Other News

Algae-based green crude oil producers Sapphire Energy’s first phase of its Green Crude Farm, which it claims is the world’s first commercial demonstration algae-to-energy facility, is now operational. The construction of this first phase began on 1 June last year and was completed on time and on budget. The  facility aims to produce 1.5 million gallons per year of crude oil and…
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Clean energy project developer Camco International has announced that Camco Southeast Asia (Camca SEA) is to embark on its first biogas clean energy project; a 2MW anaerobic digestion plant using palm oil mill effluent (POME). The biogas plant will be built at a palm oil mill in Palong, Pahang state, Malaysia. When construction is finished – planned for early 2013 – the electricity…
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The total amount of dry bulk handled in the Port of Rotterdam fell by 8.7% to 39.4 million tonnes in the first half of 2012. Agribulk (grains, seeds, animal feed ingredients) throughput was down by a tenth to 4.1 million tonnes. The port puts these numbers down to an increase in the price of products on the world market and also that a few packages won from Amsterdam last year were lost…
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A $1.37 million (€1.1 million) grant is set to allow researchers to study and potentially develop shrub willow as a bioenergy crop. Associate professor of horticulture at Cornell University Larry Smart and professor at the J. Craig Venter Institute will partner to study the genetics of hybrid shrub willow, itself a cool-climate, perennial woody plant. ‘Determining the precise genetic…
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Developer of second generation biofuels technology TMO Renewables has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the authorities of Heilongjiang, China. The MoU will see TMO provide long-term large volume biomass feedstock supply for future biofuel production facilities from Heilongjiang State Farm, the largest state owned farming corporation in China. The MoU is also the first step towards…
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Bioethanol producer Ensus has announced the restarting of its £300 million bioethanol plant in Teeside, UK by the end of August after a 15-month enforced shutdown. The move follows the closure of a loophole in the tariff system by the European Union’s Customs Code Committee which allowed imports of subsidised US product to distort the market. Coupled with the ending of the US taxpayer…
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Energy company Centrica has come out and clarified the potential output of a proposed biomass power station. There was confusion over the plant’s potential capacity as Cumbria County and Barrow Borough Councils believed it to be 90MW, whereas a letter to the Planning Inspectorate had it penned at 80MW. ‘We have made it very clear in our Preliminary Environmental Information that the…
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Global supplier of environmental and energy systems Air Products is to build and operate what it is calling ‘the world’s largest renewable energy plant ‘. The Tees Valley plant, to be located at the New Energy and Technology Business Park, UK will use advanced gasification energy-from-waste technology and have a capacity of 50MW. Air Products expects the plant to produce enough…
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A local Australian council has instigated a Bioenergy Support Programme to help interested individuals and businesses become more sustainable through bioenergy. Ararat Rural City Council and the Department of Sustainability and Environment has made council bioenergy support officer Daryl Scherger more directly available to discuss ideas and pathways for those wanting to explore bioenergy…
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Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has awarded a contract to Aecon Group's industrial division to begin work on its Atikokan Generating Station (GS) biomass conversion project. Aecon will be responsible for the design and construction of fuel handling and storage systems for the generating station conversion. OPG want to make the Atikokan GS one of the largest biomass plants in North America by being…
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A joint-venture project called Ineos New Planet BioEnergy (INPB) has been granted parts 79 and 80 registration from the US Environmental Protection Agency for the production and sale of advanced bioethanol from non-food waste materials.  Headed by waste to biofuel company Ineos Bio, the notice of registration came after successful completion of the construction of the Indian River Bioenergy…
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Saxlund International, the fully-owned subsidiary of German energy and environmental technology group Opcon AB, has been commissioned to deliver of a biomass handling system to a coal-fired power plant in Berlin. The 248MW coal-fired power plant is being prepared for biomass co-firing and Saxlund will provide external and internal biomass handling systems, including wood reception areas, as well…
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Questions are being raised by the residents of Truckee, California about potential health implications over a proposed new renewable energy project. A meeting between residents and Brett Storey, project manager of biomass programmes at Placer County, took place in August. The new facility would convert wood debris from forest service thinning projects into sustainable energy. Storey relayed the…
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SCA Timber’s Bollsta sawmill in Bollstabruk, Sweden has increased its capacity for the production of bioenergy, limiting its need of fossil fuels. An old on-site boiler has been replaced by two new ones that use Nordic pine bark and other residue from the production of wood-based fuel products. The use of oil at Bollsta sawmill has been reduced from 3,400 cubic metres per year to almost…
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