Volume 6, Issue 8
Published: October 8, 2012
France heads a biofuels EU-turn
Biofuels production could be potentially capped in the near future in France following a cabinet meeting in September. Agriculture minister Stephane Le Foll mentioned that France should reconsider its...
FEDIOL reflects on the EU policy rewind
According to the EU Renewable Energy Directive, the European Commission has to come up with a proposal to address indirect land-use change (ILUC) if deemed appropriate and necessary to establish a concrete...
European biofuel policy will fail to deliver unless â
A peer-reviewed study released in September by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), suggests that the European Commission’s move to cap food-based biofuels is justified by the...
EPRF report tells ethanol to â
In mid-September the Energy Policy Research Foundation (EPRF), a lobbying group that studies energy economics with a special emphasis on oil, released a report entitled ‘Ethanol’s Lost Promise’,...
Glimmer of hope
The governors of six states in the US formally petitioned the EPA to waive some or all of the Renewable Fuel Standard for this year and 2013 while two other governors expressed support for an RFS waiver....
Riding the Blue ethanol wave
Blue Sugars, previously known as KL Energy, lays claim to a first in the world of cellulosic ethanol technology developers. Earlier this year the company became the first second generation ethanol producer...
Enemies and the endgame
Ethanol has made some enemies who are quick to use political muscle to undermine an opponent’s market position. Larry Pope, CEO of Smithfield Foods, Virginia, took to the Wall Street Journal in July...
Completing the recycling circle
Earlier this year Agri Energy opened the UK’s largest dedicated used cooking oil (UCO) biodiesel plant. From start-up six years ago the company has grown rapidly, offering its 50,000-plus customers...
Biofuels come under fire
Extracting hydrocarbons from rocks buried deep underground and refining them into products that have underpinned our way of life for the best part of a century is an understandably dangerous business....
Setting the industry alight
Despite the rapid growth of the biofuels market, the industry’s experience with fighting storage tank fires, involving ethanol or other water miscible fuels, is very limited. There are a few known...
Squeezing the grind
The ethanol construction boom of 2006-7 saw a rush of plants in what was a veritable stampede to the jackpot. Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) was phased out and petrol makers needed a blend component....
Inventing the future of corn oil
There have been some amazing inventions in recent years. 1953 saw the first transistor radio created, the ‘60s brought us ATM machines and handheld calculators, in the ‘70s the first practical...
Investing in the future of biotechnology
Picking winners is never easy. When considering a new company with no track record, with a new technology in a new industry, investors really need expert advice. San Francisco-based Burrill and Company...
Choosing the right metering pump
Two processes are used to produce ethanol from grain: dry and wet milling. Dry milling plants generate ethanol, carbon dioxide and distillers’ grain, which is used as a high-protein livestock feed...
Let history be our guide
Biorefining companies will need to raise between $500 billion (€387 billion) and $1 trillion to develop the projects necessary to increase world consumption from 4% to 18% by 2030. Recently, however,...
The slow dance to financial stability
The biofuels world is littered with the corpses of good companies and decent folk who ran out of time, ran into obstacles or just plain ran out of luck. Sometimes ‘this running’ into is helped...
Analysis in seconds
A comment often heard at trade shows and conferences is that the blending equipment is highly accurate. While this may be true, it only takes one error to lead to a costly recall. An incorrect adjustment...
The evolving role of ethanol corrosion inhibitors
During the era of fuel shortages and escalating crude oil prices in the 1970s, ethanol emerged as a useful blending component for petrol. In Brazil, for example, blends containing 19-25% ethanol were produced,...
Ensuring feedstocks are fit for purpose
With feedstock costs amounting to nearly 80% of biofuel production expense, securing an inexpensive source can be a good move. But if the oil produced from that feedstock is not high enough quality to...
Covering all angles
Over the past few months, the market dynamics for the bioethanol industry have changed. Low operating margins due to the high volatility in input and output prices have led to production slowdowns or temporary...
99.9% effective
Microbiological contamination, when left unchecked, causes a range of issues including corrosion, filter blinding and fuel spoilage. These problems cause significant damage to storage facilities, downstream...
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