Author Archive: Jim Lane

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Scalable, Affordable, Reliable, Acceptable: The Digest’s 2017 Multi-Slide Guide to sustainable algae for biofuels

Scalable, Affordable, Reliable, Acceptable: The Digest’s 2017 Multi-Slide Guide to sustainable algae for biofuels

September 6, 2017 |

The US Department of Energy is supporting a project within its Advanced Algal Systems Platform to define the indicators of sustainable algal biofuels, and determine best practices for sustainably meeting productivity and profitability goals. A research team led by Rebecca Efroymson at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Environmental Sciences Division prepared the following slides for the DOE’s 2017 Project […]

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Plastic Stretches Towards the New: Top 10 Trendlines in Bioplastics

Plastic Stretches Towards the New: Top 10 Trendlines in Bioplastics

September 6, 2017 |

The Plant Bottle has generated so much goodwill and publicity for its 30% renewable, sustainable content (and that biobased MEG) that it’s easy to forget that there are several paths being chased to 100% renewable clear plastic bottles by numerous partners, and there are a wide swath of plastics where renewables can play a role. […]

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Running hot: 7 tips for warm weather ethanol fermentation

Running hot: 7 tips for warm weather ethanol fermentation

September 5, 2017 |

By Claudia Geddes, Senior Scientist, Technical Service, Novozymes Special to The Digest It’s been a scorcher of a summer for much of the U.S., including the more than 25 states with ethanol production facilities. But while the dog days of summer may be behind us, record-setting temperatures are still in the forecast for many producers. […]

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Fermentation Frontiers: Top 10 Trendlines in industrial biotech fermentation

Fermentation Frontiers: Top 10 Trendlines in industrial biotech fermentation

September 5, 2017 |

The most visible advanced industrial fermentation target for a number of years has been cellulosic ethanol, but the targets are diversifying and cellulosics themselves are shifting gears from process to feedstocks. There’s a fervent ferment in fermentation these days.  Today, we go through the  Top 10 Trendlines that have emerged in the headlines. #1: The […]

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Commercial path to algae biofuels: The Digest’s 2017 Multi-Slide Guide to thermochemical algae processing

Commercial path to algae biofuels: The Digest’s 2017 Multi-Slide Guide to thermochemical algae processing

September 5, 2017 |

The US Department of Energy is supporting a project on hydrothermal liquefaction — a thermochemical interface for algae biofuels — developing processing methods to reduce conversion cost, improve sustainability and enable commercialization of algal biofuels while validating conversion processing at engineering scale. Dan Anderson is leading the research team at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and […]

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The doctrine of energy maneuver: Hurricane Harvey gives a lesson on diversifying fuel supply

The doctrine of energy maneuver: Hurricane Harvey gives a lesson on diversifying fuel supply

September 4, 2017 |

As the battered but game residents of Houston drain and repair their battered city, US gasoline prices spike on fears of a refinery crunch. North Korea has conducted an underground test of a hydrogen bomb they claim to be able to couple to an intercontinental ballistic missile, and the US Navy announces an expansion of […]

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Yes, bacteria do it: The Digest’s 2017 Multi-Slide Guide to ethylene, protein from sun, thin air and seawater

Yes, bacteria do it: The Digest’s 2017 Multi-Slide Guide to ethylene, protein from sun, thin air and seawater

September 4, 2017 |

Hurricane Harvey has turned the world’s most widely-produced chemical, ethylene, into something of a rarer commodity because of refinery slowdowns. The US Department of Energy is supporting a project to produce transportation fuels via photosynthetically derived ethylene. The research team notes that “steam cracking of petroleum, is the largest CO2 emitting process in chemical industry”. […]

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Nebraska, Iowa Ag Secretaries land senior USDA posts

Nebraska, Iowa Ag Secretaries land senior USDA posts

September 3, 2017 |

In Washington, Nebraska Secretary of Agriculture Gregory Ibach and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey were appointed to key USDA posts by President Trump. Ibach was appointed under secretary for marketing and regulatory programs, which oversees three USDA sub-agencies — Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Agricultural Marketing Service, and the Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration. Ibach […]

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How much do algae biofuels cost? The Digest’s 2017 Multi-Slide Guide to algae biofuels’ techno-economics

How much do algae biofuels cost? The Digest’s 2017 Multi-Slide Guide to algae biofuels’ techno-economics

September 2, 2017 |

The US Department of Energy is supporting a project aimed at providing process design and economic analysis support for the algae platform to guide R&D priorities to commercialization. In short, a technolo-economic rationale for algae biofuels at scale, and co-=products along with those fuels or as a pioneer product set. The research team aims to translate […]

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New research shows biodiesel could be 10% cleaner than thought

New research shows biodiesel could be 10% cleaner than thought

August 31, 2017 |

In Indiana, a new academic paper published in Biotechnology for Biofuels shows biodiesel’s benefits are even better than previous models suggest. Updated modeling from Purdue University suggests the advantage of using biodiesel has been underestimated by 10 percent. “This latest research verifies biodiesel is an ideal option to support American-made energy and renewable fuels,” said […]

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