B&C® Biobased and Sustainable Chemicals Blog

By Lynn L. Bergeson On December 19, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator, Andrew Wheeler, signed the final rule on the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program, setting the renewable fuel percentages for 2020. Titled Renewable Fuel Standard Program: Standards for 2020 and Biomass-Based Diesel Volume for 2021 and Other Changes, the final rule establishes the annual percentage standards for cellulosic biofuel, biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel, and total renewable...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on December 13, 2019, that it contracted the National Academies of Science (NAS) to conduct a peer review of its Application of Systematic Review in TSCA Risk Evaluations.  According to EPA, this review will help provide it with important feedback on its approach to selecting and reviewing the scientific studies that are used to inform Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) risk evaluations.  EPA states that “[‌i]ntegrating...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On December 6, 2019, DOE announced that the applications currently being accepted for free assistance preparing Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) FY 2020 Phase I Release 2 applications. There are a variety of eligibility criteria, and because space is limited, DOE Phase 0 applicants are admitted on a first-come, first-served basis. Each small business, however, is evaluated for selection to receive administrative and...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On December 10, 2019, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) published a notice of intent to issue a joint Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) with the Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO), titled “BOTTLE: Bio-Optimized Technologies to Keep Thermoplastics out of Landfills and the Environment.” This FOA supports the Department’s Plastics Innovation Challenge, a...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On December 9, 2019, 22 Senate Democrats released a letter supporting the expansion of green energy tax credits. This letter was drafted in response to the Growing Renewable Energy and Efficiency Now (GREEN) Act discussion draft that was circulated in the U.S. House of Representatives on November 19, 2019. The Senators agree with the priorities of the GREEN Act and pledge to similarly prioritize and include: Offshore Wind Investment Tax Credit,...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On December 9, 2019, the Sustainable Chemistry Research and Development Act of 2019 (H.R. 2051) was passed by the House of Representatives. H.R. 2051 establishes an interagency working group (IWG) led by the Office of Science and Technology Policy to coordinate Federal programs and activities in support of sustainable chemistry. The IWG will develop a roadmap for sustainable chemistry with a framework of attributes characterizing sustainable chemistry, assess the state of...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on December 9, 2019, that in advance of the December 10, 2019, public meeting on new chemicals, it is providing the meeting materials and announcing the availability of a new web page detailing cases with completed confidential business information (CBI) determinations under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).  Materials for the December 10, 2019, meeting include: The new CBI web page includes a table of all the final CBI...

By Lynn L. Bergeson From December 11 through 12, 2019, DOE’s Office of Bioenergy Technologies Office will host a workshop titled “Plastics for a Circular Economy” in Denver, Colorado. The workshop will include discussions on technology solutions to address plastic waste and focus on the development of new recycling and degradation strategies. The objective of the workshop will be to identify early-stage applied research problems in the aforementioned area that need to be...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On December 3, 2019, Governor of Iowa, Kim Reynolds, signed an Executive Order that requires all new contracts for the purchase of state vehicles with diesel engines to have written support from the manufacturer to use B20 biodiesel (a mix of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent petroleum-based diesel) or more. The Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) started using biodiesel blends in 1994. B20 is used for most of the year...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Ligia Duarte Botelho, M.A. First published last week, on November 25, 2019, the article titled “Consolidated Production of Coniferol and Other High-Value Aromatic Alcohols Directly from Lignocellulosic Biomass” has gained media attention across the globe. Given the finite geological oil reserves, the competition to identify alternative biobased and biorefinery processes continues to grow. According to the article, the aim in identifying such products is not...