Assessing this year’s prospects for biofuels in South America is about much more than just what is happening in Brazil. As a starting point, however, it’s difficult to move pass the country’s recent change of government and subsequent upheaval surrounding the actual changing of power. With more than 400 biofuel plants operating in Brazil, according to the latest... [Read More]

Nicholas Ball, founder & CEO at Xfuel, outlines what inspired him to become involved in the biofuels space. What was your first job? My first job was a summer job when I was 12 years old, supporting an electrician with the electrical installation of a new hotel in Mallorca, Spain - which is where I grew up. When I entered the workforce following my engineering master’s... [Read More]

This is an important year for India with the country holding the G20 presidency through to the end of November, giving the nation’s leaders several opportunities to help shape future policies and programmes across many sectors, including their already-declared strong focus on biofuels. Adopting a presidency theme of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam – One Earth One Family One... [Read More]

Gevo is a technology development and commercialisation company focused on largescale deployment of net-zero renewable hydrocarbon fuels, chemicals and nutritional products. Using a combination of proprietary biological and chemical transformations and a strategic alliance with Axens, the company plans to offer the technological know-how and systems design for a wide... [Read More]

The North American ethanol industry is nothing if not persistent and innovative, qualities which have served the sector well in the past and are set to play a central role in helping to secure a sustainable place within the net-zero future of the world. Buoyed in the US by the Inflation Reduction Act and the steady approach of future clean fuel policies and, in the US... [Read More]

Prices stabilising, overall production exceeding demand and stocks at an all-time high - the current picture seems rosy for the oilseed processing industry. Following an especially challenging 18 months, these signs of partial recovery are surely a relief for biofuel processors and – in many respects – there is more good news to come. As nations and corporations... [Read More]

Renewable feedstock is seen by many as the way forward to achieve a sustainable source of aviation fuel and diesel. The renewable feedstock can be based on a wide variety of raw materials, such as animal fat, used cooking oil, vegetable oil, or pyrolysis oils from waste plastics or car tyres. Depending on the feedstock, processing can include a pretreatment step, but... [Read More]

Nina Karpynec, Clariant Adsorbents, head of sales, marketing and technical business development purification Americas, and Guido Appl, Clariant Adsorbents, head of sales, marketing and technical business development purification EMEA, outlines how the global company has fared in the past 12 months. Can you outline how the past 12 months have been for Clariant Adsorbents?... [Read More]

Move over crude and kerosene, vegetable oils are the fuel of the future. As automotive, aerospace and other industries transition away from fossil fuels, demand for vegetable-based biofuels has skyrocketed. In 2020, total biofuel consumption peaked at 122 million tons representing a 35% increase on 20181, and between 2021-2026, global demand for these fuels is expected... [Read More]

As the demand for low carbon aviation fuels continues to grow in a world taking steps to decrease its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the main challenge faced by the aviation sector is to both to meet that demand and reduce its GHG emissions to net-zero by mid-century. Along with most of the aeronautical companies involved in the CORSIA initiative, net-zero targets for... [Read More]

For many years the concept of decarbonisation for any industrial process to produce their desired product without the need to emit carbon seemed alien. In fact, when people stop and think and move past the well-trodden words of net zero, carbon neutrality or even carbon negative, which from the cynical mind have become cliché, it is still hard to believe firms can manufacture... [Read More]

Philipp Schoelzel, vice-president next generation biofuels, bp, outlines why he finds the complex world of biofuels a fascinating sector to work in. What was your first job? Within bp it was as a product scheduler at our Rotterdam Refinery for Light and Middle Distillates. Basically, I was managing day-to-day refinery production, imports and exports of oil products... [Read More]

Wärtsilä’s participation in a recent test using 100% biofuels to fuel a cruise ship’s engine was as much a demonstration of the power of collaboration as it was a technical milestone for the industry. We worked with GoodFuels and Holland America Line (HAL) to complete the cruise industry’s first multi-week test of biofuels. The 20-day test was conducted onboard... [Read More]

Operations manager Marko Leinonen ensures that the biofuel production at UPM Lappeenranta biorefinery runs optimally and safely. What projects are you mainly working on right now? I am responsible for production operations at the biorefinery in Finland. We are currently preparing for next spring's major shutdown in cooperation with the HSE as well as the maintenance... [Read More]