Category: Top Stories

The Competitive Edge: Sweet Gazoil Inc.

The Competitive Edge: Sweet Gazoil Inc.

September 26, 2019 |

  Q: What was the reason for founding your organization – what was the open niche you saw that could be addressed with a new product or service? What was the problem, or gap, or opportunity? Sweet Gazoil (SGO) was founded with the goal of protecting the environment by providing cost-effective technologies to treat mixed […]

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ORLEN Południe brings cellulosic ethanol to Poland, licenses Clariant’s sunliquid technology

ORLEN Południe brings cellulosic ethanol to Poland, licenses Clariant’s sunliquid technology

September 25, 2019 |

From Poland, we have news that ORLEN Południe, a member of ORLEN Group, which is a leader in the fuels and energy markets and the largest player in Central and Eastern Europe, signed a license agreement for Clariant’s sunliquid cellulosic ethanol technology. The project The license agreement enables ORLEN Południe to use Clariant’s sunliquid technology […]

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Fungus fashion, BMW i Hydrogen NEXT unveiled, spider silk and cellulose composite, Nestlé opens packaging research center, and more: The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the week of September 25th

Fungus fashion, BMW i Hydrogen NEXT unveiled, spider silk and cellulose composite, Nestlé opens packaging research center, and more: The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the week of September 25th

September 24, 2019 |

With Climate Week on many minds this week, it’s good to see innovations being developed to take a step in a better direction. Take CPI Card Group which is launching credit cards made from waste plastic recovered from the ocean. Or researchers who have created a strong composite bioplastic from wood cellulose fibers and silk […]

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The NEXT 50 Companies to Disrupt the World

The NEXT 50 Companies to Disrupt the World

September 23, 2019 |

In Florida, The Digest recognized the NEXT 50, “the 50 Next Companies to Disrupt the World”, bioeconomy companies that are on the journey to commercial scale with an emerging technology. The advanced bioeconomy has diversified significantly and the NEXT 50 includes companies focused on fuels, chemicals, foods, new crops and crop protection, animal feeds, and […]

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Selling Cells – Ginkgo Bioworks Raises $290M, Latest financing brings total to $719M for cell programming

Selling Cells – Ginkgo Bioworks Raises $290M, Latest financing brings total to $719M for cell programming

September 22, 2019 |

Synthetic biology. It sounds like something from a sci-fi movie, or an oxymoron like jumbo shrimp or clearly confused. After all, biology is the study of living organisms. And synthetic means made by chemical synthesis, especially to imitate a natural product. But synthetic biology has real potential to replace costly or unsustainable manufacturing processes and […]

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The Algae Summit, groups to know, slides to see, and the Megatrends

The Algae Summit, groups to know, slides to see, and the Megatrends

September 19, 2019 |

The 2019 Algae Summit has come and gone, the delegates are winding their way back from Orlando, and we’ve seen that algae companies continue to be as resilient and adaptive as the organisms they work with. The 15 MEGATRENDS In the final plenary session, the Digest joined the stage for a session on MEGATRENDS, and […]

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The Competitive Edge: Vertec BioSolvents, Inc.

The Competitive Edge: Vertec BioSolvents, Inc.

September 19, 2019 |

Q: What was the reason for founding your organization – what was the open niche you saw that could be addressed with a new product or service? What was the problem, or gap, or opportunity? Certain petroleum solvents present regulatory and HS&E restrictions for manufacturers using solvents in formulations or cleaning applications. Vertec BioSolvents, Inc. […]

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Heard on the Floor at the Algae Biomass Summit

Heard on the Floor at the Algae Biomass Summit

September 18, 2019 |

We know this about algae. They’re small, they die off quickly in great numbers, and every time you look around there’s more of them coming, there’s more diversity every day, but the pace of algae birth (think minutes) exceeds the pace of algae evolution (think millennia). Pretty much sums up the algae industry these days. […]

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A juicer that turns peels into bioplastic cups, shellfish plastic, White Dog Labs’ feed supplement, eucalyptus fiber and wool sneakers, plant starch dog toys, and more: The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the week of September 19th

A juicer that turns peels into bioplastic cups, shellfish plastic, White Dog Labs’ feed supplement, eucalyptus fiber and wool sneakers, plant starch dog toys, and more: The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the week of September 19th

September 18, 2019 |

It seems that plastic is in the news daily between bag bans, straw bans and even Ray-Bans. But there are companies out there tackling the plastic problem with alternatives like the new “Feel the Peel” juicer that turns orange peels into bioplastic cups by drying, milling, and mixing the peels with polylactic acid and 3D […]

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Will the RFS Deal Protect Innovation and Our Planet?

Will the RFS Deal Protect Innovation and Our Planet?

September 17, 2019 |

Stephanie Batchelor, Vice President, Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) Special to The Digest As we speculate on the details and implications of the administration’s renewable fuels deal, the future of an entire green industry hangs in the balance. The debate over the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) has become muddied with rhetoric about special interests and government […]

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