This week marks the 10th anniversary of the first demo flight on biofuel which was done by Virgin Atlantic. LanzaTech CEO Jennifer Holmgren shared the factoid that, since that day, more than 100,000 commercial flights have used low carbon fuels. “This is especially amazing since in 2006 I was told over and over that biofuel flight […]
The US Department of Energy is supporting a project led by Novozymes that proposes to deliver a screening platform which can be used to reduce discovery time required for tailoring enzymes to process specific contexts. It’s called SynTec — Synthetic Biology for Tailored Enzyme Cocktails — and its one of the signature synbio developments with immediate applications to the […]
By Brent Erickson, executive vice-president; Head, Industrial & Environmental Section, Biotechnology Innovation Organization Special to The Digest This week, I’ll be addressing the Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference. I’d like to thank Jim Lane for giving me that opportunity again this year. I appreciate it, because BIO is the only trade association that advocates for the […]
Ancient insects’ digestion could boost biofuel development In the United Kingdom, researchers at the University of York found that the ability of some insects to efficiently digest cellulose could be exploited for industrial processes, such as the production of sustainable low carbon fuels to cut greenhouse gas emissions associated with fossil fuel use. According to […]
In Malaysia, Sime Darby Plantation, the world’s largest oil palm planter by land holdings, reported that its second-quarter net profit increased 34% compared to a year ago, thanks in part to higher earnings from Upstream Malaysia and reduced finance costs as a result of lower borrowings. They also reported a profit before tax increase of […]
In Texas, S&P Global Platts reports that the U.S. Department of Commerce’s recommendation to impose a tariff on Chinese steel imports has sparked worries that China may retaliate against U.S. soybean imports. The U.S. Department of Commerce released a number of recommendations Friday following its investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. Among […]
In Indonesia, the trade ministry is challenging the latest news from the U.S. on anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Indonesian biodiesel. The U.S. added more import duties on the already steep anti-subsidy duties on biodiesel from Argentina and Indonesia, essentially making it near impossible for biodiesel to enter the U.S. from either of those two […]
In Washington, DC, a study conducted by nova-Institute on behalf of the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC) showed for the first time which macroeconomic effects are generated by bioeconomy activities – those using renewable biological resources from land and sea – and that there has been a continuous increase of 10% since 2008. With updated data […]
In Germany, UFOP reports that the U.S. Department of Agriculture expects global vegetable oil production to hit a new record at 197 million tons in 2017/18. The increase in palm oil, but also soybean oil production will be particularly sharp. According to the USDA forecast, 2017/18 world vegetable oil production will probably go up more […]
In Washington, D.C., ethanol production averaged 1.068 million barrels per day (b/d)—or 44.86 million gallons daily, which is up 52,000 b/d from the week before and an eight-week high, according to EIA data analyzed by the Renewable Fuels Association. The four-week average for ethanol production increased slightly to 1.045 million b/d for an annualized rate […]
