Biodiesel News

Biodiesel sales activity is accelerating in India with travel bus operators who cater to the tourism industry, says California-headquartered advanced renewable fuels and biochemicals company Ametis. Aemetis has expanded sales activity since the Government of India allowed biodiesel manufacturers to sell to customers directly. India's diesel market is estimated at 25 billion gallons per year. This…
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North American advanced biofuels producer and developer of renewable chemicals Renewable Energy Group (REG) has expanded its line of credit agreement with Wells Fargo Capital Finance, from $40 million to $60 million (€36.5 million to €54.5 million). In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, REG disclosed that two wholly owned subsidiaries exercised their option to expand…
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The Biofat project, a microalgae-to-biofuel FP7 demonstration project, has confirmed algae’s potential as a sustainable biofuel source with low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The project has concentrated on improving and demonstrating sustainability in the process, considering both environmental (e.g. use of marine strains to limit freshwater use) and economic (e.g. low energy consumption)…
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Uruguay's Alcoholes del Uruguay (AdU), a subsidiary of state-owned oil company Ancap, expects to register its highest biofuel production this year with over 130 million litres (34.3m gallons). The company will by the end of the year report 57 million litres of biodiesel and around 70 million litres of ethanol. The report comes after AdU launched Uruguay's largest ethanol plant in…
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In the US, the Iowa Biodiesel Board (IBB) has registered its support of legislation that would raise the state's fuel tax. A provision of the legislation would give a partial exemption to the new tax for diesel blended with at least 11% biodiesel (B11). The proposed tax increase (HF 351 and SF 257) is $0.10 a gallon for both diesel and petrol as part of a plan to address Iowa's infrastructure…
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Alaska Airlines is to purchase renewable jet fuel from Gevo and fly the first-ever commercial alcohol-to-jet fuel (ATJ) flight, after the two companies signed a strategic alliance agreement. The demonstration flight is expected to occur after Gevo receives ASTM International certification for its fuel, sometime in mid to late 2015. Gevo has been working through the rigorous ASTM process for six…
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Indonesian fuel distributors Pertamina and AKR are set to purchase 765,000kl of subsidised biodiesel for the remainder of 2015. 339,000kl of the total will be purchased between August and October from five producers, including Wilmar, Eterindo, Musim Mas, Pelita Agung, and Darmex Agro. Negotiations to supply the missing 426,000kl of fuel are undergoing between Pertamina and AKR and various…
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In Finland, UPM will start field tests of its wood-based BioVerno diesel fuel in urban buses together with Helsinki Region Transport (HSL) and the VTT Technical Research Centre. The field tests are also supported by the St1 petrol station chain, the auto manufacturer Volvo, and the transportation company Transdev Finland. The new round of tests with UPM BioVerno fuel will start in October and run…
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The bidding period has closed for Great Lakes Biodiesel's (GLB) $50 million (€42.4 million) biodiesel plant in Welland, Ontario, Canada, but certainty over the future of the Dain City refinery has not been made clear. Great Lakes Biodiesel (GLB) opened in 2012, but it never reached its full output potential of 170 million litres a year of biodiesel. In October 2014, the plant went into…
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Dragonair, part of the Cathay Pacific Group, will operate will operate its first-ever commercial flight using a certified sustainable biofuel blend later this month. The KA859 service from Shanghai's Hongqiao Airport to Hong Kong on 21 March will take off with the aircraft tanks filled with a 50/50 blend of fossil-based jet fuel and bio-based jet fuel, refined from 100% used cooking oil as…
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Atlantic Biodiesel has officially opened its state-of-the-art renewable fuel facility located in the Niagara Greenbelt in Welland, Ontario. 'Our facility is up and running. We are excited to be a part of this community and to support the local economy. We are making a commitment today; where we are able to, we're going to source locally,' says Michael Paszti, COO of Atlantic Biodiesel . The new…
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Zambian biofuels producer Tapera Industries is seeking capital funding of over ZMW5 million (appr. €454,000) to expand its operations. According to the company’s founder Mutoba Ngoma, Tapera is promoting the recycling and conversion of waste cooking oil into biodiesel and natural soaps. ‘The amount of investment into the business is approximately ZMW800,000 since 2014. This was…
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Flint Hills Resources is preparing for the launch of its Duonix plant in Nebraska, US, is preparing to run pre-commissioning tests. The 50 million gpy former Beatrice Biodiesel-facility is being retrofitted for multi-feedstock production using Benefuel’s catalytic process for refining high free-fatty-acid feedstock. This is the first time the Benefuel technology will be used on this scale.…
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Greenergy has acquired Harvest Biofuels' biodiesel manufacturing facility at Seal Sands on Teesside, England. The acquisition gives Greenergy additional biodiesel production capacity with which to meet its own biofuel blending obligations under the UK's Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation. Greenergy owns and operates an existing waste-based biodiesel facility at Immingham on the east coast of…
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