Category: Top Stories

Verdezyne, CB&I, Albemarle, Dow AgroSciences, Newlight Technologies land 2016 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards

June 23, 2016 | Jim Lane

In Washington, the EPA announced that Verdezyne, CB&I, Albemarle, Dow AgroSciences, Newlight Technologies and Princeton Professor Paul Chirik are winners of the 2016 Presidential Green Chemistry Awards. Though less well-known than the Presidential Challenge on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition — think of it as basically the same thing, only for really tiny athletes. In this […]

Knock on wood: why trade and brand will trump tech in the advanced bioeconomy

June 22, 2016 | Jim Lane

Adapted from remarks by Digest editor Jim Lane at the 2016 International Bioenergy Conference. Knock Knock Who’s there? Noah. Noah who? Noah good low carbon technology? Well, yes, you do. Lucky you. With all the uncertainty about the future of the world in the face of trade issues, immigration woes, energy and national security concerns, […]

Psst! Heard on the Floor at the International Bioenergy Conference

June 21, 2016 | Jim Lane

Is that Miss Scarlet in the Library with the Rope, or Mr. Licella in Canada with biomass? In British Columbia, the experts convene and unveil the unusual suspects. The eyes of the world might well be on tiny Prince George, British Columbia these days — because that is the proposed site of Canfor’s commercial-scale biofuels and […]

Sweet smell of success: Greenyug, ADM taking biobased chemicals to scale

June 20, 2016 | Jim Lane

Digest readers didn’t place ethyl acetate in the top 50 in our “Hottest Biobased Molecules” in our early 2016 poll — so, prepare for a shocker. In California, Greenyug said it will build an industrial-scale ethyl acetate manufacturing facility adjacent to Archer Daniels Midland Company’s wet mill corn processing facilities in Columbus, Nebraska. Greenyug has […]

Crossing the chasm to scale: S2G goes commercial with bioglycols

June 18, 2016 | Jim Lane

They call it the Valley of Death, but it’s a complete misnomer. It’s the “nearly impassible Khumbu Icefalls” of Death — filled with chasms, crevasses and painful progress towards the summit in the far distance. But some make it through. They might have final scale-up and commercial success still to achieve — Everest still ahead of […]

Land O’Lakes to acquire Ceres

June 17, 2016 | Jim Lane

In California, Land O’Lakes will acquire Ceres for a price of $17.2 million, or $0.40 per share. Land O’Lakes is the largest US grower’s co-operative. The price per share of common stock represents an 81% premium to the closing price of Ceres shares of common stock on June 16, 2016. Upon completion of the transaction, […]

Re-think, re-use, retro-fit: 15 4G techs transforming Gen-1 biobased plants

June 16, 2016 | Jim Lane

This week, we profiled several technologies that together we described as 4G. The stakes are huge. Let’s put just two of them together for a moment to imagine the implications. If every gallon of ethanol was produced using a scaled-up White Dog Labs tech, and 33% of the passenger cars on the road were Nissan FCVs. […]

Nissan’s Solid Oxide Fuel Cell system, and what the fuss is all about

June 15, 2016 | Jim Lane

Fuel cells are important technology. You may remember them from the space program. They show up in the drama of Apollo 13, for example. Many car companies have investigated their potential — but here’s a breakthrough that addresses the major barriers for fuel-cell adoption. Earlier this week, we reported that Nissan is researching and developing […]

Why is ATJ renewable jet fuel rockin’ it?

June 14, 2016 | Jim Lane

If you’ve seen the astonishing leap in Gevo’s valuation over the past 2 weeks and the jump in Amyris’ value this week, you might have noticed they have one important element in common: both are making major announcements regarding supply of renewable jet fuel. Gevo to Alaska Airlines, Amyris to Cathay Pacific. Quantities are small, […]

How do you generate $2B in cellulosic ethanol, with no upfront investment?

June 13, 2016 | Jim Lane

It ought to be a classic in a pub quiz. How do you generate 2 billion dollars in cellulosic ethanol, with no upfront investment? (Replacing the old one — how do you become a millionaire in cellulosic ethanol? Start out a billionaire.) It sounds like a crazy come-on from an old friend of mine, Mr. […]

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