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Biofuels

Solazyme raises over $50 million

Solazyme, Inc. has raised $52 million in its Series D financing round. Solazyme uses microbial fermentation to produce renewable oil that can be used for clean and scalable fuels, chemicals, nutritional food ingredients and health and wellness products.

Gevo purchases ethanol facility in Minnesota

Gevo has signed definitive agreements to acquire Agri-Energy’s ethanol production facility in Luverne, Minnesota.

Firm selected to provide a biomass pretreatment reactor system for US DOE

AdvanceBio Systems LLC, has a contract with the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, to provide a biomass pretreatment reactor system for its integrated biorefinery research facility.

Xebec to build a biogas upgrading plant in Canada

Xebec Adsorption Inc. has signed a significant contract to build a complete biogas upgrading plant for Terasen Gas in western Canada.

Algae: A potential source of future fuels?

Algae have been studied for many years as a potential renewable energy feedstock to produce motor fuels. Below, we discuss the attributes of algae that make it potentially attractive and some of the technological and economic challenges in algae cultivation, harvesting, and oil extraction that must be addressed before algae-based fuels can be commercially produced.

Exousia to begin delivering biodiesel in August

Exousia Advanced Materials, Inc. says that its biodiesel production facility located in South Carolina is currently completing maintenance and re-tooling and will begin delivering biodiesel orders in August.

Cleanfield researching a renewable energy driven heat engine

Cleanfield Alternative Energy Inc. has entered into a research collaboration agreement with the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) and the Ontario Centers of Excellence (OCE) to develop a novel renewable energy based power generation system running a new trilateral cycle. The research project will involve: developing conceptual designs, analyzing thermodynamic performance aspects and costs, building and testing a prototype system, optimizing and improving for real-scale applications for power production purposes, and commercialization by Cleanfield.

NSR wins award for alternative fuel technology

NSR’s technology converts waste plastic into an alternative hydrocarbon liquid fuel that can be used by any combustion engine. This high-octane fuel burns cleaner and more efficiently than traditional gasoline and diesel, and it can be produced at a lower overall cost.

Syntroleum announces Geismar plant completion

Syntroleum Corp. says the new Dynamic Fuels plant that will produce high quality renewable fuels from animal fats and greases is mechanically complete, and work is now underway to prepare for the start of operations.

Advice for 2011: Be dynamic, be flexible; more pain to come

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Wright, Tim L.

“Analyze this” is the fad quote and action that actor Robert De Niro famously demands of his unwilling therapist in the film of the same name. Playing Paul Vitti, a New York gangland supremo..