News

Prairie Horizon Agri-Energy’s ethanol plant in Phillipsburg, Kansas, will build a renewable diesel facility on site. WB Services will integrate the 3 million gallon per year (MMgy) facility onto the site where the 40 MMgy plant sits.  Ron Beemiller, president and CEO of WB Services, says: ‘This plant will be the first of its kind—the first renewable diesel plant to fully…
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The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) predicts a surge in the amount of cane harvest that is used in ethanol production. UNICA estimates 56% of cane processed will be used to produce fuel, up 1.66 compared to 2013/2014. As a result, ethanol production is expected to increase by 1.2%, reaching 25.87 billion litres. A cane crush of 580 million tonnes for the 2014/2015 harvest is…
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A Zimbabwean investor is looking to plough $500 million (€360 million) into an ethanol production plant in Kawambwa, Luapula Province, in Zambia. Luapula Province's permanent secretary Chanda Kasolo says the 110,000 hectare sugar plantation has been delayed because of lobbying with the Ministry Mines, Energy and Water Development to issue a Statutory Instrument (SI) to authorise…
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Brazil's São Martinho, a sugar and ethanol group, has acquired Santa Cruz sugar and ethanol mill from Luiz Ometto Partcipações and other stake holders. São Martinho is willing to pay 315.8 million reais (€101 million) over a 10-year period for 56% of Santa Cruz's capital. This will bring São Martinho's total stake in Santa Cruz to more than 92%. Santa…
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Experts in Mozambique are meeting to discuss strategies for producing clean energy to reduce pollution and costs in the import of fossil fuel. Mozambique is looking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by producing ethanol from sugarcane. Jaime Himede, the country's deputy energy minister, says: 'Biofuels are of great interest to Mozambique, the reason why the government concentrates part of its…
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European countries will increase solid biofuels imports to 50-80 million tonnes by 2020. The news comes as the REScoop 20-20-20 project is expected to increase energy production from renewable sources to 20% in the European Union. The project will be implemented as a result of the modernisation of a number of existing power generation facilities and through the conversion of power plants from…
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Haryana, India, has opened and started operations at the state's first ethanol plant in the Panipat Cooperative Sugar Mills. US company, Geo Cam, has set up the plant with Panipat Cooperative Sugar Mills, which has a capacity of over 45,000 litres and 2.5 crore (€300,000) worth of modern technology. The mills will produce ethanol for approximately 300 days of the year. 'The Union government…
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The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has denied a challenge to the 2013 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) requirements. In its ruling, the court rejected arguments made by crude refiners, Monroe Energy, based in Trainer, Pennsylvania, that the 2013 standards were invalid because the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was late in finalising the volumes and should have reduced…
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An oil storage terminal in the south of France is soon to become the country's first dedicated biodiesel hub on the Mediterranean coast. DPPLN Terminal, located between Montpellier and Barcelona, is being converted to exclusively handle biodiesel in line with European regulations which foresee continuously evolving biodiesel incorporation requirements. The 45,000m3 facility consists of 10 tanks…
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A previously bankrupt $52.5 million (€38 million) biodiesel plant in Beatrice, Nebraska, will begin production again by summer 2015. Duonix, a joint venture between Wichita, Kansas-based Flint Hills Resources and Irving, Texas-based Benefuel, has begun assessing the preparation needed to install Benefuel's patented production process at the plant. The company announced the joint venture with…
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Syngar Technologies has started two separate joint venture projects that will, together, help make the conversion of hemp to cellulosic ethanol a possibility. Syngar Technologies has licensed its Pulsed Low Ultra Sound Wave (PLUSWave) Technology, which uses ultrasound frequencies to stimulate the fermentation growth of algae, bacteria, and fungus or yeast microorganisms for use in ethanol…
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Brazil and Angola are teaming up to construct Angola Bio-Energy's new ethanol plant. The project, implemented for the first time in Angola, will produce approximately 260,000 tonnes of sugar and 30 million litres of ethanol, through sugarcane. The factory has capacity to use 2 million tonnes of sugarcane per year. To date, 7,000 hectares of sugarcane have been planted on a 36,000-hectare…
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Researchers believe catalysts could improve the biofuels production process. The deoxygenation of biomass such as corn stover or forestry waste could create a significant development in the production of biofuels. Oils produced by high-temperature treatment of these waste materials contain a large amount of oxygenated compounds that lead to undesirable properties such as high viscosity and…
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Construction of an $800 million (€580 million) crude oil tank farm proposed by Petroplex over six years ago finally looks to be going ahead in Louisiana, US, thanks to the St. James Parish Council. The project, which includes a terminal on the Mississippi River, has received a waiver from St. James Parish's newly adopted land use plan that will allow it to proceed on more than 1,700 acres of…
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