Renewable fuels company BlueFire Renewables has received a letter of intent (LOI) from the Export Import Bank of China (China EXIM) to provide up to $270 million (€212.7 million) in debt financing for its bioenergy project in Fulton, Mississippi. 'There are significant opportunities for replicating the BlueFire Fulton size or larger facilities in China and the US... [Read More]

Great American Pellets, a manufacturer of premium hardwood pellets, is selling its facility, real estate and equipment assets at auction on 11 November. The auction will be conducted in conjunction with Comly Auctioneers and Appraisers of Philadelphia and Maas Companies of Rochester, Minneapolis. The facility and associated assets will be sold during an online, lender-owned... [Read More]

ZooShare has raised over $1 million (€790,000) for what is soon to be the first zoo-based biogas plant in North America. The plant will have a capacity of 500kW when it comes online in December 2015. ZooShare bonds, which are being used to build the biogas plant, pay a return of 7% each year for seven years. The facility will convert animal manure from the Toronto... [Read More]

Wood pellet shipments from the US South to Europe are up 10% from Q4 2013 to Q2 2014, while exports from Canada have declined 25% during the same period. This is according to the latest issue of the North American Wood Fiber Review. During the first half of this year, exports of wood pellets from North America reached just over 2.6 million tonnes (around 1.3 million tonnes... [Read More]

Agricultural research institute The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) and Evofuel, the wholly owned subsidiary of plant genomics company Evogene, which specialises in enhancing crop productivity for the biofuels industry, have signed a joint research agreement to advance castor cultivation in Brazil. The cooperation will primarily focus on technologies... [Read More]

A new anaerobic digestion (AD) research plant has been officially opened at Cranfield University in the UK. The plant, part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and supported by Shanks Waste Management, will divert up to 10 tonnes a year of food waste from landfill. It will also save up to 5 tonnes of CO2 and produce up to 8 tonnes of biofertiliser. At... [Read More]

In the US, infrastructure and support services firm AECOM has been awarded a design-build contract from National Grid, in partnership with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, to provide engineering, procurement and construction services for the Newtown Creek Renewable Natural Gas Project in New York City. The project will consist of injecting pipeline-quality... [Read More]

UK lime works company Singleton Birch has opened its 1.5MW biogas plant in North Lincolnshire, England. The new plant will generate 40% of Singleton Birch's power requirements, with four local farmers providing 30,000 tonnes of feedstock annually. This includes manure, slurry, maize and sugar beet, as well as grass from the Humberside Airport. PlanET Biogas UK was responsible... [Read More]

Abengoa has officially opened its second generation cellulosic ethanol plant in Hugoton in the US state of Kansas. Construction on the biorefinery finished in mid-August and it began producing cellulosic ethanol at the end of September. It has the capacity to produce up to 25 million gallons per year. The plant utilises only second generation biomass feedstocks such as... [Read More]

In the UK, Willen Biogas is developing a 27,000 tonne per year biogas plant at Cattlegate Farm in Enfield, London. Willen Biogas is owned by the investment funds Foresight Environmental Fund (FEF) and UK Waste Resources and Energy Investments fund (UKWREI), with both funds managed by Foresight Group, and by Adrian Williams, Howard Williams, Brian Williams and Mark Lennon. 'This... [Read More]

Sagay Central, a sugar milling and sugar growing company and partner of energy crop cultivator Viaspace, has shipped and planted Giant King Grass in Negros Occidental, the Philippines. Sagay Central crushes 4,000 tonnes of sugarcane daily and produces 150,000 tonnes of sugar per year. The Giant King Grass was harvested from Viaspace's nursery in California, US and inspected... [Read More]

Japan-based company Renagen has signed a contract with EnviTec Biogas for the construction of a 250kW biogas plant near the Japanese city of Osaka. The plant is scheduled to go online in spring next year. In a statement, EnviTec says that energy generation from waste material in Japan marks an important step towards the attainment of the country's climate objectives. While... [Read More]

Sunshine Gas Producers, a joint venture between DTE Biomass Energy and EIF Renewable Energy Holdings through its subsidiary Landfill Energy Systems, has started generating electricity from landfill gas at its recently built renewable energy facility at the Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Sylmar. DTE Biomass Energy developed and will also operate the plant, which has the capacity... [Read More]

An explosion at Pinnacle Renewable Energy's wood pellet plant in British Columbia injured three and resulted in around 30 employees being evacuated. The incident happened on 9 October after a fire broke out inside equipment used to dry wood fibre. The plant's built-in suppression system had already extinguished the flames by the time fire fighters arrived. The plant was... [Read More]

Enviva Development Holdings, an affiliate of Enviva, and JCE Group Aktiebolag, the sole owner of Green Circle Bio Energy, have signed a contract that will see Enviva acquire all issued and outstanding shares of Green Circle. The acquisition is expected to close by the first quarter of 2015 and is subject to customary closing conditions. Green Circle owns and operates a... [Read More]

US-based renewable fuels producer BlueFire Renewables has finalised and signed a new master engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for its cellulosic ethanol plant in Fulton, Mississippi. The contract is with China International Water and Electric, a subsidiary of renewable energy company China Three Gorges (CTG). 'The master EPC structure will utilise... [Read More]