by Aino Siirala (Advanced Biofuels USA)  The 21st European Biomass conference and Exhibition was held in Copenhagen on June 3-7, 2013, gathering almost 2000 attendees.
Denmark, one of the world’s leading countries in the green energy …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  The EPREINC scenario—One chart was prepared by the Energy Policy Research Foundation for its Congressional testimony on the Renewable Fuel Standard yesterday.
…
EPRINC’s scenario foresees a big shortfall between the production …

(Southeast Agriculture & Forest Energy Resources Alliance)   “We’re the nation’s only comprehensive biofuels agency, and I say that more out of surprise than for the purpose of touting North Carolina,” said Steven Burke, President and CEO of the Biofuels Center of North …

by Fred Cannon (The Hill’s Congress Blog/KiOR)  More than one-third of the world’s total energy usage relies on liquid fuels – primarily from fossil fuels. In the first quarter of 2013 consumption outpaced production, and …

by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Just months after receiving the first cellulosic renewable identification numbers for a shipment of cellulosic ethanol to its Brazil partner Petrobras, Western Biomass Energy LLC filed for bankruptcy …

(News Press)  A bio-energy company on the Treasure Coast has joined Fort Myers-based Algenol Inc. in calling for Gov. Rick Scott to veto a measure that would repeal the state law requiring most gasoline sold …

by Dan Seif (Mother Earth News/Rocky Mountain Institute)  Advanced, non-food biofuels are gaining momentum in 2013 as several new plants have gathered the capital and momentum for large-scale production.
…
Despite sparse media coverage, significant volumes of …

by Javier E. David (CNBC) Imagine a world where leftover corn, wheat and wood chips can be used to power your car.
That’s the aim of cellulosic ethanol, a budding sector of the renewable fuel industry that …

(Edeniq/Yahoo! News)  Visalia Plant Milestone Signifies Greater Commercial Viability for Cellulosic Ethanol and Sugars
Edeniq, a biomaterials and sustainable fuels company, today announced the company’s first demonstration plant, located at its Visalia, CA headquarters, has completed …

(SB Wire/Eccotopia)  Julian Moses, president of Symphony Trade and Investment 57 (Pty) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Eccotopia Ltd.,http://www.eccotopia.com/, has announced that  Eccotopia and Pacific Tree West are in the process of signing a …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …“Building on the first gallons of cellulosic diesel we shipped in March, we continue to make progress with operations at our Columbus facility,” said KiOR CEO Fred Cannon. “The on-stream …

by Vicki Ekstrom (Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change/Renewable Energy World)  …Their study, recently released in Geophysical Research Letters, found that land-use changes caused by a major ramp-up in biofuel crops — enough …

by Erin Voegele (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  The International Energy Agency Bioenergy Task 39 group recently published a report that outlines progress on more than 100 advanced biofuel projects under development worldwide. The report, titled “Status …

(Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper)  The Government of Canada is committed to investing in innovative clean energy technologies that create high-quality jobs, generate new economic opportunities and protect the environment.
To this end, on May …

(SEKAB)  SEKAB E-Technology welcomes SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden’s (SP) engagement in the Biorefinery Demo Plant in Örnsköldsvik, previously known as the Ethanol Pilot. SP and SEKAB have signed an agreement, which ensures continued …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In Norway, Norwegian Finance Minister Sigbjørn Johnsen officially inaugurated the Borregaard biorefinery demonstration plant in Sarpsborg, which will produce green chemicals and sugars based on biomass from wood and agricultural …

(Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation)  A recently published report provides an in-depth overview of the current state of affairs in Dutch biomass trading. “We’re satisfied to report a significant increase in certified …

(EnergyDigital) In the ethanol fuel market, the US takes the lead. Pilot and demonstration plants to commence in late 2013.
Ethanol is the most widely acclaimed alternative or additive for gasoline used for running vehicles, and …

by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  With a fresh investment from Brazil’s GranBio, American Process Inc. is poised to develop its first commercial-scale cellulosic biorefineries in both the U.S. and Brazil. API CEO Theodora …

by Jessica Shankleman (BusinessGreen.com)   …Three campaign groups, backed by 12 organisations in the timber, paper and furniture industries, yesterday warned that a surge in demand for wood as a result of renewable electricity subsidies …

(Metso) Domtar has successfully started up a commercial-scale LignoBoost™ lignin separation plant at its Plymouth, North Carolina mill, in the USA. This is the first commercial installation of a LignoBoost plant in the world and the …

(Virtual-Strategy.com)
Nexant today announced the release of an assessment of next-generation and cellulosic sugar technologies. This new Nexant report—Cellulosic Sugars: Unlocking Biomass’ Potential—examines the different technology choices available.
“Cellulosic and other next-generation sugar processes are becoming technically robust, …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …It used to be that the outskirts of Honolulu had the dual scent of diesel and pineapple processing — but now, all you really smell is the diesel. Sugarcane and …

UPM, VTT and VV-Auto Group will start fleet tests of renewable domestic diesel.  Biofuel will be produced by UPM, fleet tests will be coordinated by VTT and cars will be supplied by VV-Auto Group. Fleet …

(Environmental Research Web)  …It referred to a report by North Energy Associates (NEA) and Forestry Research (FR) produced for DECC, which tried to answer the question: ‘Is it better to leave wood in the forest …

(US Department of Energy)  The Bioenergy Technologies Office 2013 Project Peer Review will take place at the Hilton Alexandria Hotel from Monday, May 20, 2013, to Thursday, May 23, 2013. The peer review process will …

(EurActiv.com)
A European Parliament report into the EU’s proposals for addressing the problem of indirect land use change (ILUC) in its biofuels policy will propose today (17 April) the application of unique ‘factors’ to account for …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Pilot-scale biorefineries for drop-in military diesel, jet fuel the focus of the DOE’s latest grant round.
In Washington, the US Department of Energy announced up to $17.7 million in grants to …

by  Stuart Radnedge (GasWorld)  Air Liquide has just signed a partnership agreement with the CEA (Commission for atomic energy and alternative energies in France) aiming to develop a second-generation biofuel production pilot unit in France.
As part …

by Pavel Molchanov (Raymond James and Associates/Biofuels Digest)  …There is no question that there have been growing pains along the way, more than we would have hoped, but the industry continues along its trajectory towards scale. We …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  An explosive report from Bloomberg alleges that a pathway to $2.18 per gallon gasoline was developed at Chevron-Weyerhaeuser owned Catchlight Energy.  Yet, the project was sidelined. Why?   Was the project …

by Aldo Svaldi (The Denver Post)   Cool Planet Energy Systems took a step closer Friday to a corporate relocation and expansion that could bring nearly 400 jobs to the metro area and place the state …

by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine)  Neste Oil has begun using tall oil pitch as a feedstock for renewable diesel production. Neste Oil successfully tested tall oil pitch in commercial refinery operations in March and April …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Neste Oil, which had been criticized for its sourcing of deforestation-based palm oil, has pledged to shift away from palm oil sourced from primary forests, high conservation value and natural …

by Emily Pickrell (FuelFix)  On Jan. 1, Congress made algae-based fuel production eligible for a $1.01-per-gallon cellulosic biofuel production federal tax credit.
Cellulosic biofuels typically are made from woody, non-food material such as grasses or wood …

(Biofuels Center of North Carolina)  The Biofuels Center of North Carolina recently awarded $684,058 for six projects to accelerate the renewable fuels industry in western North Carolina. Awards are made through the 2012-2013 targeted biofuels …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  The International Energy Agency, through its Task 39 group, has published its 207-page report on the “Status of Advanced Biofuels Demonstration Facilities in 2012″.
The report, in its pages, contains detailed …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  A numbers of readers responding to “Biofuels from a raging fireball” (Friday’s Top Story, on research work with the raging fireball, Pyrococchus furiosus, to make biofuels and renewable chemicals from …

by Anna Simet (Biomass Magazine)  There is enough land available to produce more food, more feed and more biofuels, which are not the cause of global malnutrition problems, according to the World Bioenergy Association.
WBA makes …

On July 31–August 1, 2013, US Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office and Advanced Biofuels USA will co-host the sixth annual biomass conference, Biomass 2013: How the Advanced Bioindustry is Reshaping American Energy, at the …

(European Commission Joint Research Centre Institute for Energy and Transport)  In the current European energy policy framework, biogenic CO2 emissions from combustion of forest biomass used for energy and transport purposes are set to zero.
Biomass …

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 …

Dr. Mike Strain (Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry/25 x ’25) … However, many do not realize that Louisiana’s strong agriculture and forestry industries have also primed us to be a national leader in new …

(Science Codex)  Rapidly growing trees like poplars and willows are candidate “biofuel crops” from which it is expected that cellulosic ethanol and higher energy content fuels can be efficiently extracted. Domesticating these as crops requires …

(Ship & Bunker)  A.P. Møller-Maersk (Maersk) says it is working with partners on two projects designed to develop biomass-based marine fuels.
Both projects involve work on an organic polymer called lignin found in plants, which is …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Although no commercial-scale cellulosic biofuels facilities are operating in the United States at present, at least ten projects exceeding 20 million gallons per year are expected to begin operations by …

(Canadian Renewable Fuels Association/Ethanol Producer Magazine)  The Canadian Renewable Fuels Association has announced a new committee and classification of membership to advance next generation biofuels in Canada. The new committee and its members represent leaders …

by Katie Feherenbacher  (Gigaom)  Companies that are still looking to produce biofuels from plant waste (and not corn) are making slow, but steady progress on milestones in 2013.
On Monday, KiOR, which was largely funded by …

(Southern Research Institute)  Research could encourage blending of bio-oils into refinery streams for producing renewable diesel and gasoline
Durham, North Carolina — Southern Research Institute today announced it has entered into a cooperative agreement with the …

(Institute for European Environmental Policy)  This report focuses on the potential sustainability of an advanced biofuel industry relying on mainly wastes and residues as the feedstock base. Presented as a series of ‘factsheets’ we consider …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Texas, KiOR announced the initial shipments of cellulosic diesel from its first commercial-scale facility in Columbus, Mississippi.
KiOR’s facility uses pine wood chips previously feeding a shut down paper mill …

(National Academies of Science)  A new National Research Council report finds that by the year 2050, the U.S. may be able to reduce petroleum consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent for light-duty vehicles — cars …

(Domtar)  Plymouth Mill to produce bio-material with wide range of industrial applications as petro-chemical alternative – the first of its kind in over quarter century
Domtar Corporation (NYSE: UFS) (TSX: UFS) today announced that it has successfully …

(SEKAB/Davy Process Technology)  Davy Process Technology Limited (Davy), a Johnson Matthey company, andSEKAB, a leading player in the field of the ethanol based chemicals and biofuels, today announced at World Biofuels Markets that they are …

(PR NewsWire/ZeaChem)  Facility will prove biorefining process for commercial-scale production
ZeaChem Inc., developer of highly-efficient biorefineries, today announced that it has produced commercial-grade cellulosic chemicals and ethanol at its 250,000 gallons per year (GPY) biorefinery in Boardman, …

by Pedram Fatehi (Biotechnology Progress)  In this review, the recent advancements and technical challenges associated with the production of ethanol, butanol, and isobutanol via bioconversion routes from celluloses of woody materials are reviewed. Physicochemical processes, e.g. …

by Stuart Radnedge  (GasWorld)  Air Liquide, in a joint project with the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT) in Germany, has successfully completed the second stage of a second generation biofuels pilot unit at Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe.
This pilot …

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 …

by Adam Armour (Itawamba County Times)  Work on the proposed Fulton ethanol plant has come to a standstill. But does that mean the project’s been canceled?
… After the project’s announcement in 2009, two years of …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Louisiana — hot as cayenne pepper in biofuels capacity development, but some cautionary tales there in the sauce.
When it comes to the first generation of ethanol and biodiesel-based biofuels, Louisiana …

(PR Web)  RSB now recognizes FSC which certifies responsibly managed forests.
The Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB) is pleased to announce its decision to recognize the standard of the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) which certifies responsibly …

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 Energy, …

by Bill Scanlon (National Renewable Energy Laboratory/Renewable Energy World)  A screening tool from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) eases and greatly quickens one of the thorniest tasks in the biofuels …

by Nina Chestney (Reuters)  * U.S. cellulosic biofuel goals not reached
* Beta sees industry stepping up output by 2015
* New players could emerge from eastern Europe
Biofuels made from wood waste and sugarcane have languished well …

by Jeff Matthews (The Town Talk)  Sundrop Fuels Inc. closed on the purchase of more than 1,213 acres of land in the Rapides Station area Thursday where the biofuels company plans to locate its plant …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Algae, drop-in fuels get a kick-start from $3.2 billion ARENA funds
In Australia, two key projects focused on algae biofuels and drop-in fuels from wood biomass and residues took major steps …

(American Chemical Society)   Amid efforts to expand production of biofuels, scientists are reporting new estimates that downgrade the amount of additional land available for growing fuel crops by almost 80 percent. Their report appears …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  … In the world of biofuels there is no sector as active as military and aviation biofuels in terms of willing customers. At the Low Carbon Fuel Conference, held over …

by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  A 32-page report by Lux Research picks winners and losers in 2012 among alternative fuel developers. The state of the market report, which is provided only to clients, also …

(Environmental Protection Agency)   The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to identify additional fuel pathways that the Agency has determined meet the lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction requirements for biomass-based diesel, …

by Peter Hannam  (Sidney Morning Herald)  Lufthansa probably thought it was on a public relations winner when it began operating flights using a mix of biofuel and regular jet fuel between Frankfurt and Hamburg in 2011.
However, …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  What is fibre fuel, how does it displace petroleum via supercritical technology, and what does the plant look like?
… For those less familiar with New Zealand’s energy brands, Z Energy …

by Col. Bill Holmberg (ret.)  (American Council On Renewable Energy)   “Up with octane, down with aromatics, and embrace the needs of people and nature,” says ACORE’s legendary biomass guru. But less freak-out, more reach-out is …

by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Lignol Innovations Ltd. has landed a commercial supply agreement with a European producer of sustainable thermoplastics. The subsidiary of Lignol Energy Corp. has delivered samples of its trademarked …

by Steve Raabe (Denver Post)  A Colorado ethanol producer is set to employ a landmark technology that could help resolve the food vs. fuel controversy swirling around corn-based ethanol.
Front Range Energy in Windsor successfully has …

by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Just months after shipping a load of bagasse-based cellulosic ethanol to Brazil, Western Biomass Energy LLC filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on Oct. 31. Peter Gross, CEO of Blue …

by Mona-Maria Brinker & Roger Coombs (Waste Management World)  Rising prices, continued conflict in producing regions and the spectre of peak oil have highlighted uncertainties about the future of fossil transport fuels in Europe. Mona-Maria Brinker …

by Ben Messenger  (Waste Management World)   Advanced biofuels produced from waste feedstocks are a key component of EU climate and energy ambitions, and offer a huge opportunity to drive economic growth in Europe, according to the European Biofuels …

by Jeremy Martin and Jim Collins (Politico) The fuels of the future are here today, and we can thank Congress for enacting the Renewable Fuel Standard. This bedrock policy has brought us to the point where …

by Tracy Dang (ICIS.com)   Exploring a future in advanced biofuels can be one way the US ethanol industry address the “food vs. fuel” debate, a consultant said on Thursday.
“Even though it is a misconception that first-generation …

by Aino Siirala (Advanced Biofuels USA)  Aalto University School of Chemical Technology, Finland,  organized a biofuel seminar February 2,2013, where Finland’s leading companies in this field introduced their expertise and recent projects.
The EU has set …

(St1)  Bioethanol transport fuels produces energy company St1 is planning to Kajaani new production plant, which produces ethanol sawmill by-product of the waste sawdust. Plant in the environmental licensing process takes approximately 9 – 12 …

by James Hataway (University of Georgia)  When Li Tan approached his colleagues at the University of Georgia with some unusual data he had collected, they initially seemed convinced that his experiment had become contaminated; what …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  You’ve heard about the crack spread, and the crush spread — as means to value oil refining and crop refining.  Let’s think about biomass densification and compression, and in that …

(Arcadia Biosciences)  New Tree Crops To Increase Productivity While Preserving Natural Resources and Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Arcadia Biosciences, Inc., an agricultural technology company focused on developing technologies and products that benefit the environment and human …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Changes in EU policy and the financing of advanced biofuels have led to a revival of project formation in Europe.
The latest news from Finland is that St1 is proceeding towards …

by Andrew Herndon (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)  Iogen Corp., a closely held biotechnology company, is focusing on producing ethanol from sugar cane waste in Brazil after selling its industrial enzyme business to Novozymes A/S (NZYMB), according to …

(Nanowerk.com)  A collaborative study by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), a bioenergy research center led by Berkeley Lab, and the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has shown that an ionic liquid …

(Algae Industry Magazine)  The Swedish governmental agency for innovation systems, Vinnova, has decided to invest four million Swedish kronor ($623,000 USD) over three years in a project that uses micro-algae to produce bio-oil from the …

(ABC News)  Tasmania could become home to Australia’s first commercial plant converting trees into the biofuel, ethanol.
Timber communities in Dorset and the Huon Valley are in formal talks with the developers of technology that allows …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …In Maryland, The Wildlife Society released a Technical Review, “Effects of Bioenergy Production on Wildlife and Wildlife Habitat,” to provide answers to questions on bioenergy development and wildlife so that …

(Science Daily)  The mainly EU-funded DISCO project coordinated by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed powerful enzymes, which accelerate plant biomass conversion into sugars and further into products such as bioethanol. The project’s …

(University of Massachusetts-Amherst NewsWise)  Paul J. Dauenhauer, a chemical engineer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has received a five-year, $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation’s CAREER program to conduct basic research on the …

by Carrie Napoleon (Chicago SunTimes/Post-Tribune)  Until the first commercial trash-to-ethanol plant in Vero Beach, Fla., is up and running, plans by a local construction consortium to take over a similar project here are in a …

(Phys.Org)  Tree seeds, rather than biomass or fuel crop plants, could represent an abundant source of renewable energy, according to research published in the International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management. The study suggests that …

by Mark Schulman  (BlueRidgeNow.com)   The Biofuels Center of North Carolina awarded $766,256 to 14 entities led by AdvantageWest Economic Development Group to advance biofuels in the region and create jobs, support sustainability, agribusiness, diverse education …

(Bioenergy News)  Finland-based bio and forestry business UPM has picked up multi-million investment to aid the construction of a biorefinery in France.  The European Commission has awarded a grant of €170 million ($222 million) as …

(US Department of Agriculture)  Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visited a state-of-the-art bioindustrial facility at Renmatix today, where he announced $25 million to fund research and development of next-generation renewable energy and high-value biobased products from …

(Renmatix/Sacramento Bee)  Building on success in hardwood, Philadelphia-based Renmatix adds on-site capability to convert multiple local and international feedstocks to cellulosic sugar
Renmatix, the leading manufacturer of cellulosic sugars for biobased chemical and fuel markets, welcomed …

by Alister Doyle (Reuters)  Green schemes to fight climate change by producing more bio-fuels could actually worsen a little-known type of air pollution and cause almost 1,400 premature deaths a year in Europe by 2020, a …