Caltech Ventures, a Ghana-based cassava cropping and processing company, will start the production of ethanol from cassava at a distillery in Hodzo in the Ho municipality this March, according to local press reports. This would be the first industrial-scale ethanol production in the West African country which imports around 60m litres of ethanol per year. Kasapreko Company... [Read More]

Gevo, a US biofuels producer, has signed a joint agreement with alcohol producer Porta Hnos to develop several isobutanol plants in Argentina. Financial terms for developing the corn-fed plants were not immediately disclosed. The first plant, slated to come online by 2017, has an expected annual production of 5m gallons of isobutanol. Gevo is projecting about $1m in annual... [Read More]

Biofuels producer Renewable Energy Group (REG) has signed an asset purchase agreement with US-based rendering firm Sanimax Energy to acquire Sanimax's 20m gallon nameplate capacity biodiesel refinery located in DeForest, Wisconsin. Under the asset purchase agreement, REG will pay Sanimax around $11m in cash and will issue 500,000 shares of REG common stock in exchange... [Read More]

US-based biofuels producer Virent has entered into a new strategic relationship with petroleum specialist Tesoro to accelerate the development and commercialisation of Virent's products. Virent's patented technology features catalytic chemistry to convert plant-based materials into a full range of products identical to those made from petroleum, including gasoline, diesel,... [Read More]

Scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (IIT-R) have successfully generated low-cost biofuel using a perennial weed, the Kans grass. The grass, native to the Indian subcontinent, grows up to three feet in height and, being widely available and perennial, comes at low cost. "Through our technology, which we have now got patented, bioethanol will be produced... [Read More]

Z Energy, a New Zealand-based energy producer, is on track to open the country's first commercial scale biodiesel plant in Wiri, south Auckland, in June. The plant will turn inedible tallow, a by-product of the New Zealand meat industry, into 20 million litres of biodiesel a year, with the potential to scale production up to 40m litres a year. Z Energy has invested $21m... [Read More]

US-based logistics frim Global Partners LP has cut 70 jobs and aims to handle only ethanol, not crude, at its rail terminal in Oregon in response to low oil prices. The company, which owns one of the largest terminal networks of petroleum products and renewable fuels in the north east of the US, also cut its distribution for the October-December period by 33.7% compared... [Read More]

Netherlands-based oil and energy company Tamoil has begun selling arctic diesel containing Neste's renewable diesel to its corporate customers in the northern Italian Alps region, which will be used to fuel vehicles servicing the Marcialonga cross-country ski race in Italy. Tamoil's Gasolio Artico fuel contains a minimum of 20% of Neste's renewable diesel and can be used... [Read More]

Germany-based commercial bank HSH Nordbank is planning to generate strong growth in its renewable energy arm this year, as it makes moves to intensify its focus on the Scandinavian market. According to the Hamburg-headquarted bank, it generated new business of more than €900m in project finance and €300m from other loans to energy companies and utilities including... [Read More]

A mothballed bioethanol plant in Kazakhstan is set to resume production by the end of 2016. The Investment Fund of Kazakhstan is working to bring the Biokhim plant, located in the town of Tayinsha in the North Kazakhstan region, back online with the first stage scheduled for December 2016. The plant will produce bioethanol for the Pavlodar oil refinery, with later deliveries... [Read More]

Biofuels producer Renewable Energy Group (REG) and ExxonMobil have launched a project to study the production of biodiesel by fermenting renewable cellulosic sugars from sources such as agricultural waste. REG has developed a patented technology that uses microbes to convert sugars to biodiesel in a one-step fermentation process similar to ethanol manufacturing. The ExxonMobil... [Read More]

A group of US states opposing the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan have gone into court to delay the enforcement of the new regulations. Led by West Virginia and Texas, 25 states have asked the Supreme Court to stop the greenhouse gas reduction rulings from taking effect until after the states’ legal challenge is resolved. The call came after a Washington... [Read More]

Biodiesel consumption in the US has hit a record number of nearly 2.1 billion gallons in 2015, according to US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). According to the data, fuel companies reported producing 2.09 billion gallons of biodiesel in 2015, up from about 1.97 billion gallons in 2014, reducing US carbon emissions by at least 18.2 million tonnes.  Biodiesel... [Read More]

A New York ethanol producer has been fined $87,000 (€80,300) for illegally disposing of industrial waste from its production facility. The fine stems from a 2013 investigation into illegal activities at Shelby, NY-based Western New York Energy (WNYE) by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) unit. The investigation determined that WNYE and... [Read More]

Oslo Airport in Norway has become the world's first airport to offer jet biofuel to all airlines through the normal supply mechanism. The biofuel, produced from the Camelina plant, is supplied by oil giant BP’s aviation division Air BP and Lufthansa Group, SAS, and KLM have already signed agreements to purchase the fuel. Air BP has entered into an agreement to deliver... [Read More]

Researchers from the Melbourne School of Engineering, in Australia, have discovered a new way to deliver carbon dioxide to microalgae, which in turn, can be harvested to make renewable fuels such as biodiesel. Carbon dioxide is well known to speed up the growth of microalgae, according to the scientists. However, the carbon dioxide has to be free of contamination or the... [Read More]