Bioethanol News

Spanish ethanol producer Abengoa is asking a US bankruptcy court to prevent legal action and future claims by creditors who are unsatisfied with a $10 billion (€9.4bn) debt restructuring plan. The Spanish company with a global renewable energy footprint put its US subsidiaries in Chapter 11 protection this year and filed for Chapter 15 protection from creditors of non-US businesses…
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Hungarian bioethanol producer Pannonia Ethanol has announced that it has successfully completed a €135 million credit facility agreement with a consortium of Hungarian banks. The facility will support expansion at the company’s Dunaföldvár, Hungary biorefinery, investment in new projects, cost reduction, additional jobs, and increases in both corn buying and animal feed…
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Aemetis, a California-based advanced renewable fuels and biochemicals company, reported a narrower financial third-quarter net loss due to continued cost cuts. The US firm reported a net loss of $4.1 million (€3.79m) for the three months ended 30 September, 2016, compared with a net loss of $5.8 million for the same period last year. Revenues were $39.4 million for the third quarter of 2016,…
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Finland-based biofuels firm St1 has begun the analysis and signed letters of intent with Alholmens Kraft and UPM on a sawdust-based ethanol plant in the Alholma industrial area in Pietarsaari, Finland. The planned production capacity of the plant is 50 million litres of advanced bioethanol per year. The Cellunolix plant, which utilises sawdust and recycled wood, is planned for UPM's…
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US-based Natural Chem Group has acquired the mothballed Abengoa ethanol plant in Portales, New Mexico. The plant was acquired through a competitive bidding process. According to media reports on Hydrocarbon Processing, the company will blend diesel with biodiesel to produce varying blends of commercial transportation fuel, primarily a 20% biodiesel blend, which is…
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Millions of Americans preparing for Thanksgiving next week are undoubtedly noticing that dinner will cost less than it did a year ago. According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), overall grocery prices are roughly 2% lower than at this time last year, and prices specifically for poultry products — like turkey — are down 1.5% compared to last fall. Meanwhile, the amount of…
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Exports of US ethanol began with notable growth in the first month of the new marketing year, according to recent data published by US Department of Agriculture’s Global Agricultural Trade System (GATS).  The top three customers of US ethanol in September 2016 were Canada, Brazil, and China, respectively. Exports of US ethanol totalled 99.6 million gallons (903,000 tonnes of corn…
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Indian state-run fuel retailers Indian Oil Corp. (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp. (BPC), and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. (HPC) will set up around seven second-generation (2G) ethanol plants across the country. The plants will be set up at a cost of Rs40 billion (€552.7m) and will help enhance ethanol availability for blending with petrol, according to online newspaper Live Mint. 2G…
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The Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) in Zaria, Nigeria, has entered into an agreement with Hungarian Agrar-Biothanol to produce fertiliser and ethanol in addition to electricity. The facility will produce 1,333 tonnes of liquid organic fertiliser and 2.66 million litres of ethanol annually, as well as 1.2MW of electricity. The plant will process farm residues and both animal and human waste as…
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Danish biological solutions developer Novozymes has launched the Fermax enzyme protease that prevents foam development during sugarcane ethanol fermentation while delivering improved control and replacing chemicals. For an average size plant, trialling partners also experienced a cost reduction of up to 20% when using Fermax, as compared with use of chemicals, Novozymes reports. “This is…
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Brazil is expected to produce around 2 million tonnes more sugar and import a high ethanol volume next year as mills tend to allocate more cane to produce the sweetener. The 2017-18 centre-south cane crop should not change much from what is seen for the current season despite the favourable market condition, as an ageing cane field and irregular weather cuts next year's production potential,…
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South Korean Pukyong National University’s graduate student Seonwoo In-young has succeeded in producing bioethanol using dead seaweed that washed ashore after a tropical storm. Seaweed plays an essential role as a food source, habitat, and spawning ground for marine organisms, but only when it is alive underwater. Dead seaweed, frequently found on beaches, has so far been mere waste and has…
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UK bioethanol giant Vivergo Fuels is calling on the UK government to provide greater certainty to UK farmers by pushing forward with the introduction of E10 fuel, which will cultivate an alternative domestic market for their produce. In a statement, the company said: “On the back of the harvest, the UK’s major wheat buyer, Vivergo is boosting the fortunes of farmers to the value of…
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US biofuels technology company ICM has announced that it has commenced a process to explore the option of revamping its recently-purchased Abengoa Bioenergy plant in Colwich, Kansas. In a statement the company said it was considering revitalising the plant and turning it into a larger scale state-of-the-art energy efficient biorefinery plant. If it proceeds, the plant will encompass all of ICM's…
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