Bioethanol News

This season’s harvest of sugar is up 30% from last year, according to the Indian Sugar Mills Association. The price of sugar is also likely to rise, after the government rescinded a 2016 order to limit stockholding of the commodity. Reuters is reporting that India’s ethanol supply will follow the increased sugar output. A 5% ethanol mandate is in effect in India, but whether this is…
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The abundance of croton trees in Kenya and the nuts’ potential use in biofuels present promising opportunity for local farmers. An article from the College of Agricultural science, published in Forest Policy and Economics, found that croton trees are readily available to most farmers. However, seed price and tree maturity periods were a concern for some. Although their resources are…
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19 December, the EPA published a proposed rule that would classify the fuels as ‘advanced biofuel’ in the Renewable Fuels Standard. If approved, the EPA would set out a new fuel pathway for the distilling of the oil into fuel. The provisional rule is to be released onto regulations.gov for comment. The document stems from an EPA assessment of lifecycle GHG emissions in grain sorghum…
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Next generation biofuels company Gevo has reaffirmed its focus on the commercial development of renewable jet fuel, renewable isooctane, isobutanol and related products, in its corporate update for 2018. The commitment comes amid a range of cost saving measures at the company which have seen staff reductions and pay cuts. According to the update, issued on the company’s investor relations…
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The legislation will allow the use of ethanol with conventional fuels, but does not mandate production levels. Local outlets are reporting that the government is allowing a 5% blend of bioethanol with octane and gasoline. According to them, the government is responding to interest from producers to set up the plants. Plant owners will have to get government permission before producing ethanol,…
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A new study suggests that by suppressing a gene that stiffens cell walls, biorefineries would have access to 60% more sugar than they would otherwise from the same amount of feedstock. The researchers from the UK, Brazil and the US announced the discovery in New Phytologist. Cell wall stiffening evolved in grass as a method to impede digestion by grazers. By reducing the effect of the gene both…
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The Vietnamese Government announced the move to E5 in June, with the current 92 RON (research octane number) gasoline coming off the market in the new year. E5 is 5% ethanol blended with 95% gasoline. Businesses have complained that they are not prepared for the change to E5, according to a government statetement, and some consumers fear how the blend will perform in their vehicles. In a release…
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The price of US renewable fuel credits has plummeted, hitting a two month low according to Reuters. Efforts by the White House to mediate talks between the oil and corn industries over the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) are said to be behind the fall in prices. The RFS requires refiners to blend increasing amounts of biofuel into the US fuel supply. Under the RFS programme, fuel refiners lacking…
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The Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) has published draft amendments to Ontario’s Ethanol in Gasoline regulation which would double the mandated volume of ethanol in regular gasoline. If implemented, the changes would increase the mandated volume of ethanol in regular gasoline from 5% to 10% by 2020. On top of that, new standards have been set for the ethanol…
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Scientists in Japan claim to have developed a solution to a problem that has long plagued the creation of second generation biofuels from non-food biomass like weeds, waste, and paper. The solvents needed for the creation of second generation biofuels tend to be highly toxic to microorganisms, necessitating complex process such as washing with water, separation by centrifugation and compression…
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Vivergo Fuels has stopped production at its Hull ethanol plant in response to ‘legislative uncertainty’, according to a statement from the bioethanol producer. The company’s plant in East Yorkshire is the UK’s largest, and Europe’s second largest producer of bioethanol. The £350 million plant can produce up to 420 million litres of bioethanol from 1.1 million…
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Closure of the UK’s largest ethanol plant in the face of government inaction on policies signals the severity of an increasingly competitive ethanol marketplace. The price of ethanol commodities futures has fallen significantly this year, from $1.603 to $1.356 as of 6 December, a fall of almost 0.25. Vivergo said in a statement that these low prices and the UK government’s failure to…
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