EIA: World energy demand, biofuels use will grow:
Worldwide demand for energy is expected to nearly double by 2030 and will be driven largely by developing countries, according to the Energy Information Administration. The agency recently released its annual International Energy Outlook, which stated that while short-term energy demand is dampened due to economic recession, long-term consumption is expected to return to levels anticipated prior to the recession
The partnership between BP and DuPont to accelerate its next generation clean renewable fuels has successfully tested biobutanol over 1.5 million miles in an ordinary car.
In an exclusive interview for the June issue of Biofuels International magazine BP's Philip New says typical blends of around 16% were used without the need for modifications.
Like ethanol, biobutanol can be produced from feedstocks such as corn, wheat and sugarcane, but has the advantages of greater energy density, more miles per gallon and can be transported in existing pipelines.
Finland-based Neste Oil laid the foundation stone for Europe’s largest renewable diesel plant last week, coinciding with the second annual Biofuels International expo & conference in the Netherlands.
The provincial government in Saskatchewan, Canada, has signed an agreement with biotechnology company Iogen to develop the province’s first cellulosic ethanol plant.It will be commercial-scale expansion of its wheat straw ethanol demonstration plant in Ontario. The Canadian government has also recently announced it would provide a federal repayable contribution of up to $1.6 million for a $6 million waste-to-energy project in Ontario. The funds will be distributed through the Agri-Opportunities Program, a $134 million initiative launched in January 2007 and designed to increase market opportunities for the Canadian agriculture industry. The program provides a maximum repayable contribution of $10 million per project and per recipient regardless of the number of projects over the life of the program, which ends in March 2011
The city of Lünen, Germany, has begun building a new biogas distribution network, which will be powered by agricultural waste, including cow dung and horse manure.
It is thought that approximately 90,000 residents will benefit from the development, and will make the town the first in the world to build and manage a biogas network.
Local farms will deliver animal waste, corn, wheat and grass as the feedstock is converted into biogas in anaerobic digesters.
The gas will be distributed over the city through a new biogas pipeline network being built underground.
The plant is expected to produce 6.8 MW, which will be enough energy to supply 26,000 houses with heat and electricity.
Peter Kindt, the chairman of local heat and power provider Alfagy said: ‘What makes this project exiting is the combination of Cogeneration with renewable energy in an urban environment.’
The network is expected to deliver heat and electricity to customers by December 2009.
Swedish company Chemrec has entered into an agreement with The Stella Group to support the company’s efforts to raise awareness of Chemrec’s integrated biorefineries at pulp and paper mills.
The European Commission has submitted a proposal to extend the temporary tariffs imposed on imports of US biodiesel for up to five years. Biomass, wind and hydro are the most important technologies to generate jobs under the EU's Renewable Energy Directive, according to a study recently conducted on behalf of the European Commission's Directorate-General Energy and Transport. In general, the study assessed the economic effects of supporting the RES, looking at jobs in the RES sector as well as its impact on all sectors of the economy. The report found that more than 60 percent of total RES sector employment generation is due to biomass technologies
The US’ 2,000th E85 fuelling station opened in the community of Davie, Florida, at the U-Gas retail station on 28 May. Meanwhile, algae and microcrop pioneer and market leader PetroAlgae announced that it was expanding its international sales force, adding nine representatives in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The company has grown to an employee base of 115, up 28 percent from the 90 staff that company has on the payrolls in December.
Meanwhile algae production unit Italy, the European Algae Biomass Association officially launched yesterday with a decidedly pessimistic outlook for commercial-scale algae bioenergy production.
New EABA Executive Director Raffaello Garofalo said that it will take 10 to 15 years for algae to reach industrial-scale production, and that, at present, making biodiesel from algae costs 10 to 30 times the cost of making biodiesel from traditional feedstocks.
Garofalo told Reuters that the new association has 54 members and that he saw a price of $500-$550 emerging for the algal fuel market, in the long-term, after other fractions of algae biomass were sold for animal feed or to the nutraceutical markets. Garofalo referred to pilot projects in Portugal and Italy but cautioned against expectations of quick breakthroughs in the path towards algae commercialization
In the US, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) is requesting more transparency over the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Renewable Fuel Standard Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.
Scientists in Wales, UK, are looking into a research project aiming to turn grass into a green transport fuel.
Biomass plant specialist Helius Energy has announced that it has seen profits for the last six months to 31 March 2009, and has projected expansion plans to add a third multi-million-pound plant to its portfolio.
Industrial enzymes maker Novozymes has reported that Brazil could produce up to 8 billion litres of biofuel from sugarcane residues (bagasse) by 2020, representing additional export revenue for Brazil of up to US$4 billion (€4.6 billion).While Petrobras confirmed that it will invest US$2.8 billion in biofuel production including ethanol from sugar cane: a total of US$174.4 billion for the period 2009-2013.," writes Al Costa in a Biofuels Digest special report from the 2009 Ethanol Summit in Sao Paulo.
US-based Baystate Biofuels' terminal in North Andover, Massachusetts, is to come online next year and begin delivering a green energy, petroleum alternative to the region.
The EU has launched a biogas project as a solution to the mounting agricultural waste on farms in the continent.
Food giant Cargill has started production at its new glycerine refinery in Frankfurt, Germany.
Virgin Galactic, a subsidiary of the Virgin Group, is constructing space ships that are designed to run in part on alternative fuels.
A report by the European Environment Agency has found that European Union (EU) emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) declined for the third consecutive year in 2007.
The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) have published recommendations on analytical test methods for the testing of corn distillers dried grains (DDG) and corn DDG with solubles (DDGS) in the Journal of AOAC International.
Two Philippines-based firms have signed separate deals with two South Korean companies for biofuel production ventures worth $600 million (€422 million) in total.
Six new ethanol projects in Columbia this year will add 1.37 million litres a day of new production.
In Ghana, Gold Star Farms said that it has obtained jatropha-growing commitments from farmers holding 5 million acres, and will commence biodiesel production this year at its plant in Nkawkaw in the eastern region of the country. Last year, Gold Star formed a joint venture with US FuelTech deploy small biodiesel producing units in Chile that will use locally-grown jatropha as feedstock.
Australia-based agriculture technology company Glenvar has developed a direct baling system which it said could be beneficial to the biomass and cellulosic ethanol industries
In Ethiopia, Ardent Energy Group announced today an agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MOARD) of Ethiopia to transfer 15,000 hectares, approximately 37,000 acres, to AEG for the purpose of cultivating jatropha and castor. The resultant crop will be refined into usable biodiesel fuel
In the Philippines, South Korean biodiesel producer Eco Solutions and Eco Global Bio-Oils announced that they will invest $175 million in a 9.6 Mgy biodiesel plant in South Cotabato that will utilize jatropha grown by Eco Solutions from an 11,000 hectare plantation that will be expanded to 100,000 hectares.
In New Zealand, Air New Zealand announced that the engines running B50 blended biofuels in a December flight test saved 1.2 percent on fuel use as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 60-75 percent, or 4.5 tons. The airline said that it could save 1.43 tonnes of fuel on a 12-hour flight using a 50/50 blend of jatropha and conventional Jet A1 fuel.
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