Other News

North Dakota has become the ninth state in the US to offer the public E15 fuel at the pumps. A total of six petrol stations now offer the blended fuel and the Renewable Fuels Association believes the US public is becoming more and more receptive to green fuel options. ‘A recent Fuels America poll showed that 82% of Americans want E15 to be available at the petrol station,’ says RFA…
Read More »

A new investment will be made into Mustard 21 Canada to help it continue research and development of the crop as an industrial feedstock for the emerging biofuels sector, among others. Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz has announced an investment of CN$4.9 million (€3.4 million) to the non-profit organisation to go towards helping mustard producers ‘increase their competitiveness and…
Read More »

Renewable oil company Solazyme has agreed to sell algal oil to consumer goods multinational Unilever. The agreement is for at least 10,000 tonnes of product and Unilever expects to complete the total volume purchase within 12 to 18 months. It is believed this deal has been five years in the making. The product will be produced at the Solazyme Bunge Renewable Oils facility in Brazil, which is…
Read More »

UK coach company Stagecoach has added six new buses that run on 100% biofuel to its fleet based in Kent. The six buses will run between the University of Kent and Canterbury bus station, with the university supporting the project by contributing to a storage facility for the fuel at Stagecoach’s depot in Herne Bay. ‘We are determined to try everything we can to reduce pollution and…
Read More »

The Ensus bioethanol plant in the UK has restarted production this month for a fourth time after completion of ‘essential maintenance work’. Within a statement sent to Biofuels International, new owners CropEnergies claims: ‘Essential maintenance work taking place since July is now complete and market conditions have improved meaning the process of getting the plant up to full…
Read More »

Singapore-based Concord Energy has signed an agreement with Cool Planet Energy Systems to establish a joint-venture in the Asia Pacific region. The partnership will develop commercial production facilities for the conversion of non-food biomass into biofuels and soil enhancing biochar. 'We believe Cool Planet has developed a technology that will revolutionise the production of biofuels, and we…
Read More »

A new push for a bioethanol and sugar industry in Ireland recently had its first public fundraising event. Beet Ireland, a group comprising of farmers and suppliers, launched its first public fundraiser for €6 million ($8.1 million) at the National Ploughing Championships in County Laois at the end of September. The overall project is seen as the next step on the road to developing a new…
Read More »

The South African Department of Energy has stated a time from which fuel producers will have to start blending petrol and diesel with biofuels. The date has been set exactly two years from 1 October and producers will be required to blend between 2 and 10% of bioethanol into petrol, and a minimum of 5% biodiesel in diesel. A move of this kind is hoped, as with many other countries, to reduce…
Read More »

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), in cooperation with Chemieanlangenbau Chemnitz, has produced renewable fuel at its Bioliq (biomass to liquid karlsruhe) pilot plant. With the synthesis stage of the plant now operational, all stages of the Bioliq process (flash pyrolysis, high-pressure entrained-flow gasification and synthesis) are online and the pilot facility is a step closer to producer…
Read More »

Waste from dairy farms and beer breweries could provide the necessary ingredients to grow algae-based biofuels say the leaders of a project based in Vermont, US. The US Department of Agriculture awarded the association, which includes the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI), a $51,000 (€37,000) grant to research biofuels technology using algae during a news conference at…
Read More »

Hong Kong-based ASB Biodiesel is to start generating biodiesel at its processing plant in November. Located at the Tseung Kwan O industrial estate and expected to start in November, ASB is excepting to produce around 100,000 tonnes of biodiesel a year. The plant, to reach that figure of B100 blends, is expecting to use 200,750 tonnes of grease trap waste as feedstock. The bulk of initial…
Read More »

Butamax Advanced Biofuels, a biobutanol technology company, and Highwater Ethanol, a first generation ethanol producer, have begun to retrofit Highwater's ethanol plant in Minnesota, US for the production of biobutanol. The pair have entered into definitive agreements for license of Butamax's patented corn oil separation technology, and installation of system has already commenced with commercial…
Read More »

Alternative fuel company Primus Green Energy is to commission a 100,000 gallon a year natural gas to petrol pre-commercial demonstration plant at its New Jersey, US facility. The demo plant will use Primus’ proprietary technology, a four reactor catalytic process which converts syngas derived from natural gas or other feedstocks to petrol, jet fuel, diesel or aromatic chemicals without, it…
Read More »