The jury is still out on cellulosic ethanol, which is made out of grass, wood and non-edible parts of plants, as to how green and even viable it is.

One of the main challenges is to find the right enzyme that breaks down the cellulosic wall that (more…)

Brazil, the world leader in sugar cane ethanol production and consumption, has announced that its national Development Bank (BNDES) and the Brazilian Innovation Agency (FINEP) have signed a Technical Cooperation Agreement, pledging R$1 billion between 2011 and 2014 for a Joint Plan to Support Industrial Technological Innovation in the sugar-based Energy and (more…)

Iraqi officials have endorsed a plan to convert dates into biofuel, an innovative project they hope will boost a once-thriving agriculture economy burdened by years of drought, government sanctions and war.

A United Arab Emirates-based company will produce bioethanol from the dates that farmers can no longer use because they are rotting, said Faroun Ahmed Hussein, head of Iraq’s date palm board.

The nation produces about 350,000 tons of dates annually, but consumes only about 150,000 tons.

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