Category: Top Stories

BioAmber: “operating at commercial scale” in Sarnia, “shipping to customers”

BioAmber: “operating at commercial scale” in Sarnia, “shipping to customers”

October 5, 2015 |

Ultra-secret yeast tech also exceeding expectations in yield, productivity and quality, BioAmber reports. Baby Sarnia checks in at 60 million pounds, no ounces, doing fine. In Canada, BioAmber’s Sarnia joint venture with Mitsui & Co. Ltd. has begun shipping bio-succinic acid to customers and is operating its manufacturing process at commercial scale, meeting a significant company […]

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A secret password for advanced biofuels at scale? Forget “open sesame”, try “Velocys Inside”

A secret password for advanced biofuels at scale? Forget “open sesame”, try “Velocys Inside”

October 4, 2015 |

Four new technologies approach scaled operations, all with one element in common – Velocys technology on the back-end. Why Velocys, why now? The Digest investigates. In Oklahoma, Southeast Oregon, Eastern Ohio, and a site near London we’re about to see the commercial-scale debut of Velocys technology, a smaller scale gas-to-liquids processing technology that  converts natural gas […]

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The Business of Algae and the Dream of Algae

The Business of Algae and the Dream of Algae

October 1, 2015 |

Sapphire’s Jamie Levine, Matrix Genetics’ Margaret McCormick, Algal Scientific’s Geoff Horst, Heliae’s Len Smith and USCD’s Steve Mayfield reflect on the commercial progress of algae. There is the dream of algae. All that photosynthetic productivity, all those products that algae can make, all those crushing needs that our society has for more, more, more — […]

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Remarks by US Under-Secretary of Energy, Franklin Orr, at the Algae Biomass Summit

Remarks by US Under-Secretary of Energy, Franklin Orr, at the Algae Biomass Summit

October 1, 2015 |

Algae is an important example of the breadth of work at the Department of Energy, starting with genetics and proceeding all the way to commercial-sized systems and integrations. It’s fundamental science all the way to applied. Biofuels are an important component of our work, and though there are some who say that oil prices have […]

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$20 million XPRIZE launches: technologies to convert the most CO2 into the highest net value

$20 million XPRIZE launches: technologies to convert the most CO2 into the highest net value

September 30, 2015 |

In Texas, XPRIZE Chairman and CEO Peter Diamandis announced the $20M NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, a competition to address CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. With registration opening today, teams are challenged to develop breakthrough technologies that convert the most CO2 into one or more products with the highest net value.  Co-sponsored by NRG and COSIA, the […]

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The Birth of SuperDuper gasoline via earth-friendly renewable hydrocarbons

The Birth of SuperDuper gasoline via earth-friendly renewable hydrocarbons

September 29, 2015 |

Move over Super, here comes SuperDuper. All the high octane and performance, and the renewability too, at a price you can afford. Biofuels are adding options for drop-in, low-carbon, super-perfornance gasoline via isooctane and isooctene, as Gevo announces sales of isooctene to BCD Chemie, a subsidiary of Brenntag. In Colorado, Gevo said that it has […]

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NOxgate expands: 93% of diesel vehicles tested fail to meet Euro 6 NOx emission standards; average is 7 times over the limit

NOxgate expands: 93% of diesel vehicles tested fail to meet Euro 6 NOx emission standards; average is 7 times over the limit

September 28, 2015 |

The Digest looks at ICCT’s comprehensive report on diesel vehicle NOx emissions in the EU and US. Where will the emissions crisis spread? The VW crisis just keeps getting worse, with Volkswagen suspending its VW, Audi, and Porsche R&D chiefs, as Audi confirmed that 2.1 million of its vehicles were outfitted with defeat devices, and reports […]

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We should not be surprised about  Volkswagen’s “Diesel-Gate”

We should not be surprised about Volkswagen’s “Diesel-Gate”

September 28, 2015 |

By Bill Brandon, Special to The Digest Fooling with computers to give false readings has happened before. It is important to recognize similarities to earlier cases and EPA’s role in them. The 1998 consent decree In October 1998, the DOJ and EPA entered into a consent decree with heavy-duty diesel engine manufacturers for installing ‘defeat’ device […]

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China! Boeing, Algenol, Inventure deals propel industrial biotech momentum

China! Boeing, Algenol, Inventure deals propel industrial biotech momentum

September 27, 2015 |

西去,直到你东西。As President Xi visits North America, China signs 3 major deals in industrial biotechnology. The East is Red, it’s been said, and the future looks that way too. The US is no place to deploy advanced fuels technology these days, many say. The costs are high, the politics stink, resistance to change is everywhere and the […]

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BASF, Genomatica target Asia for commercial production of renewable butanediol

BASF, Genomatica target Asia for commercial production of renewable butanediol

September 27, 2015 |

License agreement adds countries in Southeast Asia; Optional capacity for up to 75,000 metric tons per year; Targeting large-scale commercial production of renewable butanediol using Genomatica technology In California, BASF and Genomatica have expanded the scope of their license agreement for the production of 1,4-butanediol based on renewable feedstock (renewable BDO) using Genomatica’s patented process. The parties […]

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