The EU bio-diesel industry is currently in ‘political no man's land’ while it waits for a European biofuel sustainability and greenhouse gas certification scheme expected from the Commission later this year, according to the head of the European Biodiesel Board, Platts reports.
Meanwhile the head of the ILUC team at the European Commission for transport and energy said that the team is trying to understand the underlying drivers of land use change, using different models, but has no answers yet.
An official at the Commission’s environment directorate said the EU is in a dialogue with California about its sustainability standards and is considering the ILUC models used there.
Separately, France has mandated a B7 biodiesel blend with 7% FAME (fatty-acid methyl ester), but the mix has already caused serious problems with some motorists by clogging up fuel filters during the winter months, according to French car maker Renault. Renault’s fuels affairs manager said that a lack of EU conformity and sufficient specifications to control cold flow properties and oxidization of the new bio-fuel blends have led to the recent problems.
According to oil refiner Total, different national bio-fuel mandates across the EU are complicating the production, blending, distribution and marketing of bio-fuels across borders.
Calling investment and operations planning ‘a real nightmare,’ Total's marketing head of strategy and regulations said there has been an ‘incredible impact’ of bio-fuels on blending in the logistic system, including higher volumes in pipes, increased difficulty of processing, the need for better cleaning of rail cars and separate storage for exports.
Swiss bio-diesel maker Biopetrol Industries posted sales of 296.0 million euros in 2008, up 35.7% from 218.1 million the previous year despite sales of bio-diesel grinding to a halt in Germany and the economic recession, Ad-hoc News reports. Of its sales, 51.1% were made to Germany and 48.9% mainly to other European countries. Biopetrol said it was able to exploit the logistical advantages of its seaport locations at Rostock and Rotterdam to strengthen its international trade in biodiesel and biodiesel components. However it reported a negative Ebitda of 11.8 million euros, compared with a positive 8.3 million euro the year before.
The company is building a plant in Rottterdam with an annual capacity of 400,000 tonnes of biodiesel and 60,000 tonnes of bioglycerine. This will more than double its capacity to a total of 750,000 tonnes. World Energy adds that Biopetrol may idle its 400,000 mt/year biodiesel plant in Rotterdam for up to 18 months as it waits for conditions to improve. The company will also sublease its Rotterdam tanks while rates are high.
Dutch producers of biodiesel say they are unable to compete with imports of US product, Radio Netherlands reports. They say the US has managed to circumvent the extra EU duty by exporting to Europe through Canada. (May 21, 2009)
Showing posts with label ILUC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ILUC. Show all posts
A bill that would have banned the EPA from taking into account the impact of indirect land use changes in bio-fuel emissions was defeated by 36-20 by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday, Dow Jones reports.
A Republican Representative for Nebraska had tried adding the measure to a climate change bill that appears likely to be passed by the Committee. “There's no way you can reasonably say that bio-fuels production and the effect on a forest in South America or Indonesia or anywhere else is related,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee said adding an ILUC ban to the climate change bill is unlikely to work as it would probably be taken out before the final legislation is passed, Congress Daily reports. He expects the climate change bill to be sent to his panel in June but reiterated that he has a long list of issues that must be addressed before he would consider backing climate change legislation, and top of his list is passage of a renewable fuel standard measure he introduced last week to repeal the provision on ILUC impact on bio-fuel emissions.
Inside EPA Weekly Report adds that the industry is pushing amendments to the House climate bill to boost the use of bio-fuels and wants to add the ILUC ban. The industry also intends to push the bill (HR 2409) sponsored by the House Agriculture Committee Chairman (mentioned above).
There is a suggestion that bio-fuel producers could use a cap and trade system, enabling them to qualify for allowances or offsets if they use biotechnology that reduces their carbon emissions.
Ambassadors from the EU, Canada, Brazil and Chile called on US Congress to close immediately a US tax loophole used by paper makers that distorts world pulp markets and violates trade rules, Reuters reports. A tax credit designed to boost bio-fuel use has been an unintended windfall for US paper manufacturers, who stand to receive up to US$8 billion in 2009, the ambassadors said. “From a legal perspective, it is clear that this tax credit amounts to an actionable subsidy and that any adverse effects ... could be subject to remedies in the (World Trade Organization) or through domestic countervailing duty investigations,” they warned. At issue is a by-product called "black liquor," produced when wood is processed into pulp to make paper: last year, paper makers started to add small amounts of diesel to it and to claim the bio-diesel tax credit.
A new study has found that Styrofoam can be used to increase bio-diesel power output, New Zealand Transport Intelligence Briefing reports. Iowa State University researchers found that by dissolving polystyrene packing peanuts in bio-diesel, scientists were able to increase the power output of the fuel, while finding a solution to disposing of the material at the same time. They dissolved Styrofoam into bio-diesel at a concentration of 2 to 20%, and discovered that while plastic does not break down easily in petroleum-based diesel, it breaks down almost instantly in bio-diesel. When they tested the polystyrene-bio-diesel blend in a tractor engine, they found power output increased as polystyrene concentrations increased up to 5% but tailed off after that.
New Generation Biofuels Holdings, Inc has signed a bio-fuel sales contract with the Tri Gas and Oil Co Inc of Federalsburg, Maryland, to market and distribute NGB bio-fuel, PR Newswire reports. Under terms of the contract, Tri Gas and Oil will endeavour to sell up to 1 million gallons in the first year of a three-year contract.(May 21, 2009)
A Republican Representative for Nebraska had tried adding the measure to a climate change bill that appears likely to be passed by the Committee. “There's no way you can reasonably say that bio-fuels production and the effect on a forest in South America or Indonesia or anywhere else is related,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee said adding an ILUC ban to the climate change bill is unlikely to work as it would probably be taken out before the final legislation is passed, Congress Daily reports. He expects the climate change bill to be sent to his panel in June but reiterated that he has a long list of issues that must be addressed before he would consider backing climate change legislation, and top of his list is passage of a renewable fuel standard measure he introduced last week to repeal the provision on ILUC impact on bio-fuel emissions.
Inside EPA Weekly Report adds that the industry is pushing amendments to the House climate bill to boost the use of bio-fuels and wants to add the ILUC ban. The industry also intends to push the bill (HR 2409) sponsored by the House Agriculture Committee Chairman (mentioned above).
There is a suggestion that bio-fuel producers could use a cap and trade system, enabling them to qualify for allowances or offsets if they use biotechnology that reduces their carbon emissions.
Ambassadors from the EU, Canada, Brazil and Chile called on US Congress to close immediately a US tax loophole used by paper makers that distorts world pulp markets and violates trade rules, Reuters reports. A tax credit designed to boost bio-fuel use has been an unintended windfall for US paper manufacturers, who stand to receive up to US$8 billion in 2009, the ambassadors said. “From a legal perspective, it is clear that this tax credit amounts to an actionable subsidy and that any adverse effects ... could be subject to remedies in the (World Trade Organization) or through domestic countervailing duty investigations,” they warned. At issue is a by-product called "black liquor," produced when wood is processed into pulp to make paper: last year, paper makers started to add small amounts of diesel to it and to claim the bio-diesel tax credit.
A new study has found that Styrofoam can be used to increase bio-diesel power output, New Zealand Transport Intelligence Briefing reports. Iowa State University researchers found that by dissolving polystyrene packing peanuts in bio-diesel, scientists were able to increase the power output of the fuel, while finding a solution to disposing of the material at the same time. They dissolved Styrofoam into bio-diesel at a concentration of 2 to 20%, and discovered that while plastic does not break down easily in petroleum-based diesel, it breaks down almost instantly in bio-diesel. When they tested the polystyrene-bio-diesel blend in a tractor engine, they found power output increased as polystyrene concentrations increased up to 5% but tailed off after that.
New Generation Biofuels Holdings, Inc has signed a bio-fuel sales contract with the Tri Gas and Oil Co Inc of Federalsburg, Maryland, to market and distribute NGB bio-fuel, PR Newswire reports. Under terms of the contract, Tri Gas and Oil will endeavour to sell up to 1 million gallons in the first year of a three-year contract.(May 21, 2009)
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