In Illinois, Abengoa is exploring the installation of a second ethanol plant in the Madison area following the launch of its $250 million ethanol plant there last week. The new plant would be second-generation using corn stalks or prairie grass as feedstock whereas the new plant will use 32 million bushels of corn per year. […]
In Germany, the federal cabinet will vote on Wednesday to lift the ethanol blend for 2011 to 10% from 5% currently. Previous attempts to raise the ethanol blend wall had failed because of concerns about older cars but the German government says about 90% of the German car fleet should have no problem with higher […]
In Japan, the UN Environmental Program is warning that increased biofuel production could cause increased water insecurity. A recent UNEP study shows that 2% of the world’s water is used to grow biofuel crops and the rush towards a green economy could harm water sovereignty, including for drinking and conventional farming. The reports found that […]
In Georgia, in a study published in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology, a team from Georgia Tech determined that Algenol’s algae-to-ethanol technology produces fuel with greenhouse gas emissions between 67% and 87% less than gasoline, depending on whether CO2 is sourced from fossil fuels or from and industrial source. More on the story.
nitrogencycle: Vilsack wants to have his cake and eat it too on #biofuels, calling for a shift to advanced fuels and a VEETC extension. MonicaBarcellos: Nagoya 2010: Weighing up the risks and benefits of biofuels development. emc21955: Biofuels and their cousin bioenergy form two of the world’s greatest threats to forests. Farm_Investment: Navy Leaders Discuss […]
In Washington, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack replied to a Wall Street Journal editorial which characterized the EPA’s approval of E15 ethanol blending as a politically-motivated decision. “The EPA’s decision to allow the increased use of ethanol in some automobiles is scientifically sound,” Vilsack wrote, “and follows a comprehensive review of extensive testing and other […]
The Biofuels Digest Index™ (BDI), a basket of public biofuels stocks, jumped 0.52 percent to 75.08 on a broad renewables advance. For the day, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) gained 0.51 percent to $33.71, while BP fell 0.72 percent to $40.21. Among other equities, GreenHunter (GRH) soared 9.09 percent to $0.73. Overall, advances led declines 2 […]
A new Biofuels Digest report found that states that produced enough energy to meet their internal demand for gasoline maintained growth rates 2.5 times above the national average, and either completely avoided the 2007-09 recession or experienced a lighter version of it. These states maintained a GDP growth in 2007-08 at five times the rate […]
In Norway, Weyland commenced production of cellulosic ethanol at its pilot plant in Bergen. The plant, which was formally opened by State Secretary Per Rune Henriksen, has a 200,000 liter (53,000 gallon) annual capacity. The Weyland process is based on concentrated acid hydrolysis with the company’s core technology being a method (patent pending) for recovering […]
In Iowa, Dupont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol has filed an application for a $19.8 million grant from the Iowa Power Fund towards the construction of Project Blackhawk, their first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant. The project, according to documents filed with the IPF, would be located in central Iowa, either at sites in Story County, or Webster […]
