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 …
Fuel From Fiber
A reader alerted us to the impending opening of VALCO Bio Energy in Harlingen, Texas – the first plant to use cottonseed oil as a base stock for manufacturing biodiesel. Valley Coop Oil Mill announced the project last fall and is expected to open the plant this spring. Southeast Farm Press did a story earlier this year with Valco CEO …
Keokuk Biodiesel Plant
Downtown Keokuk is the home of a new, five-million-gallon-a-year biodiesel plant. And this article in the Burlington (IA) Hawk Eye promises it’s just the beginning for the town: The Tri–City Energy facility that cost $5 million to begin operations is small compared to its peers that make from 30 million to 60 million gallons a year. But as part of …
Canadian Study to Boost Biodiesel
A newly-completed study in Ontario shows that biodiesel could be an effective alternative fuel for farm operations in Canada. According to a Canadian government press release, the project was conducted on six farms in the province: “This project was designed to accelerate the adoption of biodiesel use on Ontario farms through a series of on-farm evaluations,” said Deanna Deaville, Special …