Bioenergy Research Group in €10.84m Project

Aston University Bioenergy Research Group (BERG) is involved in a €10.84 million (US$14.253 million) project to develop a European wide research infrastructure for producing biofuels. BERG has been awarded €510,000 (US$670,584) of research funds, as part of the €10.84m (US$14.253 million) BRISK research project from the European Commission Seventh Framework Program (FP7).



The four-year initiative aims to develop a European research infrastructure capable of delivering marketable biofuel products. This includes production of biofuels by thermochemical processes, including gasification, combustion, pyrolysis and hydrothermal processing. Read more ...

EU policy ultimatley will cost US farmers $1.1 billion

The study, funded by the United Soybean Board (USB), shows the European Union's Renewable Energy Directive, which currently excludes biodiesel made from US soybean oil in renewable energy quotas, could decrease US soybean prices by as much as 35 cents per bushel. If left unresolved, the regulation would cost US soybean farmers more than US$1.1 billion (€837 million) per year.

Soybean fields

The checkoff contends the policy unfairly singles out biodiesel made from US soy. USB Immediate Past Chair Marc Curtis says the checkoff continues to work with the American Soybean Association (ASA) on efforts to gain inclusion for biodiesel made from US soy.

“The EU is the second-largest market for US soybeans, and that market is at risk due to this regulation,” says Curtis, a soybean farmer from Leland, Miss. “We can use this study to show allied organisations and the US government how much of an impact this regulation would have on US soybean farmers. It will also give the US government facts to demonstrate to the European Commission that the regulation needs to be based on sound science.” Read more ...

Exports from the US and Canada of wood pellets at record high

Wood Pellets

Wood pellets exported from Canada and the US to Europe reached a record high in the forth quarter of 2011 due to the increased demand from the United Kingdom. Exports of wood pellets from North America to Europe reached a record of over two million tons in 2011, according to analysis reported in the North American Wood Fiber Review. Canada has long been the main exporter of pellets but in the second half of 2011, the US caught up and exported an equal volume to Canada. Read more ...

Aberystwyth University unveils new research facilities

 

The BEACON biorefining centre at Aberystwyth University’s Institute of Biological Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), has unveiled new research facilities as part of a UK£20 million (US$31.7 million) initiative. The centre is the first of its kind in Wales and houses large-scale equipment capable of taking laboratory research and scaling up to produce commercial products, services and technologies.

The new facilities are already enabling businesses to develop new ways of converting crops such as rye grass, oats and miscanthus (elephant grass) into products including platform chemicals, fuels and cosmetics. Read more ...

Kior a renewable fuels company makes $1 million loss

First commercial scale facility

A US renewable fuels company Kior said it made a net loss of US$64 million (€48 million) in 2011, which was more than the US$46 million (€34.457 million) loss it made the year prior. The company did not make any revenue throughout last year because it was investing in the construction of its first commercial facility in Columbus, Mississippi, as well as into R&D which it hopes will improve the production yields for its biofuels developments. Even though these figures are not positive, the company is looking to finance an expansion and has already hired more staff and increased its testing activities. Read more ...

New planning laws could see a reduction in rural energy bills

New relaxed laws on planning permission for small scale renewable energy systems, could see a reduction in rural energy bills. From April 2012 small-scale energy installations built on agricultural or forestry land will be exempt from planning permission under amendments to the English Town and Country Planning Order. This means that farmers and landowners will no longer need to seek permission to install small scale renewable energy systems such as solar panels on existing buildings or anaerobic digesters on farming or non domestic land.

Ivan Moss, planning policy adviser at The National Farmers Union (NFU) said: "This is very good news for our members. The permitted development rights will enable farmers to install small-scale renewable energy generation without needing to obtain planning permission. It will reduce their energy costs and make their production greener, making it a win-win for everyone." Read more ..

DDGS imports to Japan at record high

DDGS sales to Japan

The ethanol boom in the US has lead to increasing availability of a high value co-product, Distiller's Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS). Since 2007 Japans imports of DDGS has increased remarkably in 2007 they surpassed the 100,000 MT and by 2009 they had reached 275,000MT. In 2010 the demand surged higher as corn prices increased. The majority of DDGS is being used in dairy cattle feed. One of the key reasons to this increased growth is aggressive trade education activities led by the US grain council. Read more ...

Senate energy vote disappoints the National Biodiesel Board

The National Biodiesel Board of the United States has expressed great disappointment over the Senate voting on two amendments that would have extended the tax incentive through the end of the year on biodiesel.

"This is another missed opportunity for Congress to do something to boost the economy. We're talking about thousands of jobs across the country that are affected by this, and the very real possibility that biodiesel plants will go out of business," said Anne Steckel, NBB's vice president of federal affairs. Read more ...

German company Verbio opens a world first

Worlds first industrial straw processing plant

German company Verbio has recently opened the worlds first industrial straw processing plant for the production of biomethane in Zörbig, Saxony-Anhalt. “I’m very proud that we’ve managed to start up the first plant of this type anywhere in the world and that we’re a technological pioneer setting new standards in the biofuels industry,” declared Claus Sauter, CEO of VERBIO. “It means we already have a biofuel production process in place which meets the demands for future fuel production expressed by both politicians and the public: no raw foodstuffs, no displacement of farmland and high CO2 efficiency without charging consumers more.” Read more ...

The 4th annual Sustainable Biofuels Awards

In the Netherlands, the forth annual sustainable biofuels awards which recognise innovation and achievement in the development of truly sustainable and renewable fuels, were presented to winners at a ceremony during the seventh annual World Biofuels Markets last week. “We had thousands of nominations from around the world and across the entire biofuels value chain,” said Claire Poole, Event Director, Green Power Conferences, organiser of the awards and conference. “The winning companies demonstrated a layer of achievement and promise above their peers that bodes well for themselves as well as the industry as a whole.”

This years winners are:

Green Shoots Award - Bio Architecture Lab
Biofuels Leadership Award - Novozymes North America
Sustainable Biofuels Technology Award - LS9
Biofuels Adoption Award - City of Stockholm
Sustainable Bioethanol Award - Abengoa Bioenergy
Sustainable Biodiesel Award - Vale
Sustainable Feedstock Innovation - DuPont Stover Harvest Collection Project
Innovation in Aviation - Boeing
Sustainable Biopower Generation Facility - Envergent Technologies
Leader in Bio-based Chemical Industry - Kiverdi

Read more ...

Gasoline made from Giant Miscanthus at MSU

Cool Planet Biofuels recently announced it has used Freedom giant miscanthus to create gasoline, a breakthrough in the biofuels industry. Mississippi State University researcher Brian Baldwin and his colleagues in the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station spent years developing a variety of giant miscanthus, a perennial grass native to Asia, particularly suited to the Southeastern climate and soils. MSU filed a plant patent application for the resulting variety, named Freedom, in 2010, and licensed it to Georgia-based Repreve Renewables LLC.

"MSU, MAFES and the Extension Service have a long history of bioenergy research. The possibility of gasoline being made from a cultivar developed in Mississippi is very exciting and validates MSU’s research focus," Mr Kasper said. "The primary reason we license our intellectual property is so our industrial partners can take MSU’s research and translate it into greater applications for the public benefit. We want our technology out there, improving the lives of people around the world."  Read more ...

Researchers seek more cost effective and environmental biodiesel

A team of researchers from the Basque Institute for Agricultural Research and Rural Development (Neiker Tecnalia) is conducting studies with microalgae to obtain more cost effectively and environmentally sustainable biodiesel. As part of the study, they will consider all stages of the production process, from cultivation to processing into biodiesel, including the use of biogas, which is obtained from the oil extraction process of residual material, reported Neiker Tecnalia.

Specialists from the National Renewable Energy Centre (CENER), Tecnalia Research & Innovation Foundation, University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU), the Association for Environment and Security in Aquitania (APESA) and Agri-Resources Application and Transformation Centre (CATAR-CRITT) participate in this research, which has the support of Acciona. Read more ...

Portugal Biodiesel Production Remains Steady

There is no production of bioethanol for transport fuel in Portugal. Biodiesel production is steady at approximately 350,000 MT under a quota system. The Portuguese biodiesel industry is favorable to the use of soybean oil and to further soybean imports. Portugal is advocating for a method to determine energy and emission credits for co-products that does not discriminate against soybeans.

Read full report here

Portugal has established mandates for liquid biofuels as a whole and will later introduce quotas for biodiesel only. The Portuguese biodiesel industry is favorable to the use of soybean oil and to further soybean imports. Portugal advocates for adopting a method to determine energy and emission credits for co-products that does not discriminate against soybeans. Read more ...

US Congress Deals Blow to Wind Power Industry

The wind industry is predicting massive layoffs and stalled or abandoned projects after a deal to renew a tax credit for wind production failed last week in Washington. The move is expected to have major ramifications in states such as Illinois, where 13,892 megawatts of wind projects-enough to power 3.3 million homes per year-wait to be connected to the electric grid.

Many of those projects will be abandoned or significantly delayed without federal subsidies.

 Illinois is home to more than 150 companies that support the wind industry. At least 67 of those companies make turbines or components for wind farms. Chicago is the US headquarters to more than a dozen major wind companies who wanted to take advantage of powerful mid-western winds and the fact wind power could be fed into the electric grid. Read more ...

Australia invests in advanced biofuels

The Australian Government has awarded a AUS$5 million (€4 million) grant to James Cook University, funding the development of Australia's first freshwater and marine macro-algae to biofuels project. Not only this, but a new AUS$15 million (€12 million) Advanced Biofuels Investment Readiness (ABIR) Program has been created.

ABIR Program is designed to support the investment case of scalable, pre-commercial advanced biofuels demonstration projects in Australia. "Advanced biofuels, particularly those that can integrate into existing liquid fuel supply chains and are compatible with existing engine technologies and infrastructure could also become a significant source of regional employment," says Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson. Read more ...

UK Government to launch solar appeal at supreme court

The British Government is poised to launch an appeal at the Supreme Court against the two court rulings that they lost over the Feed in Tariff (FiT's) incentives. The government had planned to halve the payments for solar power projects, but when this was challenged in the British courts, the courts ruled against the government saying their actions were illegal.

At a Court of Appeal ruling last month, three judges said the government would be acting unlawfully by trying to impose retrospective cuts to the solar incentive scheme. They set DECC a deadline to request another appeal to the Supreme Court, which the government is now expected to meet. Read more ...

Renewable options for the farming community

One of the major drives for the farming community to adopt a variety of renewable fuels, will be the rising costs of oil processing along with the issues of food security. The fluctuations that occur in the price of oil is a major consideration, at present the cost of oil per barrel is at US$120 (€90.746) a barrel, but in the recent past it has reached as much as US$150 (€113.432) a barrel. Put this worry with the concerns of climate change and rising greenhouse gas emissions and renewable energy starts to look like a very good choice in the long run.

However, at the same time the government is pressing for increasing amounts of renewable energy to be adopted. Speaking at the recent Energy Now conference and exhibition in the UK, Dr Jonathan Scurlock, chief advisor to the National Farmers' Union on renewable energy, said that in recent times in the UK there has been a turnaround in the take up of renewable energy in the country. "Photovoltaic has come from nowhere and anaerobic digestion, wind and small scale hydro all have a place," Dr Scurlock said. Read more ...

Malaysia targets nationwide biodiesel use by 2014

Malaysia is to set in motion a plan for nationwide biodiesel by 2014, according to Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok. The implementation could not be made sooner because there were not enough blending facilities for the alternative fuel. "The in-line blending system for biodiesel currently involves six petroleum depots in the country," Mr Dompok told reporters after launching the B5 biodiesel program for the central region at Jeti Bagan Pasir yesterday.

Mr Dompok also said his ministry was studying ways to reduce the amount of regular diesel in biodiesel by increasing the use of palm methylester. "We can increase the use of palm methylester in biodiesel by 10 per cent, 30 per cent or 50 per cent in the future after conducting research," Mr Dompok added. He also said that the government had no intention on increasing the price of B5. B5 is sold at the same price as regular diesel - RM1.80 (S$0.74) per litre. Read more ...

Southern Iowa Biomass Crop Workshop

There is increasing interest in biomass crops for energy in Iowa. Initially, it was thought that strong commodity prices would limit the interest of growers in planting perennials for bioenergy, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. A Biomass Crop Production workshop Thursday, March 8, at Southwestern Community College in Creston, Iowa will explore why interest is increasing. The program will start at 8:45 am and conclude at 2:15 pm

The Southern Iowa Resource Conservation and Development Area has been working with Iowa State University and the Iowa Farm Energy Working Group to evaluate biomass crops, including giant Miscanthus and warm season grasses that can be used to produce renewable energy feedstocks. Read more ...

OriginalOil and Aquaviridis join together in a joint venture for development

Algae producer Aquaviridis has joined forces with OriginOil to develop a new technology that extracts oil from the algae and will develop this multi-phase production at its Mexicali site in Mexico. Through the North American Free Trade Agreement, a region in the country has been put aside for such developments and OriginOil will help by harvesting and developing its algae cultivation technologies, as well as using the site as a testing area. Commercial scale production is scheduled for the second quarter of next year, and the site chosen is expected to have good growing conditions, as well as positive local and government support.

OriginOil's vice president of marketing, Ken Reynolds, says: "The Mexicali Valley is a great place to develop an algae industry, given its climate and access to industry research and resources throughout North America. With the US as a neighboring market for high value exports, Mexico is in an excellent position to take the lead in areas such as research and production of algae for nutritional products, animal feed, and oil for biofuels, which would create long-term regional economic growth and job production." Read more ...