View Issue Contents

← Go Back

Issue cover
Date Published:
11 August 2019

Volume 13, Issue 4


Diverse, domestic feedstocks

Feature
US biodiesel producers continue to utilise a diverse set of feedstock sources as domestic production grows. Biomass based diesel production in the US is roughly half vegetable oils and half animal fats, used cooking oil, and distillers corn oil (DCO) – all of which are eligible feedstocks for the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

A case study in ethanol growth abroad

Feature
With increased dialogue between Mexico’s fuel retailers and American ethanol experts at Growth Energy, we’re continuing to see momentum grow in Mexico for 10% ethanol (E10) fuel blends. Our progress, in the Mexican fuel market, however, is still in its infancy. It was only in 2016 that Mexico allowed blending of ethanol into its fuel stream, and just one year later, the Energy... [read more]

Going big on biofuels

Feature
The recent European Union (EU) elections produced what many hailed as a “green wave”, with voters choosing more candidates who promised to escalate the fight against climate change. As the urgency of that fight is highlighted by international organisations and an unprecedented outpouring of public activism, it will be interesting to see whether the EU’s new political leaders... [read more]

Back to the future

Feature
A cascade of summer events has propelled European biodiesel markets on a bull run over the past month, giving the market a flavour of what to expect as demand accelerates potentially past supply heading into 2020, reversing the lacklustre trends the market has become overfamiliar with over the past decade.

A continent of potential

Feature
If you take a few minutes to browse through recent news items on the biofuelsnews.com site you’ll need to stay with it until you get back to 13 March this year to discover the first Africa based development. While it’s a very impressive development, focusing on the launch of a new production facility in Nairobi, the length of the web search does rather suggest that investors and... [read more]

Scaling bioethanol cooking in emerging markets

Feature
Deriving cooking energy from anything other than reticulated gas networks or reliable electricity grids seems alien to many in the West. But infrastructure, capital and technology deficits in many emerging markets mean millions are forced to rely on traditional, inefficient and polluting cooking fuel sources.

Fast-track for sustainable aviation

Feature
Nowadays, travelling by air is causing anxiety for an increasing number of people due to its large carbon footprint. Imagine if it was possible to fly without a guilty conscience. Utopian, right? No, not at all. Neste, a producer of renewable fuels from wastes and residues, has developed a solution to help the aviation industry reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The nudge we need

Feature
With little-to-no context surrounding what one tonne of carbon means to passengers, it is difficult to convince air travellers to counteract their environmentally damaging behaviour. A general lack of understanding and willingness to adopt pro-environmental behaviour will lead to detrimental environmental impacts. How are we expected to care, let alone act, on finding a solution to the problem... [read more]

Timely testing

Feature
This summer marks nine years since the Iowa Central Fuel Testing Laboratory received BQ-9000 certification and began operating as an independent analytical laboratory on the campus of Iowa Central Community College. The laboratory was born from the Biofuels Technology Program, developed in 2006 to prepare students for working in the biofuels industry.

Improving the cold properties of biodiesel

Feature
The diesel fuel standard EN 590 and the biodiesel standard EN 14214 define requirements to ensure a trouble-free use of the fuel. The climatic requirements are defined in the corresponding national annex depending on meteorological data foreach country. The Cold Filter Plugging Point (CFPP, EN 116) is defined as a requirement for diesel fuel, as well as for biodiesel as pure fuel (B100) and as a... [read more]

Next-gen processing

Feature
In the early days of corn ethanol production, sufficient profit could be made by offering a simple mix of ethanol and distillers dried grains (DDG). This strategy allowed a plant to focus on ethanol yield, which was sufficient for most plants’ bottom line.

It's all in the data

Feature
The story behind Trucent’s updated programme started with a basic question, says Jennifer Aurandt-Pilgrim, director of technical services. “Our clients were asking us, ‘Why does our corn oil performance change from day to day, or when we change an enzyme, what’s going on?’” When she looked for papers and published data to find some answers, she couldn’t... [read more]

A sustainable feedstock

Feature
Biodico’s Russell Teall began exploring jatropha cultivation for biodiesel production in 2000, which led to a biodiesel feasibility study in India funded by the US Agency for International Development and Trade and Development Agency in 2002. Research and development over the next five years focused on the viability of jatropha as a sustainable biodiesel feedstock.

A recipe for success

Feature
Can facility maintenance and environmental compliance improve financial performance? They can if they are performed together to operate as efficiently as possible. The dry mill ethanol industry continues to mature and with it operations and maintenance activities are becoming more proactive than reactive.

EUBCE 2019: a world-class event

Feature
On 30 May in Lisbon, Portugal, the 2019 edition of the European Biomass Conference and Exhibition (EUBCE 2019) closed a record event, after four days during which the global biomass community, from politics to research and technology, met to face the challenges of climate change and focus on the role of biomass in delivering the Paris climate targets and sustainable development goals.