Novozymes continues to lead the way in biomass technologies with their new announcement that they are partnering with Dacheng Group, a major starch processing company based in China, to develop technologies designed to produce household cleaning products and plastics from agricultural waste. Both plastics and cleaning products typically have petroleum as one of their ingredients. As part of the partnership, …
Brazil and US Ethanol Spar Over California Standard
In a court brief filed last week, the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA), Brazil’s ethanol trade association, defended California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) against lawsuits filed by the petroleum, trucking and ethanol industries of the United States. “With about one in every ten U.S. cars driven in California, the largest state in the country with one of the highest …
UNICA: Stop High Tariffs on Clean Technologies
The ethanol tariff debate continues as today, Marcos Jink, President and CEO of the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) told World Trade Organization’s Director-General, Pascal Lamy, during a presentation that, “It makes no sense for countries to adopt ambitious policies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while continuing to apply high tariffs on clean technologies that can be instrumental to …
Brazil Eliminates Tariff on Ethanol Imports
In a bid to get the United States to eliminate tariffs on imported ethanol, the Brazilian government has announced it will reduce their tax on ethanol imports to zero from the current 20 percent through the end of next year. The Brazilian Chamber of Foreign Trade (CAMEX) announced the temporary reduction Monday and it is expected to go into effect …
UK Report on Food Crisis Vindicates Ethanol
A new report commissioned by the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has concluded that drought and high oil prices, not biofuels, were behind the so-called food crisis of 2007/2008. “Available evidence suggests that biofuels had a relatively small contribution to the 2008 spike in agricultural commodity prices,” the report noted. “Studies which have found a large …
Biodiesel Focus of GM, DOE Study
General Motors has announced a five-year partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy to study using jatropha plants for biodiesel. UPI reports that the test sites in India will look at whether jatropha can produce enough oil for the green fuel: Farms with more than 200 acres of the drought-resistant, non-edible plant will host life-cycle studies near GM plants in …
Record Global Ethanol Production Forecast
The Global Renewable Fuels Alliance (GRFA) has released its 2010 production forecast for ethanol which indicates a positive trend for growth in the industry. Total ethanol production for 2009 was 73.9 billion litres (19.5 billion gallons) according to data assembled by F.O. Licht. The GRFA predicts global production will reach 85.9 billion litres (22.7 billion gallons) in 2010, up more …
Brazilian Ethanol Powers IndyCar Series Again
The IZOD IndyCar Series makes its debut this weekend in South America with the Sao Paulo Indy 300 powered by Brazilian ethanol. The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) has renewed its fuel supply agreement with the Indy Racing League for the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season, which opens on Sunday, March 14, with a race in Brazil’s largest city, São …
R4R – Research for Renewables Event Launched
Everyone needs an excuse to go to Italy and now you have one – Solarexpo. Solarexpo in an international conference and expo on renewable energy and distributed generation. The event will be held on May 5-7, 2010 in Italy and as part of the event, is launching the R4R – Research for Renewables event. R4R is a “research consortium” of …
Shipping Giant Maersk to Test Biodiesel
Dutch shipping giant Maersk Line is joining with Lloyd’s Register to test biodiesel in its marine engines for the next two years. This story from the Journal of Commerce says the feasibility study on the container ship Maersk Kalmar will be funded in part by the Dutch government: Using fatty acid methyl esters – a biodiesel product known as FAME …