News

On 3 January 2015, France's energy ministry issued an order to allow the concentration of biodiesel to increase from 7 to 8%. Ministerial order DEVR1431074A will ensure this rise is rolled out at public fuelling stations across France. Industry groups including FuelsEurope and the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) are urging the country to keep the blend limit consistent with…
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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) declared that five airlines have recently successfully completed stages of the IATA Environmental Assessment (IEnvA) programme. IEnvA is a voluntary, two-stage evaluation process designed to drive airline environmental performance improvements by independent assessment. Both Finnair and South African Airways have completed the IEnvA Stage 2…
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On 17 December 2014, the European Parliament voted in support of a motion for resolution to reject the European Commission’s proposal to implement Article 7a of the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) but the vote did not gain the support of the required qualified majority needed to block the proposal. 337 MEPs voted to reject the Commission’s proposal, 325 MEPs supported it, 48 MEPs…
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The US biodiesel market shrunk in 2014 following policy uncertainty in Washington that destabilised the industry and caused many biodiesel plants to shut down or reduce production. According to EPA data, total US biodiesel consumption fell to 1.75 billion gallons for 2014, down slightly from nearly 1.8 billion gallons in 2013. The downturn came as the Obama Administration failed to finalise…
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On 14 January, Boeing and Embraer opened a joint sustainable aviation biofuel research center in a joint effort to further develop the aviation biofuel industry in Brazil. At the Boeing-Embraer Joint Research Center in the São José dos Campos Technology Park, the companies will coordinate and co-fund research with Brazilian universities and other institutions. The research will…
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A fire broke out on the 19 January at the Illinois River Energy plant in Rochelle, Ogle County, Illinois. Emergency services responded to the fire and remained on the scene for a little over an hour. The fire started in a grain room of the ethanol plant after corn had been burnt following an electrical fault. No injuries were reported. There was minor damage to some of the facility's equipment.
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Scientists are now successfully applying technologies utilised by farmers and ethanol facilities to maximise the quality and accuracy of carbon modelling for biofuels. A newly-released white paper, entitled 'Re-thinking the Carbon Reduction Value of Carbon Ethanol Fuel, written by Ron Alverson, president of the American Coalition for Ethanol board of directors, explains that this has resulted in…
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The Zimbabwean government has given Zimbabwe Bio-Energy, a joint venture between a group of private investors and the Development Trust of Zimbabwe, the go-ahead to develop its $500 million (€432 million) ethanol plant project in Nuanetsi Ranch in Mwenezi. The project, which will be the largest in the country, is expected to have more than 5000 employees and promote sugar growing by farmers.
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On 20 January, several fire crews responded to a fire at Big Rivers Resources' ethanol plant in Boyceville, Wisconsin, US. Reports from the Boyceville Fire Department say that the fire was started by a bearing on a motor that caught fire in a duct. The plant was shut down and evacuated. No one was injured. The fire was contained inside the building. To date, no damage estimate has been made.
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Edeniq, a biorefining and cellulosic technology company, has raised more than $16 million (€13.8 million) in equity. The funding will support the roll-out of Edeniq's Pathway Platform, which increases ethanol yield at existing plants by 3-6% through the conversion of starch and cellulosic corn kernel fibre into ethanol. The equity investment was led by I2BF Global Ventures, an existing…
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A recent study by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IFEU) in Heidelberg, Germany, found that biodiesel made from animal fat reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 85% compared to fossil fuels. The EU institutions have recognised that biodiesel made from animal fat is highly sustainable and offers significant potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Accordingly, the…
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The joint project focuses on the development of an integrated, sustainable biorefinery for local lignocellulosic feedstocks. Russian and Indian scientists will join forces to develop technologies for producing fuels and chemicals from biomass within a 3-year period for a biorefinery project. Representatives of the Institute of Catalysis, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS),…
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A new report by Allied Market Research, a market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics, called 'Global Second Generation Biofuels - Size, Industry Analysis, Trends, Opportunities, Growth and Forecast, 2013 – 2020', states that the global second generation biofuels market will reach $23.9 billion (€20 billion) by 2020, registering a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)…
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