University of Massachusetts Amherst computational chemist Scott Auerbach has been awarded a three-year, $330,000 (€300,400) grant from the National Science Foundation to improve basic understanding and optimise the process of producing fuels such as gasoline from plant biomass. For more than 50 years chemists and chemical engineers have refined crude oil using synthetic... [Read More]

California has not taken full advantage of opportunities to increase its in-state production of biofuel, despite state policies that encourage biofuel consumption, according to a report by the Climate Change and Business Research Initiative at the UCLA and UC Berkeley law schools.  Coming on the heels of new Environmental Protection Agency rules on... [Read More]

China New Energy has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Sunbird Bioenergy Africa for the development of two biorefineries, one each in Zimbabwe and Zambia. The Memorandum of Undestanding (MOU) was signed at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) 6th Ministerial Conference and Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. Under the terms of the MOU, China New... [Read More]

The global biofuels industry is calling on the world leaders attending the COP21 summit in Paris to replace at least 15% of the global oil use in transport with biofuels by 2030. The statement was issued by five biofuel and biotech organisations that represent over 330 companies who produce 90% of the world’s biofuel supply. Global transport emissions have increased... [Read More]

Spain has set a mandate for a biofuel blending target of 8.5% in its petrol and diesel supply by 2020. In a statement, the Spanish ministry of Industry, Energy, and Tourism says to reach the target, the country will start by requiring a 4.3% blend from next year, which will be scaled up by the end of the decade. Spain aims to produce 20% of its electricity from renewables... [Read More]

Biodico Westside, a California-based biorefinery producer, has opened its 20 million gpy biodiesel production facility in Five Points, California. The facility is designed to be able to produce fuel from all fats and oils available and will specialise in producing low carbon intensity fuels under California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard. Biodico provides heat... [Read More]

Hawaiʻi Island is primed for the creation of biorefineries designed to use waste from cattle and possibly from humans to create biofuel, according to the University of Hawai’i. Shihwu Sung, a professor of applied engineering at the University of Hawaiʻi (UH) at Hilo, moved to Hilo last year to explore emerging alternative energy opportunities. Sung believes... [Read More]

Uruguay's Alcoholes del Uruguay (AdU), a subsidiary of state-owned oil company Ancap, expects to register its highest biofuel production this year with over 130 million litres (34.3m gallons). The company will by the end of the year report 57 million litres of biodiesel and around 70 million litres of ethanol. The report comes after AdU launched Uruguay's largest ethanol... [Read More]

Lagosur, a US-based renewable fuels company, has started business arrangements and initial sales in collaboration with Alianza Pacifco to bring clean green fuels to Latin America. Lagosur has concluded business preparations to deliver renewable biofuel to the mining and transportation industries in Chile, Peru, and Mexico. The mining and transportation... [Read More]

Aerospace giant Boeing, with support from Canada's aviation industry and other stakeholders, is working to turn leftover forestry residues into sustainable aviation biofuel. Canada, which has extensive sustainably certified forests, has long used mill and forest residues to make wood pellets that are used to generate electricity. A consortium that includes Boeing,... [Read More]

Euglena, a Japanese microalgae developer and producer, has partnered with Japan’s largest airline ANA Holdings to develop an algae-based jet fuel. A 3 billion yen (appr. €23m) demonstration plant, using technology from Chevron, is scheduled to come online in early 2018 with plans to 125,000 litres of renewable jet fuel. Euglena hopes to be able to commercialise... [Read More]

The Argentinian government and the CENT 35 university have begun the installation and commissioning work of a biodiesel production facility. The 600-liters-a-day plant will serve as a training and demonstration tool for CENT 35 technical department students on processing used cooking oil (UCO) into biodiesel. It is also intended to promote the proper disposal and handling... [Read More]

Hamburger giant McDonald’s vehicle fleet in the United Arab Emirates has completed 5 million kilometres of running entirely on biodiesel. To reach the total distance, McDonald’s United Arab Emirates (UAE) partnered with the Dubai-based biodiesel producer Neutral Fuels. The renewable fuel is produced from the used cooking oil (UCO) collected from the fast food... [Read More]

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released the final volume requirements for bioethanol under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for the years 2014, 2015, and 2016. In addition, the final volume requirements for biodiesel for 2014 and 2017. The EPA has increased the required levels from its earlier suggestion in June, and hopes that the rule will boost renewable... [Read More]

Advanced Biochemical Thailand (ABT), a subsidiary of Solvay, has received certification from the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) for the production of Epicerol, a bio-based building block for renewable chemicals and resins. The certificate covers the manufacture of bio-based epichlorohydrin (ECH), using Solvay's technology, from vegetable glycerol derived... [Read More]

Portugal-based Ecoslops has completed the first sale of its recycled marine fuel (MDO). The MDO, which is made from marine oil residues known as slops, is produced at Ecoslops' facility at the Port of Sines in Portugal and complies with the ISO 8217 standard. The sale comprises a 1,000-tonne shipment, which was purchased by a European operator specialising in maritime... [Read More]