For now here are this week's news roundup:
Myriant's Biosuccinic alliance
Biosuccinic developer Myriant Technologies has joined forces with Uhde for engineering, procurement and construction of Myriant's planned global scale biosuccinic acid plants. The company expects to begin commercialization of biobased succinic acid by second half of 2010.
Honeywell's bio-pyrolysis oil alliance
Italian power company Industria e Innovazione selected Honeywell's Envergent Technologies business for the development of a facility to convert biomass into pyrolysis oil for renewable power generation using Envergent's RTP® rapid thermal processing technology. The facility will convert a mix of pine forest residues and clean demolition wood into pyrolysis oil, a liquid biofuel.
... and China biofuel projects
Honeywell signed a memorandum of understanding with China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) where the two companies will collaborate on a range of biofuels technologies and projects in China.
Verenium ends collaboration
Verenium closes its joint research collaboration with Syngenta Participations AG of Switzerland. The company obtained microbial and non-plant rights to several late-stage enzyme development candidates including alpha amylases and glucoamylases for starch processing in biofuels production.
Ineos mulls waste-to-ethanol plant
INEOS Bio started a feasibility study
for a plant to convert locally generated biodegradable household and
commercial wastes into carbon neutral road transport fuel and clean
electricity, using the INEOS Bio technology process. Investment
decision will be made in 2010.
Linde in landfill-based gas
The Linde Group has joined
Waste Management Inc. to produce clean, renewable vehicle fuel from
landfill gas at Linde's facility near Livermore, California. The
facility is said to be the world's largest landfill gas to liquefied
natural gas (LNG) plant. The plant will produce up to 13,000 gallons of
LNG a day.
Battelle wins EPA contract
Battelle has been awarded
a five-year, $13 million contract with the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to evaluate the performance of homeland
security technologies related to water protection and wide-area
decontamination.
GE in Indonesian geothermal project
GE has loaned $50 million
to Indonesia's biggest geothermal power producer, a 220-megawatt plant
set in a volcanic region of tea and quinine plantations. The loan for
the Wayang Windu plant near Jakarta represents the first geothermal
power investment by GE outside the US.
Algae in Indian biofuels
PetroAlgae will license
its proprietary micro-crop technology to Indian Oil Corporation Limited
(IOCL) for its future large-scale production of renewable fuels. IOCL
plans to build a pilot facility to demonstrate the commercial viability
of producing renewable fuels from micro-crops.
And in ICIS news (requires subscription):
The US is unlikely to make a decision on allowing ethanol blends in
gasoline higher than 10% until next year due to the need to research
the issue further, according to the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA).
BP plans to launch commercial-scale biobutanol production in the UK in 2012 or 2013 with capacity initially estimated at 111m gal/year.
The Córdoba province in Argentina has approved a law mandating the gradual substitution in business and industry of conventional plastic bags with biodegradable ones.
I like to add that Battelle has been awarded a five-year, $13 million contract with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to evaluate the performance of homeland security technologies related to water protection guys thats gr8