(Biofuels Center of North Carolina)  Gaining large biofuels production capacity across the state will require realistic juncture of feedstocks and production technologies. Grown or secured from waste materials, feedstocks must be directed to a centralized …

by Robert Rapier (Biofuels Digest/Consumer Energy Report)  Distillates are petroleum products that includes diesel, jet fuel, and fuel oil. Renewable distillates may be categorized as substitutes or drop-in replacements. The most common distillate substitute is …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)   …But in many respects, its been a summer about aviation biofuels – starting with the demonstration of the US Navy’s Green Strike Group and continuing to announcements of projects …

by David L. Chandler (MIT News)   Genetically modified organism could turn carbon dioxide or waste products into a gasoline-compatible transportation fuel.
A humble soil bacterium called Ralstonia eutrophahas a natural tendency, whenever it is stressed, to stop …

(El Universal)  Biofuel producers announced the investment of over $ 100 million to plant oilseeds and grasses that will be employed in the industry biocumbustible whose consumption is increasing in the world.
In the meeting with …

Algae Biofuel in Wastewater Treatment-Market Potential, Current State of the Art and Future Directions
About 10 years ago, algal biofuel was a hot topic, but not a viable source of renewable energy. Today, that’s changing. The …

by Ben Keller  (The Business Journal Now)  The wastewater from Tulare County dairy operations may soon be used to power jets zooming overhead thanks to a brand new facility converting moist algae into biofuel.
Recently, the …

(Algae Industry Magazine) new company from Tel Aviv, Israel, called Univerve is working to turn algae into a clean third-generation renewable fuel. Ohad Zuckerman, the CEO and co-founder of Univerve in 2009, is devising a systems process to …

by Erin Voegele (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  The community of Oshawa, Ontario is taking action against the recent approval of a proposed ethanol plant. On Aug. 9, the Oshawa Port Authority announced its approval for FarmTech …

by Sally Bakewell (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)  Novozymes A/S (NZYMB) agreement to market Terranol A/S’s yeast technology as the world’s biggest maker of enzymes seeks to make biofuels from energy crops and agricultural waste commercially viable.
…Novozymes supplies enzymes …

by Bob Dinneen (Renewable Fuels Association)  The following editorial was submitted to the Wall Street Journal, but was rejected by the Editorial Features Staff. Beyond the Biofuel-bashing Editorials: Ethanol Really Reduces Prices at the Pump  By Bob …

Hui Shen, Xianzhi He, Charleson R. Poovaiah, Wegi A. Wuddineh, Junying Ma, David G. J. Mann, Huanzhong Wang,  Lisa Jackson, Yuhong Tang, C. Neal Stewart Jr, Fang Chen, Richard A. Dixon (New Phytologist)

The major obstacle for bioenergy production from switchgrass biomass is the low saccharification efficiency …

by Chunxiang Fu,  Jonathan R. Mielenz, Xirong Xiao, Yaxin Ge, Choo Y. Hamilton,  Miguel Rodriguez, Jr.,  Fang Chen, Marcus Foston,  Arthur Ragauskas, Joseph Bouton, Richard A. Dixon, and Zeng-Yu Wang  (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)   Switchgrass is a leading dedicated bioenergy …

Lina Gallego-Giraldo, Luis Escamilla-Trevino,  Lisa A. Jackson, and Richard A. Dixon (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)   Down-regulation of the enzyme hydroxycinnamoyl CoA: shikimate hydroxycinnamoyl transferase (HCT) in thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana) and alfalfa (Medicago sativa) leads …

Huanzhong Wang,  Utku Avci,  Jin Nakashima,  Michael G. Hahn, Fang Chen, and Richard A. Dixon (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)  Stems of dicotyledonous plants consist of an outer epidermis, a cortex, a ring of secondarily …

by Nick Cressey (Green Power Conferences/World Biofuels Markets News)  I am a Brazilian ethanol refinery. I am not very big but I am happy and I make a comfortable profit. I have one nice big …

(Neste Oil Corp./Biodiesel Magazine)  Neste Oil has completed the first phase of its project to build a pilot plant for producing microbial oil. Construction of the plant is on-schedule and on-budget. The first phase will …

(National Science Foundation)  The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced 15 Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) grants for fiscal year 2012, awarding nearly $30 million to 68 investigators at 26 institutions.
During the next …

by Jennifer Donovan  (Michigan Tech News)  Is it possible to develop and produce biofuels in a sustainable way, without harming people or the environment?  What policies need to be put in place to help that happen?
Nearly …

by Sean Nealon  (UCR Today)  Research supports several California measures that aim to increase the use of renewable fuels and reduce greenhouse gases
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside’s College of Engineering – Center for Environmental …

(Southern Maryland Online)   Kitchen grease may not seem high on the list of valuable items a thief might steal, but the practice has become so widespread and potentially dangerous that the Maryland Department of Agriculture …

by Reese Ewing  (Reuters Africa)  Exports of Brazilian ethanol to the U.S. market are likely to grow, while still allowing Brazil to increase its blend of the biofuel in gasoline in early 2013, local sugar …

by Erin Voegele (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  The U.S. EPA and U.S. Department of Transportation finalized new fuel efficiency standards on Aug. 28. The new corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards will increase fuel economy to …

by James Hataway (UGA Today)  Since 2007, researchers at the BioEnergy Science Center, one of three Department of Energy-funded research centers, have partnered to figure out how to break down plants so that they easily …

Name of Provider: Stanford University- Stanford Center for Professional Development 
Name of Course: New Stanford Certificate in Energy Innovation and Emerging Technologies
Part of a Certificate Program
Course description: 
Take courses in energy topics such as biofuels online at …

by Angela Greiling Keane (Bloomberg)  Honda Motor Co. (7267), which last year complained that a proposed fuel-economy rule was unfair to non- U.S. automakers, got a boost when the final version added extra credits for …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  South Dakota has become one of the fastest-growing states in the US, at the same time as it has achieved energy independence through development of its biofuels fleet.  Coincidence, or …

Through its Accelerating Sustainable Performance program, the raceway has established itself as a North American hub for emerging technologies related to sustainability and performance in motor sports.
Whether it’s a 1,700-panel Panasonic solar installation or electric …

(25 x ’25)  The 25x’25 Alliance’s preliminary review of the final rule outlining 2017 and Later Model Year Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards reveals that it does not provide …

Planned Topics Addressed
Jatropha Market Potential

Opportunities for achieving commercial success of jatropha production
Production costs and environmental impacts
Oil characteristics
Latest status of research and development

Plantation & Cultivation (Jatropha and other feedstocks)

Improving plantation methods and productivity yields
New systems of …

by David Shephardson  (Detroit News)   The Obama administration has finalized the landmark 2017-25 fuel economy rules that will nearly double the efficiency of the nation’s cars and trucks over the next 13 years to …

by Boyden Gray & Associates (25 x ’25)   While there are a number of obstacles impeding further growth in alternative energy, few are as critical as the joint EPA/NHTSA proposed rules establishing light-duty vehicle …

by Wayne Risher  (The Commercial Appeal/Equities.com)  Mid-South Community College officials are betting East Arkansas has what it takes to be a leader in alternative fuels: Fertile fields, a world-class transportation hub, and, as of this …

by Mario Parker (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)  Ethanol, the best-performing energy commodity this year, is cheaper than gasoline, encouraging refiners to use the biofuel even if President Barack Obama’s administration ends a requirement to do so.
A 49 …

(Ledger-Enquirer)  …Researchers at the University of Georgia may be close to finding it. A report by Susan Mittleman on Georgia Public Broadcasting and transcribed on the Public Broadcasting Atlanta website (pba.org) describes a promising new …

(Environmental Protection Agency/The White House)  The Obama Administration today finalized groundbreaking standards that will increase fuel economy to the equivalent of 54.5 mpg for cars and light-duty trucks by Model Year 2025. When combined with …

by Susanne Retka Schill   (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  In one of those interesting ironies of renewable fuels, Chemtex’s North Carolina proposed cellulosic ethanol project puts a sector of the hog industry rooting for the success of advanced …

by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com)  Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), has slammed ethanol saying it opposes the use of E15 based on scientific evidence that it causes corrosion with incompatible parts.
…The court has ruled in favor of …

(EurActiv)  Europe’s biofuel producers are hitting back at claims that they are at fault for this summer’s high food prices and challenge assertions that crops grown for fuel production are a threat to food supplies.

Food prices rose …

by Josh Vorhees (Slate)  The Obama administration is set today to formally sign off on its latest round of strict new fuel-efficiency standards for the nation’s cars and trucks later.

The expected new fleet-wide average come …

(Yahoo! Finance/Wall Street Transcript)  …In the following excerpt from the Utilities, Alternative Energy and Water Services Report, an expert analyst from Raymond James discusses the outlook for selected alternative energy stocks:
…In the context of the Raymond …

(Platts)  Eight groups representing a cross section of the US biofuels industry asked the White House on Monday to keep the ethanol mandate in place, despite governors’ calls to shrink it in response to a …

(Manitoba Electric Vehicle Association)  We’ve mentioned Urbee here before; unless you’ve been hiding under a rock you’ll know that this exciting made in Manitoba green vehicle has been making headlines in recent times due to it’s unique …

What is EUEC?

EUEC 2013 is the 16th annual energy, utility and environment conference held the end of January of each year, in Arizona since 1995.
EUEC is the USA’s largest, longest-running, professional networking and educational event …

by Adam Monroe (News Observer)  Last week Gov. Beverly Perdue filed a waiver request for the Renewable Fuel Standard, one of the nation’s most successful energy policies and of critical importance to North Carolina’s economy, …

(Innovation News Daily)  A humble soil bacteria has become a genetically engineered factory capable of making fuel for cars. But the project still has to get out of the lab and scale up to industrial-size production.
The MIT project aims …

by Ken Silverstein (Forbes)  …By most standards, the hope that is such first-generation fuel additives are supplanted by next-generation ones, or those produced from cellulose. Worth it?
Such fibers are abundant and could supply 130 million …

by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com)  Nebraska corn growers are on a mission to get more blender pumps installed in their state, especially in the larger cities.
Kim Clark, director of biofuels development for the Nebraska Corn Board, gave …

by Adam Wilmoth (News OK)  The extended drought has reduced the country’s corn supply and driven up corn costs, affecting the price of ethanol and gasoline. Oklahoma researchers are working to solve both problems.
Researchers in …

by Daehwan Chung, Joel Farkas, Jennifer R. Huddleston, Estefania Olivar, Janet Westpheling  (PLoS ONE)  Thermophilic microorganisms capable of using complex substrates offer special advantages for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to biofuels and bioproducts. Members of the Gram-positive bacterial genus Caldicellulosiruptor are …

by Zack Coleman (The Hill/E2Wire)  …Monte Shaw, executive director with the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, credits the uptick in gubernatorial and congressional interest to oil groups viewing 2013 as the last chance to nix the …

The European Commission has today published its decision to proceed to the registration of ethanol imports coming from the USA by issuing a new regulation (n°771/2012)1. The decision comes in response to a request within …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …You see, other states can match Minnesota for its wealth of agricultural and forest resources (though ample they are), or its foundational base in agriculture and energy (via giants like …

(PR NewsWire/Sapphire Energy)   Initial Phase of World’s First Green Crude Farm Completed On Time and On Budget
Sapphire Energy, Inc., one of the world leaders in algae-based green crude oil production, today announced the first phase …

Presentation by Helena Chum (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) US led by its State Department, and Brazil led by Department of Energy of the Ministry of Foreign Relations, have entered into an MOU to advance cooperation …

Presentation by Sagun Saxena (CleanStar Ventures) CleanStar is an early stage developer of sustainable food and energy ventures with a global presence. Strength lies in finance, technology and local execution capacity. The urban need in …

(Business Wire/AlphaJet)  …Having successfully demonstrated its cost-effective catalytic process for making jet fuel, diesel and high-octane gasoline from renewable plant oils or animal fats, AliphaJet is beginning its commercial scale-up program.
…The company has launched a …

(Algae Industry Magazine)  Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego (Scripps) have entered into an agreement focusing on the design of an innovative system in which algae consume …

by Ned Stowe (Environmental and Energy Study Institute)  Renewable biomass has a significant potential to improve U.S. energy security, advance rural economic development and energy security, protect and restore water quality and other environmental resources, and …

(The Bioenergy Site)  NFU Scotland and Scottish Quality Crops (SQC) have welcomed the announcement that the European Commission has accepted SQC into the sustainability certification scheme for biofuels. That recognition is a huge boost ahead …

(MarketWatch/AFS BioOil)  AFS BioOil has announced that initial tests conducted by the company since startup of the system confirm that production costs of biodiesel will be in the range of $2 per gallon when produced …

by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine) Minnesota Soybean Processors is the first biodiesel plant to pass Genscape’s RIN Integrity Network audit.
… The passing of its audit gives MnSP the first green icon on Genscape’s dashboard map of …

(Netzwerk Biotreibstoffe)  IEEP, the Institute for European Environmental Policy, has produced a review of the evidence base on the impacts of EU biofuel policies on global agricultural commodity prices, commissioned by ActionAid. Following up on the …

(Algae News/National Algae Association)  National Algae Association is pleased to announce a new commercial production growing system has been developed at its test center. The new growing system will eliminate contamination and low production issues …

(National Science Foundation/Biodiesel Magazine)  Researchers contend that manufactured nanomaterials—now popular in consumer products such as shampoos, gels, hair dyes and sunscreens—may be detrimental to the quality and yield of crops, as reported in a paper in …

by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine)  Jeff Rola of Go Bio is a grease collector in central Oregon who has beaten out much bigger competitors such as Baker to secure 50 percent of the used cooking …

by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine)  “There are a lot of things we don’t know about the biodiesel process.” This is not a comment expected from one of the most knowledgeable researchers in the biodiesel industry, …

(Environmental and Energy Study Institute)  Cleaner, more sustainable, more climate-friendly, more affordable advanced biofuels are closer to reality than many outside the industry seem to think. At least three new, advanced biofuel biorefineries are being …

(Delta Farm Press)  A coalition of 39 of the nation’s foremost agricultural organizations has formed in an effort to raise public awareness of the need for Congress to pass a new, comprehensive, five-year farm bill before …

by Pamela P. Peralta-Yahya, Fuzhong Zhang, Stephen B. del Cardayre, Jay D. Keasling (Nature)  Advanced biofuels produced by microorganisms have similar properties to petroleum-based fuels, and can ‘drop in’ to the existing transportation infrastructure. However, producing these biofuels in …

(Pangea)  Partners for Euro-African Green Energy (PANGEA) published a new report, Africa’s Water-Bioenergy Nexus. Ensuring Sustainable Water Management in Africa’s Biofuel Sector. The report describes ways to ensure a low water footprint in the African …

(Business Wire/Aemetis)  Biofuels ISOCONVERSION Process licensed by Aemetis to produce 100% drop-in renewable jet and diesel fuels from plant oils
Aemetis, Inc., an advanced fuels and renewable chemical company, announced today that the company signed a …

(Renmatix)  Companies embark on program to explore viability of MSW as inputs for PlantroseTM process
Waste Management, Inc.
, the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services, and Renmatix, the leading manufacturer of biobased sugar intermediates for …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …In our investigations in Iowa this week, we noted 6 trends worth carefully watching, which take us from opportunities with existing feedstocks to exotic newcomers like algae.
Our thesis now is …

by Erin Voegele (Biomass Magazine)  Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney issued a white paper outlining his energy policy this week. In that paper, in order to facilitate private-sector-led development, he said that is would “support …

by Philip Rucker (The Washington Post)  …While Romney stressed the idea of independence, the plan relies heavily on imports from Canada and Mexico, two of the world’s biggest oil producers. Hence the use of the …

by Dave Aeikens  (St. Cloud Times)  In the basement of Brown Hall at St. Cloud State University, specially-designed water tanks are used to grow algae.
It’s part of a research project for a southeastern Minnesota company …

by Phoebe Ho (MetroNews)  With barely any background in chemistry, a University of Windsor nursing grad and her business partner spent the last two months experimenting with animal fat and vegetable oil in hopes of creating …

by  Lucia Kassai (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)  Brazil, the biggest ethanol producer after the U.S., will have to import the biofuel if authorities raise the mandatory level mixed into gasoline this year, according to commodity processor and trader Bunge …

by Adam Stone (Defense News)  With the U.S. Navy spending an increasing amount of cash on alternative energy — including biofuels — researchers at South Dakota State University have embarked on a project that could …

by Bertha Coombs (CNBC)  Calls are growing to suspend the federal ethanol production mandate next year, as the worst drought in more than half a century has devastated the corn crop in the U.S. The …

(My Monticello News)  The study of microscopic algae may seem to have little practical application to those unfamiliar with the science, but a current project being conducted by two University of Arkansas at Monticello scientists …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In North Carolina, Chemtex announced that it has received a $99 million conditional loan guarantee from USDA, under the USDA’s 9003 Biorefinery Assistance Program for the engineering and construction of …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …Like many states (or countries) that have limited oil reserves or reserves that are economically unfeasible to extract at this time – the path to energy independence lies generally in …

(Environmental Protection Agency)  On August 20, 2012, EPA issued a request for comment on letters seeking a waiver of the volume requirements of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The Governors of Arkansas and North Carolina …

by Janet McGurty  (Reuters) Renewable fuel credit prices fell across the board on Tuesday as fears of an ethanol waiver roiled the Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) market.
Benchmark E12 RINS, referring to RINs created in 2012, …

Alison Shouldice (The Whig)  Piecing together “molecular Lego” is helping Queen’s University researchers explore more efficient ways of producing biofuels.
The research team has been looking at a certain bacterial complex, cellulosome, under the microscope.
Cellulosome is …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …Recently, with the boom in drilling operations in Wyoming and Colorado in the Niobrara shale – and some tentative exploration of the Kleinholz field – there have been renewed hopes …

by Dan Krotz  (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)  Molecular transporter could advance development of algae-based biofuels, pharmaceuticals
Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and Stanford University have developed a way …

by Adam Stone  (Defense News)  The U.S. Army is testing new power packs that could run on virtually any fuel, including gasoline, ethanol and diesel.
Developed by INI Power of Morrisville, N.C., the alternative energy power …

By Gregg Hennigan (KCRG.com)  Iowa City is considering participating in a trash-to-ethanol project that could result in an 80-percent reduction in the amount of solid waste going to its landfill.
City staffers have been talking with …

(KSFY.com)   …A local family fun park is trying to beat these costs. They’re the first in the U.S. to use E85 in their go-karts. E85 is a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gas. The …

by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com)  Drivers who live and travel through Ottawa, Kansas now have access to E15. The Zarco 66 station located at 2518 E. Logan (intersection of I-35 & HWY 68) has become the …

by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com)  Chrysler sees great value in ethanol. James Frusti, Chrysler Group manager of Fuels, Energy and Regulatory Affairs, presented the company’s ethanol strategy as part of the auto industry’s greater efforts of collaboration during the 25th Annual …

by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com)  …Steve McNinch with Western Plains Energy said his company is looking at how to move into the advanced biofuels category of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2). The biorenfinery, which produces ethanol …

by Mario Parker (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)  Ethanol production in the U.S. has fallen enough to drain a stockpile glut of the biofuel, CME Group Inc. (CME)said.
Output has declined 15 percent to 819,000 barrels a day from a …

(Reuters)  * EPA to gather public comment for 30 days
* EPA must make decision on ethanol waivers by November
* Petitioners must show mandate causing severe economic harm
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday said it …

(PR NewsWire)  POET Research Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of POET LLC, one of the world’s largest ethanol producers, and Agrivida, Inc., a developer of biotechnology platforms for feedstock and feedstock processing, today announce the signing …

by  Bruce Dorminey (Renewable Energy World)  Aviation remains as much a part of Washington State as its eastern dry-land agriculture or the rain-soaked forests on its mountainous western fringes. But only the alternative energy industry proposes …

(PhysOrg)  Algae are high on the genetic engineering agenda as a potential source for biofuel, and they should be subjected to independent studies of any environmental risks that could be linked to cultivating algae for …