In the world of consumer adoption, moda means fashion and fashion means change, and TerraVia’s new CEO Apu Mody arrives to warn companies in the food sector that the old days are over. “The days of companies talking one way to consumers, of the endless debates over ‘how do we educate the consumer?’ are well […]
At the outset of his historic Conquest, Cortés gathered the men and burned the boats. As TerraVia jettisons its break-out industrial product line and completes the pivot to Food, what lies ahead in the New World? Gromeko: They’ve shot the Czar. And all his family. Oh, that’s a savage deed. What’s it for? Zhivago: It’s […]
I think it might have been a Kennedy who remarked one time: Some people see used coffee grounds and say, yecch. Other people dream of bacon flavoring and say, why not? If you’ve wondered ever how to take some of the most unloved forms of food waste — old coffee grounds, spent grape pomace (the stems, […]
In Washington, the US Department of Energy announced up to $11.3 million for three projects that support the development of biomass-to-hydrocarbon biofuels conversion pathways that, as the DOE remarked, “can produce variable amounts of fuels and/or products based on external factors, such as market demand.” That’s DOE code for — “it’s OK to produce chemicals […]
Although they will not know it, when the world finally moves off petroleum completely, we may have the ants to thank. Formica, as ants were known by the Romans (yes, formica, but not the flooring material) — when squashed, emit a characteristic odor and that’s formic acid. That we know so much about it is thanks to […]
Our story so far KiOR was hanging by a thread as the summer of 2010 commenced. In a few days, the first recorded visitors to Pasadena demo unit, representatives of the Mississippi Development Authority, were expecting to see the demonstration unit in action. The company was beginning to hurtle towards an IPO. But the fuel […]
At the critical juncture of Shakespeare’s Henry V, on St. Crispin’s Day, 1415, when the French forces looked ready to overwhelm the small band of knights that are with the English King at Agincourt, the young King Henry says: This day is call’d the feast of Crispian …And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by, From […]
In Florida, the Digest and BioChannel.TV released “Sustainable Fuels on Troubled Waters”, the Inside True Story of the US Navy’s Great Green Fleet — a documentary profile on the US Navy’s success in driving down the costs of renewable fuel — up to and including the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2016 exercises near Hawaii. The story […]
In Washington, a new White House report, titled “Federal Alternative Jet Fuel Research and Development Strategy,” sets out prioritized federal research and development goals and objectives to address key scientific and technical challenges that inhibit the development, production, and use of economically viable alternative jet fuels at commercial scale. The Alternative Jet Fuel Interagency Working […]
9 years ago, The Digest debuted with two subscribers and a guess. This week, The Digest turns nine,. We thought back in 2007 that the industry needed a concise, 5-Minute daily summary of “news you can use” for the advanced bioeconomy. That a vast audience out there was as interested in the convergence of biotechnology, national defense, climate […]
