Author Archive: Jim Lane

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When the bioeconomy slows, why do we always convict technology?

When the bioeconomy slows, why do we always convict technology?

June 2, 2026 |

The jury had been deliberating for hours. The case seemed straightforward enough. A commercial bioeconomy project lay dead. Not every project, certainly. Some had survived and even thrived. But enough had stalled, disappeared, or failed to reach operation that a consensus had emerged regarding the culprit. Technology. The foreman looked around the room. “All those […]

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The Digest’s 2026 Multi-Slide Guide to Infrastructure Capital Entry

The Digest’s 2026 Multi-Slide Guide to Infrastructure Capital Entry

June 1, 2026 |

Infrastructure capital is replacing venture funding in the bioeconomy, but only for assets demonstrating operational maturity. This transition requires one to two years of steady-state operations, repeatable asset templates, and investment-grade counterparties. Crucially, merchant exposure completely disqualifies projects; infrastructure funds demand long-term take-or-pay or availability contracts. By structuring entry as a refinancing event and designing […]

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How renewable fuel producers can unlock lower emissions and stronger economics

How renewable fuel producers can unlock lower emissions and stronger economics

June 1, 2026 |

Topsoe’s integrated hydroprocessing and hydrogen technologies HydroFlex® and H2bridge™ offer fuel producers a pathway to lower emissions, reduced costs and greater feedstock flexibility By Milica Folić, Director for Clean Fuels and Chemicals, Topsoe Special to the Digest Securing bankability and strong economics in renewable fuel production projects are of primary importance. Producers must manage production […]

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Saff the Mighty Hoop Jumper: What SkyNRG Teaches Us About Getting Steel in the Ground

Saff the Mighty Hoop Jumper: What SkyNRG Teaches Us About Getting Steel in the Ground

June 1, 2026 |

Once upon a time there was a daring and skillful hoop-jumper named Saff. No one could jump hoops like he. He could somersault through flaming hoops, sustainability hoops, carbon-intensity hoops. Children cheered him. Elders admired him.  One day the King announced a grand hoop-jumping contest to be held in the Palace Gardens. The villagers were […]

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The Digest’s 2026 Multi Slide Guide to Sovereign-Backed Concessional Finance for Bioeconomy

The Digest’s 2026 Multi Slide Guide to Sovereign-Backed Concessional Finance for Bioeconomy

May 28, 2026 |

Commercialization has recurring topology. Across thousands of deployment stories, the same financing architectures, sequencing patterns, fragility signatures, and lender behaviors appear again and again. The Digest’s new next-generation Multi-Slide Guides are designed to map those hidden structures — not just markets, but the industrial laws governing survivability and scale. Our inaugural edition explores the Mubadala/Acelen […]

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Commercialization Has Recurring Topology: How Acelen’s $3 Billion SAF Bet Reveals the Hidden Grammar of Deployment

Commercialization Has Recurring Topology: How Acelen’s $3 Billion SAF Bet Reveals the Hidden Grammar of Deployment

May 28, 2026 |

For years, biorefinery commercialization has often been discussed as if it were a linear process: develop the technology, raise the capital, build the plant, scale the market. But after reviewing tens of thousands of deployment stories across fuels, chemicals, carbon, SAF, hydrogen, biomaterials and infrastructure systems, a different picture begins to emerge. Commercialization behaves less […]

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The Digest’s 2026 Multi-Slide Guide to Continuous Biomanufacturing

The Digest’s 2026 Multi-Slide Guide to Continuous Biomanufacturing

May 27, 2026 |

DAB.bio addresses the high cost-of-goods and scale-up failures that have historically plagued industrial biotechnology with its FAST technology. FAST integrates continuous fermentation with continuous, gravity-based product separation while retaining microbial biomass inside the reactor. This approach can increase reactor output by two to twelve times and reduce production costs by 10 to 50 percent. The […]

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Diaper Change: What ZymoChem Teaches Us About Trust and Adoption

Diaper Change: What ZymoChem Teaches Us About Trust and Adoption

May 26, 2026 |

A leaking diaper at two in the morning is not a branding inconvenience. It is system failure. There is no sustainability consultant standing beside the crib explaining polymer chemistry while exhausted parents strip sheets, search for clean pajamas, restart the washing machine, and try to calm a screaming child before sunrise. Which is why a […]

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The Digest’s 2026 Multi-Slide Guide to Clean Maritime Fuels and Policy

The Digest’s 2026 Multi-Slide Guide to Clean Maritime Fuels and Policy

May 26, 2026 |

With shipping accounting for three percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, momentum is accelerating for low-carbon maritime fuels. Legislative developments like the Inflation Reduction Act’s technology-neutral Section 45Z tax credit and the proposed Renewable Fuels for Ocean-Going Vessels Act (S.881) are critical supply-side incentives. S.881 would allow companies to generate RINs for renewable ocean-going fuels. […]

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The Digest’s 2026 Multi-Slide Guide to Syzygy’s Biogas-to-SAF Technology

The Digest’s 2026 Multi-Slide Guide to Syzygy’s Biogas-to-SAF Technology

May 25, 2026 |

Syzygy Plasmonics is tackling the high costs of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) through its NovaSAF pathway, which utilizes the proprietary Rigel™ plasmonic photocatalytic reactor. This modular, fully electrified technology converts landfill gas—both methane and CO2—into syngas without combustion, offering up to 60% higher SAF yields than traditional thermal reforming. Following successful field trials, Syzygy is […]

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