Other News

Kenana Sugar (KS) will launch the first Sudanese project which uses ethanol as a gasoline additive to increase octane and improve vehicle emissions. The project, which will mix gasoline with 10% of ethanol, is a joint venture between KS and the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC). Sudan currently produces 65 million litres of ethanol, 10% of production consumed in the local market…
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Sequential Pacific Biodiesel (SPB) has signed up several new partners to increase levels of used cooking oil used into creating biodiesel. The organisations are the University of Washington, Taco Time, CenturyLink Field, Safeco Field and Pike Place Market and a closed loop production cycle has been constructed. ‘Cooking oil that isn’t recycled into biodiesel often gets dumped into the…
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Finland-based biofuels producer UPM is to work with technical research centre VTT and car manufacturer VV-Auto Group to start fleet tests of renewable domestic diesel. Biofuel will be produced by UPM and used in VV-Auto cars as the VTT conduct tests from May on engine functionality, consumption and emissions. These fleet tests are a part of a larger project, coordinated by VTT, which aims to…
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The Florida Biofuels and Bioenergy Association wants state governor Rick Scott to veto a bill that would lift the 2008 state law requiring petrol sold by a terminal suppliers or wholesalers to be blended with ethanol.‘We are disappointed in this step by the Florida Legislature as they’re telling both investors and the people who are working in bioenergy, biofuel and biotechnology that…
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Car rental brand Enterprise has made a large donation to the University of Missouri in respect to renewable fuel research. The $2 million (€1.5 million) gift, via Enterprise Holdings Foundation, will reportedly be used to research biofuels, biomass and energy efficiency. Missouri chancellor Brady Deaton was quoted as saying the money would be used to create an endowment to ‘support the…
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A new biofuels plant in Sofia, Bulgaria has awarded the construction contract to Greek company Aktor-Helektor. The project, set to use waste as feedstock, is set to take 19 months to come to fruition and cost around €109.2 million ($142.8 million). This is the second renewable energy project for the capital city as it joins another bioenergy system which is set to reduce Sofia’s…
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Corn-to-fuel business Gevo has been issued a new patent regarding isobutanol production. The latest award, US patent 8,431,374, covers “the foundational methods for low-cost isobutanol production at commercially relevant titer, productivity and yields”. ‘This is a milestone achievement toward our goal of making commercial isobutanol a reality,’ Brett Lund, Gevo's executive…
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California-based Canergy, an advanced biofuels company focused on the production of ultra-low carbon intensity ethanol from sustainable non-food energy crops, is to work with chemical engineering and renewable processes business Chemtex, and cellulosic biofuels producer Beta Renewables, for the development of a 25 million gallon a year cellulosic biofuels facility. Construction of the new…
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Danish renewable company BioGasol has delivered a commercial biomass pretreatment system to US-based Sweetwater Energy. The cellulosic sugar producer will use the unit in its demonstration facility to produce pretreated biomass for use in downstream processes. ‘Acquiring this unit, capable of processing 100kg of dry biomass per hour, will bolster our biofuel production capacity and allow us…
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The five year duty imposed on US ethanol exported to the European Commission needs to be challenged, according to a group of US senators. After an anti-dumping investigation by the EC which began over a year and a half ago, it imposed a €110 ($83.03) per tonne tariff on US ethanol that kicked in three months ago. Fourteen representatives, a mixture of republicans and democrats across eight…
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An ethanol plant in North Dakota, US is to be dismantled despite optimistic rescue plans. The Alchem corn-to-ethanol plant, based in Grafton, opened in 1985 but closed in 2007. An energy investment group located in Iowa mooted plans to purchase the facility last year but the idea didn’t come to fruition. This news follows the closure of another ethanol plant in North Dakota, the former ADM…
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Canada saw the official launch of the Growing Forward 2 (GF2) policy framework for Canada's agricultural and agri-food sector this April. And the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association (CRFA) has applauded this launch as ‘good news’ for its industry and for the farmers who work closely with biofuels producers. GF2 is a CN$3 billion (€2.2 billion) investment by federal, provincial…
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Extreme Biodiesel has entered talks to acquire fellow California-based Promethean Biofuels in a move to increase its presence in the sector. PB is a co-operative corporation and, apart from the used motor oil and waste vegetable oil collection, its products and services are only available to members of the co-operative. ‘This relationship between us and Promethean has flourished over the…
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