BY Erin VoegeleIowa Gov. Kim Reynolds announced on Aug. 25 that the state is allocating approximately $100 million of federal CARES Act relief funds to seven ag programs to offset the impact of COVID-19. Approximately $22.5 million of that will support biofuels. READ MORE

BY Erin VoegeleThe Brazilian government announced on Aug. 13 that the blend requirement for biodiesel sold at the pump will be temporarily lowered from 12 percent to 10 percent for the months of September and October. READ MORE

BY Phillips 66 Phillips 66 announced Aug. 12 that it plans to reconfigure its San Francisco Refinery in Rodeo, California, to produce renewable fuels. The project would produce 680 million gallons annually of renewable diesel, gasoline and jet fuel. READ MORE

BY Ron KotrbaVelocys has completed manufacturing and delivery of four Fischer-Tropsch reactors to Red Rock Biofuels. Red Rock Biofuels plans to convert 136,000 tons of waste woody biomass into more than 15 MMgy of renewable diesel and SAF in Lakeview, Oregon. READ MORE

BY Erin VoegeleNeste announced July 23 that its renewable products business set a new quarterly sales volume record during the second quarter of this year. Nameplate production capacity for renewable diesel also increased during the quarter. READ MORE

BY Ron KotrbaFollowing a successful production trial of 100 percent renewable diesel in Dumai, Indonesia’s state-owned oil company Pertamina is ready to scale up its investments in renewable diesel. Pertamina plans two new standalone units in Plaju and Cilacap. READ MORE

BY Ron KotrbaPetrobras announced July 14 that it has concluded industrial-scale tests for coprocessing renewable diesel. The tests were performed at the Presidente Getúlio Vargas Refinery in Araucária, Paraná, where 2 million liters of soy oil were processed. READ MORE

BY Alan P. Mammoser Alan Mammoser, independent writer on renewable energy, interviews Karl Feilder, CEO of Dubai-based Neutral Fuels, on the role his biodiesel company and local business model play in the global transition to climate-friendly transportation fuels. READ MORE

BY Ron KotrbaBiodiesel Magazine spotlights the upcoming Biodiesel Production Technology Summit, Aug. 24-26 in Omaha, Nebraska, and Imerys’ CynerSorb filterable adsorbent for pretreatment of low-quality feedstock. READ MORE

BY Ron KotrbaSeveral U.S. biodiesel producers share their experiences during the height of the coronavirus crisis, painting a picture of the industry’s health during these uncertain times. READ MORE

BY Ron KotrbaU.S. production of biodiesel fell by 8 million gallons in April as lockdowns amid the health crisis strengthened. Soybean oil feedstock use rose, however, while DCO and yellow grease consumption fell as ethanol producers and restaurants closed. READ MORE

BY The Chinese University of Hong Kong Researchers at The Chinese University of Hong Kong have developed a novel method for extracting enzymes from bacteria, lowering production costs and improving enzyme stability. It also opens up a new avenue for the enzymatic production of biodiesel. READ MORE

BY Ron KotrbaU.S. production of biodiesel ticked up slightly in March over February despite the onset of lockdowns from the coronavirus pandemic that began to take hold in the U.S. that month, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. READ MORE

BY Ron KotrbaOrion Energy Partners, GCM Grosvenor and Voya Investment Management have formed a capital partnership worth $365 million with Bakersfield Renewable Fuels, which plans to retrofit an existing Southern California oil refinery to make renewable diesel. READ MORE

BY Erin VoegeleThe U.S. EPA has released updated RIN generation data, reporting that 1.05 billion RINs were generated under the RFS in April, down from 2.74 billion during the same period last year. The decrease is attributed to the coronavirus pandemic. READ MORE