by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Established in 2013, AltAir Fuels was created to produce low carbon fuels and chemicals derived from sustainable feedstock. For its first commercial project, AltAir partnered with Alon Energy USA to use …

by Munyaradzi Makoni (Reuters)  When a South African Airways Boeing 737 took off from O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg two years ago, headed for Cape Town, it was powered by an unusual fuel: tobacco.
South Africa …

by Kaleyesus Bekele (AIN Online)  The Boeing Company has teamed with the South African government, South African Airways (SAA), the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and U.S. energy …

by Erin Voegele (Ethanol Producer Magazine/Biomass Magazine)  The Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials recently released a report reviewing its 2016 activities and highlighting its increased impact and presence in the global renewable fuels industry. The report …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  From Iowa we received news that Renewable Energy Group has agreed to acquire approximately 82 acres of land at its Geismar, Louisiana biorefinery from Lion Copolymer, for $20M. The goal? …

by Hannah Black and Sarantis Michalopoulos  (EurActiv) In sectors like aviation where decarbonisation options are limited, there is a strategic advantage in encouraging the use of biofuels, a European Commission official has said.
The aviation sector is dependent …

by Hannah Black and Sarantis Michalopoulos (EurActiv)  In sectors like aviation where decarbonisation options are limited, there is a strategic advantage in encouraging the use of biofuels, a European Commission official has said.
The aviation sector …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Whether it is partnering with COMAC to research aviation biofuels, launching a biojet program with Aeromexico and Mexico’s Airports and Auxiliary Services, or with the Port of Seattle and Alaska …

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 …

(U.S. Department of Energy)  The results of the U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office’s (BETO’s) Cellulosic Sugar and Lignin Production Capabilities Request for Information (RFI) are now available on the RFI responses web page. This …

by Anine Kilian (Engineering News)  South African seed selection for research and development company Sunchem’s solaris crop – a nicotine-free tobacco variety that yields significant amounts of sustainable oil for biojet fuel feedstock – has …

by John Vidal (The Guardian)  With biofuel potential limited and emissions rising, the need for industry to act is urgent. Hopes rest on a global UN carbon offset scheme to be negotiated at the ICAO …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Genera Energy “leads the nation in the commercialization of integrated biomass supply chain solutions for the biofuels, biopower and biochemicals markets.”
Initially formed in 2008, Genera works with leading technology providers …

(Biofuels International)  Boeing, South African Airways (SAA) and low-cost carrier Mango have operated Africa’s first sustainable-fuelled flights powered with tobacco-based biofuels.
The SAA and Mango flights from Johannesburg to Cape Town, operated by a Boeing 737-800, …

by Jodi Helmer (The Guardian)  As the demand for tobacco declines in the US, farmers in Virginia are experimenting with turning the crop into viable biofuel  —  … One two-acre plot stands apart from the rest, …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  What’s up at the DOE’s ARPA-E unit — the Advanced Research Projects Agency? Technology to Market advisor Krishna Doraiswamy answered the question in this update, given at the Biomass R&D …

(Algae Industry Magazine)  An enzyme responsible for making hydrocarbons has been discovered by Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists studying the common green microalga Botryococcus braunii. The study, published in the current issue of the journal …

(Tyton/Digital Journal)  Tyton BioEnergy Systems announced today a major technological advancement in the production of sustainable jet fuel. Tyton filed a patent application for a new method and system of converting oil extracted from plant …

(Roundtable of Sustainable Biomaterials/Biofuels Digest)  Camelina sativa; Carinata; Pongamia; Macauba palm tree; Gliricidia sepium; Starchy wastewater; Industrial waste gases; Seed tobacco  READ MORE

(Tyton BioEnergy Systems) Tyton BioEnergy Systems and Sunchem announced today a research and commercial partnership combining Tyton’s research, development and commercial capabilities with Sunchem’s Solaris tobacco variety to establish a globally significant alliance to advance …

(Green Air Online)  The South African ‘Project Solaris’ initiative that is developing an energy-rich tobacco crop for use as a feedstock for producing aviation biofuel has been awarded certification by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Tobacco’s been re-thought, re-engineered and re-invented as a platform for sustainable, low-carbon fuels, and green chemicals – who’s doing what, where and how?  … If tobacco’s reputation has fallen into disrepute …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Tyton BioEnergy Systems is manipulating the DNA of standard tobacco to boost its sugar and oil content, allowing the plant to be used as feedstock for both ethanol as well as …

(Globe Newswire/Benzinga)  A technological and commercial partnership between Deinove and Tyton BioEnergy Systems, the leader in tobacco technology for green chemicals production  —  T he synergistic technologies are expected to provide techno-economic benefits in the …

(Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials)  – Project Solaris in South Africa, has earned the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) certification for the production of the energy rich tobacco crop “Solaris” in the Limpopo region of South …

(Smithfield Foods/Globe NewsWire)  Smithfield Foods’ Hog Production Division, Murphy-Brown, LLC, and Tyton BioEnergy Systems announced today a research partnership to develop new applications for Tyton’s dedicated, non-smoking tobacco crop and the resulting soil amendment, filtration, …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  A game-changing new platform — in tobacco?  Controversial by its feedstock role for the cigarette industry, tobacco’s been unjustly overlooked. Yet, according to Australia’s CSIRO, “tobacco can greatly expand global capacity …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In the advanced bioeconomy, the question for some time has been “how do you fund it?” or “how do you make it?”. But now, feedstock is becoming the key variable, …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Fuels, chemicals, pathways, and microbes that could shake it all up …  (H)ere are 8 Hot Targets that we can point to that could be game-changers in the world of making …

(Science Daily)  Researchers will genetically modify tobacco plants to produce enzymes that can break down biomass from forest raw materials. This may lead to a more effective, economic and sustainable production of biofuels, they say.
…
Today …

by Erin Voegele (Biomass Magazine)  The U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy has published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the availability of the Engineered High Energy Crop (EHEC) Programs …

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) …

by Daniel Ryntjes (CCTV America)  A U.S biotechnology company is pioneering tobacco as a renewable biofuel crop. Unlike most bio-tech firms, Tyton BioEnergy Systems is not working in a science park close to a university. …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Aviation biofuels on the rise, in the skies” tops the trend list; drop-in and cellulosic ethanol projects; M&A and cap raises, and action from strategic investors and customers dominate the …

(Boeing)  Pioneering project supports South Africa’s rural economy, environment, public health
Boeing [NYSE:BA] and South African Airways (SAA) announced today that South African farmers will soon harvest their first crop of energy-rich tobacco plants, an important …

by  Katie Fletcher (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Many dedicated energy crops hold promise as feedstocks for next-generation ethanol. Extensive R&D is still needed, however, to overcome the challenges in making these plants viable for commercial applications.
…
This year, …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …  SkyNRG is undertaking its first major feedstock project in South Africa, featuring a nicotine-free energy tobacco crop that’s developed by Sunchem under the name of Solaris.
Which is an excellent …

by Eduard Gismatullin (Bloomberg)  Boeing Co. (BA) and state-owned South African Airways SOC Ltd. agreed to cooperate to produce jet fuel from a new type of tobacco plant to reduce environmental pollution.
The partners will use …

by Matthew Burns (WRAL)   A Virginia company plans to reopen an ethanol refinery in Hoke County, using tobacco as its primary feedstock, officials said Monday.  The former Clean Burn Fuels biorefinery in Raeford has been …

(Basque Research)  In her PhD thesis Ruth Sanz-Barrio, an agricultural engineer of the NUP/UPNA-Public University of Navarre and researcher at the Institute of Biotechnology (mixed centre of the CSIC-Spanish National Research Council, Public University of …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Could a switch to biofuels make super-dense JP-10 military aviation fuels affordable? Could F18A Super Hornets add payload or extend range?
Currently reserved for tactical missiles because of cost, biofuels could …

by Max Frankel (ThinkProgress)   …But in the world of science, researchers around the world are working on some very innovative ways to produce gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel from more sustainable feedstocks.
Here’s a look …

by Erin Voegele (Biorefining Magazine)  …According to LBNL, the work focuses on transferring a hydrocarbon-synthesizing gene from cyanobacteria into a tobacco plant. The resulting plants would be able to produce fuel molecules within their leaves. …

(Department of Energy/ARPA-E)  ARPA-E Projects in 25 States Will Accelerate Innovation in Clean Energy Technologies, Increase America’s Competitiveness and Create Jobs
Arun Majumdar, Director of the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), today announced …

by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com)  A start-up company, Tyton BioSciences, is looking for a new outlet for tobacco – biodiesel and ethanol. The company is developing genetically modified tobacco that will, according to their website, “produce both …

by Michael Felberbaum (AP)  …Tobacco is an attractive “energy plant” because it can generate a large amount of oil and sugar more efficiently than other crops, said Vyacheslav Andrianov, a researcher at the Biotechnology Foundation Laboratories …

Researchers from the Biotechnology Foundation Laboratories at Thomas Jefferson Universityin Philadelphia  have identified a way to increase the oil in tobacco plant leaves, which may be the next step in using the plants for biofuel. …