Other News

Waste-to-biofuels company Enerkem has closed another round of financing to increase its total equity investment for 2013. It closed on CN$50 million (€36.4 million) to bring its yearly financing total to $87 million. As part of this drive, institutional fund Investissement Quebec has joined the seven other investors, including Waste Management of Canada, all of whom have increased their…
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Forty-eight companies have joined forces with the European Commission this July to set up a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for bio-based industries. The PPP brings together €3.8 billion ($4.9 million) with an aim to advance the bioeconomy in Europe. The European pulp and paper industry is one strategic partner in this PPP, with 13 of the 48 member companies from the sector as well as the…
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It has been reported Pleasant Valley Biofuels (PVB) has begun operations in Utah, US. The plant has a capacity of 1.5 million gallon a year and will make biodiesel via organic oil from primarily waste vegetable and tallow feedstock. PVB will also generate Renewable Indentification Numbers and glycerine at the site.
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UK-headquartered Green Biologics (GB), an international biotechnology company, has announced collaboration and planned investment in facilities with US business Easy Energy Systems (EES). The collaboration will result in the modification of Easy Energy’s ethanol demonstration plant in Iowa to produce renewable n-butanol and acetone. ‘We’ve been working with Easy Energy for…
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The Biotechnology Industry Organisation (BIO) has urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue a final Tier 3 Motor Vehicle Emission and Fuel Standards rule that maximizes investment in, and adoption of, advanced biofuels. Brent Erickson, executive VP of BIO’s industrial and environmental section, believes the EPA recognises the most ‘effective and efficient way to achieve…
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The Port of Rotterdam has received the first load of biodiesel ever to be exported from Brazil for commercial purposes. Brazilian biofuel producer BSBios shipped 22 tonnes of biodiesel to the port after it received authorisation from the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels to export the fuel back in 2008. 'BSBios has tried to make partnerships official to export biofuel,'…
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Food manufacturer and marketer Del Monte has joined in a biodiesel project with its clients McDonald’s in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Twenty vehicles from Del Monte’s logistics fleet are running on biodiesel made from McDonald’s UAE’s used vegetable cooking oil, with an aim to get the entire fleet on renewable fuel before 2014. McDonald’s UAE has been powering…
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It has been reported an idle ethanol and sugar plant in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil has found a new buyer. Brazilian engineering company Montagens and Projetos Especiais (MPE) is believed to be spending $31.2 million (€24 million) to modernise the Usina Sapucaia sugarcane mill, as well as planting crops too. Local news reports claim Usina Sapucaia filed for bankruptcy three years ago and has not…
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Southeast Asia airline Garuda Indonesia is planning to use biofuels in all its aircraft by 2015. It has been estimated 10 million litres of biofuel it would be needed to at least part power each of its 96 planes. Garuda plans to add another 48 planes to its fleet however, so the project will hinge on logistical aspects. ‘It is estimated that amount of fuel would be currently sufficient…
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The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ruled that a giant reed variety, with a high ethanol potential, qualifies as a cellulosic renewable fuel. Arundo donax has been reported as yielding three times as much ethanol per acre as corn and this decision makes it a potential replacement of corn for renewable transportation fuel in the Midwest. Many scientists and environmentalists believe…
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A third round of grant funding aimed to help petrol stations buy ethanol blender pumps has begun in South Dakota, US. The state has put up $500,000 (€389,500) and station owners can apply for up to $25,000 to install a pump for the first time, or up to $10,000 for any additional pumps. Blender pumps allow customers to choose their ethanol blends at the pump at 10, 20, 30 or 85%. South Dakota…
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Local news reports in the Philippines state Brazilian joint venture business Raizen Energia (RE) is set to build a new bioethanol facility with local developers. RE, owned by Royal Dutch Shell and Cosan SA Industria and Commercio, currently produces over 2 billion litres of ethanol from sugarcane in its native country. A source revealed that RE ‘are still at then exploratory stage, looking…
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A pilot plant in Spain is to use municipal wastewater and sunlight for biofuels production via algae. The project, branded as All-Gas and backed by seven European-based partners, is set to cost €12.2 million ($15.7 million) but at least €9 million has been received from the European Union (EU). It will aim to produce 3,000kg of algae a year with an oil content of 20%, enough biodiesel…
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