Other News

The US state of Oregon is to adopt a mandate requiring diesel sold in the state to contain at least 2% biodiesel by 1 October. Nine counties in northwest Oregon will introduce the requirement from next week. Oregon passed renewable energy legislation in 2007 stating that a B2 mandate would take effect when the state’s biodiesel production capacity reached 5 million gallons a year. This…
Read More »

Illinois-based Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) is set to become the US’ biggest producer of bioethanol despite an 83% drop in profits in the fiscal fourth quarter. The company is due to open new 275 Mgy bioethanol plants: one in the fourth (calendar) quarter of 2009 and one in Q3 2010. It anticipates that demand for ethanol will be driven by an expected increase in the permitted percentage of…
Read More »

A poisonous extract of Cassava root is expected to produce 1% of the ethanol used in Venezuela. Cassava root, or yuca, is the third largest source of carbohydrates for human food in the world. It is processed into casabes, or flat breads. However, this leaves behind a residue called yare, which, owing to its high cyanide content, is highly toxic to humans and animals. Now a team of Venezuelan…
Read More »

In the US, the Minnesota-based Guardian Energy has agreed to purchase a 100Mgy corn ethanol plant in Janesville, Minnesota from the financial services company AgStar Lending Group. Guardian Energy hopes to close the deal by 15 September. The Janesville plant has passed through a string of owners since planning originally began in 2004. The plant was originally built by US BioEnergy, which…
Read More »

Crimson Renewable Energy, operator of California’s largest biodiesel plant which opened on 29 July, is doing what few producers in the nation are. The 30 million gallon a year producer will move away from the nation’s predominant choice of feedstock, soyabean, and process 50 million pounds of the crude glycerine by-product, turning it into high quality refined glycerine to tap into…
Read More »

Hot on the heels of its launch of Butamax earlier this month BP is further strengthening its biofuels efforts with the inception of a joint venture company with Verenium, Vercipia Biofuels. While Butamax will focus R&D resources on biobutanol, Vercipia Biofuels will continue to develop one of the US’ first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facilities, located in Highlands County,…
Read More »

California-based algae expert SunEco Energy has tested biodiesel from algal oil produced at its demonstration plant in Chino, California in the trucks of transportation logistics company J. B. Hunt. The biodiesel was tested in a B20 and a B50 blend and produced an 82% reduction in particulate emissions with no loss of power. The company is now constructing the world’s first commercial-scale…
Read More »

US-based biomass specialist Covanta Holding has signed a deal to buy seven North American bioelectricity plants from Veolia Environmental Services for US$450 million (€315 million). The seven plants, which collectively process about 3 million tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) a year, will join Covanta’s existing portfolio of 38 plants processing 17 million tonnes of MSW…
Read More »

Filipino developer Basic Energy has commissioned two Thai consultants to conduct feasibility studies into a proposed cassava ethanol plant. Basic Energy signed contracts on 30 July with the Alternative Energy Institute of Thailand and Ethanol Thai to examine the company’s proposal to build a 100 million litre a year bioethanol plant in the Filipino province of Batangas. Basic Energy…
Read More »

Two members of the US House of Representatives have introduced a bill to remove government subsidies on corn-derived bioethanol. The Affordable Food and Fuel for America Act, sponsored by Joseph Crowley, a New York Democrat, and Mary Joseph Mack, a Californian Republican, would phase out subsidies on the production of ethanol from corn and transfer them to second-generation biofuels. The bill…
Read More »

A scheme employing Aboriginals in Pilbara, Western Australia, to recycle used cooking oil into saleable biodiesel has received a grant from the Western Australian Government. The Ashburton Aboriginal Corporation started the scheme to alleviate the poverty of many of the Aboriginals as well as providing a cheaper source of fuel to natives who need to drive the vast distances of Western…
Read More »

A dramatic illustration of the potential of biodiesel came with its use to power a Boeing U-787 hydroplane in a demonstration on 2 August. The U-787 was tested repeatedly at the annual Chevrolet Cup, each with a greater proportion of biofuel, culminating in the 100% blend being used in a run on Sunday. Hydroplane driver Chip Hanauer reported no drop in performance as the percentage of biofuel…
Read More »

Biofuel Africa, a Ghanaian corporation wholly owned by the Norway-based Solar Harvest, claims to have increased the acreage of land available for food production in Northern Ghana by 880%. In 2008, 55 acres of the company’s land was planted with food crops grown by 25 local farmers. Tests showed that repeated growing of food crops had depleted this soil of much of its nutritional…
Read More »