Construction of a new commercial biomass to ethanol plant has begun in Brazil. The $100 million (€72.9 million) project between Raizen Energia and technology provider Iogen will be located by Raizen’s sugarcane mill in Sao Paulo and aims to produce 40 million litres of cellulosic ethanol a year from sugarcane bagasse and straw. Iogen will supply all related... [Read More]

SCS Global Services (SCS), an environmental and sustainability certification, auditing, testing, and standards development company, has announced the successful certification of two companies utilising biofuel-based technologies designed to advance the aviation industry beyond its dependency on conventional fossil fuels. The certifications, based on standards set by the... [Read More]

An explosion at an ethanol plant in Brazil has claimed the life of one worker and seriously injured another, according to reports. The blast occurred within a sugarcane turbine milling machine on 4 December at the Usina Santa Elisa facility, which is owned by Louis Dreyfus company Biosev. The unfortunate employee died instantly while the second suffered severe burns but... [Read More]

The Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) has launched an initiative, with the help of The Boeing Company, to support small farmers in Southeast Asia by expanding their opportunities to grow feedstocks that produce sustainable fuels. More than 60 participants from 15 countries attended a three-day South-East Asian workshop on 'Sustainable Biomaterials for Better... [Read More]

In its latest move towards renewable energy, French oil and petrochemicals conglomerate Total has announced its entry into a joint venture with Calfornia-based biofuels company Amyris, forming Total Amyris BioSolutions. The formation, a 50/50 JV, was announced in December. It now holds exclusive rights and a license under Amyris' intellectual property to produce and market... [Read More]

US-based Greenlight Biofuels (GB) is to work with Airmall USA, a company which develops and manages concessions at four US airports. GB will collect and recycle waste cooking oil from Airmall’s relevant tenants at the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and convert it into biodiesel, which it claims will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by... [Read More]

Brazilian energy business Petrobras and state-owned company Embrapa are to develop new technology for sugarcane production to eventually benefit the ethanol market. The two companies signed a technical cooperation agreement in late November aimed towards sugarcane production in Rio Grande do Sul. The project is backed by an investment of BR$ 5.5 million (€1.7 million)... [Read More]

US-based Greenleaf Biofuels produced its one millionth gallon of biodiesel at the end of October this year. The milestone came since commercial production at its New Haven Terminal location in Connecticut began in the summer. The fuel will primarily be blended into the region’s heating oil supply enabling consumers to heat their homes and businesses with a product... [Read More]

A lecturer in transportation engineering at the University College Cork (UCC), Ireland believes Irish motorists could be relying on feedstock like sea lettuce to fuel their cars in the future. Jerry Murphy, who has a PhD in energy production from waste, has presented the potential for biomethane produced from slurry and grass via anaerobic digestion. This could help the... [Read More]

German biodiesel quality association AGQM has completed an oxidation stability study of biodiesel created from rapeseed oil using various additives and storage conditions. It spent nine months storing biodiesel under both ideal and realistic storage conditions, blended with four conventional oxidation stabilisers. Sampling took place every month and measurements were taken... [Read More]

Simadan Holding is to invest over €65 million ($89.2 million) in a new second generation biodiesel plant in the Netherlands to increase capacity for growth in the waste-to-biofuels market. The plant will be located in Amsterdam and operated by Simadan subsidairy Biodiesel Amsterdam. The company claims the plant will enable it to increase its biodiesel production... [Read More]

Florida-based Alternative Fuels Americas (AFA) will initiate trial production runs of jatropha-based biodiesel to verify its processes and procedures. The trials will be conducted in three phases, the first of which is set to begin before the New Year. AFA will be using feedstock from its plantation in Costa Rica and the biodiesel produced will be used for testing and... [Read More]

Germany-based BDI-Bioenergy International has announced the ‘successful’ start-up of the ‘biggest multi-feedstock biodiesel plant’ in France. The facility, worth €16.4 million ($22.5 million) and handed over to Estener, uses category one animal fats and used cooking oil as feedstock and has a capacity of 75,000 tonnes per year. The project... [Read More]

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing a €65 million ($89.3 million) loan to support Biochemtex, an engineering subsidiary of second generation biofuel production technology provider Mossi and Ghisolfi Group.Biochemtex’s 2013-2016 investment programme will look into ways to improve technologies for converting non-food biomass to biofuels and other chemical... [Read More]