Other News

Kansas could become home to one of the first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol refineries in the US. The global energy company Abengoa Bioenergy, aims to open what could be the first ethanol plant of this scale, in Hugoton, in 2013. It is expected to create 300 construction jobs, 65 permanent jobs and generate an annual payroll of almost $5 million (€3.8 million).…
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OriginOil, a developer of next-generation algae oil technologies for transportation fuel, chemicals and foods markets, has appointed Melbourne-based Frontline Engineering Australia as its first Certified Support Partner. Frontline will help algae producers and integrators, install, engineer and operate OriginOil systems in Australia and also the Asia-Pacific region. Ken Reynolds, OriginOil…
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Aeternum Capital has successfully recommissioned its biodiesel, bioliquids and biolubricants manufacturing plant at Bromborough, near Liverpool. A £12 million (€14.32 million) investment last year allowed for commercial biodiesel production to begin. Biolubricants are set to go into production when the Automatic Batch Blending (ABB) unit progresses through final performance…
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Chemical engineers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst have discovered a 'mini-cellulose' molecule that behaves in the same way as cellulose when heated to a high temperature. Complex chemical reactions that take place during high-temperature biofuel processes such as pyrolysis or gasification, have remained unknown, as wood molecules are too large, and the reactions are too complicated…
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Middle Eastern airline Etihad Airways has flown its first biofuels flight from Seattle to Dubai, using a Boeing 777-300ER. The airline is the first to operate such as flight around the Gulf and the fuel was supplied by SkyNRG, which is an Amsterdam-based sustainable jet fuel supplier. From the factory to the plane, the fuel was delivered with the help of SkyNRG’s partners EPIC Aviation and…
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Construction has begun on the Hairy Hill biorefinery in Canada which is to turn farmers’ grain into ethanol whilst at the same time producing power for the grid. The construction marks the second phase of the development, which already features a biogas plant that produces 1MW for the power grid from manure and other waste. That facility is expected to cost about $50 million (€38…
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In order to discover better ways to harvest, store and transport corn residue, DuPont is working with Iowa State University to combat residue buildup. If the residue buildup is able to be reduced then stand establishment concerns when the next crop is grown can be avoided. A second benefit is that nitrogen tie-up caused by residues can be reduced. At the moment, some farmers growing corn increase…
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The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) has provided bioenergy company Vaskiluodon Voima Oy with €18 million to build a gasification plant in Vaasa, Finland. The total project cost is expected to be about €40 million. The facility will produce 140MW and is to be connected to a power plant that is already established, allowing for the coal from the old plant to be substituted by domestic…
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Bioenergy company ZeaChem has been awarded a $232.5 million (€176 million) loan guarantee from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to build a biorefinery that will convert biomass into sustainable fuels and chemicals. It will be the company’s first commercial size cellulosic biorefinery and will use woody biomass and agricultural residues to produce bio-based fuels. Speaking…
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Scientists from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Sustainable Bioenergy Centre (BSBEC) have uncovered a series of genes which could help grasses being breed with better characteristics for bioenergy production. The genes help to better develop the wood part of the grass, called the fibrous, such as what is in rice and wheat. In understanding how these genes…
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VTT, a company working at developing Vietnam’s solid biomass fuel resources on an industrial level as part of the Energy and Environment Partnership Programme run by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, is to create multi-fuel delivery chains for power plants and industrial boilers. The programme will make sure biomass fuels are available all year round through the use of storage…
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A new technology has been developed at the University of Sheffield in the UK which uses microbubbles to harvest and remove water from algae for biofuel production. Algae produces oils which can be used to create biodiesel but water needs to be removed from the algae first in order to do so. Using the microbubble system is an inexpensive way to do this. The process works by floating algae…
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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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