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Date Published:
21 May 2017

Volume 11, Issue 3


From Hollywood to sustainable energy

Feature
Alliance Bio-Products,a subsidiary ofAlliance BioEnergyPlus, has producedan innovative cellulose conversion technology. The US-based company licensesthe patented cellulose-to-sugar (CTS) process, capable of converting cellulose materials including vegetative waste into sugars, for the production of biofuels. Liz Gyekye catches up withAlliance Bio-Products chairman Daniel de Liege to find outmore... [read more]

The green team

Feature
Finnish company UPM has recently signedup to become an RSB member – a global standard and certification scheme for sustainable production of biomaterials and biofuels. Here, Liz Gyekye catches up with Maiju Helin, senior manager responsible for Safety, Sustainability and Quality at UPM Biofuels to discuss its green agenda.

All things biofuel

Feature
Advanced biofuels developers need to become more focused in promoting the beneficial impact that their products could have on reducing inner-city air pollution, Florida-based fuels consultant, Tammy Klein, told the 2017World Bio Markets (WBM) conference in Amsterdam.

Pioneering renewable diesel

Feature
A breakthrough idea often emerges from a series of smaller discoveries. In the case of Neste’s NEXBTL (Next Generation Biomass to Liquid) technology, its path from concept to success story has been marked by both temporary setbacks and leaps in progress. This proprietary technology, the world’s first fully commercial renewable fuels production process, is used at Neste refineries in... [read more]

Pellets on the right track

Feature
In 2007, EU leaders set targets for the EU’s 2020 climate andenergy programme. The programme classified wood pellets as a carbon-neutral form of renewable energy. Since then, the wood pellet industry has boomed and investment has surged. Wood pellets are usually made from compressed forest thinning, scraps,wood waste and other by-products of timber industry. It is considered one of... [read more]

A preprocessing system for cellulosic ethanol production

Feature
The majority of CO2 emissions originate from the use of coal and fossil fuel, and one effective method for the reduction of these emissions is the use of renewable energy sources such as wind or solar energy. Among these renewable sources of energy, the only source of liquid fuel is the production of ethanol from biomass.In fact, various forms of renewable energy are currently being pursued in... [read more]

A green convention

Feature
The application of biomass-to-liquid (BTL)or gas-to-liquid (GTL) in diesels is pushing the industry to further develop new technologies for aiding the actual industry requirements.This article provides practical examples on how the latest analytical techniques can support the industry in assuring product integrity and controlling costs.

In the fast lane

Feature
The grant of a patent can be delayed byyears due to backlogs at patent offices around the world. However, recognising the urgent need to address climate change, certain patent offices have established programmes to expedite the examination of patent applications relatedto clean technologies.

Developments in dehydration processing

Feature
One of the processsteps for ethanol production is the removal of water from the biofuel. Special techniques have therefore been developed to remove the water, known as drying. Here, Ronning Engineering gives Biofuels International readers a review of 57 years of dehydration process technology.

Ethanol dryers: Where we were yesterday and where we are today

Feature
Rotary dryer systems used in the early days of the ethanol industry were relatively crude. Their sole purpose was to simply dry the distiller’s grains “by-product” (DDGS)produced after the ethanol was extracted. A dark and burnt smelling product within digestible syrup balls was the industry norm.

How can I get a good night's sleep?

Feature
Scale-up of a new process is an important series of steps in process development. When it becomes time to build a new, larger version of the process under consideration, many key decisions need to be made on how to design the next step. What is really necessary? Is the size of my scale-up too large, too expensive, and too risky?

Home and dry

Feature
Waste streams can be a major expense for breweries, wineries, and distilleries. In many cases, these streams are trucked away for processing at off-site waste treatment facilities. The transportation and treatment costs can be substantial. However, what one company views as an ongoing expense, another forward thinking group sees as a lucrative revenue stream.

Nuts about green fuels

Feature
Not many people would have heard about cashew nutshell oil. For some of you reading this article, this might be the first time you have heard about it. One shouldn’t feel bad about this, since it is a hidden gem.The cashew nut shell oil obtained from the shell that covers the nut is a natural material source for biopolymer production.

Corn dry fractionation - past, present, and future

Feature
Corn dry fractionation, or corn dry milling,is a method of separating the three components of a corn kernel prior to any processing steps,such as alcohol production.These components are the bran (the protective outerlayer; high in fibre), the germ (the embryo of the seed; highin oil), and the endosperm (the starch-rich food sourcefor the growing embryo after germination).

The heat is on

Feature
Today, global industry consumes a vast amount of energy.The biggest challenge is that as much as half of it is wasted due to the inefficient and complicated recovery of low-grade energy. Establishing environmentally and economically sustainable processes in the ethanolindustry is key to producers’success.

Keeping machines running

Feature
When most people think of‘automation’, they probably thinkof machine automation. But there are quite a few different types of automation which can be beneficial to ethanol plants. One of the most useful types is the automation of reports and processes.