In Washington, the Obama Administration announced the resignation of EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, effective with the beginning of the President’s second term in office. Renewable Fuels Association CEO Bob Dinneen said: “Administrator Jackson put into action the Obama Administration’s commitment to ethanol and other biofuels. During her tenure, she cleared the way for E15 giving […]
In Spain, the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism has modified the law passed in April that assigned biodiesel import quotas to include any origin, allowing Argentina and Indonesia to participate in the national market. Imports from Argentina in 2011 reached 719,473 metric tons.
In the Philippines, the Department of Agriculture has asked the Department of Energy to study raising the blending policy to B5 from B2 in light of high copra prices. The coconut industry has also requested a higher blend to help support coconut oil prices.
In Zimbabwe, despite Green Fuel changing its ownership structure from a private company to a government joint venture that would ensure the implementation of a domestic biofuel blending policy within two months, the policy has to be put into place. The plan is for an initial E5 policy, moving up to E10 and reaching E20 […]
In Washington, the House has approved the NDAA in a 315-107 vote, with provisions to allow the Pentagon to continue its work with biofuels. The Senate must approve the $633 billion bill when they return, sometime after Dec. 27. Earlier this year, the House had attempted to block the biofuels strategy by disallowing the purchase […]
In South Africa, the sugar companies are continuing to put pressure on the government to regulate the price of ethanol to give an advantage to the biofuels industry. The Department of Energy spokesperson Maropeng Ramokgobathi predicted that a pricing regulation would be in place by the middle of 2013, and that the regulation would reflect […]
In Brazil, the ethanol blend may jump back up to 25% as soon as May, after the government cut the blend to 20% earlier this year following a fall in ethanol production. An expected record sugarcane crop next year could see ethanol production reach a three-year high of 6.3 billion gallons.
In South Africa, the Dept. of Energy expects that ethanol prices will be set by the middle of 2013 and will be determined by a break-even price for sorghum-based ethanol produced at an efficiently sized plant. There are two sweet sorghum-based ethanol projects under development but are waiting to see what the established price will […]
In Washington, the D.C. Circuit Court nixed a suit by the American Petroleum Institute against the Environmental Protection Agency over the agency’s 2010 revision to the Renewable Fuel Standard. In addressing the API’s suit, over the EPA’s mandate that obligated parties pay fines for not blending cellulosic biofuels when no cellulosic biofuels to buy had […]
In Washington, the US Department of Energy announced up to $12 million for up to five R&D projects that will improve the carbon, hydrogen, and separation efficiencies in bio-oil production and upgrade processes. The aim of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (DE-FOA-0000812) is also to boost biofuel yields from non-food-based lignocellulosic feedstocks such as agricultural residue, […]
