In Kenya, CIO East Africa reports that Koko Networks has successfully transitioned its 50,000th household to using ethanol for clean cooking. Using adapted two-burner stoves, the cooking fuel is available through more than 600 agents at 700 outlets around Nairobi, partially supported through IoT. The company has seen a boost in interest in using clean […]
In North Dakota, the Grand Forks Herald reports the Red River Biorefinery and its plant operator North American Energy Services are headed to federal court in November following accusations of breach of contract from both sides. The two companies have been back and forth all summer with legal filings that will take them to pre-trial […]
In Iowa, Energy News reports Verbio is installing an anaerobic digester at the former DuPont cellulosic ethanol plant it purchased in 2018 to mimic the installations it has at existing facilities in Germany. The add-on will use up to 100,000 tons of corn stover annually to produce the equivalent of 20 million gallons of gasoline, […]
In India, the Pioneer newspaper reports that the first-ever public private partnership in the state’s sugar industry has been approved to build an ethanol plant at the Bhoramdev Cooperative Sugar Factory in Chhattisgarh’s Kawardha district. The project was approved last week and will now move forward with financial tenders together with the investor. Financial tenders […]
In Belgium, the often-underrated bio-based industries continue their ascent marking a total contribution of 750 billion EUR to the European economy in 2017, a notable increase of 50 billion EUR (+>7%) compared to 2016. The nova-Institute report commissioned by the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC) also indicated that the bio-based industries employ 3.6 million people in […]
In California, Bill Gates said in a recent blog post that advanced biofuels and electrofuels were the only real option for decarbonizing road freight, putting a dent in the hopes of those looking at Tesla’s new big rig trucks as a silver bullet. He said that research and investment in advanced biofuels are significantly underfunded […]
In India, the Indian Asian News Service reports that following two years of research, researchers from the National Sugar Institute in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur have produced methyl levulinate from sugarcane bagasse. The chemical is usually derived from levulinic acid that can cost as much as $11 per kilo per but producing it from bagasse at […]
In India, to further support the government’s policy to transition towards clean fuels and significantly reduce fossil fuel imports, the Business Standard newspaper reports the transportation minister is calling on automobile manufacturers to build flex-fuel engines. He said with engines already being manufactured in the US, Canada and Brazil, he asked big names among German […]
By Matt Lipscomb, CEO, DMC Bio Special to The Digest The globalization trend of the last 20 years focused on driving down the cost of manufacturing at the expense of all other factors. One of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the realization of the fragility of current global supply chains. As consumers […]
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development just published an issue brief as part of a series of interim outputs linked to WBCSD’s current refresh of its Vision 2050. Here are highlights from the report, highlighting 5 business model shifts that impact the bioeconomy, 12 emerging technologies like plants-based meat, genetic engineering, biosensors, artificial intelligence, energy harvesting, […]
