News

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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April 20, Ireland’s Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment published a policy statement confirming its intention to increase the biofuel obligation to 10% from 1 January 2019 and to 11% in 2020. Ireland’s Biofuels Obligation Scheme requires suppliers of road transport fuel to ensure a certain proportion of the fuel that they place on the market is…
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Renewable Identification Numbers produced at Velocys’ ENVIA Energy plant have been verified by an independent third party auditor. Auditing company Weaver has delivered the verification under the Quality Assurance Program approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Provided the Oklahoma City located ENVIA plant continues operating within the required efficiency range, it is expected…
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The International Trade Commission (ITC) has voted that unfairly dumped biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia have unfairly harmed US industry. ITC voted 4 – 0 in favour of the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) Fair Trade Coalition’s position that the industry has suffered because of the imports. According to NBB, the ITC decision means antidumping orders can be issued later in…
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The three smallest of Andeavor’s ten oil refineries are now exempt from US biofuels legislation. The ‘hardship’ waiver is meant to protect smaller refiners from being disproportionately impacted by the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Last year, Andeavor posted $1.5 billion in net profits. The exemption allows Andeavor to disregard legislation requiring it to blend ethanol into…
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Scientists have created a genetically modified yeast that could quicken the path towards synthetic yeasts for a number of industrial applications, including the creation of bioethanol. The Tufts University researchers have created a yeast that can more efficiently consume xylose, in turn enabling the yeast to grow faster and to higher cell densities, according to their study, published in the…
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The US trade association is calling out the EPA following court approval of the agency’s settlement with the bankrupt refiner Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) and its granting of a ‘small refiner’ waiver for refining giant Andeavor. Damage to the environment and to agricultural communities are among Growth Energy’s complaints about these exemptions from the Renewable…
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Researchers at the National University of Singapore have identified a species of bacteria that converts cellulose into biobutanol, a replacement for petrol. The scientists first discovered and cultivated the bacterium in 2015 by isolating it from mushroom crop residue. The team claims that producing biofuels with the microorganism could replace traditional processes for producing biofuels due to…
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A new, £5 million project is set to develop the bioeconomy across Yorkshire, the Humber region and the Tees Valley in the north of England. Dubbed the THYME (Teesside, Hull and York - Mobilising Bioeconomy Knowledge Exchange) project, the three year initiative is being led by the University of York. It’s aiming to ‘build on’ expertise and innovation in the…
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The UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has published its Energy Trends data for 2017. The report includes in depth statistics on the country’s biofuels industry. According to the report, overall biofuel consumption in transport was down 0.5% on the previous year, falling from 1,467 million litres to 1,460 million litres. However, year on year, biofuel…
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