News

Fourth graders in Seoul, South Korea, have been learning how to make biodiesel at a bio-energy farm run by the Gangdong-gu office in Eastern Seoul, according to the Korea Times. The workshop on renewable energy saw students from Seoul Hansan Elementary School taking turns to stir canola oil mixed with a catalyst and methyl alcohol in a beaker to make biodiesel. Another part of the trip saw…
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A biofuels bunkering pilot project has been agreed in Singapore, and is expected to take place early in 2018. The agreement comes after a closed door roundtable between the Marine and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), BHP and GoodFuels Marine. The event brought together shipowners of different ship types to network, share insights into the use of biofuels to meet increasingly stringent…
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Scientists from Michigan State University (MSU) are looking for new algae-based technologies to capture power plant emissions and convert them into a range of products including biofuels and other chemicals. “We’ve been running bioenergy experiments with algae on campus for over a decade,” said Wei Lao, associate professor of biosystems and agriculture engineering at…
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Scientists in the US have discovered that plant leaves retaining sugars ‘get fat’, something which could increase their biofuel and biochemical potential. The team from the US Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have worked to turn this fat accumulation into higher oil production in the leaves. With leaves more abundant and accessible than seeds, this could…
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Gillian Harrison, CEO at Whitefox Technologies, will be speaking at this year’s Biofuels International Conference. Harrison started her career as a finance lawyer at global law firm Clifford Chance in London, where she focused on corporate finance, infrastructure projects, and cross border mergers and acquisitions. During her ten years working as a lawyer, she spent two of those years in…
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The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has unveiled a notice of data availability (NODA) concerning potential reductions in renewable volume obligations (RVOs) for 2018 and 2019 under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). On July 21, 2017, EPA proposed reductions in the statutory volume targets for advanced biofuel and total renewable fuel using the cellulosic waiver authority in Clean Air Act…
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A number of research projects focused on bioenergy and biofuels have been selected for the US Community Science Programme (CSP) of the US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute. The 30 successful CSP proposals were selected from 76 full submissions based on 94 letters of intent. Among the projects aiming to investigate genomic and analytical capabilities are several focused on the underlying…
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Scania will provide ‘clean’ buses to 20 major cities in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Australia, and has called for more investment in cleaner fuels.   The ‘soot-free’ buses are designed to address the issue of black carbon – fine particulate matter (PM2.5) outdoor air pollution which has been linked to a series of adverse health effects and even death. Recent…
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Brazilian sugar and ethanol producer Abengoa Bioenergia Brasil has filed for bankruptcy protection, according to Bloomberg. This follows on from the country’s economic crisis and slump in commodity prices, according to the news agency. The company, a unit of Spain’s Abengoa SA, requested judicial protection in a court in Santa Cruz das Palmeiras municipality, Sao Paulo state,…
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The European Biodiesel Board (EBB) is preparing to launch an anti-subsidy case against Argentinean biodiesel imports, following the recent decision by the European Union to substantially lower anti-dumping duties for the country. According to a statement, the move comes in response to EBB’s growing concerns about the impact the reduction in anti-dumping duties is having on the EU biodiesel…
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Clariant, a developer of specialty chemicals, and Enviral, Slovakia’s largest bioethanol producer, have announced a license agreement on sunliquid cellulosic ethanol technology. The move will see one of Europe’s first advanced biofuel plants built at the Enviral site in Leopoldov. Enviral will use Clariant’s sunliquid technology to help construct a full-scale commercial plant…
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Enerkem has announced that commercial production of cellulosic ethanol has started at its facility in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. According to a statement from the company, it is the first commerical scale plant in the world to produce cellulosic ethanol from non-recyclable, non-compostable mixed municipal waste. “The commercial production of cellulosic ethanol at our facility in Edmonton…
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Three years ago, scientists at the US’ National Renewable Energy Laboratory discovered an enzyme that proves adept at breaking down cellulose fibres regardless of whether their crystalline structure is simple or highly complex. According to the research, no other enzyme has shown this ability. Now, in a follow-up paper, the researchers have looked at the significant worth the enzyme, CeIA,…
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