In France, Reuters reports that Total’s CEO has confirmed production at the La Mede biorefinery will start up in two weeks and will use palm oil as feedstock despite protests from environmental activists and domestic farmers alike. The company plans to use loopholes in European law allowing the use of palm oil produced by smallholder […]
In Maine, local press reports that the first truckloads of MSW began arriving last week at the long-delayed Fiberight facility as it starts to ramp up processing that will eventually lead to biofuel production. About a dozen of the 115 communities making up the Municipal Review Committee who has the feedstock supply deal with Fiberight […]
In Wisconsin, Hydrite Chemical Co announced the launch of its new Hydri-Maize™ catalyzed bisulfite product line for scrubber applications. Hydrite is proud to introduce an innovative formulation that will decrease plant emissions, decrease energy costs and freshwater consumption, and debottleneck operations for the fuel ethanol industry. All Hydri-Maize™ catalyzed bisulfite products are made in the […]
In Minnesota, funding for a soybean crush and biodiesel facility in Crookston is no longer a pipe dream for Minnesota agriculture. Last week, the Minnesota Legislature approved $5 million in funding for the Soy Innovation Campus at the University of Minnesota Crookston. The funding will go into effect in the second half of the biennium budget […]
In India, Bloomberg reports that ethanol distilleries made up between 7% and 17% of revenues for the country’s top three sugar producers in 2017/18, but more importantly accounted for half of the pre-EBITDA profit, making ethanol in many ways a savior for these company’s bottom lines during several hears of low margins and low sugar […]
In Kenya, KOKO Networks has rolled out a whopping 700 “ATMs” across Nairobi dispensing ethanol for clean cooking. In conjunction with the increased availability of the fuel, the company also released its double burning cookstove. The Kenyan government is seeking to transition the country to 100% clean cooking fuel, away from the kerosene and charcoal […]
In Massachusetts, a team of researchers from UMass Lowell, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and China Agricultural University in Beijing has developed a new, sustainable way of converting wet biological waste into diesel-compatible fuel, using heat and water. The process, called hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL), converts wet, solid biowaste – such as animal manure from […]
In Malaysia, the Borneo Post newspaper reports that the Polish Ambassador to Malaysia says his country opposes the European Union’s plan to ban the use of palm oil as biofuel feedstock and as such doesn’t intend to reduce its imports, even though it is one of the EU’s largest rapeseed producers. He said that the […]
History shows that where ethics and economics come in conflict, victory is always with economics. Vested interests have never been known to have willingly divested themselves unless there was sufficient force to compel them. B. R. Ambedkar Scarcity is the basic human problem — we have limited resources to expend on the unlimited desires of […]
Earlier this month, Renewable Energy Group released its 2019 Q1 earnings and held its quarterly earnings conference call with analysts and media. The complete webcast of the event is available at regi.com. Participating in the call for REG were CEO Cynthia J. Warner, CFO Chad Stone, and Treasurer Todd Robinson. — and this includes a lively and […]
