News

Marc Gillmann, head of biofuels at Total, will give the keynote presentation at the upcoming Bioenergy International expo & conference in Prague on 5-6 May. Total is participating in a number of research projects trials involving bioenergies and biomass and will speak about these at the conference, which is organised by leading global publication Biofuels International. Gillmann joins an…
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The UK’s Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA) finds that biogas could have more scope than used cooking oil (UCO) as an alternative fuel. ‘There is a limit on the supply of used cooking oil in the UK because it is dictated by the amount of oil used for frying in restaurant … so it remains a niche fuel, for instance for fleet use, which has an appeal as a firm’s corporate responsibility issue,’…
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According to the Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA) report Year One of the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation for 2008/09, just four fossil fuel companies in the UK out of 15 have met all three of the government’s first-year targets to encourage the use of more biofuel in UK fossil fuels by 2013/14. ConocoPhillips, Greenergy, Lissan and Mabanaft were the only fossil fuel firms to hit government…
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So-called ‘biostations’ could pop up over Romania following a discussion between anaerobic specialists in Germany and the Netherlands, as part of a European project. Romania is moving away from disposing of animal waste which could be used to generate electricity. Biostations have been operating for eight years in Germany and the Netherlands. Vice president of the National Medical…
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In Bristol, UK, judgement day for is just around the corner. A biofuel plant proposed for Avonmouth will either be approved or rejected within the next week. Renewable energy company W4B explains that the power station will consume 70,000 tonnes of vegetable oil each year from tropical palm trees. However, Friends of the Earth disapprove of the plant, explaining that palm trees are not a…
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The global biodiesel industry is expected to experience a paradigm shift and see its valuation stand at $12.6 billion (€9 billion) by the year 2014. Currently, Europe is the world’s largest market for biodiesel. It is thought to be worth $7 billion by 2014 and accounts for nearly 55.6% of the market. The US accounts for 28.6%. These figures were published by MarketsandMarkets in a market…
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The conference programme for the upcoming Bioenergy International expo & conference 2010 on 5-6 May in Prague is now available to view online at: http://www.biofuelsinternationalexpo.com/conf_prog.html Key speakers at the event include: Marc Gillmann, Head of biofuels, Total H.E. Mr. Jan Dusík, Minister of the Environment for the Czech Republic, Ivan Soucek, CEO, Ceska Rafinerska Robert…
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The Netherlands-based storage terminal operator Koole is expanding its facility in Rotterdam by 80,000 m3. The company will add to its existing 560,000 m3 terminal with a mix of mild steel and stainless steel tanks of various sizes. In addition Koole Rotterdam will reinforce jetty no.1. and extend the draft to 15.80 metres during Q1, so that vessels of up to 75,000 tonnes can moor directly at…
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Incoming, a brand acceleration company, has purchased North American Bio-Energies, owner of Foothills Bio-Energies in North Carolina. Foothills Bio-Energies is currently the largest biofuel producer in the North Carolina region. Foothills has now partnered with Appalachian State University in order to take part in a study designed to determine which feedstock oils are the most suitable to be…
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EDG Fuels is due to open a new biodiesel plant on 13 March 2010, based in Tucson, Arizona, US. The facility will begin operations by producing 3 million gallons of biodiesel a year and it is hoped this will expand to 6 million gallons the following year. Used cooking oil will be collected and converted into biodiesel. According to EDG Fuels, the oil will be obtained from businesses based in…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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