Other News

In the city of Sault Ste. Marie in Ontario, Canada, MSE Enviro-Tech has signed a two-year agreement with Wardlaw Fuels to supply the Transit Commission with biodiesel for its fleets of buses. Under the agreement, MSE Enviro-Tech will source the biodiesel and fossil diesel. Wardlaw Fuels will then collect the biodiesel and blend it with petrol diesel to make B5-B20 blends. The company's CEO Norman…
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Canadian air carrier Porter Airlines is due to fly a commercial, biofuel-powered aircraft later this month, making it the nation's first carrier to do this. The flight comes after Porter's biofuel test flight, which took place in February earlier this year. Porter will operate one of its Bombardier Q400 turboprop airliners on a 50/50 blend of biojet and conventional fossil aviation…
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A five-year agreement has been agreed by Monarch Airlines to use a fuel-saving solution provided by Pratt and Whitney (P&W) moving forward. P&W’s fuel conversion program EcoFlight Solutions will be used across its fleet of 32 aircraft in an aim to help Monarch further improve its environmental performance. The airline has been using P&W’s EcoPower wash system since 2011, a…
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The 48th edition of the ELE Rally in the Netherlands hosted races that had cars fuelled by Gasoline Ethanol Methanol (GEM) from second generation biofuels producer BioMCN. The BioMCN 350Z Challenge saw 14 cars powered by GEM, which consists of the three fuel elements mixed in various ratios to almost match E85 properties but with a significantly lower CO₂ footprint than traditional fossil…
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An agreement has been signed by The Netherlands and Brazil at international sustainable energy conference Rio+20 designed to boost biofuels development between the two countries.  Dutch state secretary for infrastructure and environment Joop Atsma co-signed with Brazil’s chief negotiator at Rio+20 Luiz Figueiredo Machado, which will also see the two countries share knowledge of…
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Integrated energy company Maple Energy has claimed its joint ethanol and power project in Peru is now fully operational. The 37MW power side of the plant was recently completed and Maple is confident it will be now able to increase the amount of electricity before the end of the year, which will eventually supply enough to satisfy the needs of its ethanol plant and provide power to the national…
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Bioethanol yeast developing company Lesaffre, and its business unit Fermentis, has acquired xylose isomerase technology from yeast technology providers Butalco. ‘This acquisition, combined with our own intellectual property, allows us to finalise the construction of an industrial yeast strain suitable for second generation ethanol,’ says Fermentis general manager Didier…
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The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to establish the amount of bio-diesel products required to be included in diesel fuel markets in 2013. EPA’s action sets the 2013 volume at 1.28 billion gallons under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) which established the second phase of the Renewable Fuel Standards programme. EISA specifies a one billion…
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US-based ethanol plant Heron Lake Bioenergy has been working with an energy company to cut its running costs. Interstate Power and Light, a division of Alliant Energy, has worked with Heron to convert a coal-fired boiler system to natural gas, plus installing a new fan system at the same time. The plant will see a drop in internal electricity usage of approximately 4.5MKW/h per year, which…
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Ethanol plant design and management company ICM has had to lay off 25 employees in Colwich, US in response to what it calls slowing growth in the ethanol industry. The company now employs 275 people, down from the 671 it had back in early 2008. In a statement e-mailed to various press outlets, ICM CEO Dave Vander Griend stated the company is focused on retrofitting existing plants and introducing…
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Global research company FuturaGene, which focuses on plant genetics development for forestry, biopower and biofuels markets, is to collaborate with the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture research organisation EMBRAPA after the signing of a cooperation framework agreement. The pair will research eucalyptus and other tree species with an aim of increasing the development of sustainable energy…
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Ethanol producer Green Plains Renewable Energy's wholly owned subsidiary BlendStar has commenced operations at its newly built 96-car train terminal in Birmingham, Alabama. The new terminal is served by the BNSF Railway and has a throughout yearly capacity of 300 million gallons of ethanol. 'The Birmingham terminal will provide more efficient distribution of ethanol to underserved markets in the…
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Springboard Biodiesel and Pinnacle Capital have launched a new programme to install small-scale biodiesel production facilities at both public and private schools and campuses in the US. The technology will turn used cooking oil from the kitchens on the site into biodiesel that will be used to fuel school vehicles. ‘Because the cost of making biodiesel in our BioPro systems is less than…
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A US senator has called for congress to do more to support development in technology and biofuels incentives during a briefing at the White House. Senator Chris Coons spoke at an American Chemical Society briefing, saying that biofuels production was essential for the future of the US economy. ‘This was a great starting point as a concrete forum to look at how we begin to move forward…
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