Articles in Small scale biorefineries
by Enos Shumba, et al (World Wildlife Fund for Nature) The bio-fuel debate has largely focused on large feedstock plantations that produce products for the export market. It has not acknowledged and seriously considered the …
by Kathy Coatney (Beef Magazine/BeefProducer.com) Small, automated units can make biodiesel from animal fat, waste oil and oilseed crops.
An Arkansas professor has been experimenting with a farm-sized biodiesel plant that can use animal fat, waste …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Produces Drop-In Jet Fuel from 100% Renewable Plant Sugars
In Wisconsin, Virent announced the delivery of 100 gallons of its bio-based jet fuel to the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) for …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …Though there are exceptions among the archipelagoes with access to offshore oil assets — Indonesia comes to mind— but these are, in the main, exceptions to what might be described …
By Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Site preparation has begun and plans are being finalized for a formal groundbreaking ceremony to be held in the next few weeks at the country’s first sweet sorghum-to-ethanol …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … LS9 CEO Tjerk de Ruiter announced the expansion of its operations at the Company’s Okeechobee, Florida demonstration facility with a successful customer trial.
The Florida facility was initially designed, and has …
(Star-Advertiser) The state has invested $200,000 toward a initiative that seeks to develop an economically sustainable zero-waste conversion project in Hilo that will turn unmarketable papaya into biofuel and high-protein animal feed.
Gov. Neil Abercrombie presented …
by Eriosi Nantaba (AllAfrica.com) A private Firm African Power Initiative Limited (API) recently announced its plans and commitment to start mass production of bio diesel in Uganda with a capacity of more than 4000 litres. …
by Jim Lane (BioInvest Digest) …It’s an idea whose time has come, for sure. The opportunity for small-scale production of alcohol fuels in the 20,000 to 500,000 gallon range — using wastes routinely produced (and …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Today in part II, we look at a new set of technologies coming along that are redefining our ideas about scale and cost.
… A barrier to long term deployment? The …
(Associated Press/Washington Post) Amid the vast almond orchards and grape fields that surround Five Points in California’s Central Valley, a once-dominant crop that has nearly disappeared from the state’s farms is making a comeback: sugar …
(Biomass Magazine) Applied Research Associates Inc. and Blue Sun Energy Inc. are partnering to develop a demonstration-scale facility to scale up the Biofuels Isoconversion Process system using technology developed by ARA and Chevron Lummus Global. …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Fast pyrolysis developer plans to rapidly expand green benzene and toluene production in 2013 for downstream product development purposes. Opens new pilot plant, R&D facility in New York; green …
(This Is Gloucestershire) Green Fuels of Stonehouse has installed the first ever biodiesel plant on Bali. The move is helping the Indonesian island to avert a growing environmental and health crisis.
The FuelMatic GSX 3 plant …
by Stephan Nielsen (Bloomberg BusinessWeek) Praj Industries Ltd., an engineering company backed by billionaire Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, expects to begin construction on a $30 million biofuel demonstration plant in India before building one in the U.S.
Construction on …
(The Fish Site) Hiep Thanh Seafood Processing Corporation (HTFood) has successfully produced bio-diesel from catfish fat.
Waste catfish material such as intestine, bone and fat are all used in the process of converting catfish waste material …
(Rockwood Summit High School/Biodiesel Magazine) Students at Rockwood Summit High School in Missouri are asking the community to support their plans to build a renewable fuel education center. Among the fundraising efforts, students are selling …
by Kristi Pihl (Tri-City Herald) A pilot project to produce biofuel using agricultural and organic municipal waste has reached levels that makes the process commercially viable, researchers say.
The project, paid for by the Department of …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Bio-Refinery Begins Operations Turning Co-Cropping into Fuels, Chemicals
Deep in the Mekong Delta of South Vietnam a small bio-refinery is converting seaweed into protein, fuel-blendable alcohol, and a bacterial soil product. …
by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine) Biodiesel Experts International has unveiled its new, fully automated, skid-mounted enzymatic biodiesel processing system. After two years of development work to hone the process and build the first unit, the …
(Ashville Citizen-Times) Thanks to an innovative program aimed at helping North Carolina become more self-sufficient when it comes to energy, Asheville’s popular Biltmore Estate, that venerable bastion of the region’s travel and tourism industry, soon …
(U.S. Energy Initiatives) U.S. Enerby Initiatives Corp announced that is has signed a Letter of Intent to form a Joint Venture that will provide the tools, experience and support to build several small scale biodiesel …
(Incbio) Incbio, has just secured an agreement to supply DC Biofuels with a 7.5 million gallon per year (28.000 MT/year) Biodiesel plant. It will incorporate Incbio’s ultrasonic reactors, as well as solid catalyst acid esterification …
(The Town Talk) The LSU AgCenter Audubon Sugar Institute plans a Jan. 25 opening for a pilot plant designed to produce biofuels and biochemicals from agricultural crops and byproducts.
The centerpiece of the AgCenter’s sustainable bioproducts …
(Cherokee One Feather) The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is making its own biodiesel fuel from waste oil and grease in a new facility located behind the Cherokee Transportation Center. The facility, which can make …
by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine) Chico, Calif.-based Springboard Biodiesel announced that its trademarked BioPro EX has met the Green Restaurant Association’s rigorous endorsement standards for alternative fuel refueling stations. By using the BioPro EX, restaurants …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) It’s been years of struggle to get cellulosic feedstock supply chains downfield. Now, companies like Woodland Biofuels, Sweetwater Energy, Ceres, Delta BioRenewables and Commonwealth Agro-Energy are moving the chains.
…This week …
by Jim Lane (Biobased Digest) California’s cellulosic gearhead gurus head from the San Joaquin Valley to Sao Paulo, in search of big, aggregated loads of sugarcane bagasse.
In California, Edeniq announced that it has begun engineering …
by Denis Scott Chabrol (Demera Waves) The United Kingdom-based Whitefox Technologies, together with its partner Green, have secured a bioethanol contract with the Guyanese Government.
Whitefox said it is working together with the Brazilian company, Green, …
by Maeve Maguire (Cowichan News Leader) The CVS Victoria Cruise bus company is the first in North America to use 100% biodegradable fuel.
It buys that fuel directly from the Cowichan BioDiesel Co-op. The non-toxic biodegradable …
by Morgan Josey Glover (News & Record) Guilford County Schools will reduce air pollution by buying more cleaner-burning biodiesel from a state-approved supplier. But officials backpedaled on a plan to get into the biodiesel-making business.
…Members …
Many restaurants are becoming more energy conscious and are taking initiative, by the simple act of giving up their vegetable oil waste! Now you may ask, what good is left over vegetable oil? Well for …
(EurekAlert!) To celebrate World Toilet Day on November 19, researchers at Columbia University’s Engineering School, working in Ghana with Waste Enterprisers Ltd., the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and the Kumasi Metropolitan …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) While companies pursue alternatives to Fischer-Tropsch technologies, Velocys is seeking to make F-T work economically with micro-reactors.
In last week’s Digest, Robert Rapier aptly stated the challenge in front of XTL technologies – …
by Laura Layden (NaplesNews.com) …Now he’s (Christian Colarusso) challenged, with the new biodiesel plant revving up a few weeks ago. The multimillion-dollar plant is owned and operated by FL Biofuels LLC, a start-up that now has …
by Andrew Theen (The Oregonian) Biodiesel is a popular alternative for some drivers who want to save money at the pump and put spent vegetable oil to good use. Making the fuel at home is …
by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine) For biodiesel refineries, a good maintenance plan starts with good training. Austria-based BDI-BioEnergy International AG, which has built more than 30 plants worldwide, starts its plant personnel training routine during …
by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine) In Fenton, Mo., Rockwood Summit High School students and chemistry teacher Darrin Peters have taken hands-on learning to a whole new level with biodiesel production. The journey began five years …
(Environmental Leader) Google has been using Cool Planet Energy Systems’ biofuel blend to run a fleet vehicle at the search giant’s Mountain View, Calif. campus, according to the energy-tech startup.
…During the Google trial, a campus …
by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine) Nevada-based biodiesel equipment provider International Procurement Tools LLC has announced what it is calling “phased financing,” an approach that allows would-be biodiesel project developers with access to a million dollars …
by Olivier De Schutter (The Guardian) …The new starting point should be to put food security first. Globally, 25% of land is already degraded, and the remaining productive areas are subject to ever-greater competition from industrial …
Tany Meva Foundation will convene a three-day workshop in Antananarivo, Madagascar, on small or micro scale ethanol production for fuel use. The workshop builds on the results of the 2011 World Bank-published study, Ethanol as a …
(Biodico/PR NewsWire/Herald Online) Today Biodico announced signing a new agreement with the U.S. Navy for the development and evaluation of advanced biofuels and bioenergy. The goal is to jointly develop renewable fuel and energy technologies …
by Mark Burridge (Wicked Local/Sandwich Broadsider) Cape Cod Biofuels (CCBF) works with restaurants across Cape Cod and the South Shore to convert used cooking oils into biofuels.
Marc Watson, a co-owner of the company, said Cape …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Algenol hits 7000 gallon per acre mark in field operations. What’s the impact for Algenol, for energy independence, for the cost of transport fuel?
…Algenol CEO Paul Woods revealed that the …
by Joe Cogliano (Dayton Business Journal) A division of Honeywell International Inc. is being tapped by the U.S. Air Force to expand the domestic supply of biofuels.
On Thursday, the Defense Department announced Des Plaines, Ill.-based UOP LLC was …
by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine) A team of faculty and students from Utah State University set a land speed record this month in a student-built car run on biodiesel fuel also produced by the …
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 …
(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 …
The race to create a better, less controversial biofuel has spawned plenty of research into a variety of potential new sources – including switchgrass, cornstalks and algae.
One goal behind the next generation of ethanol fuel …
(OMV) On July 2, 2012 Doris Bures, Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology, and Gerhard Roiss, OMV CEO, opened the BioCRACK pilot plant at the OMV Refinery in Schwechat. The plant is the first of …
by Dan Modlin (WKYUFM) A firm based in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky is hoping more farmers raise sorghum to use in ethanol fuels production in the future. Southeast Biofuels has completed the first phase of a …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In-field bioprocessing? Dramatically higher plant oil production? R&D breakthroughs offer new paths to victory for Millers vs Drillers.
If you haven’t been getting most of your information on the Renewable Fuel …
(Biofuels Center of North Carolina) The Oxford Biodiesel Plant is capable of converting virgin or recycled fats and oils from multiple sources into 35,000 gallons of high quality biodiesel per year. The plant was constructed …
by Lisa Perkins (Traverse City Record-Eagle) Bill Koucky will soon produce biodiesel fuel, after years of planning, experimenting and jumping through regulatory hoops.
…Traverse City will be home to a biodiesel fuel plant when Koucky’s Northwest …
by Bryan Sims (Biorefining Magazine) The biorefining industry is hungry for a low-cost, high-quality and readily available supply of sugar feedstock from nonfood biomass sources. A number of pure-play sugar technology developers and manufacturers like …
by Denise Deveau (Financial Post) {ISSUE} Soaring energy prices are thinning profit margins in the transport sector and increasing operational costs in many manufacturing industries
{SHIFT} Turning wood waste into bio-fuel helps industry find a …
by Diane Wagner (Rome News Tribune) The Floyd County Commission is expected to decide at its May 8 meeting if it will allow local farmers to make a limited amount of ethanol onsite, for use as …
(Virdia/Biorefining Magazine) Cellulosic sugar developer Virdia announced April 24 the opening of its demonstration facility at its new technology center in Danville, Va. Located on the campus for the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, …
by Kay Rossi (KRTV.com) MSU-Northern’s bio-diesel product is available commercially for the first time for engines in Havre.
With the possibility of more distribution in the future, the school’s Bio-Energy Center is working to …
by Nina Chestney (Reuters) Water management company Aqualia plans to launch a commercial-scale demonstration project using waste water to cultivate algae for biofuel production, which could fuel 400 vehicles, the firm said on Monday.
Spain’s Aqualia, …
(PR.com) Request for Expression of Interest
Promotion of Ethanol Microdistillery for Cooking Fuel in Ethiopia
Loan No. /Credit No./ Grant No.: TF096664
Activity Title: Demonstrating the Feasibility of Ethanol for Household Cooking
The Gaia Association, an Ethiopian non-governmental and …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) What are Google, BP, Conoco, and GE investing? Is 3,000 gallons per acre of renewable gasoline possible?
In the past few weeks, news has begun to circulate around the industry – …
by Bryan Sims (Biodiesel Magazine) Alabama native Helen Keller once said, “No one has the right to consume happiness without producing it.” The same could be said of biodiesel at the Alabama Institute for Deaf …
(Project Gaia) Nigerian Government Agency Launches Microdistillery and Stoves to Provide Sustainable Ethanol Fuel for Household Cooking, Lighting and Small-Scale Power Generation
The National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), a parastatal under the Nigerian Federal Ministry of …
by Bryan Sims (Biodiesel Magazine) Ever since she was little Michelle Rodio was fascinated with trying to make the world a better place. While growing up, partaking in recycling and other ecofriendly initiatives became a …
by Martin LaMonica (CNET) For a new crop of biofuel companies, ethanol is out and “biogasoline” is in.
One of them is Primus Green Energy, which plans to open a demonstration plant by the end of the …
(PR NewsWire/Allard Energy, Inc.) Synenergy Limited, LLC, a global green solutions provider, today announced their distributorship with Allard Energy, Inc. (formerly, Allard Research and Development LLC), a leading innovator for small to medium scale ethanol production. Allard …
by Loreto Urbino (AMÉRICAECONOMÍA/Worldcrunch) A London-based project dubbed OPEC (Orange Peel Exploitation Company) aims to make biofuel from the waste from the more than 10 million tons of oranges that Brazil squeezes into juice each …
(MarketWire/Springboard Biodiesel) Springboard Biodiesel and Pinnacle Capital announced this morning (January 5, 2012) a new and innovative financing program designed to help US educational institutions — public and private — establish small-scale biodiesel production programs …
(Project Gaia) On November 23, Gaia Association, in partnership with Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and the Ethiopian Environmental Protection Authority, launched the new project “Fuel from Waste: Demonstrating the Feasibility of Locally Produced Ethanol for …
by Ross Courtney (The Seattle Times/Yakima Herald-Republic) …”You get down to it, it’s dirty work,” said Steve Fransen, a research agronomist at the Washington State University Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center.
He means research, not …
by John Schueler (US Department of Energy) The Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy works in partnership with industry to develop, build, operate and validate integrated biorefineries across the country at various scales …
by Nathan Phelps (Green Bay Press-Gazette) On-site production of fuel builds security
…Small-scale production of biodiesel and other biofuels derived from sources like canola was the focus of a seminar Friday in Denmark.
On-farm production of fuels …
(SmyrnaVinings.com) The City of Smyrna plans to open a biodiesel processing plant, designed to cut fuel costs and reduce fossil fuel consumption, by January 2012. The use of biodiesel results in the substantial reduction of unburned …
(The Economist) Green-minded motorists are making car fuel at home, from used cooking oil
…The recipe starts by filtering the breadcrumbs out with a mesh screen. After that you warm the oil up and add sodium …
(PR NewsWire) The Louisville Biodiesel Cooperative, the Louisville/Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) and The Green Triangle in the 9th District are pleased to announce a partnership to recycle Waste Cooking Oil.
The first recycling station is: Louisville …
(Project Gaia) Project Gaia, Inc., a U.S. non profit with operations in East Africa, is working with the UNHCR and others to bring relief to refugees from the Horn of Africa Famine in a very …
(PRNewsWire) Sloud, Inc., announced today that the company has acquired SouthWest BioFuels, Inc., a Tucson Arizona based, development stage company focused on the research and development of algae based bio fuels and related biomass products. The SouthWest BioFuels …
by Thomas Caywood (Worcester Telegram & Gazette) Rising heating oil prices and dire forecasts predicting the most expensive heating season ever have left many local homeowners feeling anything but warm and fuzzy, with some scrambling …
by Samantha Townsend (The Daily Telegraph) With the price of fuel skyrocketing, residents in the tiny town of Gunning have come up with an environmentally friendly and cost-effective answer to running their school bus. They …
by Bryan Sims (Biodiesel Magazine) …The company’s community-scale model is paying off as the plant reached a milestone surpassing its 10 millionth gallon of biodiesel produced from used cooking oil.
The plant, which officially came online …
by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com) Ethanol plant design company, ICM, Inc., of Colwich, Kansas, has designed and constructed equipment for a “one gallon per minute ethanol plant” currently under construction in Mozambique that will use locally …
by Erin Voegele (Biodiesel Magazine) When he was only 14 years old, Sam Flournoy set out to design and build his own biodiesel processor.
…According to Flournoy, it took about six months of work before he …
Neal St. Anthony (Star Tribune) …Two years ago, McNeff’s family-owned Anoka company inaugurated a $9 million plant in Isanti, Minn., that produces 3 million gallons annually of biodiesel made from used cooking oil. The approach …
(PR NewsWire/SarTec) SarTec Corporation announced today it has received a $500,000 Department of Energy grant (Award # DE-EE0003127) as part of a larger project to develop and enhance the use of inedible energy crops for the production of advanced …
(University of California-Riverside) Two grants will allow further development of steam hydro-gasification process that turns waste from food, yards and other sources into transportation fuels or natural gas
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside’s Center for Environmental …
by Rachel Burton (Biodiesel Magazine/Piedmont Biofuels) …Piedmont Biofuels made a strategic decision to voluntarily implement a quality management system (QMS) at its central North Carolina production facility. With this NREL data published, Piedmont was inspired …
by Erin Voegele (Biodiesel Magazine) …According to Greg Springer, president of Green Fuels America Inc., interest in community-scale biodiesel production is increasing all around the world. He attributes this to both high fuel prices and …
(AvJet Biotech/PR.com) Unique Refining System Creates Aviation Biofuel from Renewable Native Feedstocks
Avjet Biotech, Inc., a leading developer of small distributive refining systems in the 10 million gallon per year range and parent company of Red …
by William D’Urso (Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel) …Cream City Grecycling, a division of Fushion Renewables, was launched in July and it’s seeking out restaurants for their used cooking grease.
The plan: Turn the waste grease …
by Megan Cassidy (Columbia Missourian) Shibu Jose and his team believe that today’s soggy river bottoms could be untapped grounds for the largest advanced biofuel economy in the nation.
Jose, director for MU’s Center for Agroforestry, is …
Roger Rainville is ahead of the curve when it comes to reducing costs on his farm near Alburgh, Vermont.
…Rainville first got interested in oilseed production when University of Vermont Extension approached him about growing canola …
(ABC27.com) Messiah College has been around for over 100 years, but they’re trying something for the first time this year. The school is a couple of months into what they are calling, “The Sunflower Power …
by Lance Nixon (Renewable Energy World) Those pyrolysis plants would pass that crude “bio-oil” on to refineries elsewhere to be made into drop-in fuels and industrial chemicals; they would capture and use for their own …
by Cammy Clark (The Miami Herald/Sun Sentinel) Vegetable oil once used at Florida Keys restaurants and backyard fish fries is being processed into green fuel for trucks, tiki torches and a 53-foot sailboat that offers …
(Times Colonist) A group of Cowichan Valley residents who rely on recycled cooking oil to fuel their vehicles can now process the biofuel in bigger batches thanks to new equipment.
The new processor is near the …
by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine) In Catawba County, N.C., a partnership between the county and Appalachian State University is planning to commemorate the completion of the Catawba County-Appalachian State University Biodiesel Research, Development and Production …
by Suzanne Ulbrich (ENCToday) A delivery aboard Camp Lejeune Monday morning marked the culmination of a test project to provide renewable fuels for North Carolina’s military.
Officials aboard Camp Lejeune received 800 gallons of state grown and …
by K.C. Mehaffey (The Wenatchee World) Instead of fueling his truck at the gas station, Tim Bombaci is getting his fuel from his neighbors. His neighbors who own orchards, that is.
Over the past year, the Manson …



