World’s Biofuels Markets 2010 has now passed into history, amidst memories of lessons learned, contacts made, and friendships renewed. The standing-room only crowds in many of the sessions showed that, after a trying 2009, the biofuels industry is very much on the move in 2010. Several trends were much in evidence during the three days of the conference.
Archive for the ‘Ethanol’ Category
WBM 2010
Thursday, March 25th, 2010Qteros receives patent for Q Microbe and consolidated bioprocessing system
Thursday, March 25th, 2010Qteros announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued U.S. Patent for the fermentation of biomass by the unique, naturally-occurring anaerobic Q Microbe (Clostridium phytofermentans). Qteros, the exclusive licensee of the patent, demonstrated that their Q Microbe technology offers ethanol producers significant cost reductions by streamlining the biomass-conversion process, commonly referred to as “consolidated bio-processing” (CBP).
Virent, Shell announcing startup of biogasoline plant
Thursday, March 25th, 2010Virent and Shell announced the successful startup of the Virent “Eagle” demonstration plant, producing 10,000 gallons per year of biogasoline, a drop-in renewable fuel.
Global ethanol production expected to increase 16.2 percent in 2010 to 22.7 billion gallons
Thursday, March 25th, 2010In Canada, the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance predicted that global ethanol production will reach 22.72 billion gallons (85.9 billion liters) in 2010, up 16.2 percent from 2009.
Think Big? Think Small.
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010Though the stakes could not be bigger, the pop stars that will be gliding across the biofuels’ Red Carpet this week are so incredibly tiny it can take an electron microcrope to see them, as the latest designer e.coli, yeast and enzyme strains take a turn down the runway. The key to thinking big in biofuels, 2010 style, is thinking very, very small.
Biofuels and Downstream technologies
Thursday, March 11th, 2010Upstream, midstream, downstream. Terms of art in oil and gas refining — less common in bioenergy. They correspond to feedstocks, processing, and the distribution systems and engine technologies.
In bioenergy, most attention is showered on the feedstocks and the processing technologies. The downstream is overlooked — yet it is in the pipeline and in the engine that the “fuel meets the fire”. Let’s take a look at some downstream challenges and the innovative downstream technologies.
Why Cellulosic Biofuels Will Far Exceed the US Mandate in 2010
Thursday, March 11th, 2010Certainly one of the biggest changes to the advanced renewable fuel standard (RFS2) was the dramatic reduction of the mandate for Cellulosic Biofuels in the year 2010. This particular fuel category, which industry now refers to as Type C, entails both ethanol and diesel range products generated through cellulosic technology. EPA, after considerable deliberation, reduced the volumetric target from 100 million gallons this year all the way down to 6.5 million gallons (foot note that this is actually an energy content adjusted level and the actual volume projection by EPA, considering ethanol and diesel range cellulosic biofuels, was 5 million gallons).
60 Second Interview with Biofuels Expert, Maelle Soares Pinto, Head of Biofuels – Europe, Global Biofuels Center, Hart Energy Consulting
Friday, March 5th, 2010What is the global biofuels market like today and how does the GBC see it evolving?
There are three key biofuels regions today: Brazil, the U.S. and the EU 27 but two regions are expected to see a tremendous growth, Latin America and Asia Pacific between now and 2015. In 2010 alone 30 countries will implement new biofuels mandates. (more…)
