Other News

In 2011 Brazilian state-owned utility company Companhia Paranaense de Energia (Copel) is planning to build a pilot-scale biodiesel plant in the state of Parana. The project, known as Parana Biodiesel, will start out by producing 5,000 litres a day of biodiesel. Copel has already made arrangements with the City Hall Jorge d’Oeste that will see it install a facility and recycle the residue…
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After 2009’s successful combined Biofuels International/Tank Storage Canada expo & conference in Montreal we are pleased to announce that this year’s event will be held on 27-29th September in the new location of Calgary, Alberta. The biofuels sector in Canada is just beginning but all the signs are that it will grow into a strong and successful industry. The government has made clear…
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In Ione, California, plans are being made to turn a previously coal-powered plant into a generator of green electricity. During a meeting on January 15, the director of Buena Vista Biomass Power (BVBP) Jesus Arredondo said that the refinery could be latest provider of green electricity. The company, having already invested $15 million, is aiming for the plant to reopen by the middle of 2010.…
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Czech Republic-based national utility CEZ produced more than 327 GWh of electricity from biomass during 2009 through co-firing. At four thermal facilities, the Hodonin power plant, the Porici power plant, the Tisova power plant and the Dvur Kralove heating plant, more than 363,000 tonnes of biomass were burned, despite some problems with delivery of biomass at the beginning of 2009. As part of…
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In Brazil, ETH Bioenergia, part of the Odebrecht group, is to acquire one of its smaller rivals, Brenco, creating one of the world’s largest ethanol producers. Brazilian construction and petrochemical giant Odebrecht and Japanese group Sojitz are the current shareholders in ETH and will own 65% of the new company. Brenco will own the remaining 35%. ETH has invested $1.27 billion (€0.9…
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Future Fuels, the Renewable Transport Fuel investment product of Future Capital Partners (FCP), has acquired a site and planning permission for its bioethanol refinery in Grimsby, UK. The project will be owned, funded and constructed by FCP and Vireol as they are undertaking the project together. Construction of the site is due to begin mid 2010 and cost approximately £200 million (€221…
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A total of $79.75 million (€58.3 million) will be awarded to the GreenField ethanol plant in Varennes, Quebec, Canada, over a period of seven years. GreenField will receive the funding from the Canadian government’s ecoENERGY for Biofuels programme. ‘What it allows us to do is maintain the right operating margins to support operations,’ said Jean Roberge, the GM of GreenField Ethanol of…
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In Germany sales of pure biodiesel have fallen rapidly between 2007 and 2009. Based on official statistics published by Bundesamt für Wirtschaft und Ausfuhrkontrolle (Federal Office of Economics and Export Control - BAFA), the Union zur Förderung von Oel- und Proteinpflanzen e. V. (UFOP) analysed the domestic consumption of biofuels from 2007 to 2009 and found that sales of pure biodiesel…
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US-based ethanol producer Poet has plans to produce 3.5 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol a year by 2022. Following successful technology and feedstock development the company will break ground on its first cellulosic ethanol plant Emmetsburg, Iowa, later this year. The 3.5 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol will come from three primary sources: 1 billion gallons from adding the…
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On May 6 this year Brazil launched the Program for Sustainable Production of Palm Oil with the aim to promote sustainability of the biodiesel feedstock and help prevent deforestation. A major feature of the programme is a proposed bill that, if passed by the National Congress, would put into effect agro-ecological zoning rules that would restrict the cultivation of palm oil to areas that…
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Submit your presentation abstract now for the upcoming Biofuels International expo Asia & conference in Kuala Lumpur on 10-11 November. After last year’s successful event in Singapore the event, organised by Biofuels International magazine, is moving to Malaysia this year with the theme: improving profitability in biofuels production. The potential for biodiesel production across Asia is…
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Australia’s first sorghum-fed ethanol plant located in Dalby, Darling Downs, Australia, has gone into voluntary administration 18 months after opening. Now the refinery located in Dalby, Darling Downs, Australia, has gone into voluntary administration. Ernst and Young have been brought in to review the business, which owes creditors over $80 million (€65.4 million). Selling the facility…
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German specialty chemicals company Süd-Chemie is to build Germany´s largest second generation ethanol plant. As from the end of 2011, this large-scale demonstration plant, located in the immediate vicinity of the new Bavarian BioCampus in Straubing, will produce up to 2,000 tonnes of bioethanol from agricultural waste, such as cereal straw. The project comprises an investment volume of some…
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In Scotland, UK, scientists at Edinburgh Napier University have developed a new whisky-based biofuel that could be available at filling stations in as little as a few year’s time. The nation’s whisky industry is worth £4 billion (€4.8 billion). Two by-products created during whisky production and available in abundance are pot ale and draff. Both produced during the distilling process,…
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