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Date Published:
24 July 2016

Volume 10, Issue 4


Ever get that feeling of déjà vu?

Feature
It seems we are indeed doomed to repeat history. Everybody in the biofuel industry surely remembers the controversy a year ago when the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was preparing to retroactively set the renewable volume obligations (RVO) under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for biofuels. Emotions flared on both pro- and anti-RFS sides, with arguments that the RVOs were set either... [read more]

Nebraska rising

Feature
After nearly 20 years of policy work on Capitol Hill, at USDA, and the association world, I moved the family to Lincoln, Nebraska, to become the executive director of the Association of Nebraska Ethanol Producers (ANEEP). The move from Washington, DC, to Lincoln will enable me to apply my biofuels background directly to running a state-based biofuels association. Currently, Nebraska is the second... [read more]

Big interview

Feature
At the heart of Hull, in the northeast of England, lies oneof Europe’s biggest producers of bioethanol. Liz Gyekye caught up with Vivergo Fuels’ managing director, Mark Chesworth to find out more.  What are your currentenvironmental concerns? Tackling climate change and air quality issues are two of the biggest challenges we face globally.

Small scale, big benefits

Feature
Lack of access to reliable and clean energy is a worldwide problem – particularly for people living in developing countries. In Africa, the challenges are even greater. More than 630 million people today lack access to electricity and an even greater number suffer the burden of respiratory diseases caused by burning polluting fuels for cooking.

Out of Africa

Feature
Ugandan local sugar companies are racing against time to diversify into commercial ethanol production as they look to tap into the country’s increasingly lucrative energy sector. Leading the pack is the country’s largest producer, Madhavani Group’s Kakira Sugar Works, which is set to start ethanol production at its $35 million (€31.6m) distillery plant in September this... [read more]

Letting the cat out of the bag

Feature
Although the advantages of torrefaction are tremendous, well recognised, and enumerated in publication after publication, the process of safely and efficiently producing torrefied biomass has proven difficult. As companies began to scale up from bench-scale through demonstration to commercial scale, problems appeared.

The theory of ethanol evolution

Feature
Earlier this year a Fortune Magazinearticle (4 February,2016) announcedthat “ethanol’s days are numbered”. According to the magazine’s theory, the outlook for ethanol is bleak due to several reasons, including oil prices being as low as they have been in years, thin crush margins, an oversupply of oil and fuel, and lingering questions about ethanol’s environmental... [read more]

Surface-to-air: All eyes on jet fuel

Feature
US company Vertimass was organised in 2012 to commercialise game-changing technology invented at Tennessee-based Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for ethanol conversion into jet fuel, as well as petrol and diesel fuel blend stocks and chemicals. The resulting products can profitably expand the impact of renewable transportation fuels and accelerate addressing pressing issues of global climate... [read more]

Spotlight on lignin

Feature
The US Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 mandates the development of 79 billion litres of second-generation biofuels annually by 2022. As a result, approximately 56 million tonnes of lignin, an organic polymer that makes plants woody and rigid and a common by product of the ethanol production process, will be produced annually as well.

Catching wind

Feature
An Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to San Francisco made history as the first commercial flight to use renewable alcohol-to-jet fuel(ATJ) based on isobutanol. This new fuel, recently incorporated into the commercial jet fuelspecification by ASTM (an international standards body),gives airlines a new option for reducing and ultimately eliminating fossil resources in their fuel, and hence... [read more]

Biocide solution

Feature
Microbiological contaminationin biodiesel/gasoil mixtures represents a major operative and qualitative problem both at a refinery level and along the fuel distribution system.Bacterial proliferation can cause the formation of organic deposits in storage tanks and even the growth of a biological film directly on the filling stations’ filter surfaces, increasing refilling time until their... [read more]

Good fuel husbandry lowers operational costs

Feature
Microbial infection can create serious risks to any fuel storage operations. Microbes occur naturally in the water phase found within fuel supplies. They multiply inthe water and at the fuel/water interface feeding off carbon inthe fuel. The lead organism is often Hormoconis resinae (HRes), which has a filamentous(long stranded) fungi structure.This acts as a binding material for other... [read more]

Momentum continues to grow for Tank Storage Asia

Feature
Tank Storage Asia2016, the leading event for the Asian tank storage industry, returns to The Marina BaySands, Singapore, on 27-28 September with an expanded show floor, improved conference programme, and more international suppliers than ever before.

A second chance

Feature
Despite research advances on conversion of biomass residues into so called second-generation biofuels, vegetable oils remain a preferred raw material, especially for the production of bio-middle-distillate fuels (jet fuel, heating kerosene,and petrol and diesel oils). The International Energy Agency(IEA), among others, says that “while vehicle efficiency will bethe most important and... [read more]

Corn oil extraction aids on trial

Feature
Most fuel ethanol plants use a chemical extraction aid to increase the amount of corn oil they extract as a by-product of their manufacturing process. Their goal is to create a corn oil revenue stream, within profat limits, that can bolster their plant’s profitability – especially when ethanol prices are depressed or when corn oil prices are high. However, thecorn oil extraction aid... [read more]

Becoming independent

Feature
At Borderview Farm in Alburgh,Vermont, US, Roger Rainville’s dairyturned-energy farm makes biodiesel from locally-grown sunflower seeds. In 2008, when diesel prices in the US rose from $4 to $5 per gallon, Rainville began experimenting with farm-scale biodiesel production. With guidance from the University of Vermont Extension and grant funding from the Vermont Bioenergy Initiative,... [read more]

Flexing the productive muscles

Feature
In the South American sugarcane ethanol industry, sugarcane cannot be stored and must be harvested and taken immediately to a sugar mill or ethanol plant for processing. During the non-growing season and during poor weather in the growing season, the plants cannot operate due to lackof feedstock. Sugarcane’s sugar concentration also varies throughout the crop cycles of which there are two... [read more]

Reassessment time

Feature
In August 2011, the first voluntary sustainability schemes (VSS) were recognised by the European Commission (EC) for verifying compliance of biofuels with the sustainability requirements of the Renewable EnergyDirective (RED). Approval runs out after five years, so the initial schemes are currently being reassessed. Now is agood time to reflect on thefirst five years of operation and what the... [read more]