UNICA joins Global Renewable Fuels Alliance
By Global Renewable Fuels Alliance
July 14, 2015
On July 13, the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance welcomed UNICA, the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association, as its newest member. UNICA is the largest organization in Brazil representing sugar, ethanol and bioelectricity producers.
Ceres Inc. has released financial results for its fiscal third quarter, reporting the company is continuing to realign its focus towards food and forage opportunities and biotechnology traits, rather than bioenergy markets.
The Auto Channel has launched the Ethanol Chronicles. A long-time champion for ethanol, copublisher Marc Rauch describes the blog as "lively, spirited and sometimes humorous repartee concerning energy issues."
Converting large tracts of the Midwest's marginal farming land to perennial biofuel crops carries with it some key unknowns, including how it could affect the balance of water between rainfall, evaporation and movement of soil water to groundwater.
The same process plants use to respond to environmental stress acts as an on/off switch for a key enzyme in wood formation, NC State researchers have found. The discovery improves scientists' understanding of how lignin is formed and can be altered.
On July 2, the White House issued a memo on modernizing the regulatory system for biotechnology products to heads of the U.S. EPA, USDA and U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It outlines several actions the agencies will take over the next year.
The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations has published a new agricultural outlook predicting that ethanol and biodiesel use will continue to grow over the next decade, although at a slower pace.
The market has been under pressure as the major corn growing region got planted early and has received beneficial moisture. This had slowed producer movement and encouraged managed money to garner a short position in corn.
The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has announced its intent to issue a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) targeting innovative technologies and solutions to help advance bioenergy development.
ACE: Fuel retailers counter EPA's blend wall assumptions
By American Coalition for Ethanol
June 29, 2015
Station owners who offer ethanol blends above 10 percent are gaining increased sales and higher customer counts, contrary to assumptions made by the U.S. EPA in its recent proposal for the renewable fuel standard (RFS).
UNICA, the Brazilian sugarcane association, has announced mills in the country's south-central region produced 1.66 billion liters (438.53 million gallons) of ethanol during the first half of June, including 1.02 billion liters of hydrous ethanol.
On June 25, the U.S. EPA held a hearing to address its proposed rule for the 2014, 2015 and 2016 renewable fuels standard (RFS) in Kansas City, Kansas. More than 250 people were scheduled to testify at the event.
On June 17, the House Appropriations Committee released the fiscal year 2016 Agricultural Appropriations bill. The proposed legislation funds a variety of agricultural and food programs, including rural development and farm services programs.
The U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded $30 million to six projects under its Transportation Energy Resources from Renewable Agriculture program, which aims to accelerate energy crop development for biofuels.
Researchers use alternative breeding methods to produce switchgrass with a high amount of biomass per acre and low levels of lignin. Switchgrass with the improved traits is specifically designed to improve biofuel production.
Syngenta announced today that it will donate approximately $600,000 to the Prime the Pump Fund. Prime the Pump is an ethanol industry initiative created to help retailers cover the cost to install fueling infrastructure.
ePURE, the European renewable ethanol association, has released its annual 2015 State of the Industry Report, which illustrates that although the industry has faced a difficult year, there are reasons to be optimistic the situation will improve.
On June 17, Fuels America hosted a press call during which farmers and representatives of the biofuel industry discussed how legislative changes to the renewable fuel standard would threaten America's security, consumers, climate and rural economy.
The Department of Energy has announced several new and expanding initiatives as part of the administration's Clean Energy Investment Summit, including the launch of a Clean Energy Impact Investment Center.
Iowa delegation calls on EPA to hold hearing on RFS in Iowa
By Sen. Chuck Grassley’s office
June 16, 2015
The entire Iowa delegation, led by Rep. David Young, R-Iowa, on June 15 pressed the U.S. EPA to host a public hearing in Iowa on the proposed renewable fuel standard (RFS) renewable volume obligations (RVOs).
The USDA has announced its intent to prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) to assess the potential environmental consequences associated with proposed discretionary changes to the Biomass Crop Assistance Program.
UNICA, the Brazilian sugarcane industry association, has announced that mills in the nation's south-central region continued to prioritize ethanol production over sugar production during the second half of May.
Penn State plant scientist Daniel Cosgrove has devoted decades to studying the cell walls that make plant matter resistant to chemical conversion. His research aims to overcome that challenge and enable greater energy production.
In the June supply/demand report, USDA increased corn beginning stocks for the 2015-'16 crop year based on new projections that lower the corn use for ethanol production. The report left projected corn production for 2015-'16 unchanged.
Researchers at the University of Georgia have used a gene editing tool known as CRISPR/Cas to modify the genome of a tree species for the first time. Their research opens the door to more rapid and reliable gene editing of plants.
Corn and soybean producers will benefit from a $1.2 million investment announced June 6 by representatives of the Canadian government. Through this project, agricultural trial research will be undertaken to increase production in Western Canada.
Demand for corn for ethanol production appears to be on solid footing, writes University of Illinois ag economist Darrel Good, in his column "Weekly Outlook: Assessing Corn Demand for Domestic Ethanol Blending," distributed by FarmDocDaily.
Corn for fuel alcohol, at 409.0 million bushels, was down 7 percent from March but up 3 percent from the short month of February, as reported by the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service in the monthly Current Agricultural Industry Report.
The first Etanolix plant delivered to the international market by St1 Biofuels Oy was recently inaugurated in Gothenburg, Sweden. The facility recycles feedstocks such as biowaste and process residue from local bakeries and bread from shops.
Unless this is the first time you've ever read my blog and you aren't part of the ethanol industry, you probably already know last week was the FEW. It's always a busy and exciting time and this year was no exception.
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