HCL CleanTech has changed its name to Virdia and announced new funding for the development of cellulosic sugars for biofuels and other uses. Virdia today officially announced the closing of $30 million in private financing and a $75 million loan package from the Mississippi Development Authority to build manufacturing plants in the state. Founded in 2007 as HCL CleanTech, Virdia …
ZeaChem to Develop “Drop-In” Advanced Biofuels
ZeaChem, a developer of biorefineries for the conversion of renewable biomass into sustainable fuels and chemicals, will receive a portion of a $40m grant from USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Regional Coordinated Agricultural Project (CAP). The USDA project will establish regional systems for the sustainable production of bioenergy and …
President Stresses All of the Above Energy Policy
As the ethanol industry was meeting in Orlando last week, President Obama was talking energy just a few hundred miles to the south at the University of Miami. “If we’re going to take control of our energy future and can start avoiding these annual gas price spikes that happen every year — when the economy starts getting better, world demand …
Views from the Political Right and Left at NEC
Positioned on opposite sides of the stage to their political leanings, two former presidential advisors took on a range of questions related to the 2012 election year and important policy issues in front of 1200 attendees at the 17th annual National Ethanol Conference (NEC) last week. On the left, was senior advisor to President George W. Bush, Karl Rove, while …
State of the Advanced Ethanol Industry
A panel of advanced ethanol company executives at the National Ethanol Conference was at the same time optimistic and sobering about the future of next generation biofuel production. “We openly acknowledged the ‘elephant in the room’ and that is that some of the numbers that people were talking about are bigger than we can expect in the immediate term,” said …
Novozymes Introduces Latest Enzyme Technology
Novozymes has introduced its next-generation of enzyme technology for cellulosic biofuels, Cellic CTec3, an advanced cellulase and hemicellulase complex. The enzyme enables more cost-efficient conversion of biomass to ethanol and performs 1.5 times better than its predecessor, Cellic CTec2. Using Cellic CTec3, biofuel producers need only one-fifth of the enzyme dose compared to competing enzymes. Cellic CTec3 allows the cost …
Genome Map May Lead Miscanthus to Biofuels
A genome map for miscanthus could point the way to a source for better biofuels production. According to Science Daily, researchers at the University of Georgia have mapped the genomes of two originator cells of Miscanthus x giganteus, a large perennial grass with promise as a source of ethanol and bioenergy. Changsoo Kim, a postdoctoral research associate in the UGA …
Biofuels in Focus at First Farm Bill Hearing
The importance of biofuels to rural development was a focus of the first Farm Bill hearing by the Senate Committee on Agriculture this week. “In the last Farm Bill, this Committee wisely focused on energy policy,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told the panel. “Renewable energy – including biofuels, biomass, wind and solar – are an important source of jobs and …
Looking Forward to a Dieselex Gold Rush
With the official roll out of the FS Energy Products newly-reformulated premium diesel fuel Dieselex Gold coming up next week, we got a little preview from GROWMARK marketing manager for refined and renewable fuels Mark Dehner at last week’s National Biodiesel Conference. “Our Dieselex product was first introduced in the market place in 1952,” Dehner says, explaining that it was …
Advanced Ethanol Group Asks for Tax Extensions
The Advanced Ethanol Council (AEC) this week urged Senate Ag Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Ranking Member Pat Roberts (R-KS) to include two key tax extensions for advanced and cellulosic ethanol producers in the next farm bill. In a letter to the committee leaders, AEC Executive Director Brooke Coleman wrote, “The Cellulosic Biofuels Producer Tax Credit (PTC) — created …