Other News

Africa has become the new frontier for innovative non-food crop based biofuels' projects, according to a new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The report, 'Second-Generation Biofuel Markets: State of Play, Trade and Developing Country Perspectives', says that these initiatives are mainly taking place in Eastern and Southern Africa even though West Africa…
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Scientists from the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have shown for the first time that an enzyme can be tweaked to reduce lignin in plants. According to Berkeley Lab, its technique could help lower the cost of converting biomass into carbon-neutral fuels to power cars and other sustainably developed bio-products. Lignin is a polymer…
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Spanish renewable energy business Abengoa has announced that its US bioenergy unit has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company made the announcement on Wednesday (24 February). According to news agency Reuters, the firm's US bioenergy unit has current liabilities worth $10bn. The filings do not include Abengoa's corn ethanol plants in Mount Vernon, Indiana, and Madison, Illinois, the…
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Algal biofuel production is not living up to expectations, hindered by high key resource demand, technical difficulties, and high costs, a new study finds. According to a review by the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), despite high expectations and extensive research and investment, technological options are still in developing stages and key resources for algal growth are still…
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Germany-based commercial bank HSH Nordbank is planning to generate strong growth in its renewable energy arm this year, as it makes moves to intensify its focus on the Scandinavian market. According to the Hamburg-headquarted bank, it generated new business of more than €900m in project finance and €300m from other loans to energy companies and utilities including loan renewals in…
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US-based logistics frim Global Partners LP has cut 70 jobs and aims to handle only ethanol, not crude, at its rail terminal in Oregon in response to low oil prices. The company, which owns one of the largest terminal networks of petroleum products and renewable fuels in the north east of the US, also cut its distribution for the October-December period by 33.7% compared to the previous quarter,…
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Z Energy, a New Zealand-based energy producer, is on track to open the country's first commercial scale biodiesel plant in Wiri, south Auckland, in June. The plant will turn inedible tallow, a by-product of the New Zealand meat industry, into 20 million litres of biodiesel a year, with the potential to scale production up to 40m litres a year. Z Energy has invested $21m (€19.4m) in the…
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US-based biofuels producer Virent has entered into a new strategic relationship with petroleum specialist Tesoro to accelerate the development and commercialisation of Virent's products. Virent's patented technology features catalytic chemistry to convert plant-based materials into a full range of products identical to those made from petroleum, including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and chemicals…
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Gevo, a US biofuels producer, has signed a joint agreement with alcohol producer Porta Hnos to develop several isobutanol plants in Argentina. Financial terms for developing the corn-fed plants were not immediately disclosed. The first plant, slated to come online by 2017, has an expected annual production of 5m gallons of isobutanol. Gevo is projecting about $1m in annual revenue — from…
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Caltech Ventures, a Ghana-based cassava cropping and processing company, will start the production of ethanol from cassava at a distillery in Hodzo in the Ho municipality this March, according to local press reports. This would be the first industrial-scale ethanol production in the West African country which imports around 60m litres of ethanol per year. Kasapreko Company (KCL), an indigenous…
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China’s state-owned ChemChina will acquire the Swiss agri business Syngenta in a long-rumoured and controversial $43 billion (€39.4bn) deal. Secrecy has surrounded the deal since November 2015, when Syngenta – the producer of bioengineered Enogen corn for the ethanol industry – received a $47 billion takeover offer from the US agricultural juggernaut Monsanto. A Swiss and…
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Neste, a Finland-based renewable diesel producer, reported better than expected fourth-quarter profits and dividend thanks to high European refining margins and favourable foreign exchange rates. Neste, which has two conventional refineries in Finland and renewable diesel refineries in Singapore and Rotterdam, said its core operating profit in the quarter rose 39% from a year ago to €352m…
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Lincoln Terminal Co., a US-based oil and products and biofuels marketing company, has acquired a new terminal, called Eco, in Charlotte, North Carolina. According to reports on news website TankTerminals.com, Lincoln's Charlotte terminal will have a total capacity of 130,000 bbl, and serves gasoline, ethanol and biodiesel. The terminal can also cater for different products and automated biodiesel…
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