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Date Published:
04 May 2014

Volume 8, Issue 3


One step forwards, two steps back

Feature
For those of us working on bioenergy policy, 2014 began with a jolt. Only three weeks into the New Year and the European Commission delivered its vision of how the energy system should look in 2030. It was a stunning change in direction and not entirely good news for those aiming to reduce the carbon impact of Europe’s fuel supply. The announcement, made on 22 January, stated: ‘The... [read more]

Biodiesel tax credit extension approved

Feature
The Senate Finance Committee approved legislation at the beginning of April to renew several expired tax provisions, known as ‘tax extenders’. These provide assistance for biodiesel, cellulosic biofuel and other renewable fuels. A number of biofuel provisions have been included in the proposed tax extenders package, most notably a twoyear extension of the dollar-pergallon biodiesel... [read more]

Biofuels excluded from EU policies

Feature
Industry leaders are seeking out relevant policies that consider both competition and technology within the biofuels sector. Climate protection and resource conservation are the main drivers of focus in EU policies, yet biofuels are facing exclusion. The Union zur Förderung von Oel- und Proteinpflanzen e.V. (UFOP) argues there is a significant need for R&D in second generation biofuel... [read more]

Fuel pathway petition process slows down

Feature
As the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it will cease processing new petitions for renewable fuel pathways for approximately six months, the Biotechnology Industry Organisation (BIO) is urging it to accelerate, not delay, the petition process for new renewable fuel pathways under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). EPA first developed the petition process in March 2010, alongside... [read more]

Full carbon cost of biofuels: In all our interests

Feature
The biofuels industry is at a crossroads. Policy uncertainty in Europe has undermined its business case, which is based on tax breaks and blending mandates and is now holding new investments back. The right direction to leave these crossroads is to maintain the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) in the post-2020 energy and climate policy framework, and fight for the full carbon accounting of fuels... [read more]

Biofuels progress endangered?

Feature
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposal, for the first time, adjusts the 2014 overall biofuels volumes and advanced biofuels volumes based on criteria not clearly identified in the law. The proposed 2014 targets for advanced biofuels, which currently stand at 2.21 billion gallons, are substantially smaller than the actual 2013 industry production of 3.2 billion gallons and the... [read more]

Current price index

Feature
With the duties imposed on Argentinian and Indonesian biodiesel last year and Malaysian production losing its ‘Form A’ status, European blenders are still struggling to find blend stocks for the summer FAME markets. With this in mind, RME and FAME 0 are now trading at, or very close to, parity and although there is currently a small discount for PME, the price premium historically... [read more]

On the rise

Feature
The second quarter of 2014 saw US spot biodiesel prices rise above their first quarter highs reached on 31 January. This can be attributed to a spike in the blender’s market amid a bitter cold period that pushed the expiring ultra-low sulphur diesel (ULSD) futures contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange to its highest point since August 2008. In early April, rising feedstock costs... [read more]

Blue Sun Rising

Feature
On 16 January this year, Coloradobased producer and marketer of premium renewable fuels Blue Sun Energy announced the implementation of enzymatic biodiesel processing technology at its refinery in St Joseph, Missouri. Operating at full commercial scale, the company proudly calls the St Joe facility ‘the most advanced biodiesel production facility in the world’ thanks to the... [read more]

Reopen for business

Feature
If ever there was a sign that the ethanol industry was beginning to thrive once again, surely there’s none better than bringing a plant back after being shut down for five years? That is exactly what Sacramento-based company Pacific Ethanol, a producer of low-carbon renewable fuels in the US, is in the process of doing, with the announcement in February that it would reopen its production... [read more]

The final push

Feature
If three cellulosic ethanol plants can start up and turn profits this year it will change not only the entire ethanol market, but the future of world energy consumption. Several companies are closer than ever, construction projects are booming and the time is now. But the US petroleum industry does not want to see ethanol’s market share grow. With three global construction and engineering... [read more]

3D printing

Feature
The world market for paper has increased by 70% over the past 30 years. That is odd, considering companies today use recycled paper, employ paperless systems and, as for newspapers, digital editions means paper consumption is less. I believe this can be attributed to the printer. If we consider that nearly every home today has at least one printer and they all need paper, then it suddenly makes... [read more]

Hit the road

Feature
While the advanced biofuels industry is ready to bring innovation to the market, the biofuels sector in Europe still struggles with an uncertain regulatory environment. How policymakers address the challenges will determine how cellulosic ethanol technologies, with their advantages for economic development, energy security and the environment, will be able to unfold its whole potential. Those... [read more]

From bagasse to biofuel

Feature
Many organic polymers and chemicals today are derived from fossil-based materials such as oil and gas. From a technical point of view almost all industrial materials made from fossil resources could be substituted by their bio-based counterparts, however the low price of crude oil has created a barrier to bio-based commodity chemical production. However, the recent rise in oil prices, the... [read more]

Unlocking intrinsic value in existing ethanol facilities

Feature
When attending conferences and reading trade magazines you might have noticed the lack of discussion around ethanol drying processes. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, improvements at the front end have stolen the headlines as advanced milling technologies are commercialised, higher yield grinding techniques are being deployed and next generation enzymes are introduced to the market.... [read more]

The past, present and future

Feature
Ethanol has a long tradition as a consumer chemical. Whether for energy, chemical or medical purposes, ethanol plays a vital role in the commodities market, so effective purification strategies for this substance are extremely significant. Ethanol forms an azeotrope with water, meaning the latter is an impurity. Since water cannot be completely removed by distillation, it may hinder the... [read more]

Energy recovery from ethanol drying

Feature
One of the process steps for ethanol production is the removal of water from the biofuel. The removal of water to below 5 wt% with a simple distillation process is not possible due to the azeotropic behavior of the ethanol-water mixture. Special techniques have therefore been developed to remove the water, known as drying. Plant design for anhydrous ethanol production projects typically faces... [read more]

'Dropping-in' on fungi

Feature
Recently a few microorganisms have been discovered that produce hydrocarbons. One of the most effective ways to search for other unusual metabolically active microorganisms, producing a wide diversity of secondary metabolites, is to look for such organisms in unique ecological niches. Certainly, one niche that is relatively unexplored is the living tissues of higher plants. The microbes living in... [read more]

Adding value

Feature
Molecular sieve dehydration units are a key technology in ethanol processing. This drying solution utilises pressure swing adsorption (PSA) systems to process the wet stream at its azeotropic composition to recover pure alcohol. This technology is more attractive compared to extractive distillation processes, for both economic and environmental reasons.

Sustaining production

Feature
With legislation and new initiatives to set binding minimum targets for the proportion of renewable fuels in conventional petrol and diesel, biofuel production is growing fast. For biofuel producers today, process automation technology helps to control their biofuel plants, whether they are producing second generation ethanol, renewable diesel or bio-oil. Availability and safety are... [read more]

Corn dry fractionation: wet milling at a fraction of the cost

Feature
fraction of the cost As the ethanol industry matures and creeps closer to 15 billion gallons, the quest for better technologies, increased product diversification and enhanced margins is escalating. Distiller’s corn oil is a perfect example of how the industry can extract higher margins from the same incoming feedstock with bolt-on technology that strategically fits the ethanol industry.... [read more]

Fractionation of lignocellulosic biomass

Feature
The utilisation of lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) for the production of biofuels and chemicals is important as technologies need to meet the global energy demand, reducing dependency on fossil oil-based resources and the need to reduce the impacts of rising energy demand and feedstock costs, while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions1,2. However, it is not so easy to utilise LCB,... [read more]

Good results

Feature
Preparations for a new wood-based renewable diesel to enter the market have been underway since 2012. Production is finally due to begin this summer at a plant in Lappeenranta, Finland, following the successful completion of some extensive fuel tests and trials. This fuel – known as BioVerno – has been developed by UPM, a producer of advanced biofuels based in Finland. Previous motor... [read more]

Energising you and your car

Feature
The idea of biofuels from waste coffee grounds (WCG) was percolated when Qingshi Tu, a graduate assistant at the University of Cincinnati (UC) school of Energy, Environmental, Biological and Medical Engineering in the US saw the phrase ‘initiative for a green community’ printed on a well-known coffeehouse branded cup he was drinking from during a seminar. ‘This interested me and... [read more]

New opportunities in biofuel development

Feature
In recent years, synthetic biology has shown tantalising promise as an engineering tool to develop renewable biofuels. But the pace of progress has been slowed by cottage industry methods for producing the synthetic DNA needed in the biofuel R&D process. A new technology is laying the groundwork for rapid, largescale experimentation to find efficient, effective biofuels. As everyone in the... [read more]

Doing it the 5-HMF way

Feature
There is excitement within bio-based industries about platform chemicals, like levulinic acid, lactic acid or biosuccinic acid, which can be used both in a large range of downstream applications and have the potential to open up many new markets. Possibly less wellknown in this respect is 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), a platform chemical which can be made from renewable raw materials and which... [read more]