The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is calling for input to achieve its Bioeconomy vision set forth in its “Growing the Billion-ton Bioeconomy” report. The DOE is seeking ideas from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies and other stakeholders that would enable the country to meet the goals of the report. In particular, they are looking for input about specific …
DuPont Develops Momomers From Biorefining Process
DuPont is adding value yet again to the biorefining process. The company is working with ADM on a collaboration to convert fructose to momomers to polymers that can be used in consumer products. Last week attendees at the Corn Utilization and Technology Conference (CUTC16) learned about this emerging technology from Michael Saltzberg who is the business director for DuPont Industrial …
Biocognito Assists #Biobased Companies Enter Market
Biobased was a hot topic at this year’s Corn Utilization Technology Conference (#CUTC16) and one person on hand who knows a lot about the emerging technologies in this space is Nathan Danielson, who works for Biocognito. The company is a small consulting firm that counsels businesses working to bring new technologies to the biomaterials space. He said that many of …
Corn Wet Milling Process Can Produce Bioproducts Galore
An interesting panel discussion took place this week at the 10th annual Corn Utilization Technology Conference (#CUTC16) about new and emerging technologies produced from the wet milling process of corn. For example, Kevin Coffman, part of the market development in ag environmental strategy group at Monsanto, discussed corn in the pipeline. The corn can be sold to an ethanol plant to …
Nebraska Ramps Up Bio-based Partnerships
Nebraska is ramping up its bio-based partnerships. According to a recent Nebraska Department of Economic Development (DED), bioscience companies employ more than 16,000 people in the state with the industry growing at a faster pace than the national average. For instance, several global and national companies are already located in Nebraska, including: NatureWorks (corn-based plastics), Novozymes (enzyme technology), Purac (lactic …
Gevo and Clariant Ink ETO Tech Deal
Gevo will be developing catalysts for Clariant to enable its ETO technology, which uses ethanol as a feedstock to produce tailor mixes of propylene, isobutylene and hydrogen. These chemicals are valuable as stand-alone molecules and also as feedtstocks to produce other products such as diesel fuel and bioplastics that would replace their petroleum counterparts. Clariant will be scaling up the …
#USDA to Award $21M for Bioeconomy R&D
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has made $21 million available to support the development of regional systems in sustainable bioenergy and biobased products. The funds will also be awarded to train the next generation of bio-scientists. The monies are offered through the AFRI Sustainable Bioenergy and Bioproducts challenge area designed to provide renewable energy, chemical, and product options, among …
DOE Offers Bioenergy Funding Opportunities
The Bioenergy Technologies Office has announced a new Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled, “Project Definition for Pilot and Demonstration Scale Manufacturing of Biofuels, Bioproducts, and Biopower (PD2B3).” The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) says the FOA will be officially issued in May 2016 on the EERE Exchange website. The funding opportunity is for technology development for the …
REG Begins Ames Lab Expansion
Renewable Energy Group has begun its expansion of its laboratory at its Ames, Iowa headquarters. The upgraded lab will enable the company to further enhance renewable chemical related biotechnology research, development and commercialization including the installation of fermentation equipment and significant analytical capabilities. Once complete, full-time positions will be added to focus on commercialization and integration of products to be …
NexSteppe CEO Anna Rath Wins BIO Award
This year’s 2016 BIO Rosalind Franklin Award is being given to Anna Rath, CEO of NexSteppe. The award is given to an outstanding woman in the field of industrial biotechnology. According to the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), who presents the honor, Rath’s work led to a biotech breakthrough. Her research is focused on developing scalable and sustainable bioenergy feedstocks. The …