News

US advanced biofuels company Gevo announced that its alcohol-to-jet fuel (ATJ) derived from renewable isobutanol is being used today by eight commercial airlines for Fly Green Day, sponsored by the O'Hare Fuel Committee, at Chicago O'Hare International Airport.   This event is the first time renewable jet fuel has been supplied at Chicago O'Hare using the existing airport fueling…
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Germany-based engine specialist DEUTZ has approved the latest generation of its entire TCD engine range for operation with alternative fuels, including paraffinic diesel fuels and biodiesel or biodiesel blends. This will make a further significant reduction to the carbon footprint of combustion engines and even raises the prospect of running such engines on a carbon-neutral basis, according to…
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An innovative gene editing technique could allow algae to produce ‘vast’ quantities of renewable fuels, new research claims. The method, developed by scientists at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, could lead to cheap ways of producing fuels, medicine, and products to be used in the cosmetics, food and plastics industries. Using CRISPR molecules, which can ‘cut’…
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Crude oil prices ended the 2016 year above $50 per barrel, according to figures from the US Energy Information Administration. Although the annual average West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil price in 2016 was $43/b—down $5/b from 2015—the WTI price ended 2016 at $53/b, $16/b higher than at the end of 2015. Similarly, Brent ended the year up $17 from the end of 2015, at $54/b, but…
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The Prince of Wales has urged world leaders that the strategy to address climate change “must be urgently scaled up, and scaled up now”. In the foreword for a new Ladybird book that he has co-authored on the subject, he said that long-term weather patterns were the greatest threat to the planet. The Penguin-produced book entitled Climate Change will be published next week.  In…
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US ethanol exports to China, which were at an all-time high in 2016, are likely to dry up in the coming year thanks to a 30% import tariff, industry sources told Platts. “You’re not going to get the trade flow to happen,” an analyst at a biofuels trading company told the energy market information provider. “You’re not going to be able to export there.” China…
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Overall global biofuel output is projected to reach 67 billion gallons per year (BGY) by 2022, from the 59 billion gallons achieved in 2016. According to a fresh market report by Lux Research, new biofuel technology is “finally” starting to push aside traditional biofuels, such as first-generation biodiesel. New facilities based on non-food feedstocks and producing novel fuels account…
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US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt has said that he does not believe carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming. "I think that measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something very challenging to do and there's tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact, so no, I would not agree that it's a primary contributor to the…
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Investigators believe they have found the source of the mystery biodiesel spill in the Columbia River. Last week US officials confirmed that biodiesel had leaked into the Columbia River somewhere close to Wenatchee, Washington. Exactly where the spill originated remained a mystery, however. A coordinated investigation by state and federal authorities has now identified Coleman Oil, a fuelling…
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A London-based investment firm Pioneer Point Partners has confirmed in a letter of intent that it is ready to invest up to €160 million in Denmark-based Maabjerg Energy Center’s bioethanol plant. The plant will be based in Western Jutland, Denmark, and create around 1,000 jobs. In a statement, Maabjerg said that Pioneer will invest in the plant if it gets a precondition that the…
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The largest port in Europe, the Port of Rotterdam, has announced an increase in the throughput of biofuels through the port over the past year. The total throughput volume rose to 4.8 million tonnes – an increase of over 6% compared to 2015. The strongest growth in the past year was recorded in the biodiesel segment, which increased by 23% to 3.5 million tonnes. The port handled 1.1 million…
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The Conservative party has published its 2017 manifesto. The pledges on energy and fuel supply from the incumbent party and bookies’ favourite for the upcoming general election paint an ambiguous picture, focusing on the targets and outcomes of energy production rather than the means. “After we have left the European Union, we will form our energy policy based not on the way energy is…
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Breaking apart polysaccharides such as starches and cellulose in a cost-effective way is one of the biggest challenges facing biofuels scientists. Now, a team of scientists from the Los Alamos National Laboratory has mapped the three-dimensional structure of a protein that breaks down the enzyme, something which could lead to a drastic reduction in the costs of biofuel production. The research…
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Alliance BioEnergy Plus has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, AMG Energy Group, has entered into a sublicensing agreement with California-based Earth's Renewable Energy. The sublicense agreement permits Earth's Renewable Energy to use the company's patented cellulose to sugar (CTS) technology at a soon-to-be-built plant in Bakersfield, California. Alliance BioEnergy Plus is a…
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