by Dr. James D. Kinder and Timothy Rahmes (The Boeing Company) ... Virgin Atlantic paved the way with its proof of concept flight powered by biofuel in February 2008. Since that time, a broader range of fuels have become available
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Back TO HOMEA Global Overview of Vegetable Oils, with Reference to Biodiesel
IEA Bioenergy Task 40 commissioned a study on a global overview of bio-oils (vegetable and palm oil) to: i) assess major producers and consumers of vegetables oils, ii) main emerging markets, iii) analyze main policy drivers, iv) assess future trends
June 30, 2009 Read Full Article
American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 Passes House
By a margin of 219 to 212, the American clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 passed the US House of Representatives on Friday evening, June 26. The next stop is the US Senate where, because it is significant legislation, it will likely
June 30, 2009 Read Full Article
Abundant Biofuels Corporation Offers Low-Cost, Long-Term Contracts to Supply Jatropha Oil to U.S. Refiners With Under-Capacity Production Problems
Dr. Charles Fishel, Chairman of Abundant Biofuels Corporation, noted that "There are about 100 biodiesel refineries operating below capacity and another 47 idle refineries in the United States, alone." To help solve this problem, Abundant Biofuels provides standardized long-term contracts
June 30, 2009 Read Full Article
Life Cycle Assessment of Biofuels from Jatropha curcas in West Africa: a Field Study
by Robert Ndong, Mireille Montrejaud-Vignoles, Oliver Saint Girons, Benoit Gabrielle, Roland Pirot, marjorie Domergue and Caroline Sablayrolles (Global Change Biology Bioenergy) In recent years, liquid biofuels for transport have benefited from significant political support due to their potential role in curbing
June 30, 2009 Read Full Article
China Recruits Algae to Combat Climate Change
by Jonathan Watts (The Guardian) Chinese firm behind ambitious plan to breed microalgae in greenhouse with the potential to absorb carbon emissions ...Developed by a groundbreaking Chinese firm, ENN, the greenhouse is a bioreactor that breeds microalgae, one of the fastest
June 30, 2009 Read Full Article
U.S. Pulp-Maker Pioneers New Biofuel
by Jason Szep (Reuters) From the outside, the rustic red-brick mill on a bend in Maine's Penobscot River resembles any other struggling American pulp and paper mill. But along with its usual business of pulp-making, the century-old mill is doing something
June 29, 2009 Read Full Article
The New Roadmap for Measuring & Valuing Carbon in the Agribusiness Sector
by Dawson Williams (Clear Carbon Consulting) Agribusiness is a Significant Source of Carbon Emissions and Potential Reduction Opportunities It is widely acknowledged that production agriculture, such as livestock rearing, crop cultivation, timber production, and ornamental horticulture production, contributes a significant
June 29, 2009 Read Full Article
From Soy to Mulit-Feedstock Biodiesel Plant in Minnesota
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that USDA Rural Development has approved a $25 million loan to enable a Minnesota biodiesel facility to diversify its operations and significantly expand the production of advanced biofuels. "The investment announced today helps fulfill
June 29, 2009 Read Full Article
Amyris Opens Renewable Products Demonstration Facility in Brazil
Amyris Brasil Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento, Ltda., a wholly owned subsidiary of Amyris Biotechnologies, Inc., today announced the opening of the Amyris Renewable Products Demonstration Facility in Campinas. The facility, located in the midst of the sugar cane processing industry, secures
June 29, 2009 Read Full Article
Roadsters Embrace Green Racing
by Doug Dollemore, American Chemical Society Fast and green. That's what it takes to get to the winner's circle in a new type of auto racing. Called green racing, it's a meshing of the fast and furious world of auto racing
June 29, 2009 Read Full Article
House Ag Committee Chair Reaches Climate Change Bill Agreement
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin C. Peterson issued the following statement on an agreement with House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman on the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. "We have reached an agreement that works for
June 24, 2009 Read Full Article
Jatropha Can Raise Rural Incomes--Phillippine Study
by Rudy A. Fernandez, Checkbiotech Rural households can increase their income by growing jatropha. Attesting to this is a study done by the University of the Philippines Los Baños-College of Forestry and Natural Resources (UPLB-CFNR). Conducted by Dr. Nena
June 24, 2009 Read Full Article
A Fair Accounting of Greenhouse Gases For All Potential Transportation Fuels
by Bob Dinneen, Renewable Fuels Association It is troubling--and, at the same time, sadly amusing--that an enterprising reporter at USA Today has done more homework on the possible indirect effects of increased renewable electricity generation than scores of analysts at
June 24, 2009 Read Full Article
Resources Lost if Congress Fails to Broaden Definition of Renewable Biomass
Efforts continue to amend federal policy and widen the availability of renewable biomass resources that would be available from agriculture and forestry to meet the nation’s renewable energy goals. A number of advocacy groups and their allies in Congress are
June 24, 2009 Read Full Article
California’s Looming Showdown over Waste Feedstocks
by Biofuels Digest special correspondent Scott Miller A showdown is looming in the California State Senate this summer over an issue that is at the heart of the nationwide drive to develop and deploy bioenergy conversion technologies. In a state
June 24, 2009 Read Full Article
Biofuels and Greenhouse Gas Emissions on a Collision Course
by Dr. Robert Wisner, Biofuels Economist, Ag Marketing Resource Center, Iowa State University The Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 (1) requires a gradual increase in the volume of various kinds of biofuels to be blended with U.S. motor
June 24, 2009 Read Full Article
Manila OKs Pacific BioFields Holdings to Plant Biofuel Coconut
Pacific Bio-Fields Holdings Plc said it has received approval to use 400,000 hectares of land to plant coconut trees in the Philippines to make alternative auto fuel, which it aims to sell to Japanese users in five years. The company, which
June 24, 2009 Read Full Article
University of Florida IFAS, Buckeye Technologies and Myriant Announce Next Generation Cellulosic Ethanol Research and Demonstration Plant
The University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Buckeye Technologies Inc. and Myriant Technologies LLC (formed by BioEnergy International, LLC) have announced plans for a research and demonstration plant that will explore ways to harness byproducts from some
June 24, 2009 Read Full Article
US Dept. of Energy Requests Information for Algal Biofuels Roadmap
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is issuing this RFI to solicit feedback on the Draft “National Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap” Document. This Draft Roadmap was prepared by a working group commissioned by DOE. Feedback will be incorporated into the
June 23, 2009 Read Full Article
AuStar Reports on Jatropha Growth Management Trials in Indonesia
Jatropha has been labeled the most likely crop for future biofuels. However, it suffers from low seed yield and high plant growth. A comprehensive series of trials has been conducted in Indonesia using AuStar's paclobutrazol to solve these major issues. The
June 23, 2009 Read Full Article
Boeing, UOP Release Biofuels Flight Data
At the Paris Air Show, Boeing and a series of partners involved in four biofuels-based test flights released the data from the tests, and said that with the release they are on a path towards flight certification of biofuels as
June 23, 2009 Read Full Article
GreenGold Ray Energies Aims to More Than Double Its Jatropha Crude Oil Output by 2011
Green Gold Ray Energies, Inc., aims to double its jatropha crude oil output by 2011 through continuous increase yields of jatropha feedstocks, while the company increases its jatropha plantations. The jatropha plantations are expanding from 5,000 hectares to over 30,000
June 23, 2009 Read Full Article
Germany's Chemical Industry Looks at Switching to Biomass
by Jane Burgermeister (Renewable Energy World) Germany's chemical industry -- the world's third biggest -- depends on fossil fuels for its products. But a new research center to be built in Germany's industrial heartland Leuna in Saxony Anhalt may help to
June 23, 2009 Read Full Article
Stinkweed Used as Biodiesel Feedstock in Illinois
Biofuels Manufacturers of Illinois believes that Pennycress (Thlaspi arvense) has the potential to go from “weed to wonder-fuel”. The company is working with farmers, university and government researchers to transform Pennycress into an advanced energy crop grown to produce biodiesel.
June 23, 2009 Read Full Article
Atlantic Biomass Conversions Proposes "Follow-the-Crop" System
Instead of bringing sufficient supplies of biomass to processing facilities, Atlantic Biomass Conversions, Inc., proposes taking decentralized enzymatic conversion units to the crops. Following the model of wheat harvesting combines that follow the harvest season, they will develop a "Follow-the-Crop"
June 23, 2009 Read Full Article
EdeniQ Grows Improved Energy Crops in California’s Central Valley
EdeniQ, a California-based technology company serving the global biofuels industry, announced that it has begun a multi-year, field-to-fuel trial to evaluate low-carbon, non-food energy crops, like switchgrass, in California’s Central Valley. The company’s pilot-scale field trial of switchgrass was planted
June 23, 2009 Read Full Article
Commercialization of Algae Studied
Emerging Markets has released Algae 2020 a 460-page study on algae biofuels markets, strategies and the commercialization outlook. The Algae 2020 study observes algal biomass can produce multiple fuels from a single feedstock, including biodiesel ethanol, biocrude, renewable diesel, renewable
June 23, 2009 Read Full Article
Biofuels Digest Publishes Special Algae Biofuels Report
Biofuels Digest published a special report on algae biofuels and CO2 sources, including an analysis of power plant fuel gas. "In the world of biofuels, algae is under the spotlight" writes Biofuels Digest special correspondent Sam Rushing in a report on
June 23, 2009 Read Full Article
Air Transport Action Group Publishes Beginners Guide to Aviation Biofuels
One of the most exciting developments for aviation is the use of sustainable biofuels to replace the standard kerosene, or Jet-A, fuel that is currently being used. It is clear that our industry’s dependence on fossil fuels is not sustainable,
June 18, 2009 Read Full Article
Prospects for Chilean Coastal Algae as Energy Feedstock under Review
Biofuels Digest summarizes conversations from its LinkedIn Group about development of Chilean coastal algae and biodiesel developments in other South American countries. READ MORE
June 18, 2009 Read Full Article
Sugar Cane and Cassavas Feedstock for Vietnam Bioethanol Plant
An engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract worth around US$ 60 million for building a bio-ethanol plant was signed between the Petrolchemical and Bio Fuel Joint Stock Company (PVB) under the National Oil and Gas Group (Petrovietnam) and a joint
June 18, 2009 Read Full Article
Florida Plans Next-Generation Biofuels Plant
Plans for a new cellulosic ethanol research and demonstration plant to be built by the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences are being revamped for a location closer to Gainesville. IFAS officials announced today that they have modified
June 17, 2009 Read Full Article
Agragen to Increase Oil Content in Camelina
Agragen, a leader in using biotechnology to modify Camelina sativa to increase agronomically desirable traits, announces the acquisition of intellectual property rights that will increase oil content in the second generation oilseed crop. Through an agreement with the University of
June 17, 2009 Read Full Article
Advances in Wheat-Based Biofuel in England
by Nidaa Bakhsh. (Bloomberg) -- Ensus Ltd. is preparing to start production at Britain’s first wheat-based bio-ethanol plant as the country increases requirements for cleaner-burning fuel. “Construction is nearly complete” on the plant at Wilton in Teesside, northeast England, Ensus Chief
June 17, 2009 Read Full Article
Wheat-to-Ethanol Refinery Being Built in North East England
The Ensus Group is building Europe’s largest wheat refinery at Wilton on Teesside in North East England. When completed in 2009, it will use locally grown animal feed wheat to produce over 400 million litres of bioethanol, 350 thousand tones
June 17, 2009 Read Full Article
Sudan Inaugurates Biofuel Plant
Sudan will begin producing ethanol from sugar cane with a target of 200 million litres in two years, President Omar al-Beshir said on Wednesday at the inauguration of a new plant. State company Kenana, which already makes sugar and molasses,
June 17, 2009 Read Full Article
Shell First to Sell Gasoline Blended with Advanced Biofuel
From today, customers at a Shell service station will become the first in the world to fill their tanks with gasoline containing advanced biofuel made from wheat straw. For one month starting June 10, the regular gasoline purchased at a Shell
June 17, 2009 Read Full Article
Cellulosic Ethanol Used at 24 Hours of Le Mans Race
Shell is demonstrating its commitment to fuels innovation and the development of sustainable, low-carbon fuels with the blending of 10% cellulosic ethanol into its Shell V-Power race fuel at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, in France on 13
June 17, 2009 Read Full Article
Finland Tests Biomass Derived Bio-Oil for Heat, Power, Biodiesel
Metso and UPM have developed a new concept for the production of biomass-based bio-oil to replace fossil fuels in heating and power generation. Test production will begin at Metso's test plant in Tampere, Finland, in June 2009. Bio-oil can be manufactured
June 17, 2009 Read Full Article
Study Planned of Brazilian Sugarcane Bagasse as Cellulosic Ethanol Feedstock
by Lisa Gibson, Biomass Magazine. Brazil could produce 4.6 billion to 8.2 billion liters (1.2 billion to 2.2 billion gallons) of biofuel from sugarcane residue by 2020, in addition to that made from sugar itself, according to a recently released
June 17, 2009 Read Full Article
Novozymes' New Product Family Hydrolyzes Cellulosic Feedstock
"Novozymes’ latest products for second-generation ethanol production are much better than anything previously seen on the market,” says Cynthia Bryant, Global Marketing Manager, Biomass industry at Novozymes. “While this in itself is a giant leap forward for the biofuel industry,
June 17, 2009 Read Full Article
Biofuels Digest Provides Overview of EPA ILUC Hearings
In Washington, National Biodiesel Board public affairs heard Manning Feraci said that the EISA Act required the EPA to conduct a lifecycle analysis of biofuels as part of the Renewable Fuel Standard’s implementation, but said that “This does not require
June 17, 2009 Read Full Article
BIO Focuses on Advanced Biofuels Asking EPA to Maintain Flexibility in Life Cycle Analysis for Renewable Fuel Standard
Large uncertainties in calculating international land use change effects and associated greenhouse gas emissions remain in the Environmental Protection Agency's life cycle assessment of biofuels for the Renewable Fuel Standard. The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today asked EPA to maintain
June 17, 2009 Read Full Article
US Department of Commerce Awards First Exclusive Bioreactor Patent to ATI Petroleum
ATI Petroleum, a petroleum exploration management and operations company, announced that the US Department of Commerce awarded the first patent on bioreactor technology to ATI Petroleum. The bioreactor technology was created through a collaborative effort with the US Department of Energy,
June 17, 2009 Read Full Article
Lignol Awarded $3.4 Million in Funding from British Columbia’s Liquid Fuels from Biomass Program
Lignol Energy Corporation a cellulosic ethanol and biorefining company, announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Lignol Innovations Ltd., has been awarded $3.4 million in funding to produce cellulosic ethanol and other biochemical products from under-utilized forest resources, including lodgepole pine killed
June 17, 2009 Read Full Article
Lignol Announces Production of Cellulosic Ethanol from New Biorefinery Pilot Plant
Lignol Energy Corporation, a cellulosic ethanol and biorefining company, announced it has completed the first end-to-end production of cellulosic ethanol from its fully integrated industrial-scale biorefinery pilot plant in Burnaby, British Columbia. This production of cellulosic ethanol from Canadian woodchips followed the
June 17, 2009 Read Full Article
Indonesian Government Not Serious in Developing Biofuels : researcher
The government is not serious in supporting the development of biofuel as an alternative energy source in the country, a biofuel researcher said. "There is no point in developing biofuels such as bioethanol and biodiesel if the effort is not
June 16, 2009 Read Full Article
Minnesota Biodiesel Law Boosts Demand and Irks Indonesia
Minnesota legislation currently requires 5% biodiesel content in all diesel fuel sold in the state, with provisions to increase that total to 20% by 2012. 80 million gallons of biodiesel will be needed by 2012. Since state production is currently
June 16, 2009 Read Full Article
Sneak Peak! Ford's "Bobcat" Dual Fuel Engine
by Mike Levine. A radical twin-fuel engine from Ford, code-named “Bobcat," that variably blends gasoline and ethanol on demand to realize diesel-like performance continues to make steady progress in its development, according to presentations made by the automaker to the
June 16, 2009 Read Full Article
Production Increasing as Columbian Government Mandates E-85 Capability.
USDA's Foreign Agriculture Service has confirmed that the Colombian government has issued a decree that beginning in 2012 all new vehicles must bear E-85 flex-fuel technology. Biofuels blend goals of E-10 and B-5 are expected to be reached by 2010
June 16, 2009 Read Full Article
Solarix Launches Sustainer
by Bas Vlugt. 'The Sustainer is a containerised installation which can be used in rural areas to convert oil-bearing crops and seeds into edible oil and biodiesel. The seeds are stored in an integrated bunker which feeds the oil press.
June 16, 2009 Read Full Article
SG Biofuels Discovers Cold-Tolerant Jatropha; May Open US for More Cultivation
In California, SG Biofuels announced that it has identified multiple strains of cold tolerant Jatropha capable of thriving in climates outside the crop’s traditional subtropical habitat. The strains are included among thousands of variations of Jatropha curcas the firm has
June 16, 2009 Read Full Article
Harkin: Indirect Land Use Won't Stand Up to Scientific Scrutiny
by Dan Looker. Talking to reporters, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) said he doubts that the final rule from the Environmental Protection Agency on a new renewable fuel standard will have the same use of indirect land use that
June 16, 2009 Read Full Article
Spanish Company Touts Process to Turn Urban Waste into Biodiesel
by Ron Kotrba. A group of Spanish developers working under the company name Ecofasa, headed by chief executive officer and inventor Francisco Angulo, has developed a biochemical process to turn urban solid waste into a fatty acid biodiesel feedstock. “It
June 16, 2009 Read Full Article
Pelosi, US House Farm Chief Discuss Climate Bill
Speaker Nancy Pelosi met the House Agriculture Committee chairman Collin Peterson to discuss the climate change bill that he opposes but which is a priority for House Democrats this year. ... Peterson announced opposition to the climate bill a month ago
June 16, 2009 Read Full Article
Renewed World Energies Takes Algae to Another Level of Green
by Susan Wilson. Algae has been cultivated primarily as a source of biofuel, but Renewed World Energies (RWE) is taking it one step further. The company wants to clean up power plant and industrial plant emissions using algae and then
June 16, 2009 Read Full Article
Western Biofuels Introduces New Process
by Susanne Retka Schill. Western Biofuels Inc. released the results of an independent validation test and announced plans to build a 1.4 MMgy demonstration plant for a new biofuel process. Fuel chemist Nicholas Irving, president and founder of Western Biofuels,
June 16, 2009 Read Full Article
European Body Sees Algae Fuel Industry in 10-15 Years
Industrial-scale production of bioenergy from algae, or seaweeds, can be expected in 10 to 15 years, helping Europe to reach its green energy targets, the top official at a newly created bioenergy body said on Wednesday. ... Research into algae-made
June 16, 2009 Read Full Article
“Drama Building for Biofuels in California”: a Biofuels Digest Special Report
Being a standard-bearer requires heroic endeavors, and perhaps inevitably, epic miscalculations as well. This is the situation of the California Air Resources Board (ARB) in its recent announcement of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard for alternative fuels .” For so long the
June 16, 2009 Read Full Article
Gold Star to Cultivate Five Million Acres of Land for Biofuels in Ghana
Gold Star Biofuels a subsidiary of Gold Star Farms Ltd., is cultivating five million acres of land in Ghana to plant jatropha for the production of biofuels for export. According to the firm it has secured commitment from farmers to
June 16, 2009 Read Full Article
Ghana’s Jatropha Conundrum – More Questions than Answers
Ghana is becoming the Jatropha centre in Africa south of the Sahara. The attraction which the country has as a welcoming place for investors interested in the wonder plant, Jatropha which hopefully, would be the world’s answer to alternative energy
June 16, 2009 Read Full Article
Straw-based Ethanol Eyed for Saskatchewan Mill Site
A shuttered pulp mill at Prince Albert, Saskatchewan could be the new site for a facility to make cellulosic ethanol from farmers' cereal straw. Saskatchewan's provincial government on Monday inked a letter of intent with Domtar, owner of the pulp
June 16, 2009 Read Full Article
Prairie Grass Experiment at Fermilab's Campus
As part of an effort to develop a new collection of alternative fuels, ecologist Julie Jastrow and her colleagues from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago planted seven different combinations of native
June 03, 2009 Read Full Article
Biomass 2009 Conference Presentations Available Online
Every spring, the US Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Biomass Program hosts a FREE 2-day conference and expo exploring biomass as an energy source. The Biomass Program works with industry, academia and national laboratory partners
June 03, 2009 Read Full Article
Suggestions to Improve ARPA-E
Robert Kozak, Advanced Biofuels USA board member and president of Atlantic Biomass Conversions, Inc., has written to US Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu with suggestions for improving the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) with particular attention to the procedures
June 03, 2009 Read Full Article
ARPA-E Not Showing Meaningful Flexibility for “Companies Who Do Not Traditionally Work with the Federal Government”
ARPA-E is a new organization within the Department of Energy (DOE), created specifically to foster research and development (R&D) of transformational energy-related technologies. ... ARPA-E was created to fund scientists and technologists taking immature technologies that promise to make a large
June 02, 2009 Read Full Article
Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy Partially Extends Deadline
The deadline for applications submissions for this first solicitation for the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E). ARPA-E has been extended to June 10. However, the deadline to obtain control number required to apply has not been extended. READ
June 02, 2009 Read Full Article
NYT Reports Plant-Derived Fuels Could Be Certified for Fights within a Year, Says Boeing Exec
Katie Howell: Jet fuels derived from algae, camelina and jatropha -- plants that pack an energy punch, are not eaten as food and do not displace food crops -- could be approved and replacing petroleum fuels in commercial flights as
June 02, 2009 Read Full Article
National Algae Association Forms Buying Consortium
The National Algae Association is building a buying consortium to help its members build algae farms and production plants more cost efficiently. NAA staff are meeting with various equipment and service providers to negotiate the best prices and terms for NAA members to help drive down their
June 02, 2009 Read Full Article
UN Event Focuses on Advanced Biofuels Development in Dominican Republic, Way to Fight Poverty
The Public-Private Alliance Foundation (PPAF) held its Third Annual "Partners Against Poverty" event at the UN with 45 high-level participants and observers representing five countries (Brazil, Dominican Republic, USA, Honduras and Haiti) to discuss business innovations in the development and production of
June 01, 2009 Read Full Article
Rye "Grassohol" Project Funded in Wales
SCIENTISTS in Wales are working on a ground-breaking £1m scheme to turn grass into fuel. The Assembly Government- backed “grassohol” project aims to develop a commercially viable way to make ethanol which is used as an alternative to petrol. The
June 01, 2009 Read Full Article
Ohio Awards $5 Million Grant for 3rd Generation Biofuels Technology
Velocys, Inc. (“Velocys”), has been awarded a $5 million commercialisation grant, applicable over a period of two and a half years. The grant will assist in commercialising the Oxford Catalysts Group’s microchannel technology for hydro-processing − an important step in
June 01, 2009 Read Full Article
DTN and The Guardian/Greenpeace Report on Brazil Deforestation
By Kieran Gartlan (DTN): The transformation began last year when a controversial study was published in Science Magazine by environmentalist Tim Searchinger. It introduced the innocuous four-letter acronym ILUC, or Indirect Land Use Change. According to ILUC theory, corn used for
June 01, 2009 Read Full Article
Ardent Energy to Acquire 15,000 Hectares in Ethiopia for Jatropha Biodiesel
Biofuels Digest reports that in Ethiopia, Ardent Energy Group announced an agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MOARD) of Ethiopia to transfer 15,000 hectares, approximately 37,000 acres, to AEG for the purpose of cultivating jatropha and castor.