Green Plains, a Nebraska-based, US ethanol producer, has announced financial results for the fourth quarter of 2016. Net income attributable to the company was $18.7 million (€17.5m), or $0.47 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2016 compared with net loss of $(3.6) million, or $(0.09) per diluted share, for the same period in 2015. Revenues were $932.1 million... [Read More]

India state-controlled oil and gas company Bharat Petroleum’s Assam based facility Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) has signed a term sheet with Chempolis, a Finland -based bio refining technology for setting up a biorefinery unit.  The term sheet will be the basis for formation of a joint venture agreement for implementation... [Read More]

In a letter to President Donald Trump this week, the US Grains Council (USGC), Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and Growth Energy are asking for help “in urgently addressing China’s recent implementation of protectionist trade barriers that are shutting out US exports of ethanol and distillers dried grains (DDGS).”  Specifically, the three... [Read More]

The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) has appointed Doug Whitehead as its chief operating officer. Whitehead joins the executive team after ten years in various roles with the organisation, most recently as the director of operations and membership. “Doug has admirably served the biodiesel industry in his various roles at NBB over the years and his experience and expertise... [Read More]

The Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, has said that biofuels would soon become the West African country’s foreign exchange earner, if “we can apply both our mind and might into it”. According to local newspaper Leadership, Kachikwu made the statement at a sensitisation workshop on biofuels development in Nigeria with the... [Read More]

A new investigative report has been unveiled revealing more information about Nideria’s biofuels trading loss, often dubbed as one of the biggest scandals in the history of the Dutch market. Last year, the Dutch grain-trading firm reported that it lost nearly $200 million over three years due to what it called “severe” irregularities by a single trader... [Read More]

In a historic first, Global Bioenergies has announced the production of ETBE from renewable resources. The breakthrough heralds a new opportunity for increasing the proportion of biofuels in gasoline, according to the French renewable fuels company. Current standards limit the inclusion of traditional biofuels because of their physical and chemical properties. For example,... [Read More]

Greenergy, a UK-based waste-to-biodiesel producer, has announced that it has reached agreement for Canada-based business services and industrial company Brookfield Business Partners to take over and invest in its business with the aim of accelerating growth. Existing Greenergy management shareholders will invest alongside Brookfield Business Partners and will retain a... [Read More]

Will a possible US tax reform and border adjustability affect ethanol producers in the US? K·Coe Isom’s Brian Kuehl and Donna Funk, unpick this issue. As the 115th US Congress begins in Washington, DC, comprehensive tax reform is set to be one of the top priorities for congressional leadership and for the new Trump administration. There is a high likelihood... [Read More]

Finnish renewable diesel producer Neste has posted a 6% rise in full-year operating profit to €983 million, compared to €925 million in 2015, helped by strong demand for its renewable products. In its 2016 full-year financial statement, the company stated that its renewable products business recorded a full-year comparable operating profit of €469m, compared... [Read More]

UK motorists are turning away from buying diesel cars and buying “more eco-friendly” ones, new figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) suggest. In a statement, the SMMT said that 78,778 diesel cars were sold in January, a drop of 4.3% on the same month last year.  Over the same period sales of electric cars and other alternatively-fuelled... [Read More]

Sweden’s Prime Minister, Stefan Löfven, has unveiled proposals to go carbon-neutral by 2045. Last week (2 February, 2017) Löfven set a statutory target to go carbon neutral will be trigged by 1 January, 2018. Under the proposed Climate Act, the government will be required by law to include a climate report in the country's annual budget and to... [Read More]

UK-based gas-to-liquids firm Velocys and US-based ENVIA Energy have produced their first Fischer-Tropsch product at ENVIA’s Oklahoma City plant. The plant deploys a number of Velocys' full-scale commercial Fischer-Tropsch (FT) reactors. These Fischer-Tropsch products are fractionated on site to produce premium wax, diesel and naphtha. The fuels produced at the plant... [Read More]

Clariant, global specialty chemicals company, together with Mercedes-Benz and Haltermann Carless, a well-established HCS Group brand, tested the use of sustainable cellulosic ethanol from agricultural residues in a fleet test with Mercedes-Benz series vehicles over a period of 12 months for the first time in Germany. Sunliquid 20 was used for the test – a fuel produced... [Read More]

Republican Party Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner has introduced two bills aimed at reforming the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and the national biofuels mandate. The bills call for the additional study and evaluation of the ethanol mandate . According to Sensenbrenner, this is to ensure that the Environmental Protection Agency’s “volume obligations are based... [Read More]

Coal generation in Europe is being phased out and will continue to do so due to competition from cleaner energy sources, such as natural gas and renewables, as well as governments efforts to cut emissions, according to a new study by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The UK is leading the way when it comes to reducing coal dependency, helping to put coal's share... [Read More]