Company initiatives
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Joule bags $40m for CO2-to-ethanol project
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Joule has closed a $40 million in private equity and venture debt financing led by existing investors, including Flagship Ventures, and brings the company’s total to $200 million raised to date.The proceeds will be applied towards a staged industrialization of its patented, reverse-combustion process, including the near-term expansion of Joule’s production field in Hobbs, New Mexico.…
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Evonik offers sophorolipid biosurfactants
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It has come to my attention that I’ve been remiss of not mentioning Evonik’s announcement early this year on the commercialization of its sophorolipids surfactants as part of my Bio-based surfactants roundup post yesterday. Unlike rhamnolipids, sophorolipid surfactants have already been commercialized and are being used by companies such as Ecover and Henkel in limited cleaning products.…
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Bio-based surfactants roundup
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For the past several months now, I have been covering several renewable-based and biotechnology-based surfactants for Tecnon OrbiChem’s Bio-materials reports (mostly under oleochemicals) but let’s go back again to sugar-based surfactants such as glycolipids. Last year, the blog reported about Logos Technologies’ NatSurFact® line of biodegradable surfactants based on rhamnolipids. As I have reported in…
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LanzaTech, China Steel to invest in ethanol facility
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I am still working on that promised surfactant article I tweeted on Monday in preparation for next week’s World Surfactants Conference hosted by ICIS and Neil Burns LLC, of which I will be attending and will be tweeting as well (#Surfactants via @DGreenblogger). In the meantime, I am posting this press release from LanzaTech last week…
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OPXBIO sells fermentation tech to Cargill
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UPDATE 5/1/15: OPXBIO stated that it is closing after the transition of its technology and assets to Cargill. A comprehensive article about this is written by Biofuel Digest in this link. I am in the middle of my newsletter deadline when this announcement popped up in my email inbox. Cargill said it has now acquired…
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100% bio-based Polyurethane in the market
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I have been reporting several ongoing activities about pentamethylene diisocyanate (PDI) for the past several months now at Tecnon OrbiChem’s Bio-Materials newsletter. PDI is being touted as a bio-based alternative to petrochemical-based hexamethylene diisocyanate, which is used in the production of polyurethanes. With the introduction of PDI in the market, it is now possible to…
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VIDEO: Toyota Fueled by Bullsh*t
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I don’t usually gush about media releases (sorry PR folks!) but I do love this one from Toyota, which was released today, I guess in honor of Earth Day. Toyota has tapped award-winning documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock to show how calling hydrogen fuel cell vehicles “bullsh*t” isn’t far from the truth. This 3-minute video features…