China’s exports are steadily falling as a share of gross domestic product in a decline that could soon make the country less reliant than India on sales abroad, according to the Financial Times. The shift highlights the growth in the Chinese domestic economy, which could make Beijing better able to withstand trade tensions under US president Donald Trump, who has... [Read More]

US President Donald Trump has selected former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue to serve as the Secretary of Agriculture. Perdue previously ran a grains and fertiliser company, and said he was chosen based on his business and governmental experience. Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) executive director Monte Shaw said the group would “obviously” work with... [Read More]

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has denied a request from oil refiners to waive some of their advanced biofuels use requirements from 2016. The denial was published on Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) on website. The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) programme was signed into law in 2005 and designed to boost a renewable fuel industry annually. It requires... [Read More]

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with corn-based ethanol in the US are about 43% lower than petrol when measured on an energy equivalent basis, a new study finds. Carried out by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the study – Life-Cycle Analysis of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Corn-Based Ethanol – reviewed how the industry and farm sectors... [Read More]

The Prince of Wales has urged world leaders that the strategy to address climate change “must be urgently scaled up, and scaled up now”. In the foreword for a new Ladybird book that he has co-authored on the subject, he said that long-term weather patterns were the greatest threat to the planet. The Penguin-produced book entitled Climate Change will be published... [Read More]

Scott Pruitt, US President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be the leader of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), says he is committed to biofuels, but remains open for tweaks. The Oklahoma Attorney General said during his Congressional confirmation hearing on Wednesday that he will honour the Congress’ plan to increase the amount of renewable fuels in petroleum... [Read More]

Figures reveal that FirstGroup, a British transport group, has increased its use of alternative fuels, such as biodiesel, gas, and electric engines. In its North American businesses, alternative fuel usage increased by almost 3% in the first half of the 2016/17 financial year. During this period, more than 63 million miles were travelled by vehicles running on biodiesel,... [Read More]

Flint Hills Resources (FHR) is making a multimillion dollar investment into its Nebraska ethanol plant to upgrade its co-product processing technology. FHR will invest more than $50 million (€46.9m) in its Fairmont facility to install a new technology that will produce a high-protein animal and fish feed ingredient from a portion of the plant’s distiller’s... [Read More]

World Energy Biox Biofuels (WEBB), a joint venture between World Energy and Biox, has completed the commissioning of its 90 million gallon nameplate capacity biodiesel production facility in Texas. The facility, located in Houston and operating two equal-sized production trains, started operating at full capacity in December 2016. "The commissioning of the Houston facility... [Read More]

Car giant General Motors is providing more of its customers with choices to use car models that can use B20 biodiesel blends. With eight new diesel vehicle options hitting the roadways in 2017 – 2018, General Motors now offers a full line-up of twenty different diesel models, from passenger cars, to pickups and SUVs, to commercial vans and low cab forward trucks... [Read More]

Neste and Bioenergy La Tuque have started R&D cooperation with the objective of studying the potential of using forest residues as a raw material in biofuel production. Based in La Tuque, Canada, the cooperation supports Neste's goals to expand the raw material selection available and increase the use of waste and residues. Currently, the company is capable of using... [Read More]

US renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels company Gevo has announced that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved the pathway for isobutanol produced at Gevo's Luverne, Minnesota plant to be an advanced biofuel under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Programme. This is the first time that the EPA has approved a pathway for an advanced biofuel... [Read More]

Velocys, a UK-based gas-to-liquids (GTL) company, that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) establishing a strategic alliance with Morimatsu Jiangsu Heavy Industry, a subsidiary of Morimatsu Industry Co. The AIM-traded firm said Morimatsu will be its preferred supplier of module engineering and fabrication services for its plants. It said the agreement... [Read More]

In her most important speech as UK Prime Minister yet, Theresa May has said that the final Brexit deal with the EU will mean the UK leaving the European single market. May said the UK’s Brexit plans "cannot mean membership of the single market". She said: "Being out of the EU but a member of the Single Market would mean complying with the EU's rules and regulations... [Read More]

Roberto Rinaldi FRSC, a senior lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London has been awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant to fund his world-leading work on lignin valorisation. According to Imperial College, these highly competitive grants are awarded to “outstanding early career researchers” to help... [Read More]

A new ethanol mandate enacted by the Queensland Government has helped a bioethanol plant to expand its operations, according to a media report by ABC. The Dalby biorefinery, which was once under the threat of closure and is based on the state's Western Darling Downs, has been running at capacity since the Queensland Government's ethanol mandate came into effect this... [Read More]