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Outlook 2014

Feature

Biofuels International wishes you all a happy New Year and presents a selection of submissions from global producers to get you thinking about the year ahead.

Lean, mean ethanol machine

Feature

How a Japanese concept is aiding one ethanol producer in Sweden One of the oldest ethanol facilities in Europe is still thriving despite the ongoing uncertainty within the continent on first generation biofuels. Lantmannen Agroetanol’s facility can be found in just outside of Norrköping in Sweden, a country renowned for being at the forefront of biofuels use, and it first... [read more]

Running on empty?

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Full stomachs or full tanks? This is still the debate keeping the European biofuels industry in regulatory limbo Lithuania, as the incumbent leader of the EU Council of Ministers presidency, presented a plan to the EU Energy Council just before last Christmas which proposed a rise in the amount of cropbased fuels allowed to count towards continent-wide renewable energy targets. The country... [read more]

Europe's big shot at biofuels

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There have been happenings in Israel and Brazil which such give confidence to Europe’s renewable fuel industry In the last issue I spoke about how some have seemed to have lost the essence of what the term biofuels is supposed to stand for, namely energy freedom and the avoidance of exporting currency to pay for fuel. Since then, I was recently invited by the government of Israel to... [read more]

Decarbonising EU transport beyond 2020

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As Europe is locked in multiple debates about the best way to hit renewable energy targets by 2020, a new report from sustainable energy consultancy E4tech, commissioned by a group of international vehicle and fuel companies, has outlined an Auto-Fuel Biofuels Roadmap for the EU to 2030. With future energy scenarios showing liquid fuels remaining an important factor in the long-term energy mix,... [read more]

Renewable supporters rally in US

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The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to reduce the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) late last year for 2014 from the previous requirement of 18.1 billion gallons to a level set to 15.2 billion. The Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) set the original target of total renewable energy for 2014 seven years ago, with an estimated 14.4 billion to come from corn-based ethanol... [read more]

From wood to wheels

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As it aims to complete the project by the middle of this year, James Barrett finds out about the ‘world’s first’ industrial wood-to-renewable diesel facility being built in Finland A wood-based biofuels project continues apace in Finland as UPM, a company which integrates bio and forest industries to make sustainable products, began installing the process equipment last... [read more]

Global price index

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Over the past month in the ethanol market, the German T2 ethanol prices have been on steady decline. Prices have dropped by nearly €40/ cbm since mid-November as both demand has dropped off and the price of the underlying feedstocks (corn and wheat) have fallen in the face of a record global crop. December is also typically the weakest month of the year historically for the same reason. As... [read more]

Looking for answers

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A look at the research being conducted on searching for robust industrial yeast strains for cellulosic ethanol production It has been known for a while that economically viable production of bioethanol with biomass hydrolysates would require yeast strains (or other ethanologens) able to utilise the pentose fraction of the sugar in lignocellulose. Academic research succeeded in the... [read more]

Proof in the progress

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One company claims a biobutanol boom could be just a year away as it continues expanding its research Green Biologics (GB), a UKbased technology developer and emerging bio-based C4 chemicals producer, closed a £15.4 million (€18 million) investment at the end of last year which will allow it to begin executing plans to bring its first commercial production facility in the US... [read more]

An indispensable combination

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Most investors who have experienced the development of a greenfield project in the agro-industry, be it a sugar plant, an ethanol plant or any other facility in this sector, knows perfectly well that the route is quite complex and paved with numerous pitfalls, more particularly when on a fast track execution schedule. Only a true FEED can provide a sound basis for the project feasibility study... [read more]