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 […]
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 – […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
By David Gogerty and Ronan Rocle, Global Bioenergies, special to The Digest In March, when the inaugural ‘AgSummit’ was held in Des Moines, it was more than just tires that were spinning their wheels in the mud of the spring thaws. The ethanol industry, after a period of government inaction and perceived blend wall issues, didn’t […]
By Bill Brandon and Richard Ezike, PhD, special to The Digest The debate touting butanol over ethanol as a ‘better’ fuel component has gone on for quite some time in biofuel circles. Those who support butanol point to three key factors: • Butanol has a higher fuel density; • Butanol can be blended at a 1.6:1 […]
