A group of farmers and businessmen in Northern Missouri has announced they will open a five-million-gallon-a-year biodiesel lant near the town of Moberly. When opened, that will give the Show-Me State seven biodiesel plants with at least five more in the works.
This story in the Columbia Daily Tribune says the Producers’ Choice Soy Energy’s soybean-based refinery is just in the planning stages right now:
Consultant Greg Walker of Vantage Capital Resources said the project needs to raise at least $7.5 million from investors, and half of that amount must come from soybean producers to qualify for tax incentives. Loans will provide the rest of the financing for the project. Walker said prospective investor meetings are planned for Columbia early next month.
“Because it’s green and environmentally sound energy, we think that we can close out the investment campaign pretty quickly,” he said.
Dale Ludwig, chief executive officer of the Missouri Soybean Association, said the facility planned in Moberly “will pretty much do it” for the construction of Missouri plants given statewide soybean production. He said statewide biodiesel production is expected to peak at about 200 million gallons a year once all proposed plants are up and running.
Ludwig believes biodiesel output in Missouri could hit 125 million gallons a year as early as next year.
Ethanol interests are hoping that Congress might finally get the energy bill into conference committee this week. 
Meanwhile, the Senate Agriculture Committee is finally scheduled to mark up a farm bill Wednesday morning, with chairman Tom Harkin announcing agreement on structure last week. 
Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Bronson has announced 
GE Energy will provide Third Planet Windpower with 167 1.5 megawatt wind generators for wind farm projects in Texas, New Mexico, Nebraska and Wyoming that will be ready for turbines in 2009. 
Palm Tran, with its 9-10 million riders a year, will switch its 115 buses to biodiesel in a few months. 
The BioBike – a 100-mile-per-gallon, biodiesel-powered motorcycle – is racing 3,000 km (1,800 miles) across Australia.
Diesel cars are well-established in the market and renowned for their ability to deliver excellent fuel economy in comparison with their petrol brethren. But why haven’t we seen more diesel motorcycles? Well, diesel engines run extra-high compression pistons, and their sparkless ignition produces much stronger power pulses – which gives them excellent torque, but means that the engine casings need to be thicker and heavier to deal with the increased stresses.
An article from 
Awareness for ethanol is rippling throughout the American consumer market. Industry leaders across the board attest to that. And it’s the IndyCar Series that is identified as one of the big catalysts that caused those waves of awareness to ripple and spread. Dave Lewandowski wrote an 
Now, however, it appears that maize itself may prove to be the ultimate U.S. biofuels crop. Early research results show that tropical maize, when grown in the Midwest, requires few crop inputs such as nitrogen fertilizer, chiefly because it does not produce any ears. It also is easier for farmers to integrate into their current operations than some other dedicated energy crops because it can be easily rotated with corn or soybeans, and can be planted, cultivated and harvested with the same equipment U.S. farmers already have. Finally, tropical maize stalks are believed to require less processing than corn grain, corn stover, switchgrass, Miscanthus giganteus and the scores of other plants now being studied for biofuel production.