News

Drax Biomass International is to plan for three projects in the Gulf region. It expects to begin construction of two pellet manufacturing plants in Louisiana and Mississippi, as well as storage and loading facilities at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge, during the first half of 2013. The manufacturing facilities, Amite BioEnergy in Mississippi and Morehouse BioEnergy in Louisiana, are expected…
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Renewable energy watchdog for Europe EurObserv’er has calculated the final gross energy consumption for the 27 European member states. There has been an estimated rise of nearly 1% over 2011, which finished on 13.4%, compared to 2010 on 12.5%. The report believes the increase in renewable energy share across the 27 states can be explained by the combination of a slightly higher gross…
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Malaysia-based developer of a dedicated biotechnology park and ecosystem, Malaysian Bio-XCell, has unveiled its new Central Hub facility to support the country’s Bioeconomy Transportation Programme. Based in Johor, the Central Hub will serve as the focal point in the Bio-XCell biotechnology park, acting as a catalyst for a biotechnology ecosystem in Iskandar Malaysia.  The complex…
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A consortium is to use a multi-million euro grant to construct a large-scale biomass refinery in the Netherlands. The companies involved are BioMCN, Siemens, Linde, and Visser and Smit Hanab, which received a €199 million NER300 grant to fund the project also known as Woodspirit. NER300 is a financing instrument, jointly managed by the European Commission (EC), European Investment Bank and…
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Bioenergy and bio-based product sectors received a $10 million (€7.5 million) boost from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) this month. The announcement was made by agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack, who also highlighted the growth potential in the automobile industry of bio-based products via research conducted by the Iowa State University USDA’s National Institute of Food and…
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Researchers at Clemson University and commercial forestry business ArborGen are to jointly study the potential use of poplar trees for bioenergy and biofuels feedstock in the US. The South Carolina-based project will see the pair plant thousands of poplar trees on-site at the university’s Pee Dee Centre. ArborGen's southeastern field research manager David Brown says that positive results…
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A new agreement has been signed that will see Cenovus Energy purchase the carbon dioxide created by a new carbon capture and storage facility under construction by SaskPower. Cenovus will purchase the full volume of CO2, approximately 1 million tonnes per year, captured at the Saskatchewan-based facility and use it for enhanced oil recovery at a nearby project it operates on behalf of its…
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North America-based energy company Emera has acquired Brooklyn Energy, a biomass electrical co-generation facility, located in Nova Scotia. The $25 million (€18.8 million) transaction was completed alongside the government of Nova Scotia.‘Brooklyn Energy and its employees are an important addition to our energy generation portfolio because they produce electricity in accordance with…
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Plasco Energy Group has proposed a waste conversion facility to be constructed in Ottawa, Canada. An agreement has been signed with the City of Ottawa and the plant is set to convert around 150,000 tonnes of waste a year. The City has signed up to supply 109,500 tonnes per year of Ottawa's municipal solid waste and has first refusal to supply the balance of plant capacity for the first 20 years,…
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China-based Sino Bioenergy has completed a transaction to own a controlling stake in Huizhou Biotech. Sino has spent $13.5 million (€10.1 million) to acquire a 55% stake in the research company, which will produce around 3,000 tonnes of rice as biomass feedstock a year. ‘This is a significant acquisition that will start producing profit immediately for us,’ says Sino CEO Daniel…
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A biomass project slated for construction near Truckee, US has been given the green light by the Placer County Planning Commission. Approval for the 2MW facility was awarded on 20 December and it will convert local wood biomass into gas to power turbines to produce electricity. The facility will be based over 11,000m2 and a further one acre area will be used for fuel storage. A contractor is due…
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The global wood pellet market for power plants and heating is expected to grow annually by 14.1% and reach a value of €20,073 million by 2023, according to Transparency Market Research. Wood pellets production has increased substantially in the past few years, owing to the implementation of stringent emission norms in Europe and North America. High energy density and easy…
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US-based technology provider ArborGen has signed a long-term partnership with the College of Charleston Foundation to support forest conservation and restoration efforts. Its first order of business was to donate 75,000 Longleaf Pone seedlings that will be planted over the next few months across 144 acres of Dixie plantation. ‘We are grateful for ArborGen’s partnership,’ says…
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US-based Enova Wood Pellet Group has signed a long-term port agreement as it looks to solidify a presence in Georgia and South Carolina. The deal was inked with Georgia Kaolin Terminals (GKT) and will provide Enova with enough capacity to export up to 1.35 million tonnes of wood pellets via the facility in Savannah. GKT is a subsidiary of the Colonial Group. ‘This is a milestone for Enova…
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