News

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) have announced a settlement with Utah-based Washakie Renewable Energy that resolves allegations that the company generated more than 7.2 million invalid renewable fuel credits worth more than $2 million (€1.8 million). From January to October of 2010, Washakie generated more than 7.2 million Renewable…
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Praj Industries, a global process solutions company, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to become a Gevo licensee for producing renewable isobutanol at sugar-based ethanol plants. Under the MoU, Praj will undertake to license up to 250 million gallons of isobutanol capacity for sugar-based ethanol plants over the next 10 years. Gevo will market the isobutanol produced by Praj's…
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Small-scale biodiesel processing equipment from Springboard Biodiesel, a California-based, clean-tech manufacturer, is to be installed at Bagram Airfield in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan. Springboard Biodiesel's BioPro 380EX and SpringPro T76 comprise a small-scale biodiesel processing system designed to inexpensively convert the base's used cooking oil into ASTM-grade biodiesel that can…
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Waste-based biodiesel producer Greenergy has earned the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) sustainability certification for the production of biodiesel from used cooking oil at its UK facilities in Immingham and North Cave. Greenergy supplies more than a quarter of the UK's road fuel and manufactures its own biodiesel from wastes in order to meet its biodiesel blending obligations. The…
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Hainan Airlines, Boeing and Sinopec have celebrated China's first passenger flight with sustainable aviation biofuel. The regularly scheduled Hainan Airlines flight – which carried more than 100 passengers from Shanghai to Beijing – used biofuel made by Sinopec from waste cooking oil collected from restaurants in China. Both of the airplane's CFM International CFM56-7B engines were…
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In San Francisco, US, petrol blended with 85% ethanol (E85) is now available to flex-fuel vehicle owners. Robert White, VP of industry relations at the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), says: 'There are more than 18 million flex-fuel vehicles registered in the US. Drivers of these vehicles deserve access to E85.' E85 is approved for use in all flex-fuel vehicles and more than 3,450 stations are…
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Air Liquide has announced the start-up of a second generation biofuel production plant in Germany through the 'bioliq' project, in partnership with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). The bioliq pilot plant aims to demonstrate the feasibility of a process to produce high-quality sulfur-free fuel from residual biomass. These 'second generation' biofuels are produced using the inedible…
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Ukrainian state-run spirits group Ukrspyrt has brought online an upgraded bioethanol plant in the western region of Ternopil, it has been reported. Investments in the plant's modernisation stood at UAH 60 million (€2.3 million), with financing coming from Armenian investors, according to a company statement. The facility was launched on the premises of Zarubynsky spirits plant, creating 100…
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The Transport Energy Task Force has highlighted the important role sustainable biofuels will play in meeting the UK's future transport needs, in its concluding report. The report identified that there is a clear role for sustainable biofuels over the medium to longer term and at least to 2030 when fossil transport fuels will still be dominant. It also called for a 'robust and long-term route for…
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The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) is calling for the EPA to stay its recent decision to streamline Argentinian biodiesel imports to the US under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) pending public review and comment. In a petition filed 30 March with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Gina McCarthy, NBB cited the lack of public comment on the EPA decision and little transparency…
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In Washington, ethanol and agriculture industry groups have written a letter to the House Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA, and Related Programs Committee on Appropriations to advocate for continued funding of US blender pump initiatives and US export promotion efforts. The letter countered a request led by Representatives Bob Goodlatte, Peter Welch, and Jim Costa to eliminate…
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Under a recently signed commercial agreement, Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy (SIRE) will begin using Syngenta's Enogen corn enzyme technology at its Council Bluffs ethanol production facility in Iowa, US, following the 2015 harvest. SIRE is a dry-mill grain processing facility that consumes more than 40 million bushels of corn to produce more than 125 million gallons per year of ethanol. SIRE…
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On 16 March 2015, Brazil will increase its ethanol blend in petrol from 25% to 27%. 'This is an operation in which everyone wins,' said Eduardo Braga, the Minister of Mines and Energy. Tests carried out by energy company Petrobras in 2014 into the impacts of a higher ethanol blend on vehicle engines did not show any technical problems arising from the use of petrol mixed with 27.5% ethanol. The…
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