All Knowledge & Insights By Date

On August 6, 2015, BioAmber Inc. and Mitsui & Co., Ltd announced the opening of their joint succinic acid plant in Sarnia, Ontario. This joint venture cost approximately $141.5 million to build and has a capacity of 30,000 tons of succinic acid per year, making it the world's largest succinic acid plant. The plant uses technology to produce succinic acid from sugar at a lower cost than traditional petroleum-based production. The chemical intermediary is used in the production of...

On August 3, 2015, Forest Concepts, LLC received a two-year, $499,997 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The contract will support the development of predictive control systems for biomass dryers that will increase energy efficiency and provide significant cost savings. The technologies being developed by the project can be used in wood pellet and solid biofuel product, as well as in second-generation thermochemical...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has posted a document concerning its development of a project intended to support public dialog concerning the development and use of biotechnology.  EPA has oversight responsibility for the production and use of intergeneric cyanobacteria, eukaryotic microalgae, and their products by application of genetic engineering approaches.  EPA’s recently posted document, US Environmental Protection Agency Biotechnology Algae Project, states...

The July 31, 2015, Bloomberg BNA Daily Environment Report spoke with Lynn L. Bergeson regarding EPA’s plans to develop updated guidance for companies making chemicals with genetically engineered microorganisms under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). “EPA's posting of the synbio algae project is hugely important for the industrial biotechnology and synthetic biology communities,” Lynn  Bergeson, managing partner of Bergeson  & Campbell P.C., told Bloomberg BNA...

Richard E. Engler, Ph.D, Senior Chemist with B&C and advisor to BRAG, delivered an instructive and practical session for biobased product stakeholders at the American Chemical Society Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference on July 16, 2015, covering what TSCA regulates, how the TSCA Inventory works, key nomenclature issues for chemicals made from renewable, biomass, or waste feedstocks, and presenting helpful checklists and case studies to help stakeholders understand what products and...

? Ghent Bio-Economy Valley, "EU Council Formally Approves New Biofuel Rules" ? DuPont, "DuPont And New Tianlong Industry Co., Ltd. Sign Historic Deal to Bring Cellulosic Ethanol Technology to China" ? Amyris, "Amyris Announces Multi-Year, Multi-Million-Dollar Agreement with Global Food Ingredients Supplier" ? Global Renewable Fuels Alliance, "UNICA Joins Global Renewable Fuels Alliance" ? Advanced Biofuels Business Council, "AEC Expands Membership,...

On July 22, 2015, EPA announced a proposed rule for the Partial Exemption of Certain Chemical Substances from Reporting Additional Chemical Data. If enacted, this rule will exempt the following six biobased chemicals from reporting additional information under the Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule: Fatty acids, C14-18 and C16-18 unsaturated, methyl esters (Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number (CASRN) 67762-26-9); Fatty acids, C16-18 and C-18 unsaturated, methyl esters (CASRN 67762-38-3);...

? United, "United Airlines Purchases Stake In Fulcrum BioEnergy With $30 Million Investment" ? Microvi, "Innovative Microvi Bio-Ethanol Technology Validated At Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory" ? Avantium, "Avantium's PEF Plastic At The EXPO 2015 In Milan" ? The Swedish Knowledge Centre for Renewable Transportation Fuels, "New Research Programs For Cheaper And More Efficient Biofuels" ? IOPScience: Environmental Research Letters, "Comparative...

On July 9, 2015, the DOE announced a public workshop to collect information about challenges that occur during coproduction of biobased chemicals, products, and biofuels. The Bioproducts to Enable Biofuels Workshop was organized by the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) and will cover the following topics: Identifying and evaluating economic drivers for producing bioproducts.   Identifying and prioritizing targets for bioproducts produced from biofuel waste streams, coproduced with...

With little fanfare or advanced notice to the general public, on July 2, 2015, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the U.S. Trade Representative, and the Council on Environmental Quality issued a memorandum directing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to update the Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology....