The Biofuels Digest Index™ (BDI), a basket of public biofuels stocks, gained 3.08 percent to 70.37 as Gevo and KiOR bounced. For the day, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) gained 3.58 percent to $28.90, while Gevo (GEVO) jumped 13.90 percent to $5.90. Among other equities, KiOR (KIOR) ratcheted up 11.83 percent to 17.49. Overall, declines led […]
In Iowa, people are leaving the farms. According to the 2010 census, two thirds of Iowa’s counties lost population in the last ten year, leading to downsizing of facilities throughout the state. Despite this decline, USDA’s Tom Vilsack looks to biofuels as a solution to this issue, referencing plans to build several major biofuels refineries […]
In Massachusetts, where heating oil prices have peaked at $3.91 per gallon, Empower Energy Coop has been producing cooking-oil based biodiesel to promote a cleaner, similarly priced alternative to heating oil. With heating oils costing more each year, suddenly the $4.00/gallon biodiesel becomes a reasonable alternative. The coop is planning on expanding its small production […]
In New York, the Finger Lakes region is seeking up to $200 million for a waste-to-ethanol plant in Rochester. One of several five-year plans to boost New York’s economy, the plan proposes a $300 million plant, a collaborative generate research project, and a battery fabrication plant all located in Eastman Business Park. The plan intends […]
In Nigeria, Aliko Dangote, the president of Dangote Group, has invested $7.7 billion in Rivers Energy City, home of the budding $2 billion fertilizer and ethanol plant project put on by Indorama Eleme Petrochemical Company. His investment, says a top government source, will span into the methane and ethanol industries and provide thousands of jobs […]
In Pakistan, interest in developing the renewable sector has risen due to the recent energy crisis. During a visit, Brazilian Ambassador Alfredo Leoni indicated that Brazil intends to invest in the ethanol and biofuel sectors to facilitate trade between the two countries. Manure from livestock could be used to generate upwards of 16.3 million cubic […]
In the EU, the devastatingly small rapeseed harvest has plants across the board operating at under half-capacity. The bloc’s harvest fell to 19.4m tons as imports of the oil grew by 36%. Concerns raised in a recent study indicate that imports of the oil from Ukraine, Australia, and Canada “will not fully offset lower EU […]
In Washington, the Sierra Club has been lobbying against Agrisol’s $100 million purchase of 325,000 hectares of land in Tanzania on the basis of human rights violations. The purchase, which opponents claim would displace up to 160,000 refugees from Burundi, will “help stabilize local food supplies, create jobs and economic opportunity for local populations, and […]
In Nebraska, a study conducted by the National Academy of Sciences indicates that the Renewable Fuels Standard may never spark a commercial cellulosic ethanol industry. Regarding the study, Wallace E. Tyner says that “it would take a build rate two to three times corn ethanol to reach the cellulosic ethanol RFS target. It is simply […]
In Washington, the DOD awarded a $500,000 Small Business Innovation Research Phase II grant to Northern Technologies International for the development of biobased and marine biodegradable non-plastic bags. In collaboration, NTIC and MSU developed a modified plant oil based product as a coating material on selected paper substrates. Having successfully demonstrated proof-of-concept in Phase I, […]
