Daily summary for Monday, July 30

July 30, 2007

In today’s producer news, a 120 million gallon biodiesel plant has just come online in Florida , while an ethanol plant scheduled to open in New Mexico has been cancelled following an unfavorable feasibility study. Meanwhile, heavy summer rain has led to higher ethanol prices throughout the Midwest.

In research news, a report from Global Insight predicts that by 2030, world demand for bioethanol will reach 80 billion gallons, and world demand for biodiesel will reach over 20 billion gallons.

In policy news, the Wilmington (Delaware) News has concluded that neither rhyme nor reason prompted the US Senate to pass a bill calling for 36 billion gallons of ethanol; they simply wanted to exceed President Bush’s previously announced 35 billion gallon target for publicity reasons. In Washington DC, Senators and Representatives are debating who should get the credit for the biofuels components of the 2007 Farm Bill passed last Friday.

In international news, biodiesel production in Germany has reached an all-time high but having lost its tax-exempt status in January, the industry is facing a new biofuel tax that will take effect. Meanwhile, Trinidad has issued a plan to use methanol to produce electricity, while a $300 million ethanol pipeline is being studied for Brazil.

In demand-side news, Construction contractors for Microsoft’s new 500,000 square foot Texas data center have switched to biodiesel to solve health and safety issues at the site.

July US ethanol production up 2.3% over June to 548 million gallons; imports rise 143%

The Energy Information Administration reported that July US ethanol production was 13.05 million barrels, up 519,000 from June. Imports grew to 1.45 million barrels in July, up from 596,000 barrels. ...

Daily Summary for Monday August 13

Top Story:Â A Newsweek story examines the extent to which biofuels can rightly be blamed for the recent rise in worldwide corn prices, examining the effect of crop failures, packaging costs and cur...

Richmond signs agreement with US Biofuels that will utilize city landfill methane

WHIO-TV reports on an agreement signed by the City of Richmond with US Biofuels to build an ethanol plant. The City will sell methane gas from the city landfill to the new venture. The capture and use...

Summary of pending US energy and agricultural legislation published

Biodiesel Magazine published a summary of pending energy and agricultural legislation in the United States this fall relating to biodiesel. The summary includes a look at the Differential Export Tax (...

Synthetic diesel, biodiesel are keys for aviation in billion gallon 2012 target

The Associated Press ran an excellent summary of the state of aviation biofuels, including efforts to utilize synthetic diesel produced from clean coal as well as biodiesel made from jatropha and palm...

Gasoline, ethanol prices drop; gas now down 9 percent from July high

According to AAA, gasoline prices have now dropped from a July 16 peak of $4.114 per gallon to $3.717 after 24 consecutive days of declines. The 9 percent drop compares to the 22 percent drop in crude...

Written by Jim Lane · Filed Under The Daily Biofuel Summary