Users of car parts, plastic wheels, synthetic rope, fibers, shoes, guitar strings and a host of other everyday applications may be unexpectedly joining the biobased revolution soon, now that engineers at Iowa State University have combined a genetically engineered strain of yeast and an electrocatalyst to affordably convert sugar into a new type of nylon. […]
In Canada, Mitsui has invested an additional CDN$25 million in the BioAmber joint venture for 10% of the equity, increasing its stake from 30% to 40%. Mitsui will also play a stronger role in the commercialization of bio-succinic acid produced in Sarnia, providing dedicated resources alongside BioAmber’s commercial team. BioAmber will maintain a 60% controlling […]
From the company’s IPO Prospectus: “Our proprietary technology platform combines industrial biotechnology, an innovative purification process and chemical catalysis to convert renewable feedstocks into chemicals that are cost-competitive replacements for petroleum-derived chemicals. The development of our current organism was originally funded by the DOE in the late 1990s, was further developed and scaled up, and optimized at […]
It’s not your Dad’s gasoline. In fact, it’s worse, says the Union of Concerned Scientists in a new report. But the good news is that alternatives, by contrast, are getting cleaner. In Washington, the Union of Concerned Scientists reports that the gas pumped by American motorists is 30 percent dirtier to extract and refine than […]
Out of the EU comes a biogasoline blendstock made from waste residues in a novel process that promises to radically slash the cost of bioconversion. The Digest reports. In Germany and Portugal, a new drop-in biofuels process has emerged which is cost competitive with $30 oil, according to the inventors. The process breaks even with […]
Take it to the Extreme, with these microscopic wonders that are changing the way we pursue sustainable fuels, renewable chemicals and biobased materials. These days, researchers are turning up life forms trapped under hundreds of feet of Antarctic ice, in the syrupyist salty ponds, in mineral waters heated to more than 150 degrees Fahrenheit — in […]
The Energy Department today announced up to $11.3 million in funding to develop flexible biomass-to-hydrocarbon biofuels conversion pathways that can be modified to produce advanced fuels and/or products based on external factors, such as market demand. These pathways could consist of a route to a platform chemical that could be converted to products or renewable hydrocarbon […]
The Digest Bioeconomy Index, an index of publicly traded advanced bioeconomy stocks, dropped 1.56 percent to 48.67 as advanced bio and ethanol retreated. For the day, BioAmber (BIOA) fell 6.28 percent to $3.73, while Aemetis (AMTX) lost 4.86 percent to $1.95. Among other equities, Solazyme (SZYM) tumbles 7.59 percent to $1.46. Overall, declines led advances […]
Real-world Industrial Ecology Projects and NREL’s Sustainable Mobility projects show a way forward that EPCOT once charted in our stars. This year marks the 50th year since Walt Disney died, and every year it becomes more clear how transformative he was at changing the way we bring stories to life. He was more than a […]
Of all the stirring anti-petroleum war cries of recent years, the UK’s “Keep it in the ground” has found a rival in California’s “Half the Oil”. But, realistic? How, when? The Union of Concerned Scientists points the way with a new report. The Digest investigates. In Washington, the Union of Concerned Scientists has released a […]
