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BioProcess Algae LLC and Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc. announced that they will start construction of BioProcess Algae's five acre production facility at Green Plains' ethanol plant in Shenandoah, Iowa. The project will be comprised of a combination of at scale Grower Harvester bioreactors and a plant to further dewater and process the algae into finished product. The horizontal reactors have been successfully running outdoors since the fall of 2011 and this marks the next step in the... Read Full Story

ZeaChem Inc. today announced it has completed construction of the core facility for its new integrated demonstration biorefinery in Boardman, Oregon. Construction of this core project was completed on schedule, with no lost time or reportable accidents, and significantly under budget. The core facility created 50 construction jobs and will employ 25 full-time operations staff in the region. The core will produce the intermediate chemicals acetic acid and ethyl acetate, which are high-value... Read Full Story

Headwaters Incorporated today announced that Great River Energy has acquired full ownership of Blue Flint Ethanol LLC, an ethanol biorefinery located in Underwood, ND, from Headwaters Ethanol Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of Headwaters Incorporated. Prior to this acquisition, Great River Energy owned 49 percent of Blue Flint Ethanol LLC and Headwaters Ethanol Holdings owned 51 percent. Great River Energy is one of the nation’s largest generation and transmission cooperatives. It was the first... Read Full Story

Walmart today announced its plan to install solar panels on up to 60 additional stores in California, expanding the company's solar portfolio to more than 75 percent of its stores in the state, making California the first state in the nation where Walmart has devoted this level of commitment to renewable energy.   "California presents a great opportunity for Walmart to make significant progress toward our sustainability goals by installing solar power on more than 130 store rooftops... Read Full Story

Valero Renewable Fuels Company LLC, a subsidiary of Valero Energy Corporation, announced today its plan to install an ICM-patent pending, next-generation Advanced Oil System (AOS) corn oil extraction system at four of its ethanol plants in the Midwest by the end of the first quarter of 2012. The investment will allow the Valero Renewables plants to recover more than one-half pound of corn oil per bushel of corn processed, giving the plants an additional source of revenue besides ethanol and... Read Full Story

Gevo, Inc. today announced it plans to work with South Hampton Resources, Inc., a subsidiary of Arabian American Development Co., to build a hydrocarbon processing demonstration plant at their facility just outside of Houston in Silsbee, Texas. This demonstration plant is expected to process up to 10,000 gallons of Gevo’s isobutanol per month into a variety of renewable hydrocarbon materials including jet fuel for engine testing, isooctane for gasoline, isooctene and paraxylene for... Read Full Story

Joule Unlimited Technologies today announced the issuance of its first two U.S. patents covering its fundamental method for producing ethanol at volumes and efficiencies far surpassing biomass-dependent processes. The patents relate to methods for increasing the ethanol production capability of a photosynthetic microorganism. Unlike competing technologies that utilize microorganisms to produce ethanol by fermenting sugars from cellulose or other biomass materials, Joule's platform... Read Full Story

Total petroleum deliveries (a measure of demand) rose in June compared with May and with June a year ago and were up 1.9 percent for the first six months of 2011 over the same period in 2010.  Gasoline demand was nearly flat compared with June a year ago, but up from both April 2011 and May 2011.  Ultra-low sulfur diesel demand continued to register strong numbers over 2010, achieving a record high. “The growth in overall demand is consistent with the nation’s modest but steady economic... Read Full Story

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced the offer of a conditional commitment for a $105 million loan guarantee to support the development of the nation's first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant. Project LIBERTY, sponsored by POET, LLC, will produce up to 25 million gallons of ethanol per year and will be located in Emmetsburg, Iowa. POET estimates the project will generate approximately 200 jobs during construction and 40 permanent jobs at the plant. POET estimates the... Read Full Story

AE Biofuels, Inc. announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Zymetis, Inc., a Maryland-based industrial biotechnology company that develops products for the renewable chemicals and advanced fuels industries. Zymetis, Inc. will continue as a wholly-owned subsidiary of AE Biofuels. Zymetis holds four granted patents and more than ten pending patents on the Z-microbe™, a marine organism that was originally discovered consuming plant cellulose at a high rate in the Chesapeake Bay... Read Full Story