Other News

US ethanol producer Southridge has announced plans to acquire an ethanol plant in Brazil that would enable it to produce 50 million gallon/year (190 million litres/year) by May 2009, the Texas-based company said. No financial details were available. The plan will be funded by proceeds from an Asian-based investment transaction nearing completion. Brazil is the world's top exporter of…
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India's Hindustan Petroleum Corp Limited (HPCL) has formed a biofuels joint venture with Chhattisgarh State Renewable Energy Development Agency (CSREDA). The joint venture, CSREDA-HPCL Biofuels Limited (CHBL), would cultivate tree-borne oil (TBO) plants such as jatropha curcas, which serve as feedstock for biodiesel. HPCL would operate CHBL as its subsidiary with a 74% equity stake. The…
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The UK has beaten its 2.5% target for the use of biofuels in motor fuel, but fell short of targets for environmental sustainability, according to a government agency. Biofuels accounted for 2.61% of UK motor fuel in the first quarter, 84% in the form of biodiesel and 16% supplied as bioethanol, the Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA) said in a statement. 'These early figures demonstrate that some…
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A group of Brazilian companies and industrial organisations will set up a joint venture to finance research in cellulosic ethanol, the Sao Paulo Industry Federation (Fiesp) says. The initiative includes Brazil's leading sugar and ethanol producer, Copersucar, the country's Sugar Cane Industry Association, Unica, and the local subsidiary of commodities giant Bunge. Brazil's…
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French water and waste management group Veolia will launch its first biodiesel plant in France in early 2009 using oil recycled from the restaurant trade. The plant in Limay, near Paris, would be Veolia's first move in the biofuels industry, Laurent Bromet, head of biofuels at the group, says. Bromet anticipates that recycled cooking oil could account in the future for 5-6% of biodiesel…
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France's government decided on Friday 24 October to reduce a planned tax increase for biofuels from next year. The original tax changes for biofuels, announced in the draft budget at the end of September, were criticised by industry representatives as a reversal of commitments to support the expansion of the fuels as part of national environment targets. In an amendment approved by the…
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The Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson, has launched the Australian Government's AUS$15 million (7.6 million Euro's) Second Generation Biofuels Research and Development Programme (Gen 2). Businesses and institutions researching second generation biofuels are now able to apply for grants of between $1 million and $5 million. Second generation biofuels use fuel stocks…
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Aircraft manufacturer Boeing says biofuel-powered aircraft could be carrying millions of passengers around the world within three years. 'The certification will happen much sooner than anybody thought,' Darrin Morgan, an environmental expert at the US jet manufacturer, says, adding the group was expecting official approval of biofuel use in the near future. 'We are thinking that…
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Several international renewable energy investors are pumping F$174 million (74 million Euro's) into plans to produce biodiesel in Fiji using Pongamia oil. Pongamia is a deciduous tree that grows to about 15-25 metres in height with a large canopy. Bio Fuels International, Evergreen Fuels from Australia and biofuels investors in the US are collaborating with Naitasiri Provincial Council…
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The construction of a government-backed, privately-led bioethanol project in barangays Bayanga and Mambuaya, the Philippines, could pollute the Cagayan de Oro River, an environmental conservation group has warned. The Kagayan Watershed Alliance (Kawal) has vowed to oppose the P2.4 billion (38 million Euro's) project that Alsons Consolidated Resources (ACR) had planned to build on a…
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The first compressed biomethane (CBM) re-fuelling facility in London, UK, has been set up to support a trial of a CBM-powered street cleansing vehicle. Following the launch earlier this year of a commercial trial of the vehicle in the London Borough of Camden Council, the group has now announced that the re-fuelling facility is ready. Gasrec, the UK's first producer of liquid biomethane…
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Biodiesel manufacturer China Clean Energy has experienced civil engineering setbacks and poor Monsoon season weather delaying construction of its Jiangyin biodiesel plant. The 30 million gallon a year plant is now expected to begin production in Q2 2009. The company has another biodiesel plant in China's Fujian Province, which began biodiesel production in 2005 but has since stopped…
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Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in Germany have announced a new method of producing high efficiency and easily available biofuels from wood, grass and plants could soon be available. The researchers have devised a more effective method of breaking down the cellulose found in plants into sugar molecules, which can then be used to produce ethanol. The method uses an…
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