All Knowledge & Insights By Date

On May 9, 2016, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced the recipients of up to $10 million in funding through the Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI). BRDI is a joint program through DOE and USDA that helps develop sustainable sources of biomass and increase the availability of biobased fuels and products. DOE selected two of the grant winners...

On November 10, 2015, Senator Stabenow (D-MI), along with Senators Coons (D-DE) and Franken (D-MN), introduced S. 2271, the Renewable Chemicals Act of 2015 to the Senate. If passed, the bill would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to create short-term tax credits for the production of renewable chemicals and for investments in renewable chemical production facilities. Producing eligible renewable chemicals from biomass feedstock would result in a tax credit of 15 cents per...

On October 7, 2015, California Governor Jerry Brown signed S.B. 350, The Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015 (the Act). The law will require the percent of electricity produced from renewable sources to increase over stages until 2030 when 50 percent of electricity used in California will be produced using renewable sources. While the majority of renewable electricity is expected to come from solar and wind power, the Act encourages use of diverse...

The third annual National Bioenergy Day will be occurring on October 21, 2015, across the United States. This special day is led by the Biomass Power Association in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, and is intended to allow organizations to showcase the benefits of bioenergy to their communities. The National Bioenergy Day 2015 Participation Guide outlines some of the best ways to participate, including interacting with local schools and media organizations, and encouraging collaboration...

? Abengoa, "Abengoa Selected to Build the World's Largest Biomass Combined Heat and Power Plant in The UK" ? Scottish Association for Marine Science, "Scientists Reveal Algal Oil Potential as Fuel for the Future" ? Kansas State University, "Biochemist Studies Oilseed Plants for Biofuel, Industrial Development" ? Solegear, "Solegear to Collaborate With Dr. Scholl's® on Bioplastic Packaging Solutions" ? PR NewsWire, "VIASPACE Giant King®...

On August 10, 2015, the Federal Register included a notice announcing an open meeting of the Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee in Washington D.C. on August 27, 2015, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and August 28, 2015, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The meeting is open to the public and is intended to develop guidance to promote the research and development of the production of biobased fuels and biobased products. The...

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...

On June 30, 2015, 46 U.S. Senators sent a letter to the EPA, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and USDA stating that "[f]ederal policies across all departments and agencies must remove any uncertainties and contradictions through a clear, unambiguous message that forest bioenergy is part of the nation's energy future." Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) headed the letter and pointed to the recognized carbon neutrality of forest biomass as a renewable...

On June 1, 2015, the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) voted to pass the new Low iLUC Risk Biomass Criteria and Compliance Indicators standard. The standard was approved as an optional module for those undergoing RSB certification, and will be used to show that biomass is produced with low indirect land use change (iLUC), resulting in little impact on food production and biodiversity. It is important to demonstrate how iLUC in order to prove that...

In a May 8, 2015, letter, Senators Ed Markey (D-MA) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) requested that EPA reconsider its decision to treat biomass as having zero emissions under the proposed Clean Power Plan (Plan). The Senators point out "wood-burning power plants emit around 3,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour," and would not assist in achieving the carbon reductions intended by the Plan. The letter also states: "The EPA should not approve biomass combustion as...

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee published a notice in the April 30, 2015, Federal Register announcing an open meeting that will provide advice and guidance on promoting research and development leading to the production of biobased fuels and biobased products. The meeting will include updates on U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and DOE biomass activities, updates on the Biomass Research and Development Initiative, an...

On April 29, 2015, the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) released a draft standard titled "Low iLUC Risk Biomass Criteria and Compliance Indicators" that will allow producers to show that they generate biofuels crops with a low-risk of indirect land use change (ILUC). The standards take into account yield increase, unused or degraded land, use of waste or residues, and integrated sugarcane and cattle production. The RSB standard is intended to be used in conjunction...

EPA announced that renewable fuels produced from sorghum biomass could qualify as cellulosic fuel under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). This is a result of a preliminary analysis of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions resulting from the growth and transport of biomass sorghum feedstocks that are used to make biofuels. The analysis, which was conducted in response to a petition from the National Sorghum Producers, assumes that the emissions from production of biofuels from biomass...

On December 4, 2014, the S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced it will provide up to $7 million for two bioenergy projects that aim to reduce the cost of delivering biomass feedstocks to biorefineries. The College of Environmental Science and Forestry at the State University of New York administers one of the projects and focuses on reducing the cost of woody crops while improving harvest and preprocessing operations to meet biorefinery specifications. The second project,...

BRAG member Micromidas, along with the Michigan Molecular Institute and Michigan Sugar Company, is working on a $150,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from DOE with the goal of developing a process to convert sugar beet waste into useful chemicals. After sugar has been extracted from sugar beets, the remaining residue still contains a significant amount of sugars that can be converted into biobased PET. The development of biobased packaging materials, such as those...

Winery waste is composed of the skins, pulp, stalks, and seeds that are left over after grapes have been pressed. This waste cannot be used for animal feed or composted, so it typically ends up as toxic landfill. Researchers at Swinburne University of Technology have been investigating how to break down the grape waste and Ph.D. student Avinash Karpe has discovered four fungi, that when combined with a heat activated pre-treatment, successfully broke down grape...

Researchers from the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products at the University of York worked with colleagues in France to discover variant straw plants whose cell walls are more easily broken down to make biofuels. Straw is an ideal plant to be used as biomass as it does not have food uses and contains a high number of polysaccharides that can be fermented into ethanol. Previously, straw has not been commercially viable as a biofuel feedstock...

Chemistry World reports that ionic liquids could potentially be made more cheaply by recycling by-products from biofuel production processes. These ionic liquids derived from biofuel waste could then actually be turned to extracting sugars from biomass to be made into fuels. See online....

On July 30, 2014, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it will provide a total of $11.3 million in funding to support DOE's Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative. The money will go to two projects designed to help facilitate and promote the production of "cost-competitive, high-performance carbon fiber material from renewable, non-food-based feedstocks, such as agricultural residues and woody biomass." Under the projects, the Southern Research Institute of Birmingham,...

This week, DOE hosted its seventh annual biomass conference. This year's conference focused on "Growing the Future Bioeconomy." Over 500 attendees from throughout the country and around the world gathered in Washington, D.C. to discuss challenges and opportunities facing the industry. Keynote speakers included U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), David Danielson, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy from DOE, and Kate Brandt from the Federal Environmental...