by Gary Parsons (Key.aero) Airbus and Brazilian carrier TAM Airlines are trialling a new biofuel that could reduce the carbon footprint by up to 80%, the companies claim. An Airbus A320 has been converted to use a 50% blend of locally-sourced
Brazil
Back TO HOMEButamax Hits Milestones on Path towards Commercial Biobutanol in 2012
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...Previewing the bolt-on biobutanol technology that Butamax is expecting to commercialize with corn as a feedstock by 2012, and sugarcane by 2013-14, Potter confirmed that the company is in discussions for “conversions…that’s with an s”
November 11, 2010 Read Full Article
Brazil Needs $50 Billion To Meet Ethanol Demand By 2015-16
by Tony Danby (NASDAQ) Brazil's ethanol sector needs around $50 billion of new investments by 2015-16 to meet the country's surging demand for the alternative fuel, according to the president of local ethanol giant ETH Bioenergia. Brazil's consumption of ethanol is expected
November 10, 2010 Read Full Article
ADM to Construct Biodiesel Facility in Joaçaba, Brazil
(BusinessWire) Facility will significantly increase company’s biodiesel capacity in Brazil Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) today announced that it will construct a second biodiesel plant in Brazil. The facility, to be built in Joaçaba, Santa Catarina, will be adjacent to existing
November 04, 2010 Read Full Article
Kia Unveils Soul for Brazil that Runs on 100% Ethanol
(USA Today) Kia just introduced its first South Korean model that can run on 100% ethanol -- the Kia Soul Flex. It will never make it to the U.S., but cars capable of running entirely on ethanol are critical in Brazil, where
November 01, 2010 Read Full Article
The Future of Biofuels: The Post-Alcohol World
(The Economist) Biofuels are back. This time they might even work. MAKE something people want to buy at a price they can afford. Hardly a revolutionary business strategy, but one that the American biofuels industry has, to date, eschewed. Now a new
October 29, 2010 Read Full Article
Cane Ethanol Leader Brazil Considers Using Corn
by Peter Murphy (Reuters) Sugar cane ethanol pioneer Brazil, which touts the efficiency and environmental qualities of its biofuel, could soon begin making it from less-efficient corn to soak up excess grains in remote areas. The combined industry and governmental steering committee
October 28, 2010 Read Full Article
Biodiesel Catching on with Brazilian Underclass
(Just Means) The MIT's IDEAS Competition challenges members of the MIT community to come up with good ideas that make a positive change in the world. One of this years' winning teams is doing just that. The Grease Project is
October 25, 2010 Read Full Article
Brazilian Scientists Turning Nation into an Agro-Power
By Juan Forero (The Washington Post) ...Once seen as a wasteland, the Cerrado is now the motor of an agro-industry so potent that Brazil threatens to surpass the United States as breadbasket to the world. The answer to how that
October 19, 2010 Read Full Article
Journal of Peasant Studies Publishes Perspectives on New Agrarian Relations Related to Biofuels
(Journal of Peasant Studies) In this collection we ask a number of questions emerging out of the new agrarian political economy created by the ‘biofuel complex’. Together the papers offer perspectives from political economy, political sociology and political ecology, and
September 28, 2010 Read Full Article
Petrobras Signs $250 Million Contract for 20 Ethanol Barge Trains
(Platts) Brazil's state-led oil company Petrobras said Friday that it chose a Brazilian shipyard to build a reais 432.3 million ($251 million) fleet of 20 river-barge trains to cut the cost of shipping ethanol to refiners and export terminals. The 20 pusher-tugs and
September 14, 2010 Read Full Article
Piper Jaffray Monthly Bio-Industrials Update: Energy Crop &
(Piper Jaffray) ...Energy crops are designed to use marginal land, or in the case of Brazil, extend the growing season. Sugarcane-ethanol facilities in Brazil typically run for 6-8 months due to the relatively long growing season of cane. Energy crops
September 10, 2010 Read Full Article
Mascoma: Inside the SunOpta Acquisition
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In New Hampshire, Mascoma reported yesterday that it had acquired SunOpta BioProcess, a division of SunOpta Inc. (STKL) This combination brings together the fiber preparation and pretreatment technologies of SBI and the consolidated bioprocessing technology
September 02, 2010 Read Full Article
Bunge Invests in Solazyme: Ties between Brazilian Sugarcane, US Advanced Biofuels Deepen
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...“The simplicity is astounding. Here’s the big idea. Take an existing, stranded ethanol factory or conglomerate. Buy it for a substantial discount. Start with cheap sugar. Drop in a new Amyris, LS9, Gevo, or Cobalt
August 26, 2010 Read Full Article
Brazilian Biofuels Run into EU Obstacles
by Yans Felippe Geckler (IPS News) Brazil has begun a counterattack on the European Union's measures for certifying crop-based fuels, which could lead to import barriers for this energy source coming from the South American giant. ...The EU's certification requirements for
August 24, 2010 Read Full Article
Ceres Opens a Subsidiary in Brazil to Develop the Business of Sweet Sorghum
(Ceres) Ceres , Inc., a leader in developing cultivars for bioenergy created a subsidiary in Brazil. The announcement marks an expansion of the subsidiary activities of sweet sorghum in Brazil and the company's goal to be the first supplier to the
August 03, 2010 Read Full Article
Costs and Benefits to Taxpayers, Consumers, and Producers from U.S. Ethanol Policies
by Bruce A. Babcock, Kanlaya J. Barr, Miguel Carriquiry (Center for Agriculture and Rural Development, Iowa State University) The U.S. ethanol industry is lobbying hard for an extension of existing ethanol import tariffs and blenders tax credits before they expire
July 21, 2010 Read Full Article
$540 Million Boosts Brazil’s Ethanol Sector
(Biofuels International) The Brazilian Innovation Agency, FINEP (Research and Projects Financing), and Brazil’s National Development Bank (BNDES) have entered into a new partnership to promote bioethanol development, establishing a programme which will provide up to $540 million (€438.9 million) in
June 04, 2010 Read Full Article
Brazil: The Bossa Nova of Biofuels
by Will Thurmond (Biofuels Digest) Shell, BP, Bunge, LS9, Dow and Amyris are collectively investing more than $20 billion into advanced, sustainable biofuels in Brazil. This new relationship between Brazilian, US and EU public and private industries is kicking off a
June 01, 2010 Read Full Article
Benefits of Sugarcane Ethanol to Hit U.S. Airwaves in New TV Ads during ‘Indy 500’ Telecast on ABC
(SweeterAlternative.com) Sugarcane ethanol is a clean, renewable fuel that reduces greenhouse gas emissions by over 60% compared to gasoline and can save money at the pump. These are just a couple of the points delivered by various race drivers that compete
May 27, 2010 Read Full Article
Visualizing Sustainability: Developing Geospatial Technology to Address Sustainable Biofuel Production: Modeling Land Use and Land Use Change in Brazil
By Leila Harfuch (Brazilian Institute for International Trade Negotiations). In her talk she underlined the modeling land use and land use change in Brazil, stressing out deforestation as a serious issue. Deforestation causes and affects cattle and pasture land expansion. The
April 13, 2010 Read Full Article
Brazilian Sugarcane Ethanol Launches Marketing Blitz in Face of U.S. Tariffs
by Nick Chambers (Gas2.0) Calling themselves the “underdogs,” the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) has today launched an advertising campaign and a new website, sweeteralternative.com, to bring awareness of the successes of the Brazilian ethanol industry to a U.S. audience. The
April 13, 2010 Read Full Article
The Dirty Underside of Lula's Clean Energy Revolution
by Nikolas Kozloff (Foreign Policy) ...Buffeted by the oil price shock of 1973, the country's military dictators grew concerned about Brazil's reliance on foreign imports of fossil fuels. Their solution: Pour government subsidies into the sugar industry and mandate ethanol
April 12, 2010 Read Full Article
Tilapia Entrails Churn Out Biodiesel
(FIS) The Ceara Nucleus Foundation of Industrial Technology (NUTEC) is moving forward with a project that will transform it into a pioneer in the research of biodiesel production from tilapia entrails. For Fernando Pedro Dias, a researcher at NUTEC, the
March 24, 2010 Read Full Article
Brazil’s Petrobras to Double Production at Its Biggest Biodiesel Unit
(MacauHub) Brazilian state oil company Petrobras said Monday it would invest 66 million reals to double production at the country’s biggest biodiesel factory. The investment will make it possible to increase production at the Candeias unit from 108.6 million litres per
March 15, 2010 Read Full Article
Cosan Reviewed
by Brendan Coffey (Cabot Wealth Advisory) Lately, we're seeing increasing strength in the shares of ethanol-related companies. Commodity broker Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) has built up its position as an ethanol refiner, building its own plants and buying up other
February 26, 2010 Read Full Article
Eco-Biofuels from the Tropics
Palm oil from South-East Asia, sugarcane from Brazil and sweet sorghum in China are the most sustainable energy crops at present. Maize from the US and wheat in Europe have a much more negative environmental impact. This conclusion was drawn
February 22, 2010 Read Full Article
Has Big Oil Finally Gotten Serious About Biofuels?
by Joshua Kagan (GreenTechMedia) ...If we consider that the oil majors are not in the oil business, but rather, the infrastructure business --- and as long as they control the liquids that come out of the pumps, they won't care
February 15, 2010 Read Full Article
U.S. Renewable Fuel Standards Upend Ethanol Tariff Fight
by Brian Baskin (SugarcaneBlog.com, Dow Jones) U.S. ethanol producers are facing their toughest fight yet to keep long-standing trade protections intact. Producers of ethanol, which in the U.S. is usually distilled from corn and then blended to make gasoline, have
February 15, 2010 Read Full Article
Shell Bets Billions on Brazilian Ethanol
by Sam Hopkins (Green Chip Stocks) ...Cosan is entering into a joint venture with an oil giant that could be worth $12 billion, and its happy beginning to 2010 signals a renewal of interest in ethanol and entrance of some
February 15, 2010 Read Full Article
Indirect Land-Use Changes Can Overcome Carbon Savings from Biofuels in Brazil
David M. Lapola, Ruediger Schaldach, Joseph Alcamo, Alberte Bondeau, Jennifer Koch, Christina Koelking, and Joerg A. Priess (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) Abstract: The planned expansion of biofuel plantations in Brazil could potentially cause both direct and indirect
February 15, 2010 Read Full Article
US Ethanol Industry Looks To Possible Future As Exporter
by Ian Berry (Dow Jones Newswires) ...Brazil, faced with tightening supplies of its sugarcane-based ethanol as growers there find better profits in sugar, said last month it is considering importing U.S., corn-based ethanol. While there are limits on how much
February 14, 2010 Read Full Article
Iran and Brazil to Join for Ethanol Production
(BlackSeaGrain) According to the Iranian Fars Newsagency, Mr (Deputy Brazilian Science and Technology Minister Czar) Gadella said that Brazil is ready to cooperate with Iran in fields of technology and production to help the country produce ethanol from sugar cane
February 02, 2010 Read Full Article
New Brazilian Laboratory Will Develop Research on Ethanol Cycle
The new research center, Brazilian Bioethanol Science and Technology National Laboratory, in Campinas, São Paulo State represents a strategic move by the Brazilian Government toward strengthening the country’s leadership in sustainable production of ethanol from sugar cane and fostering innovation
February 02, 2010 Read Full Article
Brazil's Petrobras To Study Biofuels Use At Low Temperatures
by Jeff Fick (Dow Jones, Wall Street Journal) Brazilian state-run energy giant Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR), or Petrobras, signed a deal with the country's Navy to test biofuels at extremely low temperatures. Petrobras will invest 3 million Brazilian reals ($1.69 million)
January 22, 2010 Read Full Article
China's Low Tariff Opens Door for Ethanol Imports
(Reuters) China has agreed to lower the tariff on imports of ethanol to 5 percent from the previous 30 percent, which traders said could open the door for imports of fuel ethanol from countries like Brazil. …Brazil, the world's largest ethanol exporter,
January 02, 2010 Read Full Article
GE, Embraer, Others Studying Sugarcane-Based Jet Fuel
Embraer, General Electric, and Amyris announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to evaluate thetechnical and sustainability aspects of Amyris’ No Compromise® renewable jet fuel. The initiative can culminate in a demo flight, by early 2012, of an Embraer E-Jet
December 29, 2009 Read Full Article
Petrobras CEO Highlights Performance in 2009
(Pre-Salt) The president of Petrobras, José Sergio Gabrielli de Azevedo, ... presented an overview of activities in 2009 . ... "Petrobras has expanded production capacity allowed in biodiesel plants and intensified contacts to expand presence in the area of ethanol. We
December 10, 2009 Read Full Article
VIDEO: Brazilian Government Tackling Climate Change in Brazil
The Brazilian National Plan on Climate Change, launched in December 2008, comprises a set of over one hundred actions and programs to reduce carbon emissions across different sectors of the Brazilian economy. The two main tactics emphasized in the plan
December 09, 2009 Read Full Article
Amyris Signs Letters of Intent Agreements with Bunge, Cosan and Guarani
Amyris Brasil, a wholly owned subsidiary of Amyris Biotechnologies, Inc. today announced that it has entered into letter of intent agreements with three sugar and ethanol producers in Brazil, Bunge Limited, Cosan and Açúcar Guarani, with the purpose of partnering
December 09, 2009 Read Full Article
The Movement to Mechanized Sugarcane Harvesting in Brazil
by Joanna Schroeder (AgWired) ... (In Brazil) This year the industry harvested 471.5 million tons, an increase of 7.5 percent from last year, even accounting for excessive rains that left a significant amount of sugarcane in the fields. So how
December 04, 2009 Read Full Article
Jatropha Takes Root in Brazil
by Robert P. Walzer (New York Times) A Brazilian start-up is testing the possibility of implementing a large-scale biofuels project using jatropha, a family of hardy, succulent plants. The company, BioVentures Brasil, is getting $1 million from the InterAmerican Development Bank for
December 04, 2009 Read Full Article
Embraer, GE Plan Biofuel Flight
by Mary Grady (AVWeb) Embraer and General Electric will flight-test a renewable jet fuel by early 2012, the companies said. They plan to use a renewable biofuel made from sugar cane, developed by Amyris Biotechnologies, which is based in California
November 23, 2009 Read Full Article
Indian Sugar Firms Seek Higher Ethanol Prices
(Reuters) Indian sugar firms are seeking a higher price for ethanol to ensure steady supplies to oil firms which blend the liquid with petrol, a senior industry official said. Diminishing cane output and rising sugar prices had raised concerns that
November 22, 2009 Read Full Article
Brazil Raises Cane over U.S. Ethanol Tariff
by Chris Kraul (LA Times) Who could resent the attention being showered on electric cars? Stylish and clean, they're the darling of the renewable-energy crowd, which is hailing the scheduled rollout of several e-powered models next year as a major blow
November 06, 2009 Read Full Article
Brazil's Cosan Sees 2010/11 Cane Crush at 58 mln T
by Inae Riveras (Reuters) ... Brazil's largest sugar and ethanol producing group, said it expects to crush 58 million tonnes of cane in 2010/11 (April-March), up from 54 million tonnes in 2009/10. "We expect to grow at the same rate as
October 27, 2009 Read Full Article
Brazil Drivers Ditch Biofuel Over High Sugar Costs
by Peter Murphy (Reuters) Some Brazilian motorists who fuel their cars solely on cane-based ethanol are switching back to gasoline as high sugar prices now make the biofuel more costly in some states. Brazil is a pioneer in biofuel with its
October 27, 2009 Read Full Article
Cane Ethanol Helps Cut Greenhouse Emissions: Brazilian Study
by Inae Riveras (Reuters) Use of sugar cane-based ethanol as a substitute for gasoline is among the cheapest and easiest ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to a Brazilian study. Cane ethanol provides about eight times the energy used
October 23, 2009 Read Full Article
Brazil Increases Environmental Preservation Measures With Sugarcane Zoning Proposal
In an unprecedented initiative, Brazil proposed a new bill of law that will restrict the lands permissible for sugarcane farming and processing. If passed, the bill sent today to the National Congress by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will
September 18, 2009 Read Full Article
Leading Brazilian Organizations Unite in Alliance to Fight Climate Change
Fourteen major Brazilian organizations representing the agribusiness, planted forests and bioenergy sectors announced today the creation of the Brazilian Climate Alliance, to provide concrete, constructive proposals in global climate change negotiations. The group's main focus is Brazilian government's positioning in
September 03, 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
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
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
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
Industrial Biotechnology in China Amidst Changing Market Conditions
by Elizabeth Nesbitt (Journal of International Commerce and Economics) The increasing use of industrial biotechnology by the Chinese liquid biofuels and chemical industries is expected to help offset energy security and environmental concerns generated by China’s robust economic growth. The expanding use of bioprocesses