BioAmber’s 3-plant capacity now sold out; 210,000 tons per year, when all three plants operational. BDO deal expanded. Word arrived from Minnesota that BioAmber has signed a 210,000 ton per year take-or-pay contract for bio-based succinic acid with Vinmar International. Explaining why BioAmber stock shot up nearly 17% in today’s trading despite a global equities […]
From Texas, we hear that Benefuel announced that it has closed $11 million in the first tranche of its offering of Series C Preferred Stock. A U.S. subsidiary of Suncor Energy, Canada’s leading integrated energy company was the primary subscriber. The first tranche also included Flint Hills Resources and other existing shareholders. Additionally, Benefuel and […]
New Optimus “pure biofuels” technology for medium-to-heavy truck fleets, wins EPA OK. The 25/50 rule for medium- and heavy-duty trucking fleets, up until now, could generally be stated as “to get 25% fuel savings and a 50% reduction in emissions, you’ll probably have to wait until the year 2550, or get payback in 2550.” This […]
You’ve heard its psychoactive cousin, marijuana, described as weed, smoke, ganja, bud, grass, mary jane, reefer, or herb…but advanced bioeconomy feedstock? Yep, no kidding, there’s a movement to bring hemp back in a big way. The Digest investigates. We first started tracking hemp back in 2009, when a 43-acre biomass trial launched in California that features […]
About The Digest Dashboard. Biofuels 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, […]
By Brent Erickson Executive Vice President and Head, Industrial & Environmental Section, The Biotechnology Industry Organization Big oil companies and refiners continue the drumbeat against the RFS, even in the face of more Middle East military conflict, political instability and higher gas prices that are a result of the turmoil overseas. Amidst heavy lobbying efforts […]
In Washington, the EPA qualified additional fuel pathways for cellulosic biofuel under the National Renewable Fuel Standard program. This final rule also provides guidance regarding the feedstocks that EPA considers to be crop residues, including clarification that EPA considers corn kernel fiber to be a crop residue. Unsurprisingly, crop residues won the EPA’s OK — […]
Can it really be done? A Tony Stark-like quest for fuels and chemicals secreted by a microbe that lives on a diet of CO2, water and sunlight? We look anew at Joule’s quest, and its progress. From Massachusetts, word arrived from Joule this week that the EPA has favorably reviewed the company’s Microbial Commercial Activity Notice for Joule’s […]
As several major cellulosic biofuels ventures head for scale in 2014, we look at the companies, the major barriers (as they see them) for further capacity-building, sources for future investment, and a focus on feedstock. In California, NexSteppe CEO Anna Rath, Novozymes North American president Adam Monroe, POET VP Doug Berven, and Abengoa Bioebnergy EVP […]
In Iowa, the first ever gallons of commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol produced in Iowa flowed from Quad County Corn Processor’s distillation unit this week, according to the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association. This marks the commissioning of the farmer-owned ethanol plant’s Adding Cellulosic Ethanol (ACE) project, a new “bolt-on” process that adds the capability to convert the […]
