Want to feel good about Internal Revenue Service this time of year? Well, maybe you won’t be doing the wave for tax collectors, but the IRS is helping out those filing tax credit claims for biodiesel mixtures and alternative fuels sold or used in 2012. Biodiesel Magazine explains that several fuel tax credits, including the cellulosic biofuel producer credit, the …
Partnership for Sustainable Cellulosic Feedstock Harvesting
USDA has announced a new collaboration with DuPont to promote sustainable harvesting of bio-based feedstocks for cellulosic ethanol. The joint agreement between USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and DuPont aims to set voluntary standards for the sustainable harvesting of agricultural residues for renewable fuel, and supports rural job creation, additional income for farmers, bio-based energy development, and the safeguarding …
Mascoma Drops IPO
According to several sources, Mascoma Corporation has withdrawn its registration for its planned initial public offering (IPO). The company had hoped to raise as much as $100 million through the offering. The biofuel company has been focused on developing enzymes for breakdown of sugars in the cellulosic ethanol production process. In a filing, the company said it had determined not …
Stover Harvesting Requires Careful Management
According to Purdue University researchers, removing corn stover from agricultural fields to produce cellulosic ethanol requires careful management to avoid adding greenhouse gas emissions and soil erosion to the environment. However, environmental impacts from stover removal can be reduced by switching to no-till corn or adding winter cover crops, but these practices likely would increase production costs, researchers reported in …
Renewable Fuels Leaders Refute Oil Industry Claims
Leaders of Fuels America held a press conference this morning to “preemptively answer misinformation on renewable fuel blends and gasoline prices” in a new report by the American Petroleum Institute. Speaking in defense of the renewable fuels industry were the heads of several industry organizations and companies, including Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis, Renewable Fuels Association CEO Bob Dinneen, Advanced …
KiOR Delivers Cellulosic Diesel
KiOR, Inc. has announced the initial shipments of cellulosic diesel from its commercial scale facility in Columbus, Mississippi. The biorefinery uses pine wood chips and produces gasoline and diesel, the first renewable hydrocarbon fuels in the U.S. manufactured at commercial scale with no compatibility issues. KiOR’s renewable gasoline is also the first renewable cellulosic gasoline ever registered by the Environmental …
Sweetwater World Biofuels Award
A New York-based cellulosic sugar producer has received the 2013 Sustainable Biofuels Feedstock Process Award. Sweetwater Energy received the award at this year’s World Biofuels Markets and Bio-based Chemicals Conference currently being held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The award recognizes the most exciting new feedstock innovation in the development of truly sustainable and renewable fuel and chemical solutions in the …
ZeaChem Closer to Commercializing Cellulosic Ethanol
Cellulosic ethanol got a little closer to commercialization with an announcement today from ZeaChem, Inc. ZeaChem officials report they have produced commercial-grade cellulosic chemicals and ethanol at their 250,000 gallons per year (GPY) biorefinery in Boardman, Ore. “ZeaChem is developing the first truly-integrated biorefineries for the production of a broad portfolio of economical and sustainable biofuels and bio-based chemicals,” said …
Cellulosic Biofuels Begin to Flow
U.S. cellulosic biofuels production totaled about 20,000 gallons last year, way below the 500 million gallons target set by Congress. In a recent addition of “Today in Energy,” the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) looks at the American cellulosic biofuels industry and how production may sharply rise in 2013. According to the brief, several companies combined to produce about 20,000 …
EPA Approves New Biofuel Pathways Under RFS
Camelina, energy cane and renewable gasoline are now added to the list of qualifying feedstocks and fuels approved by the Environmental Protection Agency for use under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). EPA released its final rule to identify additional fuel pathways that meet the “lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction requirements for biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel, and cellulosic biofuel” under the …