Friday Edition

07.11.08

NORTH AMERICA

A plan to create a woody biomass commodity exchange, the Biomass Commodity Exchange (BCEX), was announced Wednesday by CleanTech Partners. The project is funded by the US Department of Agriculture among other organizations.

In Ohio, Van Wert Biofuels has made a $35,000 loan to purchase the remaining equipment needed for its biodiesel plant. Initially, the plant will produce 7000 gallons per week from animal fat, increasing to 10-12,000 gallons within a year.

A Nebraska poll finds that rural communities in the state have strong and aggressive support for renewable energy. The survey suggested that 91% of rural Nebraskans polled believe renewable energy can help meet the nation's energy needs, including ethanol and biodiesel.

The Massachusetts House of Representatives has passed legislation to make Massachusetts the first state in the nation to exempt cellulosic ethanol from state gasoline taxes. The bill also requires that all diesel transportation fuels and distillate heating oil blends contain 2% biodiesel by July, 2010; this would increase by 1% a year to reach 5% in 2013.

SOUTH AMERICA

Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras and US energy company ConocoPhillips have signed an agreement on sugarcane-based ethanol and petroleum. The agreement centers on studies to strengthen both companies' positions in sugarcane ethanol production and exports, and in oil exploration, production, refining, and trade.

Foreign companies and citizens buy 1200 hectares of land every day in Brazil, according to a report by Brazil's National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform. Most buyers purchase land for production of soybeans, ethanol, cattle-raising, and crops to produce biofuel.

EUROPE

Euractiv reports that the EU Commission has said that the vote by the EU Parliament’s Environment Committee scaling down biofuel targets does not reflect the EU Parliament. The Commission's energy spokesman said that the Environment Committee's opinion was one of several, and that five other committees which voted on the issue all supported the 10% figure.

The European Union is the world’s largest producer of biodiesel with 80% of its biofuel production being biodiesel and 20% being ethanol, a new report by Research and Markets states. However, the EU will have supply challenges in the future due to the majority of its vehicles running on diesel, limited land to cultivate feedstock such as rapeseed and the present lack in technology to make biodiesel competitive with petroleum.

In Europe, 2008/09 production estimates for soybeans, rapeseed, and sunflower seeds have been decreased slightly compared to previous forecasts, Dow Jones reports. Rapeseed production is expected to be impacted by lack of rain in northeast Germany, but its use for biofuels is expected to exceed expectations in France, Greece, and the UK.

Germany-based ethanol producer CropEnergies has completed an expansion of its ethanol facility in Zeitz, Saxony-Anhalt. The capacity of the two plants has been increased by 100,000 cubic meters to 360,000 cubic meters. The facility is now Europe's largest ethanol plant, Biofuels International reports.

Swedish refiner Preem plans to invest $42 million to refine pine tree oil for biodiesel. Forestry companies Sodra Skogsagarna and Sveaskog will invest in the plant construction, expected to be completed in 2009.

Hungary’s government plans to announce a subsidy program to boost biofuel production and encourage the building of small biodiesel and ethanol facilities. The Agriculture Ministry plans to subsidize twenty facilities.

The Norwegian government is reportedly going forward with plans to make biofuel mandatory in the country. The Norwegian pollution control authority, SFT, has set a biofuel mandate of 2% in the nation retail fuel mix by 2009.

GreenCyber of Portugal is preparing to build the country's largest biodiesel plant with capacity of 250,000 mt per year to be operating in 2010. The plant will use sunflower, soy, rapeseed, jatropha, and palm, with 90% coming from Brazil, Angola, and Mozambique.

ASIA / PACIFIC

Indonesia is aiming to mandate a 2.5% blend of biodiesel by September, the chairman of the National Biodiesel Development Team said. The government is drafting two ministerial decrees which will make the use of the biodiesel blend mandatory for both the industrial and transport sectors. If a mandatory policy is introduced, biodiesel manufacturing capacity will grow to 5 million kilolitres per year by 2010.

SK Networks will start to secure jatropha production in Vietnam as it has a large workforce and agricultural expertise. A joint venture between domestic small- and medium-sized enterprises specializing in forestry development in Vietnam and the Vietnamese local firm is to be formed in the country.

Bualuang Securities in Thailand forecasts that the second-quarter net profit of Univanich Palm Oil will increase 251% from last year. The sharp rise is attributed to increasing demand for palm oil in India and the EU.

Taiwan will require all diesel sold for automobile use to contain 1% biodiesel starting July 15, 2008 in order to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and cut carbon dioxide emissions, the Bureau of Energy said in a statement Wednesday. The bureau said that the biodiesel will be derived mostly from recycled cooking oil. Taiwan government-owned refiner CPC Corp. started providing diesel containing 1% biodiesel at gas stations in Taoyuan and Chiayi counties in July of last year, and currently sells biodiesel at 297 filling stations in those areas.

AUSTRALIA

The first commercial offering of cuttings of Salix, a type of willow, for biofuel production was launched by the New Zealand company Pure Power. The company says it will have cuttings ready for farmers to begin commercial energy farming in 2009. Pure Power will use the crop to produce biofuels and a range of bioproducts for use in the manufacture of paints, resins, adhesives, and bioplastics.

The chief executive of the Biofuels Association of Australia said biofuels in Australia were already economic and high oil prices are improving that situation. However, he added that investment is still problematic because of the uncertainty around Australian government policies on biofuels, which raises risks for investment. The State Agriculture Minister is proposing a 5% blend for all transport fuel used in Western Australia by 2011.

British energy company BP has pulled out of offtake plans for a 42 million gallon per year grain ethanol plant in Western Australia. The $286 million plant at Kwinana to be built by Primary Energy was originally expected to begin production by the end of this year.

AFRICA

In Ethiopia, Horizon Plantation Plc is expected to secure the 100,000 ha of land it requested in the Metekel Zone of Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State for biofuel development, focusing on jatropha plantations. Last September, Ethiopia’s Council of Ministers approved the country’s first BioFuel Development Strategy that includes plans to produce biofuels from jatropha, palm, caster seed, and sugarcane.

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