Wisconsin’s first commercial biodiesel plant has started producing the renewable fuel… and a second refinery will open in about a week. According to this story in the Wisconsin State Journal, the Sanimax plant in DeForest began testing the production of beef tallow-based biodiesel: The first batch of biodiesel is expected to be ready in one week. Plant manager Russ Read …
RFS Program Announced
In step with the Bush Administration’s call to increase the supply of alternative and renewable fuels nationwide, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today established the nation’s first comprehensive Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program, according to an EPA news release. At a press conference today, EPA Administrator Johnson, joined by Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator Nicole …
Biodiesel on “Pimp My Ride”
The hit MTV show “Pimp My Ride” will feature a 1965 Chevy Impala coverted to run on biodiesel for its Earth Day show on April 22nd. According to this story posted on CNET News, as part of the show, the converted Impala goes up against a Lamborghini in a quarter-mile drag race. And the Impala wins! “You don’t have to …
Military Bio-Trash Becomes Biofuel
Interesting little article for a vet like me popped up in the International Herald-Tribune. According to the story, Richard Gross, a chemistry professor at Polytechnic University in New York is working on making plastics out of plant oils… and that plastic packaging would be used by the military and then converted to biodiesel out in the field: The process does …
New Hampshire Biodiesel Progress
As New Hampshire’s state legislature moves forward a proposal to study biodiesel production, distribution, and promotion in the state, the first commercial biodiesel plant is proposed. According to an AP story posted on the WHDH-TV (Boston, MA) web site, freshman lawmaker Rep. David Borden’s bill to establish a biodiesel committee has passed the state House and now goes to the …
School Heated with Biofuel
North Country School, just outside of Lake Placid in upstate New York, is switching its heating source to biodiesel. According to this story in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, the school has always been pretty progressive… organically farming and composting food scraps to make 150,000 pounds of compost material each year. Now, they want their energy sources to be good for …
Dallas Greens Up Biodiesel Buses
Many of the city buses in Dallas, Texas are already running on biodiesel. Now, the city will put in an additive that will reduce NOx emissions even further. According to a press release, Dallas will be the first fleet in the nation to use the additive, ORYXE LED for Biodiesel, recently received approval from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality …
BioWillie Distributor Woes
In what could be seen as a cautionary tale that you’ve got to have more than good intentions to make it in the biodiesel business, the company that had rights to Willie Nelson’s brand of biodiesel… BioWillie… will delay the filing of its 2006 financial results because of “circumstances surrounding the auditor review of our financial information.” In this story …
JAMA Warns Biodiesel Homebrewers to be Careful
A brief report in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) points out that biodiesel is a substance that needs to handled carefully. The article points out an incident in Colorado where a biodiesel homebrewer accidently left the heating element on while he left for the weekend. The resulting fire released biodiesel, recycled restaurant cooking oil, smaller amounts of …
Eleven States Considering Biodiesel Requirement
We’ve been trying to document all the different pieces of state legislation out there that have impacts on the biodiesel industry. This blog entry posted by John Gartner on Autopia – Wired News, I think, kind of sums up what the effects might be if the 11 states… Florida, Connecticut, Missouri, California, Oregon, Mississippi, Arkansas, Nebraska, Montana, Tennessee and New …