Latest news with #biofuels
ABC News
a day ago
- Business
- ABC News
Mining giant Rio Tinto growing native pongamia trees for biofuel potential
Rio Tinto has started growing pongamia trees in northern Australia, as part of a biofuels project aimed at reducing the mining giant's reliance on fossil fuels. Pongamia trees are native to Australia and produce oil-rich seeds that can be processed into renewable diesel. The company has already planted 8,000 trees near its bauxite project on the Gove Peninsula in the Northern Territory, and has also started planting 750,000 trees at a new farm it bought near Townsville in Queensland. "Midway Limited has been tasked with overseeing the planting and management of that seed farm." Mr Hoffman said fast-growing pongamia trees were common in the suburbs of Brisbane and Darwin. "It's around five years before you can harvest seeds, but then the tree has a very long life span," he told ABC Rural. "One of the benefits is this tree does appear to grow well on degraded land or previously mined land. "Also in terms of waste products, the meal that's left behind after the seed is pressed [for oil], with further treatment, can be used as a cattle feed." He said pongamia seeds would not be able to fuel Rio's entire fleet of mining vehicles, but would hopefully play a role. Earlier this year, Rio Tinto trialled 10 million litres of renewable diesel — created from used cooking oil — across its Pilbara iron ore operations in Western Australia. The biofuel got used across the supply chain, featuring in Rio Tinto's rail, marine, haul trucks, surface mining equipment and light vehicles. Rio Tinto's managing director of rail, port and core services, Richard Cohen, said diesel made up about 70 per cent of the total carbon emissions from the company's Pilbara iron ore operations. "While electrification is the ultimate longer-term solution for re-powering the majority of our fleet, we're also exploring biofuels as a complementary and nearer-term solution," he said. Forestry Industry Association of the Northern Territory (FIANT) manager Hanna Lillicrap said it was great to see a major mining company getting involved in the forestry sector. "It reflects a growing recognition of the role forestry can play as a climate-positive solution in emissions reduction strategies," she said. Ms Lillicrap said Australia was quickly becoming a leader in pongamia research and mining money was welcome. "It's great to see serious investment going into research to better understand the species and its potential," she said. "If it can be made viable at scale, pongamia could play a role in the mix in decarbonisation efforts by providing a renewable fuel alternative, especially for hard-to-abate sectors."
E&E News
4 days ago
- Business
- E&E News
Energy Department expands eligibility for clean fuel tax credit
The Energy Department on Friday expanded the range of companies and producers that can claim the clean fuel production tax credit under Democrats' climate law — delivering a win for biofuels proponents on a tax incentive that was the subject of intense debate under the Biden administration. The Trump administration announced it was updating the modeling tool used to determine eligibility to claim the credit, which it said would account for new feedstocks and methods of production like ethanol from corn wet-milling and natural gas from coal mine methane. Lou Hrkman, principal deputy assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy, said in a statement the latest version of the modeling tool will allow more farmers 'to reap the benefits of a rapidly expanding market for alternative transportation fuels.' Advertisement The department also released an updated user manual that provides guidelines for how to determine life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of certain production pathways.
Reuters
5 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Exclusive: White House considers plan to clear record backlog of small refinery biofuel waivers
WASHINGTON, May 29 (Reuters) - The White House is weighing a plan to clear a record backlog of requests from small refineries for exemptions from U.S. biofuel laws, which could include approving many current applications and requesting industry input to deal with older ones, according to three sources familiar with the plans. The U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard requires refiners to blend biofuels like corn-based ethanol into the nation's fuel supply or buy renewable fuel credits, known as RINs, from those who do. Small refiners can petition the Environmental Protection Agency to receive an exemption if they can show financial hardship. There are more than 160 outstanding requests for exemptions that represent potentially billions of dollars worth of tradeable credits. A decision from U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to clear the backlog would have consequences for the oil and agricultural industries, and impact the price of commodities from gasoline and renewable diesel to soybeans and corn, along with the companies that produce them. In the past, widespread exemptions have sent credit prices lower, along with prices for soybeans and ethanol. The White House is considering granting many of the 19 requests for exemptions from 2024, and issuing a rule seeking input on how to deal with the others, some of which date back to 2016, the sources said. The Trump administration sees approving some requests and delaying others as less of a shock to the multi-billion-dollar credit market than deciding on all of them at once, the sources said. The White House would also likely force larger refiners TO make up for the exempted gallons in a process known as reallocation, but the details are still being worked out, the sources said. No final decision on a path forward has been made, the sources said, and details could change as industries step up engagement with the administration. The White House declined to comment. Molly Vaseliou, an EPA spokesperson, said there have been multiple reports about how the administration plans to tackle the exemptions, with different conclusions. She said news reports were "rumors" from people trying to influence the biofuel credit market. She did not confirm or deny the details reported by Reuters. Decisions on small refinery exemptions are made in a collaborative effort by the U.S. Department of Energy and the EPA, but the White House's Energy Dominance Council - along with White House aide Stephen Miller - has taken a lead role this time around, underscoring its importance, the sources told Reuters. During the first Trump administration, the EPA significantly increased the number of exemptions approved, driving down the price of the renewable fuel credits and angering the Farm Belt, which said the exemptions hurt a program that drove investment in the Midwest. The administration of former President Joe Biden was critical of the exemptions and let the applications linger without any decisions, resulting in the buildup. The RFS gives refiners who need to buy credits to comply with the program roughly two years to submit them to the EPA, complicating the administration's efforts to resolve outstanding credits from 2016 until 2022 that are effectively worthless.
Bloomberg
6 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Farmers Press Trump for Biofuels Boost to Counter Tariff Losses
By , Alicia Diaz, Erin Ailworth, and Ilena Peng Save After losing their biggest export market due to Donald Trump's trade wars, US farmers are now counting on the president's support for biofuels to prevent their next crop from piling up in storage. The administration is set to soon unveil a plan for how much crop-based biofuels will be blended into fossil fuels starting next year. A higher mandate, still opposed by some in the oil industry, would create a much needed outlet for crops after tariffs hit China — the top commodities buyer simply has no orders for corn, soybeans or wheat from the next harvest on its books, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
Bloomberg
23-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
China's Retreat From US Corn Makes It Cheaper for Rest of Asia
China's shift away from US corn is benefiting other Asian buyers as cheaper American supply flows into the broader market, shaking up competition for the grain used in animal feed and biofuels. South Korea, Japan and Vietnam are among countries that have ramped up their purchases, with the US taking more market share in some places as its footprint in China dwindles. Beijing has sought to diversify its agriculture supply over the past few years after tensions with the first Trump administration fueled food security fears.
