News

Finnish renewable diesel producer Neste has posted a 6% rise in full-year operating profit to €983 million, compared to €925 million in 2015, helped by strong demand for its renewable products. In its 2016 full-year financial statement, the company stated that its renewable products business recorded a full-year comparable operating profit of €469m, compared to €402m in…
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Growth Energy has released economic analysis that it says “identifies numerous problems” associated with changing the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) point of obligation. The US ethanol trade body strongly supports EPA’s proposed denial to move the point of obligation. “Changing the point of obligation would have a disastrous impact on the industry, retailers, and…
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Spanish ethanol producer Abengoa has agreed to sell its bioethanol operations in Spain and France to private equity company Trilantic Europe for €140m. The bioethanol plants are located in the Spanish locations of Cartagena, La Coruña and Salamanca, and the France-based Lacq. The deal value includes debt to be assumed by the buyer, as well as the minority interests. The transaction is…
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Growth Energy, a trade association for US ethanol producers and supporters, welcomed Bushmills Ethanol as its newest member. Bushmills Ethanol is located in Atwater, Minnesota and produces 49 million gallons of ethanol per year. In response to the announcement, Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor, said: “Growth Energy’s membership is comprised of men and women who are passionate about…
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Enerkem, a Canadian waste-to-biofuels and renewable chemicals producer, has received the lowest carbon intensity value ever issued by the British Colombia Ministry of Energy and Mines. The award was given for Enerkem’s second generation ethanol product, under the Renewable and Low Carbon Fuel Requirements Regulation. The carbon intensity of Enerkem’s waste-based ethanol has been set…
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Biorefineries can deliver a major boost to the economies of rural areas, attracting capital investment and creating industry led employment, according to a new research report. Through 2016, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences conducted a pioneering research project to explore the socio-economic impact of a fully operation biorefinery on a rural community within the EU. The study, conducted at the…
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Second-generation biofuels made from managed trees and perennial grasses may provide a sustainable fuel resource, according to newly published research. A team from the universities of Oklahoma and Pittsburgh investigated the full life cycle of second generation biofuel produced from short-rotation oak, in order to check if it really offered greenhouse gas emission reductions relative to…
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MEP Bas Eickhout has proposed sweeping reforms to EU legislation regarding bioenergy and biofuels. They come amid the Dutch politician’s proposals for increasing the EU’s renewable energy share target for 2030 from 27% to 45%. "The entire energy sector must be sustainable by 2040 one hundred percent." Eickhout said, according to Groen Links. Just as significantly, he stressed the…
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Members of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) and Iowa Biodiesel Board (IBB) have gone to Capitol Hill in Washington to urge Iowa’s Congressional delegation to keep fighting for a reformed biodiesel tax incentive. The two biodiesel bodies claim that the changes to the incentive would save US taxpayers money and also encourage domestic job creation and energy security. Recently,…
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MEP Sean Kelly, the lead negotiator for the largest group in the European Parliament on the Renewable Energy Directive, has heavily criticised the European Commission’s proposal to phase out conventional biofuels made from food or feed crops. Proposed changes to the Renewable Energy Directive, dubbed ‘RED II’, would see a gradual phase out of crop-based biofuels such as ethanol…
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Nine EU Member States have asked the European Commission (EC) for permission to pollute above national limits set in EU law, according to the European Environmental Bureau (EBB). Austria, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Ireland and Luxembourg have all asked for the limits that should have been met in 2015 to be raised so that they no longer appear to have breached them. The…
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The UK government has proclaimed that high environmental standards will be maintained post Brexit. The Brexit paper entitled ‘Future customs arrangements: A future partnership paper’ details the UK government’s aspirations for the UK’s future customs arrangements. As the UK leaves the European Union and therefore the EU Customs Union, the government is seeking a new…
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A quirk in US federal gasoline volatility regulations means E15 sales to non-flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) are usually halted from 1 June to 15 September. However, Hurricane Harvey means E15 sales have returned earlier than usual. The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) reports that in response to gasoline supply shortfalls and price hikes resulting from the devastation caused by Hurricane…
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Scientists in the US have discovered that plant leaves retaining sugars ‘get fat’, something which could increase their biofuel and biochemical potential. The team from the US Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have worked to turn this fat accumulation into higher oil production in the leaves. With leaves more abundant and accessible than seeds, this could…
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