All Entries in the "Featured" Category
Special Digest Update on biofuels made from municipal solid waste
In a recent poll, Digest readers identified “waste biomass” as the hottest feedstock – and companies using agricultural, forest, animal and municipal residues have been receiving much support in the “50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy” voting, underway this week. Before voting closes, it’s well worth a special look at companies that are utilizing municipal solid [...]
Inbicon opens 1.4 Mgy demonstration cellulosic ethanol plant in Denmark
In Denmark, Prince Joachim inaugurated the 1.4 Mgy, demonstration-scale Inbicon cellulosic ethanol plant in Kalundborg, which is utilizing wheat straw as its initial feedstock. The plant is the largest cellulosic ethanol facility in Europe, and second globally only to the KL Energy project in Upton, WY.
Inbicon and its parent company DONG Energy, the state oil, [...]
POET, BP, Coskata and Sapphire among early contenders in 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy underway
All this week, subscribers are casting their ballots for the 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy.
Balloting will be open to the registered subscribers of the Biofuels Digest, Geothermal Digest and Biomass Digest e-newsletters, through Monday November 23rd at 5pm EST. The link to the ballot will be distributed this week in every edition of the Digest [...]
Sapphire Energy: the making of algae that reproduce strong, last long
Thanksgiving approaches and holiday baking looms – a week when family recipes are swapped and downloaded in huge volumes. In the business of biofuels, one of the more elusive recipes is the one for making commercial-scale, affordable algae as a platform for conversion to biofuels.
But there’s not too much mystery to it. By now, practically [...]
Subscriber voting opens in 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy; UOP, Amyris, Coskata lead in early-stage balloting
Today, subscribers can begin to cast their ballots for the 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy.
Balloting will be open to the registered subscribers of the Biofuels Digest, Geothermal Digest and Biomass Digest e-newsletters, through Monday November 23rd at 5pm EST.
All subscribers to Biofuels Digest, Biomass Digest and Geothernmal Digest e-newsletters are eligible to vote. (Subscriptions are [...]
USDA, DOE announce $24 million in bioenergy, bio-based products R&D grants: Gevo, Velocys, GE, Agrivida among awardees for ethanol, biobutanol, drop-in fuels
In Washington, the US Departments of Agriculture and Energy today announced $24 million in R&D grants for biofuels, bioenergy and high-value biobased products. Of the $24.4 million announced today, DOE plans to invest up to $4.9 million with USDA contributing up to $19.5 million.
Projects announced today will contribute a minimum of 20 percent of matching [...]
Jet Plains, Part II: Doers, Done, and the DOE in renewable jet fuel
Elsewhere in today’s Digest, comments from Solazyme CEO Jonathan Wolfson and the DOE’s Valerie Reed confirm an increasingly laser-like focus on renewable aviation fuels from the advanced biofuels community. Here are some developments in renewable, drop-in aviation fuels from biomass also highly worth noting.
US Air Force
The Air Force has announced that it will construct a [...]
Jet Plains: Do grasses, woods, mustards grown in the heartlands hold the key for aviation fuels?
Ceres, ViaSpace, Sustainable Oils, Solazyme are among R&D leaders aiming to turn America’s heartland into a high-tech advanced biofuels playground of energy grasses and camelina for advanced transportation biofuels and aviation fuel.
“I fully expect that in the future,” said Solazyme CEO Jonathan Wolfson, “that I will make my daily 15-mile commute in a car that [...]
Fuel from Thin Air? Joule reports direct microbial conversion of CO2 into hydrocarbons; no biomass, no extraction, no refinement
In Hawaii, at the BIO Pacific Rim Summit, Joule Biotechnologies announced that it has achieved direct microbial conversion of CO2 into hydrocarbons via engineered organisms, powered by solar energy.
Joule’s Helioculture process mixes sunlight and CO2 with highly engineered photo synthetic organisms, which are designed to secrete ethanol, diesel or other products.
However, unlike algae and other current biomass-derived [...]
Closing down $24 billion biofuels tax credit loophole: a good idea (here’s why)
In Washington, the Health Care Bill passed the US House of Representatives and included — as part of a 42-page “manager’s amendment”, a provision striking a biofuel tax credit used by pulp and paper firms that could have been worth up to $24 billion. According to a report in FOX News, “That’s desperately needed revenue [...]


