News

Canadian farmers might one day grow sugar corn for a potentially huge alternative fuels market through a new project involving University of Guelph researchers. Along with scientists from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), and Western University, the Guelph researchers will study sugar corn varieties whose higher sucrose…
Read More »

Advait, a newly established biofuel company, has signed a contract with Yum! Restaurants India, which operates KFC Taco Bell and Pizza Hut in the country, to collect used cooking oil (UCO) from KFC in the Andhra and Telangana region. Advait will convert the collected product into biodiesel or export it to Europe for biodiesel processing. The company is one of the major (UCO) collectors in India…
Read More »

Renewable Energy Group (REG) has formally opened its latest biomass-based diesel refinery REG Grays Harbor, Washington, US. REG leaders were joined by state and local business, government, and community leaders for a ceremony marking the transition to REG’s ownership of the former Imperium Grays Harbor 100 million gallon nameplate capacity biodiesel production and terminal facility. Daniel…
Read More »

MBI, a US-based biotech company, has been granted a patent (patent no. 9,102,964) for its Afex biomass pre-treatment technology by the US Patent and Trademark Office. The Afex technology enables energy producers to utilise the nearly 2 billion tonnes of biomass left on the fields annually after the harvest of crops such as corn, wheat, and rice and turn it into feedstock for cellulosic biofuels…
Read More »

The EU will extend anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on imported US biodiesel until 2020, according to Reuters. The duties were extended in an EU attempt to maintain its defence against trade in renewable fuels. The EU argues that should the duties, originally set in 2009 on certain US biodiesel producers, be lifted, the resulting increase in imports could damage European biofuels…
Read More »

Oakland Biofuels is looking to launch a new cellulosic ethanol production technology in Mid-Wales, UK, using bracken as a feedstock. The facility will be the first of its kind in Europe to use the new technology in conjunction with bracken. Jeremy Oakley, director of Oakland Biofuels, says the company has been looking for alternative uses for bracken already for some years, with the main focus…
Read More »

Researchers at Cardiff University have devised a way of increasing the yield of biodiesel by using the waste left over from its production process. Using simple catalysis, the researchers have been able to recycle an undesired by-product of the vegetable-oil-to-biodiesel conversion process, and convert this residue into an ingredient to produce even more biodiesel. It is believed this new process…
Read More »

The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation a Dutch joint venture (JV) company between the Singaporean Wilmar International and Italian Fox Petrolifera Italiana. The new JV company will produce biodiesel at Fox Petrolifera’s existing biodiesel facility in Italy. Both of the parent companies produce biodiesel and crude and refined glycerine on their own, in addition…
Read More »

Zambian biofuels producer Tapera Industries is seeking capital funding of over ZMW5 million (appr. €454,000) to expand its operations. According to the company’s founder Mutoba Ngoma, Tapera is promoting the recycling and conversion of waste cooking oil into biodiesel and natural soaps. ‘The amount of investment into the business is approximately ZMW800,000 since 2014. This was…
Read More »

Biofuel production in Brazil grew by 28% in the January-May 2015 period when compared to the same time frame last year, according to the Brazilian TV channel NBR. In July, the consumption of hydrous ethanol, used in Brazil as a standalone biofuel for flex-fuel vehicles, reached a record high of 1.55 billion litres sold. The Brazilian government has taken steps to stimulate the production of…
Read More »

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) has released data showing that global food prices have experienced the steepest monthly drop since 2008. According to the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance (GRFA), the decline in food prices has coincided with a period of record ethanol production expansion, reaching a high of 94 billion litres in 2014 from 83.5 billion litres in 2012, a…
Read More »

The US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced that 21 states will receive grants through the Biofuel Infrastructure Partnership (BIP) programme to add infrastructure needed to supply more renewable fuel to US drivers. Since announcing the programme in May 2015, the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) has received applications requesting over $130…
Read More »

Germany produced 370,484 tonnes of bioethanol in the first half (H1) of 2015, a 5.2% increase year-on-year, the German Bioethanol Industry Association (BDBe) data reveals. However, while production grew, demand for bioethanol declined by 3.7% to 562,459 tonnes. Food crops were the most used feedstock for bioethanol production with 63.4%. There was also a 21.1% rise from last year in the use of…
Read More »

Neste has begun the construction of the world's first Bio liquid petroleum gas (LPG) production facility at its renewable product refinery in Rotterdam. The €60 million facility will start production of Bio LPG in the end of 2016. Bio LPG will enable users of existing fossil fuels to reduce their carbon footprint without any modifications to existing gas applications technology. It can be…
Read More »