News

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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Industry experts anticipate an increase in biofuel demand, after crude oil prices jumped 2% yesterday. As the Ukraine crisis intensifies, palm oil prices are on the rise. Analysts and traders predict there will be an increase in consumer demand for biodiesel despite the soaring cost, as biodiesel and palm oil blends may prove an effective and cheaper alternative. Regardless of the current…
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Michael L. Fitzgerald, Iowa's State Treasurer, has argued for the Environmental Protection Agency to scrap its proposal to reduce its Renewable Fuel Standard. The proposed rule would reduce the state's volume requirement for ethanol, potentially harming the environment. 'I am urging the EPA to not reduce the ethanol amount in the RFS. Limiting the amount of ethanol produced will harm each part of…
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By this summer, Missouri drivers may have access to a higher blend of ethanol petrol if the current proposal gets the go ahead. Since October, the Missouri legislative committee have placed a temporary block on a proposed rule that would allow petrol to be sold with a 15% ethanol blend. In order to put a permanent block on the proposal, the legislature must pass a resolution by today. As this is…
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Sugarcane may address a government biofuel mandate, university researchers at Illinois report. The research team at Plants Engineered to Replace Oil with Sugarcane and Sweet Sorghum (PETROSS) are currently genetically engineering sugarcane, in three prime locations. Ank Michielson, the project’s manager explains that the purpose of this project is to increase the plants photosynthesis rate…
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