Foreword
Growing crops is all well and
good, but unless there is a profitable end-market for those crops, it can prove
costly for the grower: not only are there the unit costs of production, but any
surplus must either be stored or disposed of, both of which incur further costs.
Thus, it always pays to find a new market opportunity for crops, and the
bioeconomy has the capacity to provide many such opportunities. This has led to
some intriguing end-uses for crops (normally detailed in our Biobased Products
News Review), but this month sees some interesting stories regarding the development
of crops for bioeconomy use.
Biofuels are probably the most widely-known use for crops in the
bioeconomy, certainly as far as the layman is concerned. But with the
ever-fervent land use debate continuing, crops must be continually developed
and improved to increase...
Other News this Month Includes:
Policy
- UK Government publishes Clean Growth
strategy
- China seeks to reduce corn stocks by producing
bioethanol
Markets
- Small number of major players dictates
pellet market
Research & Development
- Over $20m US grant includes funding for
Florida feedstock crop development
- US Dept. of Energy grant aims to improve
sorghum for bioenergy
- Brown seaweed removes arsenic from drinking
water
- Novel process for jet fuel from eucalyptus
- US researchers seek to improve biofuel yield
of switchgrass
- New enzyme isolated for rapid hydrolysis of
crystalline cellulose
Wood & Crop
- Above average wheat yields in the UK
- Looking to boost oil output of camelina
- Bioplastics still have low land-use demand
- Dandelion rubber used for bike tyres
- Verdo sells pellet plant to Arensis
Other Feedstocks
- UK's residual waste treatment has shown
significant growth
- UK's 2016 waste-derived fuel exports
expected to exceed 3m tonnes
- Biocoal to be tested as blast furnace
feedstock
Events
Feedstock Prices