Author Archive: Jim Lane

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SynTec: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to Synthetic Biology for Tailored Enzyme Cocktails

SynTec: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to Synthetic Biology for Tailored Enzyme Cocktails

February 26, 2018 |

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 […]

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The Biobased Economy Is Reaching a Tipping Point

The Biobased Economy Is Reaching a Tipping Point

February 26, 2018 |

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 […]

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Butanol from forest waste: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to advanced fermentation of AVAP sugars

Butanol from forest waste: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to advanced fermentation of AVAP sugars

February 24, 2018 |

The objective? To create an economically viable process for the production of butanol from the underutilized natural resources domestically available economically sustainable biofuel at or below DOE target selling price. And, suitable for roll-out in multiple regions containing agricultural residues and underutilized forest residuals. Not to mention, able to compete in the butanol market without subsidy. The Department […]

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Could we cut crop-to-market time in half? The secret may lie in chloroplasts, says TechAccel as it invests in Plastomics

Could we cut crop-to-market time in half? The secret may lie in chloroplasts, says TechAccel as it invests in Plastomics

February 22, 2018 |

Chloroplasts are in the news this week because St. Louis-based TechAccel made a science advancement investment with Plastomics, a biotechnology startup making better crops through chloroplast engineering. Here’s the key Chloroplast engineering is a fast, efficient, and more predictable way to introduce multiple traits into important crops that can also reduce time to market. New […]

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Somethin’ from just about nothin’: The Digest 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to upgrading biorefinery waste lignin into bioplastics

Somethin’ from just about nothin’: The Digest 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to upgrading biorefinery waste lignin into bioplastics

February 22, 2018 |

You know what they say, “you can make anything you want from lignin except money.” It’s the most challenging issues in biofuel production: upgrading the lignin-containing biorefineryresidues to fungible bioproducts, in an affordable, effective, scalable way. The US Department of Energy is supporting a project to develop a viable bioprocess to convert biorefinerywaste to bioplastics […]

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The Nitrogen Engine: Ricardo spins out company to commercialize game-changing engine tech

The Nitrogen Engine: Ricardo spins out company to commercialize game-changing engine tech

February 21, 2018 |

In the UK, Ricardo has unveiled its CryoPower engine technology and points towards a potential saving of approximately 30 percent in CO2 emissions and 20 percent in operating fuel costs for heavy-duty trucks and in stationary distributed power generation systems. That translates into potential operator savings of approximately $12,500 per year for each vehicle, or […]

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All Your Acetogen Are Belong to Us: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to acetone and drop-in biofuels from syngas fermentation

All Your Acetogen Are Belong to Us: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to acetone and drop-in biofuels from syngas fermentation

February 21, 2018 |

Can it be done? That is, development of a sustainable green chemistry platform for production of acetone and downstream drop-in fuel and commodity products directly from biomass syngas via a novel energy conserving route in engineered acetogenic bacteria? It’s not only the longest title of a bioeconomy project in history, it’s a potentially history-making process […]

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Partnering for Growth returns to Iowa with big line-up of biotech biggies and early-stagers

Partnering for Growth returns to Iowa with big line-up of biotech biggies and early-stagers

February 20, 2018 |

In Iowa, the very best of the state-level biotech events, the Partnering For Growth Biotech Innovation Showcase and Forum, is returning March 20th-21st at the FFA Enrichment Center on the campus of Des Moines Area Community College in Ankeny, Iowa. Presenting companies include 3Bar Biologics, Aker Technologies, Hurd Health Group, N-Sense, Nebullam, Ohana Vaccines, Plastomics, PowerPollen, SciBac, […]

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Carbon-negative fuels in the spotlight as Ohio State, Argonne National Labs, Energy Vision make material progress

Carbon-negative fuels in the spotlight as Ohio State, Argonne National Labs, Energy Vision make material progress

February 20, 2018 |

OK, you know the climate change drill. Burning liquid fuels releases CO2 and that leads to global warming. It’s one of the reasons that eco-warriors drive electric cars. But is that paradigm shifting? The biggest news along that front represents early-stage technology, but we read here that engineers at Ohio State announced that they’ve devised […]

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High Performance Fuels: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to DOE’s Co-Optima Project and HP fuels

High Performance Fuels: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to DOE’s Co-Optima Project and HP fuels

February 20, 2018 |

The US Department of Energy has a key project called Co-Optima, which aims to determine key fuel properties that enable improved engine efficiency, provide key science to enable high efficiency combustion modes, and capitalize on unique properties available from bio-blendstocks. Within that project is an emphasis on high-performance fuels, that has a goal to develop […]

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