by Jeff Wilson  (Bloomberg)  China’s five-year plan to slow domestic production of grain-based ethanol will mean tighter supplies of a byproduct used for animal feed, boosting demand for imports through 2016, the U.S. Grains Council said. …

by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  A project aiming for energy beet-to-ethanol production in North Dakota hit some significant milestones recently. Putting the project a big step closer to reality is $1 million in funding …

by Leithen Francis (Aviation Week)  The International Air Transport Association’s target of carbon neutral growth from 2020 can still be achieved, but the airline industry “can’t do it on our own,” says IATA head Tony …

by Robert Kozak (Advanced Biofuels USA)  As required by the Constitution, the President submitted to Congress today his proposed budget for the operation of the United States government for the coming year (FY 2013). The …

(NCS International)  NCS International (“NCSI”) has certified the world’s first organisation against the Principles and Criteria of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (“RSB”). RSB is a new international standard that can be applied across the …

(Neste Oil)  Neste Oil and Raisio have worked together for a number of years on how by-products and sidestreams generated by Finnish agriculture and food manufacturing can be used as inputs for producing biofuels. The …

by Steven Mufson (The Washington Post)  A White House consultant’s report said Friday that the Energy Department should bolster its ability to assess loan guarantee risks in the wake of the Solyndra bankruptcy, and urged the department …

by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com)  DuPont businesses Pioneer Hi-Bred and DuPont Industrial Biosciences are collaborating with Iowa State University in performing studies on residue to establish best practices in harvesting, storage and transportation, with an eye toward its use in …

by Katherine Yung (Detroit Free Press)  After a lengthy delay, construction of what could be the nation’s first large-scale wood-to-ethanol plant in the country is to start this year in Michigan’s eastern Upper Peninsula.
If successful, …

by Juliet Eilperin (The Washington Post)  …Rules aimed at curbing emissions from cars and light trucks are on hold because the White House has yet to give the Office of Management and Budget the go-ahead …

by Kevin Bullis (MIT Technology Review)  Humbled by production challenges, the company plans to scale back production goals, it told investors Thursday.
Its originally planned to make an anti-malaria drug, as well as renewable diesel and …

by Dan Piller (Des Moines Register)  Producers had lots left over after a federal tax credit ended. Also, exports to Brazil have decreased.
Ethanol has generated more than its share of detractors, but since Jan. 1 …

(US Department of Energy)  The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is solely to solicit input for ARPA-E consideration to inform the possible development of future chemo/electro-autotrophic fuel production programs.  Information obtained may be used …

by Dan Piller (Des Moines Register)  He says diluting standards could hurt Midwest interests
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack warned an Iowa group Friday in Ankeny that “the Midwest could be damaged” if oil interests …

(Biofuels International)  Chemoprojekt, a Czech Republic-based company specialising in design, engineering and procurement, has formed a joint venture with Nationwide Asset Management.
The 50/50 joint venture has been named FAME Usti nad Labem and will be …

by Joe Romm (ThinkProgress.org)  Air sampling by NOAA over Colorado Finds 4% Methane Leakage, More Than Double Industry Claims
How much methane leaks during the entire lifecycle of unconventional gas has emerged as a key question in the …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Around the halls of the Digest, we call him Rufus, the elephant in the room. Elsewhere, RFS, or the Renewable Fuel Standard, is the accepted descriptor.
Under any name, there’s been …

(Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels)  The Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB) today announced the first completed commercial certification of the Manildra Group of Australia. The certification was conducted by NCS International, an RSB-accredited certification agency.
The Manildra …

(BioJet)  BioJet International Ltd. announced today that its Chairman Mitch Hawkins has been elected Chair of the Board of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels Services Foundation.
The RSB Services Foundation, the implementing entity of the Roundtable on …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In Part II of our series, we look today at Ceres, Myriant, PetroAlgae, BioAmber, Elevance, Genomatica, Enerkem, Mascoma, and Fulcrum Bioenergy.
In Part I, yesterday, we looked at the performance of …

(Renewable Energy Magazine)  Recent studies commissioned by NGOs Friends of the Earth and ActionAid claim that biofuels, including ethanol, will cost EU consumers €126 billion at the petrol pump between now and 2020. ePURE, the European …

by Michael McNutt  (NewsOK)  Oklahoma House panel passes measure that would prohibit growing the ornamental plant commercially as a biofuel crop. The flowering plant still may be grown by nurseries.
Growing castor beans for commercial purposes …

(Los Angeles Times)  The five so-called “super major” oil companies – Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, ConocoPhillips,Chevron and BP– have just wrapped up their fourth quarter earnings reports, but not without inspiring disdain over how they made those billions in …

by Marc Chase (NWITimes.com)   As time began to run out on Lake County’s trash-to-ethanol plan last week, so did the faith and confidence of solid waste district officials — both in the project and …

by Joseph Magdalena (Jornal de Angola)  Angola and Japan signed yesterday in Luanda, a protocol for the construction of factories for production and refining of sugar and ethanol in the city of Humbe in Cunene.
The …

(Open PR/Wilks Enterprise)  A new White Paper published by Wilks Enterprise addresses the common concern among biodiesel blenders and distributors as to whether or not biodiesel made from different feedstocks such as soy, waste vegetable …

by Jim Stewart (Biofuels Digest/BioEnergy Producers Association)  …In America’s quest for alternative and renewable energy, the “ball” is national security and energy independence.  All other issues pale by comparison.
Let’s not lose sight of a critical …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In this two-part series, we look at the IPO market for industrial biotech stocks. …
In Part I, today, we look at the performance of the six IPOs to date in …

by Ken Field (Financial Post)  Ethanol reduces the price of gasoline
Ethanol’s chief benefit is environmental.  …Last summer, there were no smog alerts in the GTA and 5.5 million Canadians breathed easier. Ethanol was a major …

by Gary Strauss (Chicago Sun-Times)  Get ready for another round of pain at the pump: gas at $4 (or higher) a gallon. After rising 19 cents a gallon in the past four weeks, regular unleaded …

by Erin Voegele (Biodiesel Magazine)  Florida-based grease recycling company Freedom Environmental Services Inc. recently announced it has signed service contracts with 14 Sonny’s Real Pit Bar-B-Q restaurants to provide ongoing grease trap maintenance and the …

by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine)  A panel of petroleum trade association representatives gathered together for the National Biodiesel Conference’s opening general session on Feb. 6. While the group consisted of five oil association representatives, several …

(Queensland University of Technology)  Biofuel technology being developed by Queensland University of Technology (QUT) researchers has caught the interest of the US Navy, which is currently in Australia on an alternative fuel fact-finding mission.
The US …

(Macau Hub)  Portuguese group Galp Energia plans to head up a project for second generation biofuel produced using cultivated jatropha in Mozambique, the Portuguese press reported.
The project, which is projected to cost 2 million euros, …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …While most of the United States was focused on the 2012 Super Bowl, the CSPAN television network snuck a revealing interview from Brian Lamb with Secretary of the Navy, former …

(The Hindu)  The Biotechnology Engineering Department of Nitte Mahalinga Adyanthaya Memorial Institute of Technology (NMAMIT), Nitte, Karkala, has contacted 500 to 1,000 people in villages near Nitte regarding the production of biodiesel from locally-available seeds.
Venkatesh …

(Asia News Network)  Dung Quat Bio-Ethanol Plant, located in the Dung Quat Industrial Zone in the central province of Quang Ngai, turned out its first batch of bio-ethanol E100 last week after 33 months of …

(Piedmont Biofuels)  Breakthrough Expedites Transformation of Biodiesel Production
Piedmont Biofuels announced today(February 7, 2012)  that the company has commenced the first commercial scale zero-waste production of biodiesel in the United States using its proprietary approach of …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …In Florida, the National Biodiesel Conference — biodiesel’s grandest show — opened with exuberance over 2011 results, and resolve to meet the industry’s two major issues in 2012, defense of …

(PR NewsWire/Hino Trucks)  During a ceremony today at the National Biodiesel Conference in Orlando, Hino Trucks was recognized by the National Biodiesel Board with the 2012 “Eye on Biodiesel Impact Award.”
The “I-Awards” represent the biodiesel industry’s top honors, …

by Canadian Renewable Fuels Association (Ethanol Producer Magazine)   Ethanol and grain producers in Canada reacted to a report by the George Morris Centre charging it misinterprets the connection between clean-burning, renewable ethanol and the …

by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  BioProcess Algae LLC and Green Plains Renewable Energy Inc. announced Feb. 1 that they have begun constructing a five acre algae production facility in southwest Iowa at the site …

by David Schwartz (Algae Industry Magazine)  Susan M. Kunz, President and Chief Executive Officer of BioVantage, describes herself in part as a “startup addict,” this being her fourth company built from the ground up.
…As CEO of BioVantage …

By Alessandro Torello (Wall Street Journal)  …But this plant, with a capacity of 800,000 metric tons a year, and others built by different companies around Europe face a new challenge: a possible shift in EU …

by S. Heather Duncan (Macon Telegraph)  Although the company that purchased a defunct ethanol refinery in Soperton has some of the same financial backers as previous owners who lost the plant to foreclosure, leaders of …

(Equipment World)  States considering a Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) will be watching the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to see if it will overturn a lower court’s decision that California’s LCFS is unconstitutional.
The appellate court …

(CelluForce)  CelluForce officially inaugurated today the world’s first NanoCrystalline Cellulose (NCC) demonstration plant at the Domtar pulp and paper mill site in Windsor, Quebec.
Jean Moreau, President and CEO of CelluForce, was accompanied by the Canadian …

(NewEurope Online)  More Lithuanian logging waste could make way for usage in biofuels production. The ‘national forestry sector development programme’ submitted recently to the government of Lithuanian by the ministry of environment proposed for maximising …

by John Lindt (Visalia Times-Delta)  Edeniq is expanding in the Visalia Industrial Park expecting to turn on its new pilot cellulosic ethanol plant in March, with plans to double employment this year, said Scott Janssen, …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …In Canada, Enerkem has filed an F-1 registration statement for a proposed $125 million initial public offering. The number of shares to be offered in the proposed offering and the …