This new plant will be the largest of its kind in Scotland, and will reduce Tullis Russell's  annual carbon emmissions by 250,000 tonnes, reinforcing the company's position as one of the world's leading environmentally-focused papermakers. Work is scheduled to commence in February 2010, with commissioning completed in March 2013.

Currently, the plant's on-site production of heat and electricity is achieved with a combination of its own coal- and gas-fired cogeneration plant.  Operation of the coal-fired plant is to be closed down under LCPD (Large Combustion Plant Directive) regulations and the new Biomass plant will secure continuing energy supplies.

Johan Cnossen, Senior Vice President, Europe, Middle East & Africa region with Aker Solutions' Process and Construction business area said, "Aker Solutions has extensive engineering and construction capability in power generation facilities, particularly in the UK and the US.  We are looking forward to working together with RWE, Metso Power and our other key suppliers on this important biomass renewable energy project."

Stephan Lohr, RWE head of biomass said, "The combined skills and expertise of our chosen contractor Aker Solutions will be a major asset during the construction of the new Tullis Russell biomass power plant.  This project is RWE's largest investment to date in biomass based power generation and part of our ongoing commitment to investing EURO 1 billion per annum in renewable energy."

 The contract party is Aker Solutions' subsidiary Aker Solutions E&C Ltd.

 Media:

Norway: Jannik Lindbæk jr, SVP Corporate Communication, Aker Solutions. Tel: +47 67 51 30 36, Mob: +47 977 55 622
UK: Vanessa Mourant, VP Communications, Aker Solutions. Tel: +44 (0) 208 545 0270, Mob: +44 (0)7771 806566

Investor Relations:
Lasse Torkildsen, SVP Investor Relations, Aker Solutions. Tel: +47 67 51 30 39, Mobile: +47 911 37 194

Source: Aker Solutions

Under the terms of the MoU, both companies would contribute certain existing Brazilian assets to the JV (see notes to editors).  In addition, Shell would contribute a total of $1.625 billion in cash, payable over two years.

The JV would enable Shell and Cosan to establish a scalable and profitable position in sustainable biofuels – one of the most realistic commercial solutions to take carbon out of the transport fuels sector over the next twenty years – by building a market-leading position in the most efficient ethanol producing country in the world.  With annual production capacity of about 2 billion litres and significant growth aspirations, the JV would be one of the world’s largest ethanol producers.  In addition, the inclusion of Shell’s equity interests in Iogen and Codexis would potentially enable the JV to deploy next generation biofuels technologies in the future.

The deal would also enhance both companies’ growth prospects and market position in the retail and commercial fuels businesses in Brazil.  With a network of about 4,500 retail sites and a total annual throughput of about 17 billion litres, the JV would have a leading position in the fuels retailing  market in Brazil, with strong potential for synergy capture and future growth. 

Mark Williams, Royal Dutch Shell’s Downstream Director, said: “Today’s announcement demonstrates the continued importance of Brazil to Shell.  We're looking forward to joining with a leading company in Brazil to meet the needs of retail and commercial fuels customers in that growing market. 

“We see joining with Cosan as a way to grow the role of low-carbon, sustainable biofuels in the global transportation fuel mix.  The joint venture would also enable Shell to set up a material and profitable bio-fuels business, with the potential to deploy next generation technologies.”

Rubens Ometto Silveira Mello, Cosan’s Chairman of the Board, said: “Cosan’s vision is to become a global leader in clean and renewable energy.  Our size, degree of sophistication and stage of development means we need a partner that not only shares our vision, but also has access to international markets to help us deliver our growth potential.

“We believe this JV would play an impactful role for the sustainability of our planet by increasing the worldwide supply and distribution of ethanol-based biofuels.  It would also consolidate Brazil’s leading position in a world looking for sustainable, efficient and reliable alternatives to satisfy energy demand.”

The two parties will now maintain exclusive negotiations towards a binding joint venture agreement, which shall be subject to final transactional documentation, due diligence, agreement between the two parties on important sustainability issues, regulatory approvals and respective corporate approvals.

Source: Shell

The $50 million facility is expected to have an output of 250,000 of ethanol annually and serve as a testing ground for new technologies that can be used in larger scale production.

A partnership of DuPont Danisco Celllulosic Ethanol (DDCE) and the University of Tennessee (UT), the 74,000-square-foot plant has already started producing ethanol from corncobs and switchgrass.

Organized under the management of Genera Energy LLC, an arm of the university, the facility is a central part of the University of Tennessee's Biofuels Initiative championed by Bredesen. The goals of the initiative are to support bioenergy crop research, establish a production network and position Tennessee as a national leader in clean energy. Bredesen, UT officials and economic development leaders throughout the Knoxville-Oak Ridge Innovation Valley also hope the use of switchgrass will give Tennessee farmers a new cash crop. Switchgrass, a perennial, can grow in marginally productive soil and does not compete with food crops for arable land.

Startup of the plant is also good news for researchers at nearby Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Department of Energy's largest research center, which finds itself at the forefront of applied carbon fiber research. Many observers are intrigued by the possible uses lignen, a natural byproduct of the biofuels plant, as a relatively inexpensive feedstock that might lower the cost of producing carbon fiber.

The Innovation Valley partners --  Blount County Chamber of Commerce, Knoxville Chamber, Loudon County Economic Development Agency, Oak Ridge Economic Partnership, The Roane Alliance and the Tellico Reservoir Development Agency – work together to leverage technological advances into prosperity. 

For more information, visit www.knoxvilleoakridge.com or contact Garrett Wagley at 865/ 246-2661 or at gwagley@knoxvillechamber.com.

Media representation: Clark Miller Communications.

RELATED LINKS www.knoxvilleoakridge.com

SOURCE Knoxville-Oak Ridge Innovation Valley

RELATED LINKS
http://www.knoxvilleoakridge.com

S&H Teknik is a subsidiary of Söderberg & Haak, a well reputed Swedish supplier of agricultural machinery since 1866. S&H Teknik was founded a few years ago to focus on markets outside the agricultural sector. The company entered the bioenergy market by becoming agents for biofuel crushers from the American machinery manufacturer Vermeer.

“At World Bioenergy 2008 we presented what was for us a new product range,” Ramstedt says. “The interest from visitors to the fair was great, especially for a slightly special machine with low fuel consumption in relation to its capacity.”

Opening up new markets

At the S&H Teknik stand the international flavour of World Bioenergy was obvious. Numerous visitors from outside Sweden stopped by and half of the orders that were later traced back to the fair came from outside Sweden. As a result Vermeer was able to establish a presence in two new markets by supplying customers in Spain and Portugal.

S&H Teknik will be back at World Bioenergy 2010 with a broader product portfolio, more brands and a number of new products, including quite a few dealing with bioenergy sorting. The new product which Morgan Ramstedt wants to showcase is a new type of machine that both crushes and chops.

Future trend

“As the number of biofuel boilers increases, the market is changing,” Ramstedt explains. “The rise in fuel prices makes it more expensive to operate specialised machines, which have to be transported long distances in order to work at full capacity. The trend is towards bigger machines that can do more tasks and be profitable within a smaller geographic area.”

As an example, the combined crusher and chopper can be used to crush stumps, tops and branches and demolition timber, and also to chop round timber and brushwood.

The success of Vermeer and S&H Teknik is just one example of how an international trade fair like World Bioenergy can help to spread knowledge and facilitate business deals within the bioenergy field.

Caption:

SHteknik_2:

The next generation of biofuel crushers from Vermeer can also chop, and will be presented at World Bioenergy 2010.

Source: Elmia AB

Using the power of synthetic biology, the team of researchers engineered a microbe that consolidates advanced biofuels production and cellulosic bioprocessing for the first time. This breakthrough enables the production of advanced hydrocarbon fuels and chemicals in a single fermentation process that does not require additional chemical transformations.

"This breakthrough is a significant step toward the development of scalable, low-cost drop in compatible cellulosic fuels and chemicals," said Dr. Stephen del Cardayre, Vice President, Research and Development, LS9 Inc. "Combining LS9's single-step advanced fuel and chemical fermentation processes with cellulosic bioprocessing will enable the production of petroleum replacement products at lower costs and with significantly lower carbon emissions than current petroleum-based fuels and chemicals."

The team of scientific collaborators that included LS9 scientists Zhihao Hu, Andreas Schirmer, Amy McClure, and Stephen del Cardayre, and the U.C. Berkeley and JBEI team of Eric Stein, Yisheng Kang, Gregory Bokinsky and Jay Keasling, have published the results of this research in the January 28, 2010 edition of the journal Nature. The paper is entitled: "Microbial production of fatty acid-derived fuels and chemicals from plant biomass."

"This was truly a team effort that demonstrates the strength of combining academic, government, and industrial efforts and the importance of grant programs, such as the UC Discovery Grant, which support them," added Jay Keasling, Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley and Chief Executive Officer of the Joint BioEnergy Institute.

LS9 is the low-cost producer of renewable advanced diesel products. LS9's UltraClean(TM) Diesel is the only finished fuel directly produced by fermentation of renewable raw materials in a single step. The company's proprietary one-step process has higher yields and removes additional production costs associated with the multi-step processes required by other renewable diesel technologies. LS9's technology also results in superior products that are designed to uniquely achieve optimal overall performance. A leader in synthetic biology, LS9 genetically engineers microorganisms to precisely produce fuels to have desired properties such as cetane, volatility, oxidative stability and cold-flow, while offering an 85% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions when compared to conventional diesel. The published research demonstrates how the LS9 organisms can be further engineered to directly convert biomass to these advanced fuels and chemicals.

"LS9's single-step production technology already positions LS9 to be the low-cost producer of low-carbon advance biofuels using first generation feedstocks such as sugar cane," said Bill Haywood, Chief Executive Officer, LS9, Inc. "This amazing breakthrough represents a significant advancement toward the low cost production from cellulosic biomass, which will lead to greater reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, lower-costs, and an ability to leverage abundant non-food feedstocks throughout the world."

The team of collaborators will now jointly work on optimizing the efficiency by which their engineered microbe can convert cellulosic biomass into advanced biofuels.

This research was supported by funds from LS9, Inc. and the UC Discovery Grant program. The UC Discovery Grant program is a three-way partnership between the University of California, private industry and the state of California that is aimed at strengthening and expanding California's economy through targeted fields of research.

JBEI is one of three Bioenergy Research Centers funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to advance the development of the next generation of biofuels. Headquartered in Emeryville, California, JBEI is a scientific partnership led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and includes the Sandia National Laboratories, the University of California (UC) campuses of Berkeley and Davis, the Carnegie Institution for Science (located on the campus of Stanford University), and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

About LS9
LS9, Inc., the Renewable Petroleum Company(TM), is a privately-held industrial biotechnology company pursuing the commercial development of renewable fuels and chemicals. LS9 is applying synthetic biology to produce proprietary biofuels that are compatible with existing fuel distribution and consumer infrastructure, as well as high-value industrial chemicals. LS9 is the pioneer in the commercial development of fermentation derived hydrocarbon biofuels and its patent-pending Renewable Petroleum(TM) products are custom engineered in the lab to address immediate market needs for clean energy alternatives to petroleum. The company was founded in 2005 and Chevron Technology Ventures, Flagship Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners have provided funding to date. The company has also entered into a strategic partnership with Procter & Gamble. LS9 is headquartered in South San Francisco, California. Additional information about LS9 products and capabilities is available at www.ls9.com

Source: LS9 Inc.

"We are very pleased that through our new Bioenergy business area, we were able to enter into this collaboration with a range of Ekman's skills," says Jan Svensson, President of Ekman & Co.

"With the new plant in place, we will be able to increase the supply of renewable energy, which is in great demand," says Aleksey Kazmin, CEO, OJSC Vyborgskaya Cellulose.

"The market for wood pellets and other bioenergy products is growing in line with the increasingly stringent political requirements to reduce carbon dioxide emissions," says Johan Granath, Head of Bioenergy division at Ekman & Co.

International technology Group ANDRITZ will supply all process equipment for the pellet plant including debarking and chipping lines, chip handling system, belt dryers, as well as hammer and pellet mills.

For further information, please contact:
OJSC Vyborgskaya
Cellulose
Aleksey Kazmin
CEO
alexkazmin@hotmail.com
+7 813 78 219 17

Ekman & Co AB
Jan Svensson
CEO
jan.svensson@ekmanco.se
+1 305 776 40 49

Johan Granath
Head of Bioenergy
Division
johan.granath@ekmanco.se
+46 703 49 55 27

Vyborgskaya Cellulose was established in 1927 and produces pulp, corrugated paper and wall paper base. The company also provides a water treatment facility and district heating for the town of Sovetsky.

Ekman & Co was established in 1802 and is one of the world’s leading sales and marketing organizations focusing on the global forest industry. Ekman & Co is active in pulp, paper, bioenergy products, recovered materials and forest products derivatives.

Source: Science Daily

Integrating field tours in programme

The overall purpose of World Bioenergy is to promote the implementation of bioenergy technologies. Compared to conventional bioenergy conferences, World Bioenergy places much greater significance on the field tours integrating them fully into the main programme. Why? Simply because when it comes to putting bioenergy and its potential into concrete context, actions speak far louder than words.

Who is attending?

The World Bioenergy conference and exhibition is the professional focal point for the industry. Those who attend are key decision-makers and executives with purchasing power from industry, along with civil servants, academics, politicians, researchers, NGO’s, equipment manufacturers, service suppliers, energy providers, energy buyers, carbon traders, consultants, journalists etc.

World Bioenergy is the ultimate business mixer for all the major movers, shakers and money-makers within the global bioenergy industry.

World Bioenergy:

Exhibition
Conferences
Excursions
Pre- & Post conference Tours
Match-Making
Side Events

Where?

Arranged in Jönköping Sweden, 25 – 27 May 2010, by Elmia AB in cooperation withthe Swedish Bioenergy Association, Svebio.

Contact us

Jakob Hirsmark, Elmia AB
Exhibition Manager
jakob.hirsmark@elmia.se
+46 36 15 22 14 

Gustav Melin, Svebio
Conference Manager
worldbioenergy@svebio.se
+46 8 441 70 81

Welcome to www.worldbioenergy.com  for more details! Here you will also find our 4½-minute-film about World Bioenergy.

Conference Programme overview

Within World Bioenergy 2010 you will be able to participate in several different conferences focusing on different themes.
The overall focus will be on applied and currently available technology, as well as efficient, sustainable, and economic solutions. Shortly: bioenergy solutions that work. Depending on your own interest and profile, you can choose among the following themes, each of them complemented with exhibitors at the fair and daily study tours as exemplified below:

1. Combined heat and power, combustion, heating and co-firing
A range of technologies and installations will be presented, not only boilers and burners, but also fuel handling, logistics, flue gas cleaning and other support systems. Study tours to CHP-plants in the area of Jönköping.

2. Forest residues – slash, stumps, small tree harvest
We repeat our popular slash conference from Elmia Wood 2009. How to recover biomass from felling and thinning operations, environmental effects and ash recycling. Learn from the Scandinavian experience. Machinery and equipment at the exhibition but also daily excursion to chippers acting at site in the forest.

3. Pellets – the new large energy commodity
Market development, production technology, reports about projects and investments, new burner technology. Study tours to pellet factory etc.

4. Waste to Energy – works in every society
Waste is available in every society. It can be used for heat and power production, and for biogas production, through fermentation or thermal gasification. Modern combustion and cleaning methods guarantee low emissions. Daily tour to Waste incineration plant and biogas production units. Pre or post study tour to willow waste water treatment plant.

5. Energy crops, agricultural residues and by-products
Sugar cane, jatropha, willow, poplar, rape seed or reed canary grass and many other energy crops, as well as straw, manure, corn husks and bagasse, and other biomass resources, show that agriculture offers great potentials for bioenergy. Pre or post study tour to willow waste water treatment plant.

6. Biofuels for transport
Bioethanol, biodiesel and biogas can offer sustainable solutions. First generation biofuels are often much better than its reputation, and second generation is around the corner. But what about the economy? Pre or post study tour to ethanol from wheat factory. Daily excursion to biogas production plant.

7. Policy – how to make it all happen
How to stimulate increased use of bioenergy, and how to guarantee sustainability, and greenhouse gas reduction. What works best – general incentives of targeted? And what kind of standards, certifications and criteria do we need?

Welcome to register!