Other News

UK-based autoclave waste specialist Wilson Bio-Chemical has opened its micro autoclave fibre production plant for turning municipal solid waste (MSW) into biomass fibre that can be converted into chemicals or fuels. The facility has been developed with the help of the University of York subsidiary, the Biorenewables Development Centre (BDC) and is based at the BDC’s site just…
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Renewable Energy Group has announced that the company sold more than 50 million gallons of biomass-based diesel during the month of August 2016. The sales volume created a new milestone for REG and was a first in the company’s history. “We are thankful for our customers, vendors and investors who made this milestone possible because of the relationships and business we have had the…
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Sales of electric cars have fallen sharply after the UK government cut a grant scheme that encouraged drivers to switch from petrol. According to Department for Transport statistics, between April and June 4,200 plug-in cars were sold – the lowest for two years. The government announced last year that it would extend grants for electric cars for a further two years but halved the payments…
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A cross-party group of Midwest governors is urging the US Environmental Protection Agency to remove what they call a key hurdle that prevents the sale of motor fuel with 15% ethanol during the summer. In a letter sent yesterday to the EPA’s administrator Gina McCarthy, the governors pointed out that gasoline with 10% ethanol gets a regulatory waiver allowing it to be sold from 1 June to 15…
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Low-carbon fuel specialist LanzaTech has produced jet fuel from waste gases for Virgin Atlantic. LanzaTech said that it had produced 1,500 of its jet fuel called ‘Lanzanol’. Sincce 2011, LanzaTech has been working with Virgin to commit to producing the world’s first jet fuel derived from waste industrial gases from steel mills via a fermentation process. The Lanzanol was…
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Business magnate and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has joined French oil giant Total in investing $14 million (€12.4m) in US biofuel specialist Renmatix. The company has developed a process that converts plant waste and biomass into sugars that can be converted into biofuels and bio versions of chemicals. The company hopes that this investment will help it to reach…
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A US Navy Boeing EA-18G electronic attack aircraft completed a 100% biofuel powered flight from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland earlier this month (September). Dubbed the "Green Growler" the aircraft flew using a bio JP-5 fuel produced from alternative sources, replacing the petroleum based JP-5, powering its two GE 414 turbofan engines. “From takeoff to landing, you…
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Energy-intensive industries and the products they make can play a considerable role in the global effort to tackle climate change, according to a new report from the World Bank Group, CLASP and Carbon Trust. Making them part of the solution while helping them stay competitive is a key challenge for policy makers, the report highlighted. ‘Climate-friendly technologies’ The…
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Latvia has boosted its biofuel production over the past decade, according to official statistics from the country’s Central Statistical Bureau (CSM). According to the CSM, Latvia has seen its production soar nearly 20 times in the past decade while 2015 consumption compared to 2014 was 203% higher. Biofuels remains a small portion of the country’s overall renewable energy consumption,…
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BioFuelNet Canada, a Canadian research network on advanced biofuels, has slammed the findings of a recent study by Professor John DeCicco from the University of Michigan and colleagues which states that biofuels are worse than gasoline in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. In the study, when DeCicco and colleagues calculate the CO2 emissions going into the atmosphere, they consider all parts of…
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Biofuels producer Gevo has entered into a heads of agreement with German airline Deutsche Lufthansa to supply Gevo’s alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) fuel. The fuel will be produced at Gevo’s first commercial hydrocarbons facility, intended to be built in Luverne, Minnesota, US. The terms of the agreement contemplate Lufthansa purchasing up to 8 million gpy of ATJ from Gevo, or up to 40 million…
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Petroleum products refiner Tesoro Corp. has agreed to acquire renewable fuels and chemicals company Virent to support Virent's success in bringing biofuels technology to commercial scale. Virent's BioForming technology can convert sugars and other biomass derived feedstocks into renewable petrol blendstocks and aromatics, which are fully compatible with existing fuel infrastructure and current…
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Ethanol and biodiesel are not inherently carbon neutral as the widely held assumption states, s new study from University of Michigan (U-M) researchers says. Contrary to popular belief, the heat-trapping CO2 gas emitted when biofuels are burned is not fully balanced by the CO2 uptake that occurs as the plants grow, according to a study by research professor John DeCicco and co-authors at the U-M…
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