Other News

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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Solid Energy’s subsidiary Biodiesel New Zealand is proceeding with its development plans, increasing capacity at its existing Christchurch facility to 4 million litres a year, but reconsidering stage two of its plans. In recognition of the economic conditions, the company is reviewing its next planned step to 15 million litres a year. During 2009 Biodiesel New Zealand will complete the first…
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Switzerland-headquartered biodiesel producer Biopetrol has announced a major corporate restructuring, but will continue output at both its major German biodiesel plants on a short-time working basis. The short-time basis is being prepared at its 200,000 tonne capacity biodiesel plant in Rostock alongside its previously announced short-time working basis for the 150,000 tonne plant in…
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Energy company BP and cellulosic ethanol developer Verenium have announced the formation of a 50-50 joint venture to develop and commercialise cellulosic ethanol from non-food feedstocks. The companies have agreed to commit $45 million (€35.7 million) in funding and assets to the joint venture company. The joint venture company will initially focus on developing and securing financing for a…
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Denmark-based renewable energy company BioGasol has received €10.4 million to help finance its 5 million litre (1.3 mgy) BornBioFuel cellulosic ethanol demonstration plant project in Bornholm, Denmark. The sum was awarded by the Danish Energy Agency’s Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Program. BioGasol received €3.6 million from the agency in December 2007 for the €35…
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Northumberland, UK-based biodiesel producer V-Fuels has entered administration owing to a combination of events borne from poor market conditions. ‘It doesn’t mean that as a site and as a business we are a dead duck. We are hoping that the business will be able to move forward, whether as V-Fuels or as another entity,’ V-Fuels site director John Moller comments. The plant, which is…
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