Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, previewed the group’s “Vote 4 Energy” campaign, which will target Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia among other swing states with radio, TV and print advertising. Key to the industry’s proposal: a ramp-up in pressure on the Obama administration to OK the Keystone XL pipeline bringing more sales oil-based […]
In California, the DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory has teamed with OriginOil to co-develop an integrated system for direct conversion of raw algae into a renewable crude oil that can be used by existing petroleum refineries. OriginOil’s planned Biocrude System™ will integrate its own harvesting system with state-of-the-art biomass processing technology being developed under the recently-announced […]
In Iowa, the Des Moines Register has compiled records showing that more than half of the biofuels companies who receive state aid since 2003 are owned by some of the nation’s largest corporations. Those topping the list include Valero, Koch Industries, and Kensington Industries and Investments. Critics have said that the state shouldn’t fork out […]
In Kenya, the National Environmental Management Authority has given approval to Tower Power to build a $20.7 million 11.5MW electricity plant in Marigat, Baringo County that will run on the Prosopis Juliflora tree popularly known as “Mathenge”. The area has a forest of 30,000 ha of the invasive plant, which the company says is enough […]
In Italy, the local biodiesel industry says the country may miss its 2012 blending target if regulatory delays don’t get ironed out soon. The country has yet to implement that decree that puts the country in line with the Renewable Energy Directive, including sustainability criteria. The policy was supposed to come into force by the […]
In Spain, Bionet Europa has shut down its 50,000 metric tonne/year waste vegetable oil-based biodiesel facility in Reus due to increased imports from Argentina and Indonesia. The $9 million facility was opened in 2005 and is 95 percent owned by Spanish vegetable oil company Reagra with the remainder owned by German engineer Agrartechnik. The company […]
In China, Zhangjiagang Huamei Biomaterial is expected to launch their 1,3-propanediol products in April of 2012. Huamei was established by Zhangjiagang Meijingrong Chemical and SB China Venture Capital Limited, who together invested about US$24 million to build a PDO production line with a reported capacity of 65,000t per year. On September 8, 2011, Zhangjiagang Huamei […]
In the UK, a researcher from the University of York has teamed with The Carbon Trust and the University of Sao Paulo to develop biofuel from wasted orange peels in Brazil using microwave technology. The lab-scale version of OPEC (Orange Peel Exploitation Company) can process 30kg of citrus peels per hour. Project proponents say that […]
In Illinois, US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack met with officials from Boeing, Honeywell and United Airlines at Boeing’s headquarters in Chicago to discuss biofuels and their future role in military and civil aviation. “We know they are very interested in this because they are confronting greenhouse gas regulations in Europe; we know this fuel […]
How did Aurora Algae get so far down the road, so fast? Word has been sneaking back to the United States from Australia that Aurora Algae is well into a $100 million capital raise from a combination of existing and new investors, and is aiming at an IPO later in the year to fund its […]
