Author Archive: Jim Lane

The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the week of August 2nd: waste plastics for fuels and sneakers, eggs without the chicken, 3D printing, algae-based ketchup packaging, green funerals, biodegradable grills

August 1, 2018 | Jim Lane

The pace of invention and change is just too strong, we’ve realized, to highlight annual or even quarterly or monthly rankings and summaries of significant product and service advances. For now, we’re going to be tracking these on a weekly basis to keep pace with the changes. Here are the top innovations for the week […]

Carbon Capture, Solar Fuels, Fossil Bubble

July 31, 2018 | Jim Lane

In Spain, BIOCON-CO2, a new €7 million EU Horizon 2020-funded research project, has recently kicked-off with intentions of supporting EU leadership in carbon dioxide (CO2) re-use technologies. BIOCON-CO2 aims to re-use excess CO2 produced from the iron, steel, cement and electric power industries to create value-added chemicals and plastics. This will be achieved by developing […]

High-yield hydrocarbons from ethanol: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to Vertimass

July 31, 2018 | Jim Lane

Vertimass technology was originated at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where scientists discovered novel catalysts that convert a wide range of alcohols into various hydrocarbon blend stocks which can be used in existing gasoline, diesel and jet engines without modifications. COO John Hannon gave this illuminating overview of the technology, the commercial rationale and the timelines […]

The 40 Hottest Transformative Technologies in the Bioeconomy: Nominations open

July 30, 2018 | Jim Lane

Who will be #1? who will get your vote? In Florida, The Digest announced the official opening of nominations for the 40 Hottest Transformative Technologies in the Advanced Bioeconomy. Nominate your favorite technologies here. Labs, here’s your chance to shine Whether the development is at a commercial company, academic lab, private or national lab, a […]

High Performance Fuels & Vehicles, both: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to DOE’s Co-Optima Project and HP fuels

July 30, 2018 | Jim Lane

The US Department of Energy has a key project called Co-Optima, which aims to determine key fuel properties that enable improved engine efficiency, provide key science to enable high efficiency combustion modes, and capitalize on unique properties available from bio-blendstocks. Within that project is an emphasis on high-performance fuels, that has a goal to develop […]

High-throughput thermal conversion: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to EnerSysNet

July 27, 2018 | Jim Lane

EnerSysNet Canada Inc.’s mission is to develop modular systems that enable the forest residuals to hydrocarbon economy. Oxygen-free, liquid hydrocarbons would be produced from sustainably managed timber reserves by a distributed network of small, self-contained biorefineries that literally take the factory to the forest. The companies “ablative” conversion technology transforms woody biomass from harvest and mill […]

The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the week of July 27th

July 26, 2018 | Jim Lane

When Markets Misbehave, Send the Marines! (World governments get a case of bioeconomy interventionitis)

July 25, 2018 | Jim Lane

The European Court of Justice has ruled that organisms altered via genome editing are GMOs and subject to GMO regulation in Europe, including warning labels for foods. And in the US, President Trump announced $12 billion in relief for farmers impacted by the Administration’s trade policies in a move that was sharply criticized by […]

$200 oil in 2020? The impending energy crisis and biofuels’ role in relieving the refining capacity crunch

July 24, 2018 | Jim Lane

“The global economy likely faces an economic crash of horrible proportions in 2020, not for want of a nail but want of low-sulfur diesel fuel,” writes renowned energy analyst Phil Verleger in a note this month titled “$200 Crude, the Economic Crisis of 2020, and Policies to Prevent Catastrophe”. Not good timing for a White House […]

Biomass, biomass and more biomass: The Digest’s 2018 Multi-Slide Guide to the DOE’s Billion Ton Report, Vol. 1

July 23, 2018 | Jim Lane

The US Department of Energy’s Billion-Ton Report: Advancing Domestic Resources for a Thriving Bioeconomy says that 1.2 billion tons of biomass would be available at $40 or less per ton by 2040, and 1 billion tons would be available by 2030, for conversion into biofuels. Compared to the original Billion Ton Report in 2011, the focus has […]

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