In Brazil, BP plans to invest billions of dollars in the coming years to become the world’s leading supplier of biofuels. The Company’s ambitious target is focused on increasing its considerable land holdings in Brazil to produce billions of gallons of ethanol from sugar cane. BP plans to increase its investments between US$501.3 million (£324 […]
In California, Siluria has attracted $20 million for a technology platform to convert methane to chemicals, plastics, and fuels. Siluria’s Series B financing was led by the U.K. based Wellcome Trust, joining Siluria’s founding investors Alloy Ventures, ARCH Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Altitude Life Science Ventures, Lux Capital, and Presidio Ventures in […]
In Indonesia, the Center for International Forestry Research recently released a new study showing that biofuel expansion has enormous potential to stimulate rural development in sub-Saharan Africa. The study cautions, however, that ensuring local community benefits and adequate protections for food production and forests will require strategic policy interventions and close collaboration among stakeholders. The […]
In Washington, D.C., U.S. House of Representatives Agriculture Committee Vice Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., is preparing to introduce legislation that would reduce the corn ethanol usage requirements of the Renewable Fuels Standard in times of low U.S. corn supplies. Goodlatte, who represents a leading turkey and poultry-producing district, said all end-users of corn need a […]
The Biofuels Digest Index™ (BDI), a basket of public biofuels stocks, dumped 4.81 percent to 63.91 as Wall Street continued to shed advanced biofuels stocks. For the day, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) lost 2.62 percent to $24.16, while Solazyme (SZYM) plummeted 7.18 percent to $8.92. Among other equities, KiOR (KIOR) plunged 19.43 percent to $16.71. […]
A lesser-known pilot project in Mexico says it can produce biofuels at parity with $33 oil. Can this ultra-low cost project replicate its results at scale. Where is it deploying, and when? Despite all the (laudable) excitement over the race for low-cost cellulosic sugars, industry insiders continue to whisper “syngas” when asked to name a […]
In Florida, Highlands EnviroFuels received its PSD Air Construction Permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, authorizing the construction of a 36 million gallon per year Advanced Biofuel ethanol production plant in Highlands County, Florida. The biorefinery will process both Biofuel Sugar Cane and Sweet Sorghum produced from local growers, and will also cogenerate […]
In Iowa, Iowa State University’s Robert C. Brown and a team of researchers said that pyrolytic molasses, made via fast pyrolysis of feedstocks such as such as corn stalks or wood chips, has the potential to be the cheapest way to produce biofuels or biorenewable chemicals. At tcbiomass2011, the International Conference on Thermochemical Conversion Science […]
In Hawaii, Hawaiian Electric has reached agreement with Phycal for delivery of 100,000 to 150,000 gallons of algae-based biofuel by April 2014, for testing at Kahe Generating Station. The biofuel will be provided at a fixed price not tied to the price of fossil fuels. The contract must be reviewed and approved by the Hawaii […]
In Canada, taxation rules on biofuels in British Columbia are sending locally produced biofuels south of the border to the US where taxation is more favorable while biofuels are being imported to supply current blending mandates. In BC, biodiesel users are charged the same carbon tax rate of 6.39 cents per liter as fossil fuels. […]
