Alternative Fuels News

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

The Mover: Mascoma CEO Brady sees biofuels biz changing global carbon footprint
Mascoma CEO William Brady is applying his marathon training qualities of patience and a long-term view to the biofuels company. He sees the company’s technology as a game changer that may someday cut the world’s carbon footprint and even slow global warming.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Bodega Algae, Bigelow Lab land SBIR grant
Bodega Algae LLC and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences have been awarded a six-month Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant worth $150,000 from the National Science Foundation. The award will support the two firms’ development of advanced photobioreactors in growing algae for use as a biofuel.
Sun Catalytix adds Wilshire, Barnett to executive team
Renewable fuels developer Sun Catalytix Corp. has hired two full-time executives to lead the startup through its recently closed Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy contract with the U.S. Department of Energy.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Joule Biotechnologies to build solar-powered biofuel pilot plant
Joule Biotechnologies Inc., a Cambridge-based alternative fuel company, will build its first pilot plant in Leander, Texas, to make renewable solar fuels. The company signed a lease agreement and expects the plant to be operating within the first half of this year.
Microbial research spawns new generation of biofuels
Advances in microbial science are powering the second generation of biofuel companies, ones that are looking to produce ethanol, diesel or other fuels from plant materials other than foodstuffs.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Qteros changes out CEO Frey with ex-Microbia exec
Cellulosic ethanol technology company Qteros Inc. has replaced William Frey as CEO with industrial biotechnology veteran John McCarthy. McCarthy joins the company from Microbia Inc., where he was chief business officer.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Mascoma names Cabot Corp. exec CEO
Mascoma Corp., the Lebanon, N.H., cellulosic ethanol developer, announced today that Cabot Corp. executive vice president William Brady will be the company’s next chief executive.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

New England states agree to lower fuel emission standard
All six New England states, along with five of its Northeast Mid-Atlantic neigbors have signed an agreement committing to a regional framework for fuel emissions reductions. The memorandum of understanding calls for the states to develop a low carbon fuel standard.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Agrivida nets $2M USDA grant for biofuels research
Agrivida Inc. has received a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop genetically engineered feedstocks for biofuels production. The award is the Medford startup’s second in as many months from the federal government.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

The Pitch: Atropha aims to make biofuels to withstand harsh climate
The United States, Canada and Northern Europe have the type of climates where biofuels could freeze. So Chad Joshi, CEO of Atropha LLC, is developing an electrochemical process to break down the vegetable oil and deoxygenate its molecules, making it a viable fuel for environments as cold as 50 degrees below zero.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Qteros finds new Mass. plant site, joins in sewage-based ethanol tech
Qteros Inc., the UMass Amherst spinout focused on biofuels development, has determined the location of its $3.2 million pilot plant in Western Massachusetts. The company also formed a joint development project with Israeli commodities recycling firm Applied Cleantech.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Mass. regs could limit definition of biofuel to waste oil
The state Department of Energy Resources released its version of federal clean energy biofuel regulations last week, which would make biodiesel generated from waste oil the only compliant fuel — leaving out fuels derived from sources such as animal fat, algae or other biomass.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Mascoma’s Jamerson to resign as CEO
Mascoma Corp. announced Thursday that CEO Bruce Jamerson will step down as day-to-day chief of the cellulosic ethanol developer in order to spend more time managing the project finance and development of the company’s first commercial plant as chairman.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

DOE grant loss jeopardizes Auburn battery manufacturing site
Four New England technology companies received funds from the U.S. Department of Energy this week, but one company that didn’t, Boston-Power Inc., is now looking at scaling back its plans for growth in Massachusetts.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Plankton Power, RTDC plan algae-to-biofuels plant on Cape
Biofuels company Plankton Power has teamed up with the Regional Technology Development Corp. (RTDC) of Cape Cod in a public-private consortium to build a production facility, to be called the Cape Cod Algae Biorefinery, to produce renewable biofuels from algae.

Friday, July 31, 2009

The Mover: Gray brings a lengthy biofuels background to Qteros
While many scientists have recently ridden the industry wave into studying alternative fuels, Qteros Inc.’s new CTO Kevin Gray has been immersed in the industry for decades. He entered the field after becoming interested in biofuels for their science, which he found fascinating, and because of the global impact of fossil fuels.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Joule Biotechnologies comes out of stealth with solar-powered biofuel tech
Looking to take the plant matter out of alternative fuels, startup Joule Biotechnologies Inc. is developing a way to generate ethanol from millions of photosynthetic organisms.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

BioEnergy forms new biochemical firm, Myriant
Quincy-based BioEnergy International LLC, a developer of biorefineries, has formed a separate company, Myriant Technologies LLC, to handle bio-based chemicals and intellectual property. BioEnergy focuses on alternative fuels.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Owl Power picks Worcester manufacturer for Vegawatt systems
Boylston-based Owl Power Co., the developer of the Vegawatt on-site waste vegetable oil co-generation system, has chosen Worcester-based Columbia Tech to manufacture the system for commercial deployment.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Qteros gains new investor Valero Energy
San Antonio, Texas-based oil refiner Valero Energy has made an undisclosed investment in Marlborough-based ethanol technology developer Qteros Inc. The deal stems from Valero’s acquisition of certain assets of North Dakota-based VeraSun Energy, a Qteros investor that filed for bankruptcy last year.