B&C® Biobased and Sustainable Chemicals Blog

On March 7, 2016, DOE's BETO sent out a save the date for the upcoming Bioenergy 2016: Mobilizing the Bioeconomy through Innovation conference. The ninth annual conference is co-hosted by the Clean Energy Research & Education Foundation (CEREF) and will focus on future feedstock opportunities and technology innovations in pursuit of a stronger bioeconomy. The event will take place on July 12-14, 2016, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. For more information...

DOE's Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) has announced the extension of the response deadline for a request for information (RFI) about public and private sector capabilities in pilot scale verification of biofuels and bioproducts processes. The RFI, originally posted on February 12, 2016, with a due date of March 4, 2016, requests information on facilities that have the "capability to perform process verifications for biomass conversion pathways to biofuels, bioproducts, or...

On March 3, 2016, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Research Centers (BRC) announced the 500th invention disclosure since 2007. The BRCs, which consist of the BioEnergy Science Center (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (University of Wisconsin-Madison and Michigan State University), and the Joint BioEnergy Institute (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), work to develop advanced biofuels technologies to bring to the marketplace. Created in...

On February 29, 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced eight small business contracts through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. The eight Phase II contracts provide the companies with $300,000 each to develop and commercialize innovative products that address environmental and public health issues. Phase II funding is typically made available to companies that have already been granted Phase I funding through the SBIR Program. This round of funding...

On March 2, 2016, the renewable diesel producer and Biobased and Renewable Products Advocacy Group (BRAG®) member Neste announced that Prince Ea is joining the Pre-order the Future Project. Prince Ea, a well known spoken word artist and environmentalist, will work with Neste's Pre-order the Future team as a futurologist, researching how renewable materials can be used to build innovative new products. The project is launching in Spring 2016 and will focus on sustainable living issues and...

On February 24, 2016, the four year DIBBIOPACK project ended with a final conference at the CaixaForum Congress Centre in Zaragoza and the AITIIP Technological Centre's (AITIIP) facilities. The project was created by AITIIP, a technology center based in Spain, supported by the European Commission, and included 19 partners that worked to develop multifunctional bioplastic packaging materials across a range of production processes. The project intended to improve structural and...

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...

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...