Author Archive: Jim Lane

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Shazzan!: Turning Urban Trash into Treasure Island, the LanzaTech, Sekisui Chemicals story

Shazzan!: Turning Urban Trash into Treasure Island, the LanzaTech, Sekisui Chemicals story

December 6, 2017 |

Sekisui Chemicals, LanzaTech break-through in MSW-to-ethanol demonstration Today we return to the subject of landfill, or as we like to think of it, the Island of Misfit Feedstocks. We’ll continue the storyline with a welcome technology breakthrough, and begin with the observation that of all the things that people throw into a landfill, no one […]

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US ruling on biodiesel dumping paves the way for duties on Indonesia, Argentina fuels

US ruling on biodiesel dumping paves the way for duties on Indonesia, Argentina fuels

December 5, 2017 |

In Washington, the US International Trade Commission voted 4-0 in favor of the National Biodiesel Board Fair Trade Coalition’s position that the industry has suffered because of unfairly subsidized imports of biodiesel from Argentina and Indonesia. This affirmative vote on injury, coupled with last month’s final countervailing duties determination by the Commerce Department, paves the way for […]

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Brazilian hydrous ethanol sales soar 15% in October

Brazilian hydrous ethanol sales soar 15% in October

December 5, 2017 |

In Brazil, the ANP energy agency said October’s hydrous ethanol demand jumped 15% on the year to 1.37 billion liters, the highest since December 2015. Hydrous ethanol remains comfortably below the 70% parity mark at 68.5% in October thanks to the new ex-refinery pricing policy for gasoline established in July that as of the end […]

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Philippines entrepreneur distributing his award winning fuel additive from UCO

Philippines entrepreneur distributing his award winning fuel additive from UCO

December 5, 2017 |

In the Philippines, a local entrepreneur has won several awards for the fuel additives he developed from used cooking oil that improves performance by rearranging the molecular structure of diesel, gasoline and motor oil. The product, called EFQ fuel and oil additive, is said to improve fuel combustion efficiency and reduce emissions. The inventor began […]

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Toyota to build first MW-scale biomass-powered fuel cell plant in California

Toyota to build first MW-scale biomass-powered fuel cell plant in California

December 5, 2017 |

In California, Toyota Motor North America, Inc. will build the world’s first megawatt-scale carbonate fuel cell power generation plant with a hydrogen fueling station to support its operations at the Port of Long Beach. Announced at the Los Angeles Auto Show, the Tri-Gen facility will use bio-waste sourced from California agricultural waste to generate water, […]

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LanzaTech, Novozymes, Amyris, DSM, Enerkem, POET, BASF, Genomatica and Avantium among early Hot 50 voting leaders

LanzaTech, Novozymes, Amyris, DSM, Enerkem, POET, BASF, Genomatica and Avantium among early Hot 50 voting leaders

December 5, 2017 |

In Florida, LanzaTech, Novozymes, Amyris, DSM, Enerkem, POET, BASF, Genomatica and Avantium have taken the lead in early voting in the 50 Hottest Companies in the Advanced Bioeconomy ballot. The Digest released the early-voting totals from Subscriber Voting — which do not yet include Invited International Selector votes. This week’s summary includes phioto and other bonus votes which […]

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Accelerating Innovation in Agriculture: The Digest’s 2017 Multi-Slide Guide to the USDA Agricultural Research Service

Accelerating Innovation in Agriculture: The Digest’s 2017 Multi-Slide Guide to the USDA Agricultural Research Service

December 5, 2017 |

The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific in-house research agency. ARS conducts research to develop and transfer solutions to agricultural problems of high national priority and provide information access and dissemination to: Ensure high-quality, safe food, and other agricultural products; Assess the nutritional needs of Americans; Sustain a competitive agricultural economy; […]

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Japanese researchers develop new solvent for biomass

Japanese researchers develop new solvent for biomass

December 4, 2017 |

In Japan, Kanazawa University researchers developed a novel carboxylate-type liquid zwitterion as a solvent of biomass, which could dissolve cellulose with very low toxicity to microorganisms. Use of this novel solvent enables significant reduction of energy cost for ethanol production from non-food biomass. They succeeded in reducing the toxicity to microorganisms by developing a novel […]

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Land allocation for Bharat Petroleum’s 2G ethanol plant held up for a year

Land allocation for Bharat Petroleum’s 2G ethanol plant held up for a year

December 4, 2017 |

In India, although Bharat Petroleum Corporation announced a year ago that it would develop a second-generation ethanol plant using crop waste, it still hasn’t been allotted land for the project by the Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha Limited. Fingers are being pointed at the national labor minister for getting in the way of […]

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Canadian government awards funding to BioAmber sugar-based nylon research

Canadian government awards funding to BioAmber sugar-based nylon research

December 4, 2017 |

In Canada, five projects have been selected for funding in Round 8 of the Genomic Applications Partnership Program, for a total investment of C$24.5 million ($8.1 million from Genome Canada and $16.4 million from co-funding partners including provincial governments, private sector and not-for-profit organizations). These project include a project led by Krishna Mahadevan (BioZone) & […]

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