News

Boskalis, a dredging and marine expert, and Wärtsilä, a global complete lifecycle power solutions provider for the marine and oil and gas markets, have begun collaboration with GoodFuels Marine, the first marine biofuel company focused on the global commercial fleet. The consortium will pioneer the development of sustainable drop-in marine biofuels for the shipping…
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Swiss agribusiness Syngenta has reached agreements with 16 ethanol plants to use its bioengineered Enogen corn. Together, all ethanol plants using Enogen now have a combined production capacity of more than 1 billion gallons, and Syngenta is in discussions for further expansion. Enogen corn enzyme technology is currently the only biotech corn designed specifically to enhance…
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REG Synthetic Fuels (REG-SF), a Renewable Energy Group subsidiary, has received approval from a Mississippi court to purchase equipment at the KiOR Columbus production facility. Under the approved asset purchase agreement, REG-SF paid $1.5 million (€1.3 million) and some expenses related to equipment preparation to acquire various physical assets at the Columbus, Mississippi, plant,…
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Malaysia is planning plans to limit Indonesian palm oil imports to curb rising domestic inventory. Malaysia's Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas says the country intends to control the import volume of palm oil from Indonesia instead of banning the product. ‘If we don't do anything now, it is expected that palm oil inventory…
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Platts, a global provider of energy and commodities information, has begun publishing price assessments for a key ethanol by-product increasingly used as animal feed in the US and globally. The new references are for dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) and reflect values for the Midwest, the key corn, wheat, and grains producing region in the US, and exportable values at the US Gulf…
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Alliance BioEnergy Plus (ABEP) has announced that its subsidiary Ek Laboratories in Longwood, Florida, US, has achieved 63% conversion of coastal hay into fermentable sugars at a commercial scale in less than 30 minutes. The process, developed under the direction of Dr. Richard Blair, Dr. Peter Cohen, and Dr. Zhilin Xie, uses ABEP’s licensed and patented mechanical/chemical cellulose…
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A new group aimed at building and expanding support for the US Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) has been launched by former Senator Jim Talent. Americans for Energy Security and Innovation (AESI) will focus its efforts on building support for a stronger RFS to reduce dependence on foreign oil and stimulate domestic innovation and economic development in the biofuels sector. 'I believe that biofuels…
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Hawaiian authorities have approved Pacific Biodiesel Technologies’ (PBT) contract to supply biodiesel to Hawaiian Energy (HE), primarily for use at its power plants on the island of O’ahu. According to Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, the contract was approved after it was determined that the proposed price for the biodiesel was reasonable, the diesel will be produced locally, and…
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Belgian researchers believe the leavings of the giant panda may unlock secrets to more efficient biofuel production. A research team from Ghent University is the first to examine the potential of the micro-organisms in the pandas’ digestive track, which may lead to the development of new generations of biofuels. Pandas have a unique digestive system, as despite having the genetic make-up of…
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Argentinian bioenergy company Compañía Bioenergética La Florida (CBLF) has inaugurated its new ethanol dehydration facility in the Tucumán province of Argentina. The facility – which CGLF says included several improvements over standard dehydration facilities regarding energy use, vapour releases, and water consumption – has a capacity to produce 500,000l…
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Joule, a US producer of liquid fuels from recycled CO2, has announced that its fuel grade Sunflow-E ethanol has been registered by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for commercial use in E10 and E15 gasoline blends. Earlier this year Joule announced that Sunflow-E had successfully passed the tests for ASTM D4806 and DIN EN 15376 certifications, US and German bioethanol…
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A new $1 million (appr. €890,000) relationship between Michigan State University (MSU) and ExxonMobil will expand research designed to progress the fundamental science required to advance algae-based fuels. The overall goal of the partnership is to improve the efficiency of photosynthesis in microalgae to produce biofuels and bioproducts. The key to bioenergy is the efficiency of…
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  The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) will lead a $13.5 million (€12 million) multi-institutional research effort to improve sorghum as a sustainable source for biofuel production. Funded by the US Department of Energy (DOE), the five-year grant takes a comprehensive approach to better understand how plants and microbes interact and to learn which sorghum germplasm grows better…
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Chemical engineers from Iran have found a way to produce biodiesel from castor oil without the need for extra petrochemical methanol using a biorefinery set-up. Producing biodiesel from vegetable oils is not completely renewable, as the standard transesterification process requires the use of methanol, which is usually produced from petrochemical sources. The researchers, Hamed Bateni and…
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