| | | | | | Top Story
 Zen and the Art of Biofuels Development
Does LanzaTech represent a new way to extract value, or a new way of understand it?
In New Zealand, LanzaTech, a company pursuing the conversion of industrial waste gases into fuels and chemicals using bacteria, officially announced a $18M USD Series B financing, led by Qiming Ventures, a well known China focused venture capital firm.
When we first looked closely at LanzaTech last year, we noted that it has been developing its proprietary bacteria since 2005, with a goal of utilizing the low-hydrogen, carbon monoxide-rich waste gas streams from steel mills.
Digest readers who follow the steel industry know that New Zealand does not figure amongst the world's top 40 steel producers, and the few million tons produced domestically were sufficient for pilot scale only. With 500 million tons representing more than 35 percent of global production, China is the right country for taking LanzaTech's technology to commercial scale.
Waste: noun or verb?
We are calling them waste gases, but they are anything but. The nabobs at Waste Management continue to encourage us to regard them as material streams rather than waste - that the terms "waste" is simply reflecting that we do not have a feasible way to use some materials at the present time.
We simply lacked a technology. Until lately that is, when LanzaTech (among others in the microbial liquid fuels race) turned to our friends, the bacteria, for the answers. Turns out that our friends have had the answer for millennia (though we sometimes help them along with some genetic upgrades) - we simply lacked the microscopes to see them, an industrial process to harness their talents, and the perspective to understand.
More on LanzaTech's technology, commercial path, the China strategy, the pyrolysis/gasification connection, and a small serving of Zen Buddhism, at biofuelsdigest.com.
| | Producer News
In Washington state, Alaska Airlines, Boeing, Portland International Airport, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Spokane International Airport and Washington State University announced a strategic initiative to promote aviation biofuel development in the Pacific Northwest. The "Sustainable Aviation Fuels Northwest" project will look at biomass options within a four-state area as sources for creating renewable jet fuel.
In Nebraska, Archer Daniels Midland Company opened its new dry milling plant and ethanol operation in Columbus, which has created 150 new jobs. The dry mill has a capacity of 300 million gallons of ethanol per year, and also includes a cogeneration plant.
In Indiana, Aventine Renewable Energy confirmed that it is on-track to finishing its 100-acre ethanol biorefinery in Ports of Indiana-Mount Vernon by September 2010. Construction on the plant began in late 2007, but stopped in February 2009 when Aventine filed for bankruptcy, leaving the plant only 80% complete.
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Mississippi State University 2010 Biofuels Conference - next generation feedstocks, novel technologies, commercialization, policy - August 12-13, Jackson, MS
| | Opinion
USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development Dallas Tonsager: "These grants enable our farmers, ranchers and small business owners to develop renewable energy systems and improve energy efficiency. This funding is an important part of the Obama Administration's plan to conserve natural resources, combat global warming, create more green jobs and lead us on the path to becoming an energy independent nation."
CalBuzz: "50% of registered voters agree that California regulations regarding climate change and the environment drive investment in green technology and create green jobs" compared to 38% who say those regulations "will create higher energy costs and lead to cuts in traditional jobs. Democrats favor the law 68-21% for green jobs creation; Republicans split 62-27% claiming higher costs and job losses; Independents split 56%-30% for creation of green jobs."
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| | International News
In London, the Department for Environment Food and Regulatory Affairs on July 8 launched formal discussion implementation of the revised EU Waste Framework Directive in England and Wales, which mandates a waste management order of importance as Reduce, Re-use, Recycle, Recovery, and finally when all else fails, Dispose.
In the UK, East Midlands Trains serving Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Nottingham and Derby will continue using DiesoLiFT 10 in its light rail, diesel multiple unit (DMU) operations. The Missouri-based firm International Fuel Technology announced that East Midlands Trains recently reported a 4.4% improvement in fuel economy, estimated to save nearly 350,000 liters, or 92,000 gallons, of diesel fuel per year, using the fuel.
In Australia, a new $8.8 million cellulosic ethanol pilot plant owned and operated by Queensland University of Technology was opened on July 9, 2010. The plant could potentially replace up to a third of the unleaded petrol requirements for the Australian state of Queensland.
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| | Research News
In Washington, the American Forest & Paper Association reports that pulp and paper mills and wood products facilities, together, produced 94 percent of the renewable fuel energy generated by all manufacturing facilities in all sectors. All of these renewable fuels are derived from wood. Pulp and paper mills produced 88 percent of these, while wood products facilities produced six percent.
| | Policy and Policymakers
In Massachusetts, the Department of Public Utilities July 6 ruled that existing in-state purchase requirements should be lifted, and authorized electric utilities should reopen their renewable power solicitations to consider bids from eligible out-of-state generators in addition to in-state suppliers.
| | Consumer, Fleet, Event News
In Washington, the Advanced BioFuels Association will host CEOs and representatives of more than 30 of the nation's top advanced biofuels companies for its annual Summer Board Meeting this week. More than 40 individual meetings with top lawmakers, senior Capitol Hill staff as well as top decision makers with key federal Agencies are scheduled for ABFA members personal involvement and engagement.
| | Advanced Biofuels Tracking Database and 100+ Free Downloads
Exclusive to Digest subscribers - and free. 100+ downloads.
1. Advanced Biofuels Tracking Database - download your free copy, tracking 65+ pilot, demo and commercial projects.
2. Biofuels Investments details 81 investments made in 2009 by biofuels companies or in the biofuels sector, totaling $8.737 billion in 18 countries.
3. Biofuels Jobs details a series of studies outling the impact of biofuels on the green jobs economy.
| | Financial News
The Biofuels Digest Index™ (BDI), a basket of public biofuels stocks, gained 0.35 percent to 60.86 as BP surged and ethanol slipped. For the day, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) nudged downwards 0.15 percent to $26.68, while BP gained 7.96 percent to $36.76. Among smaller caps, PetroAlgae (PALG.OB) fell 7.86 percent to $23.95. Overall, advances led declines 5 to 2 for the day.
| | Camelina Aviation Biofuels Study
 1 billion gallons of Camelina biofuel are projected to be produced for the aviation and biodiesel sectors by 2025, creating 25,000 new jobs; producing over $5.5 billion in new revenues and $3.5 billion in new agricultural income for U.S. and Canadian farmers. The projections are contained in "Camelina Aviation Biofuels Market Opportunity and Renewable Energy Strategy Report," released today by Biomass Advisors, the research division of Biofuels Digest.
"Camelina Aviation Biofuels Market Opportunity and Renewable Energy Strategy Report," is 116 pages, and includes more than 60 figures, tables and charts, along with regional crop forecast maps for visualizing business opportunities and planning infrastructure needs. The report is available for a purchase price of $695. More information here.
| | These stories and more are available at BiofuelsDigest.com. Your comments and story requests are warmly welcome: email me at jlane@biofuelsdigest.com.
Digest Staff:
Editor & Publisher: Jim Lane
Senior editors: Joelle Brink, Meghan Sapp, Marc Favreau
Assistant Editors: Michael Theroux, Thomas Saidak
Editorial Assistant: Isabel Lane
Columnists: Will Thurmond, Dr. Rosalie Lober
Director of Sales: Steve North
Disclosure: I do not own any renewable energy securities; no payments or compensation of any kind is received in return for placing articles or favorable opinion in the Digest - Jim Lane, Editor and Publisher, Biofuels Digest. | | |
