Biomass Week - December 11, 2015

DuPont, Dow plan to merge then split into 3 independent companies DuPont and The Dow Chemical Co. have announced plans to combine in an all-stock merger of equals into DowDuPont. The parties intend to subsequently pursue a separation of DowDuPont into three independent, publicly traded companies. READ MORE SHARE
USDA announces loan guarantee for Ensyn RFO project The USDA has announced a conditional commitment for a $70 million loan guarantee to help build a 20 MMgy cellulosic biorefinery under development by an affiliate of Ensyn Corp. in Georgia. The facility will produce a renewable fuel oil product. READ MORE SHARE
	Enviva launches $5 million forest conservation fund Enviva Holdings LP recently announced it is establishing the Enviva Forest Conservation Fund, a $5 million, 10-year program designed to protect tens of thousands of acres of bottomland forests in northeast North Carolina and southeast Virginia. READ MORE SHARE
Volvo Trucks approves use of renewable diesel fuel Volvo Trucks North America, after concluding truck and engine lab testing, recently approved the use of renewable diesel fuel for all of its proprietary Volvo engines, offering environmental and cost-savings benefits to customers. READ MORE SHARE
REA: UK supports high-carbon power at expense of renewables The winners of the U.K.'s second Capacity Market Auction were released Dec. 11 and reveal the continued subsidization of polluting energy forms, side-tracking the renewable energy transition, according to the U.K. Renewable Energy Association. READ MORE SHARE
Visible development underway on UK-based biomass power plant Visible progress has been made with the construction of the 41 MW Templeborough Biomass Power Plant located in Rotherham, England. The company has launched a website dedicated to the project, including a time lapse camera of developments on site. READ MORE SHARE
Food waste legislation includes AD provisions On Dec. 7, Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, introduced the Food Recovery Act of 2015. The bill, which aims to reduce the amount of food waste in the U.S., also contains provisions related to waste-to-energy development. READ MORE SHARE
Bill would delay CPP implementation until additional nations act Rep. Keith Rothfus, R-Pa., recently introduce legislation that aims to prevent the Clean Power Plan for taking effect until countries accounting for at least 80 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions enact similar regulations. READ MORE SHARE
New educational opportunity for biomass heating technology Next month, a textbook is scheduled for release, written to help designers create heating systems that incorporate renewable energy heat sources. Solid fuel boilers fueled by cordwood, chips and pellets are among the heat sources discussed. READ MORE SHARE
EIA updates bioenergy forecasts in recent reports The U.S. Energy Information Administration has released the December edition of its Short-Term Energy Outlook, providing updated predictions regarding the use of biomass in the electric power and home heating sectors. READ MORE SHARE
FutureMetrics responds to report criticizing wood pellets A new white paper published by FutureMetrics offers a critique of Climate Central’s recent story "Pulp Fiction," a three-part special report by John Upton that criticizes the use of wood pellets. READ MORE SHARE
BPA supports amendment passed by house that boosts biomass The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to adopt an amendment offered by Rep. Bruce Poliquin, R-Maine, to the North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act of 2015 that clarifies the eligibility of biomass for PURPA contracts. READ MORE SHARE
Europe opens antitrust investigation on 3 ethanol producers On Dec. 7, the European Commission announced it is opening a formal antitrust investigation to determine whether or not three ethanol producers have manipulated ethanol benchmarks published by a price reporting agency. READ MORE SHARE
Discovery advances biowaste-to-jet fuel research Researchers at Washington State University Tri-Cities have figured out a way to successfully convert a common wood byproduct into hydrocarbon molecules that could be used as jet fuel. READ MORE SHARE
Schmack Biogas builds biomethane plant in France Schmack Biogas, a Viessmann Group company, has been awarded a contract for the construction of a biomethane plant in Epaux-Bezu (Picardy) in northern France. The project is expected to begin injecting biomethane into the natural gas network in July. READ MORE SHARE
Laurel Biocomposite earns USDA biobased label for 3 products Laurel BioComposite LLC has earned the USDA Certified Biobased Product Label for its Bio-Res PLA with 97 percent biobased content; Bio-Res PE with 62 percent biobased content and Bio-Res powder with 100 percent biobased content. READ MORE SHARE
Veolia appointed operator of biomass CHP plant in Nottingham Veolia has secured a contract from Equitix ESI CHP, to operate the Sherwood Biomass Plant in Nottingham. The 6.55 MW biomass-fired combined-heat-and-power station is designed to provide sustainable green electricity and process heat. READ MORE SHARE
UMass Amherst chemist wins NSF grant for biofuel technology University of Massachusetts Amherst computational chemist Scott Auerbach has been awarded a three-year, $330,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to improve basic understanding and optimize the process of producing drop-in biofuels. READ MORE SHARE
New way to make yeast hybrids may inspire new brews, biofuels The makers of beer, wine, biofuels and other products that depend on yeasts may soon have many more strains of the microorganism to work with, thanks to a new method for making interspecies yeast hybrids in the lab. READ MORE SHARE
Weltec Biopower erects second biogas plant in South Korea In October, the construction work for an anaerobic digestion plant from German manufacturer Weltec Biopower started in South Korea. The 450-kilowatt biogas plant is to go live in the early summer of 2016. READ MORE SHARE
New dual-purpose bioenergy, forage crop set for release Russ Jessup, an AgriLife Research perennial grass breeder in College Station, said he is introducing a new biofuel-biomass feedstock that is a hybrid "similar to seedless watermelons, seedless grapes and other sterile triploid crops." READ MORE SHARE
ICPB applies for patent for biobased MEG manufacturing process The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently published a patent application (U.S. 2015/0329449) from the Iowa Corn Promotion Board for a production method using corn in the industrial manufacturing of a raw material called monoethylene glycol (MEG). READ MORE SHARE
Biomethane injected into grid at project in Netherlands At a dairy farm in Den Bommel, Netherlands, the gas meter recently passed the first 10,000 cubic meters of biomethane injected into the grid. The plant, which began operations in October, produces biomethane out of 100 percent cattle manure. READ MORE SHARE