- Regulation & Legislation
- India Prime Minister: We Won’t Reverse Course on Diesel Price Deregulation
- U.S. EPA Partially Withdraws RFS2 Fuels Amendments
- Technology
- Coal-to-SNG/Diesel Scheme Avoids Gasification, CO2; Claims Cost Advantages
- Cummins Expanding High-Horsepower Engine Production
- Planet Resource Touts ULSD Sulfur-Polishing Scheme for Transmix
- SwRI’s ‘Hedge’ Inspiring Higher-Efficiency Gasoline Cars
- LS9 Wins ‘Green Chemistry’ Award for Renewable Diesel Scheme
- Distillate Markets
- BP Global Energy Review: Distillate Decline 1st Since 1982
- U.S. House Energy Chair Rips Keystone Oil-Sands Pipeline
- Sasol Awaits Tax Breaks for Indonesia CTL Project
- Large-Scale Jatropha-Biofuel Impractical, Requires Too Much Water: Study
- Diesel Surplus Prompts Korea ‘Green’ Fuel Push
- Sasol, Shenhua Seen Closing-in on CTL Project Deal
- Liberty Invites JV Interest in UCG Projects
- Market Report: ULSD Spot, Futures Prices Rebound
- Distillate Watch
Regulation & Legislation
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India Prime Minister: We Won’t Reverse Course on Diesel Price Deregulation
India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told reporters June 30 that his government won’t back down on deregulation of diesel prices despite protests from various political parties.
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U.S. EPA Partially Withdraws RFS2 Fuels Amendments
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials announced in the June 30 Federal Register that they’ve partially withdrawn some amendments announced May 10 in their renewable fuels standard 2 direct final rule.
Technology
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Coal-to-SNG/Diesel Scheme Avoids Gasification, CO2; Claims Cost Advantages
Minnesota-based Bixby Energy officials announced June 28 that they’re shipping their first demonstration-scale, 6.25-megaWatt coal-to-synthetic natural gas reactor to a glass-manufacturing customer in Shanxi, China, with eight more such units heading to other Chinese customers.
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Cummins Expanding High-Horsepower Engine Production
Cummins officials announced July 9 that they’re expanding the company’s High-Horsepower Technical Center and high-horsepower engine product line at its manufacturing facility in Seymour, Ind.
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Planet Resource Touts ULSD Sulfur-Polishing Scheme for Transmix
Houston-based Planet Resource Recovery officials announced July 7 that they’re developing a sulfur adsorption technology to remove sulfur from diesel/gasoline transmix in order to yield ultra-low sulfur diesel meeting U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 15 parts-per-million sulfur limits.
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SwRI’s ‘Hedge’ Inspiring Higher-Efficiency Gasoline Cars
Competition with diesel technology for ultra-low-carbon emissions vehicles continues to march ahead.
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LS9 Wins ‘Green Chemistry’ Award for Renewable Diesel Scheme
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency late last month awarded California-based LS9 the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award for a scheme that converts a biomass-based raw material directly into diesel fuel and surfactants.
Feature
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Petrobras, BIOeCon Team-up on ‘Next Generation’ Bio-Based Diesel
Petrobras and BIOeCon officials announced July 5 that they’ve agreed on a joint development plan for “next-generation” biofuels including a high-cetane diesel scheme.
Transport News
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EU Car Sales Dropping Again, but Diesel Share Rebounding
Sales of new automobiles in the European Union have started to decline following a brief pick-up earlier this year, but diesels are grabbing an increasing share, latest ACEA (European automakers association) data released last week show.
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Consumer Interest Seen Growing in Clean-Diesel, Downsized Gasoline Engines
Michigan-based Morpace officials announced July 7 that their Powertrain Acceptance and Consumer Engagement consumer survey found growing interest in clean-diesel and downsized, turbocharged, direct-injection gasoline engine powertrains – more so than interest in electric vehicles.
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MAN Inks Diesel Turbo Deal with BorgWarner
BorgWarner officials announced July 7 that MAN will use its R2S two-stage turbocharging system for light trucks and urban buses in the Latin American market starting in 2012.
Distillate Markets
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BP Global Energy Review: Distillate Decline 1st Since 1982
The global economic recession caused worldwide middle distillate demand to decline in 2009, the first time since 1982, according to the latest (2010) edition of the annual BP Statistical Review of World Energy.
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U.S. House Energy Chair Rips Keystone Oil-Sands Pipeline
U.S. House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) terms the proposed Keystone XL Canadian oil-sands pipeline to U.S. refiners as a scheme that would expand U.S. market reliance “on the dirtiest source of transportation fuel currently available.”
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Sasol Awaits Tax Breaks for Indonesia CTL Project
Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board Director Gita Wirjawan announced July 8 that Sasol is awaiting approval of government tax breaks for a proposed US$10 billion, 80,000-barrel-per-day coal-to-liquids plant in Indonesia.
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Large-Scale Jatropha-Biofuel Impractical, Requires Too Much Water: Study
A new study cited in the latest edition of the Ecologist magazine finds that claims for jatropha as a “wonder plant” for large-scale biodiesel production in parched areas exaggerate its feedstock potential.
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Diesel Surplus Prompts Korea ‘Green’ Fuel Push
South Korea’s refiners today are exporting more ultra-low sulfur diesel because of a surplus of local supply, yet liquefied petroleum gas shortages in Korea continue to grow.
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Sasol, Shenhua Seen Closing-in on CTL Project Deal
Sasol and China’s Shenhua are “close to signing a deal” for a proposed 90,000-barrel-per-day coal-to-liquids plant, according to a Sinocast news report quoting South Africa Trade & Industry Minister Rob Davies.
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Liberty Invites JV Interest in UCG Projects
Australia-based Liberty Resources officials June 29 announced completion of an economic scoping study for proposed underground coal gasification projects in the Denison Trough in Queensland.
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Market Report: ULSD Spot, Futures Prices Rebound
Ultra-low sulfur diesel prices in major world spot and futures markets rebounded last week on improving global economic indicators, following a steep sell-off during the prior week’s gloomy outlook.
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Distillate Watch
Distillate prices rebounded on improving global economic indicators.
