Bio-adjacent, low-carbon extreme fuels and extremophile organisms open up new horizons in yields and sustainability There are a class of fuels that are deeply rooted in biological process, and share the goal of replacing fossil fuels with low-carbon substitutes, but are not strictly biofuels. Huh? Well, think of fuels that are generated directly from biomass […]
In California, Solena Fuels expects to put in its planning application with the City of Gilroy for construction of its first biojet facility sometime within the coming year. The company says it still has a lot of development work to do on details and consultations with the community before it asks for permission to build […]
In California, Pacific Ethanol has amended the terms of its senior convertible notes. The amendment relieves the company from making its monthly amortization payment due on August 1, 2011, extends the maturity date one additional month to February 6, 2012 and enables the company to continue to make payments in either cash or stock. More […]
In Iowa, POET puts the blame for slower-than-expected investment in cellulosic ethanol on the uncertain policy framework supporting their demand. Financing negotiations are slow going with not just the DOE but also private lenders because of delays and controversy over E15 and blender pumps as well as the possible loss of the 45-cent-per-gallon tax deduction. […]
In Virginia, DARPA’s Microsystems Technology Office is launching the Living Foundries program with the goal of turning biological production into an engineering space where the only limit is the creativity of the designer. Living Foundries aims to enable on-demand production of new and high-value materials, devices and capabilities for the Department of Defense and establish […]
In Finland, STX Finland has contracted Wärtsilä to supply three liquid biofuel powered main engines for Aura II, its new cargo ship that is expected to be the first in Europe to run on permanently on biofuels and should be delivered next spring. The biofuel to supply the ship will come from the Uusikaupunki refinery […]
In Brazil, one of the country’s largest biodiesel producers Ecodiesel is planning a $1.39 billion merger with agricultural producer Vanguarda do Brasil. Erique Banuelos, who owns 50% of Vanguarda, also owns 22.4% of Ecodiesel, and suggested the merger of the two companies. The transaction, which could be completed in the next 50 days, was re-introduced […]
In Thailand, new estimates from the Commerce Ministry figure that by 2016, the country will use 13 million metric tons of cassava as feedstock for ethanol, up from the just 2 million tons used now. The country currently exports 22.5 million tons of cassava annually and prices are currently too high to use as ethanol […]
In France, researchers at the Centre de Recherches Paul Pascal have developed modified silica-based cellular matrices that make it possible to confine lipases (triglyceride hydrolases used as catalysts) in order to obtain exceptional yields for hydrolysis, esterification and transesterification reactions in biodiesel production. Their work had also shown that unpurified enzymes could be used in […]
In India, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Christiana Figueres is said to have overstepped her authority by lobbying the country’s environment minister earlier this year on behalf of private sector companies seeking to develop jatropha production for biofuel for airplanes. The visit was ahead of a schedule visit by the […]
