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Biofuels

Murphy Oil to spin off US downstream business

Murphy Oil on Tuesday said it expects to complete the spinoff of Murphy USA in 2013. Murphy USA’s business will consist of retail marketing of petroleum products, a chain of retail gasoline stations, seven product distribution terminals and two ethanol production facilities in North Dakota and Texas.

HP Innovations: Innovations

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Blume, Adrienne

Invensys introduces new technology offeringsSoftware and technology provider Invensys Operations Management recently released a program to help clients modernize and improve the performance of aging c..

HP Construction: North America

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Meche, Helen

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has a contract from Methanex Corp. to provide engineering, procurement and construction services for a methanol production facility in Louisiana. Officials estimate the c..

HP Construction: Europe

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Meche, Helen

Clariant has inaugurated what is said to be Germany’s biggest pilot plant for producing climate-friendly cellulose ethanol from agricultural waste. Located in Straubing, Bavaria, and supported by..

Eni to convert Venice refinery to biofuels plant

HP Editorial Staff: HP News Services

The Italian firm plans to start biofuels production in January 2014 and complete the conversion in the first half of 2015, citing a crisis hitting the European refining sector.

Valero restarts US ethanol plants as margins swell

Valero idled operations in Nebraska and Indiana in June, citing unprofitable returns. Each plant has the capacity to produce 120 million gal/year of ethanol. “Ethanol margins improved to the point where it became feasible to operate the plants again,” said Bill Day, Valero spokesman.

EU plans to limit use of food-based biofuels

The European Union's climate-change commissioner Connie Hedegaard and energy commissioner Guenther Oettinger said Monday they wanted to cap the share of energy in the transportation sector from food crop-based biofuels - such as rapeseed or palm oil - at current levels.

US raises mandate for alternative diesel fuel usage

Joe Jobe, CEO of the National Biodiesel Board, said the decision "will allow biodiesel plants across the country to invest and expand" and "sends a strong signal that the US is standing firm behind its commitment to strengthen energy security and break dependence on petroleum."

Texas biofuels group Terrabon files for bankruptcy

The company has the licenses on technologies from Texas A&M University System, where they were developed and where it was formed to bring the products to market. However, it couldn't obtain the additional financing necessary to finish developing a commercial plant.

Increase FCC processing flexibility by improved catalyst recycling methods

UOP LLC, a Honeywell Company: Wolschlag, L. M.
UOP LLC, a Honeywell Co.: Lippmann, M.

The dynamic global refining market emphasizes the need for greater operating flexibility in the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit.