This morning Novozymes held is annual 2009 4th quarter sales call and earning report and overall it was favorable. While 2009 began with a rocky start for Novozymes and the majority of the ethanol industry, with effective management the company was able to finish off the year on a positive note. Steen Riisgaard, President and CEO, noted, “After a shaky …
Iogen Makes Cellulosic Ethanol Gains
Iogen Corporation is moving cellulosic ethanol closer to commercial reality. The Canadian company produced over 581,000 liters (153,484 gallons) of cellulosic ethanol in 2009, more than double its 2008 production. That brings the company’s total cumulative production to more than one million liters since 2004, heading cellulosic ethanol into the realm of viable commercial production. “Advanced renewable fuels such as …
Brazil May Reduce Level of Ethanol Blends
With a shortfall of sugarcane due to excessive rain, Brazil’s Agriculture Minister Reinhold Stephanes announced that they are considering reducing the amount of mandatory ethanol blended with gasoline. Today, all stations are required to sell gasoline mixed with a minimum of 20-25 percent ethanol. If enacted, the change could take effect as soon as this week but Stephanes has not …
Japanese Whalers Sink Biodiesel Boat
A biodiesel-fueled boat that set the world record for circumnavigating the globe (see my post from June 27, 2008) has been sunk by a vessel accompanying Japanese whaling ships. According to WCJB World News, the Earthrace (now owned by the environmental organization Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and renamed the Ady Gil), a 79-foot “batmobile-looking” trimaran, was sunk by Japanese sailors …
Bunge to Expand Sugar Business in Brazil
There has been quite a bit of activity in Brazil during the last few months of 2009 and it looks like it will continue. Bunge Limited announced today that it will become the 100 percent owner of Usina Moema Participacoes S.A. Moema Par is a holding company that owns one sugarcane mill and has ownership in five others. Together the …
Ethanol Buses Gaining Ground in Sao Paulo
Ethanol-powered buses are gaining ground in Sao Paulo, the largest city in Brazil. While it is unusual to see ethanol used in replacement of diesel fuel in diesel engines in the States, it is not so uncommon in other areas. In 1993, a group of companies began working together to discover a solution for mass transport and its relationship to …
Gen. Clark Focuses on Security During COP15
Growth Energy’s Co-Chairman (Ret.) Gen. Wesley Clark, warned today that continuing dependence on petroleum for automotive fuel is not only a carbon risk, but is a security risk as well. Clark delivered this message during a side event hosted by the Danish Climate Consortium and organized by Novozymes during the COP15 conference in Copenhagen. Gen. Clark’s remarks were part of …
Algae Biodiesel Maker Teams with Japanese
California-based algae biodiesel producer OriginOil Inc. has signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan’s Research Institute of Tsukuba Bio-Tech (RITB) to develop algae-to-jet fuel technologies. This article from Biomass Magazine says the deal comes on the heels of RITB getting money from the Japan Science and Technology Agency to develop algae-to-jet fuel applications: Headed by Tsukuba University professor emeritus and …
Copenhagen Seen as Good for Biodiesel, Ethanol
The Copenhagen Climate Change Summit, which started this week in Denmark, could be good for biodiesel and ethanol. Biodiesel Magazine reports that while not everyone agrees exactly on what the political negotiations will bring, an expected deal … if not a full treaty … outlining a carbon pricing or cap-and-trade system that puts a price on carbon will be a …
Waste-to-Biodiesel Producer Chosen as Tech Pioneer
A California-based biodiesel producer that makes the green fuel out of contaminated wastewater fats, oils and greases … better known as wastewater FOG … has been recognized internationally as a Technology Pioneer. This press release from BioFuelBox says the World Economic Forum in Switzerland has selected the company as a 2010 Technology Pioneer: The only waste-to-energy company to win this …