Wolfgang Vogel, chairman of Union zur Förderung der Oel- und Proteinpflanzen - Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Plants (UFOP), is urging the greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction quota be increased from 3% to 4.5%. In a letter to Barbara Hendricks, German federal minister for the environment, Vogel also demanded that the obligation to reduce GHG emissions... [Read More]

AVA Biochem is looking for partners to build large-scale production plants for renewable platform chemical 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF). Production of 5-HMF started this year at the Biochem-1 facility in Muttenz, Switzerland. The company's plant, which currently has a capacity of 20 tonnes per year, can implement bulk 5-HMF, using the company's modified hydrothermal... [Read More]

For the first time, ethanol storage measurements have been included in Genscape's recently published New York Harbour Product Storage Report. Genscape, a provider of real-time data and intelligence for commodity and energy markets, has identified a 90% correlation between the petrol and distillate storage measurements in the NYH Product Storage Report and the EIA estimates... [Read More]

PV Oil, a subsidiary of state-run PetroVietnam, is planning to buy out a 71% stake in a joint venture ethanol plant in the southern province of Binh, Vietnam. The Binh Phuoc ethanol factory, built by Orient Bio Fuels, a joint venture between Itochu, PV Oil and Licogi 16, started commercial operations in early 2013, with the intention of producing up to 80,000 tonnes per... [Read More]

Boeing and Embraer are opening a joint research centre to advance a sustainable aviation biofuel industry in Brazil. Under a memorandum of understanding, the two aircraft manufacturers will carry out biofuel research together, as well as fund and coordinate research with Brazilian universities and other institutions. The research will focus on technologies that address... [Read More]

Ceres, an agricultural biotechnology and seed company, is expanding its current research activities in Jalisco, Mexico. The plant complements its product development activities in Brazil, as the company is commercialising sweet and high-biomass sorghum hybrids for use in renewable fuel and electricity production. Ceres product developers can utilise shuttle testing and... [Read More]

Agro EcoEnergy has invested $550 million (€400 million) in sugarcane farming for an ethanol project. The subsidiary of Swedish based EcoEnergy Africa AB has set up a special purpose project company, Bagamoyo EcoEnergy, to develop a modern sugarcane plantation and factory that produces sugar, ethanol and power for the Tanzanian market. The project is estimated to provide... [Read More]

Sintef scientists believe the UK's upcoming biofuels plant may influence Norway to bring the planned completion date of its jet fuel factory from 2020 to an earlier date. British Airways has been working to ensure access to biofuel, also known as biojet, for the aviation industry. The company is working with US biofuels producer Solena Fuels. On the site of the proposed... [Read More]

Brazil and Angola are teaming up to construct Angola Bio-Energy's new ethanol plant. The project, implemented for the first time in Angola, will produce approximately 260,000 tonnes of sugar and 30 million litres of ethanol, through sugarcane. The factory has capacity to use 2 million tonnes of sugarcane per year. To date, 7,000 hectares of sugarcane have been planted... [Read More]

Researchers believe catalysts could improve the biofuels production process. The deoxygenation of biomass such as corn stover or forestry waste could create a significant development in the production of biofuels. Oils produced by high-temperature treatment of these waste materials contain a large amount of oxygenated compounds that lead to undesirable properties such... [Read More]

Construction of an $800 million (€580 million) crude oil tank farm proposed by Petroplex over six years ago finally looks to be going ahead in Louisiana, US, thanks to the St. James Parish Council. The project, which includes a terminal on the Mississippi River, has received a waiver from St. James Parish's newly adopted land use plan that will allow it to proceed... [Read More]

Syngar Technologies has started two separate joint venture projects that will, together, help make the conversion of hemp to cellulosic ethanol a possibility. Syngar Technologies has licensed its Pulsed Low Ultra Sound Wave (PLUSWave) Technology, which uses ultrasound frequencies to stimulate the fermentation growth of algae, bacteria, and fungus or yeast microorganisms... [Read More]

A previously bankrupt $52.5 million (€38 million) biodiesel plant in Beatrice, Nebraska, will begin production again by summer 2015. Duonix, a joint venture between Wichita, Kansas-based Flint Hills Resources and Irving, Texas-based Benefuel, has begun assessing the preparation needed to install Benefuel's patented production process at the plant. The company announced... [Read More]

An oil storage terminal in the south of France is soon to become the country's first dedicated biodiesel hub on the Mediterranean coast. DPPLN Terminal, located between Montpellier and Barcelona, is being converted to exclusively handle biodiesel in line with European regulations which foresee continuously evolving biodiesel incorporation requirements. The 45,000m3 facility... [Read More]

Haryana, India, has opened and started operations at the state's first ethanol plant in the Panipat Cooperative Sugar Mills. US company, Geo Cam, has set up the plant with Panipat Cooperative Sugar Mills, which has a capacity of over 45,000 litres and 2.5 crore (€300,000) worth of modern technology. The mills will produce ethanol for approximately 300 days of the... [Read More]

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has denied a challenge to the 2013 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) requirements. In its ruling, the court rejected arguments made by crude refiners, Monroe Energy, based in Trainer, Pennsylvania, that the 2013 standards were invalid because the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was late in finalising the volumes... [Read More]