Blogs

On February 24, 2016, Boeing, Aeromexico, and Mexico's Airports and Auxiliary Services (ASA) announced the start of a collaboration to advance research and development of sustainable biojet fuel in Mexico. The program will work with Mexico's Sector Fund for Energy Sustainability and is coordinated through the Mexican Bioenergy Innovation Center. The program is expected to include jatropha, salt-tolerant Salicornia, and sewage as feedstocks for the aviation biofuels, which should...

On February 26, 2016, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the upcoming Agile Biomanufacturing Industry Listening Workshop that is being held by nine national laboratories to increase understanding of industry needs around synthetic biology. The national laboratories are working to create an agile biomanufacturing platform using synthetic biology tools to quickly engineer biofuels and biochemical in response to industry demands. A successful platform will help organizations to...

On February 1, 2016, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) announced the dates and locations for the final two public engagement sessions covering the July 2, 2015 memorandum "Modernizing the Regulatory System for Biotechnology Products." The memorandum, issued under the Executive Office of the President (EOP) and jointly by (OSTP), the Office of Management and Budget, the U.S. Trade Representative, and the Council on Environmental Quality, directs...

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently published the following reports: Physical-chemical properties of nanomaterials: Evaluation of methods applied in the OECD-WPMN testing programme: The Netherlands volunteered to lead an initial detailed evaluation of the applicability of the test methods applied to determine the physico-chemical properties of different types of nanomaterials in the Testing Program.  The evaluated dossiers include information on...

On February 29, 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a prepublication copy of a notice of intent to cancel all Bayer CropScience, LP and Nichino America, Inc. (BCS/NAI) flubendiamide products.  The affected products are: EPA Reg. No. 264-1025 -- BELT SC Insecticide; EPA Reg. No. 71711-26 -- FLUBENDIAMIDE Technical; EPA Reg. No. 71711-32 -- VETICA Insecticide; and EPA Reg. No. 71711-33 -- TOURISMO Insecticide. The cancellation notice was issued by EPA, pursuant...

On February 16, 2016, the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (Danish EPA) posted a report entitled Assessment of Nano-enabled Technologies in Cosmetics.  The report reviews the available literature on nano-enabled technologies for cosmetic products, specifically addressing soluble nano-transporters.  Accompanying the report is an appraised database summarizing the literature that formed the basis of the review.  The database addresses the following areas:  types and...

On February 18, 2016, Richard E. Engler, Ph.D., Senior Chemist at Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), presented at Cellulosic Fuels: First Commercials and Beyond, a session at the ABLC2016. Dr. Engler's presentation, "TSCA and the Cellulosic Revolution," covered Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) nomenclature, chemical Inventory, and model manufacturing process issues for cellulosic products. The presentation discussed the differences in nomenclature between Class I and...

On February 16, 2016, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack responded to two recent reports on ethanol and renewable fuels. The first report was published by USDA and is on "2015 Energy Balance for the Corn-Ethanol Industry," and the second report comes from the University of Missouri Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) and is a "Literature Review of Estimated Market Effects of U.S. Corn Starch Ethanol." Both studies demonstrate the growth of the United...

Last week, USDA issued a fact sheet containing an Overview of USDA's BioPreferred Program (BioPreferred). BioPreferred was created in 2002 with the passing of the 2002 Farm Bill, and was recently expanded as part of the 2014 Farm Bill. This has resulted in the growth of BioPreferred to include more than 2,500 products in 100 different categories. BioPreferred has two main initiatives to support the biobased product marketplace. The first initiative is to provide a voluntary product...

On February 24, 2016, DOE published a notice of an open meeting of the Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee in the Federal Register. The Committee is meeting to develop advice and guidance that promotes research and development leading to the production of biobased fuels and biobased products. The agenda also includes updates on federal biomass research and development activities and budgets. The meeting will be held on March 8, 2016, from 8:30 a.m. - 5:30...