In a world filled with expectations that abundant natural gas will replace coal for power gen, and everyone will build ethane crackers to make ethylene — Siluria and Linde spot a niche in methane-to-ethylene. Could all that dry gas out there prove to be a bonanza for this biobased technology? Siluria CEO Ed Dineen visits with the […]
Thought you knew everything there was to know about some of biofuels’ favorite feedstocks? Here are 18 free reports that may dampen or re-ignite your enthusiasm. Just about anything important these days in biofuels starts with an F — though whether your current favorite F-word is feedstock, finance, feasibility, or FUBAR will depend a great […]
Enerkem launches world’s first commercial-scale waste-to-biofuels and chemicals facility. 10 million gallon plant will produce methanol now, ethanol later. As Enerkem CEO Vincent Chornet said in Edmonton yesterday, “This is the beginning of a great journey for Enerkem, for Edmonton and the world.” Why? In Alberta this week, Enerkem officially inaugurated its first full-scale municipal […]
Thought that the competition for the 100% all-renewable plastic bottle was a race for commercial paraxylene at scale? Well, hold on a darn minute. Avantium and its PEF molecule aims to steal the inside track to replacing all that fossil-based polyester. In the Netherlands, Avantium (ranked #15 in the Digest’s 30 Hottest Companies in Biobased Chemicals) […]
Largest US biodiesel producer set to control 75 Mgy Dynamic Fuels renewable diesel plant; follows on from LS9 acquisition. In Iowa, Renewable Energy Group announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, REG Synthetic Fuels, LLC, has closed its acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Syntroleum Corporation. Syntroleum advised REG earlier Tuesday that a majority of […]
An ex-shrimp farm along South Texas’ Grand Strand of Aquaculture and a high-tech algae technology make unlikely partners. Tracking the first commercial locations and products of the nascent algae industry sometimes feels like the board game known as CLUE. In the board game, players were supposed to discover, for example, whether the crime was committed […]
In France, Deinove announced a 36-month collaboration agreement with Abengoa, with the support of Bpifrance, to develop at industrial scale DEINOVE’s consolidated bioprocess (CBP) using Deinococcus bacterium, to digest and convert agricultural residues to ethanol at a competitive cost. Performances obtained with substrates supplied to Deinove by Abengoa will be evaluated in order to set […]
EPA comes down hard on CO2, with proposed rule calling for deep emission cuts, but opts for highly-flexible, state-by-state approach Carbon Capture and Use not deemed a key strategy, but algae advocates aim to change that thinking. In Washington, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy proposed a climate action rule that, by 2030, will cut carbon emissions […]
Major step towards stable commercial supply chain for 100% renewable plastic bottling; big step forward for Gevo’s Silsbee operations in paraxylene, jet fuel and iso-octane. From Colorado, news has arrived that Gevo is now selling paraxyleme to Toray, one of the world’s leading producers of fibers, plastics, films, and chemicals. It’s producing PX from […]
In Washington, the Environmental Working Group released a new report, Ethanol’s Broken promise, concluding that the EPA’s proposal to cut corn ethanol mandates would lower greenhouse gas emissions by 3 million metric tons. The report is here. EWG’s Emily Cassidy noted: “Between 2008 and 2011, American farmers converted 23 million acres of wetlands and grasslands […]
