View Issue Contents

← Go Back

Issue cover
Date Published:
01 March 2013

Volume 7, Issue 2


Moving on from 'harmful' biofuels

Feature
A new report calls for Europe to completely move away from first generation biofuels as the continent chases 2020 targets   A new report published near the end of January has put European green transportation fuels back under the microscope again. The main point of the Sustainable Alternatives for Land-based Biofuels in the European Union paper, delivered by Dutch research institute CE Delft... [read more]

Keeping a level head

Feature
The newly proposed biofuels levels in the US has sparked fierce defence by the industry in the face of stiff opposition   The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed its 2013 percentage standards for four fuel categories that are part of the agency’s Renewable Fuel Standard programme (RFS). The proposed 2013 overall volumes and standards are: 1) Biomass-based diesel (1.28... [read more]

California named top biofuel state

Feature
California, which has long been considered a hub of innovation in the biofuels industry, has this week been named as the US’ ‘top biofuel state’. Environmental Entrepreneurs, a national green business policy organisation, credits the state’s Bay Area in its recent analysis into the nation’s biofuel industry. According to its research, California is the home state of... [read more]

Second generation biofuel from a fifth generation bioreactor

Feature
The second generation production process is more complex than the first, largely because the carbon required is not present in a form that is easily available to microorganisms, such as starch or sugar. Cellulose needs to first be cleaved in an enzymatic process. This makes the overall procedure a two phase process that consists of enzymatic hydrolysis to release the sugar followed by the actual... [read more]

Reap what you sow

Feature
Now Europe is being forced into taking cellulosic ethanol seriously, James Barrett looks at what producers can learn from ‘across the pond’   At the start of February seven giants came together to form the Leaders of Sustainable Biofuels, with a view to creating one voice to address national policy makers and the European Commission on second generation biofuels. One of the seven... [read more]

Can the ethanol king rule the second generation?

Feature
All commodities are vulnerable to price volatility and biofuels, just like their hydrocarbon counterparts, are no exception. Poor harvests, recession, competition for feedstock and political whimsy can hurt sentiment and derail investment. While in many parts of the world biofuels enjoy the shelter of state subsidy, in the ethanol powerhouse of Brazil, home to the world’s largest sugarcane... [read more]

Brazil focus behind Iogen sale

Feature
In January 2013 Iogen Corporation announced that Danish enzyme manufacturer Novozymes was to acquire one of its two divisions, Iogen Bio-Products (IBP). IBP makes and sells a wide variety of enzyme products used in the pulp and paper, textile, grain processing and animal feed industries. While the deal provides Novozymes with all commercial rights to IBP’s existing product portfolio,... [read more]

Ongoing battle plagues Argentinean producers

Feature
South America is home to two of the world’s biofuel powerhouses: Brazil, the ethanol king and Argentina, the biodiesel champion. Argentina is the second largest biodiesel producer with production of 3 million litres in 2012, and the number one exporter, with 1.8 million litres. It has achieved this because, as one Buenos Aires-based analyst puts it: ‘We are swimming in... [read more]

Getting back to business

Feature
The president of the Colombian National Federation of Biofuels Jorge Bendeck reveals how the country is increasing its future production   Despite suffering from floods at the end of 2010 and start of 2011 that disrupted ethanol production by a reported 35% for a while, the National Federation of Biofuels Colombia says ambitious targets for the industry are still on the cards. The floods,... [read more]

Diesel from sugarcane?

Feature
Already being trialled in Brazil, it seems there is no end to the end-uses for sugarcane   In countries such as Cuba, Spain and Thailand, sugarcane is cultivated solely for producing sugar and ethanol. However, in leading industry countries such as Brazil and India, it also produces electricity, from burning the bagasse, plus furfural, ammonia and vinasse for example. The amount of products... [read more]

One small step for oil

Feature
Nesté Oil is one company that should be delighted by the EC’s recent proposals favouring advanced biofuels. To find out more about the impact this will have Keeley Downey went to visit the producer’s new advanced microbial oil plant   On a recent flight to Finland to visit Nesté Oil HQ, Buzz Aldrin, US astronaut and second person to walk on the Moon, popped up on... [read more]

The second line of defense against a pollution release

Feature
Biofuel manufacturers are open to a number of potential environmental liabilities. Left uninsured these liabilities could badly affect the company’s financial performance   Biofuels manufacturers find themselves at a unique junction between offering environmentally responsive alternatives to petroleum and the more traditional refining sectors. While the source materials may be... [read more]

Grease Theft Auto

Feature
Grease theft, supply and demand fundamentals and a major new facility are the main stories in 2013 for biodiesel’s fat and grease recyclers   In the early morning hours of December 28 in Riverside, California police confronted two men sitting in a McDonald’s restaurant parking lot. They were siphoning used cooking oil from a dumpster into a metal tank mounted to the bed of their... [read more]

Miniature reactor platforms for rapid development of catalytic biofuel processes

Feature
Research into biofuels not based around human foodstuffs, but rather start as wild grass or a by-product, requires special experimental tools which are a key part of the race towards renewable source fuels   Governments around the world are encouraging the switch to renewable fuels, the socalled green alternative, by setting ambitious targets for the amount that should start from such... [read more]

Alternative catalytic solutions take centre stage

Feature
The conversion of biomass feedstocks into second generation biofuels presents many challenges both to process developers and producers. While technological progress has been recently achieved, we still await large-scale commercial deployment of advanced biofuel technology   Changing regional energy landscapes and, in particular, the emergence of shale gas as the default energy security... [read more]

Introducing the first commercial genetically enhanced yeasts

Feature
Recent technology developments will allow process improvements to be introduced into the biofuels industry driving yield and plant profitability higher than the currently expected yield baseline results   The industry has undergone unprecedented growth over the last five years. However with that growth came major questions in regards to using feedstock for fuel instead of feed. This myth is... [read more]

Tips to remove bottlenecks

Feature
With high feedstock prices in the US, high bagasse prices for steam in Brazil and low ethanol prices across the board, the ethanol industry is struggling to stay profitable. The market is not seeing major investments in plant capacity, but one way plants can improve their overall profitability, is to remove existing bottlenecks and reduce the operational costs of ethanol production. Through... [read more]

Keeping up with the times

Feature
Changing market circumstances lead to new challenges for existing biodiesel plants that were originally designed to process vegetable and waste oils   Biodiesel standards are becoming more stringent (prEN14214:2013) and at the same time feedstock qualities are getting worse (the FFA content in used cooking oils for example is above 10%, and sulfur in animal fats is up to 100ppm and above).... [read more]

Jatropha: flying forward?

Feature
Renewable fuels company JatroFuels gives an insight into the current state of jatrophabased transport fuel   Recognising the challenges of sustainability, biodiversity and delicate ecosystems, it is important to differentiate between the various types of biofuels. There are huge differences concerning both the sustainability compliance and greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction potential of biofuels... [read more]

Successful community oilseed project - key considerations

Feature
In today’s unpredictable and volatile marketplace, a flexible facility can avoid foreclosure and bankruptcy   There is growing opportunity to successfully develop community-scale oilseed processing facilities to supply cost-effective feedstocks to the biofuel industry. There are a number of strengths that are found in well-designed and resilient community plants and, if these had to be... [read more]

Pretreatment of wheat straw using superheated steam

Feature
Non-food feedstocks such as wood, straw and grass have obvious advantages. However they mainly contain lignocellulose, a complex of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, which makes traditional fermentation difficult. Most fermentation production strains require mono- or disaccharides as substrates, therefore cellulose and hemicellulose first should be hydrolysed. To improve the accessibility of... [read more]

Pumping and mixing the mash

Feature
Feedstocks for biofuels, whether food-based or otherwise (grass/ straw and waste sludge-like materials), must be pumped and mixed during processing. Particulate material, sometimes fibrous in nature, populates the liquid mix with variable amounts of solid to liquid concentration. Understanding the flow behaviour of these mixtures is important, especially as the concentration of solids increases.... [read more]