Advanced biofuel projects present significant economic development opportunities.
Joint BioEnergy Institute researchers have used advanced proteomic techniques to identify 1,750 unique proteins in shoots of switchgrass, a North American native prairie grass that is widely viewed as one of the most promising fuel crop candidates.
Fuels America recently hosted a media event featuring leaders in the U.S. ethanol industry responding to a call from the American Petroleum Institute, the Environmental Working Group and ActionAid to dismantle the renewable fuels standard (RFS).
The 2015 International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo, the ethanol industry's largest conference, has released its highly anticipated agenda featuring more than 140 speakers and four comprehensive tracks. The event takes place June 1-4 in Minneapolis.
USDA lowered the projected corn ending stocks in the March World Agriculture Supply and Demand report by 50 million bushels. Corn use for ethanol production is now project to be 5.20 billion bushels for the current marketing year.
A Florida algae-to-ethanol operation is poised to go commercial scale with a project colocated with a natural-gas-fired power plant.
Algenol's technology takes a problem and turns it into a marketable ingredient for algae-to-ethanol production. I don't know about you, but that's something I can get excited about.
A recent study simulated a side-by-side comparison of the yields and costs of producing ethanol using miscanthus, switchgrass, and corn stover. The fast-growing energy grass miscanthus was the clear winner.
Researchers at the Institute of Food Research have developed a new way of rapidly screening yeasts that could help produce more sustainable biofuels. The technique could also aid in the search for new ways of deriving valuable renewable chemicals.
Researchers with the Energy Biosciences Institute have found a way to increase the production of fuels and other chemicals from biomass fermented by yeast by introducing new metabolic pathways into the yeast.
Corn consumed for fuel ethanol was 445.7 million bushels in January, down 2 percent from December, but up 3 percent from November. Dry mills used 89.3 percent of that, while wet milling fuel production consumed the remaining 10.7 percent.
The USDA announced it is now accepting applications for research and education grants through the Biomass Research and Development Initiative. Approximately $8.7 million in grants are expected to be awarded through the program.
A decline in ethanol prices has accompanied the decline in gasoline prices, yet ethanol production has been at record levels for much of the current corn marketing year, biofuels economist Robert Wisner noted in a recent analysis.
The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, one of three bioenergy research centers established in 2007 by the U.S. Department of Energy, recently celebrated the filing of its 100th patent application.
For the ethanol industry, 2015 is about "moving ahead and moving faster," Growth Energy co-chairman Jeff Broin told attendees in his opening remarks at Growth Energy's sixth annual Executive Leadership Conference Feb. 26-27 in Phoenix.
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack asked for the ethanol industry's support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership in his keynote address at the 2015 Growth Energy Executive Leadership Conference held in Phoenix Feb. 26-27.
Comet Biorefining Inc. announces the closing of a funding round led by Sofinnova Partners. Comet will use the proceeds to complete the design of its commercial facility, expand the team and continue to develop commercial partnerships.
Growth Energy has welcomed Mycogen Seeds, the national retail seed company of Dow AgroSciences, as a premiere associate member.
Because higher quality corn means higher ethanol yields, Syngenta is working with ethanol plants to help growers improve grain quality and earn a premium for doing so.
A report published by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service's Global Information Network provides an overview of the EU biobased economy and estimated biomass requirements for the production of biofuels, bioplastics, biochemicals and other products.
Greenbelt Resources Corp. has launched an innovative program offering use of its operating commercial-scale facility to third parties for feedstock feasibility testing services. The services are available confidentially.
On Feb. 24, the Environment Committee of the European Parliament approved a draft law to cap the production of traditional biofuels and accelerate the shift to alternative feedstocks, such as seaweed and waste.
Brazil-based Raozen has released financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2015, reporting net revenue of R$16.98 billion ($5.9 billion), up from R$14.88 billion during the same period of the prior year.
Abengoa's biofuels segment experienced the best year in its history in 2014 due, in part, to high margins and increased ethanol production and sales, company CEO Manuel Sanchez Ortega reported during the company's 2014 fiscal year financial results.
The corn market stayed in a constant trade range during February. The USDA did not offer any new exciting data in the report this month but did lower carryout by 50 million bushels.
The Energy Department's Bioenergy Technologies Office announces the selection of seven projects across the country to receive up to $10 million to support innovative technologies and solutions to help advance bioenergy development.
The American National Standards Institute has been selected by International Sustainability and Carbon Certification to be the accreditation body for its certification system for sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions related to biomass.
At this year's National Ethanol Conference, the Renewable Fuels Association released a new ABF Economics study titled "Contribution of the Ethanol Industry to the Economy of the United States in 2014."
The first monthly survey of industrial grain crush and coproducts was released Feb. 19 by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Survey, showing corn and sorghum consumption data for fuel ethanol, beverage alcohol and other uses.
In 2014, the U.S. ethanol industry had its most profitable year in history, Bob Dinneen, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, said Feb. 19. "Critics may be legion but we will prevail," he said. "We are here to stay."
Advertisement