Category: Top Stories

Fermentable cellulosic sugars for capex of 6.5 cents per gallon? Freakishly low-cost venture still at early-stage.

Fermentable cellulosic sugars for capex of 6.5 cents per gallon? Freakishly low-cost venture still at early-stage.

May 18, 2014 |

It’s a capex figure so low that it sounds like a decimal point is missing. Though early-stage and just developing data out of its pilot — it’s well worth seeing what Sustainable Ethanol Technologies is up to, in its aim to drive down the capital costs of extracting cellulosic sugars from biomass. Among the many technologies […]

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The Digest: One Million Readers and Counting

The Digest: One Million Readers and Counting

May 18, 2014 |

Nearly two years ago, on June 1, 2012, The Digest turned on our new Google Analytics tracking platform, so that we could better understand the stories you like, and more about our readership — age, location, interests, and so on. This past weekend, we have just passed a milestone in our evolution — more than […]

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Gevo reports $12M loss for Q1, starts up ethanol ops to slow cash burn

Gevo reports $12M loss for Q1, starts up ethanol ops to slow cash burn

May 15, 2014 |

In Colorado, Gevo reported a net loss for Q1 2014 of $12.0M, compared to $18.4M for Q1 2013, on revenues of $900,000. The company completed Q1 with $8.4M on hand, though it closed a $25.9M private debt financing with Whitebox Advisors consisting of a senior secured term loan, exchangeable into senior secured convertible debentures, and […]

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Joule hits ASTM marks for sustainable diesel, jet fuel

Joule hits ASTM marks for sustainable diesel, jet fuel

May 15, 2014 |

In Washington, Joule announced at the World Congress that its Sunflow-D and Sunflow-J products meet the standards of the American Society for Testing and Materials for diesel and jet fuel, respectively. Joule products achieve all accepted standards for fuel performance, and they may also improve quality of the finished fuel blends, as demonstrated by the […]

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Diamond Green Diesel starts up, largest advanced biofuels facility goes online

Diamond Green Diesel starts up, largest advanced biofuels facility goes online

May 15, 2014 |

Diamond Green Diesel using UOP/Eni Ecofining process technology to produce more than 130 million gallons per year of renewable diesel In Illinois, UOP, a Honeywell company, announced that Diamond Green Diesel facility in Norco, Louisiana, has started up, using the UOP/Eni Ecofinin process technology. The Norco, Louisiana, facility, which was mechanically completed last year, converts […]

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“Follow the science”: Voices from the BIO World Congress

“Follow the science”: Voices from the BIO World Congress

May 14, 2014 |

Ellen Kullman, CEO, Dupont “As the first employee of what is known today as DuPont Industrial Biosciences, one of my jobs was to keep away the naysayers, while the team tried to figure it out. In 1999 we had no exact idea how it would turn out. There were a lot of days I thought […]

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Heard on the Floor: The Buzz from the BIO World Congress

Heard on the Floor: The Buzz from the BIO World Congress

May 14, 2014 |

BIO was buzzing about: Policy stability, technology stability, price stability, feedstock supply stability. And the common term is…? Aromatics When in doubt, succinic. Are major players waiting to pick up technologies cheap? Abengoa: cellulosic ethanol by Q3. Delegates at the World Congress were also buzzing about news from Australia that the federal government has slashed […]

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How laboratory information management systems can prepare labs for biofuels growth

How laboratory information management systems can prepare labs for biofuels growth

May 14, 2014 |

By Colin Thurston, Informatics Project Director, Thermo Fisher Scientific With dramatic drops in U.S. energy imports, a clear sign of our growing energy independence, it would appear that renewables investment is at risk, including within the biofuels market. There’s certainly some evidence to support this, but if declining or stalled investment is predicated on the […]

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Renewable Fuel Standard: did two small Penn. refiners upset the applecart?

Renewable Fuel Standard: did two small Penn. refiners upset the applecart?

May 13, 2014 |

In Pennsylvania, BIO was buzzing about a Reuters article that ascribed major influence on the current debate over the Renewable Fuel Standard to efforts on behalf of two smaller, struggling, Pennsylvania oil refineries, owned by Delta Airlines and The Carlyle Group. The Reuters report said that “the refiners helped convince policymakers that the rising mandates […]

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ADM embraces sustainable palm oil

ADM embraces sustainable palm oil

May 13, 2014 |

In Illinois, Archer Daniels Midland Company announced its intention to exclusively offer Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil certified sustainable palm oil to North American customers beginning in 2015. ADM is also working with Wilmar International Limited to provide fully traceable, sustainable palm oil that meets the RSPO Mass Balance standards. “ADM and Wilmar share a […]

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