From Washington comes the news that a group of four Democratic and Republican lawmakers said that they will introduce once again a RFS Reform Act bill, the latest in a series of bills aimed at eliminating markets for corn starch that compete with poultry and dairy interests. The legislation is not yet available via Congress.gov, […]
From New York, we hear that Anellotech, and Johnson Matthey Process Technologies have announced an alliance to codevelop advanced catalyst systems for Anellotech’s Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis (CFP) Process for production of bio-based benzene, toluene and paraxylene for the chemical industry. The two partners will collaborate in three major areas: On the technical development of an […]
Sidney K. Pierce, an emeritus professor at University of South Florida and at University of Maryland, College Park, remarks, “There is no way on earth that genes from an alga should work inside an animal cell.” But then they found Elysia chlorotica, an emerald green sea slug whose chromosomes have some genes that come from […]
In Missouri, scientists have re-discovered a fast-growing bacterial strain first described in 1955. Although most cyanobacteria grow slowly, in 1955 two scientists at the University of Texas at Austin described a fast-growing cyanobacterial strain collected from a campus creek. Whereas most strains grew by 5 to 8 percent per hour, this strain grew by 30 […]
Eight years after then-Senator Obama co-sponsored a bill in Congress calling for a 60 billion gallon biofuels target, President Obama’s EPA slashes the Renewable Fuel Standard targets to wimpy levels, despite ample production capacity, bumper crops, and foreign investors waiting to pump capacity-building dollars into the US economy. Then the EPA cancels the slashed mandate order, but doesn’t restore the original one. Leaving […]
Tell us about your role at Novozymes. I’m responsible for Novozymes’ biomass activities on the commercial side; I’ve been doing this for close to three years. My background is as an economist and investment banker. Novozymes began its efforts in this area in 2001 with more than 100 scientists and a lot of public affairs […]
There’s a good chance that the electric battery of the future will have biobased aspects to them — or may even be powered by a biofuel. How’s that again? The Digest investigates. If you’ve been following the long-standing competition between electric and fuel-powered cars, you’ll know the basics. That electric motors have better efficiency than […]
4 weeks past the helter-skelter Oil Crash, as prices plateau for now (and maybe for the long term) — what have we learned about energy markets in the Age of Alternatives? No can perfectly predict what will happen with energy prices, over the long period of time, and the relief that the energy sector might be […]
The Digest’s Dashboard is a convenient “news you can use” 5-Minute summary of current markets including key commodity prices, relevant futures, bioenergy-related stocks, and historical equities data. Latest prices – key commodities. Most recent commodity closing prices, and price changes, for NYMEX’s crude oil, Brent Crude, Ultra-Low Sulphur Diesel, Natural Gas, RBOB gasoline, and Ethylene; ethanol […]
The “Top 125 People in the Advanced Bioeconomy” for 2015 as nominated and voted by the readers of The Digest and the publication’s editorial board. 1 Tom Vilsack, US Secretary of Agriculture 2 Guido Ghisolfi, CEO, Beta Renewables 3 Jeff Lautt, CEO, POET, Jeff Broin, Chairman, POET 4 Ernest Moniz, Secretary of Energy 5 Michael […]
