Other News

Dec 29, 2009
In Argentina, Ledesma has announced it will invest $37 million (€25.8 million) to produce ethanol from sugarcane. The sum will enhance sugarcane cultivation, expand a distillery, and install a dehydrator to produce ethanol for the Argentine market. The initiative is part of the $222 million investment package planned by the agro-industrial complex for 2008-2011.
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Dec 29, 2009
In Japan an affiliate of Toyota Motor corporation will grow jatropha to use its oil as an alternative fuel in 2010. Toyota Tsusho is in negotiations with a Philippine banana plantation to introduce the non-edible feedstock. Toyota Tsusho bought a stake in Singapore-based seed researcher JOIL(S) this year to develop a better plant after erratic yields prompted BP and rivals to pull out of…
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Dec 29, 2009
Korea will raise its biodiesel blend levels in 2010. The proportion of plant and animal oil mixed with diesel will be raised to 2% from the current 1.5%. The government will also waive the oil tax of 529 won (€0.31) per litre for diesel fuel next year due to the rise in biomass content. Korea was the first Asian country to mix biodiesel with common diesel in July 2006. In 2007, the biomass…
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Dec 23, 2009
Sugarcane ethanol powerhouse Brazil might just have a whole new market to sweeten up. The South American nation is likely to take advantage of China’s agreement to lower the tariff on imports of ethanol to 5% from the previous 30%. The Finance Ministry announced the new import tax for alcohol and other spirits denatured of any strength will be effective from 1 January 2010. However, traders…
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Dec 22, 2009
The deal was done less than a month ago and now the plant Zenergy International acquired from Greenlight Biofuels is due to undergo expansion. Capacity will double from 5 to 10 million gallons a year with Zenergy investing in an additional biofuel reactor with the potential to double profit. The Littlefield, Texas, plant is situated on 40 acres of productive land and processes waste vegetable…
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Dec 22, 2009
Pigs might not fly, but chickens could. Illinois, US-based Elevance Renewable Sciences plans to build a $15 million (€10.5 million) that will use plant oils and poultry fat to create jet fuel. The project, funded in part by $2.5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, could get the final go-ahead by late January. Construction of the plant would create up to 50 jobs, and seven or so…
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Dec 22, 2009
Canada’s forest industry has been hit hard by the recession. Now increasing efforts could resurrect the industry as it branches out to renewable energy. Dimethyl ether, or DME is a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide that can be produced from biomass, natural gas or coal. DME has the potential to replace diesel fuel because it produces 95% fewer greenhouse gases, no soot, low levels of…
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Dec 22, 2009
In the UK, Scottish Water Horizons, the commercial arm of Scottish Water, has received an anaerobic digestion tank that will turn food waste into energy at its Deerdykes Organics Recycling facility in Cumbernauld. From Q2 next year, the £7 million (€7.83 million) food recycling unit will turn 30,000 tonnes of solid and liquid food waste into around 8,000 megawatts of power each year, enough…
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Dec 18, 2009
The Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has approved a project proposal put forward by Pond Biofuels that includes funding for its biomass from algae demonstration plant. The proposal was submitted under the Asia-Pacific Partnership (APP) on Clean Development and Climate programme. Along with the biomass plant in Ontario, Canada, the project also includes a feasibility study to assess…
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Dec 18, 2009
Envirotek’s Extreme Bio-Diesel facility in California, US, is now in full production after completing the first phase of its refinery expansion. The plant is currently producing 4,000 gallons of biodiesel a day and plans to increase to 10,000 gallons a day by the end of the first quarter of 2010. The plant’s expansion was expected to be completed by January 2010 but has been completed…
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Dec 17, 2009
An ethanol project in Peru has received $25 million (€17.3 million) from the Inter-American Development Bank. Maple Energy’s $245 million ethanol plant, sugar plantation and electricity power generation facility will have a capacity of 35 million gallons a year. The company expects to achieve a 53% increase in sugarcane yield, compared to global averages on its 34,500 acre plantation. The…
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Dec 17, 2009
Located in south east Europe, Bulgaria is strengthening its biodiesel rules. The country will introduce compulsory blending of diesel and petrol with biofuels from 2010 to boost the usage of the green fuels and meet European Union environmental targets. The new rules, which come into force in March next year, require blending of diesel with a 2% content of biodiesel. Biodiesel content will be…
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Dec 17, 2009
Kenya is building up its ethanol base with a little help from India. Mumias Sugar is constructing a Sh3.5 billion (€32.2 million) ethanol distillery, with Indian engineering company Avant Garde undertaking the design, construction and procurement of the Mumias Ethanol Distillery Project at the sugar miller’s complex in Mumias. Mumias will also spend another Sh23.4 billion in acquisition of…
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Dec 16, 2009
It is the perfect Christmas present. While some people ask for ties, socks or a fine whisky – on the alcohol theme – one company has bought three fuel ethanol plants. Following its eager snap-up of seven VeraSun Energy plants earlier this year, a subsidiary of refining and fuel marketing company Valero Energy has signed agreements to buy the three facilities in the US for $272 million…
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Dec 16, 2009
In the US, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) has called on California’s Office of Administrative Law (OAL) to reject the Air Resources Board’s (ARB) Low Carbon Fuels Standard (LCFS) rule currently under review. The RFA has highlighted numerous instances where ARB violated established procedures by failing to properly address stakeholder comments on the LCFS proposal. ‘ARB’s Final…
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