News

Newly published research has demonstrated the importance of microbial communities as a source of stable enzymes that could be used to convert plants to biofuels. The research was carried out by scientists from the Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) based at Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory. The findings have been published in the journal Nature Microbiology, and…
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Hawaiian Electric Company and Pacific Biodiesel Technologies have reached a new agreement for the Maui-based biofuel company to supply biodiesel processed from recycled waste cooking oil and other local feedstocks for the 50-MW Schofield Generating Station, 8-MW Honolulu International Airport Emergency Power Facility, and other O’ahu generation facilities as needed. The three-year renewable…
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CPL Industries, a well-known manufacturer and supplier of smokeless fuels and other carbon‐based products, has announced plans to install a commercial‐scale HTC facility at its production site in Immingham, North Lincolnshire, UK. This facility, scheduled to begin production in mid‐2018, will be the first commercial‐scale example of this technology, developed by CPL’s Spanish…
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Current methods to make aviation more sustainable, including subsidies for biofuels, will not be enough to meet climate targets, according to a PhD student from Delft University in the Netherlands. Paul Peeters, who has completed his PhD on the sustainability of the aviation sector, concludes that climate targets will not be reached without a ‘severe reduction’ in growth. According to…
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Austria-based plant engineering company BDI has been awarded a new contract to help build a biodiesel plant for Crimson Renewable Energy in the US. The plant will be recycling waste oils and fats into high-quality biodiesel using patented BDI RepCAT technology. Crimson claims to be the largest biodiesel producer in California. A year after the successful commissioning of two new major subsystems…
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India-headquartered Sona Group has announced that it has beefed up the production at its Nigeria-based ethanol plant, according to media reports from Business Day. The website reported that Sona ethanol will producing 120,000 litres daily, approximately 43.8 million litres per annum at its plant in Ogun state. The Sona ethanol plant which is located at Sango-Ota is expected to feed Nigeria as…
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Trade associations representing key players in Europe’s energy transition have urged policymakers to take a step-wise approach towards the market integration of small-scale renewable and high efficiency cogeneration installations. Whilst the European institutions are negotiating the recast of the Electricity Market Design Regulation, the signatories of the declaration have recently launched…
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US cellulosic and biorefining company Edeniq has joined forces with other biofuels stakeholders in Washington, DC, to call for Members of Congress to maintain “strong” 2018 cellulosic targets under the renewable fuel standard (RFS). The group recently met with key Members of Congress to explain why it was “critical that the 2018 cellulosic annual renewable volume obligation…
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Global emissions of CO2 in 2017 are projected to rise for the first time in four years, dashing hopes that a peak might soon be reached, according to new research from UK-based Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. The main cause of the expected growth has been greater use of coal in China as its economy expanded. The report points out that China’s growth in fossil emissions will rise…
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Ramkumar Nair, a Sweden-based doctoral student at the University of Borås, has carried out a research project to show it is possible to produce bioethanol from agricultural and industrial waste in existing plants in a socioeconomically sustainable way. “I have been verifying a process that we hope will work in an industrial scale, when it comes to using existing ethanol…
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Abengoa, the Spanish-based infrastructure, energy and water specialist, has announced that it will be helping to build a facility that will produce biofuels from municipal solid waste in the US with gasification technology. The news comes as Fulcrum BioEnergy recently announced that it had successfully reached financial closure for the project – a prerequisite for the commencement of…
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US advanced biofuels and biochemicals company Aemetis said its net loss widened to $8.2 million (€6.4 million) for the third quarter of 2017 from $4.1 million the previous year. The company published its financial results for 30 September, 2017. During the third quarter of 2017, year over year revenues for North America increased to $36 million from $33.9 million, while year over year…
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Carl Icahn has been subpoenaed by the US Justice Department in relation to his efforts to overhaul the US biofuels programme while an unpaid advisor to President Trump, according to Reuters. A securities filling from Icahn’s company, Icahn Enterprises, revealed the court summons, Reuters reports. Earlier this year, a great deal of controversy was caused by Icahn’s role as both a…
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The use of biodiesel and bioethanol in Germany avoided creating around 7.3 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in Germany in 2016, according to a new report from Federal Agency for Food and Agriculture (BLE). Biofuels consumed in Germany emits on average 77% less greenhouse gases than fossil fuels or diesel. The report highlighted that the share of waste and residual materials in the raw materials…
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