The premises and methods used by recent reports looking at the biofuels sector have been questioned by the European Biotech Industry Association (EuropaBio). According to Europa Bio, the World Bank document downplays poor 2007 harvests, pays no attention to the
An extended commercial alliance to accelerate development and deployment of cellulosic ethanol was announced by Royal Dutch Shell and the Iogen Corporation yesterday (15th July). As part of the deal Shell will make significant investment in technology development with Iogen,
The world biofuels industry today (16th July) issued a sharp rebuke to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its president, Chakib Khelil, in the pages of the Financial Times. In a full page advertisement, the biofuel industries of
An aerospace industry-university research project to investigate the potential use of biofuels for small and medium size engine applications was announced at the biennial Farnborough Airshow this week (13th July) by Pratt Whitney Canada.
The OECD has released (16th July) a scathing report on biofuel policies in member countries. According to the report, Economic Assessment of Biofuel Support Policies (read full report (http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/19/62/41007840.pdf)), government support of biofuel production in OECD countries is costly, has
Rolls Royce and British Airways hav announced the start of a scientific test programme to investigate the viability of alternative fuels for the aviation industry. The move seems to be a u-turn by British Airways, whoes CEO Willie Walsh derided
US company Amelot is forming a subsidiary in Barbado, to bring together the assets of Native Sun NRG, which it is about to acquire. The new entity will, says Amelot, begin production in 60 days, and should ramp up to
The first commercial offering of a new generation of biofuel crops, cuttings of Salix, a variety of willow, was launched on Monday (7thJuly) by the New Zealand company Pure Power. The company says it will have cuttings ready for foresters
An outline plan to create a woody biomass commodity exchange, the Biomass Commodity Exchange (BCEX), were announced today (9th July) by CleanTech Partners.According to the company, the objective of BCEX is to increase the efficiency of the supply chain providing
Rising demand for palm oil will decimate biodiversity unless producers and politicians can work together to preserve as much remaining natural forest as possible, ecologists have warned. A new study of the potential ecological impact of various management strategies published
Biofuels could provide as much as 10% of the world's fuel mix over the next couple of decades according to Rob Routs, Executive Director Oil Sands, Oil Products Chemicals, Royal Dutch Shell. Routs's message was delivered in a major speech
There should be no U-turn on the European Union's biofuels policy said Mariann Fischer Boel, the Commissioner responsible for Agriculture and Rural Development, speaking in Brussels today. Ms Fischer Boel was made her comments at the Who will feed the
TMO Renewables has licensed the ERGO™ bioinformatics software from Integrated Genomics. The company will use the tools for gene annotation, metabolic reconstruction and enzyme data-mining as well as for comparative genomics purposes.
Nick Goodall has been appointed as the Chief Executive of the UK's Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA). The appointment was announced today (2nd July) by Professor Ed Gallagher, Chair of the RFA. Commenting on the appointment Prof Gallacgher said, 'We are
The EU looks set to abolish mandatory set-aside following a meeting of the Special Committee for Agriculture on yesterday (30th June). In a statement released today, the outgoing Presidency of the EU Council said that it believed the vast majority
The recently completed Shanghai biodiesel plant, owned by Gushan Environmental Energy Limited, came on stream this week (28th June) adding an additional 50,000 tons to the company's annual biodiesel production capacity. The new plant brings the company's annual production capacity
A $5 million sponsored research agreement with the Colorado Center for Biorefining and Biofuels (C2B2) has been announced today (1st July) by ConocoPhillips. The research programme is to concentrate on developing new ways to convert biomass into low-carbon transportation fuels.
A grant, worth $98,560, has been given to researchers at Kansas State University to study solid carriers for manufacturing algae biofuels in the ocean. The grant, awarded to Zhijian Z.J. Pei, associate professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering, and
by Barbara L. MicaleBiométhodes, a French biotechnology company in Evry, has signed an exclusive and worldwide option-to-license agreement with Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties Inc. (VTIP) for multiple technologies for converting biomass to bioethanol and biohydrogen.The processes were invented by Percival
A trio of new ASTM specifications for biodiesel blends was approved by the organization's main committee last week (20th June). The final approval came after more than five years of extensive research and subsequent balloting by the ASTM fuel experts
