UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been criticised by over 600 scientists across the world for the UK's use of bioenergy, in a letter that said the practice is destroying the "lungs of the earth", with "devastating impacts" on forests. Bioenergy divides scientific opinion due to the procuring of biomass, which can involve cutting down trees to turn into energy. The... [Read More]

The Indian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) ministry has written to the National Industrial Classification (NIC) cell under the development commissioner (DC) office for "necessary action" of including biomass pellet manufacturing under NIC codes. It also said portable petrol pumps and drone manufacturing should be included. The Financial Express reported that... [Read More]

Evolving cleantech and gold mine development company Minnova Corp. is pleased to announce positive biomass gasification test results and other business development opportunities. It reported positive gasification test results for corn stover from Romania and Pineapple waste from Costa Rica, with over 50% H2 content in syngas achieved. Following on from that, it has identified... [Read More]

REN Energy has received approval from the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary in British Columbia, Canada for the development of its Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) facility in Fruitvale. “We are grateful for the incredible support of Ali Grieve at the Regional District, Steve Morissette, mayor of Fruitvale and MLA, Katrine Conroy,” said Phil Viggiani, CEO of REN Energy. “We... [Read More]

EQTEC plc, a global technology innovator that powers distributed, decarbonised, new energy infrastructure through its waste-to-value solutions for hydrogen, biofuels and energy generation has announced that its Market Development Centre (MDC) in Italy is set to commence operations in December. The plant will showcase EQTEC technology to prospective clients including industrial,... [Read More]

Diageo Plc’s East African unit is using macadamia shells, sugar bagasse and coffee and rice husks to produce electricity at factories in Kenya and Uganda, moving it closer to net-zero status eight years ahead of schedule, according to Bloomberg. East African Breweries Plc, which contributes about 1% of Kenya’s gross domestic product, had a 2030 target to run operations... [Read More]

The former site of the Great Northern paper mill in Millinocket, Maine, US, could be a new hub for the production of industrial-grade wood pellets to be sold on a global scale, reported BDN. Our Katahdin, the non-profit group that owns the site, announced on 21 November that it is making plans to turn the former site of the Great Northern paper mill into a forest products... [Read More]

Rio Tinto said it has proven the effectiveness of its low-carbon iron-making process using ores from its mines in Australia in a small-scale pilot plant in Germany, and is now planning the development of a larger-scale pilot plant to further assess its potential to help decarbonise the steel value chain. The process, known as BioIron™, uses raw biomass instead of metallurgical... [Read More]

Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) has signed an agreement with NRG Korea to study the applicability of B&W’s BrightLoop™ technology for a hydrogen generation facility using biomass fuel in South Korea. B&W’s BrightLoop chemical looping technology is part of its ClimateBright™ suite of decarbonisation and hydrogen technologies. The BrightLoop process uses... [Read More]

Flinders Shire Council in North Queensland, Australia, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Frontier Impact Group to investigate a project to harvest and convert woody weeds into renewable fuel and other valuable byproducts. Flinders Shire CEO, Hari Boppudi, said he was thrilled that Flinders Shire Council had signed the MOU to conduct a feasibility study on... [Read More]

Commissioners in Madison County, North Carolina, US, voted unanimously on 16 November to establish a moratorium on biomass facilities in the area, reported WLOS. Clear Sky Madison president Jim Tibbetts said county leaders decided after speaking with community residents that they needed to have biomass rules written into the county's land use ordinance to be able to better... [Read More]

Rengo announced that it completed renovation work on the biomass incineration plant at Amagasaki Mill, Japan on 7 August. Amagasaki Mill produces paperboard such as containerboard. Rengo has been working to reduce city gas consumption by utilising sludge discharged in the paper-making process as biomass fuel. By increasing the efficiency of the incineration plant, Rengo... [Read More]

Plans have been outlined to build 130 anaerobic digestion (AD) biomethane plants in rural Ireland by 2030, reported Independent.ie. Members of the Renewable Gas Forum Ireland (RGFI) outlined that they have an ambition to achieve 2.5TWh of biomethane by 2030 and 9.5TWh by 2050. These plans would see the construction of 130 biomethane plants in rural Ireland by 2030, and... [Read More]

Drax, the UK’s biggest generator of renewable electricity, is expanding its rail fleet by investing in 30 new rail wagons to deliver the biomass it needs to generate enough renewable power for four million UK homes at its North Yorkshire power station. The upgraded high-capacity wagons manufactured by British firm WH Davis will help to further reduce Drax’s carbon... [Read More]

The ENplus® certification is known to be the only wood pellet quality scheme on the market to constantly combat fraud and follow up on quality issues. These efforts were recently supported by a special operation executed by the ENplus® National Licenser for Italy – AIEL Italian Agroforestry Energy Association, and Guardia di Finanza (Italian Fiscal Police). The... [Read More]