Dear readers,
A western Kansas farmer said sorghum can play a role in helping the U.S. government expand trade opportunities in countries like India. Earlier this week, he joined Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on a roundtable discussion. “We have a hurdle, a 50 percent tariff, but we’ve heard her say she wants to make agriculture great again, and so I just told the secretary that I think sorghum can help her achieve those goals and really is a solution for expanding markets,” she said. The Trump administration has announced it wants to boost bilateral trade between the two countries. France believes that intention could mean increased exports for sorghum.
Gevo and Axens, who have formed a strategic alliance, aim to accelerate the development and commercialization of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) using the ethanol-to-jet (ETJ) process. Their collaboration aims to leverage Axens’ jetanol technology and Gevo’s ethanol-to-olefin (ETO) technology to create low-cost SAF.
Dieter Bockey, from the Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Plants (UFOP) sent me a message about projects that the German Biomass Research Center (DBFZ) is carrying out to develop innovative production processes for the extraction of methane as fuel. More at the link: https://www.dbfz.de/projekte/pilot-sbg/start From the UFOP’s point of view, these are technologies worthy of funding and biofuels produced from residual materials for double counting towards the greenhouse gas quota obligation (bio-CNG / bio-LNG) in accordance with the requirement of Article 28 (6) of RED II:
India reached its highest ever ethanol blending of 19.6% in January. This season, the country is aiming to reach 20%. The previous blending record was 18.2% in December, while the total for November-January was 17.4%. To achieve a total blending of 20% for the November-October marketing year, 9.9 billion litres of ethanol are needed, against an installed production capacity of 16.8 billion litres. https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/ethanol-blending-with-petrol-at-record-196-in-january-2025/article69232849.ece
The European Commission has approved a $116.4 million measure under EU State aid rules to support Motor Oil Hellas, a Greek refinery company, in the production of renewable hydrogen. The measure will contribute to the decarbonization of the mobility and industrial sectors and help boost the hydrogen market in Greece. The measure will be fully funded by the Recovery and Resilience Facility (“RRF”) following the Commission’s positive assessment of the Greek Recovery and Resilience Plan and its adoption by the Council, the report said. The measure will support Motor Oil Hellas in the implementation of its Green Hydrogen project. The project concerns the installation of an electrolyzer with a target capacity of 50 MW, powered by energy from renewable sources. The renewable hydrogen will be used for various purposes, such as mobility and other industrial applications. The aid will be in the form of a direct grant. https://fuelcellsworks.com/2025/02/13/energy-policy/eu-approves-111-7m-greek-state-aid-for-motor-oil-hellas-to-boost-renewable-hydrogen-production
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Rotterdam (Netherlands) has arrested two suspects for their role in a customs fraud scheme involving biodiesel imports, with an estimated loss of over 60 million euros. They are alleged to have imported biodiesel of American origin into the EU, while falsely declaring its origin. The same alleged ringleaders were handed over to the Netherlands on the basis of a European arrest warrant, as the court in Rotterdam ordered their pre-trial detention in a further investigation led by the EPPO’s Rotterdam office. https://www.eppo.europa.eu/en/media/news/netherlands-leaders-international-customs-fraud-ring-involving-biodiesel-imports
BASF is investing a mid-double-digit million euro amount in a new alkoxide plant at its Ludwigshafen site. The plant will produce sodium methylate and potassium methylate, two key chemicals used to produce biodiesel as well as for pharmaceutical and agricultural applications, the company said. The new plant, which uses state-of-the-art technology, will replace the existing production facility in Ludwigshafen and is expected to start operations in the second half of 2027, the company added. https://www.basf.com/global/en/media/news-releases/2025/02/p-25-022
OMV Petrom announces the start of construction of a Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and Renewable Diesel (HVO) production plant at the Petrobrazi refinery. This new plant will make OMV Petrom the first major producer of sustainable fuels in Romania, with an annual capacity of 250,000 tons. The new plant will allow OMV Petrom to integrate the production of SAF and HVO into the existing fuel production, storage and distribution infrastructure, thus meeting the region’s sustainable mobility needs. The project involves a total investment of EUR 750 million, of which EUR 560 million is earmarked for the construction of the SAF/HVO plant and EUR 190 million for two green hydrogen production plants. https://www.omv.com/en/media/press-releases/2025/250219-omv-petrom-starts-construction-of-sustainable-fuels-unit-at-petrobrazi-refinery
The German container shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd, the environmental association NABU and a number of other companies have called on the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to remove “unsustainable” biofuels from its list of alternative fuels. “Biofuels are a fatal mistake that must be stopped as soon as possible. Fuels from the fields will not stop the climate crisis, but will exacerbate the biodiversity crisis,” said Daniel Rieger, Head of Climate and Environmental Policy at NABU. https://www.offshore-energy.biz/hapag-lloyd-nabu-no-place-for-unsustainable-biofuels-in-shippings-future-fuel-mix/
TotalEnergies has signed agreements with Air Liquide to develop two projects in the Netherlands, for the production and delivery of some 45,000 tons a year of green hydrogen produced using renewable power, generated mostly by the OranjeWind offshore wind farm, developed by TotalEnergies (50%) and RWE (50%). These projects will cut CO2 emissions from TotalEnergies’ refineries in Belgium and the Netherlands by up to 450,000 tons a year and contribute to the European renewable energy targets in transport. https://totalenergies.com/news/press-releases/totalenergies-joins-forces-air-liquide-decarbonize-its-refineries-northern
Zeon Corporation and The Yokohama Rubber Co., have agreed to build a pilot plant to demonstrate the technology of highly efficient production of butadiene from ethanol made from plant-based and other sustainable materials. The plant will be built at Zeon’s Tokuyama Plant (Shunan City, Yamaguchi Prefecture) and is scheduled to start operations in 2026. It will enable the production of a certain amount of butadiene and facilitate the collection of various data to be used to establish mass production. https://www.zeon.co.jp/en/news/assets/pdf/250217.pdf
Tereos and Lénéo have signed an agreement to create a biomethane, fuel and decarbonized products production site in Morains. The project, led by the Lénéo company, consists in building a plant capable of producing more than 200 GWh of biomethane or fuel per year on the former Tereos distillery site in Morains. This project, which will allow the maintenance of industrial activity on the Marne site and the creation of 35 jobs, represents an investment of more than 60 million euros. https://www.tereos.com/app/uploads/2025/02/cp-tereos-leneo-projet-de-production-denergie-verte-morains.pdf
Scientists from the Institute of Bio- and Geosciences – Biotechnology at the Jülich Research Center, Germany, together with the company Novonesis, have developed a bacterium that “eats” individual building blocks of different types of nylon and converts them into value-added products. The results of this research will help improve nylon recycling. The study has just been published in the journal Nature Microbiology. The research team has genetically improved the versatile but harmless soil bacterium Pseudomonas putida so that it can metabolize this mixture of nylon building blocks and convert them into value-added products such as biopolyester. https://www.fz-juelich.de/en/news/archive/press-release/2025/nylon-eaters-2013-microscopic-helpers-recycle-plastic-waste