Last September, a motorcycle that runs on biodiesel hit a record 130 miles per hour (see my Sept. 17, 2007 post). Now, the folks at the Oakland, California-based The Crucible want to run it up to 160 mph!
But first, this YouTube video posted on InventorSpot.com shows them taking out on the road:
Extreme motorcycle modification is nothing new. So when Michael Sturtz decided to make an extreme motorcycle with a diesel motor, not much was said, until now.
Sturtz and his team from an industrial-arts group called the Crucible based out of Oakland, California started with an older model motorcycle. They found a diesel V6 from a BMW and began the painstaking process of merging the 2. After spending over a month rebuilding the frame, running hoses and cables and designing a biodiesel friendly fuel system, the computer locked up. A built in security system flagged the car as stolen and only after some “hacking” and a few calls to BMW could the problem be remedied.
The first-ever biodiesel fuel card has been unveiled. National Biodiesel Foundation (NBF) today introduced the BioTrucker Fuel Card, which highlights the availability of biodiesel with a network of truck stops that carry biodiesel. 
A company with ambitious plans to have ethanol plants in Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska is now planning to file for bankruptcy after being unable to raise $1.5 million in necessary interim financing.
Orion plans to convert the facility into a fully integrated renewable fuels campus in three phases over 3 years. The first phase will convert the corn fructose wet milling facility into a 60 million gallon per year ethanol plant and 10 million gallon per year edible oil extraction facility. Phases two and three will consist of adding a 10 million gallon per year cellulose-to-ethanol process, a 12 million gallon per year biodiesel plant, a 25,000 ton per year yeast plant, and a 60-75 Megawatt wind and biomethane based electrical generation facility. The asset purchase brings with it approximately 1,200 surrounding acres and a wind lease agreement. 
“I think this community should feel really good about the effort that has gone into the successful completion of this plant. What I’ve been told is every segment of this community got behind this effort and supported it,” Strickland said. “This is the result of people working together to accomplish something that is good for everyone. It’s going to be good for the farmers, the agriculture community in Ohio will benefit as a result of this plant.”
A Nebraska biodiesel plant that was under construction up until the middle of February, just weeks short of its completion, looks like it will be completed.
Bud Cummins, U.S. Canadian Biofuels CEO, said Monday a recent agreement with Home Federal Savings Bank, which issued the construction loan for Beatrice Biodiesel, will allow Beatrice Biodiesel to liquidate certain collateral currently securing the loan to provide a cash pool to complete the core construction at the plant.
There could be some new investors taking over the biodiesel operations of an Illinois soybean miller.
Willie Nelson’s BioWillie biodiesel fuel, which is already sold in Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana, California and Tennessee, will add a key location when Willie’s Place at Carl’s Corner, Texas, opens this summer. The truck stop, built on the site of the first outlet to carry BioWillie, is located just off busy truck route I-35, which runs from the Mexican to the Canadian border. Billed as the biggest green truck stop in the United States, the facility will include 13 islands and 26 pumps, and all fuel sold there will have some percentage of biofuel, ranging from 5% to 85%.
Ethanol producer Golden Grain Energy of Mason City, Iowa is looking at getting into the biodiesel business by the end of the year.