Overall, the BIO mood differed by BIO sector. For foods and proteins, it feels like boom times as companies are raising substantial amounts of money and we see companies like Calysta moving ahead fast with its protein product, FeedKind — while TerraVia (the former Solazyme) has brought in a whole group of name-brand food investors […]
At the World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology in San Diego, Avantium revealed the closing of a new financing round of €20 million led by PMV, an independent investment company for Flanders, with investments also by FPIM, a Belgian Federal Holding and Investment Company, and Avantium’s existing shareholders. The funds will be used to commercialize the […]
In Ontario, Comet Biorefining has signed an off-take agreement with bio-succinic acid producer BioAmber for cellulosic dextrose from Comet’s upcoming first commercial plant in Sarnia, Ontario. The dextrose will be produced from agricultural residues using Comet’s innovative technology. The agreement also provides increasing shape to the development of an biobased industrial cluster in the Sarnia […]
These days, palm oil plantations are about as popular, and popularly criticized for immorality, as a red light district. Just about everyone who is anyone criticizes the trade in palm oil because of the sustainability trade-offs, yet as Cher once observed in her anthemic Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves, “every night night all the men would come […]
Yesterday afternoon, March Madness came to a close with the completion of our “Ethanol from Conventional to Advanced” webinar. We’ll have more webinars over the coming weeks as we turn our attention to new pressing topics — but first of all, thank you to the 1300+ season pass holders who joined us these past four weeks […]
In Washington, ARPA-E announced that it will invest $30 million in new awards for ROOTS — (Rhizosphere Observations Optimizing Terrestrial Sequestration), aimed at developing new integrated technologies to sequester added carbon in the soil. More roots, goes the theory, equals more carbon stored in the soil, healthier plants that can better withstand drought, and better […]
Good news in the world of algae. This week, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) introduced an amendment that would provide tax credit support for carbon capture and utilization technologies that enable the conversion of CO2 into valuable products such as advanced biofuels, animal feed, and chemical ingredients. The proposed language would create a new utilization […]
In Russia, ETB Catalytic Technologies has received $0.6 million from ZAVKOM and Skolkovo Fund as a series A investment to build a pilot plant for the production of 1,3-butadiene from ethanol, The investors received 22% of ETB CaT LLC. Why butadiene? Butadiene is a feedstock for production of synthetic rubber. 75% world production of butadiene […]
The world is notoriously awash in gasoline and diesel fuel, but is purty darn short on renewable diesel. And the world of advanced biofuels is short on rock-star, no-brainer, home run success stories, of which renewable diesel is undoubtedly one. Renewable diesel demand is booming, booming, booming. We’ve tipped it repeatedly in The Digest, not […]
In yesterday’s Digest, we asked “How much grease is out there, and at what price?” And the data is thin. As we reported, even the awe-inspiring Billion Ton series of reports from the US Department of Energy stays away entirely from the topic of waste fats, oils and greases. Courtesy of the billion-ton study, we […]
