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Airline Boeing and Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (CACC) has opened a biofuels demonstration plant that will turn waste cooking oil, or gutter oil as it known in China, into sustainable aviation biofuel. The plant has a production capacity of 160 gallons per day and estimates suggest that 1.8 billion litres of aviation fuel may be produced per year in China from gutter oil. Hangzhou Energy…
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Agricultural research institute The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) and Evofuel, the wholly owned subsidiary of plant genomics company Evogene, which specialises in enhancing crop productivity for the biofuels industry, have signed a joint research agreement to advance castor cultivation in Brazil. The cooperation will primarily focus on technologies for controlling…
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DuPont and Ethanol Europe have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the government of the Republic of Macedonia to develop a commercial-scale 2G ethanol plant to supply the European market. According to the terms of the MOU, the government of Macedonia will facilitate the project by establishing a viable supply chain using energy crops, increasing local production of cereals and…
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The Egyptian government proposes the UAE invest $250 million in a 100,000 tonne per year molasses-based ethanol plant. Egypt has also suggested the purchase of a $240 million ethanol plant that would use 100,000 tonnes per year of rice straw as feedstock. The UAE has expressed interest in investing in the country's petrochemical sector and is currently deciding which project to invest in.
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Air France-KLM plans to fly weekly flights from Toulouse to Paris using a blend of kerosene. The airline will fly planes with a 10% blend of biofuel until September next year. Airlines are moving toward using clean fuel following assurance from the International Air Transport Association to cut emissions by 50% by 2050 from 2005 levels.
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Abengoa has officially opened its second generation cellulosic ethanol plant in Hugoton in the US state of Kansas. Construction on the biorefinery finished in mid-August and it began producing cellulosic ethanol at the end of September. It has the capacity to produce up to 25 million gallons per year. The plant utilises only second generation biomass feedstocks such as non-edible agricultural…
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In the US, Simple Fuels is to acquire the assets of California-based Yokayo Biofuels. The transaction includes the sale of Yokayo's biodiesel operations, as well as its oil collection activities and deep fryer oil collected from local restaurants. It has been reported that Simple Fuels will continue producing and supplying biodiesel at the same price of $4.70 (€3.70) per gallon. Following…
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Sagay Central, a sugar milling and sugar growing company and partner of energy crop cultivator Viaspace, has shipped and planted Giant King Grass in Negros Occidental, the Philippines. Sagay Central crushes 4,000 tonnes of sugarcane daily and produces 150,000 tonnes of sugar per year. The Giant King Grass was harvested from Viaspace's nursery in California, US and inspected by the US Department…
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Valero's ethanol plant in Montgomery County, Indiana caught fire on 13 October, just after1.30am. The blaze, it has been reported, started in the dryer area and the plant's west section has suffered major damage. No one was injured and the cause of the fire is under investigation.
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State-owned oil and gas corporation Indian Oil and technology company Celanese have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the potential of a joint investment in an ethanol plant to be built in India. The project, which is expected to be located in Paradip in the state of Odisha, will be based on TCX technology from Celanese. It will utilise petroleum coke (petcoke) from Indian Oil's…
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Chempolis, a Finland-based biorefining technology corporation, has signed a partnership agreement with Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) to jointly build a biorefinery in the state of Assam, northeast India. The new facility will coproduce bioethanol and furfural and acetic acid from locally sourced cellulosic biomass, using Chempolis' Formicobio technology. Bamboo, which is abundantly in the…
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According to Janhein van der Eijnden, Managing Director of Vopak Germany, there are three main factors influencing the bulk liquid storage sector in the country. Firstly, the closure of local refineries in Germany has increased demand for imports of gas oil and diesel. Secondly, the Energie-Wende (the shift in direction from nuclear and fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy) could change…
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