News

In India, Bharat Renewable Energy (BREL), a joint venture of Bharat Petroleum, one of the country's largest petroleum companies, has initiated a programme with SG Biofuels (SGB) to develop and deploy elite hybrids of jatropha for the production of biodiesel. Phase one of the project involves a crop development effort to produce cross varieties of jatropha adapted to unique growing conditions…
Read More »

Aventine Renewable fuels producer Renewable Energy Holdings has reported a net loss of $23.9 million (€16.7 million) for Q2 2011, ended 30 June. This is compared to the $9.3 million net loss for the same three-month period in 2010. Net loss for the six months ended 30 June 2011 was $43.1 million, compared to a net loss of $16.4 million for the four months ended 30 June 2011, and a net loss…
Read More »

In Pollock, Louisiana, US, a formerly defunct biodiesel plant has reopened. The plant, which is owned by biodiesel producer Vanguard Synfuels, was officially opened on 8 August, although it began producing biodiesel a couple of weeks prior to this. The opening has created jobs for 25 people. The plant originally opened as a biofuel facility in 2003 when it started producing biodiesel from…
Read More »

A $100 million (€70 million) ethanol plant located in Hoke County, North Carolina, US, will be put up for auction on 24 August after Clean Burn Fuels filed for bankruptcy. The auction start price has not been disclosed. Clean Burn Fuels originally filed for permission to build the plant in 2005. By 2007 it had been awarded $35 million from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), in addition…
Read More »

In Argentina, Nestor Lopez, president of Agrupacion de Colaboracion San Antonio, has opened the company's first biodiesel plant. Mayor Francisco Guiterrez and industry secretary William Gardella also attended the ceremony. The plant, which is currently running at 30% capacity, can produce biodiesel from a variety of fat and oil feedstocks. The company's vice president Diego Lopez says the…
Read More »

Renewable products company Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) has achieved the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) to supply sustainably grown soyabeans to the European market. ADM will be the first company to provide Europe with ISCC-certified sustainable soya that meets the requirements of the EU's Renewable Energy Directive (RED). By the end of 2011 ADM aims to produce up to…
Read More »

In India, Southern Biodiesel Technologies is to build a biodiesel plant in Devanahalli. This plant comes hot on the heels of the state's first biodiesel production facility, which was put into operation on 20 February this year in Peenya Industrial Area. The new plant will produce 50 tonnes a day of biodiesel. According to the company's director, Abhishek Mudram, the unit could be up and running…
Read More »

In the US, projects designed to restore and protect wetlands in the Northern Everglades Watershed could receive funding from the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the government of Florida. The grants will support a number of projects, including the INEOS New Planet BioEnergy plant in Vero Beach. A loan guarantee from the USDA went towards the construction of this facility, which now…
Read More »

In the UK, supermarket giant Tesco's organic waste-derived ethanol has been certified by OFGEM, the government's energy official. The ethanol, which has been under development for 2 years, has seen Tesco granted a Renewable Obligation Certificate, confirming the fuel contains no traces of additional fossil fuels and is 100% renewable. The fuel is currently being used to fuel specially adapted…
Read More »

In the Philippines, the minimum percentage of coconut oil as a biodiesel feedstock could be increased, as the government works to reduce the nation's reliance on imported fuels. The minimum blend for biodiesel derived from coconut oil (coco-diesel) currently stands at 2%. An exact date for when this higher blend mandate will be introduced is not yet known, however the Philippine Information…
Read More »

Hunt Ramsbottom, CEO of Rentech is to provide the keynote address on 3 October at the Biofuels International expo & conference in Calgary, Canada. Rentech's proposed Olympiad Renewable Energy Centre (Olympiad Project), located in White River, Ontario, Canada will be designed as a state-of-the-art energy facility that would employ the Rentech-ClearFuels biomass gasification system and the…
Read More »

Brazil's energy giant Petrobras is looking to produce 5.6 billion litres of ethanol by 2015, according to Miguel Rossetto, CEO of the company's biofuel division Petrobras Combustíveis. The ramp up would see Petrobras obtain 12% of the domestic market. The company had a 3.3% share in the market last year, after it manufactured 1 billion litres of ethanol. Between now and 2015, Petrobras has…
Read More »

In Colombia, EcoPetrol's Bioenergy S.A.is planning a 480m3 per day sugar-to-ethanol plant in Los Llanos. Biofuels technology and process engineering company Praj Industries has been awarded a $22 million (€15.4 million) contract to supply the main process plant for the project. Speaking about the order, Pramod Chaudhari, executive chairman of Praj Industries, said: 'This is our biggest order…
Read More »