Friday Edition

08.22.08

NORTH AMERICA

Renewable Energy Products has started up the largest biodiesel production facility in Los Angeles County, CA and has received EPA approval to sell its biodiesel. The multi-feedstock biodiesel plant has an initial capacity of 10 million gallons per year.

Biofuel company, LS9, expects its pilot-scale biofuel facility to be operational by October at the company’s laboratory in San Carlos, California. LS9 is developing its trademarked Renewable Petroleum process based on E. Coli organisms to produce the fuels.

Najafi Companies LLC and Energy Capital Investments LLC announced they will provide funding to Solverdi LLC, a Phoenix, AZ-based company that specializes in producing renewable fuel for the military and large industrial users through the retrofitting of existing biodiesel plants.

The new Southwestern Biofuels Association will bring industry, government officials, and scientists from national labs to work on establishing biofuel policies and programs to supplement New Mexico’s B5 mandate by 2012.

The 900 pound butter sculpture at the New York State Fair will be turned into biodiesel after the fair’s end. The butter will be heated to separate out the fats, which will be purified and processed into 96 gallons of biodiesel.

Nova Biosource Fuels announced it has received its certificate of substantial completion for the 20 million gallon per year biodiesel plant it built for Scott Petroleum in Greenville, Mississippi. Nova has signed an off-take agreement to purchase 50% of the plants output.


SOUTH AMERICA

Petrobras has inaugurated the second of its three planned biodiesel plants in the Brazilian state of Ceara. The plant, which is owned by Petrobras Biocombustivel, is located in Quixada and has a production volume of 15 million gallons of biodiesel per year. A third plant is in its final construction phase in Montes Claros,Minas Gerais state.


Brazil's biodiesel production should total 766 million gallons by 2015, says a report on the ethanol and biodiesel market ordered by the São Paulo State Commerce Federation. The country’s 2008 production is estimated at 1.13 billion mt.

Brazil was a net importer of oil in the first half 2008, importing an average of 97,900 barrels per day more than it exported, according to ANP data.

EUROPE

In Scotland, the Queen's Scottish estate, Balmoral, will become energy self-sufficient by using a small hydroelectric plant and using all organic waste generated on the estate for compost and biodiesel.

Petrotec of Germany boosted second quarter sales by 29% with the start of its 1000,000 ton biodiesel plant and 50% increase is used cooking oil collection.

ASIA / PACIFIC

Malaysia’s biodiesel exports are likely to rise to 143,000 mt from last year’s 95,013 mt due to the downtrend in CPO prices, the Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister said. Export figures are expected to go up by 50% by year’s end.

The Malaysian Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister said there will be no shortage of palm oil-derived food with the use of palm oil to produce biofuel. The government’s current policy is to give priority to palm oil for food production and Malaysia and Indonesia have agreed to fix a six million mt palm oil ceiling to produce biodiesel.

Malaysia's MISC Bhd. said its chemical/palm oil tanker with 39 crew members and about 32,000 tonnes of crude palm oil, worth $2.5 million, was hijacked by pirates at the Gulf of Aden between Somalia and Yemen late Tuesday, Dow Jones reports. The tanker was was en route from Sumatra in Indonesia to Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Thailand posted its largest trade deficit in three months of $1.03 billion as record oil prices increased the nation's import bill. Thailand has promoted the use of energy from domestic sources such as ethanol, biodiesel and natural gas to cut fuel imports. Price subsidies for some fuels including liquefied petroleum gas also increased local demand and boosted the import bill, the commerce ministry said.

AFRICA

In Kenya, the Help Self-Help Centre, a community development organization under the Kenya Eco-energy program, is starting a pilot biofuel facility. The project aims at becoming the catalyst and source of relevant data on the production and use of biodiesel as an alternative to fossil fuels in the Mt Kenya region.

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