Other News

A Californian ethanol plant could soon start grinding again. The former $130 million (€92.2 million) Cilion ethanol plant in Keyes is expected to be in operation again by the end of March after AE Biofuels took up the lease. Leasing the 55 mgy plant will cost $250,000 a month and AE Biofuels plans to install its cellulosic ethanol technology so wheat straw, corn stalks and agricultural waste…
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In Latvia, plans are underway to construct a bioethanol production plant. Bioethanol producer Jaunpagasts Plus has chosen to build the €65 million plant in the Riga Port because of the economic and practical reasons it provides. The plant will be powered by woodchips and this is a convenient location to receive woodchip deliveries as well as exporting the bioethanol. The facility will…
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Canada-based biofuels firm Enerkem may have come up with a solution to create cheap biofuels while at the same time decreasing the amount of rubbish on landfill sites. The current problem with using ethanol as a biofuel is that it is still expensive but contains much less energy to the gallon compared to petrol. With a waste-to-fuels facility in Mississippi set up to help Enerkem, and a $51…
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European mid-market investment specialist BLM Partners has invested €10 million in biogas and bioelectricity producer agri.capital. agri.capital based in Munster, Germany is one of Europe’s largest biogas producers, operating 49 sites with an installed generation capacity of 36MW. Germany is Europe’s largest producer of biogas. Biogas is produced in a microbial degradation process…
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Overall production of ethanol will increase by 16.2% this year resulting in 85.9 billion litres being manufactured. This rise in ethanol production will see more than one million barrels of biofuels a day replace 370 million barrels of oil this year, the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance (GRFA) forecasts. With over 45 billion litres of ethanol expected to be manufactured in the US alone this…
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A move by the Canadian Government to enforce a law requiring 5% renewable content in petrol is gaining speed. The commitment was made in 2006 to regulate renewable fuel content in petrol and now the Government has developed draft regulations following consultations with industry, provinces and stakeholders for a September roll-out. The proposed regulations are part of Canada's broader…
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In Dundarrach, North Carolina, US, the $100 million (€75 million) Hoke Country ethanol plant is due to start producing its first batch of ethanol on Saturday 1 May. Ethanol producer Clean Burn Fuels’ plant, which was originally expected to begin production in January this year, faced various construction delays. Rescheduled for April, production had to be set back again due to the bad…
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US petrol refiner Sunoco’s ethanol plant located in New York is expected to come online in the beginning of July this year.. The plant has been undergoing repairs for almost six months in order to get it to operate at its full capacity of 100 million gallons of ethanol a year. Sunoco purchased the ethanol plant for $8.5 million (€10 million) in June last year after it was closed when…
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Privately held company ICM of Colwich, Kansas, US, is to build a second generation biofuels plant after being given the green light by the US Department of Energy. From August this year the company will begin converting an existing grain-to-ethanol plant into a cellulosic ethanol facility that will use corn fibre, switchgrass and energy sorghum. The $25 million (€20.7 million) project will…
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Despite a number of attempts to pass a tax extenders package, the US Senate was unable to get the 60 votes needed in order to continue. The bill included extending the $1 (€0.8) -a-gallon tax credit for biodiesel and the future of the tax credit for biodiesel production now appears uncertain. According to the head of the National Biodiesel Board (NBB), the industry for biodiesel will…
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Following a 60% growth in 2008, the EU’s production of ethanol continued to grow last year and increased 31% to 3.7 billion litres up from 2.8 billion litres in 2008. While a number of countries, including Austria and Sweden, dramatically increased their ethanol output capacity in 2009, France remains the biggest manufacturer. The nation increased its ethanol output from 1,000 million litres…
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After signing an agreement to acquire two ethanol plants in Iowa, US, Flint Hills Resources has announced its plans to purchase the Hawkeye ethanol plants in Menlo and Shell Rock. The two facilities, which both opened in 2008 and produced a total combined capacity of 200 million gallons of ethanol, are to change hands in September this year. However with 15 staff working at each site, Flint…
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Following the closure of the Mendota, Illinois-based Spreckles Sugar plant two years ago, resulting in 200 job losses, the Mendota Advanced Bioenergy Beet Cooperative (ABBC) is now looking to inject new life into the facility. The group of farmers known as the ABBC are expected to receive a state grant of $1.5 million (€1.15 million) that will see work start on the derelict plant. When…
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Hydrocarbon Hotel, a joint venture between North Sea Group BV, a storage and distribution firm based in the Netherlands, and UK-based Blue Ocean Associates, is building a sea terminal in the Port of Amsterdam. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on 23 September 2010. The terminal will consist of 11 tanks and so far the foundations of the first three tanks have been laid. When…
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