Other News

The ethanol market is set to swell to 27.7 billion tonnes over the next four years, a report by Global Industry Analysts finds. Fuel-ethanol is experiencing great interest brought on largely by the ban on MTBE in several countries and its resulting replacement with ethanol. In the US, the renewable fuels standard mandates the use of approximately 8 billion gallons of ethanol by the year 2012.…
Read More »

Paris-based Akuo Energy plans to build a 30 million gallon a year sweet-sorghum-based ethanol plant in Uruguay. It will be Akuo's first international ethanol plant. With Akuo Energy supplying the equity investment, financing arrangements are currently being negotiated, Alain Castro, president of Akuo Energy South America, explains. The last of the necessary governmental permits is…
Read More »

China-based Hainan Yedao Group has reportedly invested $51.5 million (41.1 million Euros) in a new biofuel facility to produce 33 million gallons a year of bioethanol from cassava plants. The plans follow recent moves from the Beijing government to ban the use of grain-based energy crops in bioethanol, amid concerns demand had led to a decline in food supplies. Cassava avoids the ban as it is a…
Read More »

US-based agriculture company Archer Daniels Midland and Brazil's Grupo Cabrera have an agreement to form a joint venture to produce ethanol from sugarcane. The partnership will bring together ADM's expertise in ethanol production, logistics and marketing with Cabrera's knowledge of sugarcane agriculture and production. 'As the world's need for food and energy grows, agriculture will provide…
Read More »

Australia-based biofuels producer Mission NewEnergy, formerly Mission Biofuels, has announced that a joint venture with a scientific team in India has successfully produced cellulosic ethanol from agricultural wastes at a pilot-scale facility in northern India. The project focused on developing a novel conversion process for lingocellulosic feedstocks at the plant, which has a batch capacity of…
Read More »

US-based marketer and producer Pacific Ethanol has increased its Q3 sales and lost more money due to higher demand for ethanol and more expensive corn. Shares of Pacific Ethanol dropped $0.17 (â?¬0.14) to close at $0.91 after the company reported a hefty loss in early November. The company lost $54.9 million in the quarter ended 30 September, compared to the loss of $4.84 million, or…
Read More »

Vital Renewable Energy Company (VREC), a new Brazilian company, has secured funding amounting to $1 billion (€799 million) for ethanol and electricity generation projects in Brazil. The funding was completed by an international consortium of private investors including Paladin Capital Group, Vision Brazil Investments, Leaf Clean Energy Company, Petercam Asset Management and PCG Clean Energy…
Read More »

The federal government is raising the target for the amount of ethanol used in the US petrol supply to 11.1 billion gallons. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set its 2009 Renewable Fuels Standard at 10.21%, equating to 11.1 billion gallons of ethanol. The 2008 RFS was 7.76%, or an approximate 9 billion gallons. The US Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 formed a…
Read More »

Agribusiness US Sugar has entered into an agreement with Illinois-based renewable energy company Coskata to explore building a 100 million gallon a year cellulosic ethanol facility in Clewiston, Florida. The facility would be the world's largest second generation ethanol facility. It would convert left-over sugarcane material into ethanol, and would help Florida meet its aggressive second…
Read More »

Dominican Republic-based W2E Resources will construct a plant to produce ethanol and electricity, transforming solid waste, including sugarcane bagasse, at a cost of around US$200 million (€158.5 million). The company is undertaking the environmental impact study and engineering of the final draft, with construction expected to begin early next year, and around 24 months for the plant's…
Read More »

Cambodia opened its first ethanol factory to generate biofuel from cassava flour on Monday 17 November. The plant has a capacity of 36,000 tonnes a year. ‘This factory will become the market place of cassava product for local farmers,’ Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen comments. The project, with $40 million (€31.5 million) investment from MH Bio-energy Group of South Korea, has already…
Read More »

Ethanol producer VeraSun Energy expects to report a Q3 net loss of approximately $464 million (€367.6 million). The figure is more than four times the number quoted in an earlier announcement that accelerated the company's fall into bankruptcy protection. The second largest US producer, with about 13% of the nation's ethanol capacity, filed for bankruptcy protection in early…
Read More »

Arizona-based food processor Tyson Foods and technology provider Syntroleum have broken ground on a joint-venture (JV) biodiesel plant that will turn animal fat into high-quality diesel and jet fuel. The $138 million (101 million Euro's) Dynamic Energy plant in Geismar, Louisiana, is scheduled to produce 75 million gallon/year (284 million litres/year) of the renewable fuel by 2010. Tyson…
Read More »

US-based White Mountain Group is expected to inject US$16 million (€12.6 million) worth of investment into Australian Biodiesel Group (ABG) in exchange for 51% of ABG's issued share capital. White Mountain will provide US$6.2 million to install a new processing and refining plant to be located on current ABG premises. Another US$3 million will go to securing a technology licence for the…
Read More »