News
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have discovered a form of bioconversion that could be used to convert waste gases to biodiesel for transportation.
The 'Integrated bioprocess for conversion of gaseous substrates to liquids' report, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal, describes the process of converting syngas –…
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Spanish renewable energy company Abengoa Bioenergy has secured an emergency bankruptcy loan that will allow the company to operate and pay wages while it attempts to reorganise.
According to a Reuters report, the company has received a $7 million loan to pay bills while it attempts to restructure its operation after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week.
The company specialises in the…
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The world's first research facility to grow both food and fuel just opened in the United Arab Emirates.
Located on a two-hectare site in Abu Dhabi, the desert facility uses coastal seawater irrigation to raise fish and shrimp for food, while growing salt-tolerant plants that can be harvested to create biofuel.
The facility, operated by Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, is funded by the…
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A federal judge in Texas, US, has sentenced the owner of several biodiesel companies to 10 years imprisonment and to pay $138 million (€125m) in restitution for high-profile biofuels fraud.
Philip Joseph Rivkin, who is also known as Felipe Poitan Arriaga, pleaded guilty to creating and selling more than 60 million fake biodiesel credits since 2009 under the name of Green Diesel.
Rivkin faked…
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Florida-based biofuel developer Benchmark Renewable Energy (BRE) is planning to develop a large-scale bioethanol operation in Jamaica.
According to BRE, once completed the plant will have a production capacity of 10 million gpy of ethanol, with an additional 3MW of electricity produced for the local grid.
The required investment for the plant is expected to be approximately $95 million…
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The European Biodiesel Board (EBB) has alerted EU and national member state authorities of trade distortions in the EU internal market caused by Polish biodiesel.
According to the EBB, biodiesel products exported from Poland at “unfair” low price levels are breaching EU and national laws, causing tremors in the marketplace.
The organisation claims it has received reports, which state…
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New records were set in 2015 for US ethanol production and blending, with more than 14 billion gallons of ethanol produced, says the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
According to the EIA data, US ethanol producers churned out 14.81 billion gallons of ethanol in 2015, while refiners and blenders integrated an unprecedented 13.69 billion gallons into the US petrol…
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Novozymes CEO Peder Holk Nielsen has called for the EU to introduce a blending mandate for advanced biofuels by 2030 to help decarbonise the transport sector.
The chief executive of the biotech specialist made the announcement at an energy security conference which took place at the European Parliament in Brussels on 25 February, 2016.
He urged the EU to promote advanced biofuels in order to…
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Algal biofuel production is not living up to expectations, hindered by high key resource demand, technical difficulties, and high costs, a new study finds.
According to a review by the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), despite high expectations and extensive research and investment, technological options are still in developing stages and key resources for algal growth are still…
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A group of environmental groups in the UK are calling on the next Mayor of London to commit to making the capital's buses run on clean fuel.
The NGOs, including Greenpeace, WWF, RSPB and the National Trust, have drawn together 20 policy suggestions to improve London's environment and will publish them today to mark the start of Greener London Week. Suggestions include the introduction of…
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Spanish renewable energy business Abengoa has announced that its US bioenergy unit has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The company made the announcement on Wednesday (24 February). According to news agency Reuters, the firm's US bioenergy unit has current liabilities worth $10bn.
The filings do not include Abengoa's corn ethanol plants in Mount Vernon, Indiana, and Madison, Illinois, the…
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Scientists from the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have shown for the first time that an enzyme can be tweaked to reduce lignin in plants.
According to Berkeley Lab, its technique could help lower the cost of converting biomass into carbon-neutral fuels to power cars and other sustainably developed bio-products.
Lignin is a polymer…
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JP Energy Partners, a US-based biofuels terminal operator, has initiated the expansion of its existing rail facilities at its North Little Rock refined products terminal, located in Arkansas, to allow for unit train deliveries of ethanol.
The upgrades will materially improve the terminal's ethanol offloading efficiency and capacity, allowing for offloading of up to 108 car unit trains, according…
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Africa has become the new frontier for innovative non-food crop based biofuels' projects, according to a new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
The report, 'Second-Generation Biofuel Markets: State of Play, Trade and Developing Country Perspectives', says that these initiatives are mainly taking place in Eastern and Southern Africa even though West Africa…
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Researchers have revealed through a new study that fungi from the gut of herbivores like goats, horses and sheep could be used to make biofuel.
The researchers report in the journal Science that these anaerobic gut fungi perform as well as the best fungi engineered by industry in their ability to convert plant material into sugars that are easily transformed into fuel and other products.
"Nature…
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Clariant, a Swiss specialty chemicals producer, and Werner & Mertz (W&M), the producer of Frosch cleaning products, has launched a project which expands the possible applications of bioethanol.
Clariant’s sunliquid cellulosic ethanol – made from agricultural residues such as straw – will be processed into detergents, cleansers and cleaning agents at W&M’s…
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Alliance BioEnergy Plus has formed a strategic alliance with Harvesting Technology (HT) for the inclusion of its licensed and patented advanced separation process.
Alliance plans to utilise the separation technology alongside its CTS cellulose conversion process in ethanol applications.
When used in a dry mill corn ethanol plant, the HT process is able to separate the backend whole stillage…
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