By Dr. Terry Mazanec, Lee Enterprises Consulting Special to The Digest Landfills contain a toxic stew of biomass materials from old tires to food wastes to animal manure. It is literally the bottom of the rubbish barrel. The US EPA estimates that 250 million tons of municipal solid wastes are sent to landfills each year. […]
By Lorenz Bauer, PhD, Lee-Enterprises Consulting Special to The Digest Recent declines in oil prices and the failure of start-up biofuel processes to meet production cost targets have increased the interest in producing value added chemicals from biomass as coproducts. The vision is that these products can leverage the production of fuel by providing revenue to […]
By Brent Erickson Executive Vice President, Biotechnology Innovation Organization; head, Industrial & Environmental Section Special to The Digest Members of Congress just returned to their home states and districts for the August recess to meet with constituents and campaign for the upcoming elections. You can be sure the oil producers will be seeking meetings with […]
By Irshad Ahmed, Consultant with Lee Enterprises Consulting and Member of MITSBAA Entrepreneurs Group, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Special to The Digest The story of cellulosic ethanol in the United States has had more plot twists than The Crying Game, the acclaimed Hollywood brain twister—except that this story promises to end with a predictable happy […]
By Nathan Vander Griend, President, ERI Solutions, Inc., a Strategic Partner of Lee Enterprises Consulting Group Special to The Digest The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) mission is to protect human health and the environment. They are charged with delivering on that mission by using the best scientific information available. We can all agree […]
By Wayne Lee, CEO, Lee Enterprises Consulting Special to The Digest As the CEO of the world’s largest bioenergy consulting group, I am fortunate to have a unique opportunity to view alternative fuels projects from many different perspectives. Within our group, now numbering over 75 experts, I find that each member has his or her […]
By Phil Cleary, Christianson & Associates, PLLP Special to The Digest The Food Safety Modernization Act covers the operation of a facility that manufactures, processes, packs, or holds animal food for sale in the United States. Renewable fuels facilities producing feed co-products are no exception. In fact, if you are a biofuels producer that sells […]
By Lorenz Bauer, PhD, Lee Enterprises Consulting, Inc. Special to The Digest What’s up with C5 and C6 sugars? Given that a significant portion of the several billion dollars spent on renewable fuels spending involves these molecules, it is not surprising that progress is fast and furious. This note provides an overview and snapshot of […]
By Zoltan Kish, Ph.D., Lee Enterprises Consulting Special to The Digest One possible solution for clean energy production is to produce energy products from waste and biomass feedstocks by effective Biomass/Waste-to-Energy technology applications. Typically, the waste is sent to landfills and the energy in waste is essentially lost, creating mountains of trash, and emitting harmful […]
By Bill Brandon Special to The Digest Germany is a recognized leader in renewable electricity. Their Energiewende law set ambitious goals for renewables but may be stalling out because of infrastructure insufficiencies. Germany curtailed 1581 gigawatt-hours of green energy in 2014. PV penetration levels are unsustainable with curtailment increasing an average of 100% every year. […]
