Sugarcane is not just for ethanol. Amryis Brasil S.A., the Brazilian arm of Amyris, has announced that it will be supplying 160 city buses in São Paulo with its Diesel de Cana, or renewable diesel produced from sugarcane. Beginning this August and expiring at the end of 2012, buses operated by the Viação Santa Brígida will run on a blend …
Brazil Reduces Ethanol Fuel Requirements
There has been speculation for several months that Brazil might reduce its country-wide ethanol fuel requirement. This has now become official. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has announced that in an effort to subdue inflation, the ethanol mandate will be reduced from the current blend level of 25 percent to either 18 percent or 20 percent and the final decision on …
Ethanol Summit Available Online
If you missed the Ethanol Summit this year, no worries. It is now available online via a dedicated YouTube channel. Sessions available online include all panels, plenary sessions and ceremonies from the event held this past June 6 & 7 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The summit was hosted by UNICA, the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association and as the keynote speaker …
LS9 To Test UltraClean Diesel, May Open Brazil Biodiesel Plant
LS9 has been making news with the announcement that they will collaborate with MAN Latin America to test their renewable diesel in both stationary engines and operational fleet vehicles in Brazil. The testing will cover performance, emissions, fuel consumption, and engine durability testing, as well as field testing of the company’s biofuel in Volkswagen trucks and buses. “Our collaboration with …
UNICA Supports End of Ethanol Tariff
Earlier this week, the Senate compromised on some ethanol legislation that would eliminate the ethanol blenders tax credit (VEETC) at the end of this month. The agreement also eliminates the ethanol tariff on July 31, 2011, five months ahead of the original expiration date of December 31, 2011. The bipartisan Ethanol Reform and Deficit Reduction Act was submitted by U.S. …
UNICA Launches Sugarcane Website
The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) recently launched a new website to promote “clean solutions from sugarcane.” SugarCane.org was launched during the 2011 Ethanol Summit in São Paulo, Brazil. “We decided to launch this new site to share knowledge and information with a growing global community of people who want to know how their food and energy choices affect our …
Amyris Expands Into Asia, Forms Novvi S.A.
Amyris is on the move the week announcing today that the company is expanding into Asia via a collaboration with Wilmer International Limited. The partnership will focus on the development and worldwide commercialization of a family of surfactants derived from Amyris Biofene for use in a multitude of products including personal care and consumer packaged goods. Biofene will be designed …
Brazil Exports Ethanol, Struggles to Meet Its Ethanol Demand
This month, Brazil has resumed exporting ethanol to the United States, at the same time the country is struggling to meet its own country’s demand for ethanol to fuel is flex fuel vehicles (FFVs). Ethanol producers in the country have expanded exponentially – there are more than 115 ethanol plants many of which have come online since 2005. However, despite …
Cosan and Shell Partner Form Raizen
Regulatory approvals have come through for Shell and Cosan’s partnership to called Raizen. The new company’s goal is to produce low-carbon biofuels from sugarcane. This Brazil-based multi-billion dollar venture is one of the largest to date. Raizen will produce and sell over 2 billion litres per year of ethanol produced from Brazilian sugarcane through the more than 4,500 Shell stations …
Bi-Fuel Ethanol-Diesel Vehicle Debuts in Brazil
Typically flex fuel vehicles are a combination of ethanol and gasoline or diesel and biodiesel. But inroads have been made to create flex fuel vehicles that use a combination of ethanol and diesel fuels. Iveco, FPT Industrial and Bosch officially debuted the Iveco Trakker Bi-Fuel Ethanol-Diesel vehicle at Agrishow last week in Ribeirão Preto, the country’s largest agricultural show. The …