BioEnergy International, LLC (BioEnergy), a developer of biorefineries and proprietary technologies to produce specialty chemicals and fuels from renewable feedstocks, grains and cellulosic wastes, announced today (6th June) that it has signed an agreement to license one of its proprietary biocatalysts to Purac Biochem N.V., the largest lactic acid producer in the world. BioEnergy has an exclusive research agreement with the University of Florida and Dr. Lonnie Ingram to develop technologies to produce certain biorefined specialty chemicals from sugars and cellulose.

USDA (US Department of Agriculture) projects 2006/07 domestic consumption of soybean oil at 19,000 million pounds, up sharply from this season’s forecast 18,000 million. 

 

As in the current marketing year, biodiesel could again account for a large majority of next year’s increase in domestic use of soybean oil.

The Tiense Suikerraffinaderij and its parent company Südzucker plan to build a bioethanol plant in the Belgian town of Wanze. The plant will produce 300,000 m3 of ethanol per year from wheat and sugar beet. This was announced by the company's CEO, Thomas Hubbuch, at a recent press conference.

Scania can now guarantee operating reliability on 100 percent RME for all its trucks with engines featuring unit injectors. This means that most Scania trucks built during the past eight years – more than 300,000 vehicles – are able to reduce their net contribution of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

From 1 June onwards Shell will be adding a bio component to some of its diesel fuel. The quality of this biodiesel is comparable to Shell's traditional diesel, and both types are being sold at the same price.

Volvo has developed a prototype V70 that can run on five different fuels. The car will be launched at the Michelin Challenge Bibendum 2006, to be held in Paris from 8-12 June. Volvo has been researching alternative fuels for some time, and this has already resulted in BiFuel and FlexiFuel models.

 

Volvo is now launching a prototype based on the V70 that is optimised to run on five different fuels: bioethanol, natural gas, biogas, petrol, and Hythane (a mixture of 10% hydrogen and 90% natural gas). The engine used is a modified 2.5 litre five-cylinder turbo-charged motor with a capacity of around 200hp.

Toronto, Ontario  – Suncor Energy Products Inc. and the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) have signed an agreement to supply biodiesel to the TTC’s fleet of 1,491 buses. This sales agreement extends to December 2007. Suncor biodiesel is created by blending petroleum diesel with soy-based biodiesel.

Biomass Resources Corporation announced today it has achieved initial success at extracting Ethanol from pineapple fruit and pineapple plant waste.

 

"Today's test results are tremendously significant by demonstrating that we can successfully extract Ethanol from plant waste," said Dr. Arnold Ramirez, Chief Scientist of Biomass. "Current Ethanol processes from products such as sugar cane and corn require the producer to select either food or Ethanol as the end product," Ramirez explains. "By using the unique Biomass Resources method of processing the plant waste we are not required to make a 'food or fuel' decision which provides a 'win-win' situation."