News

In Limburg, Belgium NPG Energy, an investor and project development company, is developing a 2.4MW biogas plant, expected to be operational by the second quarter of 2014. This renewable electricity has the potential to benefit around 5,000 homes but instead will be consumed by the Spin-group BV in its textile factory. Initially, the plant will use maize silage to generate power but this will…
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Commissioning has begun at the 75MW Burgess BioPower plant in Berlin, New Hampshire and on 28 August the facility received its first delivery of woodchips. The power plant cost $273 million (€205 million) to build. It is located on the site of the Burgess Pulp Mill and has been designed to consume 750,000 tonnes of wood biomass annually – around 100 truckloads of woodchips a day. The…
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Unilever, together with the University of Liverpool, has established a research project to develop biomass-based chemicals that can be used in the manufacture of its home and personal care products. The three-year project will see the development of renewable chemicals from surplus sugars, fats, oils and carbohydrates produced via commodity by-products and forestry wastes. The aim is to identify…
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Building work has started at a site in Suffolk, the UK where BioCore Environmental is developing an anaerobic digestion (AD) plant. The plant will use locally produced energy crops to generate around 2,000m3/hour of raw biogas which, following an upgrading process consisting of CO¬2 and trace contaminant gases removal, will be converted into 1,100Nm3/hour of biomethane. This is the equivalent…
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Fiberight, a Maryland-based renewable energy company, has received approval to build a $30 million (€22.5 million) waste-to-energy facility in Marion City, Iowa after signing a deal with the city's council. Construction on the Marion Waste Revitalisation Facility, which will generate biogas from solid waste, could begin by the end of this year. The biogas will be used to power the city's…
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Wood pellet manufacturer Curran Renewable Energy has become the second pellet mill in the US to receive certification from the Pellet Fuels Institute (PFI) for premium grade wood pellets. The PFI sets a standard for wood pellets in the US, certifying that premium wood pellets meet a certain quality requirement. The institute carries out rigorous tests to assure all pellets are in compliance. The…
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Cool Planet Energy Systems, a producer of petrol from non-food biomass, is to build three biomass-to-biofuel production plants in the US state of Louisiana for an investment of $168 million (€125.9 million). Two sites – one in Alexandria and another in Natchitoches – have already been determined. The location for the third plant is still to be decided. Cool Planet will break…
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A $180 million (€135 million) 49.9MW biomass-fired power plant, developed by Novec and its partner Novi Energy, will soon commence its first trial run. Construction work on the Halifax County, Virginia-based plant, which is being carried out by Fagen, is almost complete and less than 100 construction workers remained on the site last week. The new facility will burn woodchips made primarily…
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An explosion at Inferno Wood Pellets Co.'s plant in Rhode Island, US on 20 August was caused by dust. The blast resulted in a four-alarm fire which saw crews from East Providence, Seekonk, Providence, Pawtucket, Warren and Barring respond. The explosion occurred at around 2.35pm and proved difficult to extinguish due to the flammable material inside. Fire fighters were, at one point, ordered out…
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A biomass heating plant owned by energy company BulEco Energy is to be sold. Bulgarian bank UniCredit Bulbank repossessed the Bansko, Bulgaria-based biomass plant after BulEco Energy failed to repay its loan for the past 24 months. This has been attributed to a drop in sales due to the economic crisis. The facility is still operational but UniCredit started accepting offers from potential buyers…
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A large volume of woodchips spilled onto a highway in Duplin County, North Carolina following a traffic accident. A tractor trailer carrying woodchips overturned on Highway 11, north of Kenansville, resulting in the road being closed between 12 and 13 August. The biomass had to be removed from the vehicle before it could be turned upright and removed from the highway. Local reports claim the…
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Wet, untreated biomass has the potential to yield commercial volumes of biofuels in Asia, says NextFuels, a company dedicated to transforming agricultural residue into renewable fuel. The underlying technology will allow NextFuels and its partners to produce bio-based petroleum at commercial scale for $75-85 (€56-64) a barrel using wet biomass that has not been mechanically or thermally…
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A subsidiary company of Rentech has closed the sale of approximately 450 acres stretching from Natchez to Adams County in Mississippi, for proceeds of approximately $9 million (€6.7 million). Rentech owns and operates wood fibre processing and nitrogen fertiliser manufacturing businesses. 'The sale of the Natchez site is consistent with our stated intention to dispose of our non-core…
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Biomasse Italia, one of Europe's largest virgin biomass energy producers, has awarded a new supply contract with Active Energy Group (AEG), the pan-European supplier of woodchips for biomass power generation. Biomasse Italia generates a total 500GWh of renewable energy through its two power stations in Crotone and Strongoli, which use approximately 700,000 tonnes of biomass a year. The company…
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