Category: Top Stories

The Hot 40 and Hot 50 for 2015-16! Nominations open for annual Advanced Bioeconomy rankings

The Hot 40 and Hot 50 for 2015-16! Nominations open for annual Advanced Bioeconomy rankings

July 27, 2015 |

Who will be #1 – who will get your vote? Photo Voting expanded – special bonus votes for most original artwork. In Florida, The Digest announced the official opening of nominations for the 50 Hottest Companies in the Advanced Bioeconomy and the 40 Hottest Small Companies in the Advanced Bioeconomy. Voting Rules Voting will be open […]

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What’s U(o)P at UOP? The Renewables story, revealed.

What’s U(o)P at UOP? The Renewables story, revealed.

July 27, 2015 |

As hairdressers are to the stars, so is UOP to the refining industry — or, just maybe, the industry’s Intel Inside, and a good source of insight about where the renewable fuels and chemicals industry is going. Let’s see. Trouble is, we’re so used to hearing about projects that we don’t always hear about the magic […]

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The 50 Top Advanced Bioeconomy Stories of the Year

The 50 Top Advanced Bioeconomy Stories of the Year

July 26, 2015 |

Here are the 50 most-read stories, out of the 3,400 we covered last year in The Digest. 1  Where are we with algae biofuels? The page view champ this year, clocking in at 17,821 reads — though the “algae fuels” story is starting to look like a verse out of the song “In the year 2525”. […]

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The Digest’s 8th Birthday Special Issue

The Digest’s 8th Birthday Special Issue

July 26, 2015 |

8 years ago, The Digest debuted with two subscribers and an idea. On July 27th, The Digest turns eight, putting us somewhere around the third grade. Which is how we feel when confronted with the complexity and creativity of industrial biotechnology and the advanced bioeconomy: The awe of youth, and a near-constant desire to hit the books and […]

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Biogas! The big cellulosic fuel breakthrough?

Biogas! The big cellulosic fuel breakthrough?

July 26, 2015 |

Already, biogas as a renewable fuel is accounting for 90% of all cellulosic RIN production under the Renewable Fuel Standard. Food and paper manufacturers, ethanol & biodiesel plants, cities, landfill operators, and animal feeding operations stand to benefit.  How does it work? We spoke with EcoEngineers CEO, Shashi Menon. It’s the “quiet monster” that’s turning […]

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Ginkgo BioWorks raises $45M in monster Series B venture round

Ginkgo BioWorks raises $45M in monster Series B venture round

July 23, 2015 |

In Massachusetts, Ginkgo Bioworks has raised $45 million in an oversubscribed Series B round. Viking Global, a firm managing more than $30 billion in capital, led the round along with previous investors including OS Fund, Y Combinator and Felicis Ventures. The new funds will be used to expand into new categories such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and probiotics, as […]

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Brazil’s President Rousseff christens Raizen cellulosic biofuels plant

Brazil’s President Rousseff christens Raizen cellulosic biofuels plant

July 23, 2015 |

Iogen’s technology at commercial-scale, and officially open for business. In Brazil, President Dilma Rousseff launched Iogen Energy’s cellulosic ethanol technology at the official opening of Raízen`s newly expanded Costa Pinto sugar cane mill in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil on July 22, 2015. Iogen, a leading developer of cellulosic biofuel technology, and Raízen, one of the […]

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Numbitrax picks Blume Distillation for African energy crop, waste-to-ethanol project

Numbitrax picks Blume Distillation for African energy crop, waste-to-ethanol project

July 22, 2015 |

In California, Blume Distillation sold a license to its Blume Biorefinery system to Numbitrax, based in Touwsriver, Western Cape, South Africa, has completed a purchase agreement and fund transfer for a Blume Biorefinery system. The purchase represents a several million-dollar investment for Numbitrax, which plans to produce ethanol as well as additional high-return offtake products, […]

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US DOE: Big Update on Loan Guarantee program for renewable energy projects

US DOE: Big Update on Loan Guarantee program for renewable energy projects

July 22, 2015 |

Douglas Schultz, Director of Loan Guarantee Origination at the US Energy Department posted a key update on project eligibility for the Loan Program. He writes: During the latest three solicitations issued by the Department’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) for approximately $24 billion in Title XVII loan guarantees for energy projects (Solicitation No. DE–SOL– 007791, 7154 and 6303), the LPO identified […]

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RIP, Aurora Algae: Algae and the Never-Never

RIP, Aurora Algae: Algae and the Never-Never

July 22, 2015 |

Where did the once VC-heralded algae venture go off the tracks?’ They’re selling off the Aurora Algae lab equipment in California’s East Bay — specifically hgpauction.com is, and a good source reports that the company sold off the Texas-based land upon which  their first commercial project was aiming to build. Here is a link to sale […]

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