By Markus Rarbach, Head of Start-up Business Biofuels and Derivatives, Clariant Special to The Digest In an article published by novaCana.com on January 26th entitled; “Dilema do Etanol 2G: os desafios da matéria-prima celulósica” pre-treatment was identified as the key challenge for the six current commercial cellulosic ethanol plants worldwide. Our approach at Clariant when developing […]
By Lorenz Bauer, Ph.D., Lee Enterprises Consulting Special to The Digest The explosion of interest in using biomass to produce chemicals and fuels has motivated a renewed search for improved methods for pretreatment that enable efficient conversion of the raw materials. The molecules in cellulosic materials, and particularly lignocellulosic material, are intertwined and held together […]
By Charles Loos, PE Lee Enterprises Consulting, Inc. Special to The Digest From an operations standpoint, a wood-fired power plant can be described as a fuel handling system first, and a power plant second. The biggest challenges stem from the fuel itself – procurement, supply, handling and combustion. By contrast, the steam turbine and power cycle […]
By John Diecker, Lee Enterprises Consulting, Inc. Special to The Digest World rice production for the 2016/2017 crop year is estimated by the United States Department of Agriculture to total 481.5 million tons. The vast majority of this will come from Asia where, in addition to being a major food crop, its cultivation has strong […]
by Bruce Comer, Ocean Park Advisors Special to The Digest The North American biofuels industry continues trend of increased mergers and acquisitions activity. For the second straight year, the North American biofuels industry experienced year-over-year growth in merger and acquisition transactions. In 2016, we saw 12 M&A transactions, the most in 5 years. In total, […]
By Dr. Markus Rarbach, Head of Biofuels & Derivatives, Clariant Special to The Digest Cellulosic ethanol is no longer a topic solely discussed in scientific papers or conferences, or by the academic world. It has made its way through the stages of technology development, from lab scale to pilot, to demo and now to commercial-scale plants. […]
By Mark Warner, PE, Founder, Warner Advisors LLC Special to The Digest As companies consider options to commercialize their advanced biotechnologies, they are faced with the decision to either build their own demonstration scale facility or utilize existing contract manufacturing operations (CMOs). There are benefits and pitfalls to both approaches, with the correct decision founded in […]
By Dr. Bernard Cooker, Chemical Processing Solutions, Lee Enterprises Consulting Special to The Digest The use of catalysts, both living entities, such as microorganisms, and otherwise inert synthetic and biologically-derived materials, such as supported transition metals and enzymes, are frequently key to the development of technically efficient and low cost commercial processes to biochemicals and […]
By Gerald Kutney, Lee Enterprises Consulting Special to The Digest A myriad of biofuel technologies exist, but which ones are truly industrial processes? The question is not always easy to answer. And one must define what is meant by an industrial process. To facilitate this task, three classifications of industrial status are utilized: Established – […]
By Andrew Grant, Biomass Power Projects, LLC, Lee Enterprises Consulting Special to The Digest Canada, New England, and California all have Carbon Credit programs to achieve GHG reduction goals. Several forms of biomass diversion from landfills, farms, and other biomass – dependent GHG sources are already in operation to support significant GHG reductions. Examples of […]
