A team of researchers from North Dakota State University in Fargo has developed a family of biobased resins from sugar beets and oils with the potential to replace common, harmful petrochemical components such as formaldehyde and bisphenol-A.
Algae Biosciences Inc., located above the Coconino Aquifer in Holbrook, Ariz., has big plans for its biobased business. With $5 million the company will expand a commercial facility to produce omega-3 fatty acid oils by the end of this year.
Russell Howard has a background in biotechnology as a chemist, a lab manager and a company creator. As a co-founder of the biorefining firm Codexis, Howard told Biorefining Magazine that he has been "humbled" when it comes to the chemicals business.
A new study by Lux Research Inc. has found that although investment in alternative fuels remained flat last year, a four-year low at $930 million for startups, funding for feedstock-agnostic and end-product flexible technologies was more common.
The USDA's Aug. 17 announcement of 900 Rural Energy for America Program grants included just 21 awards for blender pumps. USDA officials promise, however, that more funding is on the way.
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, the USDA and Ineos Bio announced that Ineos New Planet BioEnergy LLC's $75 million federal loan guarantee application has been finalized. Construction of the 8 MMgy facility is about 20 percent complete.
Council Bluffs, Iowa-based Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy ended the third quarter June 30 reporting a net loss of $1.29 million, while reporting continued financial and production improvements.
According to Jim Imbler, president and CEO of ZeaChem, one of the primary goals of his company's new strategic alliance with Chrysler will be to help the company promote positive consumer perception about the concept of cellulosic ethanol.
While a majority of the biorefining community are in favor of the recent $510 million federal gov't commitment to build drop-in biofuel plants, not all of them are.
Poet LLC is venturing into the realm of energy grasses with a newly launched collaborative effort to establish native grasses on degraded lands in areas surrounding its 100 MMgy ethanol plant at Chancellor, S.D.
Faced with increasing pressure to reduce emissions, the Rio Tinto Alcan Lynemouth Aluminum Smelter, located in Northeast England's village of Lynemouth, is considering a switch from coal power to biomass at its on-site 420-megawatt power station.
Avjet Biotech Inc. has released an overview of its biorefining process. The company's patented RWR System uses a thermal catalytic process to refine triglycerides into biobased aviation fuels. The process targets smaller plants in the 10 MMgy range.
The work will help the entire algae research community understand how this strain will react to the practice of gene manipulation, allowing the researchers to predict what the strain will do given certain light conditions and nutrient allowance.
Petrobras' biofuels division will invest heavily in the expansion of its ethanol and biodiesel production capabilities in order to meet growing domestic demand. The firm has earmarked a total of $4.1 billion for biofuels over the next five years.
Publicly traded BioFuel Energy Corp. reported losses in its second quarter financial report, while highlighting the company's improved yield performance and coproduct optimization efforts.
LanzaTech, Harsco agree to develop ethanol-from-steel gas process
By Harsco Corp.
August 16, 2011
Harsco Corp., service provider to the global steel industry, signs with New Zealand-based LanzaTech to develop technology converting steel mill flue gases to fuel ethanol.
The EIA said it expects average refiner acquisition cost of crude oil to rise from $100 per barrel in 2011 to $107 per barrel in 2012, based on continuing decline of global inventories and global spare production.
USGC works to smooth the way for DDGS exports to China
By U.S. Grains Council
August 16, 2011
China's regulatory requirements for DDGS imports are complex, stringent, and a serious burden for U.S. ethanol plants, but the U.S. Grains Council's recent DDGS regulatory mission holds promise for improving the situation, the council reports.
2011 DDGS exports to Japan up 45%, likely to set records
By U.S. Grains Council
August 16, 2011
The U.S. Grains Council reports sales of U.S. DDGS to Japan for 2011 are on pace to set new records. The USGC will host a team of Japanese feed, livestock and trade industry representatives in an Aug. 21-31 visit to the U.S.
The first comprehensive compilation of distillers grains information was published this summer. “Distillers Grains: Production, Properties, and Utilization� was edited by researchers Kurt Rosentrater and KeShun Liu.
Over the 20-year term of its proposed biomass combined-heat-and-power plant, Clark County, Wash., will receive a total benefit of more than $11 million and be capable of extending the life of its existing equipment, according to Clark County.
The Appeal Court of North Carolina has unanimously turned down an appeal against a decision by the North Carolina Utilities Commission to allow the inclusion of wood chips derived from low-value whole trees in the state's renewable energy definition.
Kiara Solar LLC, a California-based power generation company, plans to restart a dormant biomass power plant in Anderson, Calif. The plant was purchased from Siskiyou Forest Products, a wood processing company in Anderson.
A lawsuit filed recently by a number of conservation groups challenges the U.S. EPA's three-year deferral of biogenic emissions under the Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Rule. The agency has said it will use that time to further study the issue.
Although biomass-generated energy provides significant benefits, it has not been without controversy. The BTEC will hold a webinar on Aug. 30 to addresses issues such as emissions, feedstock sustainability and incentives for biomass systems.
Obama announced that the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Energy and Navy will invest up to $510 million during the next three years in partnership with the private sector to produce advanced drop-in aviation and marine biofuels.
The biorefining industry and its trade associations react to the announcement that the U.S. Navy, DOE and USDA will fund up to $510 million over the next three years to support the construction or retrofitting of drop-in biofuel facilities.
ZeaChem Inc. announced it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Chrysler Group LLC to accelerate the commercialization of its cellulosic ethanol process and to assist in establishing a strong consumer market for the fuel.
Urban sprawl threatens food, too
August 15, 2011
This weekend I was driving around my old stomping grounds and I spotted exurban development within eight miles of the farm I grew up on. These are no longer single houses tucked into odd tree stands, but housing developments built on prime farmland.
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