Monday Edition

09.08.08

GLOBAL

According to a recent Accenture study, “Biofuels' Time of Transition,” biofuels could account for 10-15% of the fuel mix in the next 10 to 20 years, but reaching that level will be more difficult than previously thought due to the challenges involved in creating full-scale markets in biofuel feedstocks, production, transport, and distribution.

NORTH AMERICA

Nova Biosource Fuels of Houston, TX has received certification of substantial completion of its 60 million gallon per year biodiesel plant in Seneca, IL. The certification requires the refinery to meet several criteria to the satisfaction of independent engineers.

The owner of grease recycling plant, Agri-Cycle, in Talmo, GA was awarded $500,000 from the US Department of Agriculture for the establishment of a new biodiesel plant in the state of Georgia. The exact location of the new plant has not been disclosed.

Colorado State University has been awarded a $3 million National Science Foundation grant to provide interdisciplinary biofuels training for doctoral students. Research will range from the chemistry of producing biofuel to the economics of selling it.

A fungus in Asian longhorned beetles that helps the insect eat through hard wood could lead to more efficient ways of breaking down plant biomass for generating biofuels, according to a research team at Penn State University in Pennsylvania.

VeraSun Energy has started up its 14th ethanol plant in Dyersville, IA, increasing the company's annual production capacity to over 1.4 billion gallons. The plant, adjacent to the Canadian National Railway, will be able to process 39 million bushels of corn per year and produce about 350,000 tons per year of distiller’s grain.

Nipissing University of Canada is moving forward with a five-year forestry research project to establish a database of natural resources available in the Northeast to provide information on what can be harvested sustainably for biofuels.

SOUTH AMERICA

Brazil’s government predicts a record production of sugarcane this year totaling 559 million tons, an 11% increase over last year’s crop. The country will use 318 million tons for biofuel.

EUROPE

Landkom International, a Ukrainian producer of rapeseed and wheat, has harvested over 22,000 tons of rapeseed from 6,200 hectares for use as biodiesel. The company says it will fulfill its off-take agreement with an unnamed company and use some of the biodiesel to fuel its own fleet.

ASIA / PACIFIC

India has signed an agreement with Colombia, expanding the South Asian nation's role in exploration and production efforts in South America. The countries are expected to jointly participate in exploration and production efforts, as well as refining, marketing, liquefied natural gas, and biofuel projects.

In Manila, Philippines, Metro Manila Police will soon be using biofuel for patrol cars in a move to cope with the soaring prices of fuel. Police vehicles will be able to run on gas blended with ethanol from sugarcane or diesel mixed with used cooking oil.

The Philippine government will spend $1 billion for the county’s Alternative Fuels Program next year, according to Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri. The bulk of the program will go to biofuels development in support of the Biofuels Act that mandates a 2% biodiesel blend and 10% ethanol blend in gasoline beginning in January 2009.

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