News

A new method for recognising and assessing optimum algae locations is set to boost biofuel production. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Sapphire Energy commissioned the article: 'Siting Algae Cultivation Facilities for Biofuel Production in the United States: Trade-Offs between Growth Rate, Site Constructability, Water Availability, and Infrastructure', in the journal Environmental…
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China New Energy (CNE), the bioenergy engineering and technology firm, has secured a contract to build a biorefinery for Ubon Bio Ethanol in Thailand. CNE hopes to begin work on the new project – worth RMB100m (€12 million) - in late 2014, and reach completion by 2016. The existing facility, commissioned by Ubon Bio Ethanol, is a first-generation biorefinery, converting cassava…
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The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing almost $60 million (€43 million) in the production of advanced biofuels.  The Advanced Biofuel Payment Programme, established in the 2008 Farm Bill and again supported in the recently signed 2014 Farm Bill, is delivering the funding. The money will be made in payments to 195 advanced biofuel producers. The eligibility of producers…
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A North Dakota State University (NDSU) professor and project developers are embarking on a project to cultivate industrial beets to use in ethanol production. The team are now on the hunt for growers to support and get their plan for production running. Farmer Claude Richard believes: 'If it's economical to make ethanol out of it, it's going to cut down on oil consumption'. Dave Ripplinger, the…
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Universal Robina Corp will initiate the start-up of a new ethanol plant in May. The Philippine company had initially planned for production at the $35 million (€25 million) plant to begin in March, but it has since been pushed back by two months. The ethanol plant, which is expected to produce 30 million litres of ethanol a year, will be placed on the company’s sugar facility at…
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White Energy's plant is once again producing ethanol, after nine months out of action last year following a harsh drought. The ethanol plant is now functioning and looking to increase in size for future production. 'We have changed management teams, and the new team better understands that the production of ethanol is a biological process rather than a mechanical process,' Don Gales, White Energy…
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The 85% ethanol blend is now cropping up in areas outside of the Midwestern states, where it first appeared. Despite Minnesota remaining the largest state to provide E85 at its pumps, the number of Midwest stations selling E85 dropped to 36% last year, down from 54% in 2007. The number of E85 stations, which stood at 1,229 in 2007, more than doubled last year to 2,625, according to the US Energy…
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The Indonesian government is planning to propose a new provision that will fix biofuel prices for an imperative biofuel blending programme. The programme, which is expected to come into effect in 2015, is being established in a bid to entice more producers to provide biofuel for the domestic marketplace. Dadan Kusdiana, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry director for bioenergy, explains…
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Malaysia, the second largest palm oil producer after Indonesia, hopes to enhance biofuel consumption to help prices of palm oil. 700,000 tonnes of methyl ester will be used annually, if plans to apply the B7 programme next year go ahead. This July will see the current B5 programme extended nationwide. The current version, which consists of a 5% palm methyl ester and 95% fossil diesel blend, will…
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A major renewable energy plant in Jozini, KwaZulu-Natal, which has been in planning for seven years, is set to start preliminary work in September. Silvapen Group, the South African – Brazilian company, plans to build the proposed R1.2 billion (€80 million) sugar-to-ethanol distillery using Brazilian technology. The distillery, which is set on 15,000 ha of land, in the middle of a…
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Boeing is developing its initiative with South African Airways (SAA) and the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) to create further opportunities to help smallhold farmers in southern Africa grow crops that generate sustainable fuels. The programme's purpose is to aid farmers who own small plots of land, by enabling them to enter into the sustainable biofuels and biomaterials…
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Estimates calculated for biofuel feedstock crop yields may have been overstated by up to 100%, research by the International Council on Clean Transportation shows. A prime consideration when developing a viable biofuels policy is whether the biomass calculated is realistically in proportion to the size of land where the cellulosic biofuel will be grown. The research paper found that existing…
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Petrixo Oil & Gas is on the cusp of spending $800 million (€600 million) on the creation of a biofuel refinery in Fujairah, UAE. Preparation studies and engineering designs have all been completed, along with the selection of appropriate technologies for the resource, which will be located in the Emirates. According to designs, the facility is capable of producing one million tonnes per…
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The Edo State government has signed a Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) worth N85.5 billion (€380 million), with four investors from the agricultural sector. Keen to expand and develop their agricultural practices, two of the investors are going to specialise in ethanol production, sourced from cassava and sugarcane. At the signing of the MoU last week, Abdul Oroh, the state's commissioner…
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