Fuel cells are important technology. You may remember them from the space program. They show up in the drama of Apollo 13, for example. Many car companies have investigated their potential — but here’s a breakthrough that addresses the major barriers for fuel-cell adoption. Earlier this week, we reported that Nissan is researching and developing […]
If you’ve seen the astonishing leap in Gevo’s valuation over the past 2 weeks and the jump in Amyris’ value this week, you might have noticed they have one important element in common: both are making major announcements regarding supply of renewable jet fuel. Gevo to Alaska Airlines, Amyris to Cathay Pacific. Quantities are small, […]
It ought to be a classic in a pub quiz. How do you generate 2 billion dollars in cellulosic ethanol, with no upfront investment? (Replacing the old one — how do you become a millionaire in cellulosic ethanol? Start out a billionaire.) It sounds like a crazy come-on from an old friend of mine, Mr. […]
In what might become the most transformative development in fermentation yields since Noah debuted winemaking technology in the Book of Genesis, US-based White Dog Labs have unveiled a new process that eliminates the emission of CO2, a potent greenhouse gas, during fermentation and instead shifts the carbon to added ethanol production, boosting fermentation yields by around 50 […]
The Blundermeisters of Media Misinformation are at it again. The world’s favorite advanced biofuel, biodiesel, gets another hit job from mainstream media. The Digest investigates. AFP, the major international news service, reported last week that “Palm oil produced on tropical plantations that drive deforestation has become a major biofuel for vehicles in the European Union, industry figures released Tuesday […]
If you are an ardent follower of the stock market, or even perhaps the Biofuels Digest Index equities, you would have noticed yesterday that Gevo’s stock rose by more than 50 percent on a single trading day, with a gigantic rise in the trading volume to nearly 45 million shares, almost 15X the normal trading volume. Today, […]
At this time in the story of the advanced bioeconomy, the questions from investors can be singularly testing and focused, and the answers can too often become some version of “it depends”. Sometimes I wonder about the look of investors when they get that answer, and then I wonder if that’s how Depend, the adult […]
For the advanced bioeconomy, the question remains and will remain for some time, where are the gallons? Specifically, projects that use biobased feedstocks that can be converted into renewable fuels, chemicals, advanced foods, and biobased materials. Projects have not materialized in the numbers that would support rapid growth because of immature technology (expressed in unreliable […]
Audi, DuPont, DSM, Joule, LanzaTech, Novozymes and Yale University among 20 organizations forming below50. In California, a new global initiative called below50 has debuted, backed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Roundtable for Sustainable Biomaterials and Sustainable Energy for All to promote the best-of-breed of sustainable fuels that can achieve significant carbon reductions, and […]
If you are among the millions who have seen Captain America: Civil War, you’ll note that Ant Man is displaying the ability to shrink beyond belief, yet grew into a 100-foot tall Giant-Man for the airport battle. It’s that way for nanocellulose, too — a material made from the largest organisms imaginable — our friends, […]
