News

The European Commission is taking an active role in steering member states on to the right path for renewables. It has worked with key industry associations and producers, many of which say they will produce surplus biofuels and bioenergy than mandated. By 2020 the European Union must source 20% of its total energy (including heat, power and transport) from renewable sources. This target was set…
Read More »

Hawaii-based ClearFuels Technology will build a biorefinery in Wayne County, Tennessee, US. The $200 million (€148.3 million) biorefinery will turn sawdust, wood shavings and wood chips into diesel or jet fuel. The refinery would employ 50 people and be built at lumber supplier Hughes Hardwoods’ facility in Collinwood. Construction is scheduled to begin near the end of 2011 with operations…
Read More »

Europe’s largest wheat to ethanol refinery has shipped its first renewable fuel product. Tanker Clipper Nelly left independent terminal operator Vopak’s North Tees, UK, terminal loaded with Ensus ethanol and headed for Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Ensus’ £300 million (€332 million) plant at Wilton went into production last month, making the green road fuel, valuable animal feed and…
Read More »

Brazil state-run oil company Petrobras has begun work on raising capacity at its Candeias biodiesel plant. Petrobras aims to double capacity to 217.2 million litres a year from its current capacity of 108.6 million litres. The Candeias plant is located alongside a Petrobras refinery near Salvador, Bahia State in northeast Brazil. Candeias is sited on Todos Os Santos Bay and benefits from…
Read More »

In Wales, UK, Elin Jones, rural affairs minister, has revealed a multi-million pound scheme, called the Wood Energy Business Scheme 2, which could see Wales sitting at the top of wood-to-energy production in Britain. The scheme is managed by Forestry Commission Wales on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government, and will provide £7.8 million (€8.6 million) in European funding. This financial…
Read More »

A pilot biogas project in Narahenpita, Sri Lanka, has begun. Due to the high number of complaints about garbage collection received by CMC, the mediation of Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority aims to reduce this problem by instigating a biogas production project at the place where biomass is plentiful. The recyclable waste can be separated on the site itself and has therefore been chosen…
Read More »

It has long depended on neighbour Russia for its natural gas and oil imports, but now Ukraine is building up renewable energy sources of its own. Richard Spinks, previous CEO of agricultural company Landkom International, has set up a new company, Alternativa (IOM) and now plans to develop various biofuels projects in the Ukraine, Russia and Canada. According to a report, Alternativa (IOM) and…
Read More »

In Georgia, US, American Process Inc (API) has unveiled its cellulosic ethanol pilot plant. A joint venture between ethanol producer Valero and API, the plant will produce cellulosic ethanol from wood biomass and will be the foundation for eventual expansion to a commercial scale plant co-located with a pulp and paper mill. According to API, it might license its technology for…
Read More »

The Renewable Fuel Pipeline Act of 2010 is being brought back under US congressman Leonard Boswell. The reintroduced act has been restructured in order to help it pass through the committee and reach consideration. According to Boswell, ‘The Renewable Fuel Pipeline Act is an important piece of legislation to Iowa’s local communities and economies that have come to rely on the biofuels…
Read More »

In the US Imperial Petroleum has signed a stock purchase agreement to obtain 100% of e-biofuels’ supply. Indiana-based e-biofuels produces 15 million gallons of biodiesel a year, but has debts totalling approximately $15 million (€11 million). In the year 2009 the company made a net loss of $1.9 million. According to the agreement, which will close on 31 March, oil and natural gas…
Read More »

The legally binding Recommendation 141, issued by the Bern Convention, is warning that some foreign biofuel crops are having a detrimental effect on the natural environment. It states that certain imported crops are disturbing areas outside of cultivated fields and having a negative impact on native biodiversity. As a result, the Council of Europe has made advances to reduce the potential…
Read More »

A Greenfield project is currently being developed in Sierra Leone, West Africa, by Addax Bioenergy. A division of the Swiss-based energy corporation Addax and Oryx Group (AOG), Addax Bioenergy’s project will consist of a sugarcane plantation, an ethanol distillery and a biomass power plant. Supported by the government of Sierra Leone and financed by European Development Finance Institutions…
Read More »

Chemists at the University of California (UC) Davis have developed a new process that allows safflower and other oilseed crops to be made into a combination of fuels, which has the potential to increase the production of biodiesel by 24%. Mark Mascal, professor of chemistry at UC Davis, said, ‘Conventional biodiesel production extracts plant oils and then converts them into fatty acid esters…
Read More »