Biomass Week - July 10, 2015

USDA accepting applications for loan guarantee program The USDA's Rural Business-Cooperative Service has announced it is soliciting applications for the Biorefinery, Renewable Chemical, and Biobased Product Manufacturing Assistance Program, which provides loan guarantees to eligible biorefining projects. READ MORE SHARE
Aurora Wood Pellets making headway on proposed plant in Canada Four years ago, Aurora Wood Pellets Ltd. began the development of a 200,000-metric-ton pellet plant in the Northwest Territories of Canada. With two Forestry Management Agreements in hand, CEO Brad Mapes hopes to purchase the site's land this month. READ MORE SHARE
	Amendments to UK renewable heat incentive submitted to parliament Lord Bourne, parliamentary undersecretary of state for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, announced proposed amendments to U.K.’s renewable heat incentive (RHI) schemes, which he said are essential to the smooth-running of both. READ MORE SHARE
White House aims to modernize biotechnology regulatory process On July 2, the White House issued a memo on modernizing the regulatory system for biotechnology products to heads of the U.S. EPA, USDA and U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It outlines several actions the agencies will take over the next year. READ MORE SHARE
Biofuels industry, farmers advocate against Loudermilk amendment A group of two dozen biofuel trade groups and companies recently issued a letter to members of the U.S. House of Representatives urging them to reject an proposals that amend, repeal, or defund the renewable fuels standard (RFS). READ MORE SHARE
Grontmij converts power plant from natural gas to biomass Grontmij has been appointed by Helsingor Utilities to convert the Helsingør combined-heat-and-power (CHP) plant in Denmark from natural gas to biomass. Helsingor aims to reduce its CO2 emissions through the conversion. READ MORE SHARE
U.K. AD plant to convert cheese production residues into biogas Clearfleau Ltd., a U.K.-based provider of onsite anaerobic digestion-based treatment solutions for the food and beverage sector, has finished the first stage in a major sustainability project for First Milk at a U.K. cheese creamery. READ MORE SHARE
FutureMetrics rebuts wood pellet myths In a recent report, FutureMetrics aims to debunk two common myths regarding the use of wood pellets as a substitution for coal: that they release more carbon dioxide during combustion, and that they create a carbon debt that takes decades to repay. READ MORE SHARE
U.K. removes tax exemption benefiting renewable electricity The U.K. government has announced it will remove the Climate Change Levy exemption for renewable electricity generated after Aug. 1. The move is expected to impact Drax and other renewable energy producers in the country. READ MORE SHARE
Perennial biofuel crops' water consumption similar to corn Converting large tracts of the Midwest's marginal farming land to perennial biofuel crops carries with it some key unknowns, including how it could affect the balance of water between rainfall, evaporation and movement of soil water to groundwater. READ MORE SHARE
Vecoplan to build feedstock processing system for Fulcrum Vecoplan LLC announced that it has executed a fixed-price contract with Fulcrum BioEnergy Inc. to design, engineer, install and commission a state-of-the-art municipal solid waste (MSW) feedstock processing system for Fulcrum's Sierra BioFuels Plant. READ MORE SHARE
New methane bioreactor produces, stores energy A new methane bioreactor, developed in the Natural Resources Institute Finland boosts environmentally friendly energy to the markets. The reactor stores renewable energy and produces synthetic biomethane with good efficiency. READ MORE SHARE
Viessmann Group, BIOFerm selected for Canadian AD project Viessmann Group/BIOFerm Energy Systems' high solids anaerobic digestion technology was selected by the city of Edmonton and The University of Alberta for its new anaerobic digestion facility, which will help extract energy from organic waste. READ MORE SHARE
Finding an off switch in wood formation The same process plants use to respond to environmental stress acts as an on/off switch for a key enzyme in wood formation, NC State researchers have found. The discovery improves scientists' understanding of how lignin is formed and can be altered. READ MORE SHARE
Producing biodegradable plastic just got cheaper and greener Researchers from the KU Leuven Centre for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis have presented a way to make the polylactic acid (PLA) production process more simple and waste-free. Their findings were published in Science. READ MORE SHARE
Ecoprofile for 2014 Ingeo biopolymers production published NatureWorks has updated the ecoprofile data, a life cycle assessment of energy, water, and other resource used together with air and water emissions and solid waste, for producing 150,000 metric tons per year of its Ingeo polylactide biopolymers. READ MORE SHARE
Bacterial boost makes biofuel production more efficient A team of investigators at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Michigan State University have created a process for making the work environment less toxic for the organisms that convert cellulosic biomass into bioproducts. READ MORE SHARE
ORNL: Unlocking lignin for sustainable biofuel Using high-performance computing, a group of researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory provided insight into how the tightly wound network of molecules that make up the cell wall of plants for easier biofuel processing. READ MORE SHARE
England's National Trust invests in biomass, other renewables The National Trust, an independent charity in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, recently announced its largest-ever investment: £30 million ($46.5 million) in renewable energy to provide heat and power to more of its historic places. READ MORE SHARE
US DOE sinks $18 million into algae technology development The U.S. DOE announced July 9 that six projects will receive up to $18 million in funding to reduce the modeled price of algae-based biofuels to less than $5 per gasoline gallon equivalent (gge) by 2019. READ MORE SHARE