Senators John Thune (R-SD) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) along with a bipartisan group of nine other Senate colleagues have introduced the Ethanol Reform and Deficit Reduction Act. The bill is designed to modify the current Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Incentive (VEETC), which is a set tax, to a variable tax incentive tied to the price of oil. To help open …
DOE Announces $36M in Advanced Biofuels & Chemicals Funding
U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced today $36 million in federal grants to fund six small-scale projects in five states designed to produce drop-in advanced biofuels and other bio-based chemicals. Each project’s goal is to improve the economics and efficiency of converting non-food biomass feedstocks into biofuels, bioproducts and biochemicals. “Projects such as these are helping us to diversify …
Group Calls Open Fuel Standard Bad for Biofuels
A new analysis done by Advanced Biofuels USA finds that the Open Fuel Standard (OFS) is “bad for advanced biofuels and will add to environmental damage if passed and implemented.” The Open Fuel Standard Act was introduced recently in the House and a similar bill in the Senate. The bills mandate that specific percentages of vehicles be built to operate …
DSM CEO Wins George Washington Carver Award
Royal DSM Ceo Feike Sijbesma has received the George Washington Carver Award for Innovation in Industrial Biotechnology during BIO World Congress. In its 4th year, Sijbesma is being honored as a visionary leader of the bio-economy, an industry that the World Economic Forum projects will contribute nearly $250 billion to the world economy by 2020. Under his leadership, DSM has …
GreenField Ethanol Launches G2 BioChem
The World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing (BIO World Congress) kicked off this morning in Toronto, Canada with a bang. GreenField Ethanol, the largest producer of ethanol in Canada, announced the launch of G2 BioChem, a collaborative partnership that will validate and bring to commercialization GreenField’s innovative patented process technology. The partnership includes companies such as Novozymes and Andritz …
AEC Supports Domestic Energy Promotion Act
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley along with a bipartisan group of senators, announced a proposed piece of legislation to promote the development of biofuel infrastructure. The Domestic Energy Promotion Act of 2011 would transition the current blender’s credit to a variable tax credit based on the price of oil, improve tax incentives for blender pumps and ethanol refueling infrastructure, and extend …
Heliae – Measuring Algae by the Barrel
Sun and algae go together like peanut butter and jelly. Just ask Karl Seitz, Co-Founder of Heliae. I sat down with Seitz during the Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference in DC to learn a little more about his company and their technology. The first unique attribute of the company is their name. Heli is Greek for the sun and the ae …
Biofuels Researcher Receives Award
A biofuels researcher at UC Davis has been selected for a national career award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The early career development award was given to Tina Jeoh, a UC Davis assistant professor of biological and agricultural engineering. The award is worth $407,573 over five years and will support Jeoh’s studies of how microbial enzymes break down plant …
Rural America Will Provide Energy Solutions
There are advanced biofuels on the horizon and one such fuel will be algae fuels produced from the waste streams of a first generation corn-ethanol plant. In the future, many believe that more co-located biofuel refineries are on the way and the model will be the Green Plains Renewable Energy (GPRE) / BioProcess Algae plants. BioProcess Algae is in the …
BIO Releases Policy White Paper
The Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference is underway in Washington, D.C. and more than 400 senior level executives are in attendance to learn more about the trends in the advanced biofuels industry. During the Conference, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) released a new policy white paper that determined the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) provides both stable market support and a pricing …