logo
menu
Volume 8, Issue 5
Published: September 8, 2014
Calls for clear mandate
Road transport is one of the few industry sectors where carbon dioxide emissions have risen greatly in recent years. According to the European Commission (EC) the transport sector is well on its way to...
EPA expands advanced biofuel pathways
After months of delay, on 2 July, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a final rule modifying and updating biofuels regulations. The new rule aims to maintain liquidity in the market for...
Uncertainty spreads
The US Grains Council (USGC), an export trade group, has revealed that China’s Import Inspection Authority, AQSIQ, now requires the imports of US distiller’s dried grain (DDG), a livestock...
Laps ahead of the competition
The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is the most successful energy policy in the US in the past 40 years, the only policy to ever have loosened Big Oil’s stranglehold on the liquid fuels marketplace...
Current price index
After a slight recovery at the end of July, ethanol prices were once again hit in early August. The contango structure that dominated the market during Q2, was replaced by backwardation toward the middle...
Delay in 2014 mandate snarls US biodiesel trade
After reaching their 2014 highs to date in mid-June, spot biodiesel prices in the US market tumbled into July, recovering some of their lost value late in the month into August. Spot values surged in June...
Standing out from the crowd
Malaysia is the world’s largest exporter of palm oil. With the nation producing approximately 39% of the global supply of palm oil, it is the world’s second largest producer. The nation’s...
Raising the bar
In eastern China, across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, lies Anhui Province. Formed in the 17th century, the province is known for its agriculture, with wheat, sweet potatoes and rice among...
Will Brazil's elections propel ethanol opportunities?
The recent death of Brazil’s presidential candidate Eduardo Campos caused the country’s presidential race to come to a sudden stop. In no other market than the world’s biofuels market...
Reaching new heights
Over the last 5 years, Asian countries have started their own biofuels plans/ mandates to further develop their biofuels industries, including ethanol. Biofuels developments in Asia could have an important...
From waste to wonder
In India, the annual generation of various agricultural residues, including cereal straws and bagasse, exceeds 400 million tonnes. While a small percentage of this waste is utilised in low-value applications...
An emerging market
In the UAE, the introduction of biofuels is an altogether novel concept. However, the current biofuel market is growing in the Middle East at a fast pace, with biodiesel companies in particular emerging...
Worlds apart
Over the last 10 years, biofuels has proved to be the only commercially-viable, environmentally sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. The large-scale adoption of biofuels has therefore proved to be...
Spreading its wings
Sustainable aviation fuels, which are produced from renewable resources, can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 50% per tonne of fuel, resulting from the total lifecycle of alternative fuel production. Finding...
Flying ahead
In the last decade, the prospect of using sustainable biofuel in commercial aircraft has become a reality. To date, three biojet fuel production pathways have been approved by standards agency ASTM and...
A giant leap
The aviation industry contributes approximately 2% of manmade greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to the Earth. In the early days of biofuels, with advanced technologies offering limited scope for further significant...
In the driving seat
Qu: How important is it to create a sustainable aviation fuels industry? A: The commercial aviation industry is growing around the world, and Boeing’s goal is to ensure we can maintain aviation’s...
Keeping our skies green
With KLM Royal Dutch Airlines receiving a Sustainable Bio award earlier this year from WBM Bio Business, the Netherlands-based airline shows no signs of slowing down in its bid for sustainable aviation....
Making diesel clean and sustainable
Regulators want to cut diesel engine emissions by more than 90% for both particulate matter (PM) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx), ultimately requiring major changes to engines and combustion, and major reliance...
Taking cellulosic ethanol to the next level
Many technical and economic improvements can only be delivered once a technology is industrialised and operating at scale. Once that is achieved, progress is made by relentlessly exploiting the learning...
A competitive advantage
A well planned and well installed retrofit provides the capability to quickly stay ahead of the competition. ROI, or Return of Investment, is a tool used by financial analysts, and managers of all specialties...
Still going strong
The vast majority of products produced globally today require either heating or cooling at some point in their manufacturing process. Ethanol production is no exception. In an effort to keep production...
Financing the biobutanol upswing
It takes only a few ingredients to successfully commercialise a new bio-based chemical or fuel: a cost-performing, scalable technology, strong market demand, good patent protection, an experienced management...
There's money to be made
Irish technology provider Nova Pangaea Technologies (NPT), which received a US patent in February for a method and system for the fractionation of lignocellulosic biomass, has revealed plans to begin building...
The whole nine yards
Biobutanol, an alcohol produced from various renewable feedstocks (including sugar, starch and cellulosic biomass), can be used in the production of a variety of products, including fuels. To manufacture...
ABE comes back to the future
Total butanol production by the top ten manufacturers accounts for almost 80% of the total world production. In terms of chemical properties, butanol has inherent advantages over ethanol for use as a liquid...
Growing the opportunity
As a four-carbon alcohol, isobutanol has a higher energy density, approximately 26% higher than ethanol. This high energy density means that a 16% volume blend of butanol displaces the same amount of fossil...
Progress and future of a multi-purpose energy plant
In 2013, mineral oil represented about one third of global energy consumption. The burning of fossil fuels has a major share in global CO2 emissions that are currently estimated at 34.5 billion tonnes...
The importance of simulation in the process industries
Companies in the process industries have used computers to solve mathematic models of processes since the late 1950s. Steady state simulation or flowsheeting packages soon became standard tools for the...
Cutting edge
When taking biofuel production from pilot scale to commercial reality it is critical to analyse certain factors, including oil yield, energy usage, valorisation of by-products and wastewater generation....