A ferry carrying 124 cars in Washington State’s Puget Sound has been running on biodiesel since last month, and officials are hoping to expand the green fuel into another transport.
This story from Biodiesel Magazine says it’s the Washington State Department of Transportation’s Ferries Division’s second try in recent years at trying to run ferries with biodiesel:
The 124-car ferry Issaquah has been running on a five-percent blend of soy biodiesel since March 10 and so far there haven’t been problems. In 2004, the ferries division ran a B20 blend in the Issaquah and other ferries, but had to abandon the program due to severe clogging in the vessels’ filters and purifiers.
Paul Brodeur, director of vessel maintenance, preservation and engineering for the division, said, “so far we’ve been running successfully. We’re about ready to bring our second vessel (the Tillikum) on at the end of this week. It’ll be back in operation on April 7.”
The 87-car Tillikum will be tested with B5 canola biodiesel.
Fifty years ago, you could see acres and acres of flax growing in the southern part of Texas. Today, the crop once grown for vegetable oil, is finding new life as a feedstock for biodiesel.
“It’s kind of like we’re coming full circle,” said Dr. Gaylon Morgan, small grains researcher and member of the Texas A&M AgriLife project team. “Flax was grown on about 400,000 acres during that time and Texas AgriLife Research had an active flax breeding program.
“Schools, truck drivers, small businesses and families across the commonwealth are feeling the pressure of higher fuel bills on their budgets and wallets,” said McGinty. “Switching from conventional fuels to homegrown biofuels will help break our addiction to foreign oil, bring down costs, strengthen national security, and grow our economy.
Roe explains that Coskata combines both biological and thermochemical processing and can use a wide variety of feedstocks, from wood chips, weeds and non-food crops like miscanthus, to even human waste and carbon-heavy garbage like tires.
Sales of alternative fuel vehicles in the United States, including flex-fuel and hybrid electric, reached 1.8 million last year, about 250,000 more than in 2006.
According to officials, the site has been electronically energized and the turnover of individual systems to start-up and operating teams has begun so that the functional capabilities of each system can be tested. In total, more than forty separate systems will be evaluated over approximately the next three months.
Spirits were high for driver Ryan Hunter-Reay at the start of the race where he had qualified for sixth pole position. After ten laps behind the pace car in the rain, the field opened up and Hunter-Reay spun out, dropping him down to 23rd. 
Drivers Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta won their second consecutive class victory on the waterfront street circuit in St. Petersburg, Florida. 