Other News

A biodiesel project in Tanzania is looking at manufacturing biofuel using the oil from the nuts of the Croton tree. The Africa Biofuel and Emission Reduction project will take place in Tanzania's northwestern Kagera region where the Croton tree grows in abundance. The initiative is to replace up to 10% of Tanzania's oil requirements by 2018 through the production and sale of cheaper…
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Pennsylvania-based Lake Erie Biofuels is considering construction of a pipeline that would carry its biofuels products to Lake Erie's port facilities as an alternative to railroad cars. Raymond Schreckengost executive director of the Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority says the company is now transporting about 1.5 million to 2 million gallons of biofuels a month by railroad cars to…
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Second generation ethanol company Verenium has announced plans to build its first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facility in Highlands County, Florida. The company has entered into long-term agreements with Florida agri-business Lykes Bros to provide the agricultural biomass for conversion to fuel. Verenium also announced that the Highlands Ethanol project has been awarded a $7 million…
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The decision by the German government to raise taxes on biofuels and to reduce blending rates in fossil fuels will mean more biodiesel plants in the country will face closure, a German biofuels industry association says. Europe’s largest biodiesel industry has been operating at under 60% of its 5 million tonne a year capacity, Johannes Lackmann, CEO of German biofuels industry association VDB,…
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PetroAlgae, a US-based developer of systems to produce biofuel from algae, announced that it has closed on a $10 million (€7.4 million) capital raise through the sale of approximately 3.2 million of newly-issued shares of common stock to two existing investors. The company said that the proceeds from the stock sale will be used to help finance the commercial launch of PetroAlgae’s biodiesel…
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The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded cellulosic ethanol producer Range Fuels a conditional commitment for an $80 million (€62 million) loan guarantee for the development and construction of its commercial cellulosic ethanol plant near Soperton, Georgia. Range Fuels was awarded this loan guarantee in part because they are working toward the development of commercially…
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US-headquartered Magellan Midstream Partners has added ethanol blending capabilities at two Texas-based terminals, including a third truck rack lane at its terminal in Fort Worth. The Fort Worth terminal now has 18,000 barrels of ethanol storage. In addition, the facility can receive ethanol via truck through an automated off-loading system that is open 24 hours a day. The West Fort Worth…
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US meat processing company JBS-Swift has announced it will open a biogas generation facility next to its Grand Island, Nebraska, beef packing plant in April. The beef packing plant slaughters 6,000 cattle each day. The operation, which will be owned and managed by Microgy, a subsidiary of Swift partner Environmental Power, is expected to generate 235,000 MMBtu of power a year, the equivalent of…
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The US’ second largest ethanol producer VeraSun Energy has suspended three distilleries, due to descending demand and high production costs. The company has discontinued output at its 100 million gallon a year plants in Bloomingburg, Ohio, Albion, Nebraska, and Linden, Indiana. Corn rose 58% from January to July last year before falling to 13% from year to year levels on 9 January. VeraSun…
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Mississippi Investment Petroleum has announced plans to build a third-generation biodiesel refinery at the Port of Aberdeen, Mississippi, in the US. The Madison-based company began preparing the site in late 2008, with 90% of the US manufactured refinery equipment being custom fabricated for the site. The project will be completed in three phases. The first phase of the project is expected to…
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Following a successful start-up in Q4 2008, Poet Research Center in Scotland, South Dakota, US, is now producing cellulosic ethanol at a pilot scale. The Scotland plant is producing ethanol at a rate of 20,000 gallons a year using corn cobs as feedstock. The $8 million (€6 million) endeavour is a precursor to the $200 million Project Liberty, a commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant that…
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Indian state Gujarat’s Energy Development Agency (GEDA) has given approval to private groups for setting up biomass power plants in 25 districts of the state. The approvals amount to a combined generation of 317MW of energy. ‘The first of its kind power plant in the state that uses 300 tonnes of biomass a day such as fuel cotton stalks, sesame stalks and groundnut shells is proposed to come…
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An Air New Zealand passenger jet powered in part by vegetable oil successfully completed a two-hour flight on Tuesday 30 December. One engine of a Boeing 747-400 aeroplane was powered by a 50-50 blend of oil from jatropha plants and standard A1 jet fuel. The flight was the first to use jatropha as part of a biofuel mix. The test flight out of Auckland International Airport included a…
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Brazil’s ethanol sales for 2008 are accelerating past petrol sales for the first time, the National Petroleum Agency reports. The figures take into account sales of hydrated ethanol that can be used in its pure form in most cars in Brazil, and not anhydrous ethanol that is used just to blend with petrol, the agency says. Sales of hydrated ethanol through October reached 15.8 billion litres,…
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