Other News

JOil, a scientific bioenergy crop developer of a new generation of jatropha, has achieved first-year yields in its India field trials of over 2 tons of seeds per hectare. 'Our [JO S1 and JO S2] seedlings started flowering three months after planting and in five months yielded their first harvest of fruit. Most current jatropha plants have no fruiting in the first year after planting and any …
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World Health Energy Holdings has signed a letter of intent with Prime, an Indian industrial and transport company, to build a biodiesel production facility on a budget of $100 million (€75 million). The development will be built on 250 acres and Prime has tested batch samples of spirulina algae which it plans to cultivate under the project, for biodiesel production. The proposed areas for…
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The refining and marketing venture jointly owned by affiliates of Shell and Saudi Aramco, Motiva Enterprises (Motiva), is planning to convert its High Sulfur Diesel Heating Oil (2000 ppm) to Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULDS) (15 ppm) at its 5,000,000+ barrel Sewaren Terminal, located in New Jersey. The conversion has been prompted by a State of New York mandate which states that all heating oil…
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Porter Airlines is to power a Bombardier Q400 turboprop airliner on biofuels in Canada as the first such revenue flight in the country. As part of the test flight, the aircraft was the first in Canada to fly on the ASTM D7566 bio derived jet fuel, which has recently been certified. The fuel is made up of a 50/50 blend with Jet A1 fuel. The biofuels is produced from Camelina sativa (49%) and…
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Verbio (Vereinigte BioEnergie) is continuing to expand its sales of biomethane. VNG (Verbundnetz Gas) is now selling verbiogas, a fuel derived solely from agricultural residue, at all 10 of the natural gas filling stations belonging to VNG-T (VNG-Erdgastankstellen, a wholly owned subsidiary of VNG AG). Furthermore, VNG has opened 2 natural gas fuelling stations in Berlin, which allow motorists to…
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Australian airline Qantas is to operate the country’s first commercial flight on biofuels on 13 April 2012. The flight will run from Sydney to Adelaide and an Airbus A330 will be used, powered by biofuels made from used cooking oil (50%) and conventional jet fuel (50%). Qantas says that it wants to get involved in aviation biofuels because with rising fuel prices affecting the industry, it…
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New research at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory could see Tobacco become the new biofuel. A team at Berkeley is aiming to use microbial fermentation to convert the hydrocarbon molecules from tobacco directly into a fuel. 'We want to bypass downstream processes like fermentation and produce fuels directly in the crop,' says Christer Jansson, a biochemist at Berkeley. 'After the biomass…
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China Petroleum & Chemical, also known as Sinopec, has applied to China's aviation regulator with the aim to produce aviation biofuel commercially. China is reportedly expected to use 12 million metric tons of aviation biofuel a year by 2020. This will equal about 30% of projected total jet fuel consumption, which in itself is predicted to double to 40 million metric tons a…
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Shell has built a drop-in biofuels pilot plant in Texas, based on Virent's bioforming technology. Shell invested in Virent in June 2010, aiding the opening of the Virent 'Eagle' demonstration plant, producing 10,000 gallons per year of the drop-in renewable fuel, biogasoline. The biofuels pilot plant has been constructed at Shell's Westhollow Technology Center in Houston, USA, and will…
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A team of chemists are investigating the potential improvements genetic mutations in plants could make to the conversion of cellulosic biomass to biofuels. The study is being led by Seth DeBolt, an associate professor of horticulture at the University of Kentucky in Lexington and was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy. DeBolt assembled…
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The Andersons has signed an agreement to acquire an ethanol production facility in Denison, Iowa from its owners, the Amaizing Energy Denison and Amaizing Energy Holding Company. The transaction, which remains subject to several contingencies, is anticipated to close in the second quarter. If acquired, The Andersons Denison Ethanol, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Andersons, would own the…
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Recent analysis of the biofuels industry by ecoprog GmbH has suggested a probable 40 new production plants will be constructed in Europe in the next 5 years, regardless of the existing import pressure and national overcapacities. In early 2012, approximately 380 biofuel plants with a production capacity of 1,050 petajoules were operational in the European Economic Area due an unprecedented…
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The Algal Biomass Organization (ABO) has conducted a new survey of more than 380 US algae industry contacts, which shows algae companies to be increasing production in 2012. The research also suggests that algae biofuels are expected to be price-competitive with petroleum fuels by 2020, and also that stable and effective Federal policy would accelerate production and job creation. The survey…
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