Other News

Portugal-based biodiesel producer Gleinol is set to install a unit to produce biodiesel in Castelo Branco using oil-producing plants from Angola. Gleinol has set up partnerships in Africa and in Brazil to obtain raw materials for the project, José Luís Brito, Gleinol director, comments. Gleinol started out with a production area of 700 hectares in Angola, which recently increased to 13,000…
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The US will fall short of the Renewable Fuels Standard, the government's Energy Information Administration (EIA) warns. The country will only blend about 30 billion gallons of fuels like corn-based ethanol and advanced fuels into petrol by 2022, 17% short of the US mandate of 36 billion gallons by that year, the EIA forecasts. ‘The key risk factor is the rate of development of cellulosic…
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The Philippines-based San Carlos BioEnergy will start commercial operations of its P2.5-billion (€38.9 million) integrated ethanol distillery and co-generation power plant by mid-January. The project responds to the country’s 5% ethanol mandate to commence in February. San Carlos BioEnergy started testing and commissioning of the plant in December. The plant, located at the San Carlos…
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Cuba will install a modern biogas industrial plant in central Cienfuegos province in 2009. The plant will generate electricity using the excrement of pigs from the General Swine Complex in the town of Palmira, and forms the beginning of a national programme. It is estimated that only 50% of more than 700 biogas plants in the country are in operation, but efforts are being made for their…
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Iowa State University has received a $2.37 million (€1.74 million) grant from the Iowa Power Fund to replace natural gas usage in ethanol plants with biomass gasification technology. The project will examine the production of ethanol from syngas. It will also study more efficient burners to use the syngas production from biomass gasification for thermal energy or for combined heat and power…
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The European Union (EU) has granted £5 million (€5.1 million) to a Scotland, UK-led project to develop marine-based biofuels. The Scottish Association for Marine Sciences in Oban will lead development work with partners from Ireland. They will look at the viability of using marine biomass from seaweed and algae as an alternative to agri-fuel production from land-based plants. The…
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President-elect Barack Obama has elaborated his American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan with a target to further expand the US’ renewable energy sector. ‘To put people back to work today and reduce our dependence on foreign oil tomorrow, we will double renewable energy production and renovate public buildings to make them more energy efficient,’ Obama said on Saturday 3 January. Next…
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UK-based Bentley Motors is developing bioethanol-powered versions of its large engine models. The car manufacturer also targets a cut in carbon dioxide emissions from its range by 40% within three years. Bentley is working to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions across its fleet: its output is currently an average 400g/km. Bentley will unveil its first bioethanol-powered model at the Geneva…
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US state Pennsylvania has signed a letter of agreement with 10 other eastern states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation fuels and other sources by developing a regional low carbon fuel standard. Vehicles using low carbon transport fuels include cars fuelled with biodiesel and ethanol, especially cellulosic ethanol made from non-food plant materials; and those powered by…
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The US Department of Energy (DoE) is making available up to $200 million (€140 million) for advanced biofuel pilot refineries. The funds could be awarded to up to 12 projects over the next six years. If deployed on a large scale, the commercial facilities could produce volumes that would contribute significantly to the new national renewable-fuels mandate. ‘The DoE will select…
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Poet Biorefining - Laddonia, Missouri is undergoing a $2 million (€1.4 million) expansion that will increase the plant’s capacity and provide a larger market for locally produced corn. Work has already begun on installation of a sixth fermenter at the plant. It is expected to be completed in April 2009. Poet Biorefining - Laddonia was built in September 2006 with a capacity of 45 million…
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BioWanze, the Belgian subsidiary of Germany-based ethanol producer CropEnergies, has started production at its next-generation bioethanol plant in Wanze, Belgium. The bioethanol plant, the largest in Belgium, will produce up to 300,000m³ of bioethanol a year from wheat and sugar syrups. The manufacturing process, which uses biomass as a primary energy source, lowers carbon dioxide emissions…
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A new agreement between Pacific West Energy and Kaua'i Island Utility Co-op (KUIC) in Hawaii looks likely to advance plans for a sugar-ethanol plant on Kauai, which could become the first sugar-based ethanol plant in the US. Washington, US-based Pacific West intends to retrofit Gay & Robinson's Kaumakani sugar mill to produce 15 million gallons a year of ethanol and 30 megawatts of…
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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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