News

The transshipment of biofuels in the port of Rotterdam increased in the first half of 2008 from 1 to 2.5 million tonnes. The ratio of ethanol to biodiesel was almost 50/50. The products were manufactured mainly overseas: ethanol in Brazil and biodiesel largely in the US. Part of the incoming trade was used on the continent and some shipped on further by smaller sea-going vessel to England, UK,…
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US-based agricultural company Monsanto will purchase Brazil-based Aly Participacoes for $290 million (225.3 million Euro's) to invest in sugarcane to feed global demand for raw sugar and biofuels. Aly Participacoes operates the sugarcane breeding and technology companies, CanaVialis, the world's largest private sugarcane breeding company, and Alellyx, an applied genomics company that…
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A tree fungus discovered in the Patagonian rainforest in South America has been found to naturally produce a mixture of hydrocarbon molecules similar to diesel. 'This is the only organism that has ever been shown to produce such an important combination of fuel substances,' Gary Strobel, a plant scientist from Montana State University, comments. 'We were totally surprised to learn…
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Houston-headquartered GreenHunter Energy is mulling plans to construct a $70 million (54.8 million Euro's) facility that would store and produce biofuels at the Port of Tampa. The company recently paid $1 million for an option to lease the 22-acre site. The project will give GreenHunter a foothold in a deep-water port that handles over half of the transportation fuel used in the state of…
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France's government decided on Friday 24 October to reduce a planned tax increase for biofuels from next year. The original tax changes for biofuels, announced in the draft budget at the end of September, were criticised by industry representatives as a reversal of commitments to support the expansion of the fuels as part of national environment targets. In an amendment approved by the…
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The Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson, has launched the Australian Government's AUS$15 million (7.6 million Euro's) Second Generation Biofuels Research and Development Programme (Gen 2). Businesses and institutions researching second generation biofuels are now able to apply for grants of between $1 million and $5 million. Second generation biofuels use fuel stocks…
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Aircraft manufacturer Boeing says biofuel-powered aircraft could be carrying millions of passengers around the world within three years. 'The certification will happen much sooner than anybody thought,' Darrin Morgan, an environmental expert at the US jet manufacturer, says, adding the group was expecting official approval of biofuel use in the near future. 'We are thinking that…
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Several international renewable energy investors are pumping F$174 million (74 million Euro's) into plans to produce biodiesel in Fiji using Pongamia oil. Pongamia is a deciduous tree that grows to about 15-25 metres in height with a large canopy. Bio Fuels International, Evergreen Fuels from Australia and biofuels investors in the US are collaborating with Naitasiri Provincial Council…
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The construction of a government-backed, privately-led bioethanol project in barangays Bayanga and Mambuaya, the Philippines, could pollute the Cagayan de Oro River, an environmental conservation group has warned. The Kagayan Watershed Alliance (Kawal) has vowed to oppose the P2.4 billion (38 million Euro's) project that Alsons Consolidated Resources (ACR) had planned to build on a…
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The first compressed biomethane (CBM) re-fuelling facility in London, UK, has been set up to support a trial of a CBM-powered street cleansing vehicle. Following the launch earlier this year of a commercial trial of the vehicle in the London Borough of Camden Council, the group has now announced that the re-fuelling facility is ready. Gasrec, the UK's first producer of liquid biomethane…
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Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in Germany have announced a new method of producing high efficiency and easily available biofuels from wood, grass and plants could soon be available. The researchers have devised a more effective method of breaking down the cellulose found in plants into sugar molecules, which can then be used to produce ethanol. The method uses an…
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Illinois-based renewable energy company Coskata plans to market cellulosic ethanol produced from its novel production process in China. Coskata intends to establish technology licensing and/or partnership agreements to bring the company's ethanol production process to China. Coskata has short- to medium-term goals that focus on developing relationships with potential suitors in China and the…
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Bulgarian biofuel producers have threatened to file a lawsuit against the Customs Agency after the agency said that it would impose an excise on pure biofuel products starting from October, the National Biofuels Association in Bulgaria has announced. Earlier in October, deputy finance minister Kiril Zhelev commented that biofuel producers will be obligated to pay excise duties until the European…
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