From May 2023 onwards, two tankers transporting Neste’s renewable diesel from Finland to Sweden will be fueled with a lower-emission marine fuel: Neste Marine 0.1 Co-processed. (Earlier post.) Neste Marine 0.1 Co-processed is an ISCC PLUS certified marine fuel and a lower-emission solution for marine professionals, including cargo owners and... Read more →

RINA, an international company specializing in inspection, certification and engineering consultancy, and Eni have signed an agreement jointly to develop initiatives that can contribute to the energy transition and decarbonization of their respective operations and particularly maritime transport, where RINA and Eni can benefit from each other’s expertise. Specifically, the... Read more →

Neste and ITOCHU have agreed to extend their collaboration with a licensing agreement allowing ITOCHU to become an official distributor of Neste MY Renewable Diesel in Japan. Based on this agreement, the availability of Neste MY Renewable Diesel will be expanded in the market, for example, to the area around... Read more →

The Cushing Economic Development Foundation, Inc. and the City of Cushing, Oklahoma announced that Southern Rock Energy Partners, LLC (SREP) has selected Cushing as the site for its 250,000 BPD next-generation, full conversion crude refinery. The project is expected to have $5.56 billion in capital investment and supply 423+ full-time... Read more →

MAHLE Powertrain and Clean Air Power have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to combine their efforts in providing rapid and cost-effective solutions for net-zero fueled internal combustion engines. The two companies have a longstanding collaborative relationship that has delivered results across a number of research projects. As part of these... Read more →

Synthetic fuels from renewable energy sources will be needed to reach the climate goals in the full transport sector. So-called “refuels” promise to reduce CO2 emissions by 90% compared to conventional fuels. To cover future needs of heavy-duty vehicles, airplanes, and ships and provide chemical industry with basic substances, we... Read more →

According to MAN Engines, all MAN off-road engines from the current product portfolio can be operated with regenerative diesel—also known as HVO (hydrogenated vegetable oil)—in accordance with the EN15940 standard in Europe or the US specification ASTM D975. By burning regenerative diesel, engines emit up to 30% less particulate matter... Read more →

Mitsubishi Shipbuilding, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group, has completed delivery of an ammonia fuel supply system for large, low-speed two-stroke marine engines, to Japan Engine Corporation (J-ENG), a manufacturer of marine engines. Ammonia fuel supply system J-ENG is currently conducting tests of ammonia fuel under various conditions... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) launched the Clean Fuels & Products Shot, a new initiative that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) from carbon-based fuels and products significantly. This is the seventh DOE Energy Earthshot, which focuses on reducing carbon emissions from the fuel and chemical industry through... Read more →

Outgoing Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is commissioning the 650,000 BPD Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals plant today. The Dangote Petroleum Refinery, which covers an area of approximately 2,635 hectares—about the six times the size of Victoria Island in Lagos, Nigeria—is expected to be Africa’s largest oil refinery and the world’s... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice announced a Clean Air Act Settlement with BP Products North America Inc., (BPP), a subsidiary of BP plc, requiring control technology expected to reduce benzene by an estimated seven tons per year, other hazardous air pollutants (HAP) by 28... Read more →

Electrofuels provider Infinium and comprehensive carbon management company Navigator CO2 entered into a Memorandum of Understanding and long-term relationship for Navigator to deliver 600,000 tons per annum (TPA) of biogenic carbon dioxide from its Heartland Greenway system to a future Infinium facility for the production of electrofuels (eFuels). The Heartland... Read more →

Oleo-X, a producer of premium renewable fuel feedstocks, launched its renewable diesel (RD) and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) feedstock merchant pretreatment facility. In addition to the facility launch, Oleo-X announced the appointment of longtime airline fuel executive Sergio Correa as Chief Executive Officer. Located in Pascagoula, Mississippi, Oleo-X’s facility has... Read more →

Rolls-Royce successfully completed the first tests of its UltraFan technology demonstrator at its facility in Derby, UK. The first tests were conducted using 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). Confirming the capability of the suite of technologies incorporated in the demonstrator is a big step towards improving the efficiency of current... Read more →

US orbital logistics and space mining company TransAstra Corporation announced that the US Space Force has awarded it a Phase One Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract to explore new applications for the company’s patented, propellant-agnostic Omnivore thruster. The Omnivore propulsion technology provides thrust typically six times faster and eight... Read more →

Neste announced its final investment decision on additional renewable products production capacity in Singapore in December 2018. The €1.6-billion Singapore Expansion project has been successfully completed, the start-up of the refinery expansion has been completed after mid-April, and Neste celebrated its opening today. The Singapore refinery expansion doubles Neste’s production... Read more →

Arcadia eFuels has selected Sasol and Topsoe technologies for its Vordingborg eFuels plant. The signing of the agreement represents a major milestone in maturing the project and ahead of the next major milestone being Arcadia’s final investment decision. The technology support for Arcadia marks the first single-point license between Topsoe... Read more →

Honeywell has introduced its new, UOP eFining technology, a ready-now solution for producing low-carbon sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). HIF Global, the world’s leading eFuels company, intends to deploy the new technology to produce eSAF at its second US eFuels facility— its first eSAF facility in the US. eFuels, also known... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the initial steps in the development of programs that will invest $4 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act in US port infrastructure while reducing air pollution. EPA is now seeking public input to inform the development of two new programs. The Clean Ports... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency recently issued an emergency fuel waiver to allow E15 gasoline—gasoline blended with 15% ethanol—to be sold during the summer driving season. Current estimates indicate that on average, E15 is about 25 cents a gallon cheaper than E10. Currently, in roughly two-thirds of the country, E15... Read more →

In accordance with its ambition to reach carbon-neutral production by 2035, Neste is working on a 120 MW electrolyzer project to produce renewable (i.e. green) hydrogen at its Porvoo refinery in Finland. The company has now decided to proceed to the basic engineering phase with the project. The investment decision... Read more →

Carbon transformation company Twelve and fuel technology partner Emerging Fuels Technology (EFT) signed a Master License Agreement to support Twelve’s scaleup of its E-Jet fuel, a fossil-free sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) produced using the company’s carbon transformation technology in combination with EFT’s Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and Maxx Jet upgrading technology. (Earlier... Read more →

MAN Energy Solutions’ MAN 175D engine is formally approved for operation on biofuels, effective immediately. This applies to all standard biofuels such as HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil) and FAME (Fatty Acid Methyl Ester) fuels up to a content of 100%. The engine itself does not require any technical adjustments, following... Read more →

Raven SR, a renewable fuels company (earlier post), and Cap Clean Energy, a clean energy development company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to co-develop biofuels facilities in Canada to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel (RD) for the heavy duty transport sector. The... Read more →

Proman Stena Bulk, the joint venture between tanker company Stena Bulk and methanol producer Proman, successfully completed the first barge-to-ship methanol bunkering on the US Gulf Coast. The JV tankers Stena Pro Marine and Stena Prosperous were refueled with methanol via barge while discharging petroleum products at a terminal in... Read more →

At a ceremony in South Korea in March, HHI-EMD—a MAN Energy Solutions two-stroke licensee—marked the manufacture of the world’s largest methanol-powered two-stroke engine, a MAN B&W G95ME-LGIM type. Simultaneously, the engine’s manufacture pushed the company past the 200 million brake-horsepower milestone for low-speed, two-stroke engines. With its 95 cm cylinder... Read more →

Svitzer, a leading global marine operations and towage operator, and Caterpillar Marine signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to adopt solutions that enable Svitzer to utilize methanol in their fleet. The implementation of dual-fuel methanol engines focuses on new tugs as well as conversions of existing Cat-powered tugs, which comprise... Read more →

Image of Stellantis logo While committed to 100% battery electric passenger car sales in Europe by 2030, Stellantis is testing the usability of eFuels on European vehicles produced since 2014 (Euro 6) to reinforce carbon emission reductions 28 engine families are being tested to make them eFuels friendly, which can... Read more →

BMW is testing the use of renewable HVO100 renewable diesel for parts delivery in Germany. Between BMW Plant Munich and Landau an der Isar, about 120 km to the northeast, four trucks operated by the logistics provider Guggemos (GV Trucknet) have been running on renewable HVO100 diesel since December 2022... Read more →

Chevron USA kicked off a road trip across the US Gulf Coast to showcase an innovative new gasoline blend with more than 50% renewable content. People from Chevron and Toyota will be driving Toyota’s Tundra, RAV4 and Camry on this road trip with the objective of demonstrating the fuel, which... Read more →

Brazil’s Acelen will invest more than R$12 billion (US$2.44 billion) over the next 10 years in the production of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) through the hydrotreatment of vegetable oils and animal fat. The company is expected to start production in the first quarter of 2026. . Acelen... Read more →

An international team from the Middle East has investigated the characteristics of diesel engines powered by petroleum diesel fuel blended with different volumetric percentages of aqueous ammonia. A paper on their findings—including useful literature background on combustion of diesel/gasoline and ammonia—is published in the journal Fuel. The researchers used Diesel-RK... Read more →

Technology group Wärtsilä, along with Norway-based Höegh LNG and other partners, Institute for Energy Technology (IFE), University of South-East Norway, Sustainable Energy and BASF SE have received funding of approximately @5.9 million from the Norwegian Government for the development of ammonia as a hydrogen carrier for the energy market. The... Read more →

Chevron Corporation, through its subsidiary Chevron Shipping Company LLC, and the Angelicoussis Group, through its Energy Transition division, Green Ships, announced a Joint Study Agreement (JSA) to explore how tankers can be used to transport ammonia, a potential lower carbon marine fuel. The initial study will evaluate the ammonia transportation... Read more →

Sunfire has successfully installed what it says is the world’s first multi-megawatt (2.6 MW) high-temperature electrolyzer (HTE) for the production of green hydrogen at Neste’s renewable products refinery in Rotterdam as part of the MultiPLHY project. Having met the refinery’s quality requirements, Sunfire has now achieved mechanical completion of the... Read more →

TerraStar Energy signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Emerging Fuels Technology (EFT) to license EFT’s Fischer-Tropsch (FT) and Maxx Jet/Maxx Diesel proprietary technology (earlier post) to build a fleet of FLEX plants—small-scale, modular renewable diesel facilities. Each plant will produce six to ten million gallons of renewable diesel per... Read more →

In its April Oil Market Report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts that world oil demand will climb by 2 mb/d in 2023 to a record 101.9 million barrels per day. Reflecting the widening disparity between regions, non-OECD countries, buoyed by a resurgent China, will account for 90% of growth.... Read more →

Gevo has entered into a joint development agreement with LG Chem to develop bio-propylene for renewable chemicals using Gevo’s Ethanol-to-Olefins (ETO) technology. The ETO process uses Gevo’s proprietary mixed metal oxide catalysts to produce tailored mixes of polymer-grade propylene, high-purity isobutylene and hydrogen from fuel-grade ethanol. The basic process involves... Read more →

In its April Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the US. Energy Information Administration (EIA) increased its forecast for the 2023 Brent crude oil price by 2.5% from its previous forecast. This change came after OPEC and its partner countries (OPEC+) announced crude oil production cuts for 2023. EIA expects the Brent... Read more →

LiquidPiston, an innovator of compact and efficient engine technology and hybrid power systems, intends to commercialize the XTS-210, a 25-horsepower, two-stroke, supercharged, liquid-cooled, 210cc rotary engine. The XTS-210 is heavy-fuel compatible (diesel, Jet A, JP-8, kerosene) and multi-fuel capable (gasoline, propane, hydrogen). Compared to current piston diesel engines, the XTS-210... Read more →

A team at RWTH Aachen University in Germany has proposed a Molecularly-Controlled high swirl Combustion system (MCC) which involves dual direct injection of a low- and a high-reactivity fuel in combination with lean relative air-fuel-ratios, high compression ratio, and compression ignition. Run with an ethanol/1-octanol combination, the MCC system achieves... Read more →

Yara Clean Ammonia, a Yara International ASA company, and Enbridge Inc. signed a letter of intent to develop and construct jointly a world-scale low-carbon blue ammonia production facility as equal partners. The proposed facility, which includes autothermal reforming with carbon capture, will be located at the Enbridge Ingleside Energy Center... Read more →

Nacero will transition its current pre-construction, multi-billion USD facility in Penwell, Texas—designed to produce low carbon gasoline—to the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and lower carbon aviation fuel (LCAF). When fully completed, Nacero’s facility in Texas will be the largest commercial scale facility in the US for producing SAF... Read more →

DCC plc, an international sales, marketing and support services group, has partnered with Oberon Fuels, the leading producer of renewable dimethyl ether (DME) (earlier post), to advance the design, construction and operations of multiple renewable DME production plants in Europe. The companies have completed an initial feasibility study which confirmed... Read more →

The Superbike Commission of the FIM World Superbike Championship (WorldSBK) has decided that the fuels used, as in MotoGP, must consist of at least 40% non-fossil components from the coming 2024 season. BMW Motorrad Motorsport is preparing intensively for this and is closely involved in the development of such alternative... Read more →

MAN Energy Solutions’ MAN 49/60DF dual-fuel engine has received its Type Approval after a five-day program on the testbed at company HQ in Augsburg, Germany. The Type Approval Test (TAT) was witnessed by inspectors representing the ABS, BV, CCS, DNV, LR and RINA classification societies, who signed the test protocol... Read more →

The German government and the EU Commission reached agreement on the inclusion of internal combustion engines fueled by CO2-neutral fuels—eFuels—late Friday evening. The agreement clears the way for the adoption of the 100% zero emissions limits for 2035. (Earlier post.) Early in March, Germany’s Federal Minister of Transport Dr. Volker... Read more →

A study by MathPro Inc., prepared for the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), has found that hydrotreating is an inexpensive approach to produce near-zero naphthalenes petroleum jet fuel (PJF) for contrail abatement. The report estimates an incremental cost of 0.09 to 0.12 USD/gallon (~€0.03/L) to hydrotreat fossil jet fuel... Read more →

In February, API’s industry data showed petroleum demand of 19.8 million barrels per day (Mb/d) at its second highest for the month since 2020, a rebound in oil production and record level exports, with reductions in inventories and domestic refining activities when compared to January 2023. The monthly growth in... Read more →

The Council of the EU and the European Parliament reached provisional political agreement on green shipping fuels regulations. The main objective of the FuelEU Maritime initiative, as a key part of the EU’s Fit for 55 package, is to increase the demand for and consistent use of renewable and low-carbon... Read more →