News

In the US, endeavours to cut back on burning coal for power generation have moved a step in the green direction. A subsidiary of FirstEnergy, Ohio Edison, has agreed to switch two coal-powered generators to biomass fuel, creating electricity by burning a mixture of wood, crop residues and other waste. The plan is the result of a Justice Department order that mandated the company either shut…
Read More »

UK energy giant BP and Maryland, US-headquartered Martek Biosciences are teaming up to create biodiesel from sugar-based feedstocks. The sugar to biodiesel pathway uses advanced biological science to convert sugars derived from biomass into lipids using unique fermentation micro-organisms; the lipids are then converted into fuel molecules through chemical or thermocatalytic…
Read More »

Indian biofuels specialist Emami Biotech is to invest $80 million (€56 million) in Ethiopian biofuel production. The cost includes the purchase of 12,000 acres of land for a feedstock plantation. Although Emami will grow other crops including various herbs on the plantation, the main crop will be jatropha, which will be processed into biofuel at a nearby factory. The factory, which will…
Read More »

Chinese research scientists believe that chitin, the compound secreted by aquatic animals to make shells, could provide an environmentally friendly catalyst for the conversion of organic oils into biodiesel, and they have already convinced one commercial producer to invest. The team, from Hua Zhong Agriculture University in the Wuhan province of China, found that carbonised chitin achieved a…
Read More »

In the US state of Oregon, cellulosic ethanol specialist Trillium FiberFuels has received a grant of $750,000 (€531,000) from the US Department of Energy (DoE) to commercialise its cellulosic ethanol technology. The trillium process works by using an existing industrial enzyme to convert xylose, which is not digestible by yeast, to another sugar called xylulose, which is. According to…
Read More »

The presence of trace amounts of biodiesel in marine diesel is becoming increasingly hazardous to shipping, according to marine fuel specialists. Marine fuel is often transported in pipelines also used to transport biodiesel. Trace contamination of marine fuel is therefore almost inevitable. ‘Since there is today no accepted test method available to quantify biodiesel in marine fuels,…
Read More »

Biofuel Africa, a Ghanaian corporation wholly owned by the Norway-based Solar Harvest, claims to have increased the acreage of land available for food production in Northern Ghana by 880%. In 2008, 55 acres of the company’s land was planted with food crops grown by 25 local farmers. Tests showed that repeated growing of food crops had depleted this soil of much of its nutritional…
Read More »

The US state of Oregon has relaxed its E10 mandate to allow petrol stations to sell unblended fuel to the owners of non-road vehicles such as fishermen, snowmobilers and loggers. The E10 mandate was introduced in 2007, but it was relaxed shortly afterwards when the owners of specialist vehicles and power tools reported engine problems with the compulsory blend. Initially, the range of outlets…
Read More »

Dan Bulzan from the NASA Glenn Research Centre is the latest speaker to confirm his attendance at the upcoming Biofuels International Canada expo & conference, organised by leading publication Biofuels International magazine. Bulzan will be talking about 'Green Aeronautics': the work NASA is doing to make aircraft more environmentally friendly through R&D on the modifications…
Read More »

US-based second-generation biofuel company PetroAlgae is investigating the use of microcrops other than algae as feedstocks. PetroAlgae claims its technology, which uses the miniature flowering plant lemna, is ready for commercialisation. PetroAlgae currently operates two labs and one customer demonstration facility, all in the US state of Florida. The customer demonstration facility includes…
Read More »

In the credit squeeze and with plants idling around them, biodiesel producers are keen to ensure what they bring into the plant and what they produce out of it will survive the winter. Having a flexible source of raw materials is one way to weather the volatile ride the industry is taking. Biodiesel producer Innovation Fuels has been processing waste vegetable oil to produce biodiesel, but is…
Read More »

Plankton Power and Regional Technology Development (RTDC) are to form a consortium with various research organisations and the Massachusetts National Guard to establish the Cape Cod Algae Biorefinery in the US state of Massachusetts. The new facility will focus on pilot- and commercial-scale development of algae biodiesel. Pending legal and regulatory reviews, the plant will be built on five…
Read More »

Illinois-based Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) is set to become the US’ biggest producer of bioethanol despite an 83% drop in profits in the fiscal fourth quarter. The company is due to open new 275 Mgy bioethanol plants: one in the fourth (calendar) quarter of 2009 and one in Q3 2010. It anticipates that demand for ethanol will be driven by an expected increase in the permitted percentage of…
Read More »