Category: Top Stories

Transformative Technologies 2014: call for nominations

Transformative Technologies 2014: call for nominations

February 24, 2014 |

Announcing the return of The Digest’s most popular reader-driven awards.  New, improved format! 20 Awards up for grabs – join the winners on the red carpet at ABLC. In Florida, The Digest announced the opening of nominations for Transformative Technologies 2014, in which organizations are recognized for their impact in transforming a feedstock, a process […]

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ILUC and the Renewable Fuel Standard: hard data appears for the first time

ILUC and the Renewable Fuel Standard: hard data appears for the first time

February 23, 2014 |

After six years of debate — finally a database appears on actual indirect land use change. The Partners? Including Google, UNEP, Imazon, the Center for Global Development, the University of Maryland, OSFAC, the Jane Goodall Institute The Funders? Including USAID, the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment and GEF, UKAID, DANIDA, SIDA, the Bobolink Foundation, […]

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ABO publishes updated standards for measuring algae industry operations

ABO publishes updated standards for measuring algae industry operations

February 23, 2014 |

Industry standards establish “operator’s manual” for comparing algae technology performance. In Washington, the Algae Biomass Organization announced the publication of “Industrial Algae Measurements, Version 6.0” (IAM 6.0), a significant update to the common standards established by the organization for measuring and comparing algae industry operations. As more companies develop and improve new technologies to create […]

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Square Pump, Round Fuel

Square Pump, Round Fuel

February 20, 2014 |

The barrier between the advanced biofuels industry and the sunny lands of success at scale? You can sum it up in four syllables: infrastructure. What’s the path forward? On D-Day 1944, as the 4th division landed at Utah Beach, assistant division commander Theodore Roosevelt Jr., the only US general to go in with the D-Day […]

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Federal Circuit changes claim construction in Butamax v Gevo

Federal Circuit changes claim construction in Butamax v Gevo

February 20, 2014 |

In Delaware, Butamax Advanced Biofuels announced that a US Federal Circuit panel ruled that the District Court’s narrow interpretation of Butamax’s patents “was in error in the Butamax v Gevo fight.” The Delaware district court’s claim construction of Butamax’s KARI was “an enzyme known by the EC number 1.1.1.86 that catalyzes the conversion of acetolactate […]

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Big Oil to ethanol: Build your own dang distribution, if you think E85 has blend-wall busting potential

Big Oil to ethanol: Build your own dang distribution, if you think E85 has blend-wall busting potential

February 19, 2014 |

Reform, repeal or compete: the options laid out for ethanol by Big Oil by Marathon’s Product Supply & Optimization Director in a frank keynote at the National Ethanol Conference. The RFA’s Geoff Cooper and ISU’s Bruce Babcock respond. In his keynote at the National Ethanol Conference this week in Orlando, David Whikehart, Product Supply & Optimization […]

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Solving the Midwest Ethanol Problem: The E85 angle

Solving the Midwest Ethanol Problem: The E85 angle

February 19, 2014 |

By Robert Rapier – You can find him here on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook. This article was originally published in Energy Trends Insider, here: Solving the Midwest Ethanol Problem What Ethanol Problem? If you live in the Midwest, you are in the midst of a thriving ethanol industry. But the problem is that the Midwest does not control its […]

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State of the Industry Address: National Ethanol Conference: Falling Walls, Rising Tides

State of the Industry Address: National Ethanol Conference: Falling Walls, Rising Tides

February 18, 2014 |

By Bob Dinneen, President and CEO, Renewable Fuels Association What? What kind of a theme is that?! It’s a mixed metaphor for Heaven’s sake. Well, with the tumultuous market and turbulent political environment we find ourselves in today, a mixed metaphor seems somewhat appropriate. But more than that, I really do believe that Falling Walls and […]

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Biofuels, and the Crossing of the Rind

Biofuels, and the Crossing of the Rind

February 17, 2014 |

New separation technologies offer a route to massive cuts in the cost of biofuel production, by changing the way we extract useful sugars. Consider, as you may some time this morning, the cup of coffee. A/k/a the Hot Java, the joe, the brew, the cuppa, the fix, the morning thunder, the jitter juice, or the […]

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Advanced biofuel feedstocks – an assessment of sustainability

Advanced biofuel feedstocks – an assessment of sustainability

February 16, 2014 |

28 waste feedstocks – a comprehensive overview of what is sustainable, affordable, reliable, available – is this the most comprehensive survey ever? In the UK, a comprehensive 28-feedstock assessment, commissioned by the UK Department for Transport from E4Tech, presents evidence on feedstock supply potentials and prices, the maturity and costs of different biofuel production options, […]

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