Rivertop to commercialize its novel, sustainable chemicals for consumer products and industrial applications. How does an early-stager get to the next level? Try a hot anchor product, innovative technology, and the right connections. In Montana, Rivertop Renewables, a Montana-based producer of novel chemicals derived from natural plant sugars, announced that it has raised $26 million in […]
Could the hydrogen balloon be rising any faster — and what, if anything, is just hot air? The Digest investigates. Some say there’s nothing hotter this year than hydrogen, and when we look in the general direction of the sun and its ongoing hydrogen fusion spectacular, we think “there’s nothing hotter next year, either.” Of […]
In Washington, the Senate Agriculture Committee yesterday held a hearing on the economic benefits of advanced biofuels in creating jobs and lowering gasoline prices. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, said that advanced, non-food based biofuels are critical to growing our economy, creating jobs and lowering […]
Hydrocarbon fuel from seawater and nothing else? Is it possible? Not only possible, but demonstrated as a process, and tested in a model plane. How does it rate on the Hooey scale? The Digest investigates. In Washington, researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory have completed a miniature-scale flight demonstration using a liquid hydrocarbon fuel, […]
Genomatica and Renmatix have been named winners of the 2014 Bloomberg New Energy Pioneers Award for developing process technologies to produce widely-used chemicals from alternative feedstocks rather than petroleum. Genomatica’s processes are designed to produce the exact same chemicals while delivering better economics and a smaller environmental footprint. Every year, Bloomberg recognizes ten game-changing companies […]
It’s a desperate siege, conducted in labs around the world— without overcoming the fortress known as lignin, the cost and complexity of making cellulosic biofuels rises, making profitability tough and financing tougher. Now, a group of researchers may have found a breakthrough, in the form of a reengineering of lignin’s monomers and polymers. It’s an […]
BIO: EPA’s proposed backslide on RFS will increase greenhouse gases By Brent Erickson Executive Vice President; Head, Industrial & Environmental Section The Biotechnology Industry Organization I cannot remember an EPA rule that would actually cause environmental backsliding, but the recent proposed rule for the 2014 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) will if it is not changed. […]
Amyris, our 2012-13 “Comeback of the Year” winner continues to make strides — Amyris to begin selling biofene online — Inks R&D pact with BASF, world’s largest chemical company. Back in 2011, Amyris was flying high. A big success with the IPO, scale-up eagerly awaited — coveted for its transformational technoogy and its early move […]
Chasing treasure? Start with a map. Here’s ours. A biofuels map, that is, the chart we use to diagram how to look at technologies, drivers, stakeholders and their concerns. In today’s Digest, let’s look at The Map. Which is to say, the guide map we use here in Digestville to understand how and why companies […]
In Florida, The Digest announced that Siluria Technologies, Yulex, the BioXCell technology park in Malaysia, and the partnership between Algenetix and Alchimia surged in category leads this week in Transformative Technologies 2014 voting. Cool Planet continues to lead in two categories in early-voting as the Colorado-based early stage company is ahead for Conversion technology (liquid) […]
