Other News

A fire broke out at a biodiesel production in Südlohn-Oeding, Germany on 23 September. It started in a side production line of the Petrotec-owned facility’s biodiesel production process. Petrotec claims the main biodiesel production line was not damaged and suffered no halt of production. Petrotec also reports that, as a result of the disturbance, biodiesel production throughput may be…
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An agricultural project in Abu Dhabi, with the view of producing sustainable jet fuel, is getting closer to fruition. A demonstration farm required by scientists at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) is closer to finding a home. In collaboration with both the Abu Dhabi Urban Council and the Western Region Municipality, MIST is evaluating several options to acquire a necessary…
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A partnership that will use the by-products from whisky making in Scotland to make butanol for transportation has been signed. The Tullibardine distillery in Perthshire has signed a MoU with Celtic Renewables, an off-shoot of Napier University, to allow bacteria to feed on its draff and pot ale by-products which are high in sugar content. ‘This partnership is an important step in the…
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Verenium, an industrial biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialisation of enzymes, has agreed a two-year, $10 million (€7.7 million) revolving credit facility with Comerica Bank. The credit facility will allow Verenium to borrow up to $8.4 million against eligible foreign and domestic receivables and will cover an existing $1.6 million letter of credit commitment to…
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Scientists from the University of Liverpool are taking part in an international research project to apply the properties of drought-adapted desert plants to biofuel crops. The  £8.6million ($13.9 million) project, funded by the US Department of Energy, aims to explore the photosynthetic mechanisms of drought-tolerant desert plants like agave and introduce these into poplar trees,…
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Italian energy company Eni will invest €100 million ($128.7 million) into converting a conventional refinery located in Venice to biofuels. The process will start with an initial conversion of existing facilities which will be launched in the second quarter of 2013 and be completed by December. ‘It will make the Venice site a model of technological excellence and will represent a solid…
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A multi-million pound project to explore biofuel potential in plants growing in harsh environments has been announced. Newcastle University is taking part in the five-year, £8.8 million ($14.2 million) project, funded by the US Department of Energy, to look into the genetic mechanisms of nocturnal photosynthesis, a process displayed by some desert plants. By taking in carbon dioxide at…
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A new recovery boiler installed at the Iggesund Paperboard mill in Sweden means the facility can now be energy self-sufficient. The new boiler allows Iggesund to increase its production and also enables the facility to operate on 100% biofuel and be CHP self-sufficient. It took two years and SEK 2.3 billion (€240 million) to construct and was officially opened by Lars Sundblad, Iggesund MD…
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Biotechnology company Dyadic has concluded its DISCO bioethanol project in cooperation with SEKAB E-Technology. The goal of DISCO was to identify and develop more productive and cost-effective enzymes for the production of bioethanol from lignocellulosic raw materials. Dyadic’s biofuels enzyme, AlternaFuel CMAX, was successfully verified by SEKAB at an ethanol demonstration plant based in…
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An agreement has been signed between India-based seaweed-to-biofuel company Sea6 Energy and biotechnology researchers Novozymes. Sea6 has raised $655,000 (€507,450) to further develop green algae biofuel after converting red seaweed into ethanol in its laboratory using traditional yeast processes. ‘The advantages to red seaweed over others are that it is a good bet for a commercial…
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UK-based second generation biofuels producer TMO Renewables is to supply a new Brazilian ethanol plant after signing long-term agreement. The 25-year feedstock supply contract was signed with Usina Santa Maria Cerquilho, which is an associate of Copasucar, a large commercial Brazilian sugar and ethanol operation. UK prime minister David Cameron, who is visiting Brazil as part of a UK trade…
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Spain-based renewable energy and engineering company Abengoa is set to temporarily idle an ethanol plant in the US. The plant in Illinois allegedly produces 88 million gallons of ethanol annually but is due to idle because of current poor production margins, mainly in part because of the summer drought experienced by the US. Abengoa was authorised by the US Environmental Protection Agency to help…
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A research team in the US claims to have developed a new biofuels process involving water, electricity and biomass. The team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have come up with a technology that uses a fuel cell to convert biomass compound acetone into isopropanol, a chemical that’s used as a petrol additive. According to chemical and biological engineering professor George Huber the…
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