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News and Trends
http://www.thebioenergysite.com/news/2314/cassava-ethanol-plant-for-cambodia Cambodia’s first ever bioethanol production plant was recently inaugurated. The $40-million production facility (a venture investment by MH Bioenery Group of South Korea) will utilize cassava flour as the primary raw material. The plant has a capacity of 36,000 tons ethanol per year, and will need an annual supply of about 100,000 tons of dry cassava flour as raw material. With a cassava flour production of 536,000 tons in 2005, the plant would effectively use about one-fifth of the country’s annual cassava flour output. The ethanol produced will be initially for export, especially for the European markets. According to Prime Minister Hun Sen, who attended the opening ceremony, “This is the first ethanol factory in Cambodia and it will become the market place of cassava product for local farmers"..
http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/environment_sciences/biodiesel_fish_waste_a_collaboration_project_123210.html The VTT Research Centre of Finland is venturing into biodiesel production from fish processing wastewater, in cooperation with some SME’s (small and medium scale enterprises) in Vietnam. The three-year “Enerfish” project is mainly funded by the EU (European Union) while the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland will finance the construction of the demonstration equipment in Vietnam. In addition to biodiesel production, the project team is also developing an energy saving cooling system for fish processing operations. The partners are planning to construct a biodiesel plant near a Vietnamese fish processing plant..
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/11/40-corn-ethanol-plants-may-go-under-by-early-2009.php?daylife=1 In addition to being drawn into the “food versus fuel” debate, corn ethanol producers are now also facing economic challenges. After the recent filing for bankruptcy of one of the largest corn ethanol production companies in the United States, more corn ethanol producers are seen to follow suit. In early November this year, VeraSun Energy Corporation (a company running 14 ethanol plants with a combined capacity of 1.4 billion gallons per year) filed for bankruptcy, citing huge losses in the third quarter of 2008, and a $1.5-billion debt. Losses were attributed to “spikes” in operating costs and low profit margins. (Recently, the price of ethanol also dropped from $2.90 per gallon last summer, to $1.70 per gallon in November). According to Mark Lakers, principal at Ag & Food Associates LLC of Omaha, the current list of bankrupt ethanol plants is 16, and the number will be seen to rise to about 40 by early 2009. He said the many of the ethanol producers cannot hedge their corn purchase prices anymore, and will not be able to meet financial commitments with their lenders. “There is a consolidation coming for ethanol”, he added.. Biofuels Processing
http://www.biobased.org/node/19142 A research agreement was recently signed by Swedish energy company, Taurus Energy, researchers from the University of Lund (Sweden), SEKAB, and other cooperators for the “development and large scale implementation of a new improved bio-technical process for production of ethanol from lignocellulose feedstocks based on Taurus' yeast technology for fermentation of both six and five-carbon sugars”. The “pentose-fermentation technology” from Taurus energy is reported to improve ethanol yields during the fermentation of sugars from the pretreatment and saccharification of lignocellulosic biomass. Pretreatment and saccharification usually strips-off the unwanted lignin from the biomass, and degrades the cellulosic material into simple sugars. The resulting sugar mixture (containing both 5-carbon and 6-carbon sugars) is usually fermented by yeasts into ethanol. Generally, only the 6-carbon sugars (“hexoses”) are preferentially utilized by the yeasts for ethanol production. The 5-carbon sugars (“pentoses”) are often unutilized or underutilized. According to SEKAB technical director, Jan Lindstedt, a 40% percent improvement in ethanol yield can result if the pentoses are fermented efficiently in continuous production. It could also lower production costs. In Stage 1 of the project, suitable yeasts with pentose-fermenting ability will be obtained, and the fermentation conditions optimized. Stage 2 will involve long term and large scale testing.. Biofuels Policy and Economicshttp://www.biofuels-news.com/content_item_details.php?item_id=121 The Biofuels International website recently posted a feature article on “Europe’s Patchwork of National Policies” on biofuels. Under the “Directive on the Promotion of the Use of Biofuels and Other renewable Fuels for Transport” (better known as the EU “Biofuels Directive”), member states are directed to take measures to replace 5.75% of all transport fossil fuels with biofuels by 2010. While the directive is in place, the report noted that there is “no harmonized European biofuel implementation policy”. Member states set national biofuel replacement targets (“ideally identical” to 5.75% by 2010), and are left to put up their own implementation strategies. The report made the following observations” (1) member states generally use one or a combination of the following implementation instruments: legislated mandates (fuel manufacturers, for example are obliged by law to achieve the national target), subsidies, or tax incentives, (2) the market environment (i.e., “openness” or “closeness” of the markets) vary in each member state, (3) some member states put strict regulations on fuel quality. The report concludes that it may be interesting to analyze the implementation strategies of the member countries in order to see which one provides the best results. Related information (capsule overview of the EU Biofuels Directive): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directive_on_the_Promotion_of_the_use_of_biofuels_and_other_renewable_fuels_for_transport http://www.bioenergywiki.net/index.php/European_Union http://www.lei.wur.nl/UK/newsagenda/archive/news/2008/Implications+of+the+European+Union+Biofuels+Directive.htm http://www.lei.wur.nl/NR/rdonlyres/FA64084A-0693-4F4A-83D5-7B8F648EFC39/61746/WillEUBiofuelPoliciesaffectGlobalAgriculturalMarke.pdf A report from the Agricultural Economics Research Institute (LEI) in Wageningen (Netherlands) gives an assessment of the impacts of the EU (European Union) Biofuels Directive (BFD) on agricultural land use, prices and diversity. The following are some highlights of the report: (1) incentives to increase (biofuel) feedstocks in the EU will likely result in increases in land prices and farm incomes, (2) the EU will not produce all the biofuel feedstocks needed for compliance with the BFD; consequently, land abundant countries in South and Central America will see expansions in biofuel crop production/land use, due to increased imports to the EU, (3) mandatory blending of biofuels will be necessary to achieve the Biofuel Directive targets in 2010 or 2020, (4) in order to meet economic and environmental objectives, biofuels (feedstock and processing) must be competitive; therefore, investments in research and development “are needed to obtain higher yields or better conversion technologies”. The full report can be accessed at the above URL.. http://www.biofuels-news.com/content_item_details.php?item_id=125 A recent feature from the Biofuels International website traced the beginnings of the biofuels industry, its development and realization, as it continues through its stages of “evolution”. According to the feature, the “biofuels revolution” was born in Europe five years ago, from ambitious environmental, energy security and national security policies. From the EU Biofuels Initiative for Transport in 2002, global interest and policy formulations for the development of biofuels “took root” in the United States, then in other countries like China and India. National support for biofuels, in the form of mandates, subsidies, tax incentives and Research/Development grants, resulted in the rapid development of the biofuels industry. However, as industry and investment in biofuels grew, countries have realized that increasing capacities of the biofuels industries were growing beyond the agricultural capacities of available arable lands. Adaptation to changes in market situations will be necessary for survival.. |
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