News

Republican senators from the corn-producing Mid-West and Oil-producing South are split over the value of the mandate. Ultimately, it comes to who pays and who is paid. On 1 December, Texas Governor Greg Abbott wrote to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Scott Pruitt asking for a year-long waiver of the Renewable Fuel Standard, which sets the ethanol mandate. The Governor cited costs…
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Researchers have carried out systematic analysis of the latest scientific evidence on indirect land use change (ILUC) greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production of biofuels and bioliquids. Experts from the Biomass Department of CENER (National Renewable Energy Centre of Spain) have coordinated the project, which was initiated by the European Commission Directorate-General for…
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The Vietnamese Government announced the move to E5 in June, with the current 92 RON (research octane number) gasoline coming off the market in the new year. E5 is 5% ethanol blended with 95% gasoline. Businesses have complained that they are not prepared for the change to E5, according to a government statetement, and some consumers fear how the blend will perform in their vehicles. In a release…
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Researchers have gained insights that could be used to improve enzyme performance in breaking down biomass and converting waste plant matter into renewable fuels and products. The scientists from the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), have studied how glycosylation – the natural attachment of sugars to proteins – affects a key cellulose…
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Washington University in St Lois wants to use a specialised strain of bacteria to turn a by-product of paper production into sustainable fuel. The project has received $9.3 million from the US Department of Energy as to develop more forms of biofuel that are not dependent on feedstock that competes with food production. The project intends to develop a fuel that can fully replace current fossil…
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The price of US renewable fuel credits has plummeted, hitting a two month low according to Reuters. Efforts by the White House to mediate talks between the oil and corn industries over the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) are said to be behind the fall in prices. The RFS requires refiners to blend increasing amounts of biofuel into the US fuel supply. Under the RFS programme, fuel refiners lacking…
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In a press release, Catherine McKenna MP gave the framework for the legislation and talked about greater demand for biofuels. The move is a first step in increasing green fuel consumption. The framework will allow legislators and experts to work out the final form of the regulations, which will increase the use of cleaner fuels across the economy. This is Canada’s largest emissions-reducing…
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Biofuel start-up Celtic Renewables has secured planning permission from Falkirk Council in Scotland to build a commercial scale demonstrator plant. Once completed, the new facility will produce over half a million litres of biofuel a year, according to a statement from Celtic Renewables. The two acre-site in Grangemouth will produce biobutanol, an advanced biofuel made using whisky residue. The…
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A (CDN) $76.8 million (€50.7 million) industrial scale advanced biofuel demonstration plant will be constructed at a former pulp mill in Tofte, Norway. The new facility is apparently a step towards the creation of a commercial scale project. Danish-Canadian clean-fuel company Steeper Energy is partnering with Silva Green Fuel, a Norwegian-Swedish joint venture, on the project. Steeper will…
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Canola grown in Australia is eligible to enter the EU market as an environmentally-friendly biodiesel feedstock, opening up a potential $1 billion export market for Australian farmers of the crop. The European Commission has confirmed that the Australian canola meets the EU’s strict new feedstock requirements for biodiesel. Stringent EU greenhouse gas reduction targets could have seen the…
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Biomass and waste derived fuels contributed 2% of total US electricity generation in 2016, according to figures recently released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The EIA figures, included in its recently released annual electric power data, reveal that biomass and waste fuels produced 71.4 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2016. EIA defines biomass fuels as all non-fossil,…
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The International Energy Agency (IEA) has used one of its modelling scenarios to predict that bioenergy will provide nearly 17% of final global energy demand in 2060, compared with 4.5% in 2015. In its latest Technology Roadmap, entitled ‘Delivering Sustainable Bioenergy’, the IEA provides the technology milestones and policy actions needed to unlock the potential of bioenergy in line…
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US ethanol producer United Ethanol will use a modular membrane system at its plant in Milton, Wisconsin, to boost production. According to a statement, the bolt-on system from Whitefox Technologies will increase the annual production capacity of the facility to over 60 million gallons by freeing up capacity in the distillation-dehydration section. As well as increasing production rates, the…
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