News

Renewable products business Amyris and fuel brand Total completed a new demonstration flight at the Paris Air Show using a technology that converts plant sugars into renewable jet fuel. The Airbus A321 aircraft, powered by two Snecma CFM56 jet engines, flew from Toulouse to Paris on the fuel blend and represented the second flight from this project after an Embraer E195 jet flew a year…
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Sustainable products company UPM  and US cellulosic sugar producer Renmatix have signed a non-exclusive joint development agreement in the area of biochemicals. Under its terms, both companies will further develop Renmatix’s water-based process to convert woody biomass into low-cost sugar intermediates for subsequent downstream processing into biochemicals.‘Access to second…
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A report by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has put ethanol production down 1.2% to put overall output to its lowest level in three weeks. It shows that output fell in the second of those weeks, put at 873,000 barrels a day, the first consecutive declines since early March. Inventories, however, did increase 2.9% to 16.5 million barrels and represents the biggest gain since last…
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Technip, a France-based project management and engineering company, has won a multi-million euro front end contract to build a second generation biomass-to-liquid (BtL) plant in Finland. The €5 million ($6.6 million) contract was awarded by Forest BtL and the facility will be built on Ajos island. It aims to produce approximately 140,000 tonnes of biodiesel and naphtha via wood and…
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US-based Genscape, the first approved Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) QAP provider, is now obtained further EPA approval for biofuels produced at foreign facilities and imported into the country. This means foreign biofuel producers can now obtain Genscape-certified QAP RINs to improve marketability and hopefully increase buyer confidence. ‘We know our certification programme…
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A move to block the sale of E15 blended petrol in the US has been quashed by the US Supreme Court this June. The court rejected a challenge by the American Petroleum Institute (API), the chief lobbying group for the oil industry, that the blend was unsafe for consumption in cars and motorcycles built pre-2001. Bob Greco, a senior API official, claimed the use of E15 ‘could leave millions of…
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US-based Red Rock Biofuels has won a multi-million dollar contract to produce biofuels for the US military. The company was one of four to have private investments matched by funds from the Defence Production Act under the Advanced Biofuels Production Project. This project is hoped to produce military-grade fuels under $4 (€3) a gallon within three years. RRB’s government award will by…
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Dutch company Firmtec, which provides vegetable oil processing systems, is set to deliver what it calls the ‘first ever plant capable of producing 100% green biodiesel’. The facility will be owned and operated by Indonesian company Waterland and will make the biodiesel via enzymes and ethanol, using oil from the Camelina sativa plant. The biodiesel plant will be based in Bali and aims…
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The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) will make up to $98.6 million (€75.6 million) available to support advanced biofuels production. Eligible producers can submit applications to obtain a share of the pot, including those that did not apply during the last window in October 2012 ‘The US is on the path to a cleaner, more secure energy future,’ US agriculture secretary Tom…
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Scientists have discovered a new enzyme in an odd source that could prove an important step in the quest to turn paper, scrap wood and straw waste into liquid fuel. To do this they turned to the destructive power of tiny marine wood-borers called ‘gribble’, which have been known to destroy seaside piers. Gribble are of interest as they are voracious consumers of wood and have all the…
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Researchers from Oklahoma State University (OSU) have analysed a genome they say has great potential for the cost-effective production of biofuel. The team, led by associate professor of microbiology and molecular genetics Mostafa Elshahed, has described multiple features within the genome of rumen fungus, organisms that reside in the gut of ruminant animals. The fungus was found to be efficient…
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The Biofuels Centre of North Carolina (BCNC) has completed its state-wide woody biomass assessment as a foundation for large biofuels production. BCNC coordinated with forestry consultants Gelbert, Fullbright and Randolph, plus the seven state economic development regions, in 2011 to undertake the completed three-part analysis of North Carolina’s wood resources.The report states North…
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A report in New Zealand regarding its forestry sector believes downstream industries like biochemicals and biofuels are ‘unlikely to flourish’ if established industries, like sawmilling, do not sell on their waste. The Woodscape study came about after collaboration between the forest and wood products industry, the NZ Ministry for Primary Industries and NZ Trade and Enterprise. It…
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