mark Warner presented this highly-praised slide deck on Fermentation 2.0. You can access the recorded webinar here. And Mark’s latest Thought Leadership column in The Digest is here, on
April 28, 2016 Read Full Article
Scale-Up of Emerging Biofuel Technologies
by Lorenz Bauer and William Quapp (Biofuels Digest) ... However, attempts to translate these small scale successes into commercial technologies have been less successful. It is easy to blame lower oil and natural gas prices and opposition from special interest
April 12, 2016 Read Full Article
Pivot to Play: The Digest’s 2016 Multi-Slide Guide to Cellulosic Sugars
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) This week, we held a well-attended webinar on the markets and makers of cellulosic sugars, from pilot to player. Here below is a slide deck presented on the day, from industry consultant Vonnie Estes — whose latest
April 12, 2016 Read Full Article
DE-FOA-0001481: Request for Information (RFI): Understanding Scale-Up and Operation Challenges for Integrated Biorefinery Optimization
(U.S. Department of Energy) The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) seeks feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on issues related to “challenges encountered
March 16, 2016 Read Full Article
Momentum Builds behind Researcher's New Biomass Process
(University of Wisconsin-Madison/Phys.Org) For a world hooked on fossil carbons, the vials of amber syrup in Jim Dumesic's lab are full of sweet potential. Dumesic's group caused a stir in research circles and the media in 2014 by publishing a
March 11, 2016 Read Full Article
Engineers Are from Mars, Business Developers Are from Venus
by Mark Warner (Warner Advisors LLC) ... In this case, we are substituting engineers and business developers, then focusing on the differences in how they view biotechnology commercialization and the resulting impact on their ability to successfully scale-up technology as a team.
January 11, 2016 Read Full Article
What Makes Scale-Up of Industrial Biotechnology so Difficult?
by Mark Warner (Warner Advisors LLC) Two questions have dominated the responses received after my Lessons Learned series on commercializing industrial biotechnology (here) and the deep-dive into the industrial biotechnology commercialization process (here), the questions are what makes scale-up of industrial
December 03, 2015 Read Full Article
ORNL Team Discovers Mechanism behind Direct Ethanol-to-Hydrocarbon Conversion; Implications for Energy Efficiency and Cost of Upgrading
(Green Car Congress) Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have discovered that the reactions underlying the transformation of ethanol into higher-grade hydrocarbons unfolds in a different manner than previously thought. The research, supported by DOE’s BioEnergy Technologies Office (BETO), has
November 06, 2015 Read Full Article
Top 10 Lessons Learned Commercializing Advanced Biotechnologies
by Mark Warner (Warner Advisors/Biofuels Digest) Spending half a billion dollars placing steel in the ground to commercialize advanced biotechnologies for fuels, chemicals and food applications, is the easy part. Doing it successfully is the hard part ... My focus is on the
July 06, 2015 Read Full Article
Top 10 Lessons Learned Commercializing Advanced Biotechnologies -- Part 1
by Mark Warner (Warner Advisors/ Biofuels Digest) ... My focus is on the technical perspectives of technology deployment, from early stage process development, engineering, and construction to a fully operational commercial facility. This series is for anyone who is passionate about
June 02, 2015 Read Full Article
Shell: Expects to Be Producing Advanced Biofuels at Scale, in US, by End of Decade
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Shell VP Matthew Tipper, at ABLCNext: “We will likely begin manufacture in the southeast United States. We plan to be operational by late this decade. “We believe our best bet is woody biomass and energy
November 21, 2014 Read Full Article
Celtic Renewables Opts For A Well-Oiled Remedy
by Ann M. Thayer (Chemical and Engineering News) Scottish startup to make biobased chemicals from the leftovers of whisky production The process for making Scotch whisky uses three ingredients: water, yeast, and a grain, primarily barley. About 10% of the output is
November 20, 2014 Read Full Article
The 10 Biofuels Priorities for 2012
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In California, more than 350 delegates gathered at Advanced Biofuesl Markets to set industry priorities for the next six months,seal partnerships, and exchange outlooks on 2012. It didn’t take long for the Top 10 priorities
November 10, 2011 Read Full Article
LS9 Significantly Expands Production
(LS9/GlobeNewsWire) LS9, Inc., a technology leader in the development of renewable and sustainable products, today announced that it has successfully scaled its technology to the 20,000 liter scale, demonstrating continued progress in the scale-up and commercialization of its bio-based chemicals
November 08, 2011 Read Full Article
7 Decision Points in the Race for Scale in Advanced Biofuels
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...In the Race for Scale, the industry has excelled in driving down operating costs. Capital costs have proven more perplexing, and sticker shock has been a hold-back. Feedstock availability at affordable cost and appropriate scale
November 08, 2011 Read Full Article
Technologies and Fuels of the Future – A Panel Discussion
by Vidya Ramanathan (Advanced Biofuels USA) “Artificial leaf, Nanowires and Biomass - Are these the fuels and technologies of the future? Emerging from the BP Gulf Oil spill, and witnessing the post-quake-tsunami nuclear-reactor incidents in Japan, we are rightly poised
September 28, 2011 Read Full Article
Vinod Khosla on the Technology Pathway to Biofuels
by Vinod Khosla (Green Tech Media) Part 1: Production technologies: where are we? The financial crisis of 2008 set back a number of projects and slowed actual construction of pilot and demo plants like it did in all industries, be
January 24, 2011 Read Full Article
A.I.M. Interview: Sapphire Energy’s CEO Dr. Jason Pyle
by David Schwartz (Algae Industry Magazine) Dr. Jason Pyle, the high profile CEO at the even more high profile “green crude” developer, Sapphire Energy, holds a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Physiology, as well as an M.D., from
January 24, 2011 Read Full Article
Hydrocarbon Fuels: Commercialization of New Technology
by Andras Marton, Ph.D. (Project Analyst, Independent Project Analysis, Inc.) Independent Project Analysis (IPA) functions as a consultant on process industry projects around the world, and utilizes its experience to provide advice to new technology startups. In the biofuels business, strategies