ICF reports that Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production is currently outpacing renewable diesel, despite the lack of a domestic mandate. U.S. airlines are securing future supply through long-term offtakes and investments. Significant regulatory shifts include the extension of 45Z tax credits to 2029 and new California LCFS sustainability requirements. However, achieving proposed RVOs remains challenging […]
Dawnlight. After days crossing a wide, heat-blown valley, they reached the range—layered, irregular, faintly steaming in the morning air. The Trash Mountains. That’s what they called them at a distance. Up close, it was something else. Layered, irregular—yes—but not random. Structured. Sorted by time, pressure, chemistry. One of them knelt and sifted a handful through […]
Aemetis provided an update on its rapidly expanding dairy Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) operations. The most newsworthy milestone is the completion of 12 digesters across 15 dairies, connected by 36 miles of pipeline, with a total of 50 dairies signed to supply biogas. This negative carbon intensity RNG is transported via utility pipelines or sold […]
Rob Leachman from UC Berkeley and R2DIO presented a novel approach to optimizing synthetic biology. Drawing on a comprehensive 12-year benchmarking study of semiconductor manufacturing, the most newsworthy takeaway is the application of semiconductor best practices to biomanufacturing process control. Leachman advocates for the rigorous automation of information handling and Statistical Process Control (SPC). By […]
The binoculars don’t show speed. They show distance. LTJG H. H. “Tex” Riley stands on the bridge of the fleet oiler USS Decatur and watches the Strait of Hormuz resolve into lines — parallel tracks of steel and intent, moving close enough now that distance is no longer abstract. This native of Plano, Texas is […]
This presentation from Digest editor Jim Lane introduced the FOAK Fragility Index (FFI), a structural stress meter for First-Of-A-Kind (FOAK) biorefineries. Newsworthy highlights include the application of the “GTESI” and “Twist” frameworks to measure a project’s “Persistence”—its ability to survive shocks and export entropy to capital markets. The analysis sharply critiques centralized “Redwood” facility architectures […]
We were sitting on St. Charles Place, holding a pair of railroads and a promising twosome of Ventnor and Marvin Gardens, which felt like progress—right up until the board turned. Cash was tight. Houses were in reach, but not yet. The real game, at that moment, wasn’t rent. It was survival. One more pass around […]
The Royal Saxon came into Sydney Harbour in mid-1860 riding low and wrong. The Tasman had taken its toll—rigging frayed, hull complaining, a list that no amount of ballast could quite disguise. Captain Collier stood on the quarterdeck and watched the shoreline rise, already calculating what it would cost to make her whole again. Timber […]
Spero Renewables, led by a team with deep-tech scale-up expertise, introduced its proprietary SPERLU™ technology. The most newsworthy aspect of their presentation is their strategy for breaking the industry’s “Lignin Ceiling”. Traditionally, during cellulosic biomass pretreatment and fermentation for bioethanol, lignin is relegated to a low-value byproduct burned for process heat. Spero is targeting this […]
SunGas Renewables detailed the massive scale of their Beaver Lake Biofuels project, which utilizes the replicable SunGas S1000 system to convert green wood into Renewable Natural Gas (RNG). The most newsworthy aspect is the project’s unmatched scale: processing 2 million metric tons of green wood annually to produce 11.1 billion standard cubic feet of RNG. […]
