Benchmark tests prove higher volumes than initial forecast; plant receives “Recommended” rating after first customer audit In Montana, Rivertop Renewables, a Montana-based novel chemicals company, announced it exceeded the nameplate capacity of its first commercial production facility during benchmark testing. At full capacity the plant, operated by DTI in Danville, Virginia, is now capable of […]
By Mark Warner, PE, Founder, Warner Advisors LLC, Special to The Digest Understanding the challenge of commercializing innovative foods will separate those that change the future of food, from others that become an asterisk in a market study. In my previous publication “What makes scale-up of industrial bio-technology so difficult”, I expanded on the technical challenges […]
In Queensland, the state premier Anna Palaszczuk, the Minister for State Development Anthony Lynham, and the Minister for Energy, Biofuels and Water Supply Mark Bailey jointly announced that a AUD $16 million advanced biofuels pilot plant will be built at Southern Oil Refining’s Yarwun plant at Gladstone. They described the project as “a giant step towards […]
The Digest Bioeconomy Index, an index of publicly traded advanced bioeconomy stocks, slipped 0.42 percent to to 52.07 as advanced bio dropped. For the day, gevo (GEVO) dumped 39.11 percent to $0.28 after a dilutive equity raise, while Abengoa (ABGB) soared 22.14 percent to $1.71. Among other equities, Aemetis (AMTX) shed 7.51 percent to $1.97. […]
First commercial test flight with Alaska Airlines comes closer In Colorado, ASTM International Committee D02 on Petroleum Products, Liquid Fuels, and Lubricants and Subcommittee D02.J on Aviation Fuel passed a concurrent ballot this week approving the revision of ASTM D7566 (Standard Specification for Aviation Turbine Fuel Containing Synthesized Hydrocarbons) to include alcohol to jet synthetic […]
The Digest Bioeconomy Index, an index of publicly traded advanced bioeconomy stocks, slipped 0.33 percent to 52.12 as advanced bio edged down. For the day, Aemetis (AMTX) slid 4.69 percent to $2.03, while TerraVia (SZYM) drifted down 6.19 percent to $1.97. Among other equities, Cosan (CZZ) rallied 5.24 percent to $4.62. Overall, declines led advances […]
In Washington state, Zymergen and Arzeda have signed a multi-year agreement to develop strains and processes to manufacture novel, high utility molecules and materials utilizing Arzeda’s pathway and enzyme design and Zymergen’s strain construction capabilities. “The development of new materials was a major driver of technological development over the course of the 20th century. Biology has the […]
Turns out that even in a genome stripped down to only those genes absolutely essential for human life, some 16% of the matter in there is completely mysterious to researchers in terms of its purpose or function. They know it’s there, they know it plays a role. They have no idea what that role is. […]
In Tennessee, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have made “a better thermoplastic” by replacing styrene with lignin, a brittle, rigid polymer that, with cellulose, forms the woody cell walls of plants. In doing so, they have invented a solvent-free production process that interconnects equal parts of nanoscale lignin dispersed in […]
In Washington, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) along with 17 other senators sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) urging them to follow the congressional intent of the Renewable Fuel Standard by increasing blending targets under the RFS for 2017. POET, Growth Energy, BIO, ADM, the Advanced Biofuesl Business Council, the […]
