by David Glass (D Glass Associates)  One of the morning sessions at the Tenth Annual BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology put four of the companies in the forefront of commercial development of cellulosic ethanol …

A ONE HOUR FREE WEBINAR LOOKING AT CHP VS. ADVANCED BIOFUELS IN BRAZIL 
Brazil is the long time power house of feedstock production and investment opportunities serving the biofuels markets both at home and internationally. However, …

(U.S. Grains Council/Ethanol Producer Magazine)  The U.S. Grains Council, along with the National Corn Growers Association, MAIZAR, representing Argentina producers and the maize supply chain and ABRAMILHO (Brazilian Association of Corn Producers) have signed a …

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 …

The Conference that brings together giants of the industry, authorities and renowned experts is a networking opportunity in one of the largest executive centers of the South Hemisphere – over 700 corporate leaders from more …

It is with great satisfaction we welcome you to the 2nd Sugar & Ethanol Summit – Brazil Day, organized jointly by DATAGRO, and the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
For the second consecutive year the event brings …

by Joanne Ivancic (Advanced Biofuels USA)  What used to be known as “The New York Sugar Conference” has become “The ISO and Datagro Sugar & Ethanol Conference” with a record-setting number of attendees (350 from …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  … In an exclusive Digest interview, Shell’s VP for Alternative Energy, Matthew Tipper, reveals the company’s thinking about RFS2, their increasing re-focus on North America and the EU.   Plus, Shell’s ambition …

by Erin Voegele (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  The University of California-Davis Institute of Transportation Studies has published a new status review of the state’s low carbon fuel standard (LCFS). The review is the second in a …

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 Darren Goode (Politico)  An effort by ethanol backers to get the Environmental Protection Agency to scale back the amount of advanced biofuels required in the U.S. gasoline supply this year has opened a rift …

by Alonso Soto and Reese Ewing (Reuters)  * Brazil cuts PIS/Cofins tax, extends credit for ethanol
* Ethanol industry says measures do not go far enough
* Measures will help industry’s margins, competitiveness
Brazil’s government threw its sugar-ethanol …

by Erin Voegele (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  …According to information released by Ceres, commercial harvests of its newest sweet sorghum hybrids have started in Brazil, with the majority of hectares expected to be harvested within the …

(TMO Renewables/Ethanol Producer Magazine)   TMO Renewables, the leading British developer of second generation biofuels technology,  and Usina Santa Maria Ltda have entered into an agreement to form a joint venture to build the first commercial …

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 …

(Cobalt/PRNewswire)  Strategic Partnership Opens Pathway to $40 Billion Butadiene Market
Cobalt Technologies, a leading developer of next generation bio-based chemicals, today announced a strategic relationship with two prominent Asian chemical companies for the development of a …

(Reuters/NexSteppe)  Malibu and Palo Alto Sorghum Hybrids Provide Scalable, Reliable, and Sustainable Feedstock Options for the Biobased Industries
NexSteppe, a company dedicated to pioneering the next generation of sustainable feedstock solutions for the biobased industries, today announced the …

by Scott Irwin and Darrel Good (FarmDocDaily)  …Here, we present a proposal for implementing the RFS2 through 2015 that recognizes the constraints implied by the E10 blend wall and will avert the impact of the …

(EnvironmentalResearchWeb.org)  Scientists in Brazil have found that nitrous-oxide emissions from sugarcane fields vary depending on the nitrogen source employed as a fertilizer. Ammonium nitrate results in higher nitrous-oxide emissions than urea, they discovered. With around …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Despite the sluggish economic recovery and questions over policy stability — biofuels ventures have been busy raising lots of capital.   In the past 6 months, $434 million.   Who got what, …

by Stephan Nielsen (Bloomberg)  Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4), the state- run oil company, is boosting money-losing gasoline imports at its fastest pace ever, holding down prices for alternative fuels and hindering investments in ethanol.
…President Dilma …

by Stephan Nielsen  (Bloomberg)  China National Heavy Machinery Corp., the Beijing-based developer of industrial facilities and warehouses, is asking Brazilian farmers to invest 40 million reais ($20 million) in a corn-ethanol plant that will help …

by  Louise Downing (Bloomberg)  SG Biofuels Inc., the green fuel biotech company working with Airbus SAS, is seeking a partner in Southeast Asia or Africa and expects to complete a cooperation deal within 180 days to expand its …

(The Fish Site)  Two plants have opened in Jaguaribara and Morada Nova to reduce tilapia waste by converting it into biodiesel.
…Mr Joacir Moreira said that the plants have been set up in order to prevent …

by John Davis (DomesticFuel.com)  …And some, such as the folks at Algae.Tec, are looking to green shipping containers to grow a literal green feedstock.
“What we wanted was a significant bulk outcome, in other words fuels and …

(EurActiv)  Several European ministers are blocking the EU’s proposal to curb the use of conventional biofuels, while some dispute claims the demand for crop-based oils drives deforestation and food insecurity in other parts of the …

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 …

by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  …“Ethanol’s value proposition, as a very cost-effective molecule in the motor gasoline pool, has proven itself over time, and we’re very confident of that in the future,” says …

(SG Biofuels/Biodiesel Magazine)  …Through the use of new genetic technologies, SGB’s scientists have revealed that the company’s germplasm collection can be divided into a number of distinct heterotic clades, or genetically related groupings of plants. In …

by David Glass (DGlassAssociates.com)  … The use of genetically modified microorganisms (GMOs) in manufacturing will likely face a fairly straightforward regulatory process in most countries, because such “contained” uses will generally pose far fewer hypothetical …

(FIS)  In late March, the opening of two biofuel tilapia- based plants in the towns Jaguaribara and Morada Nova, in Vale do Jaguaribe, was announced by Joacir Moreira, one of the coordinators of the project …

(ETH Bioenergy/Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Brazil-based ETH Bioenergy, a company of the Odebrecht Group, which operates in the production of ethanol, sugar and electricity from biomass of cane sugar, and Inbicon, a Danish company owned by …

by Stephan Nielsen  (Bloomberg)  Raizen Energia SA, a Brazilian joint venture of Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) and Cosan SA Industria & Commercio (CSAN3), will invest 200 million reais ($102 million) in a plant that …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Compared to prior generations, CodeXyme 4 and CodeXyme 4X significantly reduce the cost of cellulosic sugar production for biofuels and bio‐based chemicals.
…Codexis’ latest generation of advanced cellulase enzymes, CodeXyme 4 …

by Skip Derra (Arizona State University)  Conversion of large swaths of Brazilian land for sugar plantations will help the country meet its needs for producing cane-derived ethanol but it also could lead to important regional climate …

(Sustainable Plant)  Renewable chemicals company Amyris, Inc. has joined the Bonsucro sugarcane sustainability standard. Amyris is the first advanced biofuels and chemicals company of its kind to join Bonsucro, paving the way for certification of …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Wondering when affordable algae-based transportation fuels might arrive at your local retail outlet?   Might be sooner than you think. Here’s the lowdown.
…Further, we have to take into account that, …

(PR Web/TimesUnion.com)  Although US soybean farmers have grown in the past five years, the industry will continue to face revenue and profit pressures from international operators, with Brazil expected to overtake the United States as …

(GreenAirOnline)  Once touted as a wonder-crop that would become a staple feedstock for jet biofuels, jatropha suffered a fall from grace as yields failed to live up to overblown claims. However, California-based alternative energy crop …

(Renewable Energy Magazine)  The Bioplanet project, which is part of the Brazil Promotion Plan for the World Cup, anticipates the production of 25 million litres of biodiesel until the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
The Bioplanet project …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  … As we highlighted this week in the Digest, Chromatin and Pacific Ethanol announced that they have entered into a multi-year agreement to produce, deliver and use locally grown sorghum in …

by David R. Baker (San Francisco Chronicle)  The oil industry is mounting a concerted push to roll back biofuel mandates, both in Washington and Sacramento.
At the federal level, oil lobbyists have joined with environmentalists and ranchers — a …

by Michael Wang, Jeongwoo Han, Jennifer B Dunn, Hao Cai and Amgad Elgowainy (US Department of Energy/IOP Science)  corn-based ethanol production occurring mostly in the US and sugarcane-based ethanol production occurring mostly in Brazil. Advances …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In a fiery address at the National Ethanol Conference, RFA chief Bob Dinneen rallies his troops.
…He derided industry opponents as “the angry birds at the National Chicken Council, the mad …

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 …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  It is becoming increasingly evident that, in the near-term, acute demand for aviation biofuel is going, one way or another, to result in heavy demand for jatropha and jatropha oil-based …

by Katie Fehrenbacher (Gigaom)  … One of the companies that’s the farthest along is Solazyme, a South San Francisco-based company that went public in the spring of 2011. Solazyme was one of the first firms to focus …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  One of biofuels’ most-celebrated technologies falters; the struggle to raise capital claims a high-profile victim.
…The company had been known for its awesomely promising technology, leisurely pace towards commercialization compared to …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Though building capacity globally, Solazyme’s operations in Brazil are getting traction fast – and raised $235M last week.   How much oil could be produced in Brazil via sugar-munching microalgae? …

by Bob Dinneen (Ethanol Producer Magazine/Renewable Fuels Association)  …While the U.S. ethanol industry historically only exported a small amount of its product every year, that all changed in 2009 when improving industry economics led to …

by Daniel Coelho Barbosa (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  For many years, the U.S. ethanol industry saw Brazil primarily as a competitor. In 2012, as ethanol trade barriers disappeared and weather forced market adjustments in both countries, …

by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Ethanol might experience strong headwinds in 2013 but four marketers still see good things ahead.
…(Josh) Bailey (vice president of marketing and trading for Eco-Energy Inc.) is also bullish on the …

by Luana Novaes Santos, José Anchieta Gomes Neto, Naise Mary Caldas (Fuel/Science Direct)  A method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of Cu and Pb in ethanol fuel by GF AAS using a transversely heated …

by Stephan Nielsen (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)  Vinema Biorefinarias do Sul Ltda., a Brazilian biofuel company, plans to spend 720 million reais ($354 million) building the nation’s first six ethanol-fuel mills that use grains as raw material.
…The …

(FarmDocDaily)  …The RFS for 2013 is expected to require a minimum blending of 1.28 billion gallons of biodiesel and 2.75 billion gallons of all advanced biofuels. The difference between the minimum biodiesel requirement and the …

by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine)  Following an October partnership between Petrobras Biofuel and the Brazilian Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture to intensify research into producing biodiesel from waste fish oil, Petrobras Biofuel recently participated in the release …

by Vinod Sreeharsha (IEEE Spectrum)  Later this year, northeastern Brazil will host one of the most ambitious biofuel experiments ever. There, in the small town of São Miguel dos ­Campos, surrounded by sprawling sugarcane fields, a commercial-­scale ethanol plant is …

by Fernando Calmon  (Just-Auto)  …BP Biofuels (a subsidiary of the BP oil company) has decided to pour in US$345m at Usina Tropical in Edeia, state of Goiás in the country’s mid-west. The move will create 7,600 …

by Robert Vierhout (ePURE/Ethanol Producer Magazine)   … Hopefully, European regulators will take note of what has happened. If they are intellectually honest, they should acknowledge that if the U.S. biofuel policy has no real …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …But Amyris is still there, and this week achieved what, for many, was the last-chance, must-hit milestone. The company’s purpose-built, 50 million liter industrial fermentation facility in Paraiso, Brazil has …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  A long war of opinion has been waged for years between advanced biofuels’ detractors and supporters.  Mirage or reality? Completion of 6 key projects 2012 decided much of the debate. …

by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Sorghum is poised to come into its own as an alternative to corn. It proved its mettle in the 2012 drought, producing decent dryland yields with very little …

(Algae Industry Magazine)  Researchers from Federal University of Santa Catarina, in Brazil, are investigating how well microalgae can grow using concentrated desalination from inland desalination of brackish water.
Dr. Ernani Sebastião Sant’Anna and research assistant Ângelo …

by Emily Bruns (Ashton Gasette)  In an effort to evolve with the constant changes and challenges within a $50 billion industry, Rochelle’s Illinois River Energy ethanol plant began producing and industrial corn oil on Nov. …

by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com)  … The opinion piece, “How to properly promote biofuels,” was authored by Alkol Bioenergy and focused on a new TV advertising campaign running in Brazil. The campaign was developed for UNICA (Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association) …

(Argus Media/Transpetro) Transpetro, the logistics unit of state-controlled oil company Petrobras, is close to launching operations at its new shipyard in Aracatuba, in Sao Paulo state, which will build barges to carry ethanol along the …

by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Cobalt Technologies is the latest company to announce its second generation technology will be developed in Brazil.  The final piece in the n-butanol technology developer’s financing came with a commitment from …

(Renewable Fuels Association)  The Advanced Ethanol Council this morning released a report giving a snapshot of cellulosic ethanol producers in the U.S. and around the world. A look at facilities owned by companies such as …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …Today, we could use a good five-cent renewable sugar, suitable for microorganisms that, from sucrose, make affordable renewable fuels and chemicals. The technologies of companies like Virent, Solazyme, LS9 and …

by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Ethanol imports from Brazil have surged into the U.S. in recent months, University of Illinois ag economists Scott Irwin and Darrel Good point out, but not because it …

by Claudio Angelo (Nature.com)  …Domestic consumption of liquid ethanol this year has been 26% lower than for the same period in 2008. Forty-one of the country’s roughly 400 sugar-cane ethanol plants have closed over that time. …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Next-gen renewable oils producer achieves first linear scale-up to 500,000 liter fermenters — clears path for large commercial production volumes.
…To date, no next-generation producer had successfully achieved linear scale-up in …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Policy, finance, technology, feedstocks, markets, prices, opposition.  Here’s what’s on your mind, as the critical 2013 deployment year for biofuels looms.
So here are 15 burning questions as suggested by various …

Incresing Agricultural Productivity, Optimising Industrial Efficienacy and Producing Cost Competitive 2G Biofuels and BioChemicals
F.O. Licht’s Sugar and Ethanol Brazil offers vital commercial insights into all aspects of the industry, bringing together experts and senior executives …

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 Stephan Nielsen (Bloomberg)  Centro de Tecnologia Canavieira, the Brazilian sugar-cane research agency, will build an 80 million- real ($38.5 million) plant to demonstrate a method of producing ethanol from crop residues.
The plant, with the …

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, …

(Renewable Fuels Association)  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should immediately initiate a process to update its obsolete lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) analyses of corn and sugarcane ethanol for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2), according to …

by Jennifer Alsever (CNN Money)  …  While most of its rivals raced to commercialize the fuel, San Diego-based SG Biofuels took a different path: It hired plant geneticists. They hunkered down in the laboratory to come up …

On December 5, 2012, from 1:00 p.m.–2:30 p.m. ET, the Biomass Program will host a webinar, “Global Solutions for Global Challenges: International Collaborations to Advance Bioenergy Research.” U.S. national laboratory scientists will discuss collaborations that …

(FuturaGene)  FuturaGene, a world leader in the enhancement of yield and sustainability of woody crops for plantation forestry, biopower and biofuel markets, is pleased to announce the signing of a Cooperation Framework Agreement with EMBRAPA, …

by Marvin G. Perez (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)  …Making crystal sugar from cane was 29 percent more profitable than producing anhydrous ethanol, the type blended into gasoline, and 36 percent more advantageous than hydrous ethanol, used in …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Brazil, India, the US, China and the EU point the way towards a 60 billion gallon biofuels market by 2022 – but can the capacity be built, and can the …

(Macau Hub)  Brazilian oil company Petrobras plans to start producing ethanol in Mozambique in 2014, the chairman of Petrobras Combustíveis, Miguel Macedo said Tuesday in Maputo.
Speaking in Maputo at a conference entitled “Brazil and Africa: …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Ceres and Syngenta sign a major deal to stimulate sweet sorghum adoption. Brazilian producers seek paths for expanding ethanol production.  What are sorghum’s chances of being the darling of the …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Solazyme lands monster capacity expansion agreements with ADM and Bunge – what’s the sector’s hottest company up to now?
… The Bunge agreement will expand joint venture-owned oil production capacity at …

The National Institute of Standards and Technology announced that it has posted presentations from the 4th International Conference on Biofuels Standards:  Current Issues, Future Trends on its web site.  The purpose of the meeting was …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Ensyn – moving rapidly towards scale as a transport fuel technology after decades in smaller, high-value markets.  What does Ensyn’s signature RTP technology, that’s making such a splash, look like?
…Ensyn …

(GazetaWeb.com)  The goal of the research project is to evaluate the performance of engines using the B20.
Petrobras concluded today (09), in Rio de Janeiro, performance testing of vehicles using B20 biodiesel, a fuel that has …

by John Vidal (The Guardian)  Israeli biotech firm says its modified eucalyptus trees can displace the fossil fuel industry
It’s a timber company’s dream but a horrific industrial vision for others: massive plantations of densely planted GM eucalyptus …

by Cliff Meeuwsen (Holland Sentinel)  Ethanol has become a dirty word for some, and I’m not sure why.
How did the cleanest burning, highest quality, cheapest form of liquid renewable fuel ever get to be such …

(Eco-Energy/Ethanol Producer Magazine) Eco-Energy Inc., a leading biofuel marketer and logistics company in North America, and Copersucar S.A., the largest sugar and ethanol trader in Brazil, have announced the internationalization of their ethanol operations with …

(The NonProfit Press)    Broadcasting on 17th November and 18th November 2012, in the seventeenth episode of the Horizons series, presenters Adam Shaw and Saima Mohsin take a closer look at a new generation of …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Brent Crude trades this past week at a transorbital $109 per barrel (West Texas Intermediate at a suborbital, if high, $85).  It puts the conventional wisdom that biofuels are too …

by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) With the announcement of new investment from Bunge Global Innovation LLC, Cobalt Technologies’ n-butanol development is ready for deployment in Brazil.  “We’re in a position now where the demonstration …

by Gerard Wynn (Reuters)  BP’s decision to scrap plans for a U.S. cellulosic ethanol refinery is a setback for second generation biofuels and opens the door to alternatives including Brazilian sugar ethanol, biodiesel and electric …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Jatropha 2.0 crude oil costs drops below Brent crude petroleum price
In California, SG Biofuels announced at Advanced Biofuels Markets that it has expanded its global network of hybrid trial and …

(Petrobras/ Biodiesel Magazine)  Petrobras Biofuel and the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture signed a memorandum of understanding to expand cooperative programs focused on the exploration and production of biodiesel from residual fish oil.
…The initiative is …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Novozymes becomes preferred enzyme supplier for Beta Renewables’ current and future cellulosic biofuel projects; embedded in Proesa production technology.
In Denmark and Italy, Novozymes, the world’s largest producer of industrial enzymes, …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In Florida, BP announced it is canceling plans to build a 36 million gallon commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Highlands County. The company said that it would refocus its US …