There are several federal R&D programs out there supporting biofuels, biopower, biochemcials and biobased products. If you don’t know what they are, check out this slide guide from Bill Hagy at Lee Enterprises Consulting and who has 45 years of experience at USDA and as a consultant, where he shares details about the Biomass Research […]
In the UK, Bioenergy Insight reports that under a new agreement ENGIE will supply biomethane from anaerobic digestion across Heathrow Airport until March 2022, providing the fuel to all metered gas points in all terminals. The deal, which expands on an existing agreement between to the two companies, feeds into Heathrow’s push to quickly decarbonize […]
In Washington, with the need for a decision only days away, the coalition that successfully won a unanimous court decision against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency continued its call for the agency to not appeal the decision by launching a new social media campaign aimed at encouraging policymakers and the EPA to do the right […]
In Brazil, Platts reports that in terms of sugar equivalency, hydrous ethanol prices are at their lowest level in five years at the equivalent of 9.87 cents per pound and is the lowest since Platts started tracking the price in 2014. The previous low was 10.05 cents/lb. Until recently, the ethanol parity level where mills […]
In India, the Business Standard newspaper reports that ethanol production in Uttar Pradesh has reached 1.4 billion liters of installed capacity with 25 sugar mills now able to produce ethanol from heavy-B molasses as well as heavy-C molasses. By 2021/22, the government expects a total of 60 mills to have heavy-B molasses ethanol production capacity […]
In the UK, while US ethanol prices fall to record lows, in Europe industrial ethanol prices are skyrocketing as demand surges for hand sanitizers and other disinfectants to tackle the spread of COVID-19. Anyone capable of producing alcohol, from gin distillers to biofuel producers, are switching to industrial alcohol production to fill the significant supply […]
In Malaysia, Bloomberg reports that Malaysian palm oil prices have hit a five-month low as the country fails to find another buyer to absorb the demand gap left by India following a political spat over India’s treatment of Kashmir. With petroleum prices falling to an 18-year low on Wednesday, palm oil’s use as a biofuel […]
In Washington, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $25 million in funding for plastics recycling research and development (R&D). The funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is part of the Department’s Plastics Innovation Challenge, a comprehensive program to accelerate innovations in plastics recycling technologies. The Advanced Manufacturing Office and Bioenergy Technologies Office within the […]
In Germany, while is true that plastics made from corn, wheat, or sugarcane are, in principle, climate-neutral and protect declining oil reserves—a broad shift in consumption from conventional to bio-based materials could be bad news for the environment given the current state of technology. After all, plant based raw materials are produced on land and […]
During the week of March 16-20, 2020, The Digest surveyed its readers on how they were impacted by the Coronavirus health & economic crisis, and how they were responding. The bioeconomy’s pioneers are an optimistic bunch, and generally are far more optimistic than pessimistic about the next 12 months. That’s changed. Now, 70 percent are pessimists about 2020-21, relative […]
