In California, according to a survey of delegates attending Advanced Biofuels Markets, there is cautious optimism about Federal support for biofuels in 2013 and tangible optimism about the production of commercial quantities of cellulosic ethanol. The conference, which took place October 29-31, brought together 400 attendees from across the advanced biofuels supply chain and featured 50 world-class […]
Ceres and Syngenta sign a major deal to stimulate sweet sorghum adoption. Brazilian producers seek paths for expanding ethanol production. What are sorghum’s chances of being the darling of the expansion story? In California, Ceres announced that it has signed a sweet sorghum market development agreement with Syngenta. The companies will work together to support […]
In Brazil, Reuters is reporting that Raizen CEO Vasco Dias is projecting that the Shell-Cosan joint venture will begin producing commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol in 2014 at its Costa Pinto plant in Piracicaba in Sao Paulo state. Construction is expected to cost $90 million and capacity of the project is expected to be 10.58 million gallons […]
Primus Green Energy looks to an improved syngas-to-gasoline process as a renewable fuel game-changer. Back in the 1970s energy crisis, the Brazilian government now (famously) marched down their path towards energy independence via ethanol produced from sugarcane – but it is less well known that the New Zealand government embarked on a unique program of […]
Dozens of deals – what are the hottest paths to $$$? Who’s forming capital in bioenergy this year, and when, where, why and how? In the old days, the process seemed simple: seed round to fund some lab work at the bench level, series A for proof of concept, series B for the pilot, series […]
Brazil, India, the US, China and the EU point the way towards a 60 billion gallon biofuels market by 2022 – but can the capacity be built, and can the mandates survive pressure from opponents? In Florida, the Digest today releases its annual review of biofuels mandates and targets around the world, looking at the […]
Is the US government right in aiming to commercialize aviation biofuels production – or should it be aimed at ensuring affordable feedstock? Pain at the pump. $5 gasoline in California. $8 gasoline in the EU. We hear about it all the time. But in biofuels, the pain comes long before the pump. It arrives with […]
By Tom Kadala If you are wondering what our future holds with an economy subjected to political gridlock, an overview of an emerging industry called aviation biofuels could offer some interesting insights. Airlines today operate on razor thin profit margins with an industry average of less than one half of one percent, largely due to […]
While companies pursue alternatives to Fischer-Tropsch technologies, Velocys is seeking to make F-T work economically with micro-reactors. In last week’s Digest, Robert Rapier aptly stated the challenge in front of XTL technologies – companies whose primary focus is gas-to-liquids (GTL), coal-to-liquids (CTL), or biomass-to-liquids (BTL): “The two major problems with any of the XTL technologies […]
Biofuels Digest readers choose Clark by a wide margin; Chu in a distant second; Reicher, Podesta, Dorgan trail far behind. Biofuels Digest readers chose former NATO commander Wesley K. Clark as US Secretary of Energy in an online straw poll. In a field of 17 candidates, including the current Secretary, Dr. Steven Chu, Clark picked […]
