Biodiesel News

A corporation which pioneers environmentally friendly transport in India is struggling to find biodiesel for its buses, according to the Bangalore Mirror. The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) was the first in India to introduce buses which run 100% on biofuel. KSRTC has a fleet of 26 luxury buses which run on 100% biodiesel, and 1500 buses which are operated on 20% blended…
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Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denounced the European Parliament Resolution on Palm Oil and Deforestation of Rainforests, describing it as ‘discriminative’. In addition, the ministry claims the EU decision was based on “inaccurate and unaccountable data”, accusing it of being a protectionist move contradicting the EU’s role as an advocate of open,…
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Palm oil futures have hit a six month low on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange, according to Dawn. Unexpectedly high levels of production and end stocks data from industry regulator the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) are believed to be behind the drop. MPOB showed end stocks in March increased by 6.5% from February to 1.55million tonnes. Output had surged by 16.3% to 1.46 million tonnes,…
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733.9 million litres (193.9m gallons) of biodiesel have been contracted at Brazil’s 54th biodiesel auction, according to The Brazilian Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels, and Renewables Now. Brazil’s biodiesel auctions are intended to help meet the legal requirement for a minimum blend of 8% biodiesel in diesel sold at the country’s fuel stations. The 54th tender…
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The Indonesian government has submitted a complaint to the WTO over the US’ National Biodiesel Board’s (NBB) petition to impose anti-dumping and countervailing duties against dumped and subsidised biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia. “Of course we feel that this is a disadvantage for us. We have already lodged our complaints with the WTO,” said Indonesian…
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The Iowa Biodiesel Board (IBB) has announced that the state’s capacity to produce biodiesel is rising by 20%, from 334 million gallons (1.5 billion litres) a year to close to 400 million gallons (1.8 billion litres) a year. Proactive state policies have played a pivotal role in the growth, as well as expansion projects either recently completed or currently in progress, the IBB announced at…
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A plant manager in Mississippi has launched a petition to reform US biodiesel tax law. Phillip Harden, manager at Scott Petroleum, hopes to draw attention to the growing campaign to reinstate the expired $1 per gallon biodiesel tax credit, and reform it to assist domestic producers, according to Biodiesel Magazine. The US’ biodiesel tax incentive lapsed on 31 December 2016.  A…
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The emergency clean-up of a biofuels plant in Ferndale, Washington, could cost $1 million (EUR 939,000), according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The cleaning operation was started after regulators found hazardous substances leaking from containers at the abandoned biofuels processing plant. TreOil Industries Biorefinery has long been a source of concern. It has been on the state…
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Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have approved a resolution calling on the European Commission to phase out the use of vegetable oil for biofuels, ideally by 2020. The resolution has received support from MEPs across the political spectrum. It calls for an end to incentives for rapeseed, palm oil and soy based biofuels, claiming the ingredients cause deforestation and peatland damage.…
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Renewable diesel supplier Neste has published information about all of its crude palm oil suppliers on its website. The data provided covers the palm oil supply chain used by Neste, including all companies, mills and estates involved. Available on the Neste website’s dashboard, the new site gives information on suppliers, certification systems used by the company, and certification…
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Scientists in the US have shown that sugarcane can be genetically engineered to produce oil in its leaves and stems for biodiesel production. As well as producing oil for biodiesel, the modified sugarcane plants also produce more sugar which could be used in ethanol production. So far the ‘Plants Engineered to Replace Oil in Sugarcane and Sweet Sorghum’ (PETROSS) project led by…
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A farmers’ cooperative in Iowa, USA, has staged a demonstration in the state to convince more farmers to switch to biodiesel. The United Farmers Cooperative, based in the town of Afton, compared two trucks head to head to highlight the benefits of biodiesel. One of the trucks was fuelled with a 5% blend of biodiesel (B5), the other with a 20% blend (B20). The results fell convincingly in…
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