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Biofuels News

Global slowdown curbing African biofuels exports

By: Leandi Kolver 16th October 2009 The financial crisis is hindering African biofuels exports, Hart Energy Consulting’s (Hart) Global Biofuels Centre (GBC) director for Biofuels Europe and Africa Maelle Soares Pinto tells Engineering News (EN). →

SA has signficant bioenergy production capability – academic

By: Leandi Kolver 9th October 2009 South Africa has the intellectual capital and natural resources to produce renewable bioenergy to power cars, contribute to the national power grid and create thousands of jobs, according to Stellenbosch University’s Professor Johann Görgens. →

Biogas recovery project  to reduce fossil fuels  dependence

2nd October 2009 Brewing company SABMiller’s Alrode plant has developed a biogas recovery project to reduce dependence on fossil fuels to provide energy for the plant. →

Work advancing on commercialisation of algal biofuels

By: Leandi Kolver 11th September 2009 The technical maturity and commercial viability of algal biofuels is a much debated topic, with estimates ranging from three years to multiple decades, says US alternative and renewable energy company Diversified Energy president and CEO Phillip Brown. →

Waste vegetable oil biodiesel refineries planned for KwaZulu-Natal

By: Carla Thomaz 11th September 2009 Biodiesel production company First In Spec (FIS) Biofuels has issued an initial public stock offering (IPO) to raise funds for the first of its three waste vegetable oil (WVO) biodiesel refineries in South Africa. →

Critical for Africa to be part of the biofuels revolution

By: Carla Thomaz 11th September 2009 Africa’s low productivity of existing farming systems, combined with the large stretches of suitable cropland, is making it the world’s highest energy crop-production potential for the burgeoning global biofuels market; and it is critical to the continent’s future to be part of this revolution,... →

Local company commits to renewable energy in Africa

11th September 2009 Equipment design, project management and engineering specialists Bosch Projects, is committed to developing and implementing renewable energy solutions in Africa. →

Biofuels now at a crossroads as  maize shortfalls are highlighted

By: Leandi Kolver 4th September 2009 Biofuels production today can be more harmful than helpful, says the Worldwatch Institute’s ‘Red, White, and Green: Transforming US Biofuels‘ report co-author Jane Earley.  She explains that concerns about energy security and climate change, as well as a range of US government incentives, fuelled... →

'Maize-based ethanol can reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 50%'

By: Leandi Kolver 28th August 2009 Newer corn ethanol facilities show that modern processes can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by about 50% compared to petrol, according to the ‘Improvements in Life Cycle Energy Efficiency and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Corn-Ethanol’ analysis. →

Biofuels forecast to account for 46,1% of ‘unconventional fuel’ growth in next 20-odd years

By: Leandi Kolver 28th August 2009 The world’s liquid fuels supply will grow 22% from 86,2-million barrels per day (mbpd) in 2007 to 105,4 mbpd in 2030, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) projections in the 2009 Annual Energy Outlook. →

SA academics taking part in global bioenergy initiative

By: Leandi Kolver 21st August 2009 A new project has been launched at the University of Stellenbosch in response to the growing uncertainty about whether the world should look to bioenergy, such as biofuels, heat and electricity, to play a prominent role in the future. →

IDC, Brazil bank deal augurs well for local bioethanol production

By: Darren Parker 21st August 2009 South Africa edged one more step towards a fully fledged ethanol-from-sugar regime earlier this month with the signing of a cooperation agreement by the Brazilian State-owned development bank Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Economico e Social (BNDES) and South African independent development... →

Absence of incentives hindering development of an ethanol-from-sugar industry

By: Darren Parker 14th August 2009 Significant potential exists for a sugar cane-based renewable energy market in South Africa, but a lack of government incentives continues to hinder the market’s development, said Tongaat Hulett MD Peter Straude at the company’s results presentation, in Johannesburg, last week. →

How SA could liberate power and fuel from its sugar cane fields

By: Darren Parker 7th August 2009 If South Africa’s sugar industry is to grow, it has to keep an eye on new markets and opportunities, one of which may, once current restrictions are overcome, manifest in sugar cane-based energy. Based on revenue generated through sugar sales in the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) region... →

The production of biofuels could  adversely affect water supply

By: Leandi Kolver 3rd July 2009 American scientists, in a recently released report, are cautioning that water consumption and agrochemical use during biofuels production can have an adverse impact on both the availability and quality of water resources. →

R1,8bn ethanol-from-sugar plant planned for KZN

By: Darren Parker 12th June 2009 Private investors have reportedly put up R1,8-billion to build a new sugar processing facility in the rural Makhathini area, in KwaZulu Natal, to possibly produce ethanol and other sugar products. Trade and Industry DG Tshediso Matona said that the project, for which the Department of Trade and... →

Power rental group has big plans for Africa

By: Leandi Kolver 12th June 2009 The grandson of former UK prime minister and Nobel Prize-winning author Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill recently stepped onto South African soil to open the African hub for power rental and regulation company Aggreko. →

Do emerging biofuel technologies offer a way around food-vs-fuel dilemma?

By: Leandi Kolver 8th May 2009 In the struggle to eliminate the possibility of creating a food supply crisis by producing an alternative fuel source from biofuels, scientists and biologists are seeking other sources, so-called ‘second- and third-generation’ biofuels. The development of first-generation biofuels from food... →

US firm develops ‘simpler, more efficient’ algae oil extracting process

By: Leandi Kolver 8th May 2009 American bioenergy company OriginOil has developed what it has described as a “breakthrough oil extraction technology” that may help transform algae into a competitive transport fuel. In addition to integrating the process into its own production system, OriginOil also plans to commercialise the... →

Do the emerging biofuel technologies offer a way around the food-versus-fuel dilemma?

By: Leandi Kolver 8th May 2009 In the struggle to eliminate the possibility of creating a food supply crisis by producing an alternative fuel source from biofuels, scientists and biologists are seeking other sources, so-called ‘second- and third-generation’ biofuels. →

Economic diversification seen as key to mitigating global economic crisis

By: Leandi Kolver 24th April 2009 African countries should use the global economic downturn as an opportunity to rapidly transform their economies through diversifying sources of growth, reforming policies and strengthening governance, says World Bank vice-president for Africa Obiageli Ezekwesili. →

Africa needs to comply with sustainable criteria to supply biofuels

By: Chanel de Bruyn 17th April 2009 If African countries wanted to supply biofuels to the EU or the US, they would have to comply with the applicable region’s sustainable criteria, said ProBEC Mozambique Biofuels programme officer Anna Lerner. She noted that certification under these criteria would come at an initial cost, but... →

Combine clean fuels and biofuels roadmaps, fuels technologist argues

By: Leandi Kolver 17th April 2009 The biofuels industry needed to develop a roadmap to blend with the fossil fuels roadmap being created to meet South Africa's future fuel demands, PetroSA fuels technologist Christo Cloete said recently at the Biofuels conference held at Vodaworld in Midrand. →

Investment worth $710m flows into Mozambique ethanol projects

By: Creamer Media Reporter 14th April 2009 Foreign companies have invested about $710 million in Mozambique to produce 440 million litres of ethanol a year from sugar cane, a government official said on Tuesday. Roberto Albino, director of the Mozambique government's Centre for Agricultural Promotion (Cepagri), told Reuters that 48,000... →

Zim expands jatropha plantations to step up biodiesel output

By: Chanel de Bruyn 10th April 2009 Zimbabwe was aiming to produce biodiesel from jatropha to substitute about 10% of its imported fuels by 2017, which National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim) biofuels programme manager Abisai Mushaka said would be about 100-million litres of biodiesel a year. The company was targeting to... →

CDM market seen growing as energy prices rise

By: Chanel de Bruyn 1st April 2009 Industry sectors were not making it a structural business case to pursue clean development mechanism (CDM) projects, MD of NuPlanet Clean Energy Anton-Louis Olivier said on Wednesday. Speaking at the third day of the African Biofuels conference, he noted that as energy prices rise, the CDM... →

Zambia seen as attractive country for biofuels investment – association

By: Chanel de Bruyn 31st March 2009 Favourable investment factors, including conducive economic conditions for a variety of biofuels feedstocks and a large tract of land to plant crops on, existed in Zambia, Biofuels Association of Zambia president Tyson Bruno Chisambo said on Tuesday. Speaking at the African Biofuels conference... →

SADC free-trade zone could benefit biofuels development

By: Chanel de Bruyn 31st March 2009 An energy mix was the best precondition for energy supply security, energy price stability and structural flexibility, Southern African Biofuels Association CEO Erhard Seiler said during the second day of the African Biofuels conference, in Midrand, on Tuesday. He stated that African countries... →

Zimbabwe eyes 2017 biodiesel target with increased jatropha output

By: Chanel de Bruyn 30th March 2009 Zimbabwe was aiming to produce biodiesel from jatropha to substitute about 10% of its imported fuels by 2017, which National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim) biofuels programme manager Abisai Mushaka said would be about 100-million litres of biodiesel a year. The company was targeting to... →

SA firm plans R250m biodiesel plant

By: Chanel de Bruyn 30th March 2009 South African biodiesel production company First In Spec BioDiesel was planning to build a R250-million biodiesel plant that would convert waste vegetable oil into biodiesel, a company official said on Monday. MD Louis Nyiri told delegates at the African biofuels conference, in Midrand, on... →

Biofuels policy framework acts as disincentive, not incentive – Makenete

By: Chanel de Bruyn 30th March 2009 The biofuels industry was the underdog of the renewable energy sector, with little or no support from government and government policymakers, Southern African Biofuels Association (Saba) president Andrew Makenete asserted on Monday. Speaking at the fourth African Biofuels conference, in Midrand,... →

Marine algae biofuel pilot project launched in the Eastern Cape

By: Nicky Willemse 20th March 2009 The Eastern Cape has been selected as the site for a pilot project where marine algae will be used to convert carbon dioxide into biofuels and other products. →

Africa must gear up on infrastructure  to enhance its oil and gas prospects

By: Brindaveni Naidoo 6th March 2009 A lack of infrastructure is a pressing priority for Africa as it underpins the success of the continents oil and gas industry, says Arthur Hanna, energy practice industry MD for Accenture, a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. →

Facility aims to use grass as a substitute for food in ethanol conversion process

By: Guy Copans 13th February 2009 A new process of extracting the biofuel ethanol through cellulosic conversion of a perennial grass has been developed by Grasoline, a South African facility based in Bothaville, in the Free State, →

Big power investment opportunities emerging in SSA - energy analyst

By: Creamer Media Reporter 9th February 2009 Significant investment opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa would soon emerge to the benefit of private power companies, while the energy sector’s contribution to economic development on the African continent would also be boosted, an analyst said on Monday. Growth consultancy firm Frost &... →

Big climate change economy likely to emerge as world seeks low-carbon future

By: Leandi Kolver 6th February 2009 If global greenhouse-gas (GHG) emission reduction opportunities are pursued to their full potential, from €200-billion to €350-billion would be spent annually on these initiatives by 2030, according to global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. →

Biodiesel tractor voted tops in Europe

By: Guy Copans 6th February 2009 A tractor from agricultural machinery supplier New Holland Agriculture designed to operate on biodiesel fuels, has been voted ‘Tractor of the Year 2009’ by a panel of European agricultural engineering journalists. →

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