Category: Top Stories

Grease is the word

Grease is the word

April 6, 2016 |

I solve my problems and I see the light We gotta loving thing, we gotta feed it right There ain’t no danger, we can go too far We start believing now that we can be who we are Grease is the word “Grease (is the word)”, from the musical Grease. When the United States passed […]

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How a tree so important they made it a post office just might save the world

How a tree so important they made it a post office just might save the world

April 5, 2016 |

Any Pacific Northwesterner of the old school grew up with the scent of Nootka cypress and Western Red Cedar in the nostrils. The people of that part of the world were raised to regard red and yellow cedar as “the wood that lasts”. Blocks of cedar were employed to ward off moths and other bichitos […]

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REG’s Rolling Thunder: What did not kill them (falling oil prices), made them stronger

REG’s Rolling Thunder: What did not kill them (falling oil prices), made them stronger

April 4, 2016 |

At 8:30am, there’s a standing daily meeting of the key traders in Gary Haer’s sales group at REG headquarters in Ames, Iowa. And they’re not kidding. Everyone stands. For 15 minutes there’s the rat-a-tat-tat of rumor, fact, competitors, pricing, spreads, the who’s selling what and where, the buying and selling of diesel, renewable diesel and biodiesel across North […]

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Shock rise in corn production leads to price plunge

Shock rise in corn production leads to price plunge

April 3, 2016 |

In grains, the big news has been the USDA prospective plantings report, which has corn up to 93 million acres in 2016, up 5 million over last year, and it was an unexpected gain given that stock levels of grain are high now. Big stocks plus a big planting equals even bigger ending stocks — […]

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The Yield Dividend: 5-10X increase in sorghum opening new options for Africa? 

The Yield Dividend: 5-10X increase in sorghum opening new options for Africa? 

April 1, 2016 |

Zaad, Chromatin in key pact to distribute enhanced sorghum seed in Africa  In South Africa,, Chromatin and Zaad Holdings have entered into an alliance to produce and distribute planting seed for grain and forage sorghum throughout the African continent. In Africa, sorghum is used in the food and beverage industry and as animal feed. The crop […]

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Rivertop Renewables, DTI blast thru nameplate at first commercial

Rivertop Renewables, DTI blast thru nameplate at first commercial

March 30, 2016 |

Benchmark tests prove higher volumes than initial forecast; plant receives “Recommended” rating after first customer audit In Montana, Rivertop Renewables, a Montana-based novel chemicals company, announced it exceeded the nameplate capacity of its first commercial production facility during benchmark testing. At full capacity the plant, operated by DTI in Danville, Virginia, is now capable of […]

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Queensland greenlights advanced drop-in biofuels project for military, aviation, marine

Queensland greenlights advanced drop-in biofuels project for military, aviation, marine

March 29, 2016 |

In Queensland, the state premier Anna Palaszczuk, the Minister for State Development Anthony Lynham, and the Minister for Energy, Biofuels and Water Supply Mark Bailey jointly announced that a AUD $16 million advanced biofuels pilot plant will be built at Southern Oil Refining’s Yarwun plant at Gladstone. They described the project as “a giant step towards […]

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Gevo’s Alcohol to Jet Fuel clears key ASTM hurdle

Gevo’s Alcohol to Jet Fuel clears key ASTM hurdle

March 28, 2016 |

First commercial test flight with Alaska Airlines comes closer In Colorado, ASTM International Committee D02 on Petroleum Products, Liquid Fuels, and Lubricants and Subcommittee D02.J on Aviation Fuel passed a concurrent ballot this week approving the revision of ASTM D7566 (Standard Specification for Aviation Turbine Fuel Containing Synthesized Hydrocarbons) to include alcohol to jet synthetic […]

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Biology’s Dark Matter

Biology’s Dark Matter

March 27, 2016 |

Turns out that even in a genome stripped down to only those genes absolutely essential for human life, some 16% of the matter in there is completely mysterious to researchers in terms of its purpose or function. They know it’s there, they know it plays a role. They have no idea what that role is. […]

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Australia to invest a billion bucks into clean energy and fuels

Australia to invest a billion bucks into clean energy and fuels

March 24, 2016 |

In Australia, the Federal Government announced that it is establishing a $1 billion Clean Energy Innovation Fund to support emerging technologies make the leap from demonstration to commercial deployment. The Clean Energy Innovation Fund will target projects such as large-scale solar with storage, off-shore energy, biofuels and smart grids. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that […]

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