News

The number of car manufacturers approving the use of E15, a fuel blend of 15% ethanol and 85% gasoline, for their vehicles, continues to grow, according to an analysis by the Renewables Fuels Association (RFA). RFA estimates that E15 was unequivocally identified by car manufacturers as an approved fuel for slightly more than 60% of model year (MY) 2015 vehicles sold, equating to some 10.7m…
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China’s Ministry of Commerce (MoC) launched on Tuesday anti-dumping and countervailing duties investigations on US dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) imports. The move comes after complaints from Chinese producers that DDGS from the US were sold at prices “below normal value” which hurts domestic industry, according to China’s state news agency Xinhua. Further…
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CropEnergies, a Germany-based ethanol producer, said its revenue for the first three quarters of fiscal year 2015/16, decreased by 11% to €558m, compared to the same period last year, due to the temporary closure of its bioethanol plant in Wilton, UK. However, in a statement, the firm said that its profitability improved significantly due to favourable proceeds for bioethanol. Earnings…
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Second-generation biofuel crops like the perennial grasses Miscanthus and switchgrass can efficiently meet emission reduction targets without significantly displacing cropland used for food production, according to a new study. Researchers from the University of Illinois and collaborators published their findings in the inaugural edition of the journal Nature Energy. The researchers call it the…
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The Governors' Biofuels Coalition, a US ethanol lobby group, has appointed Missouri Governor Jay Nixon as its chairman. Nixon replaces Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, who led the Coalition from 2014 to 2015. The trade association also announced that Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts will become vice chairman of the group for 2016. "For more than 20 years the Governors' Biofuels Coalition has worked…
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US-based biofuel and agriculture groups have asked a US court to a review the US Renewable Fuel Standards for 2014, 2015, and 2016, according to a court filing on Friday, kicking off a widely-expected legal battle over the controversial program. A spokesman for Biotechnology Innovation Organisation told media agency Reuters that groups representing biofuels manufacturers and corn and sorghum…
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Shell India Markets, the Indian arm of Royal Dutch Shell, has announced plans to build a five tonne/day biofuel demonstration plant using IH2 technology on the site of its new technology centre in Bangalore, India. IH2 technology is a continuous catalytic thermo-chemical process which converts a broad range of forestry/agricultural residues and municipal wastes directly into renewable hydrocarbon…
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Car giant Audi is entering a renewed collaboration agreement with French renewable energy firm Global Bioenergies to promote the development of biofuels. The two companies recently announced the delivery by Global Bioenergies to Audi of a first batch of isobutene-derived isooctane (using biomass products such as wood chips), a premium drop-in fuel for gasoline engines. Global Bioenergies had…
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Republican Party candidate Ted Cruz is due to face criticism from a pro-ethanol lobby group as he conducts a bus tour through Iowa this week, according to media reports. According to news website Politico, pro-ethanol group America's Renewable Future is hunting the presidential candidate in an attempt to derail his candidacy. The group, which supports the mandate that gasoline contain 10%…
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India has doubled its target of blending ethanol with gasoline to 10%, as it aims to promote cleaner fuel to tackle pollution. According to Reuters, oil companies have never met the current 5% blending target as ethanol derived from molasses - the thick syrup produced by boiling down sugarcane juice in sugar refining - costs more than gasoline without including taxes. India does not allow ethanol…
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British Airways (BA) has announced that it has been forced to abandon plans to turn landfill waste into green jet fuel, partly due to lack of government support. The airliner and green fuels specialist Solena Fuels announced last year that it would move forward with long-standing plans to develop a state-of-the-art facility called GreenSky at an ex-oil refinery in Thurrock, Essex. The GreenSky…
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The Turley family have bought out their 50% partner in Ethanol Europe Renewables — one of the continent's biggest producers of bioethanol. The company was a joint venture between the Turleys and Fagen, an American developer of energy plants. According to The Sunday Times, accounts show that the Turley family, who made more than €100m from the sale of the online car rental company…
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Researchers from US-based Indiana University have developed a virus-like biomaterial that catalyses the formation of hydrogen for the production of biofuels. The biomaterial or 'nano-reactor', as scientists at Indiana University describe it, is produced by placing a modified enzyme inside the protective protein shell of a virus, called a capsid. The resulting 'nano reactor' catalyst is 150 times…
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Bioenergy France 3, the French arm of Spanish biofuels producer Ambene, has obtained permission from local officials to build a 41MW biomass-fired cogeneration plant in the south of France. According to SeeNews, the plant will be constructed in the Torremila industrial zone of Perpignan. At the end of December, the Pyrenees-Orientales prefecture gave the green light to the €50m ($54m)…
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