Monday Edition

06.23.08

GLOBAL

Air New Zealand, Continental Airlines, and Virgin Atlantic have joined the Algal Biomass Organization (ABO), a newly formed non-profit organization established to promote development of commercially viable transportation and power-generation fuels from algae biomass, Airline Industry Information reports. The organization is chaired by aircraft maker Boeing.

NORTH AMERICA

Dynamic Fuels, created by Tyson Foods and Syntroleum Corporation, has gained final approval for its Geismar, LA biodiesel plant with a $100 million bond to get the project under way. The plant is expected to be operational in January 2010 and produce about 75 million gallons of biodiesel annually from low-grade inedible fats and greases.

In California, Kreido Biofuels announced it is suspending work on its biodiesel plant at the Port of Wilmington, NC due to weakening of the economy, continued financial market turmoil, and the inability to raise needed capital to finance site construction and plant start-up costs.

In Washington State, Eastern Washington Gateway Railroad will test biodiesel in its locomotives throughout the summer. Columbia Bioenergy will provide the biodiesel.

Ukrop’s Super Markets has announced a program to turn used soy oil from chicken frying operations at its 11 Richmond, VA-area stores into biodiesel for its fleet of delivery trucks. Richmond-based Reco Biodiesel will produce the biodiesel.

British-owned Renova Energy’s U.S. ethanol operations filed for bankruptcy last week. Renova said its financial problems were due to cost overruns on the new ethanol plant it was building and has since halted in Heyburn, ID.

SOUTH AMERICA

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner will meet with the leaders of the country's four largest agricultural associations to work toward resolving the farmers’ strike. Fernandez agreed to re-start direct talks with farm leaders after their supporters and striking truck drivers lifted roadblocks last Friday. Congress is due to begin debate on the export-tax system this week, Bloomberg reports.

AE Biofuels has signed a joint agreement with DS Development to build, own, and operate a 75 million gallon per year biodiesel plant near Rosario, Argentina. The primary feedstock will be soy oil, with a production capacity of 250,000 tons per year.

EUROPE

EU leaders plan to call for a study on how Europe's use of biofuels might affect global food production and environmental standards, focusing on biodiesel made from palm oil and ethanol from sugarcane. This step is being taken to address criticisms of the EU goal to replace 10% of its transport fuel with biofuels by 2020.

The Dutch government will invest $11.6 billion in its energy infrastructure between now and 2011 with priority given to renewable energy, energy saving, and CO2 reduction. The government aims to stimulate the use of wind power at sea, biofuels and small-scale decentralized power generation technologies, and will investigate the feasibility of algae biofuels.

Deutsche Lufthansa says it plans to fly on jet fuel mixed with 10% biofuel by 2020 as part of an effort to reduce its carbon emissions 25% by 2020 compared to its 2006 emission levels.

ASIA / PACIFIC

Malaysia’s Biotechnology Corporation has signed five major agreements with international partners to boost the commercialization of the country’s biotech industry. The agreements involve development of cellulosic ethanol technology, construction of a second generation biodiesel plant, and an agreement by Merloni Progetti to purchase the plant’s entire output.

In Japan, Idemitsu Kosan Co. and Mitsubishi Corp. are joining a project by Honda Motor Co. and the Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth to develop a technology to produce ethanol from crops such as rice straw. The consortium plans to construct one of the world's largest ethanol plants by 2011, Thomson Financial reports.

In Brazil, energy company Petrobras says it will begin sales of biofuel for motor vehicles at 10,000 independent petrol stations in Japan as early as this year. The wholesale price is expected to be one to two cents per liter lower than traditional petroleum.

AFRICA

A Madagascan plant, Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi, could potentially be used to help produce biofuel crops in harsh environmental conditions, according to scientists at the University of Liverpool. The plant is unique because it captures most of its carbon dioxide at night, making it ten times more water-efficient than crops such as wheat.

The Republic of Congo plans to set aside part of its arable land for biofuel production. Congo has 8.2 million hectares of arable land, with less than 15 % of this land being cultivated. Three companies have asked for about 1.75 million hectares to plant palm trees for biodiesel.

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