News

The City of San Leandro, a suburban city in Alameda County, California has switched all municipal vehicles from using petroleum diesel to only running on Neste MY Renewable Diesel. Neste MY Renewable Diesel is a low-carbon fuel produced from renewable and sustainable raw materials. Neste says its diesel cuts greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80% while enhancing fleet performance. Neste MY…
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Reuters is reporting that Marathon Petroleum, the second biggest refiner in the United States, has asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to waive their ethanol blending obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). RFS waivers can save companies tens of millions of dollars. The request came in the form of a ‘hardship waiver’ application. These waivers are meant to…
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Reuters is reporting that Indonesia is planning increase its biodiesel mandate from its current rate of 20% to 25% from 2019. The move is meant to increase palm oil consumption and cut fuel imports. According to 2015 legislation, Indonesia is to increase its biofuel mandate to 30% in 2020. Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of palm oil, a product that features in dozens of consumer…
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The US National Biodiesel Board (NBB) has submitted a Freedom of Information Act Request in a bid to shed light on small refiner exemptions requested and issued under the Renewable Fuel Standard. In recent months the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has relieved two struggling oil refiners of their obligations under the US renewable fuel standard. In March, it was agreed that Philadelphia…
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Brazilian researchers have improved the understanding of how enzymes breakdown biomass to improve their modification. The scientists hope that the research will lead to advances in enzymes used in the biofuels industry. Researchers at the University of Campinas in Brazil, with colleagues from Rio de Janeiro State University, have published a study furthering our understanding of the biological…
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ePure (the European renewable ethanol association) is calling for the EU to adopt a policy that encourages domestic production of sustainable biofuels. The move follows two decisions by the EU Parliament, one to promote protein crops for animal feed (to ease demand for feed from South America) and one to meet the emission reductions agreed to under the Paris agreement. The association says that…
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A project called Biogo-for-Production has developed new nanocatalysts to create an integrated modular and highly efficient process for producing fuels from renewable energy sources. The researchers focused on the development of advanced nanocatalysts, coupled with advanced reactor concepts to realise modular, highly efficient, integrated processes for the production of fuels from renewable…
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Researchers at Stanford and other institutions have found a new way to implement cost-effective carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). The study runs the numbers on different options for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the US and found opportunities where they say it is not only commercially feasible with existing technology, but profitable. "We found that between tax credits for…
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UPM Biofuels has received the ‘world’s first’ RSB (Roundtable of Sustainable Biomaterials) low ILUC (indirect land use change) risk certification. Specifically, the RSB low ILUC risk certificate has been received for crude tall oil, the feedstock used at UPM BioVerno renewable fuels production at the Lappeenranta biorefinery in Finland. The certification also covers UPM’s…
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The new pre-treatment unit passes first production tests required to supply BP Singapore under a three-year feedstock supply agreement.   Aemetis announced 25 April that its subsidiary Universal Biofuels has completed the production of high quality, distilled biodiesel from lower quality, high free fatty acid (FFA) waste feedstock using its recently constructed pre-treatment unit at a…
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Reuters is reporting that a refinery owned by billionaire and former Trump advisor Carl Icahn has received a waiver freeing it from its obligations under the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). The waiver will allow the refinery to save millions of dollars on what would otherwise be used to blend biofuels into its products or buy renewable identification numbers (RINs) from those who do to…
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Eighteen senators have signed a letter calling for Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt to allow 15% ethanol blends to be sold all year. The politicians asked for a timeline of the rulemaking process to clarify how the agency will permit E15 wholesale. They also asked to allow E15 to be sold while that process happens. Currently, the agency regulates the Reid vapour…
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Reuters is reporting that Poet has overtaken the grain merchant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) in global fuel ethanol production. While both companies had production capacities around 1.8 billion gallons previously, Poet has grown its capacity to 1.9 billion and ADM has reduced to 1.6 billion. The wire service says that the change reflects the companies’ diverging strategies to address…
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The Advanced Biofuels Association (ABFA) has asked the US Court of Appeals in Washington DC to decide whether the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) broke the law by granting Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) waivers to an increasing number of small refineries. The petition specifically called for a review of the EPA’s “decision to modify the criteria or lower the threshold by which…
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