Flint Hills Resources has completed the acquisition of an ethanol plant near Camilla, Georgia, from Southwest Georgia Ethanol, LLC. Flint Hills Resources' biofuels business now includes seven ethanol plants with a combined...more
On January 16, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted a petition from the Biobased and Renewable Products Advocacy Group (BRAG®) to add "biodiesel" as a chemical category for partial reporting exemption...more
The United Kingdom (UK) Department for Transport (DfT) announced the launch of a £25 million competition for funding to build advanced biofuel plants. The funding will eventually lead to the construction of up to three...more
On December 12, 2014, the Senate passed a House amendment to the Carl Levin and Howard P. "Buck" McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (NDAA FY15). The final version of the NDAA FY15 places...more
EPA announced that renewable fuels produced from sorghum biomass could qualify as cellulosic fuel under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). This is a result of a preliminary analysis of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions...more
On November 21, 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that a final Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for 2014 will not be issued by the end of the year. The compliance deadline for the 2013 RFS will be...more
On December 2, 2014, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced over $9 million in grants to support advanced biofuel production and the bioeconomy. More than $5 million in grants awarded to 220 producers nationwide are...more
Many of the top policymakers, leaders, and stakeholders in the bioeconomy gathered in San Francisco this week for ABLCNext. The Biobased and Renewable Products Advocacy Group's (BRAG®) Executive Director Kathleen Roberts...more
DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) recently announced three new subtopics related to bioenergy under its SBIR and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs...more
On October 29, 2014, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) announced that Appalachian Biofuels LLC will invest about $3.5 million to establish its headquarters and an enzymatic biodiesel production facility in St. Paul,...more
On October 22, 2014, Boeing and the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) opened the China-U.S. Aviation Biofuel Pilot Project, a demonstration facility that will turn used cooking oil into aviation biofuel at a...more
On October 21, 2014, the Biobased and Renewable Products Advocacy Group (BRAG®) submitted petitions to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requesting that biodiesel fuel manufacturers be granted the same Chemical...more
On October 21, 2014, the Biobased and Renewable Products Advocacy Group (BRAG®) submitted two petitions to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requesting that biodiesel fuel manufacturers be granted the same...more
On October 17, 2014, Abengoa opened -- and DOE Secretary Ernest Moniz dedicated -- the world's largest cellulosic biorefinery in Hugoton, Kansas. This second generation cellulosic ethanol plant will process 1,000 tons of...more
The Bioenergy Technologies Office within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), "Landscape Design for Sustainable Bioenergy Systems."...more
On October 21, 2014, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sued EPA. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. CREW alleges that EPA failed to comply with its Freedom of...more
On October 3, 2014, Agriculture Secretary Vilsack announced that USDA reached an agreement with Silicon Valley Bank to provide a $91 million Biorefinery Assistance Program loan guarantee to Cool Planet for a biofuel plant in...more
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $25 million in funding to reduce the cost of algal biofuels to less than $5 per gasoline gallon equivalent (gge) by 2019. On behalf of the Bioenergy Technologies Office...more
On September 19, 2014, Representatives Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Dave Loebsack (D-IA) introduced the Bridge to a Clean Energy Future Act of 2014 (H.R. 5559), which was referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. The...more
On September 29, 2014, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued an initial notice announcing the timeframes to submit applications for participation in the Advanced Biofuels Payment Program. Applications for...more
Winery waste is composed of the skins, pulp, stalks, and seeds that are left over after grapes have been pressed. This waste cannot be used for animal feed or composted, so it typically ends up as toxic landfill. Researchers...more
Researchers from the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products at the University of York worked with colleagues in France to discover variant straw plants whose cell walls are more easily broken down to make biofuels. Straw is...more
Last week, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke at a biofuel industry conference and addressed concerns raised over the likelihood that the final 2014 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) rule would...more
On September 19, 2014, Minnoco announced an expansion program which will allow Minnoco retailers to offer biofuels that perform better at lower costs. This includes the ability to offer E15, E30, E85, diesel fuel, and...more
On September 19, 2014, Secretary Vilsack was joined by Deputy Secretary of Energy, Dan Poneman, and Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, to announce contract awards to three separate companies to produce over one million gallons...more