Renewable company Cascades has invested in a new technology at its Norampac-Cabano facility. This new process extracts hemicellulose from woodchips. The project is worth a total $26 million (€24.5 million). It is backed by a $10 million investment from Natural Resources Canada's Investments in Forest Industry Transformation (IFIT) programme and an additional $4.4... [Read More]

On April 14, the European Parliament's environment committee (ENVI) moved a step closer to an agreement on plans to cap the production of traditional biofuels and accelerate the shift to alternative sources, such as certain types of waste and residues and new sources such as seaweed, with the environment committee's vote backing a deal struck by legislators. The plan aims... [Read More]

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says it will finalise the volume requirements for the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), in addition to the 2017 volume requirement for biomass-based diesel, by 30 November. The following schedule has been established following a proposed consent decree in litigation brought against EPA by the American Petroleum... [Read More]

According to UNEP's ninth 'Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2015', prepared by the Frankfurt School-UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate and Sustainable Energy Finance and Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Bloomberg New Energy Finance — the past year brought a rebound of green energy investments worldwide... [Read More]

Algenol has joined the US Secretary of Energy, Ernest Moniz, and the US Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker, on a business development mission to China. Algenol joins a team which also includes the likes of GE, Southern Company, Honeywell, Praxair, Alcoa and Lockheed Martin. 'The companies selected [...] are key reminders that, through world class innovation of US companies,... [Read More]

Biofuel manufacturer Viridis Fuels will receive a $3.4 million (€3.15 million) grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC) to build and operate a biodiesel production plant in Oakland. The funding is part of more than $83.7 million in grants and loans that the CEC has approved for 46 renewable projects, ranging from a plant that converts forest waste to electricity... [Read More]

Biodiesel sales activity is accelerating in India with travel bus operators who cater to the tourism industry, says California-headquartered advanced renewable fuels and biochemicals company Ametis. Aemetis has expanded sales activity since the Government of India allowed biodiesel manufacturers to sell to customers directly. India's diesel market is estimated at 25 billion... [Read More]

In the April edition of its Short-Term Energy Outlook, released on 7 April, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) says that ethanol production was around 944,000 barrels per day (bpd) in March 2015. This is a drop from the all-time high 1 million bpd recorded in December 2014. Ethanol production averaged 935,000 bpd last year, and EIA expects it to average 944... [Read More]

On 2 April, shortly after 6pm, a fire broke out at the REG Geismar biorefinery in Louisiana, US. The fire was contained within a few hours and completely extinguished at approximately 11pm. Two employees were injured. An assessment and investigation into the cause of the fire and the damage to the facility is ongoing and the biorefinery will remain shut down until these... [Read More]

PureVision Technology, a Colorado, US-based biorefinery developer, will scale up its biorefining technology at an industrial site in Boardman, Oregon owned by biorefinery developer ZeaChem. PureVision's patented biorefining technology takes in raw biomass, such as corn stalks, wheat straw and industrial hemp, and produces sugars, pulp, lignin and other value-added materials... [Read More]

Agricultural biotechnology company Ceres has announced that its biotech sugarcane traits have been advanced to the next stage of testing ahead of schedule due to positive data from initial field evaluations under tropical conditions in Latin America. Leading product candidates are currently being multiplied for wider-scale field evaluations which are scheduled to begin... [Read More]

In Canada, renewable energy company Methes Energies has received an initial payment of C$250,000 (€184,000) for the sale of a Denami 600 biodiesel processor and a PP-MEC pre-treatment system to be installed in Havelock, Ontario. Additional scheduled payments are due in the near future upon shipment and installation of the equipment and the balance is due when the... [Read More]

Tenaska, an independent energy company, has acquired the assets of Clinton County Bio Energy (CCBE) in Clinton, Iowa from a local group of investors. Ocean Park Advisors (OPA) acted as exclusive financial advisor to CCBE on the sale transaction. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The assets include a 10 MGPY biodiesel refinery in Clinton, Iowa that... [Read More]

Under a recently signed commercial agreement, Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy (SIRE) will begin using Syngenta's Enogen corn enzyme technology at its Council Bluffs ethanol production facility in Iowa, US, following the 2015 harvest. SIRE is a dry-mill grain processing facility that consumes more than 40 million bushels of corn to produce more than 125 million gallons... [Read More]

In Washington, ethanol and agriculture industry groups have written a letter to the House Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA, and Related Programs Committee on Appropriations to advocate for continued funding of US blender pump initiatives and US export promotion efforts. The letter countered a request led by Representatives Bob Goodlatte, Peter Welch,... [Read More]

The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) is calling for the EPA to stay its recent decision to streamline Argentinian biodiesel imports to the US under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) pending public review and comment. In a petition filed 30 March with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Gina McCarthy, NBB cited the lack of public comment on the EPA decision... [Read More]