Major Stories
ABLC Next 2024 announced: themes, topics, dates, sectors
In Florida, the Daily Digest announced that the Advanced Bioeconomy Leadership Conference on Next-Gen Projects & Technologies, ABLC NEXT 2024, will take place at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, October 23-25, 2024, as the industry undertakes more Networking for Net Zero. More than 600 delegates and 100 speakers are expected from more than 400 […]
The Turin Joint Statement on Sustainable Biofuels – the background
The Turin Joint Statement on Sustainable Biofuels has now been released, and is here. WHAT THE TURIN JOINT STATEMENT (TJS) IS The Turin Joint Statement seeks to focus attention on G7 Ministers (and be extension heads of state) regarding the need for sustainable biofuels to achieve climate goals such as Net Zero by 2050. The […]
The Turin Joint Statement on Sustainable Biofuels – the complete text
Turin, Italy — 28 April 2024 To Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, USA, and European Commission We the undersigned, noting that, despite efforts to diversify energy sources, fossil fuels still meet 95% of the overall energy needs of the transport sector, which currently accounts for 26% of global final energy consumption and […]
For SAF’s Take-off, look to India’s policies
By Eric McAfee, CEO, Aemetis Special to The Digest The political question is simple: Is fighting climate change a war? Or is appearing to “fight” climate change, improve air quality and create domestic jobs merely a way to raise some campaign funding from major oil companies in exchange for doing nothing? We win wars by […]
Ground Stop: Time for Plan B on the SAF Grand Challenge?
The International Energy Agency held a materially significant workshop in Paris this week on accelerating the pace of sustainable biofuels development. There was much talk about sustainable aviation fuels, or rather the lack of them. Let’s start with the good news. There’s will and steadfastness of purpose from the SAF stakeholders. There’s available capital, technology, […]
8-Slide Guides
The Digest’s 2024 Multi-Slide Guide to DG Fuels
DG Fuels is an emerging leader in renewable hydrogen and biogenic based, synthetic low emissions aviation and diesel fuel, and this deck looks at their second-generation cellulosic biofuel and their market expansion plans, whose hydrogen content is derived from water electrolysis and uses a Fischer Tropsch based process with 96% carbon feedstock conversion efficiency and […]
The Digest’s 2024 Multi-Slide Guide to the DOE Billion Ton Report
The US Department of Energy’s Billion-Ton Report: Assessment of US renewable carbon resources aims to inform research, development, and deployment strategies. The fourth in a DOE series, the report updates on the latest economic conditions, offers better clarity in terms of additional production potential vs current production, looks at level of resource utilization, production potential […]
The Digest’s 2024 Multi-Slide Guide to Southwest Airlines’s path to SAF
SAF plays an important role in the Southwest Airlines environmental sustainability plan and path to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. By 2030, the airline plans to replace 10% of total jet fuel consumption with SAF. Southwest Airlines’ Elvis Ebikade gave this presentation at ABLC 2024 to outline the Southwest vision and progress.
The Digest’s 2024 Multi-Slide Guide to NEXT Renewables
NEXT Renewable Fuels turns recycled organic materials, such as used cooking oil, into an advanced biofuel that works just like petroleum-based diesel, but with as much as 85 percent less greenhouse gas emissions. With development and technology partners, NEXT Renewable Fuels provides the renewable transportation fuels the future demands, and is developing projects on the […]
The Digest’s 2024 Multi-Slide Guide to Iogen
You may know Iogen as the cellulosic ethanol tech and biofuel company, but did you know they are now deploying low-carbon BECCS hydrogen? Check out this slide guide from ABLC 2024 in San Francisco from CEO Brian Foody on net zero fuels and BECCS, which ones they think have the most promise and why, and […]
The Latest World News
Indonesia’s government needs to fork out $1.75B to fill funding gap for B35 program
In Indonesia, the Jakarta Post newspaper reports the Oil Palm Plantation Fund Management Agency says rising prices and export costs for crude palm oil (CPO) will leave the fund $1.75 billion short to subsidize the country’s B35 program. The 55% hole in revenue is a result of significantly lower exports, exports which has a levy […]
Green Genius upgrading 9 Lithuanian biogas plants to biomethane
In Lithuania, Green Genius is upgrading its biogas plant portfolio in Lithuania to biomethane production. It is the largest biogas portfolio in the Baltics, and Green Genius will invest €35 million to modernize it. Swedbank Lithuania partly finances the project, and the Ministry of the Environment of the Republic of Lithuania also provides financial support. The […]
Cielo Waste Solutions orders biomass gasifer for its Carseland project
In Canada, Cielo Waste Solutions Corp. has ordered a Biomass Gasifier, a key piece of equipment required to continue driving its Carseland, Alberta project towards commercialization, and has submitted an environmental permit application to Alberta Environment and Protected Areas (AEPA) for the project’s construction. The Carseland Project is Cielo’s first commercial by-product-to-fuels facility designed to […]
South African consortium launches paper sludge to ethanol demo plant
In South Africa, the Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa (PAMSA), in collaboration with Stellenbosch University (SU), Sappi Southern Africa and Mpact recently launched its demonstration plant converting cellulose fiber-rich waste from pulp and paper mill operations into ethanol using a specialised fermentation process. Driven by the vast potential of this feedstock, the research by […]
Infinium to purchase CO2 from Kinetik’s Permian Basin gas plant for eFuels
In California, Infinium has reached an agreement with a subsidiary of midstream energy company Kinetik Holdings Inc. to purchase carbon dioxide captured from Kinetik’s gas gathering and processing system in the Permian Basin for use as a feedstock in the production of ultra-low carbon electrofuels. Infinium eFuels are created through a proprietary process using waste […]
R&D News
Avantium R&D Solutions teams with TNO to manufacture PEM electrolyser test stations
In the Netherlands, Avantium R&D Solutions has signed a partnership agreement with The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) for the manufacturing of PEM (proton exchange membrane) electrolyser test stations. The PEM electrolyser is the key technology for the production of green hydrogen. Under the partnership with TNO, Avantium will get access to TNO’s […]
ETH Zurich researchers have engineered bacteria in the lab to efficiently use methanol
In Switzerland, ETH Zurich said that a group of its researchers have engineered bacteria in the laboratory to efficiently use methanol. The metabolism of these bacteria can now be tapped into to produce valuable products currently made by the chemical industry from fossil fuels, ETH Zurich said. Researchers explained that methanol can be synthesized from […]
University of Kentucky researchers launch MSW to SAF project
In Kentucky, the University of Kentucky has launched a pioneering research initiative that seeks to turn everyday trash into high-quality sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). Titled “Surface Enhanced Smart Preprocessing of Municipal Solid Wastes for Year-Round Supply of Conversion-Ready Feedstocks,” the study aims to address excessive landfill waste. The project is a collaborative effort involving a […]
DECHEMA report outlines opportunities for carbon dioxide for sustainable production routes
In Germany, the DECHEMA report ‘Carbon for Power-to-X – Suitable CO2 sources and integration in PtX value chains’ deals with possibilities to capture and utilize carbon dioxide for sustainable production routes. Carbon dioxide can serve as a carbon feed for numerous climate friendly commodities produced with Power-to-X technologies. The report elaborates on point sources and […]
Thai researchers scale up SAF production from yeast
In Thailand, researchers from Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Science are accelerating their technological development to scale up the production of aviation biofuel from yeast. This is an extension of the successful results of research that found a strain of yeast with a high potential for producing fat for use in aviation fuel. In addition to producing yeast […]
Policy & Policymakers
Nebraska governor signs SAF bill into law
In Nebraska, Growth Energy celebrated legislation signed last week by Governor Jim Pillen that will speed investment in Nebraska’s production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Originally introduced by state Sen. George Dungan and incorporated into a broader bill by Sen. Eliot Bostar, this Nebraska SAF tax credit (LB937) will provide a $0.75 per gallon tax credit […]
The Turin Joint Statement on Sustainable Biofuels – the background
The Turin Joint Statement on Sustainable Biofuels has now been released, and is here. WHAT THE TURIN JOINT STATEMENT (TJS) IS The Turin Joint Statement seeks to focus attention on G7 Ministers (and be extension heads of state) regarding the need for sustainable biofuels to achieve climate goals such as Net Zero by 2050. The […]
India allows sugar mills to use 670,000 tons of B-heavy molasses for ethanol production
In India, The Economic Times reported that the Indian government has allowed sugar mills to use 670,000 tons of B-heavy molasses as feedstock for making ethanol in the current year. Sugar mills in India were holding excess stock of B-heavy molasses — a byproduct of the sweetener — produced before the ban on its use […]
Colaition calls for Farm to Fly to be included in upcoming Farm Bill
In Washington, amid the ongoing negotiations surrounding the Farm Bill, industry stakeholders representing nearly the entire supply chain for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) – including seven major airlines – called on Agriculture Committee leaders in the House and Senate to boost the role of American farms in fueling low-carbon aviation. “SAF, which can be produced from renewable […]
Italy’s Council of State rejects greenwashing claims for Eni’s Diesel+
In Italy, the Council of State has after 4 years rejected the accusation of the Competition and Market Guarantor Authority (AGCM) that claimed Eni had implemented an unfair commercial practice to the detriment of of consumers for the Eni Diesel+ fuel advertising campaign. The Council of State in fact fully accepted Eni’s appeal in the […]
Other Recent Articles
Pineapple pact shows fruits of collaboration on Earth Day
In California, Dole Packaged Foods has partnered with circular design firm Rais Case and Ananas Anam, creator of pineapple-based textile Piñatex, to tackle pineapple industry waste. On Earth Day, the three companies unveiled a limited-edition Vida Bag made with Piñatex material sourced from Dole Philippines farms. “These types of collaborations like ours with Dole and […]
Project converting chicken feathers into cultivated chicken meat concludes first phase
In Italy, a research project looking to grow cells from chicken feathers into chicken meat has concluded its first phase by generating a batch of cellular material ready for bioreactor scaling. The work is being conducted at University of Trento continue and is led by professors Luciano Conti and Stefano Biressi and researcher Nike Schiavo. […]
Vote for sustainability: Bioplastic dummy ballots used to spread voter awareness
In India, IIT Guwahati has developed 3D-printed dummy ballots made of biobased polylactic acid. Commissioned by the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation Cell, the ballots are used to familiarize voters, including first-timers and senior citizens, with voting procedures. The PLA ballots are produced using corn starch and are biodegradable. According to a statement on […]
Cellulose sponge furniture concept unveiled at Milan Design Week
In Switzerland, design school ÉCAL has introduced a new concept in sustainable furniture: ultra-compact cellulose sponge forms, efficiency shipped in flat parcels and expanded into sturdy furnishings once at its destination. Dubbed Under Pressure Solutions, ÉCAL claims the material can expand up to 10x its original size when soaked in water. After this step, users […]
UMaine 3D prints larger house, with emphasis on biobased building materials
In Maine, the world’s largest 3D printer—capable of printing objects as large as 96 feet long by 32 feet wide by 18 feet high—has been unveiled at University of Maine. The hope is the mammoth printer will boost the ability of the university’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center to 3D print habitable houses using sustainable […]
Canadian researchers pursue bean bioplastics
In Canada, researchers at University of Saskatchewan have made a bioplastic meat wrap out of fava beans that also extends freshness thanks to infusion with antimicrobial agents. Led by Michael Nickerson, Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food Research Chair in Protein Quality and Utilization, the team says the wrap is also biodegradable. “You could actually take this […]
