The US Grains Council (USGC) has welcomed Nebraska Ethanol Board as its newest member. The Nebraska Ethanol Board serves 25 ethanol plants with a combined total capacity of over 2.5 billion gallons of ethanol. The organisation advocates for biofuels by informing the public and civic leaders about the benefits of the cleaner burning fuel, working to ensure biofuels... [Read More]

Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have created a new method to look deep into the nanostructure of biomaterials, without causing damage to the sample. The new technique can confirm structural features in starch, for example, which is important in biofuel production. The team used the sharp probe tip of an atomic force... [Read More]

The company building the world’s fastest supersonic airliner, Boom Supersonic, has announced that is XB-1 test programme will be carbon neutral through the use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) and carbon offsetting. Boom is the first commercial airplane manufacturer to commit to a carbon neutral test programme. The XB-1 is a supersonic demonstrator aircraft designed... [Read More]

Global bank BNP Paribas has closed a sustainability-linked loan (SLL) with JetBlue Airways, through an amendment to its existing secured revolving credit facility (RCF). This is reportedly the first sustainability-linked RCF for the airline industry. JetBlue has amended its existing $550 million (€506.4 million) RCF by including a ‘sustainability-linked’ provision,... [Read More]

Swedish forest-owner association Södra has made a pilot delivery of biomethanol from the world’s first commercial plant for the sustainable fuel. Customer Emmelev plans to use the biomethanol in its biodiesel production process. The commercial biomethanol plant, which is based at Södra’s pulp mill in Mönsterås, Sweden, uses forest biomass as feedstock. The company... [Read More]

Volvo CE’s customer centre in Eskilstuna, Sweden is paving the way for a sustainable future by running its demonstration machines on hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO). The biodiesel fuel is now used in all machines at the customer centre, with the move forming part of the company’s commitment to a more sustainable future. HVO produces very low volumes of carbon dioxide,... [Read More]

Waste gasification to energy company EQTEC has been awarded a contract for the upgrade of the existing syngas research and development facility at the University of Extremadura in Badajoz, Spain. The university was recently successful in a funding application to the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to support the testing of the production of biofuels from syngas... [Read More]

IKEA Finland has partnered with Neste to reduce the carbon footprint of home deliveries by using Neste’s MY Renewable Diesel. Since 2019, the furniture giant has been introducing the renewable diesel to its home delivery vehicles in the Helsinki capital region, as well as around the town of Raisio in southwestern Finland. Neste’s cleaner burning fuel is already... [Read More]

A partnership led by ADM and Optimus Technologies plans to carry out a year-long validation project of new biodiesel technology to demonstrate its viability in real-world, high-mileage fleet applications. Five trucks owned by ADM will be fitted with Optimus’ Vector fuel system, which enables diesel engines to run almost entirely on sustainable biodiesel (B100). The... [Read More]

Heathrow Airport in the UK has announced plans to become one of the world’s first major aviation hubs to become carbon neutral for its infrastructure. The airport is also the first to target zero carbon by the mid-2030s. Recent investments totalling over £100 million (€119.7 million) have improved Heathrow’s energy efficiency, as well as being used to generate... [Read More]

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced a target for biofuels to make up 30% of transportation fuels in the US by 2050. Announced by secretary of agriculture Sonny Perdue as part of the new Agriculture Innovation Agenda, the agency stated: “We can increase the production of renewable energy feedstocks and set a goal to increase biofuel production efficiency... [Read More]

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed an open-source simulation software package that can be used to analyse the economics of biofuels and bioproducts. Known as BioSTEAM, the new software package in Python can be used by scientists, engineers, biotechnology companies and funding agencies as a quick and flexible tool to analyse... [Read More]

Iowan senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley have urged Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Charles Rettig to quickly process 2018-19 claims for the biodiesel tax credit. In December 2019, US Congress retroactively reinstated the biodiesel tax incentive for 2018 and 2019, extending it through to 2022. Earlier this year, the IRS issued guidance for biodiesel... [Read More]

BioEconomy Solutions, a technology leader in sustainable agricultural crops for biofuels, animal feed and food products, has been awarded an investment by Carolina Opportunity Funds, which is expected to support its planned renewable diesel facility in South Carolina, US. The investment is the first to be awarded under Carolina Opportunity Funds’ IMPACT Carolina Fund,... [Read More]

ASTM International has approved a new production pathway for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), created by Applied Research Associates (ARA) and Chevron Lummus Global (CLG). The new production pathway, which is called catalytic hydrothermolysis jet (CHJ), is expected to help meet the global need for more sustainable aviation fuels. “Commercial volumes of competitively... [Read More]

A team of bioengineers and economics from KU Leuven in Belgium has mapped out how wood could replace petroleum in the chemical industry. According to the researchers, who considered both technological requirements and financial viability, the transition from petroleum to biofuel (in the form of wood) would lead to a reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Currently,... [Read More]