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Top
Story
 USDA to fund 5
new biorefineries; partners with FAA for aviation
biofuels
US
Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack outlines Obama biofuels policy in
major address; BCAP rules ready; news on VEETC, tariff, new Biomass
Research Centers
In Washington, US Secretary of Agriculture Tom
Vilsack, recently named by Digest readers to the #1 position in the
"100 Top People in Bioenergy", highlighted major new moves by the
Obama Administration to foster the comercialization of
bioenergy, and reduce oil imports by up to $68 billion per year by
2022.
Among the highlights: final rules on the Biomass
Crop Assistance Program, funding for five new biorefineries, the
establishment of five USDA regional Biomass Research Centers,
iupdates on Obama policy on VEETC and the Biodiesel Tax Credit,
fuel use at USDA, and a new partnership with the FAA to advance
aviation biofuels.
A complete, detailed report on
each proposal and announcement, plus reaction from BIO, NRDC,
UNICA...and the Digest's take on what it all means, all at
biofuelsdigest.com.
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"Biomass energy doesn't hurt anyone. Not yet." Download the ARCADIS Health & Safety PDF
here. To learn more about our Health and Safety experts
contact: Ashly.Insco@arcadis-us.com
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Producer
News
In Louisiana, New Oil Resources announced that
it has developed a process that uses hot, pressurized water to
treat the biomass in hydrothermal liquifaction or thermal
depolymerization.
Dr. Gary Miller, lead engineer for New Oil Resources, said "We use
hot water to depolymerize the cellulose, lignins, lipids and other
polymers contained in the biomass. The difference between all these
companies is what you do next. We impact the chemistry so that the
depolymerized biomass turns into the products we want."
In Virginia, the ground has been broken on the
new Sustainable Energy Technology Center under construction in
Danville to develop renewable energy and bioproducts industry
in Southern Virginia. The new facility, funded through a grant from
the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization
Commission, includes 25,000 square feet of research
laboratories.
At the Global Financial Leadership Conference in
Naples, Florida this week, leaders from Oxford University,
Shell and Bunge agreed that ethanol demand has an impact on food
prices. Ian Goldin of Oxford University, and Bunge's Tim
Gallagher both conceded the impact on prices, but neither could
offer a formula to pinpoint the scope of that impact.
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The Top 100 People in
Bioenergy
 The Top 100 People in Bioenergy
Profiles,
voting notes for leaders ranked #1 through #100 available. Rentech,
Iogen, terrabon, Genera, ACORE, Waste Management in the mix
today
In today's Digest,leaders ranked #81 through #100 in
the poll are profiled. More than 400 leaders received votes in
the poll, which honored biofuels leadership in 12 countries. We'll
wrap the poll later this week with a look at some who, in our
vuiew, shouldn't have missed out in the poll.
The complete Top 100
People in Bioenergy list is here, as voted in the Digest.
Profiles and notes on
the Top 20 are here.
Profiles and notes on #21 through
#40 are here.
Profiles and notes on #41 through #60 are
here.
Profiles and notes on #61 through #80 are
here.
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International
News
In Malaysia, the Bioenergy International Asia
expo & conference, being held in Kuala Lumpur on 10-11th
November will focus on sustainability standards, plant finance
and investment, new feedstock possibilities, managing price risk
exposure and a global overview of the biofuels market across
Asia.
In Malaysia, Mission NewEnergy announced that
it has received the first shipment of distillation column equipment
at its refineries in Kuantan Port. Servicing both Mission's
refineries, M1 and M2, installation commenced in October 2010. The
distillation column will allow Mission to increase the purity of
the biodiesel and provide further refining flexibility to tailor
product to different international markets and
specifications.
In Tanzania, Action Aid has released a report
asking the Tanzanian government to quickly develop and implement
biofuel policies in order to ensure that biofuel investment and
use is sustainable. The report says that in the absence of such a
policy, the government has been caught in a situation where it has
had to borrow some clauses of other policies to guide investment
decisions.
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Top
Tweets - the Voices of Biofuels
RomREEVES: USDA announces new plan to
promote aviation biofuels.
adshiftn: This book send to me by
FueltheFuture is an important guide for businesses working in
the field of biofuels for sure.
PN_MeatPoultry: AMI Meets With White House
Officials To Oppose Expansion Of Ethanol Support.
GrowthEnergy: Listening to a conf call with USDA
reps: we need to take the opportunity that was given to us by
corn ethanol and continue to move forward.
jameswquick: #DOE report shows US #ethanol
expansion is NOT causing land use changes. Important that this
news is heard!
Curious
about Twitter? The Digest's Newbie
Guide from Scott Miller (BIOblogger) explains all.
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Advanced Biofuels Markets
Conference
 Biofuels Digest's Advanced Biofuels Markets
conference & expo will be held
November 9-10, 2010 in San Francisco.
The Transformative
Technology 30 at ABM 2010.
We'll be
showcasing and presenting awards to this year's Transformative
Technology 30 in San Francisco, at Advanced Biofuels
Markets.
Algenol
(MicroAlgae, cyanobacteria, lemna, and
plankton platforms)
Amyris Biotechnologies (Microbial fuels)
BioEnergy International (Renewable
chemicals)
Butamax (Biobutanol
technologies)
Ceres (Advanced feedstock
technologies)
ClearFuels-Rentech (Fischer-Tropsch
technologies)
Cobalt Technologies (Biobutanol
technologies)
Coskata (Cellulosic
ethanol)
DuPont - BioArchitecture Lab (Seaweed - Macroalgae
technologies)
Dupont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol (Cellulosic
ethanol)
Energy Allied International, The Seawater Foundation and Global
Seawater (Salt-tolerant
feedstocks)
Ford Motor Company - Bobcat project (Engine
technologies)
Genencor (Enzyme technologies and
platforms)
Gevo (Biobutanol
technologies)
Green Biologics (Biobutanol
technologies)
Joule Unlimited (Microbial fuels)
KL Energy (Cellulosic
ethanol)
LS9 (Microbial fuels)
Mascoma (Cellulosic ethanol/Consolidated
Bioprocessing)
Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Boeing, Etihad
Airways and UOP Honeywell (Salt-tolerant
feedstocks)
Mitchell Technology (Catalyzed ionoic impact)
Novozymes (Enzyme technologies and
platforms)
OriginOil (MicroAlgae, cyanobacteria, lemna, and
plankton platforms)
PetroAlgae (MicroAlgae, cyanobacteria, lemna, and
plankton platforms)
POET (Cellulosic
ethanol)
Qteros (Cellulosic ethanol/Consolidated
Bioprocessing)
Sapphire Energy (MicroAlgae, cyanobacteria, lemna, and
plankton platforms)
SBI Bioenergy (Biodiesel
systems)
SES - Seaweed Energy Solutions (Seaweed - Macroalgae
technologies)
Solazyme (MicroAlgae, cyanobacteria, lemna, and
plankton platforms)
Verenium (Cellulosic
ethanol)
Register:The conference agenda and
registration information is here.
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Research
News
In Tennessee, a study by the DOE's Oak Ridge
National Laboratory has found that "minimal to zero indirect land
use change was induced by use of corn for ethanol over the last
decade," based on an analysis of empirical data between 2001 and
2008. The review of the data found that feedstock for ethanol
expansion was mainly derived from domestic reallocations (85%) and
increased yields (6%).
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Policy
and Policymakers
In Washington, the USDA's Economic Research
Service has published "Effects of Increased Biofuels on the Economy
by 2022," which finds that by substituting domestic biofuels
for imported petroleum, U.S. imports of crude oil would fall by
16-17% in 2022, and the U.S. import bill for crude oil would
decline by $61-$68 billion, leading to an appreciation in the value
of the US dollar |
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Financial
News
The Biofuels Digest Index™ (BDI), a basket
of public biofuels stocks, slipped 0.15 percent to 74.65 as
as oil and ethanol stocks lost ground. For the day, BP fell
1.09 percent to $40.65, while Verenium (VRNM) plunged 12.79 percent
to $3.82 as euphoria subsided over news of approval clearing entry
into China. Among other equities, BlueFire Renewables (BFRE.OB)
fell 5.56 percent to $0.51. Overall, declines led advances 2 to 1
for the day.
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These stories and more are available at
BiofuelsDigest.com. Your comments and story requests are
warmly welcome: email me at jlane@biofuelsdigest.com.
Digest Staff:
Editor & Publisher: Jim Lane
Senior editors: Joelle Brink, Meghan Sapp, Marc Favreau
Assistant Editor: Thomas Saidak
Editorial Assistant: Isabel Lane
Columnists: Will Thurmond, Dr. Rosalie Lober
Disclosure: I do not own
any renewable energy securities; no payments or compensation of any
kind is received in return for placing articles or favorable
opinion in the Digest - Jim Lane, Editor and Publisher, Biofuels
Digest.
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