Algae.Tec has announced that its two biofuels projects are full speed ahead. The company, founded in 2007 has offices in Atlanta, Georgia and Perth, Western Australia, and its company is focused on developing algae to biofuels technology using an enclosed algae growth and harvesting system. One project is underway in Australia- Shoalhaven One- and one in Sri Lanka. Shoalhaven One …
Sweetwater Energy & BioGasol Partner for Bioproducts
Rochester, New York based Sweetwater Energy and BioGasol ApS, a Danish biotechnology company, have entered into a strategic partnership to improve sugar extraction from biomass. Sweetwater is a cellulosic sugar manufacturer and will use BioGasol’s pretreatment technology, Carbofrac, as part of an overall technological solution to increase the amount of sugar extracted from plant-based feedstocks. “We’re very excited about this …
Vilsack Announces Advanced Biofuels Roundtable
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack addressed the 2012 Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference, presented by Biofuels Digest, Tuesday in Washington D.C. and announced an upcoming Advanced Biofuels Industry Roundtable to be held next month. Vilsack said the Roundtable will be a joint effort between USDA, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Navy and will be held on May 18 “as …
Oregon Governor Tours ZeaChem Biorefinery
Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber took a tour of the ZeaChem 250,000 gallon-per-year biorefinery in Boardman Monday as the company announced it has begun construction on the Department of Energy-funded project for the production of cellulosic ethanol. Earlier this year, the company announced the start of operations of the core facility for the production of intermediate chemicals acetic acid and ethyl …
USDA Explores Alternative Energy at Airports
There have been a few companies that are exploring growing bioenergy crops on land owned by airports. Now the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is in the game. The division of Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is looking at the potential for alternative energy production at airports in a published article, “Airports Offer Unrealized Potential for Alternative Energy …
Sapphire Energy Announces $144 Million Funding
San Diego-based biofuel developer Sapphire Energy, Inc. has secured the final installment of $144 million in a Series C round of venture funding that includes Arrowpoint Partners, Monsanto, and other undisclosed investors. This round of funding is being used to directly support Sapphire’s active and on-schedule commercial demonstration of an algae-based biofuels facility in Luna County, New Mexico. The Green …
Farm Bill Energy Legislation Introduced
Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Al Franken (D-MN) introduced legislation this week that would reauthorize and fund the primary energy programs included in the current Farm Bill. The Rural Energy Investment Act would include a mandatory total of $1.275 billion over 5 years to strengthen the biobased markets program, fund the Biorefinery Assistance Program, …
Quick Brief Delves Into Bio-Industry Sustainability
How do we make the biofuels and bioproduct industry sustainable? This question is answered in the lastest “quick brief” published by Advanced Biofuels USA. According to the paper, the key is the development of low cost, decentralized biomass to biofuel production systems that can economically increase the travel distance of biomass. It is also important to make biomass available year …
Virent and Virdia Make Jet Fuel From Trees
Under a joint energy project, Virent and Virdia (formerly HCL CleanTech) this week announced the successful conversion of cellulosic pine tree sugars to drop-in hydrocarbon fuels. The development is part of the BIRD Energy project, a joint program started in January 2011 and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructure and the BIRD Foundation. …
Amyris Names New CFO
Steven R. Mills has been named as Amyris’s new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and will take over the reigns on May 2, 2012. He is replacing Jeryl L. Hillman who announced last August that he would be leaving the company. “Amyris is leading the way in an array of renewable chemicals and fuels. I’m looking forward to joining Amyris’s extraordinary …