The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has published its monthly biodiesel production report for January 2017, revealing production during the month was 51 million gallons lower than in December 2016. According to the figures recently released by the EIA, US production of biodiesel was 93 million gallons in January 2017, while production in December was 144 million... [Read More]

AB Mauri, a well-known specialist in yeast and bakery ingredient products, has launched a new business unit that will develop yeast solutions for the biofuel, liquor and nutrition industries. The new division will be called AB Biotek.  “AB Mauri has a long history of providing leading-edge products to industrial customers outside of the bakery markets in other... [Read More]

Indonesia’s crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel oil (PKO) production declined by 8% to 2.2 million tons in February, according to the Indonesian Association of Oil Palm Producers (GAPKI). Exports of palm products, including oleo chemicals and biodiesel, dropped by 6% to 2.66 million tons between January and February.  “The drop in exports is more due... [Read More]

A new paper by researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) describes a process that captures methane from natural gas and biogas and that uses photosynthesis to convert it into biomass feedstock. The new paper is called ‘A flexible microbial co-culture platform for simultaneous utilization of methane and carbon dioxide from gas feedstocks’,... [Read More]

The world's first research facility to grow both food and fuel, using desert lands irrigated by seawater, will begin its first harvest in June, according to Etihad Airways.  The biomass will be harvested and the oil extracted from the seeds. The plan is to have this oil refined to jet fuel and used on an Etihad Airways flight, a statement said. The announcement... [Read More]

A protein used by common soil bacteria is providing new clues in the effort to convert aryl compounds, a common waste product from industrial and agricultural practices, into something of value. Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and Sandia National Laboratories working at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI)... [Read More]

A new programme called the Born Global Slip-Stream Challenge has been launched to help to drive the development and commercialisation of products like biochar, wood ash, CO2, lignin, waxes and C5/C6 sugars. The aim of the project is to work towards a goal to improve the overall profitability of bio-based projects and create replicable models for deployment in the US and... [Read More]

A team of chemical and biological engineers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has found a way to produce from biomass a valuable compound used in plastic production that they estimate could lower the cost of ethanol produced from plant material by more than two dollars per gallon. The development is the latest in an ongoing effort at UW–Madison to create... [Read More]

Scientists in the US have shown that sugarcane can be genetically engineered to produce oil in its leaves and stems for biodiesel production. As well as producing oil for biodiesel, the modified sugarcane plants also produce more sugar which could be used in ethanol production. So far the ‘Plants Engineered to Replace Oil in Sugarcane and Sweet Sorghum’ (PETROSS) project... [Read More]

A Ph.D. organic chemist and a sailboat captain report that they are developing a process to reuse certain plastics, transforming them from worthless trash into a valuable diesel fuel with a small mobile reactor. They envision the technology could someday be implemented globally on land and possibly placed on boats to convert ocean waste plastic into fuel to power... [Read More]

Renewable diesel supplier Neste has published information about all of its crude palm oil suppliers on its website. The data provided covers the palm oil supply chain used by Neste, including all companies, mills and estates involved. Available on the Neste website’s dashboard, the new site gives information on suppliers, certification systems used by the company,... [Read More]

Growth Energy, a trade association for US ethanol producers and supporters, welcomed Bushmills Ethanol as its newest member. Bushmills Ethanol is located in Atwater, Minnesota and produces 49 million gallons of ethanol per year. In response to the announcement, Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor, said: “Growth Energy’s membership is comprised of men and women who... [Read More]

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have approved a resolution calling on the European Commission to phase out the use of vegetable oil for biofuels, ideally by 2020. The resolution has received support from MEPs across the political spectrum. It calls for an end to incentives for rapeseed, palm oil and soy based biofuels, claiming the ingredients cause deforestation... [Read More]

The emergency clean-up of a biofuels plant in Ferndale, Washington, could cost $1 million (EUR 939,000), according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The cleaning operation was started after regulators found hazardous substances leaking from containers at the abandoned biofuels processing plant. TreOil Industries Biorefinery has long been a source of concern. It has... [Read More]

A plant manager in Mississippi has launched a petition to reform US biodiesel tax law. Phillip Harden, manager at Scott Petroleum, hopes to draw attention to the growing campaign to reinstate the expired $1 per gallon biodiesel tax credit, and reform it to assist domestic producers, according to Biodiesel Magazine. The US’ biodiesel tax incentive lapsed on 31... [Read More]

SOURCE: Renewable Fuels Association. A new Department of Energy (DOE) study on employment in the US energy sector shows that America’s ethanol industry employs a significantly larger share of military veterans than any other segment of the energy industry. Nearly one in five ethanol industry employees is a veteran (18.9%), compared to a national average of 7% across... [Read More]