Saab will introduce its BioPower flex-fuel options to its entire 9-3 range, including Sport Sedan, SportCombi and Convertible bodystyles, at the Geneva auto show.
GreenCarCongress - March 2, 2007.
British oil giant BP plans to invest around US$50 million in Indonesia's biofuel industry, using jatropha oil as feedstock. BP will build biofuel plants with an annual capacity of 350,000 tons for which it will need to set up jatropha curcas plantations covering 100,000 hectares of land, to guarantee supply of feedstock, an official said.
Antara [*cache] - March 2, 2007.
The government of Taiwan has decided to increase the acreage dedicated to biofuel crops -- soybean, rape, sunflower, and sweet potato -- from 1,721 hectares in 2006 to 4,550 hectares this year, the Council of Agriculture said.
China Post - March 2, 2007.
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners has announced plans to invest up to €76/US$100 million to expand its terminal facilities to help serve the growing biodiesel market. KMP has entered into long-term agreements with Green Earth Fuels, LLC to build up to 1.3 million barrels of tankage that will handle approximately 8 million barrels of biodiesel production at KMP's terminals on the Houston Ship Channel, the Port of New Orleans and in New York Harbor.
PRNewswire - March 1, 2007.
A project to build a 130 million euro ($172 million) plant to produce 200,000 cubic metres of bioethanol annually was announced by three German groups on Tuesday. The plant will consume about 600,000 tonnes of wheat annually and when operational in the first half of 2009 should provide about a third of Germany's estimated bioethanol requirements.
Reuters - Feb. 27, 2007.
Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs has announced that government vehicles in Taipei City will begin using E3 fuel, composed of 97% gasoline and 3% ethanol, on a trial basis in 2007.
Automotive World - Feb. 27, 2007.
Spanish company Ferry Group is to invest €42/US$55.2 million in a project for the production of biomass fuel pellets in Bulgaria.
The 3-year project consists of establishing plantations of paulownia trees near the city of Tran. Paulownia is a fast-growing tree used for the commercial production of fuel pellets.
Dnevnik - Feb. 20, 2007.
Hungary's BHD Hõerõmû Zrt. is to build a 35 billion Forint (€138/US$182 million) commercial biomass-fired power plant with a maximum output of 49.9 MW in Szerencs (northeast Hungary).
Portfolio.hu - Feb. 20, 2007.
Tonight at 9pm, BBC Two will be showing a program on geo-engineering techniques to 'save' the planet from global warming. Five of the world's top scientists propose five radical scientific inventions which could stop climate change dead in its tracks. The ideas include: a giant sunshade in space to filter out the sun's rays and help cool us down; forests of artificial trees that would breath in carbon dioxide and stop the green house effect and a fleet futuristic yachts that will shoot salt water into the clouds thickening them and cooling the planet.
BBC News - Feb. 19, 2007.
Archer Daniels Midland, the largest U.S. ethanol producer, is planning to open a biodiesel plant in Indonesia with Wilmar International Ltd. this year and a wholly owned biodiesel plant in Brazil before July, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The Brazil plant is expected to be the nation's largest, the paper said. Worldwide, the company projects a fourfold rise in biodiesel production over the next five years. ADM was not immediately available to comment.
Reuters - Feb. 16, 2007.
Finnish engineering firm Pöyry Oyj has been awarded contracts by San Carlos Bioenergy Inc. to provide services for the first bioethanol plant in the Philippines. The aggregate contract value is EUR 10 million. The plant is to be build in the Province of San Carlos on the north-eastern tip of Negros Island. The plant is expected to deliver 120,000 liters/day of bioethanol and 4 MW of excess power to the grid.
Kauppalehti Online - Feb. 15, 2007.
In order to reduce fuel costs, a Mukono-based flower farm which exports to Europe, is building its own biodiesel plant, based on using Jatropha curcas seeds. It estimates the fuel will cut production costs by up to 20%.
New Vision (Kampala, Uganda) - Feb. 12, 2007.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has decided to use 10% biodiesel in its fleet of public buses. The world's largest city is served by the Toei Bus System, which is used by some 570,000 people daily.
Digital World Tokyo - Feb. 12, 2007.
Fearing lack of electricity supply in South Africa and a price tag on CO2, WSP Group SA is investing in a biomass power plant that will replace coal in the Letaba Citrus juicing plant which is located in Tzaneen.
Mining Weekly - Feb. 8, 2007.
In what it calls an important addition to its global R&D capabilities, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) is to build a new bioenergy research center in Hamburg, Germany.
World Grain - Feb. 5, 2007.
EthaBlog's Henrique Oliveira interviews leading Brazilian biofuels consultant Marcelo Coelho who offers insights into the (foreign) investment dynamics in the sector, the history of Brazilian ethanol and the relationship between oil price trends and biofuels.
EthaBlog - Feb. 2, 2007.
The government of Taiwan has announced its renewable energy target: 12% of all energy should come from renewables by 2020. The plan is expected to revitalise Taiwan's agricultural sector and to boost its nascent biomass industry.
China Post - Feb. 2, 2007.
Production at Cantarell, the world's second biggest oil field, declined by 500,000 barrels or 25% last year. This virtual collapse is unfolding much faster than projections from Mexico's state-run oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos.
Wall Street Journal - Jan. 30, 2007.
Dubai-based and AIM listed Teejori Ltd. has entered into an agreement to invest â¬6 million to acquire a 16.7% interest in Bekon, which developed two proprietary technologies enabling dry-fermentation of biomass. Both technologies allow it to design, establish and operate biogas plants in a highly efficient way. Dry-Fermentation offers significant advantages to the existing widely used wet fermentation process of converting biomass to biogas.
Ame Info - Jan. 22, 2007.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited is to build a biofuel production plant in the tribal belt of Banswara, Rajasthan, India. The petroleum company has acquired 20,000 hectares of low value land in the district, which it plans to commit to growing jatropha and other biofuel crops. The company's chairman said HPCL was also looking for similar wasteland in the state of Chhattisgarh.
Zee News - Jan. 15, 2007.
The Zimbabwean national police begins planting jatropha for a pilot project that must result in a daily production of 1000 liters of biodiesel.
The Herald (Harare), Via AllAfrica - Jan. 12, 2007.
In order to meet its Kyoto obligations and to cut dependence on oil, Japan has started importing biofuels from Brazil and elsewhere. And even though the country has limited local bioenergy potential, its Agriculture Ministry will begin a search for natural resources, including farm products and their residues, that can be used to make biofuels in Japan. To this end, studies will be conducted at 900 locations nationwide over a three-year period.
The Japan Times - Jan. 12, 2007.
Chrysler's chief economist Van Jolissaint has launched an arrogant attack on "quasi-hysterical Europeans" and their attitudes to global warming, calling the Stern Review 'dubious'. The remarks illustrate the yawning gap between opinions on climate change among Europeans and Americans, but they also strengthen the view that announcements by US car makers and legislators about the development of green vehicles are nothing more than window dressing. Today, the EU announced its comprehensive energy policy for the 21st century, with climate change at the center of it.
BBC News - Jan. 10, 2007.
The new Canadian government is investing $840,000 into BioMatera Inc. a biotech company that develops industrial biopolymers (such as PHA) that have wide-scale applications in the plastics, farmaceutical and cosmetics industries. Plant-based biopolymers such as PHA are biodegradable and renewable.
Government of Canada - Jan. 9, 2007.
Brazil's biofuels sector has had a busy week again, with the launch of the International Biofuels Forum (earlier post), an investment for the creation of the world's largest biodiesel plant, and news about a new biofuel pipeline aimed at transporting ethanol and biodiesel to export facilities on the Atlantic.
Largest biodiesel plant First of all, recently falling oil prices are not scaring a group of Brazilian and U.S. ivestors who are planning to build the world's largest biodiesel plant in Sumare, a small town in the interior of Sao Paulo state. The new biofuel company behind the project is called Brasil Eco Energia. Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Relations has the following details:
Investors: David DeWind, two Brazilian businessmen and a couple of U.S. funds are involved in the 600 million reais (€214.6/US$273.9 million) investment to create Brasil Eco Energia. DeWind owns Brasil Bio Energia, a eucalpytus and reforestation company serving the paper and pulp industry, located in Piaui state in northern Brazil. One of the Brazilian investors - Jose Americo Ribeiro dos Santos - is a business owner of Latin America's largest grain storage facility, capable of storing 405,000 tons of grains.
Capacity: the biodiesel plant will be capable of producing 835 million liters of biofuel annually. This comes down to around 14,500 barrels per day of oil equivalent.
Feedstock: Brasil Eco Energia will use soybeans as its feedstock, with purchases of 3.5 million metric tons of soybeans expected annually, that will be crushed at its plant in Sumare.
Construction begins in the first quarter of 2007, with the facility fully operational by 2008.
In that year, Brazil's mandate to blend a 2% mix of biofuel in all diesel fuel will be implemented. The Brazil biodiesel market will consume some 800 million liters just to meet this 2% mix rule. But according to recent government estimates, the biodiesel share could be increase to 5% by 2010 (earlier post).
Demand from the local market will grow fastest because Brazil burns two and a half times more diesel than ethanol, currently Brazil's No. 1 renewable fuel source. Brazil's energy giant, Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR), or Petrobras, says Brazil imports about 30% of the diesel it consumes, adding to overhead costs in the country's agricultural sector.
Demand for cheaper diesel is what led Brazil to adopt the diesel mixture in the first place. Moreover, Petrobras is creating its own, innovative diesel mixture called H-Bio, to meet projected demand (earlier post). Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) is also planning to build a biodiesel plant in Mato Grosso, which will produce all of its fuel from soybeans.
Multi-fuel pipeline Also this week, Petrobras - the country's state-owned oil & gas company, announced that the Brazilian southern state of Paraná will have a multi-fuel pipeline, which will transport ethanol from the midwestern states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, and the northern region of the state of Paraná to the Atlantic Port of Paranaguá, where the fuel will be exported: biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: ethanol :: biodiesel :: biofuels :: pipeline :: Brazil :: With a capacity for 18 million liters per year, the work, which will have an investment of approximately 2 billion reais (€715.3/US$ 940.7 million), is part of the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) of the Brazilian federal government, and was confirmed last Thursday, March 1st, Brazil's Ministry of Planning, Paulo Bernardo, in Curitiba, the capital of Paraná state.
The multi-pipeline, which will also be capable of transporting gasoline and diesel, is going to cross the city of Araucária, in the Greater Curitiba region, where the Presidente Getúlio Vargas Refinery is based. The plant has a processing capacity of 189,000 oil barrels per day.
The multi-pipeline is part of a set of infrastructure projects for the southern Brazilian region, which, according to federal government plans, will receive investments of up to 37.5 billion reais (€13.4/US$ 17.6 billion) by 2010. The funds will be invested in the construction of roads, ports and airports, in partnership with the private sector.
International research effort underway to sequence cassava genome, which may result in increased starch yields - USDA Agricultural Research Service - Aug. 30, 2006
Cassava has one of the highest rates of CO2 fixation and sucrose synthesis for any C3 plant. With this in mind, researchers from Ohio State University develop transgenic cassava with starch yields up 2.6 times higher than normal plants by increasing the sink strength for carbohydrate in the crop. This means cassava makes for a 'super crop' when it comes to both CO2 fixation and carbohydrate production, i.e. sugars, the feedstock for ethanol - Plant Biotechnology Journal - Volume 4/Issue 4 - July 2006
Vietnam's Institute of Tropical Biology to invest in Jatropha research - Le courrier du Vietnam - Sept. 6, 2006
Genetic study proves humans have pushed orangutans to the brink of extinction; genetic decline coincides with establishment of oil palm plantations in Malaysia/Indonesia since the 1950/60s- Public Library of Science / BiologyVolume 4/Issue 2 - February, 2006
Researchers at the International Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics have developed a sweet sorghum for the production of ethanol. The new variety has a very high sugar content in its root. Average yields in trial fields in the Philippines were between 95 to 125 tons, considerably higher than those of sugarcane - ICRISAT - Feb. 28, 2007
Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania, develops sorghum and millet processing technologies suitable for local conditions in effort to empower small farmers - IPP Media - Sept. 6, 2006
South Africa blocks GM Sorghum project for fears over contamination of local wild sorghums - Kruger Park - Aug. 26, 2006
Brazilian state of Acre intends to make cattle ranchers reforest land which they have cleared for grazing. The sustainable forestry policy is based on replanting economic tree crops such as mahogany, acai, Brazil nut and palms - BBCNews Sept. 27, 2006
Illegal deforestation of acacia for charcoal is becoming a serious problem in Kenya's Naivasha area. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai's Green Belt Movement re-afforests with acacia but needs more support to win fight against illegal loggers - Kenya Times Sept. 5, 2006
Australian scientists are conducting a 'time-machine' experiment to see how eucalyptus trees cope with increased levels of CO2 and global warming. - University of Western Sydney Aug. 28, 2006
Bamboo planting can slow deforestation, scientists from the International Center for Research in Agroforestry in Nairobi, Kenya, say. Bamboo rapidly becoming economically beneficial crop with large potential for energy, bioremediation, and afforestation - Chosun (S.Korea) Aug. 30, 2006
"The beauty of miscanthus is that you only have to sow it once...Because of the way it grows, there is no need for fertilisers or chemicals", an English entrepreneur talks about his experience with Miscanthus as an energy crop - Grantham Today Aug. 8, 2006
Saab will introduce its BioPower flex-fuel options to its entire 9-3 range, including Sport Sedan, SportCombi and Convertible bodystyles, at the Geneva auto show.
Brazil's biofuels sector has had a busy week again, with the launch of the International Biofuels Forum (earlier post), an investment for the creation of the world's largest biodiesel plant, and news about a new biofuel pipeline aimed at transporting ethanol and biodiesel to export facilities on the Atlantic.
biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: ethanol :: biodiesel :: biofuels :: pipeline :: Brazil :: 
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