In North Carolina, the 25 or so acres of sunflowers planted by Catawba County at the Eco-Complex for biodiesel production that would have fueled county vehicles succumbed to too many weeds, which rendered the first crop of sunflowers useless. Since grass was grown on the plot before planting the sunflowers, the herbicides used pre-planting weren’t […]
In Romania, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved a €30 million (US$42.1 million) syndicated financing package to Expur S.A., a local oilseed processing company, in order to support the diversification of Romanian agribusiness. Expur crushes rapeseed and sunflower seed, produces crude rapeseed oil, refined edible sunflower oil, as well as rapeseed […]
In Pennsylvania, Pittsburg-based GTECH is partnering with the local community to grow sunflowers on vacant land for biodiesel production as part of an ongoing vacant land redevelopment project. It has also developed the ReFuel Pgh project which aims to collect waste cooking oil from restaurants and churches and other entities and then sells the oil […]
In Pennsylvania, Messiah College is showing its commitment to renewable energy and sustainability by launching “The Sunflower Power project.” On five acres, the school is growing sunflower plants and plans to harvest up to 500 gallons of oil to use for cooking in the campus dining hall. The used cooking oil will then be used […]
In Hawaii, Pacific Biodiesel has planted safflower, sunflower and camelina to determine which plant would best replace the military’s oil dependence. The planting took place on Oahu, and was funded by a $2.4 million grant. The first harvest is expected in three months.
In North Carolina, the Catawba County Board of Commissioners approved the use of $775,786 to build a canola and sunflower processing facility at the county’s EcoComplex Biodiesel Research Facility. The resulting fuel will be used on-site at the facility.
In Switzerland, specialty chemicals maker Givaudan has introduced RetiLife™, the first 100% naturally sourced retinol for use in anti-aging cosmetic products. The retinol is produced via fermentation using microorganisms and plant-based sugars as feedstock. It is then combined with sunflower oil, which acts as a protective natural antioxidant. “Retinol is widely used in skincare applications […]
By Gerard J. Ostheimer, PhD and Douglas L. Faulkner “The Cleantech Conservative” Special to The Digest GOOD NEWS Steady growth of the African bioeconomy is a “good news” story hiding in plain sight. Recent commercial successes combined with ambitious investments are helping to bring a vision for Africa’s bioeconomy into focus: Growth of the African […]
In the Ukraine, GrainTrade reports soybean oil prices fell by nearly 17% on the week on the Chicago Board of Trade as a result of the Environmental Protection Agency only raising biodiesel blending by 1% over the next three years, together with the EPA also approving canola as an approved biodiesel feedstock. Prices are now […]
In the UK, in September 2022, the Mintec Category Index for EU vegetable oils declined for the fourth consecutive month, down by 3.7% month-on-month (m-o-m), to EUR 1,161/MT. The decline was primarily attributable to expectations of improvements in the global vegetable oil supply for the 2022 marketing year (MY). The index remained up by 12.4% […]
