Carnaval (Mardi Gras) is not the only hot thing in Brazil at this time of year. A U.S. firm is investing $35 million dollars in Brazil’s burgeoning biodiesel industry. Check out this story from CattleNetwork.com: “We are going to build a facility capable of producing 28 million gallons of biodiesel from soy and sunflower oils,” said Tyler Bruch, president and …
Tribe’s Waste Cooking Oil Fuels Reservation
The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe straddling the U.S.-Canada border is working with Clarkson University in Upstate New York to turn the tribe’s used cooking oil from its casino into biodiesel. The fuel produced is expected to be more than enough to power the reservation’s solid waste facility generators and maintenance vehicles. According to a release on Clarkson’s website, the tribe …
Ciba Introduces Chemical to Stabilize Biodiesel
Switzerland-based chemical company Ciba Specialty Chemicals has come up with a biodiesel additive touted to protect against degradation and oxidation to help extend the storage life of biodiesel. According to a press release on the company’s web site, the chemical will help make fuel quality consistent… no matter what the feedstock and process… and that will help the biodiesel meet …
Biodiesel to Help Connect Unconnected in India
This story on the BBC’s web site says GSMA, a fund to help people in developing countries gain access to wireless phone service, will be using locally-produced biodiesel to fuel mobile base stations in India. The project is expected to help the vast majority of India’s 1.2 billion people living in areas with, at best, fragmented coverage get phone service. …
US and Brazil Seek Ethanol Partnership
Officials from the world’s two largest ethanol producers, the United States and Brazil, have been meeting this week to discuss the possibility of a new “energy partnership.” According to a Washington Post report, U.S. officials said they expect to sign accords within a year that would promote technology-sharing with Brazil and encourage more Latin American neighbors to become biofuel producers …
Making Hydrogen More Mainstream
A deal between two companies could make the mass production of hydrogen-fueled vehicles more feasible. In a press release on their web site, Dynetek officials say they will make seven million Canadian dollars (nearly US $ 6 mil) worth of compressed hydrogen storage systems for Magna Steyr connected to DaimlerChrysler’s fuel cell program. Dynetek officials say the deal will ultimately …
Companies Join to Build Slovenia’s Largest Biodiesel Refinery
A Slovenian oil refining company has partnered with an Austrian financier to build Slovenia’s largest biodiesel plant. The plant in Lendava, Slovenia (pictured below) will produce about 18 million gallons of biodiesel a year… making it one of the biggest in Europe. According to a press release on the company’s website, Nafta Lendava, Eko Nafta, Nafta Biodizel and the Austrian …
Global Warming at 28 Below
A quick Google news search for “global warming” today turns up nearly 2,000 articles in the first heading, thanks to a new study that says global warming is “underway right now, humans caused it, and it will continue for centuries, no matter what we do.” The study was released in Paris by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. At a …
From Briefs to Biodiesel
Who’s not wearing underwear? Well, apparently, besides some Hollywood celebrities, not enough of us. And, strangely enough, that could be good news for the biodiesel industry. This story on Bloomberg.com says a British-based distributor of underwear, Caldwell Investments, is getting out of the skivvies biz and is planting 1,000 jatropha trees in Brazil with plans to make biodiesel. The biodiesel …
Brazil Opens Country’s Largest Biodiesel Mill
Brazil has opened a 108-million-liter (approximately 25 million gallons) a year biodiesel plant… the largest in the South American country. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva attended the event. This story in Brazzil Magazine says this one operated by Brasil Ecodiesel is not the only biodiesel mill in the country. According to the (Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy), …