By Jim Spaeth Special to The Digest Renewable chemicals and biomaterials are no longer niche—they are the future of carbon. Europe stands at the threshold of massive opportunity, from decarbonized manufacturing to circular materials innovation. But crossing that threshold? That’s another story. The technology exists. The markets are interested. The policies are warming. And yet, […]
This presentation features Mike Kass from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It addresses decarbonizing marine shipping to meet IMO GHG reduction targets. Highlights include research by a 4-lab partnership assessing bio-intermediate potential via TEA and LCA, showing promise. Low carbon fuel testing with biofuels (neat and blends), including HTL bio-crude and fast pyrolysis bio-oil, is underway […]
This presentation features Lauren Junker from BASF. The presentation details BASF’s journey to net zero by 2050 and shaping a circular economy. Key highlights include the focus on biobased carbon sources like starch, sucrose, oil crops, and various residues. It explores transformation pathways from biomass to chemicals, acknowledging the energy challenges compared to fossil sources […]
Keep on keeping on. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Uncertainty is another way of spelling opportunity. These are so easy to say and write, so hard to do. At a time of great economic and policy uncertainty — the world may not be going to blazes, as some of our friends […]
This presentation features Gregory Jaffe of Jaffe Policy Consulting. Highlights include details on the USDA Climate Smart Agriculture Interim Rule, covering biofuel feedstock crops, carbon intensity, and supply chain standards. It outlines covered crops like field corn, soybean, and sorghum, and practices like no-till and cover crops. Possible future additions and the Partnership for Climate […]
When the news scroll fills with flashy deals and billion-dollar headlines, it’s easy to overlook the most powerful stories—the ones that deliver sturdy companies and technologies for the long-haul. The Uptime technologies, the -we-found-a-way companies, the sustainable and affordable feedstocks. Entropy? Chaos in the market. They fold entropy into structure, convert symbolic weight into trust. […]
Understand the potential of hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) to produce significant volumes of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from wet wastes. HTL offers a continuous process with high carbon yields. Research focuses on addressing key challenges like nitrogen content through hydrodenitrogenation to meet stringent fuel specifications. This pathway offers a solution for both low-GHG fuels and sludge […]
Some times, the rain comes down so hard, it’s hard to see the road. I’ve been driving American highways for years, I’ve seen the fall rain in Pennsylvania forcing trucks off the road, spring fog in Oregon so think you can’t see the headlights from the oncoming cars, the summer winds in the Carolinas sweep […]
Learn about sorption-enhanced chemical looping gasification (SE-CLG) for efficient renewable natural gas production from biomass wastes. This intensified process integrates air separation, CO2 capture, and syngas conditioning in a single step. Developed phase transition sorbents (PTSs) enable isothermal operation and produce hydrogen-rich syngas suitable for methanation. Preliminary analysis suggests significant reductions in LCOE compared to […]
Explore biomethanation as a cost-effective method to upgrade biogas to pipeline quality renewable natural gas (RNG). This process uses naturally occurring organisms and hydrogen to convert CO2 in biogas to methane, potentially increasing production by 60-70%. NREL’s mobile RD&D platform aims to advance this technology for decarbonizing transportation and enabling long-duration energy storage. LCA shows […]
