Biomass Week - December 18, 2015

Congress passes spending bill, tax extenders legislation Members of Congress have passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill and accompanying legislative package of tax extenders that includes two-year extensions of tax credits that benefit biofuels and bioenergy. President Obama is expected to sign the bill. READ MORE SHARE
DOE, USDA, EPA release update of biogas activities The U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. EPA and USDA have released a report providing an update of the federal government’s progress to reduce methane emissions through biogas systems since the Biogas Opportunities Roadmap was completed last year. READ MORE SHARE
	Enviva Partners acquires Southampton pellet plant Enviva Partners recently announced it has acquired a 510,000-ton-per-year pellet plant located in Southampton County, Virginia. The facility was developed by its sponsor under a joint venture with affiliates of John Hancock Life Insurance Co. READ MORE SHARE
Pacific Ethanol produces cellulosic ethanol at Stockton plant Pacific Ethanol Inc. announced it is now producing cellulosic ethanol at its Stockton, California, facility using Edeniq Inc.'s pathway technology, which converts corn kernel fiber to fermentable sugars. READ MORE SHARE
NREL’s 2014 Data Book features bioenergy statistics The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has released its 2014 Data Book, showcasing increased use of renewable energy. According to the report, renewables accounted for approximately 11.1 percent of U.S. energy production in 2014. READ MORE SHARE
Report illustrates growing pellet market in Italy A report filed with the USDA's Global Agricultural Information Network addresses the Italian wood pellet market, noting Italy consumed 3.4 million tons of wood pellets last year. Consumption is expected to grow to 5 million metric tons in 2016. READ MORE SHARE
St. Landry Parish opens expanded BioCNG fuel facility St. Landry Parish has officially opened its expanded BioCNG Vehicle Fuel Facility at its sanitary landfill, which is now fueling Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd. refuse vehicles collecting residential trash in St. Landry Parish. READ MORE SHARE
Legislation aims to extend biofuel, bioenergy tax credits Federal lawmakers have released the text of a $1.1 trillion spending bill that will fund the U.S. government through October 2016. An accompanying legislative package of tax extenders aims to extend certain bioenergy tax incentives for two years. READ MORE SHARE
DOE: Ethanol-to-hydrocarbon technology moves forward Oak Ridge National Laboratory published an article in Scientific Reports on its new method to directly convert biomass-derived ethanol to a hydrocarbon blendstock and is continuing work with Vertimass LLC to commercialize it. READ MORE SHARE
Seattle-Tacoma airport aims to power all flights with biofuel The Port of Seattle, Alaska Airlines and Boeing are partnering to move toward a significant environmental goal: powering all flights by all airlines at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport with sustainable aviation biofuel. READ MORE SHARE
New catalyst paves way for biobased plastics, chemicals Washington State University researchers have developed a catalyst that easily converts biobased ethanol to a widely used industrial chemical, paving the way for more environmentally friendly, biobased plastics and products. READ MORE SHARE
Gevo provides update on alcohol-to-jet certification process Gevo Inc. announced an update on the certification process for to its alcohol-to-jet product. A meeting of the ASTM D02.J6 subcommittee was held on Dec. 9 to discuss the revision of ASTM D7566 to include alcohol-to-jet synthetic paraffinic kerosene. READ MORE SHARE
Shell: IH2 technology demonstration plant to be built Shell India Markets Pvt Ltd. will proceed with the installation of a 5 metric ton per day IH2 technology demonstration plant on the site of its new technology center in Bangalore, India. SIMPL will build, operate and own the plant. READ MORE SHARE
Chempolis, Avantha partner to offer cellulosic technology Chempolis Ltd. has entered into partnership with Avantha Group's research wing Avantha Centre for Industrial Research & Development to offer technology to India to extract ethanol from various agricultural residues. READ MORE SHARE
HeidelbergCement, Joule announce partnership Joule and HeidelbergCement have announced a partnership to explore application of Joule's technology to mitigate carbon emissions in cement manufacturing. The partnership could result colocation of Joule's technology at HeidelbergCement sites. READ MORE SHARE
New Hampshire biomass plant celebrates 9 years of operation Eversource is celebrating the ninth anniversary of the Northern Wood Power biomass unit at Schiller Station in New Hampshire. Over that time, the project has received more than 151,000 deliveries of wood chips from local foresters. READ MORE SHARE
Metabolic pathway in cyanobacteria could yield better biofuels Scientists have discovered that a metabolic pathway previously only suggested to be functional in photosynthetic organisms is actually a major pathway and can enable efficient conversion of carbon dioxide to organic compounds. READ MORE SHARE
Saxlund to deliver biomass handling system to UK project The Saxlund Group, has received an order from Babcock & Wilcox Volund A/S, Denmark. The order is for the delivery of a state-of-the-art biomass handling system to the Templeborough Biomass Power Plant in Sheffield, U.K. READ MORE SHARE
University of Illinois awarded grant to support sorghum research The University of Illinois has been awarded a 3-year, $5 million grant from the DOE Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy as part of its OPEN 2015 funding initiative. The research team intends to increase the water use efficiency of sorghum. READ MORE SHARE