Category: Thought Leadership

Financing the Olympics & the $100 Billion Gen 2 Biofuels Rollout

Financing the Olympics & the $100 Billion Gen 2 Biofuels Rollout

August 16, 2015 |

By Sam Nejame & James Evangelow, Special to The Digest Two weeks ago the International Olympic Committee pulled Boston’s bid to host the 2024 Olympics. If you lived here, you couldn’t avoid the controversy over how much it might cost and the nagging questions about how the gargantuan facilities would be used afterward. The lost […]

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“The Time Is Ripe” for a renewable chemical production tax credit

“The Time Is Ripe” for a renewable chemical production tax credit

July 26, 2015 |

By Corinne Young, Chief Advocate and Michele Jalbert, Chief Operating Officer of the Renewable Chemicals and Advanced Materials Alliance (re:chem) Special to The Digest While naysayers contend changing the US tax code is implausible, we at the Renewable Chemical and Advanced Materials Alliance (re:chem), see possibility –  in fact, necessity – to ensure US global […]

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Breaking through the non-cooperative game

Breaking through the non-cooperative game

July 8, 2015 |

Can Cooperation Survive Within a Non-cooperative Economic System? by Bill Brandon, special to The Digest I say yes it can, but we should not assume it is only a voluntary cooperation. Forty-five years ago we made a major transition in our fuel composition. Under the Clean Air Act and the clean fuel program, we stopped […]

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Top 10 Lessons Learned commercializing advanced biotechnologies, Pt 3

Top 10 Lessons Learned commercializing advanced biotechnologies, Pt 3

July 7, 2015 |

By Mark Warner, P.E, Founder, Warner Advisors Special to The Digest In part one of the three-part series of Top Ten Lessons Learned, we reviewed process development topics. In part two, we reviewed process design and deployment topics. In this final segment, we will explore financing, start-up and operations. PART 3 – FINANCING, STARTUP AND OPERATIONS Financing – […]

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Top 10 Lessons Learned commercializing advanced biotechnologies, Part 2

Top 10 Lessons Learned commercializing advanced biotechnologies, Part 2

July 6, 2015 |

By Mark Warner, P.E, Founder, Warner Advisors Special to The Digest In part one of the three-part series of Top Ten Lessons Learned, we reviewed process development topics. In this second segment, we will explore process design and deployment. PART 2 – PROCESS DESIGN AND DEPLOYMENT Facility Design – Understanding fit for purpose Without a doubt, […]

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Top 10 Lessons Learned commercializing advanced biotechnologies

Top 10 Lessons Learned commercializing advanced biotechnologies

July 3, 2015 |

By Mark Warner, P.E, Founder, Warner Advisors Special to The Digest Spending half a billion dollars placing steel in the ground to commercialize advanced biotechnologies for fuels, chemicals and food applications, is the easy part. Doing it successfully is the hard part – but I have been fortunate to lead many successful projects over the last […]

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RIP Cobalt Technologies or…How Commercializing Butanol Technology is Like Riding the Tour de France

RIP Cobalt Technologies or…How Commercializing Butanol Technology is Like Riding the Tour de France

June 24, 2015 |

By Sam Nejame & James Evangelow, special to The Digest Sad to say Cobalt Technologies is dead – no really they’re dead – it’s not just double secret probation anymore. Although you’d almost not even know it given how quiet the company’s been over the last few years. And after the venture guys cleared out […]

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How political pressure is building to combat urban air pollution – and creating an opportunity for cellulosic ethanol

How political pressure is building to combat urban air pollution – and creating an opportunity for cellulosic ethanol

June 17, 2015 |

The Digest speaks with Sebastian Soederberg, Novozymes’ VP for Biomass Conversion, on how the emotional issue of city smog is creating an opening for cellulosic ethanol, even with currently low oil prices. Q: Sebastian, how do you see political pressures shifting, and why is it important? S: There are an impressive number of developments happening this […]

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Top 10 “Things to Do” While Waiting on the USDA 9003 Solicitation

Top 10 “Things to Do” While Waiting on the USDA 9003 Solicitation

June 15, 2015 |

By Cynthia Thyfault, CEO, Westar Trade Resources, special to The Digest The biobased products and fuels industry has been anxiously waiting for the new USDA Biorefinery, Renewable Chemical, and Biobased Product Manufacturing Assistance Program. Authorized in the 2014 Farm Bill and with the addition of new categories for renewable chemicals and biobased products, there are […]

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An Amazon.com for Bioenergy Supply Chain Logistics

An Amazon.com for Bioenergy Supply Chain Logistics

June 14, 2015 |

What can renewable fuels learn from Amazon.com? Turns out, a lot. By Bill Levy, CEO, Pacific Ag, special to The Digest In a few days the US Department of Energy will convene the best and brightest in the biomass industry to Washington, D.C. to continue work on an update to its “Billion Ton Biomass” study […]

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