HAMBURG (Reuters) – A number of European biodiesel refiners are likely to go under, and the EU will be under pressure to erect barriers to imports in the coming year as low demand in Europe for the green fuel combines with stiff competition from abroad.

“Many biodiesel companies are already in a critical situation, and there is a risk that this will be transformed into companies closing in the next months,” said Raffaello Garofalo, secretary general of the European biodiesel industry association EBB. Leer más »

(Reuters) – Rising biodiesel production may cut Brazil’s 2011 soyoil exports and Argentina’s soyoil shipments will also be lower than potential, Hamburg-based oilseeds analysts Oil World said on Tuesday.

Brazil, the world’s No. 2 soyoil exporter, may sell only 1.50 million tonnes of soyoil overseas in the 2011 calendar year, down from 1.56 million tonnes in 2010, Oil World forecasts. Leer más »

By Tony C. Dreibus – Jun 7, 2011 10:30 AM GMT-0300.Increased demand for vegetable oils to make biodiesel will lead to shortages of the materials, raising the cost of fats used to make food, Oil World said.

Argentina is expected to produce 2.3 million metric tons of biodiesel, made from soybeans, this year, up 27 percent from 2010, Oil World said in a report today. Exports may total 1.5 million tons, according to the report. In Brazil, biodiesel output may gain 14 percent, Oil World said. Leer más »

By Bryan Sims | April 05, 2011/ ADM plans to acquire Prairie Pride’s soy crush and biodiesel facilities in Deerfield, Mo.

Photo: Prairie Pride Inc.

Decatur, Ill.-based agribusiness firm Archer Daniels Midland Co. has agreed to acquire a soybean crushing facility and 30 MMgy biodiesel production plant from Prairie Pride Inc. in Deerfield, Mo. ADM will also form a partnership with PPI for the biodiesel portion of the business.

PPI responded to ADM’s acquisition of its soy crushing and biodiesel production assets, stating, Leer más »

Lisbon, Portugal, 15 Dec – Brazilian oil company Petrobras is intensifying its studies for construction of units to produce biodiesel from palm oil, the company’s director for ethanol from the biodiesel area said.

Cited by Portuguese news agency Lusa, Ricardo Castello Branco said that, “the factory will be installed in one of the refineries of Galp Energia, in Portugal, and the details of the project are being studied, but it will be built in line with the time of delivery of the oil that we are now starting to plant.” Leer más »

Algae Fuels, a corporate technology group in Chile, has created a biodiesel from microalgae in the Mejillones’ Pilot plant. This pioneering initiative was aimed at obtaining energy based on renewable and domestic sources, at the same time reducing CO2 emissions.

Algae Fuels is a group of companies such as Copec, E-CL, Rentapack, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile and Bioscan and is financially supported by both the Corporations for the Promotion of Production (Corfo) and InnovaChile. Leer más »

NORTH MIAMI BEACH, FL, Nov 29, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — Alternative Fuels Americas, Inc. (pinksheets:NSIH) announced today that it will be acquiring Sustainable Agro Biotech, LLC, a Puerto Rico based company active in the research and development of algae for biofuels.

Sustainable Agro Biotech, LLC has been developing proprietary technologies to recycle carbon dioxide emission into microalgae varieties with robust growth and oil production capabilities and to achieve commercially feasible harvesting of microalgal products. The Company operates facilities in Gainesville, Florida and a 10 acre facility in Puerto Rico in partnership with University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez. AFA will work with the Sustainable Agro Biotech team to further its research and develop a viable algae-to-biofuels capacity. Leer más »

Planning Minister Julio De Vido, undertook to update the domestic price of biodiesel that remains frozen from the Ministry of Interior established Comercion Supply Act for the entire marketing chain liquid fuels.

Urgente24 reported 8 / 11 that negotiations were between the producers and the government to unfreeze the internal value of biodiesel derived from soybean (see related). However, the conflict would come to an end for the pressures of the association that brings together workers in the sector.

Biodiesel.com.ar site reported, the update of prices was rushed by a demonstration of the Union of Petroleum private gas and biofuels San Lorenzo, Santa Fe, which warned of the effect of this freeze on jobs. Leer más »

Neste Oil has started production at its biodiesel plant in Singapore, the world’s largest with an annual capacity of 800,000 tons. The plant will produce the NExBTL diesel which, according to the company reduces the carbon emissions by 40 to 80 percent depending on the percentage blending with the conventional diesel.

The biodiesel from the plant can be either blended with the conventional diesel or used directly. The company claims that the biodiesel is compatible with the all the diesel engines currently in use. Neste Oil is building a similar plant in Rotterdam, The Netherlands which should be ready by Q2 2011. Leer más »

Agricultural giant Tyson Foods Inc. and fuel developer Syntroleum Corp. will announce Monday that they have successfully opened a plant that makes diesel from chicken fat and leftover food grease.

But they say their new venture won’t survive unless Congress gives them a hefty tax break, an argument that many other alternative energy projects are also making.

A raw-materials check at the Tyson-Syntroleum alternative-diesel plant.

Tyson and Syntroleum say they’ve begun in recent weeks to make diesel and jet fuel from chicken fat, beef tallow and a range of greases and oils at a plant they’ve built in Geismar, La., south of Baton Rouge. The raw materials are leftovers from Tyson’s meat-processing plants and other food-processing factories and restaurants. Leer más »