News

Medford Township Public Schools, a community public school district in Medford, New Jersey, has been celebrating twenty years of using biodiesel in its fleet of school buses. Medford is the nation’s longest continuous user of biodiesel in a student transportation fleet, according to US trade body National Biodiesel Board (NBB). The school district’s use of biodiesel has eliminated…
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The trade association is trying to increase public awareness of the biofuel’s benefits while Canada’s future environmental policy is up for debate.   Called ‘The Fact’s Don’t Lie’ ad campaign, the group is promoting the expedient aspects of the technology. In a press release, they describe it as “the fastest and easiest way to reduce greenhouse gases…
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China will invest 2.5 trillion yuan ($361 billion) into renewable power generation by 2020, as it moves away from coal to renewable energy.  The investment will create more than 13 million jobs in the sector, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said in a document that lays out its plan to develop the nation's energy sector during the five-year 2016 to 2020 period. The NEA said installed…
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Scott Pruitt, US President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be the leader of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), says he is committed to biofuels, but remains open for tweaks. The Oklahoma Attorney General said during his Congressional confirmation hearing on Wednesday that he will honour the Congress’ plan to increase the amount of renewable fuels in petroleum fuels. Pruitt said…
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A Washington man was sentenced this week for laundering more than $39 million for a company that bilked federal programs supporting renewable energy, according to Tri-City Herald. Richard Estes, 77, was part of a conspiracy involving Pasco-based Gen-X Energy Group. US District Court Judge Salvador Mendoza, Jr. sentenced him to eight years and nine months in prison after Estes previously pleaded…
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The Rwandan government is abandoning a $35 million (€33m) biodiesel pilot project, according to a report in The East African. Officials of the National Industrial Research and Development Agency (NIRDA) told Rwanda Today that the government decided to ditch the project after realising it was not viable. NIRDA director-general Joseph Mungarurire cites difficulty in finding raw…
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Finnish renewable diesel specialist Neste has said its product has helped its users to replace conventional diesel and reduce carbon emissions by 6.7 million tonnes in 2016. The amount equals the permanent removal of 2.4 million passenger cars from the roads for one full year. Neste has labelled its product as a low-carbon renewable diesel made from reined renewable raw material. "With Neste MY…
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A farmers’ cooperative in Iowa, USA, has staged a demonstration in the state to convince more farmers to switch to biodiesel. The United Farmers Cooperative, based in the town of Afton, compared two trucks head to head to highlight the benefits of biodiesel. One of the trucks was fuelled with a 5% blend of biodiesel (B5), the other with a 20% blend (B20). The results fell convincingly in…
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Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denounced the European Parliament Resolution on Palm Oil and Deforestation of Rainforests, describing it as ‘discriminative’. In addition, the ministry claims the EU decision was based on “inaccurate and unaccountable data”, accusing it of being a protectionist move contradicting the EU’s role as an advocate of open,…
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Singapore Airlines (SIA), in partnership with the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), has started operating a series of 12 biofuels-powered flights over a three-month period on its non-stop San Francisco-Singapore route.  Featuring SIA’s latest-generation and most fuel-efficient aircraft – the Airbus A350-900 - the ‘green package’ flights are the first in…
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Pacific Biodiesel Technologies is expected to begin the first harvest of its Maui sunflower biofuel crop this month, once the flowers have fully matured, according to Lahaina News. The company has recently taken delivery of a combine harvester, purchased from a family farm in northern California, which will be used to mechanically harvest the sunflowers and other oil and grain crops. The…
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Andrew Murfin, general manager at Shell’s Advanced Biofuels division, has become the latest in a long line of people to declare that he will be taking part in this year’s Biofuels International Conference. Murfin joined Alternative Energies in 2009 and was appointed GM Advanced Biofuels at the beginning of 2013. In his current role, he has global accountability for the delivery of an…
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Rayeman Elements is expanding its business to include a biofuels division, intended to deliver a ‘bolt-on’ technology for the production of biodiesel at existing ethanol plants. It is hoped that this technology will allow ethanol facilities to diversify their product offerings, in turn increasing the value of their corn oil stream and expanding their advanced biofuels offerings. Saola…
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A team of scientists from Arizona State University are working to break through the innovation bottleneck for renewable bioproduction of fuels and chemicals, to create a renewable biofuel technology that would lead to a cheaper alternative to gasoline. Reed Cartwright and Xuan Wang have focused on the manipulation of microbes as biocatalysts to convert biomass such as agricultural wastes and even…
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