News

North America's fourth largest ethanol producer Green Plains Renewable Energy's bid to purchase certain assets of Otter Tail Ag Enterprises has been accepted. The bid was accepted by the bankruptcy court, which was overseeing the auction process. The addition of the 55 million gallon-a-year dry-mill ethanol plant near Fergus Falls in Minnesota, US, brings Green Plains' total expected production…
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Renewable energy technology provider LanzaTech and Korean conglomerate Posco have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that will see LanzaTech implement its gas fermentation technology to convert Posco's flue gases to ethanol and other value added products. Posco is active in the steel, power, energy, engineering and construction industries. In 2010 it produced 33.7 million tonnes of crude…
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While the recently approved E15 blend in conventional petrol will decrease GHGs emitted to the atmosphere, it may increase repair bills for boat owners and those with smaller engines. It is thought that boaters will fill up their boats with E15 at participating stations despite the fact that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did not approve the blend for many types of engines. As…
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Flint Hills Resources Renewables has acquired ethanol plants in Iowa Falls and Fairbank, Iowa, in the US, formerly owned by privately owned ethanol company Hawkeye Renewables, after the transaction was closed on 18 February 2011. The sale was completed in an all-cash transaction, although the purchase price was not revealed. 'Our transaction with Flint Hills Resources Renewables represents a…
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New Energy Farms (NEF), a North American-based commercial trading and development company for energy crops, in particular miscanthus, has opened two large-scale facilities for the supply of miscanthus rhizomes. Two production sites are now operational, one in Ontario, Canada, and the other in Georgia in the US. From these sites NEF can produce tens of thousands of acres of miscanthus rhizomes…
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A new joint venture has been formed between renewable energy solutions provider Global Earth Energy (GLER) and Innovated Concepts of Ethanol, Corp. (ICE), a South Dakota, US-based biorefining, consulting and services firm. 'The joint venture will have estimated gross revenues of $80 million (€57.9 million) per year for a total revenue of $800 million for the life of the agreement with a…
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UK-based alternative energy company Goes on Green has acquired a biodiesel plant in the Netherlands. Located in Sluiskil, the 250,000 tonne-a-year facility was acquired by BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions. Also included in the transaction is the plant's deep water storage loading/unloading berth, 250,000m3 of storage capacity and fully integrated logistics. 24 new jobs will be created at the plant.
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Between March and September 2011 Thailand's government will launch an E95 bus fleet trial to test the viability of replacing the current diesel- and LNG-fuelled buses with a 95% ethanol blend. 1.3 million litres a day of ethanol are consumed by the nation today, but the government is hoping to ramp this up to 9 million litres a day by 2022. The buses used in the trial will come from heavy truck,…
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Italy is one of the key producers of biodiesel in the EU. However the nation's output capacity has been hurt due to a rise in the importation of cheaper biodiesel. The biofuel is most commonly made from palm oil and rapeseed oil in Italy, however it is thought that the imported fuel can cost less than these feedstocks. In the first nine months of 2010, 410,000 tonnes of biodiesel were made in…
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A couple in Wichita, Kansas, in the US, have been arrested after they were caught stealing waste grease from a local eatery. After leaving Joplin, it is thought that the pair visited small towns such as Iola and Cherryvale throughout the night, helping themselves to used cooking oil, before arriving at Burger King in the early hours of the morning. They were spotted at 5.30am on 25 January…
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On 3 February 2011 energy company Jatoil achieved production of 200 tonnes of crude jatropha oil, all of which will be shipped and used as feedstock for biojet aviation fuel for use by commercial airlines. The 200-tonne production milestone comes six months after Jatoil made its inaugural 10-tonne biofuel sale from its Indonesia project to the airline industry. 'Currently, only limited supplies…
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80% of the EU's transport fuel needs could be met with biofuels by the year 2050, according to an independent study published by the Öko-Institut. Commissioned on behalf of The Greens/European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament, the study titled The Vision Scenario for the European Union concludes that the use of biofuels in the EU transport sector will increase to 10% in 2020,…
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In the US Ineos New Planet BioEnergy, a joint venture between Ineos Bio and New Planet Energy, broke ground on its commercial-scale waste-to-biofuels plant on 9 February.   The $130 million (€95.4 million) Indian River BioEnergy Center in Vero Beach, Florida, will convert yard, vegetative and household wastes into cellulosic ethanol and renewable power for the local community. Ineos…
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