In France and China, Arkema has finalized the acquisition of Chinese companies Hipro Polymers, a producer of specialty biosourced polyamides 10.10, and Casda Biomaterials, a producer of sebacic acid processed from castor oil. Both companies report sales estimated at $230 M for 2011, and employ 750 people on two sites in China. With Casda Biomaterials, […]
In California, BioJet International Ltd. chairman Mitch Hawkins has been elected Chair of the Board of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels Services Foundation. The RSB Services Foundation is a US based non-profit organization formed in October 2011 to manage a broad range of operational activities on behalf of the RSB Standards Body, including the certification […]
The Biofuels Digest Index™ (BDI), a basket of public biofuels stocks, gained 0.94 percent to 74.23 as Gevo (GEVO) headed sharply upwards. For the day, ADM recovered 1.18 percent to $30.93, while Hevo (GEVO) gained 18.94 percent to $10.11. Among other equities, Mission New Energy (MNEL) soared 40.00 percent to $1.89. Overall, advances led declines […]
Biofuels industry splits over RFS. What are the options? Could a new technology expected this spring change the conversation forever? Around the halls of the Digest, we call him Rufus, the elephant in the room. Elsewhere, RFS, or the Renewable Fuel Standard, is the accepted descriptor. Under any name, there’s been an awful lot of […]
In California, TheStreet.com writes: “The worst sector recently foisted on the investing public by the IPO underwriters has nothing to do with the Internet. It’s rather companies in the biofuels and bioproducts arena that have been the real IPO sucker’s bet.” TheStreet was, in particular, pointing attention towards the decision by Amyris to, post-IPO, withdraw […]
In Brazil, Michael Cox and Mike Ritzenthaler of Piper Jaffray write: “Multiple factors are converging that will likely drive increased mechanization in Brazil’s sugarcane industry. While it’s difficult to separate bad luck (drought conditions for two straight growing seasons) from under-investment, it was clear during our week-long tour of Brazil’s farm sector that upgrading and […]
In Massachusetts, Harvard researchers have developed a new material, shrilk, derived from shrimp shells and a silk protein, that is flexible, clear and as hard as aluminum while only half the weight. In an article from the Harvard Gazette, the material is described as being biodegradable, with a wide range of possible uses, from medical […]
In California, researchers at the University of California-Berkeley have designed a catalyst composed only of edges, that can catalyze the production of hydrogen from water as readily as the edges and defects in regular catalysts. In an article appearing in this week’s edition of Science, the team has created materials with billions of active sites […]
In Washington, ARPA-E issued a Request For Information focused on accelerating the development of transformative market-ready non-photosynthetic biofuel technologies. ARPA-E’s Electrofuels program has successfully supported several technologies on the lab-scale that allow microorganisms to combine chemical or electrical energy with carbon to create liquid transportation fuels. Now, ARPA-E is seeking input from industry, academia, and […]
In Texas, Amyris CEO John Melo has resigned from the Board of Directors of KiOR. Renmatix, a leading cellulosic sugar producer for global biochemical and biofuels markets, announced that former Pennsylvania governor Mark S. Schweiker has joined the company as Senior Vice President (SVP) and Chief Relationship Officer (CRO).
