French waste management specialist Suez and oil giant Total have teamed up to collect and recycle used cooking oil in France. As part of their ten-year partnership, Suez will supply 20,000 metric tonnes of used cooking oil a year to Total. Collected throughout France, the oil will be processed into biofuel at Total’s La Mede biorefinery. In response to growing... [Read More]

Three members of the Governor’s Biofuel Coalition sent a letter to President-elect Donald Trump thanking him for his repeated statements of support for biofuels and the renewable fuels standard (RFS) during the US presidential campaign. The letter signed by Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad and South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard. “We... [Read More]

The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), an agency run by the Philippines government, is urging players in the industry to invest more in power co-generation and production of bioethanol from sugarcane amid volatile sugar prices in the world market. SRA policy and planning manager Rosemarie Gumera said the agency is strengthening its product diversification by encouraging... [Read More]

Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Vinod Khosla, Jack Ma, John Doerr and 15 other high-profile investors have formed a new venture firm, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, that will pour at least $1 billion (€943,000,00m) into cleantech companies over the next 20 years. The firm’s goal, according to its own website will be: “to provide everyone in the world with... [Read More]

Borregaard and Rayonier Advanced Materials announced that the companies have secured the necessary approvals from their boards of directors and the appropriate permits to proceed with the investment for construction of a new lignin facility at RYAM’s Fernandina Beach site in Florida. The venture, named LignoTech Florida (LTF), will serve the growing global demand... [Read More]

A new biocrude and biofuels laboratory has opened in Queensland, Australia, on the site of the Northern Oil advanced biofuels pilot plant in Gladstone. Southern Oil and JJ Richards & Sons, joint venture partners in the Northern Oil Refinery at Yarwun, near Gladstone, built the multi-million dollar laboratory with funding support from the Australian Renewable Energy... [Read More]

Eleven oil-making countries, who are not members of the Opec (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) oil cartel, have agreed to cut their output to boost prices. The news will be welcome by the biofuels industry as it eases pressure on the sector. The group of states, which includes Russia, said on 10 December that they will cut supplies by 558,000 barrels per... [Read More]

The US state of Maine has launched a new initiative called the Maine Born Global Challenge to help support and finance bio-based projects. The initiative covers a wide range of sectors including biomass handling and biofuels. Under the scheme, companies of complementary technologies will be grouped into project teams, assigned to specific power plant locations, given funding... [Read More]

US speciality chemical producer Solenis and Hydrite Chemical Co. have announce dthe resolution of pending legal actions filed by Hydrite against Solenis regarding Solenis’ patents for using polysorbate as an additive for corn oil extraction aids. As a result of the settlement, Solenis has licensed the use of its corn oil extraction technology to Hydrite. Under the... [Read More]

Finnish forest industry company UPM has become member of RSB, the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials. RSB is a global standard and certification scheme for sustainable production of biomaterials and biofuels. It is also an independent multi-stakeholder coalition, which works to support the sustainability of biomaterials. RSB is considered one of the strongest sustainability... [Read More]

Consumers are willing to pay more for second-generation biofuels than conventional fuel, according to a new study from Washington State University. In fact, the study found that consumers are willing to pay 11% more over traditional fuel.  “We were surprised the premium was that significant,” said Jill McCluskey, WSU professor in the School of Economic... [Read More]

Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) will use a by-product from its corn processing facility in Decatur, US, to produce a renewable natural gas, which will be distributed by Ameren Illinois into the nation’s natural gas infrastructure. “We’re proud to work with Ameren Illinois on this innovative project,” said Colin Graves, project manager for ADM.... [Read More]

Indian process solutions company Praj has entered on Wednesday into a binding agreement for cost sharing with Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) to set up two bioethanol plants. These second-generation (2G) bioethanol plants – one to be located at Panipat, Haryana, and one at Dahej, Gujarat – will have capacity to produce 100,000 litres of ethanol per day. This is a progress... [Read More]

US President-elect Donald Trump has selected Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma attorney general, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as its administrator. Pruitt has served as attorney general since 2010, prior to which he had an eight-year tenure in the Oklahoma state senate. He said that he intends to protect the environment, but at the same time safeguard businesses... [Read More]

Nigeria needs 2.4 million litres of biodiesel daily to successfully implement the Paris Agreement on climate change, the Jatropha Growers, Processors and Exporters Association of Nigeria (JaGPEAN) says. The national president of JaGPEAN, retired Major General J. Omosebi, stated this at the second interactive meeting of the national and state executives of the association... [Read More]

Five West African countries have agreed to ban importing Europe's dirty fuels, a move that will dramatically reduce vehicle emissions and help more than 250 million people breath cleaner air. Together, the countries of Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Ivory Coast agreed on 1 December in Abuja to introduce strict standards to ensure cleaner, low sulphur diesel fuels and... [Read More]