US UNLIKELY TO HIT ADVANCED BIOFUEL GOAL - REPORT
WASHINGTON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - The United States will likely fail to reach its long-term mandate for making advanced ethanol from trees, grasses and crop waste unless producers innovate significantly, a scientific advisory group said on Tuesday.
The National Research Council's comments are the latest sign that backers of alternative fuels must wait longer for "next-generation" ethanol. Touted as the motor fuel of the future, it has struggled with high production costs and other setbacks.
OVERBEARING BRASILIA AT FAULT IN ETHANOL SHORTAGE
SAO PAULO, Oct 4 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Once seen as a potential supplier of ethanol to the world, Brazil is now itself short. Lack of investment in the past few years and squeezed margins mean biofuel production is not matching demand growth. The industry's predicament is also affecting oil giant Petrobras and shows the risks of a crop-based fuel market constrained by government policies.
In the past month, the Brazilian government cut the amount of ethanol in the gasoline blend to 20 percent from 25 percent in an attempt to guarantee availability at the pump. But while that conserves ethanol, it is forcing state-owned Petrobras to import gasoline, sometimes paying more than it can sell it for, since it doesn't have enough refining capacity. Imports into Brazil of U.S.-produced ethanol have been rising too.
US CHARGES MAN WITH $9 MLN IN BIOFUEL CREDIT FRAUD
WASHINGTON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday a Maryland man has been charged with selling $9 million in renewable fuel credits purportedly produced by his company Clean Green Fuel, LLC.
Rodney Hailey has been charged with wire fraud, money laundering, and violation of the Clean Air Act in connection to trade in renewable identification numbers, or RINs, EPA said.
US ALLEGES $9 MLN BIOFUEL SCHEME PAID FOR EXOTIC CARS
WASHINGTON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - A Maryland man has been charged by the federal government for selling $9 million in fraudulent renewable fuel credits and using the money to buy a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, and a Maserati, among other things.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday that Rodney Hailey, the owner of Clean Green Fuel, LLC, has been charged with wire fraud, money laundering, and violation of the Clean Air Act in connection to trade in renewable identification numbers, or RINs, purportedly produced by his company.
FRENCH SUGAR CO-OP EYES EU REFORM WITH 1 BLN DEAL
PARIS, Oct 4 (Reuters) - French sugar co-operative Cristal Union is to buy local rival Vermandoise in a deal worth nearly 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion), as it gears up for an expected liberalisation of the European sugar market.
The takeover, which would create the second-largest sugar group in France after Tereos and the fifth-largest in the European Union, would help Cristal Union compete in European and world markets once the EU dismantles its sugar quota system later this decade, company officials said on Tuesday.
TOYOTA TO OFFER PLANT-BASED BIOFUEL BY 2020-NIKKEI
Oct 4 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp said it will commercialize a plant-based biofuel by 2020, produced with a new strain of yeast developed inhouse, the Nikkei business daily reported.
Over the next four to five years the automaker said it will work to develop low-cost techniques to produce the biofuel, the paper said.
ETHANOL SEEN STOKING ARGENTINA'S CORN OUTPUT
BUENOS AIRES, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Five new ethanol plants are set to start up in Argentina over the next two years, requiring about 1.2 million tonnes of corn annually and giving farmers a new market for their grains.
Argentina is the world's No. 2 corn exporter after the United States, but until now it has not harnessed the local grain harvest to make ethanol, relying instead on sugar cane.
GREENERGY DIGS DEEPER INTO WASTE TO MAKE BIODIESEL
LONDON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Major British independent oil firm Greenergy sees its future as an exploration company, but one that hunts for fuel in piles of stale pork pies and cakes rather than under the ground or from food crops.
The refined oil product wholesaler is still investing in the embattled European Union biodiesel sector, aiming to utilise ever more challenging waste products after abandoning, at least for now, the widely criticised use of virgin vegetable oils.
EU LAWMAKERS CALL FOR GLOBAL GREEN ENERGY TARGETS
STRASBOURG, France, Sept 29 (Reuters) - EU lawmakers recommended on Thursday including a call for global targets on renewable energy and energy efficiency in the European Union's negotiating position for next year's Rio+20 sustainability summit in June.
"We should aim at globally binding targets," said Karl-Heinz Florenz, a member of the European Parliament who helped draft the resolution.
U.S. GIVES $136 MLN FOR ADVANCED BIOFUELS RESEARCH
WASHINGTON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - U.S. university researchers will get $136 million to develop advanced biofuels, including to develop jet fuel, by using tall grasses, woody plants and energy cane, the U.S. government said on Wednesday.
Nearly two-thirds of the money will go towards aviation biofuels projects in the Pacific Northwest, including efforts to develop a regional source of bio-jet fuel for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
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