In Thailand, the government is changing the fuel tax scheme in order to make B20 cheaper than B7 to promote its consumption. A small tax will be added to B7 while the government will pick up an additional per liter subsidy financed through the Oil Fund. Promoting B20 is meant to help relieve some of […]
In New York state, local residents have come out against a proposal by United Riverhead Terminal to install biodiesel storage tanks that would allow it to blend 5% biodiesel with heating oil as required by state law as of July 1. The facility dates back to the 1950s and is currently zoned residential although it […]
In Washington state, WSU Tri-Cities associate professor Xiao Zhang is targeting the use of lignin — a common material that makes the cell walls of plants rigid — to create affordable biofuels and bioproducts. Interested in the project, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has granted Zhang, an associate professor […]
In India, the Business Standard newspaper reports that Indian Oil plans to invest $132.6 million in second-generation ethanol facility that will use crop waste, likely sugarcane, as feedstock in Uttar Pradesh. The project could end up being a joint venture between the oil company and the state’s sugar mills association. If the ethanol project doesn’t […]
In Washington state, Forest Concepts LLC has been awarded a $1.8 million cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office to address the critical issues of poor flowability, high friction, and highly variable physical properties that have plagued the biomass industry. Biomass materials have a wide range of moisture contents that are […]
In Michigan, a diverse mix of species improves the stability and fuel-oil yield of algal biofuel systems, as well as their resistance to invasion by outsiders, according to the findings of a federally funded outdoor study by University of Michigan researchers. U-M scientists grew various combinations of freshwater algal species in 80 artificial ponds at […]
In Washington, Friday’s planned announcement by the Environmental Protection Agency administrator and the Secretary of Agriculture at a farm in Missouri on Friday that RINs waived would be re-allotted to other refineries will likely be postponed after uproar by the petroleum industry. So now the last minute deal must be rejigged but it won’t likely […]
The company is now safely emerged from its celebrated IPO, and is embarked on the development of the first commercial plant project with its JV partner BASF — so, its been a big period and even more critical thresholds lie ahead for Avantium. Avantium’s YXY technology converts plant-based sugar into chemicals and plastics, including 2,5-furandicarboxylic […]
In Illinois, Archer Daniels Midland Company and DuPont Industrial Biosciences announced a collaboration to develop, produce and market cellulase enzymes for operators of grain-based ethanol plants. Cellulase enzymes assist in hydrolyzing the corn kernel fiber, which consists mostly of cellulose and hemicellulose carbohydrates. Once the fiber is broken down, more sugars can be liberated and […]
In Belgium, European renewable ethanol delivered an average of more than 70% greenhouse-gas savings compared to fossil fuels in 2017, according to new certified data from European ethanol producers. The number represents the latest of a string of annual increases in the climate-change-fighting potential of European ethanol, which has shown improved performance every year since […]
