News

Two technologies that could allow cars and trucks to run on seaweed biofuel are currently being developed by the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The projects have received a combined $2.5 million (€2 million) in funding from the DOE. Macroalgae, to give seaweed its technical name, is most commonly grown for human consumption. However,…
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Researchers in the US have developed a method to convert a biofuel waste product into a ‘usable and valuable commodity’. Published in the journal Bioresources Technology, the research by scientists from Washington State University (WSU) and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) could drastically change the economic viability of algae biofuels. The conversion of algae to…
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Speciality chemicals producer Clariant has announced approval from its board of directors to invest in a new full-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Romania. When complete, the new facility will produce cellulosic ethanol from agricultural residues using sunliquid technology. With an annual production capacity of 50,000 tonnes, the facility will be a flagship site to demonstrate the…
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Britain’s power supply is now the seventh cleanest in the world after climbing 13 places in a global league table, according to a new Electric Insights report. The report was  produced by researchers at Imperial College London, who in collaboration with power giant Drax, compared the carbon content of electricity supplies across various large countries between 2012 and 2016. They said…
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100 members of the US National Biodiesel Board (NBB) headed to Washington DC on 28 November to participate in the biannual ‘fly-in' to the country’s capital. According to a statement, NBB members plan to ‘storm the hill’ to encourage the reinstatement of the biodiesel tax credit that expired in December 2016. The NBB is the US trade association representing the biodiesel…
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US President Barack Obama has urged the US to take bolder action in tackling climate change in his last presidential speech. In his farewell address, delivered on 10 January in Chicago, Obama  said: “We’ve  led the world to an agreement that has the promise to save this planet.  But without bolder action, our children won’t have time to debate the existence of…
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A Hawaii renewable energy company is planning to export biofuels to a South Korean company that supplies electricity to the island nation. According to West Hawaii Today, Hawaii-based Lamplighter Energy in Hawaii will announce the agreement with Hanbo Energy Korea at the state Capitol next week Tuesday (31 January, 2017). Lamplighter CEO Andre De Rosa said the company will export biofuel in…
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The Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, has said that biofuels would soon become the West African country’s foreign exchange earner, if “we can apply both our mind and might into it”. According to local newspaper Leadership, Kachikwu made the statement at a sensitisation workshop on biofuels development in Nigeria with the theme, ‘Biofuels:…
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Spanish ethanol producer Abengoa has announced a €7.6 billion loss for 2016, six times more than the previous year, as the multinational attempts to restructure. Abengoa shareholders last year approved a €1.17 billion rescue package from banks and investment funds, following years of frenzied, unsustainable expansion worldwide. The company has recently published its 2016 financial…
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Indonesia plans to file a World Trade Organisation (WTO) complaint this month against European Union anti-dumping duties on biodiesel exports from the Southeast Asian country, according to a report from Reuters. Indonesian trade officials said in a statement the EU duties on biodiesel were inconsistent with the WTO's Anti-Dumping Agreement and disputed the calculations that they were…
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A Ph.D. organic chemist and a sailboat captain report that they are developing a process to reuse certain plastics, transforming them from worthless trash into a valuable diesel fuel with a small mobile reactor. They envision the technology could someday be implemented globally on land and possibly placed on boats to convert ocean waste plastic into fuel to power the vessels. The researchers…
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Falling oil prices mean it is no longer viable to produce biofuels in Mozambique, according to an official with the country’s Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy. In an interview with the Mozambican newspaper O País, the ministry’s deputy national director of Hydrocarbons and Energy, Almirante Dima, described the production of biofuels from jatropha as…
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A new breakthrough could allow 720,000 tonnes of biodiesel to be produced each year from spent coffee grounds. Lancaster University researchers say that the high calorific value of coffee waste could be exploited with a more efficient technique than at present, producing a greener, commercially competitive biofuel. As well as reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, the breakthrough could address…
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The global energy transition needs to speed up in order to tackle climate change, according to industry experts. The energy revolution will also not be “smooth” and will be driven largely by disruptive consumers as they run towards decentralised generation. That was the overall conclusion theme reached by energy professionals during the first session of yesterday’s (24 May,2017)…
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