The comment periods on two U.S. EPA proposals that impact the renewable fuel standard (RFS) close later this month, including the proposed Renewable Enhancement and Growth Support rule and the EPA's proposed denial of point of obligation petitions.
USDA boosted its monthly projections on corn for ethanol by 25 million bushels to 5.35 billion bushels for the 2016-'17 production year. Projected ending stocks were lowered by 35 million bushels to 2.32 billion bushels,
Wet distillers grains and condensed distillers solubles could be a source of fertilizer for some crops, according to research at North Dakota State University's Carrington Research Extension Center.
Queensland Renewable Fuels Association is addressing concerns and questions over the impacts of the ethanol fuel industry on other agricultural industries, such as grain and livestock, now that the Queensland ethanol fuels mandate is in force.
Archer Daniels Midland Co. reported a strong fourth quarter, making up for what was described as difficult marketing conditions for much of 2016. ADM reported Q4 net earnings of $424 million. For the year, earnings before taxes were at $1.82 billion.
The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service has released the February edition of its Grain Crushings and Co-Products Production report, noting corn use for fuel alcohol reached 477 million bushels in December.
In January, the U.S. Department of Energy's Bioenergy Technologies Office released a new strategic plan that serves as a blueprint on how it will tackle the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in building a sustainable bioeconomy in the U.S.
UNICA, the Brazilian sugarcane industry association, has announced plants in the south-central region of the country processed 1.18 million tons of sugarcane during the first half of January, producing 67.81 million liters of ethanol.
The U.S. Grains Council has published the first two of its annual reports on corn and sorghum harvest quality, reporting that U.S. farmers produced an estimated 387 million metric tons of corn in 2016, along with 12 million metric tons of sorghum.
In early January, the USDA Economic Research Service published a report, titled “Dedicated Energy Crops and Competition for Agricultural Land,� that examines three policy scenarios that could create a market for bioelectricity using switchgrass.
St1, a Finnish energy company, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Ubon Bio Ethanol to launch a pilot project of the production of bioethanol from cassava waste, with the aim of setting up a joint venture for ethanol production in Thailand.
The U.S. EPA is seeking comments on its analysis of upstream greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions attributable to the production of sugar beets for use as a biofuel feedstock. A 30-day public comment period is expected to open soon.
Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers have released the largest-ever single nucleotide polymorphism dataset of genetic variations in poplar trees, information useful to plant scientists, biofuel researchers and others.
UNICA, the Brazilian sugarcane industry association, has released a crop update for the second half of December, reporting ethanol production reached 24.91 billion liters (6.58 billion gallons) from the start of the current season through Jan. 1.
President-elect Donald Trump has nominated former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue to lead the USDA. The nomination, which is subject to U.S. Senate confirmation, represents Trump's final cabinet selection. Perdue served as Georgia governor from 2003-2011.
On Jan. 18, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works held a hearing on the nomination of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to serve as administrator of the U.S. EPA. Biofuels were among the topics discussed.
The U.S. Department of Energy's Bioenergy Technologies Office recently announced the publication of a report, titled Biofuels and Bioproducts from Wet and Gaseous Waste Streams: Challenges and Opportunities.
The 2016 Billion-Ton Report (BT16), Volume 2: Environmental Sustainability Effects of Select Scenarios from Volume 1 has been jointly released by the U.S. Department of Energy's Bioenergy Technologies Office and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has announced prices of major global food commodities dropped 1.5 percent from 2015 to 2016. The Renewable Fuels Association noted the news shows corn ethanol has not increased food prices.
Today many biofuel refineries operate for only seven months each year. However, current research shows dual-purpose biofuel crops could produce biofuels nine months of the year, increasing profits by as much as 30 percent.
Corn distillers oil production was up a whopping 15 percent in the first 10 months of 2016 compared to the same period a year earlier, according an analysis of the USDA Grain Crushing and Co-Products Production report.
USDA ratcheted down corn supplies for the 2016-'17 crop year, lowering corn ending stocks by 48 million bushels from last month's World Agriculture Supply and Demand report. Corn production is estimated at 15.148 billion bushels.
On Jan. 12, the USDA released a report showing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with U.S. corn ethanol are currently approximately 43 percent lower than gasoline when measured on an energy equivalent basis.
Corn consumption for ethanol production is very likely to surpass the most recent USDA projection of 5.3 billion bushels and the prospect already is impacting the corn market, according to the weekly outlook by Todd Hubbs published in FarmDoc Daily.
The U.S. Department of Energy and USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture recently opened a $22.7 million funding opportunity announcement (FOA) to support the optimization of integrated biorefineries.
The USDA recently published the January edition of its Grain Crushings and Co-Products Production report, indicating total corn consumed for fuel alcohol was at 452 million bushels in November.
On Jan. 9, Gevo Inc. published an update describing fourth quarter operations at its Luverne, Minnesota, biorefinery. In addition, the U.S. EPA recently approved a fuel pathway for the plant regarding the production of butanol from corn and sorghum.
Syngenta recently announced that it has reached agreements with ethanol plants, from Arizona to Ohio, with a combined total capacity of nearly 2 billion gallons.
Two potential biofuel crops in Hawaii, sugarcane and napiergrass, may sequester more carbon in soil than is lost to the atmosphere, according to a study published Jan. 4 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.
LanzaTech has been selected by the Department of Energy to receive a $4 million award to design and plan a demonstration-scale facility using industrial off gases to produce 3 million gallons per year of low carbon jet and diesel fuels.
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