Other News

Continental Airlines will conduct the first algae- and jatropha-based biofuel-powered demonstration flight of a US commercial airliner in Houston on 7 January. Continental is partnering with Boeing; CFM International, a 50/50 joint company of General Electric and Snecma; refining technology developer UOP, a Honeywell company; algae oil provider Sapphire Energy; and jatropha oil provider…
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Oil firm Chevron Philippines will invest $20 million (€15.2 million) to increase the production of a petrol product blended with 10% ethanol, anticipating an increase in demand for biofuels. The oil firm is seeking to increase the number of stations that carry its E-10 brand to 35 from the existing 22 now. It hopes to hike this further to 400 retail stations by February, brand manager of…
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A partnership between General Atomics and Eastern Kentucky University could provide the basis for a new and sustainable fuel production industry in Kentucky. With the establishment of the Eastern Kentucky University Center for Renewable and Alternative Fuel Technologies (CRAFT), researchers will examine the potential for a cellulose-derived biodiesel industry in the state. By using algae…
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ExxonMobil has begun mixing petroleum-derived and renewable diesel fuels at its 15-acre Spokane Terminal in Washington. The facility is ExxonMobil’s first biodiesel blending facility in the US. The $3.1 million (€2.35 million) blending operation was build after the 2006-announced Washington state law that requires 2% of diesel fuel an oil company sells in the state be biodiesel. The…
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The Oiltanking Vitória terminal in Brazil has loaded 5,000 m3 cargo of neutral grade ethanol into its first vessel, Fairchem Unicorn. Loading was conducted in close cooperation with representatives of LASA, Bauche-Energy and SGS. Oiltanking Vitória functions as a distribution and export hub for cargos moving through Brazil, the world’s leading and most competitive ethanol market. The…
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France is preparing a national plan for renewable energy, which has set aside any assessment of the EU's biofuels draft directive to generate a 10% share of biofuels in transport by 2020. France's Environment and Energy Minister Jean-Louis Borloo offered the national plan for renewable energies on 17 November. The plan aims to bring the share of renewables in the energy mix by 2020 to…
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Germany's sugar farmers are targeting sales to the bioethanol industry to shift a large crop this season. Germany is forecast to produce 3.6 million tonnes of refined sugar from its 2008/09 crop, in excess of the country's European Union sugar production quota of 2.7 million tonnes, which has been cut as part of EU reforms to curb farming subsidies. The bioethanol market is a growing…
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Raven Biofuels International has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Price Biostock (Price) to develop an ethanol biorefinery located in the Gulf Opportunity Zone of Mississippi, US. The agreement calls for a biorefinery output of 33 million gallons a year based on a projected 21 million gallons a year of fuel grade ethanol and 12 million gallons a year of furfural products,…
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Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras expects to export 605 million litres of ethanol in 2008. Petrobras downstream director Paulo Roberto Costa says that 505 million litres will be shipped to the US, with the remaining 100 million litres sailing to Japan. Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of ethanol and second largest producer after the US. The country’s large sugarcane market…
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Ineos Enterprises has postponed plans to build a £65 million (€77.6 million) biodiesel plant in Scotland, UK, due to unfavourable economic conditions. The plant, to be located in Grangemouth near Falkirk, had a nameplate capacity of 500,000 tonnes. Market volatility has led the company to return a £9 million grant which had been allocated by the Scottish government for the project. The…
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US Green Energy Technology (GET) and the Philippines-based biotechnology firm Secura International (SIC) have signed an agreement to construct a $30 million (€23.7 million) biodiesel plant using malunggay oil as feedstock. Malunggay is a versatile plant that can grow anywhere, except in rice-growing, flooded areas. It is suitable for rainfall of less than 1,000 millimeters a year and needs…
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Stratos Renewables, an agro-energy company developing a South American sugarcane ethanol operation, has secured sufficient land in the northern coastal region of Peru required for the production of up to 90 million gallons a year of sugarcane-based ethanol. Stratos intends to use this land for extensive sugarcane cultivation, milling and distillation into ethanol primarily for export. Peru has…
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Malaysia’s government has approved 91 biodiesel production licences with a total capacity of 10.2 million tonnes of biodiesel. Deputy minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities senator A. Kohilan Pillay says that to further promote the use of renewable and sustainable forms of energy on 30 October the government approved the mandatory blending of 5% palm methyl ester with petroleum…
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The government of South Korea has announced plans to increase the biodiesel blend ratio from its current level of 1% to 3% by 2012. In an effort to meet these targets, the government has extended industry tax breaks and has taken steps to increase local feedstock production to minimise import dependency, according to a report by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agricultural…
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