By Brent Erickson Executive Vice President, Biotechnology Innovation Organization; head, Industrial & Environmental Section Special to The Digest Members of Congress just returned to their home states and districts for the August recess to meet with constituents and campaign for the upcoming elections. You can be sure the oil producers will be seeking meetings with […]
Although they will not know it, when the world finally moves off petroleum completely, we may have the ants to thank. Formica, as ants were known by the Romans (yes, formica, but not the flooring material) — when squashed, emit a characteristic odor and that’s formic acid. That we know so much about it is thanks to […]
Our story so far KiOR was hanging by a thread as the summer of 2010 commenced. In a few days, the first recorded visitors to Pasadena demo unit, representatives of the Mississippi Development Authority, were expecting to see the demonstration unit in action. The company was beginning to hurtle towards an IPO. But the fuel […]
At the critical juncture of Shakespeare’s Henry V, on St. Crispin’s Day, 1415, when the French forces looked ready to overwhelm the small band of knights that are with the English King at Agincourt, the young King Henry says: This day is call’d the feast of Crispian …And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by, From […]
In Florida, the Digest and BioChannel.TV released “Sustainable Fuels on Troubled Waters”, the Inside True Story of the US Navy’s Great Green Fleet — a documentary profile on the US Navy’s success in driving down the costs of renewable fuel — up to and including the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2016 exercises near Hawaii. The story […]
By Irshad Ahmed, Consultant with Lee Enterprises Consulting and Member of MITSBAA Entrepreneurs Group, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Special to The Digest The story of cellulosic ethanol in the United States has had more plot twists than The Crying Game, the acclaimed Hollywood brain twister—except that this story promises to end with a predictable happy […]
In Washington, a new White House report, titled “Federal Alternative Jet Fuel Research and Development Strategy,” sets out prioritized federal research and development goals and objectives to address key scientific and technical challenges that inhibit the development, production, and use of economically viable alternative jet fuels at commercial scale. The Alternative Jet Fuel Interagency Working […]
In Washington, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is seeking applications for funding to help support the development of advanced biofuels, renewable chemicals and biobased products. Funding is being provided through the Biorefinery, Renewable Chemical and Biobased Product Manufacturing Assistance Program, formerly known as the Biorefinery Assistance Program. Congress established […]
In Texas, Reuters is reporting that “Valero Energy expects to get hit with a half-billion-dollar bill in the second half of the year” and the news agency attributed the costs to “the rising cost of meeting government mandates to blend biofuels.” The newsgroup reports that Valero’s cost to utilize mandated renewable fuels will rise to […]
According to EIA data as analyzed by the Renewable Fuels Association, US ethanol production averaged 998,000 barrels per day (b/d)—or 41.92 million gallons daily. That is down 31,000 b/d from last week’s historic high. The four-week average for ethanol production stood just a notch below last week’s record average, totaling 1.004 million b/d for an […]
