Other News

A new $7 million (€5.3 million), five year biofuels collaboration has been signed this month. International chemical company Johnson Matthey will work with the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at producing economical drop-in gasoline, diesel and jet fuel from non-food based biomass. ‘It’s a way of leveraging the expertise of two…
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Renewable oil and bioproducts company Solazyme has completed multiple initial fermentations at Archer Daniels Midland’s (ADM) Iowa, US-based facility. Solazyme claims to have achieved commercial-scale production metrics, linear scalability of its process from laboratory scale and demonstrated the ability to run large scales without contamination. The fermentations were conducted in veseels…
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The North American branch of biotechnology company Syngenta has signed a commercial agreement with a Kansas ethanol plant. The agreement will see Bonanza Bioenergy use grain featuring Enogen trait technology which allows corn to express a robust form of alpha amylase enzyme, the primary enzyme used in dry grind ethanol production to convert starch to sugars. Enogen eliminates the need to utilize…
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Renewable Energy Group (REG), a producer and marketer of biodiesel, has established new biodiesel blending locations at four New York terminal sites. 'Gaining access to the largest biodiesel terminal network in New York is part of Renewable Energy Group's strategy to expand into the Northeast market as a reliable biodiesel supplier,' REG president and CEO Daniel Oh says. These biodiesel…
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Qatar University opened the doors to its aviation biofuels research to a special visitor in November. A team of university researchers looking at ways to produce cost-effective and sustainable biofuels welcomed the president of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Roberto Gonzalez and gave him a tour of the facilities. The university wants to produce biofuels in a way that does…
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Advanced biorefinery owners Borregaard has received a multi-million grant from the Research Council of Norway to further wood processing projects. The grant totals NOK 30 million ($5.3 million) and will be spread on projects over a three year period. Borregaard won the investment after submitting three applications for funding on projects within the areas of lignin products for use in concrete,…
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Singapore-based AMG Bioenergy Resources has signed a non-binding letter of intent regarding the potential acquisition of numerous Jatropha  assets owned by Eco-Energy China. The move would see AMG take on EC’s 10,000 hectares of jatropha plantation assets in the province of Guizhou, with a further right to plant an extra 30,000 hectares of the feedstock in the same area. A decision is…
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A sustainable jet fuel project named GreenSky London is gaining momentum after stakeholder British Airways (BA) confirmed its financial commitment to the cause. GreenSky London is a project between BA and sustainable fuel researchers Solena that will see the construction of a new facility that will annually convert approximately 500,000 tonnes of waste, normally destined for landfill, into 50,000…
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According to a new study by Iowa State University, US-based ethanol producers saw margins fall steeply in October. The university, using its model, has only recorded one positive month of producers this year when they broke even in April. Distillers of the biofuel lost $0.12 (€0.09) a gallon in October, the most since June and $0.09 a gallon more than September. The study uses corn, ethanol…
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Bioethanol producer Vivergo has started up its production process from wheat at its Humberside facility. The wheat is being supplied by grain marketing company Frontier via selected farmers under its Humber Gold brand and it has also confirmed that the milling, fermenting and distilling process has now began at the plant. Despite a challenge in providing constantly high quality wheat this season,…
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Global Clean Energy Holdings (GCEH) has become the first biofuels feedstock producer in North America to obtain RSB sustainability certification. The RBS certification is approved by the European Commission as proof of compliance with the Renewable Energy Directive (2009/28/EC) and this award covers all three of GCEH’s jatropha farms in Mexico. ‘We are delighted that GCEH has embraced…
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A biofuels research team based at the University of Colorado will use a multi-million dollar grant to look into how to produce cost-effective biofuels from E.Coli. The US Department of Energy has awarded the project $9.2 million (€7 million) and the team will allegedly use a non-pathogenic strain of E.Coli to pinpoint any part of it that can be used to make biofuels or other chemicals. The…
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Brazil-based energy business Petrobras is planning to bring ethanol production online in Mozambique in less than two years. At a conference in Maputo entitled “Brazil and Africa: Opting for Sustainable Development” the chairman of Pterobras Combustiveis, Miguel Macedo, stated it would construct a distillery by the end of 2013. ‘According to the approved timetable, if that…
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