News

US ethanol exports were off to a strong start for the first quarter of the 2016/2017 marketing year and were at their highest levels over the past five years. Exports totaled 353.2 million gallons for the months of September, October, and November 2016, according to data recently released by the US Department of Agriculture’s Global Agricultural Trade System (GATS). Brazil, Canada, and…
Read More »

The US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2017 biofuels programme faces a temporary halt as President Trump’s regulatory freeze kicks in this week (25 January, 2017). US regulators will delay implementation of this year's biofuels requirements along with 29 other regulations finalised in the last weeks of Barack Obama's presidency, according to a government notice. Last year, the…
Read More »

In a historic first, Global Bioenergies has announced the production of ETBE from renewable resources. The breakthrough heralds a new opportunity for increasing the proportion of biofuels in gasoline, according to the French renewable fuels company. Current standards limit the inclusion of traditional biofuels because of their physical and chemical properties. For example, the French standard…
Read More »

More than two thirds of citizens in EU Member States have a positive attitude towards plant-based biofuels, a Europe-wide opinion poll has revealed. According to the poll, commissioned by the European Renewable Ethanol Association (ePure), 69% of the consumers surveyed in the 28 EU Member States think the use of biofuels should be encouraged, with 15% opposed and 16% with no opinion on the…
Read More »

US President Donald Trump unveiled a $1.1 trillion budget outline last week that makes good on a series of campaign promises, including cutting Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by about one-third. According to CNN, Trump’s budget director made clear the administration has no intention of going back. Asked at the White House about the cuts to climate change-related programmes,…
Read More »

Renewable diesel supplier Neste has published information about all of its crude palm oil suppliers on its website. The data provided covers the palm oil supply chain used by Neste, including all companies, mills and estates involved. Available on the Neste website’s dashboard, the new site gives information on suppliers, certification systems used by the company, and certification…
Read More »

The first US-Indonesia municipal waste-to-bioproducts project, known as JababECO, is officially underway after US vice president Mike Pence participated in a ceremony in Jakarta celebrating the signing of multiple Memorandums of Understanding. Indonesian vice president Jusuf Kalla, Greenbelt Resources CEO Darren Eng and Jababeka Infrastruktur director Tjahjadi Rahardja were also in attendance at…
Read More »

Diesel and petrol cars will disappear from the roads within eight years, according to a new report. The report “Rethinking Transportation 2020-2030: The Disruption of Transportation and the Collapse of the Internal-Combustion Vehicle and Oil Industries,” was released earlier in May by San Francisco think tank RethinkX. It was written by venture investor James Arbib…
Read More »

Indian union minister Nitin Gadkari will urge the country’s finance minister to reduce the goods and services tax (GST) rates on cars that run on biodiesel, as well as hybrid vehicles, according to Times of India’s The Economic Times. GST rates announced last week would see hybrid cars and biodiesel vehicles attract similar tax rates to luxury cars and SUVs. The Economic Times claims…
Read More »

The National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) has announced that it will give $500,000 in funding to Renaissance BioScience Corp (RSBC). The non-repayable contribution will support RSBC’s research and development of a proprietary, non GMO yeast strain development platform. A global yeast technology company based in Vancouver, Canada, RSBC develops…
Read More »

A new passenger train system currently under development in Florida will run on biodiesel fuel, according to the South Florida Business Journal. The Miami based company developing the Brightline train system has teamed up with Florida Power & Light Co. to use clean energy alternatives for fuel. Expected to begin operation in September, the Brightline train will run on biodiesel fuel supplied…
Read More »

Biofuels are needed to meet the UK’s commitments to mitigating climate change, according to a new report requested by the county's government. Second generation biofuels, made from wastes and by-products of other sectors, will be especially important according to the major new review of the sustainability pros and cons of biofuels by The Royal Academy of Engineering. Titled Sustainability…
Read More »

Green Plains, a Nebraska-based, US, ethanol producer, has reported a second-quarter loss for the three months ended 30 June, 2017, after profit margins collapsed amid abundant supplies. The company announced that it had a loss of $16.4 million (€13.83 million) for the second quarter compared with a net income of $8.2 million for the same period in 2016. Revenue was at $886.3 million for the…
Read More »

A German green group is pushing for court enforced diesel bans in 16 cities, according to Reuters. The news comes in the wake of prosecutors widening the investigation into German car manufacturer Volkswagen, which two years ago admitted to deliberately cheating US pollution tests. According to Reuters, the Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), a lobby group advocating a ban on polluting cars from roads,…
Read More »