by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... So, at EUBCE, you ask, what is the buzz on the floor? To paraphrase Monty Python:, it is SAF, SAF, SAF, SAF, carbon price on chemicals, eSAF, SAF, SAF and eSAF. So many people had so many
sugar-to-jetfuel
Back TO HOMESAF Production Expands for a Low-Carbon Future
by Scott Jenkins (Chemical Engineering Magazine) ... The current environmental and geopolitical situation is prompting petroleum refiners across the globe to evaluate their assets and explore how to adapt to a carbon-constrained future, and one in which the negative climate effects
May 30, 2022 Read Full Article
Green Fuels Shortage Looming Due to EU Restrictions, Industry Warns
by Sean Goulding Carroll (EURACTIV.com) Europe is in danger of failing to meet the transport industry’s soaring demand for sustainable liquid fuels due to EU restrictions on biofuels, a new industry position paper has claimed. Demand for green liquid fuels in Europe
February 10, 2022 Read Full Article
JBEI’s Aviation Program: The Digest’s 2022 Multi-Slide Guide to Joint BioEnergy Institute
by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) 6 DOE National Labs and 6 Universities are partners with the Joint BioEnergy Institute to help transform the maximum amount of carbon available in bioenergy crops into biofuels and bioproducts. From the importance of jet
January 03, 2022 Read Full Article
SAF Taking Off in 2022: The Digest’s 2021 Multi-Slide Guide to ICF’s SAF
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) As you wait for the clock countdown to 2022 today, check out this slide guide from Mike McCurdy, Managing Director of Fuels & Power at ICF on how sustainable aviation fuels are taking off in
December 31, 2021 Read Full Article
USDA Secretary Vilsack Meets with GE Aviation on Sustainable Aviation Fuel to Reduce CO2
by Jay Stowe (GE Aviation/Biobased Diesel Daily) After leading USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack on a tour of the engine development assembly facility at GE Aviation’s headquarters in Evendale, Ohio, in early December, chief engineer Chris Lorence posed a rhetorical question to
December 29, 2021 Read Full Article
Global Bioenergies Makes Breakthrough on the Road toward Biojet Fuel
(Global Bioenergies/Globe Newswire) Global Bioenergies has made major advances in its process for converting plant-based feedstocks into isobutene. The resulting improved performance will speed up penetration of the cosmetics market over the next few years and allows to target production costs that would make this process the world
October 21, 2021 Read Full Article
Getting 35B SAF gallons by 2050: The Digest’s 2021 Multi-Slide Guide to NREL’s SAF Approach
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The Digest reported a few days ago on the Biden administration’s goal of reaching 3 billion gallons of sustainable aviation fuel by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050 but how do we get there?
September 15, 2021 Read Full Article
Recent Innovations in Turning Agricultural Waste into Biofuels
by Raj Shah and Amanda Loo (altenergymag.com/Koehler Instrument Company) Wastes from fields and wastes from processing are the two kinds of agricultural wastes. Field wastes are present after harvesting crops and include stems, leaves, and stalks, and waste after processing
August 19, 2021 Read Full Article
Tech, Feedstock Winners Still to Be Declared as Biofuels Sector Develops
by Tom Brown (ICIS/Biofuels Digest) ... A factor that could stand to drive wider deployment of biofuels could be its relative maturity compared to other emissions-reduction technologies, particularly for heavy industry, with around half of the innovations that are likely to
August 11, 2021 Read Full Article
New Coalition Working on SAF: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to AFCC
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Alternative Fuels & Chemicals Coalition advocates for public policy to promote the development and production of alternative fuels and chemicals, especially sustainable aviation fuels. It’s a collaborative government affairs effort formed just months ago in January
July 11, 2019 Read Full Article
The Digest’s Top 10 Celluosic Project Flashpoints, 10 Quick Takes
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) It’s all very rosy on the cellulosic potential frontier. As Gevo and Renmatix recently observed, “cellulosic sugars are one of the most abundant feedstocks in the world, and in many geographies with dense vegetation, using woody
March 26, 2019 Read Full Article
Renmatix, Gevo Ink Deal to Develop Cellulosic Hydrocarbons for Jet Fuel, Gasoline Markets
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) We have word bubbling up simultaneously from Pennsylvania and Colorado that Gevo and Renmatix inked a joint development agreement to evaluate the commercial feasibility of creating renewable jet fuel by integrating Renmatix’s Plantrose Process with Gevo’s
December 07, 2018 Read Full Article
Collaboration Success: Two Labs Develop a Promising Pathway to Biobased Fuels and Chemicals
(U.S. Department of Energy) Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, have successfully modified a microorganism to produce a useful intermediate from sugar fermentation, which can then be upgraded into valuable biobased fuels and chemicals. NREL’s modified
November 30, 2017 Read Full Article
From Sugars to Affordable Hydrocarbon Fuels: The Digest’s 2017 Multi-Slide Guide to Catalytic Upgrading R&D
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 conversion performance than can achieve
August 07, 2017 Read Full Article
Government Policy Action Is Key to the Large-Scale Deployment of Aviation Biofuels, Hears ICAO Seminar
(GreenAir Online) Although sustainable alternative fuels are key to meeting the aviation sector’s long-term emissions goals, supportive government policies are required to bring these fuels to global deployment. This was a central theme of last week’s ICAO Seminar on Alternative
February 24, 2017 Read Full Article
Aviation Firms Turn to Seaweed, Sugar
(AFP/China Post) The air transportation sector is turning slowly toward sustainable fuels as part of the global fight against climate change. But adoption has been delayed due to a lack of incentives and low oil prices. ... Even partially replacing jet fuel with
February 14, 2017 Read Full Article
Commercial Aircraft Propulsion and Energy Systems Research: Reducing Global Carbon Emissions (2016)
by Committee on Propulsion and Energy Systems to Reduce Commercial Aviation Carbon Emissions; Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board; Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (National Academies Press) The primary human activities that release carbon
June 01, 2016 Read Full Article
Biofuels Still Have to Solve Economic Conundrum
by Thierry Dubois (AIN Online) Biofuels for aviation are still facing multiple challenges, the greatest being finding ways to make production economical, according to a report jointly released in September by the French Académie des Technologies and Académie de l’Air
November 09, 2015 Read Full Article
Global Bioenergies Joins aireg to Push the Jet Fuel Application of Its Isobutene Process
(Global Bioenergies) Global Bioenergies has joined aireg – Aviation Initiative for Renewable Energy in Germany e.V. – . The French industrial biology company, which is currently developing its demonstration plant in Leuna, Germany will soon be able to produce alternative
September 14, 2015 Read Full Article
Researchers Develop Process for Drop-In Aviation Biofuel
(Department of Energy/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory/ECNMag.com) While biofuels have proven to be an effective, renewable, low-carbon alternative to gasoline and diesel, jet fuels pose unique challenges. These challenges have now been met with a new technique developed by researchers at
June 16, 2015 Read Full Article
Look, up in the Sky! The Best of the Aviation Biofuels Slides from ABLC 2015
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Great Scott! New molecules, new feedstocks, new technologies, and reaching scale — the best of the best. At ABLC 2015, the focus on innovation included a complete program on aviaiton — and numerous producers elsewhere
March 30, 2015 Read Full Article
High Flying
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Can you make ultra-performing diesel and jet fuels from essential oils found in hemp, a/k/a cannabis sativa, a/k/a marijuana? Turns out, you can. ... Beta caryophyllene — regardless of source — is in the news this month
March 27, 2015 Read Full Article
Energy Group, Total, Makes Investment & Initiates Joint Development Agreement with Renmatix
(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 Agreement to initiate distinct R&D
March 03, 2015 Read Full Article
What’s New, Different and Hot in Military and Aviation Biofuels
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... In the world of aviation biofuels, the bands and the bunting are rolling out less frequently. But mostly, because the sector has moved out of a noise-filled early R&D phase and is heading towards deployment.
February 20, 2015 Read Full Article
The Worldwide Push for Aviation Biofuels
by Keith Campbell (Engineering News) On October 19, 2004, the world’s first exclusively biofuel powered production aircraft received its certification, allowing it to be flown operationally. That aircraft was (and is) the Neiva (now Embraer) EMB-202A Ipanema crop duster. This
January 16, 2015 Read Full Article
Boeing, Embraer Open Joint Aviation Biofuel Research Center in Brazil
(Boeing) Collaboration supports Brazil’s role in developing sustainable biofuel, helps meet aviation’s environmental goals. Boeing [NYSE: BA] and Embraer [BM&FBOVESPA: EMBR3, NYSE: ERJ] today opened a joint sustainable aviation biofuel research center in a collaborative effort to further establish
January 15, 2015 Read Full Article
Can Brazil Get Its Ethanol Mojo Back?
by Mac Margolis (Bloomberg View) Brazilian airline Gol set out earlier this year to launch the world's first commercial flight powered partly by renewable fuel made from sugar cane. Fermenting ordinary sugar into jet fuel ended up being the easy bit.
December 22, 2014 Read Full Article
Amyris Renewable Jet Fuel Receives Regulatory Approval in Brazil
(Amyris) Brazil Now Cleared for Flying With Locally-Produced, Sugarcane-Derived Jet Fuel as Study Indicates That Amyris’s Renewable Fuels Greatly Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions Compared to Fossil Fuels Amyris, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMRS) welcomed the approval of its renewable jet fuel by Brazil’s fuels
December 17, 2014 Read Full Article
14 for ’15: The Bioeconomy Agenda, 2015
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) 14 perspectives on policy, technologies and geographies of compelling interest in the new year -- At ABLC Next this year in San Francisco — naturally, the focus is on “what’s next” in technology, finance, deployment
December 01, 2014 Read Full Article
2 Airlines Are Already Using Biofuels, So Why Aren't We All Flying Green?
By Reuben Brewer (The Motley Fool) In July, Brazilian airline GOL became the first airline to use a new type of biofuel to power a commercial flight. The fuel in question was farnesene, which is made from sugar cane. And
November 20, 2014 Read Full Article
Animal Fat in Airplanes: Could Biofuels Help Airlines’ Bottom Lines?
by Benét J. Wilson (BusinessJournalism.org) Right now, oil prices are down, but nobody expects them to stay there. That is why Airlines for America, the trade organization for the largest U.S. carriers, says its members are working to develop environmentally
November 14, 2014 Read Full Article
Airlines Fly the Skies on a Sugar High
by Amy Yee (The New York Times) The red-and-white Boeing 737 looked like any other plane on the tarmac at Orlando International Airport. But on a clear day last July, the plane became the first commercial flight powered by a
October 14, 2014 Read Full Article
Lufthansa Operates Commercial flight using new sugar-based biofuel and signs jatropha agreement
(GreenAir Online) Following its recent approval by international fuel standards body ASTM, the sugar-based biofuel developed by the Total oil group and US-based biotech company Amyris was used by Lufthansa on a commercial flight from Frankfurt to Berlin on Monday
September 30, 2014 Read Full Article
Lufthansa Conducts First European Scheduled Flight Using Sugar-Based Biofuel
(Lufthansa) Memorandum of Understanding signed with JatroSolutions GmbH on the cultivation of jatropha The Lufthansa Group has marked another milestone in its pioneering work in the testing of alternative fuels. Today, Lufthansa flight LH 190 from Frankfurt to Berlin Tegel is
September 17, 2014 Read Full Article
Biofuels in Brazil
by Antonio Maria Bonomi, Paulo Barbosa and Susan van Dyk (IEA Bioenergy Task 39 Newsletter #37) Brazil was the leader in biofuels production and exports until the USA became the world’s largest biofuel producer in 2006 and the leading exporter of biofuels
September 17, 2014 Read Full Article
Brazil's GOL to Start International Flights using Newly-Certified Amyris/Total Renewable Jet Fuel
(GreenAir Online) Less than a month after approval for commercial use by fuel certification body ASTM International, Brazilian carrier GOL has announced it is to begin flying with blended farnesane renewable jet fuel developed by the Amyris/Total partnership. The sugarcane-derived Synthetic
August 11, 2014 Read Full Article
Brazilian Airline GOL to Make First International Commercial Flights With Newly Approved Amyris-Total Aviation Biofuel
(Amyris/GlobeNewsWire) International Flights From Florida to Sao Paulo Using Sugarcane-Derived Renewable Jet Fuel Support GOL Environmental Performance Objectives Amyris (Nasdaq:AMRS) has partnered with Brazilian airline GOL (NYSE:GOL) to begin the first commercial route with farnesane, the recently approved renewable jet fuel. GOL
July 09, 2014 Read Full Article
Intrexon Makes Farnesene from Methane: Hot Route to Low-Cost Jet Fuels and Diesels?
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Second Product of Intrexon’s Proprietary Bioconversion Platform Following Isobutanol Who’s happy, who’s bumming — and how far along is the work, really? The Digest looks at Intrexon’s breakthrough. Gas-to-Liquids approach significantly more cost-efficient versus conventional
July 01, 2014 Read Full Article
Aviation RFJ: Are You Getting on Board? Technical Pathway Development--Expanding Supply and Reducing Cost
by Aino Siirala (Advanced Biofuels USA) Steve Csonka, as director of Enviro Strategy and Ecomagination, GE Aviation, the world-leading provider of jet engines, gave an overview of the importance of renewable jet fuel specifications leading to commercialization at the Biomass
April 26, 2013 Read Full Article
Combined Bacterial/Metal Catalysis Turns Sugars to Jet Fuel
by John Timmer (Ars Technica) ...The process relies on a specific species of bacteria, Clostridium acetobutylicum. Given a source of sugar (which can be obtained by digesting cellulose in plants), these bacteria will produce a mixture of small carbon compounds: acetone,
December 06, 2012 Read Full Article
Sustainable Alternative Jet Fuels Update on ASTM Approval
by Nate Brown (Federal Aviation Administration) Power Point presentation with graphics illustrating the steps for new aviation fuel approval, graphic descriptions of anticipated aviation fuels (and progress of various pathways along the process). Includes alcohol to jet, direct sugar to
May 30, 2012 Read Full Article
Virdia, Virent Pioneer New Super-Performing, Parity-Cost Renewable Jet Fuel Pathway
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Virent, Virdia debut super-performing drop-in aviation biofuels made from drop-in cellulosic pine tree sugars; “passed under conditions where conventional jet fuels would fail,” says Air Force. In Wisconsin, Virent and Virdia (formerly HCL CleanTech), announced the