The most visible advanced industrial fermentation target for a number of years has been cellulosic ethanol, but the targets are diversifying and cellulosics themselves are shifting gears from process to feedstocks. There’s a fervent ferment in fermentation these days. Today, we go through the Top 10 Trendlines that have emerged in the headlines. #1: The […]
The US Department of Energy is supporting a project on hydrothermal liquefaction — a thermochemical interface for algae biofuels — developing processing methods to reduce conversion cost, improve sustainability and enable commercialization of algal biofuels while validating conversion processing at engineering scale. Dan Anderson is leading the research team at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and […]
As the battered but game residents of Houston drain and repair their battered city, US gasoline prices spike on fears of a refinery crunch. North Korea has conducted an underground test of a hydrogen bomb they claim to be able to couple to an intercontinental ballistic missile, and the US Navy announces an expansion of […]
Hurricane Harvey has turned the world’s most widely-produced chemical, ethylene, into something of a rarer commodity because of refinery slowdowns. The US Department of Energy is supporting a project to produce transportation fuels via photosynthetically derived ethylene. The research team notes that “steam cracking of petroleum, is the largest CO2 emitting process in chemical industry”. […]
In Washington, Nebraska Secretary of Agriculture Gregory Ibach and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey were appointed to key USDA posts by President Trump. Ibach was appointed under secretary for marketing and regulatory programs, which oversees three USDA sub-agencies — Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Agricultural Marketing Service, and the Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration. Ibach […]
The US Department of Energy is supporting a project aimed at providing process design and economic analysis support for the algae platform to guide R&D priorities to commercialization. In short, a technolo-economic rationale for algae biofuels at scale, and co-=products along with those fuels or as a pioneer product set. The research team aims to translate […]
In Indiana, a new academic paper published in Biotechnology for Biofuels shows biodiesel’s benefits are even better than previous models suggest. Updated modeling from Purdue University suggests the advantage of using biodiesel has been underestimated by 10 percent. “This latest research verifies biodiesel is an ideal option to support American-made energy and renewable fuels,” said […]
Biodiesel is the people’s advanced biofuel, but it is not always the Establishment’s darling. Whether it is cleaner air, more lubricity, more advanced domestic manufacturing and jobs, higher property values driving higher revenues for states and schools, or a secondary market for growers to prevent another Farm Aid era of commodity busts — biodiesel delivers […]
The US Department of Energy is supporting a project to develop a catalyst cost estimation tool that would enable rapid and informed cost-based decisions in research and commercialization of catalysts. As the research team notes, “Nearly all biomass conversion processes rely on catalysis as do many biochemical processes. Catalytic technology development is leveraged by a major portion […]
By Wayne Lee, CEO Lee Enterprises Consulting Special to The Digest While oil prices remain relatively low, and the status of U.S. government incentives remains uncertain, the predictable downturn in biofuel and biochemical related industries brings with it increased participant discomfort. Those that have been in these “bioeconomy” industries for some time have seen their […]
