News

Reuters is reporting that the European Commission has proposed reinstating anti-subsidy duties on imports of Argentine biodiesel. A surge in biodiesel shipments from Latin America into the EU has threatened the industry and pushed the proposed renewal from the European Commission, Reuters claims, citing an EU document seen by the publication’s journalists. The latest development marks…
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REINPLUS FIWADO Bunker and GoodFuels Marine have entered into a partnership, meaning GoodFuels marine advanced biofuels are now available at the port of Rotterdam. The partnership, which aims to make European inland shipping more sustainable, will also see GoodFuels Marine biofuels available along inland shipping routes in the Netherlands through the REINPLUS FIWADO Bunker network. REINPLUS…
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The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) based out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) is moving from the development of crop-based ethanol to creating fuels and chemicals that are fungible with their petroleum-based equivalents. The change was announced at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Austin, Texas by the centre’s…
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The US Department of Energy Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkley Lab) have discovered an enzyme that enables the production of a renewable alternative to toluene, a petroleum-based octane booster in gasoline that sells 29 million tons per year. According to the researchers, the enzyme enables the production of aromatic hydrocarbon biofuel from…
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The Pasadena Fire Department has switched over ‘much of its fleet apparatus’ from operating on petroleum diesel to using Neste MY Renewable Diesel. At present, the fire department operates one truck, four engines and four rescue ambulances on renewable diesel, and plans to transition the rest of its apparatus by 2019. According to Neste, its MY Renewable Diesel, produced from 100%…
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In Porto Marghera, Italy, Eni has started collecting used cooking oil (UCO) from the homes of its employees to be used as feedstock for advanced biofuels. According to the Italian oil and gas giant, it is the first company in the world to take a traditional refinery and successfully transform it into a biorefinery using proprietary technology. The move to start collecting UCO forms part of a…
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French biodiesel producer Avril’s plants are running at full capacity for the first time since June, according to Reuters. However, the company’s CEO says it could soon be pushed back to part-time operation due to Argentine imports. The boost in production is explained by strong oil prices and a surge in biodiesel demand, Reuters reports. Avril is Europe’s largest biodiesel…
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Wilmar International has said that the implementation of the biodiesel programme in Indonesia has proven that there should be no concern that the use of biodiesel will affect vehicle engines.   After concerns were raised by Malaysian hauliers and automotive manufacturers on the implementation of the biodiesel programme in Malaysia, Wilmar International’s country head in Indonesia,…
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Environmental and conservation groups have filed a petition with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) alleging it has ‘illegally’ allowed millions of acres of wildlife habitat to be converted into corn and soybean crops since the implementation of biofuel mandates in the US in 2007. The petition follows a report EPA itself submitted to Congress, revealing vast habitat loss…
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A technology to produce biofuel within ‘mobile production units’ has been developed by scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Microengineering and Microsystems (IMM). 12 research groups from the European Union’s Biogo project were involved in the development. The technology itself uses ingredients from local forests. “Wood waste and tree bark are available in great…
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Texas-based fuel producer Benefuel announced that they have begun a site search in Canada after British Columbia’s recently publicised climate change plan included an expanded ‘Low Carbon Fuel Standard’ incentivising biofuel producers. According to a press release, the initiative has ‘assisted’ Benefuel in prioritising its expansion efforts, given that British…
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In a Thursday 1 February interview with Fox News, US Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt said that the country’s biofuel policy was in need of an overhaul. The EPA administrator’s comments were in response to the recent bankruptcy of Philadelphia Energy Solutions, the largest oil refiner on the East Coast. When announcing its bankruptcy, the oil refiner pointed…
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The project will see the co-generation of fuel and power, and comes as part of a wider push to industrialise Nigeria’s agriculture. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Kogi State Government for the development of a cane-fed bioethanol plant. Kogi is a region about 200km south of Nigeria’s capital, Abuja. This…
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New insights into how plants build cellulose could have import implications for the production of biofuels, according to new research from Penn State University. "Cellulose is the single most abundant biopolymer on earth," said Ying Gu, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State and senior author of the paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of…
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