by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) To date, North America is the most active of all regions in terms of deploying advanced technology — whether it is cellulosic ethanol, isobutanol for fuels and chemicals, or renewable chemical plants, you see the first and the most, here. There are three drivers for that:
1. Continued and robust technology development, from Silicon Valley to the US National Lab system — and robust public support of R&D.
2. Massive biomass resource — whether it is grains, wood, or even municipal solid wastes and other residues, North America is packed to the brim with biomass.
3. Far-sighted public policy attempts to create and incentivize markets for small-scale, first-of-kind plants to compete as the technologies deploy and mature.
Here are the top 20 current projects as we have seen them from The Digest’s conning tower. READ MORE