Category: Thought Leadership

An EU biofuels proposal worth getting behind

An EU biofuels proposal worth getting behind

October 6, 2016 |

By James Cogan, Special to The Digest Europe’s bioethanol association ePure just released a renewables policy paper that’s something to get excited about. It’s a show of confidence and ambition on the part of Europe’s ethanol CEOs.  Their product delivers climate and bioeconomy benefits, it doesn’t come with adverse side effects and it is worth fighting for. […]

Read More

It’s Time to End the Myth That High RIN Prices Prove Existence of the Blend Wall

It’s Time to End the Myth That High RIN Prices Prove Existence of the Blend Wall

October 4, 2016 |

By Brent Erickson Executive Vice President, Biotechnology Innovation Organization; head, Industrial & Environmental Section Special to The Digest Almost everyone accepts without question that U.S. refiners encountered the so-called blend wall – defined as blending ethanol into gasoline at or above 10 percent – in 2013, when RIN prices began to rise. The oil refiners, […]

Read More

Understanding Biofuel Standards

Understanding Biofuel Standards

October 2, 2016 |

By Angela Fivga, PhD and Zsuzsa A. Mayer, PhD, Lee Enterprises Consulting, Inc. Special to The Digest The analysis and standardization of biofuels are in constant development, therefore in many studies they follow a historic view or borrow unsuitable methods from fossil fuel analysis. An overview of the current standards helps to achieve better results. Due […]

Read More

Gasification: the Flexible Answer to Biomass Conversion

Gasification: the Flexible Answer to Biomass Conversion

September 29, 2016 |

By Dr. Terry Mazanec, Lee Enterprises Consulting Special to The Digest Biomass is a rich salad of chemicals that contains many highly valuable materials that are precursors to fine chemicals, nutrients, and pharmaceuticals. But this strength is also a weakness of biomass. The assortment of materials in biomass is bound together in a complex, stable […]

Read More

 Why High Uptime for Your Laboratory Instruments is Critical to Your Bioethanol Plant’s Profitability 

 Why High Uptime for Your Laboratory Instruments is Critical to Your Bioethanol Plant’s Profitability 

September 26, 2016 |

By Mark Janeczko, Energy and Chemicals Marketing Manager, Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, Inc.  Special to The Digest The Future of Renewable Fuels  Whatever your thoughts regarding the future of the world’s energy supply, it is clear biofuel production and its clean implications are here to stay. On the federal level, The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program was […]

Read More

New Bio Plastics and Resins

New Bio Plastics and Resins

September 25, 2016 |

By Lorenz Bauer, PhD., Lee Consulting Enterprises Special to The Digest Sales of biopolymers and resins are predicted to grow to over $5 billion by 2021.   Biomass derived materials have been used neat and as components in composites and blends for the last decade. Products made with high contents of cellulose, starch, proteins, chitosan are common. […]

Read More

Take the Test: Evaluating Commercial Readiness, Pt 2

Take the Test: Evaluating Commercial Readiness, Pt 2

September 22, 2016 |

By Mark Warner, PE, Founder, Warner Advisors LLC Special to The Digest The first installment of the series, here, discussed the need to determine an understanding of what success looks like to be able to adequately evaluate if an advanced biotechnology is ready for commercialization. Now, let’s move into the details of evaluating the state of […]

Read More

Take the Test: Evaluating Commercial Readiness, Pt I

Take the Test: Evaluating Commercial Readiness, Pt I

September 21, 2016 |

By Mark Warner, PE, Founder, Warner Advisors LLC Special to The Digest In my previous series What makes the scale-up of industrial biotechnology so difficult?, I discussed the need for a fully integrated pilot plant and reviewed common pitfalls that companies face on their path to commercialization. The series generated the obvious question as to how […]

Read More

To raise capital, show how you convert investor dollars into enterprise value (not how you convert feedstocks into products)

To raise capital, show how you convert investor dollars into enterprise value (not how you convert feedstocks into products)

September 11, 2016 |

By Steve Weiss, Co-Founder, Grey Heron venture consulting Special to The Digest Have you ever read articles with fund-raising advice? They have titles like “how to create an elevator pitch” or “the ten slides you need” – and can be very useful. And most of us already know how to show off our technology – the […]

Read More

The EU Commission has lost the Plot on Biofuels

The EU Commission has lost the Plot on Biofuels

September 6, 2016 |

  By Dick Roche, Special to The Digest Just as the EU institutions were shutting up shop for the long summer break the EU Commission issued its strategy to reduce transport emissions in the post 2020 period, ‘European Strategy for low Emission Mobility’. The strategy will ‘axe’ any support for conventional biofuels. This should come […]

Read More