Other News

Originally viewed as the solution to all of Zimbabwe's fuel issues, one of the nation's key biodiesel plants faces a period of drawn-out closure after the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has pulled out of the project. Despite having already invited bids for its 50% shareholding in fuel manufacturing company Transload, investment and economic analysts predict the project will find no investment…
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Choren Industries, a biofuel technology company headquartered in Feiberg, Germany, has started bankruptcy proceedings, along with its two German subsidiaries Choren Fuel Freiberg and Choren Components. Choren USA and Choren China have not yet been affected by the insolvency. Choren was currently commissioning a demonstration plant in Feriberg, which was to produce second generation ethanol using…
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Aeromexico is the latest airline to fly its planes on biofuel. Along with Boeing, the two companies powered a flight from Mexico City to Madrid using a General Electric motor that ran on bio-combustible fuel. The flight, which took off at the beginning of August, had 250 passengers on board. The airline plans to make the flights more regular by implementing a programme that will see its Boeing…
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Energy company Dong Energy, along with local companies, is developing a consortium called Måbjerg Energy Concept. The consortium has been established to examine the feasibility of bioenergy projects and determine which ones will be profitable. These projects include building new plants and upgrading existing ones. All the projects will utilise locally sourced biomass and waste materials to…
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Renewable Energy Technologies has proposed to open an ethanol plant in the city of Holland, Michigan, US. The company is looking to acquire an existing facility that was previously owned by American Beverage and convert it into a waste-to-ethanol production facility, handling products leftover from the production of sugar and alcohol. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded Renewable…
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Simon Storage has installed an ethanol blending system for Mabanaft at the new biofuels blending facility at Simon’s Immingham West Terminal. Simon says its facility has been built as a response to the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO) programme which means more suppliers will be distributing fuels that are made up of a percentage of renewables. Simon and Mabanaft have built an…
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Air China has launched its first demonstration flight using biofuels derived from jatropha grown in China. The biofuel was a drop-in fuel replacement for regular jet fuel, called synthetic paraffinic kerosene, and the airline partnered with Boeing, Honeywell, Civil Aviation Administration of China, PetroChina and technology Pratt & Whitney to get the flight off the ground. The Boeing 747…
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In Mexico, Chiapas state government will propose to build a biojet fuel production plant in January 2012. Should the plans be granted approval, the plant would help Mexican airlines achieve their blending targets for aviation fuel; in 2015 the government wants 1% of renewable jet fuel to be blended with traditional aviation fuel. This will increase to 15% by 2020. The plant is estimated to cost…
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A new company has been set up in Australia that will produce biofuels from algae at commercial-scale. Muradel Pty is a joint venture between Murdoch University, Adelaide Research and Innovation Pty, and SQC Pty. Murdoch University will bring to the company its knowledge in the commercial production of algae and algae production, while engineering expertise in algal processing lies with the…
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This year ethanol production is expected to reach 88.7 billion litres, according to a global annual ethanol production forecast, released by the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance (GRFA), in cooperation with F.O. Licht. This will replace one million barrels of crude oil a day worldwide. 85.8 billion litres of the biofuel were produced in 2010 and GRFA foresees this rising 3%. The US is the world's…
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Energy firm Eco Ventures Group's (EVG) biodiesel plant, planned for Groveland, Florida in the US, will be built by technology supplier Raptor Technology. Raptor signed the deal, which is thought to be worth $1.6 million (€1.16 million), at the beginning of March 2011.The new plant will produce 3.6 million gallons a year of biodiesel. Additionally, the facility will feature a crushing line…
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In a bid to encourage the use of biogas across China, Austria's GE Energy is to supply its Jenbacher biogas engine technology to power China's largest ethanol production plant, which is currently under construction in the city of Nan Yang, Henan Province. Owned and operated by Henan Tianguan Group, the new ethanol plant will produce 500,000m3 of biogas a day, from organic material such as…
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Spain's Abengoa earned €1.656 billion in revenues during the first quarter of 2011. This is a 43% increase compared to the same period in 2010. EBITDA (earnings before interest, income taxes, non-controlling interests, depreciation and amortisation) also increased this year and reached €254 million, while the company's net income for Q1 2011 was €56 million, an 8% increase from…
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The Brazilian government says it will implement new regulations on its ethanol market next month, which will require producers and distributors to implement supply contracts lasting at least one year, in order to avoid shortages and prevent price spikes. The new regulations are expected to help the government to plan the supply and demand for sugarcane-based fuel and therefore stop ethanol…
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