Other News

Canadian company Core BioFuel has produced a wood-to-fuel process to create high-octane, benzene-free, drop-in petrol. The fuel will be produced from dimethyl ether and Larry Melnichuk, vice president of process design and development at Core says the technology ‘performs better than expected’. He says: ‘The catalyst for this reaction did not produce benzene - which the EPA has…
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Technology, process and engineering solutions provider China New Energy's subsidiary, Guangdong Zhongke Tianyuan New Energy Science and Technology (ZKTY), has finished building a biogas plant for gas company Xin'ao. The plant is now operational, producing 7,000m3 of biogas a day. ZKTY is now developing a biogas recovery and purifying plant to be located at Kingway Beer Group's brewery in…
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Atlantec BioEnergy says it is to build an R&D demonstration plant on Prince Edward Island off Canada. The company recently purchased a facility in Cornwall in the UK and is also turning this into a demonstration plant by renovating it and installing its technology. Atlantec plans to use ‘non-traditional feedstocks’ to create the bioenergy, such as energy beets grown in the local…
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In Slovakia, Lexus Bratislava will build and operate two biogas plants in Ozd'any. The company is investing an estimated €4 million in each facility, which will generate renewable energy from biomass such as maize silage and sorghum. Each plant will produce 990kW of electricity and 985kW of heat. Lexus Bratislava is due to break ground on the plants in 2012 and they are slated for completion…
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In Oregon, US, Green Lane Energy has proposed to build an anaerobic digestion plant in Junction City. If granted approval the plant will generate 1,600kW/h of electricity from grass straw, fruit and vegetable waste and dairy manure. This is enough to power 1,500 households. Green Lane Energy could break ground on the AD before the end of this year, with operations scheduled to commence by…
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Three pasteurisation systems made by Landia are helping Shropshire Energy produce 2.5MW of renewable energy at its AD plant in Littleport, Cambridgeshire, UK. Designed as a free-standing unit that heat-treats organic waste so that the resulting thin substance can be used as an energy-efficient substrate, each of the three 8m3 pasteurisers at Shropshire Energy is fitted with an 11kW Landia Chopper…
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Southern Power has closed its Texas, US-based biomass-fired power plant following a bomb threat on 21 November. The company made the decision to shut the facility after a threatening note was found written inside a Portaloo. The plant will remain closed until after Thanksgiving, which will lead to a loss for $1.1 million (€800,000) for the company. Authorities are investigating the threat,…
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Vega Biofuels has entered into a joint venture agreement to manufacture green energy products from industrial hemp. The joint venture (JV) company includes Vega Biofuels and Oregon, US-based Now Corp., and it will operate under the name Vega Now from the Now Corp.'s property in Colorado. The two companies will be working together to test industrial hemp as a feedstock to produce various green…
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The Port of Amsterdam is preparing for a growth in biomass product as European countries look to replace existing coal-fired power plants with renewable materials. As the port gears up to meet the expected growth in this sector, new developments of fossil fuel terminals are no longer allowed, although expansion projects of existing terminals will still be able to go ahead. The Port of Amsterdam…
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KTG Agrar, a producer of agricultural commodities, has reached a 20MW milestone as it continues to expand its biogas capacity. To date the company generates enough electricity for 34,000 homes; a significant increase from the 28,000 households it served in mid-2011. This figure is set to increase further as KTG Agrar is currently building more biogas plants with a combined capacity of over…
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In Amel, Belgium, one utility company has co-fired fossil coal with biocoal supplied by renewable energy company 4Energy Invest. 4Energy Invest manufactures the biocoal, which it made from black torrefied woodchips, in its large-scale production unit. The co-firing trial lasted for around 20 hours. The utility reported successful results as it did not have to modify the existing power plant to…
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In Berlin, New Hampshire, US, a new programme has been set up to encourage local homeowners to convert from burning fossil fuels to wood pellets. The Model Neigborhood Project, a collaboration between the Northern Forest Center, Berlin BetterBuildings, the city of Berlin and Maine Energy Systems, is to offer subsidies to around 40 local homeowners to incentivise them to switch. These financial…
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In Pakistan, the Italian government, along with the Small Industries Development Board (SIDB) is to invest Rs50 million (€716,000) in the development of biogas plants in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The project will see 436 biogas plants erected throughout six districts: Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshera, Abbottabad, Haripur and Mansehra. Pakistan's potential for a thriving biogas sector…
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Canada-based wood pellet producer Biomass Secure Power has outlined its three-year growth plan. The company currently has five wood pellet production plants under development, which will manufacture a total 3.5 million tonnes of wood pellets a year. The first plant is slated to come online in 2012, with a further two to be ready for commissioning in 2013. The remaining two will be operational in…
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