Author Archive: Jim Lane

One commercial, two commercial, three commercial, four: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to Clariant’s sunliquid cellulosic ethanol technology

May 23, 2018 | Jim Lane

Clariant’s sunliquid technology for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into sugars, followed by fermentation to cellulosic ethanol, is flexible to be used to convert different feedstocks on a regional basis, for example corn stover in North America, bagasse in South America or wheat straw in Europe and can be adapted to various plant concepts. The […]

A Yield Revolution in Row Crops Cometh

May 23, 2018 | Jim Lane

Yield10’s Brave New World of Metabolic Engineering, Benson Hill’s cloud biology and CRISPR/Cas9 from Purdue and the Chinese Academy of Sciences? Crop yield may never be the same. And developers using crops for bioindustrials or nutrition stand to reap the benefit via bigger refineries and lower input costs. Yield, yield, yield. Just about everyone thinks […]

The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the week of May 23rd, 2018

May 22, 2018 | Jim Lane

The pace of invention and change is just too strong, we’ve realized, to highlight annual or even quarterly or monthly rankings and summaries of significant product and service advances. For now, we’re going to be tracking these on a weekly basis to keep pace with the changes. Here are the top innovations for the week […]

The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to Fulcrum BioEnergy

May 22, 2018 | Jim Lane

Fulcrum BioEnergy has developed a “game-changing process for converting municipal solid waste that would otherwise be landfilled, into renewable transportation fuels including syncrude, jet fuel and diesel”. The company recently broke ground on its first commercial project in Nevada, and more about that here. Fulcrum’s innovative business model combines large volume MSW feedstock agreements with […]

Waiver Wire: Why is the biofuels industry up in arms about oil refinery waivers?

May 21, 2018 | Jim Lane

It’s baseball season and the waiver wire and easy outs are the talk of ESPN and other sports outlets. But they’re part of the Washington dialogue this month, waivers and easy outs, since reports surfaced in media that the US Environmental Protection Agency granted a Renewable Fuel Standard hardship waiver for CVR Energy’s Wynnewood, Oklahoma oil […]

Hot tech for fuels: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to the Joint BioEnergy Institute

May 20, 2018 | Jim Lane

JBEI’s mission is to convert biomass to biofuels. The goal is to provide the nation with clean, renewable transportation fuels identical to gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. Inside JBEI’s Emeryville laboratories, researchers are using the latest tools in molecular biology, chemical engineering, computational and robotic technologies, and pioneering work in synthetic biology to transform biomass […]

Industrial Enzyme Frontiers: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to MetGen

May 20, 2018 | Jim Lane

MetGen’s MetZyme enzymatic solutions cover the entire bio-based value chain from feedstock to high-value chemicals and enable the use of cellulosic feedstocks as well as the creation of entirely new bio-based materials. Alex Michine and the MetGen team developed this illuminating, presentation-based explanation of their breakthoughs in “dramatically increasing the efficiency and economics of renewable chemicals […]

Value-add opportunities: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to Nanocellulose

May 17, 2018 | Jim Lane

Recently, we reported that Research & Markets projected the “Nanocellulose Market by Type (Cellulose nanocrystals, Cellulose nanofibrils, cellulose nanocomposites, and others) to reach $250 Million by 2019, signifying annualized CAGR of 19% between 2014 and 2019. Heft growth indeed, and a survey of the patent apps shows sharp activity levels that confirm that many see the promise. Jack […]

Breaking News: attack on farm bill clean energy programs

May 17, 2018 | Jim Lane

Breaking news arrives from the Ag Energy Coalition regarding the 2018 Farm Bill. Green Capiltol’s Lloyd Ritter writes: Rep. Biggs farm bill amendment was made in order by the Rules Committee last night to eviscerate the clean energy title programs of the farm bill. It will be voted on as early as this afternoon. This is […]

From the Dump to the Pump: Fulcrum BioEnergy breaks ground on landmark trash-to-jet fuel project

May 16, 2018 | Jim Lane

Long before the advent of renewable jet fuels, we learned about how choice works at the fuel pump from the 1980 classic The Blues Brothers: Elwood Blues: What kind of music do you usually have here? Cocktail Waitress: Oh, we got both kinds. We got Country AND Western! Yes, until recently you could have any […]

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