(The Guardian/Eco-Business) Malaysia and Indonesia, which together account for about 90% of the world’s palm oil production, have launched a joint PR offensive to defend the industry’s environmental record. ...(M)inisters from the two countries agreed to finalise plans for a European Palm Oil Council
palm oil
Back TO HOMEOpportunities for Australia as Europe Seeks More Biofuel
(ABC Rural) The European Union wants more of its transport fuel to be made from renewable biomass like canola oil. ...EU member states can't supply enough canola or soy oil to meet the demand, so there's an opportunity to increase
May 26, 2011 Read Full Article
Palmex Indonesia 2011 October 12-14 Medan, Indonesia
The 3nd PALMEX Indonesia 2011 (Palm Oil Asia 2011) is the only specialized Palm Oil event in Asia that brings together an international congregation of both upstream and downstream palm oil companies and also its supporting industries gathered in the
May 12, 2011 Read Full Article
Biodiesel 2011: The Real Opportunity
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) An interview with James Garton, president of Mission Biofuels USA subsidiary. We look at the jatropha 1.0 catastrophe, actual biodiesel capacity in the US, palm biodiesel, the RFS, and more. ...The company broke into the US
May 12, 2011 Read Full Article
Biofuels Push Becomes Weapon in Colombia's War on Narco-Traffickers
by Nathanial Gronewold (New York Times/Greenwire) ...Government support for biodiesel has spurred a robust demand for palm oil that has put 50 percent more income into the pocket of farmer Misael Monsalve Moreno. He is almost finished replacing his family's
May 03, 2011 Read Full Article
The Need for Biofuels
(The Star Malaysia) Experts predict the majority of the world’s oil fields will reach maximum petroleum extraction capacity in 2020, a state otherwise known as “peak oil”. After this point, a reduction in pressure causes the rate of production to
April 29, 2011 Read Full Article
EU Not Supporting NGOs Against Palm Oil
by Rupa Damodaran (Business Times) The European Union is not using environmental non-government organisations as a "fifth column" to help it achieve its Renewable Energy Directive (RED) which places palm oil for biofuel at a disadvantage, says Trade Commissioner Karel
March 25, 2011 Read Full Article
Diester Sees No Respite for EU Biodiesel Industry
by Sybille de La Hamaide (Reuters) Overcapacity, squeezed margins and massive imports should continue to hurt Europe's biodiesel industry this year and lead to further consolidation, the chief executive of EU giant Diester Industrie said on Monday. Several biodiesel firms in
March 17, 2011 Read Full Article
Mission NewEnergy Limited Announces Asia’s First Fully Integrated Sustainability & Carbon Certified Palm Biodiesel Supply Chain
(Daily Markets/PRNewswire) Multi-Media Enterprises is reporting that Mission NewEnergy Limited has announced the establishment of Asia’s first fully integrated Sustainability & Carbon Certified palm biodiesel supply chain. The announcement was made in Australia in the following news release: Mission NewEnergy Limited
March 15, 2011 Read Full Article
ADM to Invest in Sustainable Palm Production in Brazil
(ADM) Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) today announced plans to invest in sustainable palm production in Brazil. Spanning five years, the ADM investment will encompass approximately 12,000 hectares of palm production in the state of Pará and include the
February 21, 2011 Read Full Article
Tagging the Most Promising Feedstocks for Biofuels
by Cole Gustafson (Western Farm Press/North Dakota State University Extension Service) A USDA-funded study is developing new pricing and trading standards for cellulosic biomass feedstocks. A first step in the study is to identify the most promising feedstocks and the
February 07, 2011 Read Full Article
Vinod Khosla on Biofuel Feedstocks
by Vinod Khosla (GreenTechMedia) Imagination is in shortest supply when it comes to agronomic econometrics that extrapolate the past instead of inventing a new future. Part II: Feedstock. Feedstock cost, environmental impact and even its politics are critical variables. With each
February 06, 2011 Read Full Article
New Figures: Palm Oil Destroys Malaysia’s Peatswamp Forests Faster than Ever
(Wetlands International) An increasing part of Malaysia’s palm oil is produced at the account of huge areas of tropical peatswamp forests. Especially in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, expansion of oil palm plantations may lead to the complete loss of
February 04, 2011 Read Full Article
Brazilian Miner Vale Expands Its Activities to Produce Biodiesel
(UPI.com) The mining company Vale, the world's largest producer and exporter of iron ore, is intensifying its efforts to produce bio-diesel. It already opened since last year project to produce 160,000 tonnes of this cleaner fuel, from 2014, for personal use
February 03, 2011 Read Full Article
BAAC, Bangchak to Grow Oil Palm Trees
(Bangkok Post) The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) and Bangchak Petroleum Plc have teamed up to grow oil palm for a biodiesel project. The state bank will allow the oil company to lease 1,200 rai of degraded tangerine orchards
January 28, 2011 Read Full Article
Sustainable Palm Oil Output, Use Grow Last Year
(Commodity Online) The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) ended the year 2010 with strong growth in both the production and use of RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil. Compared to 2009, numbers doubled, in many cases even tripled compared to the year
January 28, 2011 Read Full Article
Can We Innovate Our Way Out of the Challenges that Confront Us?
by Joelle Brink (Biofuels Digest-Asia) As New Year celebrations get under way throughout Asia, the year in biofuels is shaping up to be one of uncertainty. Already, notable advances in sustainable palm oil supply, cellulosic ethanol production, and biofuels from
January 28, 2011 Read Full Article
Malaysia's Sime Darby, Japan's Mitsui Engineering Sign Biofuel Deal
(Japan Today) Malaysia’s Sime Darby Plantation is collaborating with Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding Co to construct and operate a bioethanol demonstration plant in Malaysia’s Selangor State. The plant will convert oil empty palm fruit branches, available year-round and in abundant
January 04, 2011 Read Full Article
Wilmar: US, EU Biofuels Laws Favor Domestic Producers
by Nicholas Zeman (Associated Content/Yahoo!) Asia's Largest Ag-Firm Discusses the Global Biodiesel Market ...New Diesel Magazine spoke with an official from Wilmar, on the condition of anonymity, about the implementation of the EU's Renewable Energy Directive and the efforts to ensure
December 30, 2010 Read Full Article
Palm Oil-into-Biodiesel is Heart of Hawaii's Green Energy Future
by Tom Tanton (Hawaiian Star Advertiser) Hawaiian Electric Co. has announced plans to build a facility to convert palm oil into biodiesel. The biodiesel will contribute badly needed and affordable fuel for the utility to provide electricity to Hawaii's people. The
December 27, 2010 Read Full Article
Palm Oil May Gain More Users from EU Biofuel Rules-Neste Oil
by Niki Koswanage (Reuters) Palm oil has production audit in place unlike other vegoils; Green palm oil production capacity growing. European Union rules requiring vegetable-oil based biofuels to come from eco-friendly sources may boost palm oil use in the sector as
December 08, 2010 Read Full Article
Malaysia Has Little Room for Palm Oil Expansion, Minister Says
by Alex Morales (Bloomberg Businessweek) Malaysia’s limited room for expanding palm oil cultivation means that industry growth will have to come from improving productivity, its plantation minister said. About 4.6 million hectares (11.4 million acres) of the southeast Asian nation’s 32 million
November 29, 2010 Read Full Article
VIEWPOINT: HECO Continues to Push Palm Oil Importation Issue
by Rob Parsons and Lance Holter (Sierra Club-Maui/The Maui News) In early 2007, Hawaiian Electric Co. and subsidiary Maui Electric Co. announced plans by BlueEarth Biofuels to construct a mega-sized palm oil refinery on Maui, which would have been the largest in
November 26, 2010 Read Full Article
Thailand to Shift Focus on Jatropha for Biofuel
(Financial Express) Shifting focus to its biodiesel programme, Thailand is planning to open large scale jatropha seed based plants to produce the much needed commodity. Analysts said long-neglected jatropha ready for a starring role and a rival to palm oil as
November 21, 2010 Read Full Article
Singapore Biofuel Plant: Slow Legislation May Impede Biofuel Demand
(Eco-Business.com) Finland’s Neste Oil - which is in the midst of starting up a $1.2 billion renewable diesel plant here - has warned that demand may be crimped by the slower-than-expected progress in biofuel legislation in Europe and the US markets. Giving an
November 10, 2010 Read Full Article
Global Vegetable Oils Market to Reach 169 Million Metric Tons by 2015, According to a New Report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc.
(StreetInsider.com) ...Factors such as economic recovery; increasing investments in biodiesel plants; new food regulations; growing demand for palm oil-derived biodiesel; increasing world population; changing living standards and eating habits in emerging countries; accentuates a robust outlook for oilseeds and vegetable
November 04, 2010 Read Full Article
Free Trade in Asian Palm Biofuels takes Baby Steps Forward, but Maybe It Shouldn’t Have
by Joelle Dent (Biofuels Digest Asia) ...On the one hand, the EU position to allow import of uncertified Malaysian palm biodiesel, but withhold EU subsidies, is not clear or comprehensive enough. On the Asian side, it involves only Malaysia, one
October 28, 2010 Read Full Article
Malaysian Palm Oil Products Not Affected by EU RED
(The Star) The European Union Renewable Energy Directive (EU RED) and its sustainability criteria will not affect Malaysia’s palm oil exports to the EU market for consumer products like food, cosmetics and detergents, according to ambassador and head of the EU
October 28, 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
Deal Reached on Malaysian Ensyn Biofuel Plant
by Bert Hill (Ottawa Citizen) Construction will start this year on a biofuel plant in Malaysia that uses the technology of Ensyn Technologies, an Ottawa company. A Malaysian government agency has announced that the plant will turn palm oil biomass into biofuel
September 28, 2010 Read Full Article
With No New Permits in Indonesia, Sinar Mas to Enter Liberia
(Jakarta Globe/Bloomberg/Reuters/AFP) Singapore palm oil producer Golden Agri-Resources, part of Indonesia’s Sinar Mas Group, said on Friday that its subsidiary Golden VerOleum would form a $1.6 billion partnership with the government of Liberia in a palm oil project. The move comes
September 21, 2010 Read Full Article
Big Oil and Biofuels Clash over UK’s 2020 Biofuels Target
by Joelle Dent (Biofuels Digest Asia) There’s blast furnace heat but little light so far in the debate on the UK biofuels target for 2020. Some advisors have urged that the current target of 10 percent be halved or entirely
September 21, 2010 Read Full Article
African Case Study: Palm Oil and Economic Development in Nigeria and Ghana; Recommendations for the World Bank's 2010 Palm Oil Strategy
by Thompson Ayodele (Initiative for Public Policy Analysis) Forward by Dr. Matthew O. Eshalomi: Growth and prosperity of an economy are central to the longterm reduction in poverty for both economic and environmental sustainability. Palm oil and palm oil manufacturing represents
August 24, 2010 Read Full Article
Malaysia Must Tap Oil Palm Biomass Potential
(The Star) MALAYSIA needs to tap the full potential of oil palm biomass such as empty fruit bunches, palm fibre, palm kernel shells and palm oil mill effluent which can be developed into high-income generating renewable resource products for export, said
August 05, 2010 Read Full Article
The Other Oil Spill: The Campaign Against Palm Oil
(The Economist) Palm oil is a popular, cheap commodity, which green activists are doing their best to turn into a commercial liability. Companies are finding them impossible to ignore. ...The charges against palm oil are serious: environmental groups regard it as
July 08, 2010 Read Full Article
Guidelines To Implement EU's Renewable Energy Drive Adopted
(BERNAMA.com) The European Commission on Thursday (June 10, 2010) adopted guidelines to implement the European Union's Renewable Energy Directive which forms part of its 2008 climate and energy package. "The adopted package gives clear guidance to the Malaysian palm oil producers what
June 17, 2010 Read Full Article
Protectionism as Environmentalism
by Joelle Dent (Biofuels Digest Asia) As if the global trade in biofuels wasn’t already fragmented enough, last week Europe weighed in with draconian legislation that effectively bans Asian producers of biodiesel that use what many experts believe to be
June 17, 2010 Read Full Article
Palm Oil’s Promotion as Diesel Alternative Draws Fire
by Beth Gardiner (New York Times) Ubiquitous in products from cookies to cosmetics, and increasingly in European fuel tanks, too, palm oil is driving the destruction of some of Southeast Asia’s last tracts of untouched rainforest and leading to huge
June 04, 2010 Read Full Article
Mission NewEnergy Commissions Axens Biodiesel Trans-Refinery
(MarketWire) Mission NewEnergy Limited, a vertically integrated biodiesel producer, announced May 28, 2010, that commissioning of its second 250,000 tons-per-annum (approximately 75 million gallons per annum) Axens 2nd Generation biodiesel trans-esterification refinery has been completed. During the performance tests, the plant achieved its nameplate
June 02, 2010 Read Full Article
Economic Researcher: EU Biofuel Policy Not Based on Science
(Environmental Protection) Gernot Pehnelt, Ph.D., director of GlobEcon, released a study that says the Renewable Energy Directive discriminates against foreign biofuels. “European Policies Towards Palm Oil: Sorting Out Some Facts,” demonstrates that the default assumptions embedded in the directive about the
April 20, 2010 Read Full Article
Biofuel ‘Worse than Regular Petrol or Diesel’
(ETA) The environmental impact of clearing forests to make way for biofuel crops is such that using fossil fuel in cars is better for the environment than biofuels made from crops such as palm oil. Under the minimum sustainability standard set
March 02, 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
EU: Rainforests Can Be Converted to Palm Oil Plantations for Biofuel Production
by Rhett A. Butler (Mongabay.com) The European Union may be planning to classify oil palm plantations as forests, raising fears among environmental groups of expanded conversion of tropical rainforests for biofuel production, reports the EUobserver, which cites a leaked document
February 10, 2010 Read Full Article
Valero & Mission NewEnergy Execute US$3.5 billion Biofuels Offtake Agreement
Mission NewEnergy Limited (“Mission”) a biodiesel refiner and one of the world’s largest Jatropha plantation companies by acreage announced that it has entered into a binding five-year biodiesel Supply Agreement with Valero Marketing and Supply Company, a subsidiary of Valero
December 11, 2009 Read Full Article
FINLAND: Biodiesel Breakthrough or Environmental Nightmare?
by Linus Atarah (IPS) As Finnish energy major Neste Oil scales up production of its ‘green’ diesel NExBTL, environmental activists fear that more land will go under palm oil plantations at the expense of Southeast Asia’s threatened rainforests. Palm oil
December 10, 2009 Read Full Article
CPO Biodiesel Production Plan May Lift Regions
(Jakarta Globe) The government is planning to develop regional centers for processing palm oil into biodiesel and other products to boost profit margins and create jobs, a minister said on Wednesday. The government is seeking investment to produce oleochemicals — used
December 04, 2009 Read Full Article
World Growth Launches New Campaign, Releases Report on Palm Oil
World Growth report exposes how attempts by environmental NGOs to restrict production, trade of palm oil (a sustainable oil) would harm successful strategies to end poverty, restrict opportunities for developing countries to reduce emissions. Today (September 29, 2009) at the
October 01, 2009 Read Full Article
Rain Forest for Biodiesel?
by Guido Reinhardt, Nils Rettenmaier, Sven Gärtner, ifeu-Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg GmbH (Chapter 2 and 4) Andreas Pastowski, Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt, Energie GmbH (Chapter 3) (WWF Germany) The study concludes that the use of tropical fallow land for planting oil