Author Archive: Meghan Sapp
Zimbabwe study finds jatropha good for local use but not commercial scale
Tweet In Zimbabwe, Environment Africa and WWF did a study on jatropha production at household level and found that it was economically viable even if yields were as low as .5kg per hectare when jatropha cake along with other byproducts and household lighting were the aim. When the model was to sell the seeds to [...]
Central American ethanol headed to Europe to fill US supply gap
Tweet In Costa Rica, Platts is reporting that a tanker with 10,000 metric tons of Central American origin ethanol is headed for Europe. Peru, Guatemala and Costa Rica have duty-free access to the European market. Ethanol’s FOB spot price into Rotterdam on Friday was $883.51. Since the EU lobbed import duties on US ethanol, demand [...]
JBEI researchers develop new enzyme-less process for cellulosic ethanol
Tweet In California, Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have developed a new technique for pre-treating cellulosic biomass with ionic liquids – salts that are liquids rather than crystals at room temperature. This new technique requires none of the expensive enzymes used in previous ionic liquid pretreatments, and makes [...]
Rusting ethanol plant all that remains of Nepal’s E10 dreams
Tweet In Nepal, despite the government imposing an E10 blend for all public transport vehicles as of January 2004, the policy remains unimplemented and the country’s sole ethanol plant—built in 2004 at Shree Ram Sugar Mills at Gadura—has never come online other than for trial runs when it was first constructed. The country imports 150,000 [...]
RINs may lower biojet costs but may not be more competitive
Tweet In Washington, Airlines for America told Platts that it expects the EPA’s recent decision to allow aviation biofuels to qualify for RIN production will go a long way towards helping the fuel reach price parity with traditional jet fuel. Even though renewable jet fuel can produce RINs, jet fuel itself is still exempt from [...]
City worries over increased risk if Norfolk Southern boosts ethanol loading
Tweet In Virginia, Norfolk Southern wants to increase the number of railcars carrying ethanol it can unload at its transloading facility in Alexandria to 30 cars per day from the current 14, but city officials are concerned about increased risk for the community. The existing operation is exempt from air quality control regulations but boosting [...]
Nat gas suppliers suing mothballed Minnesota Energy for unpaid bills
Tweet In Nebraska, Omaha-based Northern Natural is suing Minnesota Energy for $475,000 plus interest and fees in US District Court, saying the company hasn’t paid its bills since it idled its ethanol production. Minnesota Energy’s parent company, BioFuel Energy, said in its 2012 annual report to the SEC that it was in default on $8.2 [...]
Two-thirds of 2012/13 biofuel used in the UK sourced sustainably
Tweet In the UK, 66% of the 965 million liters of biofuels supplied to the local market between 15 April 2012 and 14 January 2013 were sourced from sustainable sources, while just 18% were sourced from domestic feedstocks. The biofuels, on average, reduced GHG emissions by 66%. About 55% of the fuels supplied were ethanol, [...]
BNDES approves $150 million for GranBio’s cellulosic ethanol plant
Tweet In Brazil, BNDES has approved a $150 million loan in addition to its funding scheme for GranBio’s second-generation ethanol plant in São Miguel dos Campos in the northeastern state of Alagoas. The bank’s investment arm is buying a 15% equity stake in the company for about $300 million, which was announced in December. This [...]
UK biofuel power plant gets planning permission despite protests
Tweet In the UK, despite some local protestors, the Adur District Council granted planning permission to Edgeley Green Power for its proposed biofuel power plant that will use animal fats and waste oils as feedstock. The permission was granted based on not using oils fit for human consumption, the development of an apprenticeship program and [...]
