Category: Top Stories

No Eeyores for KiOR

No Eeyores for KiOR

August 16, 2012 |

Analysts are bullish as KiOR’s drop-in biofuels technology transitions to commercial phase – what factors are driving all the good vibes? There are a lot of Eeyores around the advanced biofuels space these days – well, around the United States and to a great extent the EU as a whole, really. Gloomy, pessimistic, chronically depressed. […]

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Segetis raises $25.5 million in Series C round; Saudi Basic Industries joins as strategic investor

Segetis raises $25.5 million in Series C round; Saudi Basic Industries joins as strategic investor

August 16, 2012 |

In Minnesota, Segetis that it has raised $25.5 million in its Series C financing. Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) Ventures B.V. led the investment with full participation by current Segetis investors including Khosla Ventures, Malaysia Life Science Capital Fund (MLSCF), and Royal DSM, through its venturing subsidiary DSM Venturing. A new Malaysian-based investor, PNB Equity […]

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Biodiesel on the march; REG reports record revenues for Q2

Biodiesel on the march; REG reports record revenues for Q2

August 15, 2012 |

As REG reports record Q2 revenues, what’s the price, production, and feedstock outlook for the “here today, made at home, advanced biofuel”? In Iowa, Renewable Energy Group announced revenue for the second quarter of $271.9 million, up 39 percent compared to Q2 2011, and second quarter earnings of $26.5 million, up 3% – based on […]

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North Carolina, Arkansas, Maryland and Delaware request Renewable Fuel Standard waiver

North Carolina, Arkansas, Maryland and Delaware request Renewable Fuel Standard waiver

August 15, 2012 |

In Washington, the governors of North Carolina, Arkansas, Maryland and Delaware made a formal request for a waiver of the Renewable Fuel Standard, in response to the 2012 US drought, which has caused a sharp fall in US corn crop estimates. Yesterday, the RFA conducted a webinar on the topic which can be replayed here. […]

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New Paradigms Rising for Biofuels

New Paradigms Rising for Biofuels

August 14, 2012 |

By Douglas L. Faulkner, “The Cleantech Conservative” Special to the Digest  Voters are in an ugly mood. Many view overreaching regulations and fiscal failings of the federal government as big roadblocks to economic recovery and even threats to our way of life. Meanwhile, the oil and gas industry is gaining political strength as its production […]

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Where does Mitt sit? A look at a Romney Administration and biofuels

Where does Mitt sit? A look at a Romney Administration and biofuels

August 14, 2012 |

In 1938, as the German-Czechoslovakian crisis unfolded on the eve of World War II, Hilaire Belloc summarized British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement policy as: “Dear Czecho-Slovakia, I don’t think they’ll attack yer, But I’m not going to back yer.” So might the policies of a Romney Administration towards biofuels be fairly described. It shaped […]

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From blast furnace to parachutes: INVISTA, LanzaTech ink deal to develop biobased Butadiene

From blast furnace to parachutes: INVISTA, LanzaTech ink deal to develop biobased Butadiene

August 13, 2012 |

The maker of nylon products such as Lycra and Dacron teams with LanzaTech to produce a vital intermediate, butadiene. Can you really make a parachute from blast furnace waste gases? In Kansas, LanzaTech and top nylon producer INVISTA (think Lycra and Dacron) have inked a joint development agreement to develop one-step and two-step technologies to […]

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Codexis, Shell to part company

Codexis, Shell to part company

August 10, 2012 |

Codexis expects to lose all of Shell funding, win freedom to operate globally (excepting Brazil). Pyrrhic victory or the necessary price of freedom? In California, Codexis (CDXS) announced that it expects to obtain rights from Shell to market its CodeXyme cellulase enzymes to other cellulosic biofuels developers, (excluding Brazil) and that Shell will discontinue its […]

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Solazyme, Gevo, Amyris earnings, outlook: the 5-Minute version

Solazyme, Gevo, Amyris earnings, outlook: the 5-Minute version

August 9, 2012 |

As Solazyme, Gevo and Amyris report on results for Q2, update forward guidance – what does the data reveal about demand, supply of advanced biofuels and co-products? We digest down analyst reports, company comments into a 5-minute summary of “news you can use”. In California and Colorado, the newswires have been working overtime this week […]

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Natural Gas and electrofuels: one-stop shopping for energy independence

Natural Gas and electrofuels: one-stop shopping for energy independence

August 8, 2012 |

Could US oil imports be replaced with a single set of facilities producing biofuels from CO2, salt water and low-cost natural gas? Subsidy free, cropland free, mandate free? If you happen to be awakening from a four-year nap, or returning from a tour of the outer solar system, you may not have been made aware […]

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