News

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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EU sugar and renewable ethanol producers, sugar beet farmers and workers have called for no concessions on sugar and ethanol in the EU-Mercosur negotiations between the European Union and Brazil. Globally, Brazil is the largest producer and exporter of sugar, and the second largest producer and exporter of ethanol. It is also the single biggest beneficiary of EU trade concessions on sugar,…
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Motorists are backing E10 fuel, according to a new poll. A survey of over 25,000 motorists by Fair Fuel UK, the ‘independent voice of UK drivers’, revealed that over 82% of motorists supported the Government promoting E10 – a more environmentally friendly fuel consisting of 10% ethanol blended with petrol – as a method of lowering transport emissions. Within the sample,…
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Algal biofuel production is “neither environmentally nor commercially sustainable”, claims a marine biologist from Swansea University in an article appearing on The Conversation. Professor Kevin Flynn claims the hype surrounding the potential of third-generation algal biofuel has been ‘misplaced’. He notes that millions of dollars and euros have been spent on trying to…
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US based HelioBioSys has patented a group of three single celled, algae like organisms that, when grown together, produce high quantities of sugar just right for making biofuels. Sandia National Laboratories is now working with HelioBioSys to determine whether farming the organisms on a large scale would be successful. HelioBioSys works with organisms called cyanobacteria, which for centuries…
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Renewable fuels company Velocys has entered into a partnership to prepare the business case for a commercial scale waste-to-renewable-jet fuel plant in the UK. Velocys will lead the initial feasibility stage of the project, with funding support from all members of the partnership. Subject to successful completion of the feasibility stage and all the required development stages, the aim is to…
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