Bioethanol News

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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China’s Hainan Airlines has completed the country’s ‘first’ cross-ocean biofuels powered flight. Flight 497 took off from the Beijing on 21 November. It landed at Chicago’s O’Hare airport at 12:05pm local time. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner completed the more than 11,000km journey with biological aviation fuel produced from waste cooking oil, according…
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Nigeria’s state oil corporation has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Kebbi State Government (KBSG) to build a bioethanol plant. The plant is expected to use cassava and sugarcane as a feedstock and produce 84 million litres of ethanol per year, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said in a statement. The Nigerian government is investing in biofuels as it…
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US advanced biofuels producer Poet has responded to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to maintain the current point of obligation under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). CEO Jeff Broin said: “By maintaining the point of obligation for the RFS, the EPA is allowing the system to continue to work as designed. Under the RFS, infrastructure for biofuel-blended fuel is…
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The European renewable ethanol association ePure has responded to the European Union’s third State of the Energy Union report. A key finding of the report is that thanks to progress in 2017, the EU is on track to implement the Energy Union project and deliver jobs, growth and investments. Enabling actions are being put in place to support a socially fair clean energy…
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Commodities trader Noble Group has announced it is selling its US-based ethanol producer Noble Americas South Bend Ethanol (NASBE) for $12.5 million (€10.5 million). According to a statement from Noble, the company has entered into an equity purchase agreement with Zeeland Farm Services for the proposed sale of “all of the issued and outstanding capital stock” of NASBE. When…
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Brazil’s Union of Sugarcane Industry (Unica) has issued a harvest update for the country’s South-Central region from April to 16 November. Brazil’s sugarcane crush for the 2017-18 harvest was down 1.61% from April to 16 November, 2017, compared to the same period a year ago, totalling 552.948 tonnes, according to figures from Unica. Total ethanol production reached 23.661…
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Argentina’s energy ministry has partially backtracked on a price cut on ethanol introduced earlier this month for refiners who mix the biofuel into gasoline at a 12% ratio, according to Hellenic Shipping News. The price cut has been shaved to 7.5% from 15% for sugarcane-derived ethanol, and to 10.5% from 21.1% for supplies made from corn, the ministry said in a resolution in the Official…
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Brazil’s lower house of Congress has given the green light to a bill to set up a programme to beef up the country's biofuels industry, according to a report in Reuters. The programme, called RenovaBio, will give fuel distributors in Brazil targets to cut carbon emissions, which they will meet by selling increasing volumes of ethanol and biodiesel over the coming years. The bill has yet to…
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US ethanol producer United Ethanol will use a modular membrane system at its plant in Milton, Wisconsin, to boost production. According to a statement, the bolt-on system from Whitefox Technologies will increase the annual production capacity of the facility to over 60 million gallons by freeing up capacity in the distillation-dehydration section. As well as increasing production rates, the…
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UK bioethanol producer Vivergo Fuel has announced plans to bring forward and extend its annual plant maintenance shutdown period as a result of poor market conditions and legislative uncertainty. The company’s bioethanol plant is based in Salt End, Hull, in the North East of England. ‘Serious consequences’ Speaking about the issue, Mark Chesworth, managing director at Vivergo…
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