Major Stories
27 technologies to produce lower carbon fuels from “second chance carbon” — and its practicioners. Who’s doing what, where, when, why and how?
In the EU, perhaps the most comprehensive and useful guide to fuels and chemicals produced from “Recycled carbon fuels”, such as those produced from waste plastics or waste industrial gases, appeared from the gurus at E4Tech. And, there’s the world of alternative fuels and chemicals produced from lower-carbon fossil sources such as natural gas. There […]
Marine biodegradable plastics offer hope for oceans and waterways
With many people heading to the beach for their last hurrah of the season and red tide alerts along parts of Florida’s coast and seemingly, everywhere you turn, marine pollution is on the mind of late. While we can’t get the images of hundreds of dead fish out of your mind, we can at least […]
Earnings Season: as Novozymes, DSM, Amyris, Gevo, Corbion, and Aemetis report, who’s up, who’s down?
In today’s Digest, let’s look at trends driving the industry’s results at scale — and while money is not the measure of all progress, it is the ultimate yardstick and especially for companies that have reached industrial scale. So, let’s look at Q2 earnings statements now just coming out from four of the sector’s signature […]
Andeavor’s petroleum refinery switch-over to renewables, in the heart of Bakken shale: what are the drivers?
News arrived this week from Dickinson, North Dakota that Andeavor is proposing to switch its refinery there over from petroleum refining to the production of renewable diesel.The timing will be 2020, the feedstock is waste and crop-based oils, the capacity will be 12,000 barrels a day (183 million gallons per year), and the technology is Haldor […]
Lego’s biobased bricks; Vertoro’s green crude oil; nitogen-fixing microbes for corn; diapers from food waste; 3D imaging; Apeel’s $70M: The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the week of August 15th
The pace of invention and change is just too strong, we’ve realized, to highlight annual or even quarterly or monthly rankings and summaries of significant product and service advances. For now, we’re going to be tracking these on a weekly basis to keep pace with the changes. Here are the top innovations for the week […]
8-Slide Guides
High end crop traits: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to Calyxt
Calyxt is pioneering a paradigm shift to deliver both healthier specialty food ingredients, such as healthier oils and high fiber wheat for consumers as well as agriculturally advantageous traits, such as herbicide tolerance to farmers. The technology enables Calyxt to precisely and specifically edit a plant genome to elicit the desired traits and characteristics, resulting […]
Advanced biorefineries: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to Aemetis
Aemetis owns and operates 110 million gallons per year of ethanol and biodiesel facilities in the US and India, and is upgrading the plants using patented technology to produce lower carbon, higher value advanced biofuels and chemicals using lower cost, non-food energy sources and feedstocks. Of special interest is the Aemetis cellulosic refinery using agricultural […]
Fly Green: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to SkyNRG
SkyNRG is the global market leader for sustainable jet fuel, supplying more than 20 carriers across 5 continents in the world. SkyNRG’s sustainable jet fuel can offer CO2 emission reductions up to 80% compared to fossil jet fuel. SkyNRG’s Oskar Meijerink gave this illuminating overview of the company’s promise and progress at ABLC 2018 in […]
Strategic Advance: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to DSM’s Q2
Royal DSM is a global science-based company active in health, nutrition and materials. By connecting its unique competences in Life Sciences and Materials Sciences, DSM is driving economic prosperity, environmental progress and social advances to create sustainable value for all stakeholders. DSM delivers innovative solutions that nourish, protect and improve performance in global markets such […]
Strategic Intent: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to DowDuPont
DuPont has developed a multi-part strategy to deliver new technologies to the growing biofuels and chemicals markets market. The strategy includes: (1) improving existing ethanol production through differentiated agriculture seed products and crop protection solutions as well as through improved bioprocessing aids and enzymes that allow animals to get the most out of valuable ethanol co-products; […]
The Latest World News
GPAT enzyme can accelerate biofuel production from red algae
In Japan, Tokyo Institute of Technology researchers honed in on an enzyme belonging to the glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (GPAT) family as a promising target for increasing biofuel production from the red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae. A study led by Sousuke Imamura at the Laboratory for Chemistry and Life Science, Institute of Innovative Research, Tokyo Institute of Technology […]
Malaysia and China sign MoU for palm oil and biofuel
In Malaysia, a memorandum of understanding will be signed between the Malaysian Palm Oil Board and Tsinghua University on the promotion of Malaysian biofuel in China, according to the Ministry of Primary Industries. A second MoU will be between the Malaysian Rubber Board and Hainan State Farms Investment Holdings Group Co Ltd. related to rubber […]
Almond services provider switches vehicles to Neste MY Renewable diesel
In Texas, Pohl & Holmes, Inc., a California-based almond hulling and shelling services provider, recently switched their vehicles to running exclusively on Neste MY Renewable Diesel. Owner David Pohl credits Neste MY Renewable Diesel with greatly improving the performance of their fleet’s 36 trucks. “After one year on Neste MY, we have seen an overall […]
Annual Biofuels Canada report shows biofuel consumption up
In Canada, Advanced Biofuels Canada released their annual Biofuels in Canada report, which catalogs biofuel blending rates, biofuel types, and feedstocks utilized at the provincial level. Greenhouse gas reductions are assessed annually by fuel type, with estimates of biofuels impact on consumer fuel expenditures, GHG abatement costs, and the impact of taxation policies on lower […]
Global soybean production in 2018/19 could reach record level
In Germany, UFOP reports that global 2018/19 soybean production is estimated significantly higher than the previous month. The U.S. Department of Agriculture raised its forecast for the U.S. considerably, now expecting a bumper crop. The reason is an unexpected strong increase in U.S. crop expectations for 2018. According to the outlook, the U.S. could harvest […]
R&D News
ODU algae research aims to fuel bioeconomy
In Virginia, researchers from the Batten College of Engineering and Technology at Old Dominion University discovered a proprietary process that can make algae applications scalable for commercialization through partnerships with the private sector. The technology involves extracting the proteins from algae in a scalable and inexpensive way to make it viable for industrial use, as […]
European researchers say African expansion of palm oil could impact primates
In Italy, future expansion of the palm oil industry could have a dramatic impact on African primates, according to the findings of a new study led by the European Joint Research Centre, the European Commission’s science and knowledge service. The study has been published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Scientists […]
Saudi researchers find biofuels could significantly reduce NOx and other GHGs
In Saudi Arabia, switching to renewable fuels could significantly lower exhaust emissions of toxic nitrogen oxides (NOx) as well as curbing global greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers at the King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) have combined computer analysis with laser-based NOx concentration measurements to understand NOx production pathways in different fuel types. The […]
DOE researchers using new methods to identify genes in biofuel and biomaterial feedstocks
In Washington, to improve biofuel production, scientists must understand the fundamental interactions that lead to the expression of key traits in plants and microbes. To understand these interactions, Department of Energy scientists are using different layers of information (about the relationships between genes, and between genes and phenotypes) combined with new computational approaches to integrate […]
University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers tweak yeast genes to better tolerate pretreatment
In Wisconsin, researchers from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and several Department of Energy laboratories have identified two changes to a single gene that can make the yeast tolerate the pretreatment chemicals. They published their findings recently in the journal Genetics. The researchers used the gene-editing tool CRISPR to alter a strain of an ionic liquid-susceptible […]
Policy & Policymakers
Scientists and economists concerned over USDA’s relocation plans for NIFA and ERS
In Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue is planning on relocating the Economic Research Service and the National Institute for Food and Agriculture out of Washington, D.C. by the end of 2019 as part of a reorganization of his department. Scientists are concerned over the plan to overhaul the two federal offices […]
Iowa congressman says boosting ethanol blends better than farmer bailout
In Iowa, Congressman Steve King says that rather than a $12 billion bailout to farmers as a result of negative impacts from the trade war with China and other major importing countries, the White House should instead approve higher blends of ethanol year-round, not just E15 but also E30 while further promoting E85. Farmers want […]
Senator Grassley believes EPA has taken RIN generation from exports off the table
In Washington, Senator Chuck Grassley says that following discussions with the acting administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency he no longer believes that that controversial proposal to generate RINs from ethanol exports is still an option for reform of the Renewable Fuel Standard. The acting administrator has been coy about what reforms were likely to […]
Vancouver (Canada!) to transition all diesel vehicles to 100% renewable diesel
In Canada, the City of Vancouver has taken a significant step towards achieving its goal of using 100 percent renewable energy sources by entering into a new fuel contract with Suncor. With this new contract, all of the City’s diesel vehicles will transition to 100 percent renewable diesel, reducing emissions to 50 percent below 2007 […]
Thailand to boost renewable energy ambitions to 50%
In Thailand, the Bangkok Post reports that in conjunction with the local launch of Shell’s Sky Scenario initiative, the government announced it would increase its ambitions for renewable energy consumption by setting its target at 50% in the next 40 years. Currently plans aim for 30% by 2036 but the national alternative energy development plan […]
Other Recent Articles
Ethanol production down but still hits 33-week high
In Washington, D.C., ethanol production averaged 1.072 million barrels per day (b/d)—or 45.02 million gallons daily, —as plants cut back by 27,000 b/d (2.5%) from the week before, according to government data released and analyzed by the Renewable Fuels Association. Still, the four-week average for ethanol production reached a 33-week high of 1.077 million b/d […]
India’s UCO program launches with 64 companies at 101 different locations
In India, as part of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s initiative to collect used cooking oil for biodiesel production, 64 companies at 101 different locations will participate in the program. By 2020, the program hopes to collect 2.2 billion liters of UCO that do not meet the recently published standards for UCO […]
Water availability key challenge for proposed VNA biofuel project in Kansas
In Kansas, the availability of water is the key issue at hand for both local residents and VNA who is promoting the development of a biofuel plant in Sumner County. Meeting with the county’s planning commission at a public hearing, the company said it had no interest in the site if there was the 50 […]
Community concerns about Indiana POET biorefinery seems to be easing
In Indiana, the turn out for the public hearing regarding the air quality permit for the proposed POET biorefinery in Shelbyville was just a tenth of those who opposed the facility at the recently planning meeting, perhaps indicating that community opposition to the project is shrinking. The public comment period for the air quality permit […]
ADM picks up Brazil’s Algar Agro to boost oilseed processing capacity
In Brazil, Archer Daniels Midland Co. has reached an agreement to purchase certain assets of Brazil-based Algar Agro, including oilseeds processing facilities in Uberlândia in the state of Minas Gerais, and Porto Franco in Maranhão. Under the terms of the deal, ADM will become owner of integrated crush and oil refining/bottling facilities in Uberlândia and […]
European FAME 0 prices hit three-month low despite summer demand
In the Netherlands, Platts reports that even though summer demand for FAME 0 has been steady, prices have fallen to a three-month low of $874.25 per metric ton as imports continue to flow in to the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp region but low levels on the Rhine keep those supplies from moving eastward. The situation isn’t likely to […]
