JAMA Warns Biodiesel Homebrewers to be Careful

John Davis

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 glycerin and sodium hydroxide, and 1-gallon containers of sulfuric and phosphoric acid that seeped into the ground. There were no injuries or evacuations, but JAMA says that biodiesel should come from commercial sources:

Biodiesel usually is produced commercially; however, some persons in the United States and elsewhere produce biodiesel in their homes for personal use. Those who produce homemade biodiesel should be aware of the substantial risk for injury. Substances used in biodiesel production can be highly explosive (i.e., methanol) or corrosive (i.e., sodium hydroxide). If improperly handled, these substances can cause severe eye, skin, and upper respiratory irritation; chemical burns; and other serious injuries. During the preceding 10 years, almost all fires and injuries caused by home production of biodiesel of which the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) is aware were caused by improper handling of methanol during production.

Sounds like the old advice from Hill Street Blues… “Let’s be careful out there.”

Biodiesel

Eleven States Considering Biodiesel Requirement

John Davis

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 Mexico… raise their biodiesel requirements from two to five percent, and other states look at reducing taxes on biodiesel:

You can view this as interventionist government messing with the free market for both food and fuel. Or, you can say it is the states creating a minimum market that ensures interest from growers and refiners to establish demand that is necessary to battle oil dependency (for national security reasons) or for environmental purposes.

Another option would be that states (or the federal government) could use their purchasing power to create the market. If all government vehicles used only biofuels, it would provide the certainty that producers need while reducing the effect on the free market. This is done all of the time with emerging technologies, so it shouldn’t be a surprise if it happens here.

Well said.

Biodiesel, Legislation, Opinion

Ethanol on the Campaign Trail

Cindy Zimmerman

At least three GOP presidential candidates were talking about biofuels on Wednesday.

In his campaign kickoff address, Republican Tommy Thompson, former Governor of Wisconsin, noted that his state “saw the promise of ethanol and renewable energy far before it was fashionable.”

On the environment and energy, America must become independent in its energy needs and break reliance on foreign oil. We must begin with greater investments in renewable energy, like ethanol, so we can bring these technologies to market faster and more efficiently. And we must come together and deal with our changing climate.

According to an Associated Press article, Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani said during a visit to Florida that everything should be considered if the United States wants to break its reliance on foreign oil.

The former New York mayor cited Brazil’s use of ethanol as an example the United States should follow.

“Brazil’s a wonderful country, wonderful economy, wonderful scientific community – it’s not the United States of America. Why should they be ahead of us on ethanol? We should be ahead of them. That should be our goal,” he said.

If the United States concentrates on new or improved technologies for energy production, it can then turn around and sell them to countries like India and China who have a growing demand, he said.

Meanwhile, in Oklahoma, CNHI News Service reports that Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) voiced support for a new version of the Homestead Act that would “encourage capital investments in rural communities, which could include the production of corn or other ethanol-producing or alternative fuel-producing crops.”

Ethanol, News

Fuel From Fiber

Cindy Zimmerman

ValcoA 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 Hollis Sullivan, who was at the Beltwide Cotton Conferences in New Orleans talking about the opportunities for biodiesel production to add value to cottonseed.

“An energy efficient plant is a goal,” said Sullivan. “We want to see what can be done. We can fill up trucks with bio-fuel when they bring in cotton. But we’re also looking for other opportunities. In 20 years, anyone who does not seize available opportunities will be left behind. We’re interested in adding anything that adds value to the crop.”

Sullivan said the Harlingen Co-op will be the first cottonseed mill with a bio-diesel plant. But he doesn’t expect it to be the only one. Anyone interested in following their lead, he said, “should do their homework. Study other bio-diesel plants and either build close to the raw material or make arrangements for a consistent supply.”

Biodiesel

Florida E10 Hold Up

Cindy Zimmerman

Marathon OilDespite the support of Florida’s commissioner of agriculture for biofuels production, despite two recent ethanol history-making races held in the Sunshine State, and despite a new campaign that “Florida Needs Ethanol” – a bureaucratic snag is keeping Marathon Oil from blending and distributing 10 percent ethanol-enhanced fuel in Florida.

According to an article in the St. Petersburg Times, Marathon and the state department of agriculture are “at an impasse.”

Florida’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services says it is unwilling to tweak state regulations until it gets scientific data to satisfy a fuel vapor issue, which officials fear could cause vehicles to stall in hot weather.

Marathon wants the state to modify the standard so its fuel would comply. The Houston-based company points to other states where regulations have been modified to suit E10 suppliers. Among them are Arkansas and Louisiana, which have climates similar to Florida’s.

Ethanol, Government, News

Fueling North Carolina’s Future

Cindy Zimmerman

NC Capitol The North Carolina General Assembly is considering a sweeping statewide strategic plan to strengthen North Carolina’s future in biofuels development and use.

According to a release from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center:

The 16-page document, “Fueling North Carolina’s Future: North Carolina’s Strategic Plan for Biofuels Leadership,” is the culmination of a seven-month process involving more than 70 leaders from across the state representing industry, agriculture, academia and government.

Significantly, the plan calls for North Carolina to bypass corn for its ethanol feedstock. Though corn is increasingly used in the Midwest, the plan notes that North Carolina can’t efficiently grow enough corn to meet its fuel needs. Instead, it should tap the best of its own agricultural and industrial infrastructure to develop so-called cellulosic ethanol, using enzymes from companies such as Novozymes, in Franklinton, to efficiently break down wood waste, barley, soybeans, sweet potatoes, switchgrass and possibly even crops not yet identified.

Cellulosic, Ethanol, Government, News

Biofuels and Animal Agriculture

Cindy Zimmerman

NIAABiofuels and their impact on animal agriculture was the main topic at opening general session of the National Institute for Animal Agriculture annual meeting this week in Sacramento, California.

Bill JonesThe keynote speaker was Bill Jones, chairman of Pacific Ethanol, whose topic was “Corn, Cattle and Carbon Credits – a California Perspective.”

“I appreciate the opportunity to speak at this conference because California does have a unique perspective on this issue dealing with biofuels and the relationship to animal agriculture,” Jones said in an interview. He cites two main reasons for that unique perspective: a localized dairy industry which allows them to feed distillers’ grains in the wet form instead of dried; and the state’s carbon credit program which allows biofuels producers to take an active role in reducing greenhouse gases.

Jones notes that higher prices for corn affect the ethanol producer just as much as the livestock producer, and he is just as anxious as any user of corn to see prices decline. “Being a farmer myself, being a person that raises cattle myself and feeds corn, I also appreciate the need to have this evolution take place very quickly,” he said. “Is it going to go back to $2 a bushel, I don’t think so.”

However, he adds that corn growers do have a hard time sustaining production at $2 a bushel, so he believes there is a middle ground that can be reached that can maintain profitability for both the crop and livestock sectors.

Listen to the entire interview with Bill Jones. Listen to MP3 File Bill Jones (10:00 min MP3)

Audio, conferences, Ethanol, News

New Hybrid Racecar Competition

John Davis

Dartmouth racing
Students at Dartmouth College’s Thayer School of Engineering have invited students at other colleges to design, build, and then race their vehicles with gas-electric hybrid drive trains.

According to a Dartmouth news release, the inaugural Formula Hybrid Competition will be held May 1-3, 2007, at New Hampshire International Speedway, Loudon, NH. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University of Daytona Beach, FL, Illinois Institute of Technology, Colorado State University, Florida Institute of Technology, Yale University, McGill University, and Drexel University will join the Dartmouth students:

Along with inspiring students to pursue careers in hybrid-engine technology, the competition could lead to innovations in the field, said Formula Hybrid Director and Thayer School Research Engineer Douglas Fraser. “Students are notoriously able to come up with novel solutions. They don’t go in with preconceived notions. They sometimes launch off in directions that you think, ‘My God, that won’t work,’ and, lo and behold, it does.”

Thayer students have nbeen participating in the Formula SAE® program, sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers, which challenges collegiate teams to design, build, and compete with formula racecars. Teams from Thayer have taken part every year since 1995 and will enter an ethanol-fueled car in the competition, May 16th-20th at the Ford Michigan Proving Grounds in Romeo, MI. Thayer had hoped to enter their first hybrid racecar in 2003, but changing rules disallowed hybrids. So, the students came up with a competition of their own… and both the SAE and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers are sponsors of the new program.

Flex Fuel Vehicles, Miscellaneous, Racing

Keokuk Biodiesel Plant

John Davis

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:

Tri-City Energy logo 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 their four–phase plan, company officials plan to build another plant a few blocks away along the Mississippi River that will produce 30 million gallons from the region’s soybean crop.

Keokuk plant The plant is quite a boost to Keokuk as Tri-City Energy put its biodiesel plant in an old General Mills wheat processing plant that had been used just for storage for 30 years.

The company got a $500,000 grant and two million dollars in loan guarantees from the USDA… one of a dozen recipients in Iowa, Kansas and Oregon.

Biodiesel

Canadian Study to Boost Biodiesel

John Davis

Canada logo 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 Project Coordinator with the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA), which is administering the project. “Biodiesel has the potential to reduce Canada’s dependence on fossil fuels, provide great environmental benefits and increase market opportunities for Canadian oilseed producers.”

Gary Lunn “Our Government is committed to encouraging the development and use of renewable fuels,” said the Honourable Gary Lunn, Minister of Natural Resources. “Initiatives such as these play an important role in helping us achieve the government’s objective of five percent renewable content in transportation fuels by 2010. This is another example of how we can create new economic opportunities for farmers and the agricultural sector while also taking care of our environment.”

Five percent and 20% blends were tested and found, of course, to burn cleaner than conventional diesel. Officials hope the success of the project will encourage more biodiesel use across Canada.

The full study is expected to be released next month. It will be available through the OSCIA Web site: www.ontariosoilcrop.org.

Biodiesel, International