Other News

The European Commission (EC) plans to propose anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on imports of biodiesel from the US. The Commission, which oversees trade policy for the 27-country European Union, is due to propose the measures at a March meeting of EU national trade officials, known as the anti-dumping committee. The anti-dumping duties would range from €2-19 per 100kg and the anti-subsidy…
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Sudan's first ethanol plant, state-owned Kenana Sugar Co.'s (KSC), is due to begin operations at the end of March. Situated within the KSC complex, 250km south of Khartoum, the plant is expected to produce about 61 million litres a year of alcohol from molasses made in the country. The plant was built by Brazil's Dedini Industrias de Base. KSC is contracted to supply 5 million…
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Danish biotech pioneer Inbicon has announced a series of technical and marketing initiatives for bringing commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol to the US. Under the banner of The New Ethanol, and in collaboration with US-based G-team, Inbicon will incorporate its proprietary technology into a new pathway for converting biomass to ethanol. CEO Niels Henriksen says: ‘Our new model of the…
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Wales’ Environment Minister Jane Davidson announced £26 million (€29.3 million) of new funding for innovative technology which turns waste into biogas. The sum will go to local authorities across Wales to help them develop anaerobic digestion plants as an alternative to landfill. Anaerobic digestion speeds up the natural breakdown of waste from years to days by feeding it into…
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US governors expect regulators will soon boost the allowed blend rate for ethanol in petrol to 13% from 10%. Members of the Governors' Biofuels Coalition said they want the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue a waiver to allow the sale of 13% ethanol blends. President Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack have expressed support to the governors for increased biofuels…
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Texas-based Earth Biofuels has finalised funds for upgrades to its 10 mgy Oklahoma biodiesel production facility. The transaction includes the acquisition of more than 350 storage tanks, with capacities ranging from 8,000 to 39,000 gallons. Approximately 30 of the tanks will be installed at the company’s Durant facility with a total storage capacity of more than 1 million gallons. The…
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Adage and Energy Northwest have agreed to develop 50MW wood waste biomass power plants in Washington, Idaho, Montana and Oregon, in the US. The companies plan to jointly-market wood biopower to regional utilities. Adage is a joint venture between Areva and Duke Energy. Areva will build the biomass power plants, and Duke Energy Generation Services will run the facilities.
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Swedish power utility Vattenfall plans to convert its power plant facilities in Denmark to use large quantities of biomass fuel instead of coal. Project MaxBio will replace up to 724,000 tonnes of coal a year, beginning in 2018. As a result, it will prevent at least 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere. According to the company, in the Nordic region alone…
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A palm oil processing facility will be built in the Mersey docklands, UK London-based New Britain Palm Oils will build the plant on a six-acre site near Regent Road, Bootle. A key factor at Merseyside was an agreement with Tate & Lyle to use existing nearby tanker storage capacity, the company says. ‘There is the deep water facility ideal for our tankers and the tank storage capacity is…
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RWE Innogy and the Westphalia-Lippe Agricultural Association (WLV) have announced plans to construct and operate biogas plants run almost entirely on liquid manure. The project will take place in Münster, Germany. The fermentation residues that are created during the production of biogas will be processed in a newly developed, complex process. All that will remain is a high quality…
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Praj Industries’ cellulosic ethanol pilot plant at Praj Matrix in India has successfully demonstrated production of ethanol from corn cobs and sugarcane bagasse under varying operating conditions. A new laboratory facility at Praj Matrix, the company’s research and development centre in Pune, India, began working on the company’s process in April 2008. The Praj team of scientists and…
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According to The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the UK produces more than 100 million tonnes of organic material per year that could be used to produce biogas. Around 90 million tonnes of this material comes from manure and slurry. Defra is launching a task force to help farmers and the water industry meet goals to produce energy from anaerobic digestion, which…
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Texas-based oil company Valero Energy is expected to purchase several ethanol plants from VeraSun Energy. The $280 million (€216 million) bid from Valero Energy would buy a group of VeraSun properties, including its Aurora plant, if no other bidders arise before a March auction. VeraSun also plans to sell the rest of its plants this year, primarily to big oil companies seeking to integrate…
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Finland-based paper company UPM Kymmene and renewable fuel supplier Lassila & Tikanoja are testing the use of producing ethanol from the pulp-based waste created by the paper industry. During the pilot tests ethanol and energy are produced from commercial and industrial waste, such as paper, cardboard and wood. By developing waste processing units, energy company St1’s biofuel division…
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