PHG Energy (PHGE), an installer of industrial- grade downdraft gasification systems, and the city of Lebanon in Tennessee, US have signed a contract that will provide an environmentally sustainable method of waste disposal and produce green power in the process. The waste-to-energy technology, which will go on line early next year, is a downdraft gasification plant that... [Read More]

Cellulosic sugars company Renmatix has announced an investment by the New Energies Division of Total, and the signature of a joint development agreement (JDA) between Total and Renmatix. Under the agreement, Renmatix and Total will utilise Renmatix's proprietary Plantrose process with specific feedstocks to extract sugar for use in production of biobased products of interest... [Read More]

Sia Broceni Pellets, a subsidiary of Estonia-based forestry company Graanul Invest, has acquired 16 hectares of land in Latvia on which it will build a wood pellet plant. The facility will be able to produce around 150,000 tonnes a year of pellets when it comes online in the beginning of 2016. The company has already secured long-term supply contracts for the raw materials... [Read More]

Foresight Group and the UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) have announced a £30 million (€41 million) investment in the construction of a new £60 million waste-to-energy gasification facility in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire. The plant will be the first commercial-scale, refuse derived fuel (RDF) gasification plant to be construction financed by third party investors.... [Read More]

Brazil-based ethanol producer USJ Acucar e Alcool SA will expand its 12MW biomass plant in Sao Joao after receiving a permit from Brazilian regulator Aneel. The facility, in Sao Paolo state, will have its capacity increased to 40MW. USJ will install an additional 28.75 MW unit to operate alongside the four 3MW bagasse-fuelled units currently on site. The permit also allows... [Read More]

Japanese trading firm Marubeni Corp. is reportedly set to build a 37MW biomass power station in Fukui prefecture, western Japan. Work is expected to begin on the facility in November 2015 with the scope to have it completed and running in summer 2017. According to a statement from the company earlier this month, the plant will run on wood chips and will have the capacity... [Read More]

Delipapier Frouard's new biomass plant is now operational. The overall investment for the plant was approximately €6.5 million. The works are part of the BCIAT 2011 project (Biomasse Chaleur Industrie, Agriculture et Tertiaire) launched by ADEME (Agence de l'Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l'Energie) to encourage the industry to produce thermal energy using... [Read More]

In the US, Lignetics and Bear Mountain Forest Products have completed a merger to create a company that will produce approximately 450,000 tonnes a year of wood pellets, making it the largest residential wood pellet fuel producer in the country. The company will also be the only pellet manufacturing company that will have wood pellet facilities on both the East and West... [Read More]

Vega Biofuels has placed an order for thousands of tonnes of biocoal for shipment to an international client. Manufactured from timber waste using torrefaction technology, biocoal has a high energy density of up to 13,000 BTUs/lb and is considered a renewable energy fuel that meets the Renewable Portfolio Standards and Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) in the US. Vega recently... [Read More]

A draft law to cap the production of traditional biofuels and accelerate the shift to alternative sources was approved by the Environment Committee on 24 February. It aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that result from the growing use of agricultural land to produce biofuel crops. Current legislation requires EU member states to ensure that renewable energy accounts... [Read More]

Gasrec, a European supplier of liquefied gas fuel for transport, has welcomed the EU's latest compromise agreement with the European Parliament which will pave the way for an increase in weight for HGVs converting to run on gas, ensuring they maintain their full load carrying capacity. Under the agreement, investment in clean fuels such as liquefied biomethane and LNG... [Read More]

New England Wood Pellet (NEWP), a subsidiary of Rentech, has acquired the assets of Allegheny Pellet Corp. The acquisition, Rentech says, expands NEWP's market position as the largest producer of wood pellets for the US heating market. Allegheny's wood pellet plant in Youngsville, Pennsylvania has been operating since 1993. The facility processes residuals from local sawmills... [Read More]

UK-based anaerobic digestion (AD) plant operator Tamar Energy has secured a landmark £32 million (€43 million) non-recourse project finance facility, the first such financing facility in the AD industry. The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is providing the seven-year term facility which will refinance Tamar Energy's existing five AD plants. The new financing facility... [Read More]

The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) has announced that Forest Research and E.ON will deliver the latest project in its bioenergy programme – a study into the characterisation of feedstocks. The project will provide an understanding into the properties of UK-produced second generation biomass, how these vary, and relate this variability to the origins of the samples... [Read More]

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), coordinator of the US voluntary standardisation system, has been selected by International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) to be the accreditation body for its certification system for sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions related to biomass products. ANSI is accepting applications for this pilot programme... [Read More]

Seneca Sustainable Energy's biomass plant, located in Oregon, US, has received its final Title V permit from the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency (LRAPA). The granting of this permit, which took a very long time, confirms that the plant has been operating within its stated pollution limits since it went into operation in 2011. Seneca also has received confirmation that... [Read More]