First shipment of bio-ETBE received at Chiba terminal

Japan Biofuels Supply’s first import terminal for bio-based ethyl tertiary butyl ether (bio-ETBE), set up at Idemitsu Kosan’s petroleum refinery site in Chiba, has received its inaugural shipment of bio-ETBE from the United States. Roughly 30,000 kiloliters were received, which will be distributed starting in early February primarily to bio-gasoline production plants in eastern Japan. The shipment of bio-ETBE, made from bioethanol derived from sugarcane produced in Brazil, was from Lyondell Chemical. An agreement was signed in June 2008 between Idemitsu and Japan Biofuels regarding the use of Idemitsu’s Chiba refinery site for the storage of bio-ETBE from January this year to March 2015. (January 29, 2010)