Methes Energies’ Biodiesel Earns BQ-9000 Status

John Davis

Methes1Methes Energies’ biodiesel has earned an important quality status. This company news release says it has received BQ-9000 Producer and Marketer status from the National Biodiesel Accreditation Commission (NBAC).

The National Biodiesel Accreditation Program is a cooperative and voluntary program for the accreditation of producers and marketers of biodiesel fuel called BQ-9000®. The program is a unique combination of the ASTM standard for biodiesel, ASTM D6751, and a quality systems program that includes storage, sampling, testing, blending, shipping, distribution, and fuel management practices.

Nicholas Ng, President of Methes Energies, said, “We are very proud of this achievement. There are not many companies that are both accredited as a producer and a marketer by the NBAC. Our team has done a great job over the last several months to place the company in this unique position. Both accreditations send a strong message to our clients that we take quality and processes very seriously.”

Meanwhile, in another quality note, Methes has chosen Genscape Inc. as its Quality Assurance Plan (QAP) provider for Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) verification.

Genscape’s robust program is registered with the EPA and ensures Methes Energies’ RINs will maintain a high standard for quality and reliability while providing the flexibility to offer both QAP A and QAP B RINs. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is set to implement a quality assurance program for RINs generated on biofuels produced at foreign facilities and imported into the U.S. as well as for U.S. facilities that generate their own RINs. The EPA expects the program to promote greater liquidity in the transfer and use of RINs, especially for smaller producers.

Biodiesel, RINS

Waste Management Converts Trucks to CNG

John Davis

wmala1While you might not see a garbage truck as one of the cleanest vehicles on the road, one company is trying to make sure that at least its emissions are clean. Waste Management, in a partnership with the American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest (ALAUM), the American Lung Association in Utah (ALAUT) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, converted seven diesel engine waste haulers to compressed natural gas (CNG) engines.

By switching to CNG, Waste Management is reducing over 14,000 tons of lifetime tailpipe emissions, benefitting the residential neighborhoods and schools these trucks frequently operate near. The waste haulers will reduce 47.31 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx), 2.38 tons of particulate matter (PM), 2.22 tons of hydrocarbons (HC), 10.84 tons of carbon monoxide (CO) and 13,944.49 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2).

Mobile source emissions are the leading cause of outdoor air pollution. This project achieved significant emission reductions, helping the American Lung Associations mission to fight lung disease and improve lung health, said Glenn Lanham, Executive Director, American Lung Association in Utah.

In addition to helping people breathe easier, the CNG-powered vehicles beat Waste Management’s emissions reductions and fuel efficiency goals set in the company’s corporate sustainability program.

Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)

REG Completes Deal to Buy Renewable Diesel Plant

John Davis

REGSyntIowa-based Renewable Energy has closed on the deal to buy all of the assets of a renewable diesel plant owner. REG was able to finalize the deal when a majority of Syntroleum shareholders voted to approve the asset sale to REG.

The assets acquired from Syntroleum include a 50% ownership interest in Dynamic Fuels, LLC, which owns a 75 million gallon per year nameplate capacity renewable diesel biorefinery located in Geismar, Louisiana. REG has a separate pending agreement with Tyson Foods, Inc. to acquire the remaining interests in Dynamic Fuels.

Most of the employees at Syntroleum’s Tulsa headquarters will join REG as part of the newly formed REG Synthetic Fuels.

“We are very pleased to bring new advanced biofuel technologies into the REG portfolio of products that will expand our biomass-based diesel business and launch us into new customer segments,” said Daniel J. Oh, Renewable Energy Group, Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer. “We welcome the newest members of our team in Tulsa to REG Synthetic Fuels.”

REG owns and operates nine active biorefineries in five states and distributes biodiesel through a national network of distribution terminals.

REG

Verdicts in on Co-existence of Organic & GMO Crops

Jamie Johansen

New Holland ZimmPollOur latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “Can organic & GMO crops co-exist?”

It’s clear everyone has their own opinion on this topic. And it’s important that farmers are able to voice their opinions and farm the way they see fit. Many pollers believe that organic and GMO crops can live harmoniously on the same or neighboring farms. But cross pollination is still a fear of many. Believe what you want, but let’s not put farmers against farmers.

Our poll results:

  • Yes – without legal regulation – 25%
  • Yes – with legal regulation – 7%
  • Yes – farmers choice to grow – 26%
  • No – due to cross pollination – 30%
  • No – it’s one or the other – 3%
  • Don’t know – 3%
  • Don’t care – 2%
  • Other – 4%

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “What do you think about the new AgWired look?”

As you can tell the ZimmComm Team has been busy changing things up a bit. Don’t worry, we are still covering everything agriculture. AgWired.com has just undergone a complete transformation on the back end and now incorporates WorldDairyDiary.com as Animal.AgWired.com and PrecisionPays.com as Precision.AgWired.com. And new features including a built in mobile app that you create on your device when you browse to AgWired.com.

ZimmPoll

Solazyme Opens Renewable Oil Plant with Bunge

John Davis

solazyme-logoCalifornia-based Solazyme, Inc. has opened a renewable oils plant in Brazil with its partner Bunge Limited. This news release from Solazyme says the plant includes 625,000 liter fermentation tanks and produces the renewable oil and encapsulated lubricant, Encapso™, products.

“With production underway at the Solazyme Bunge Renewable Oils plant, Solazyme is manufacturing products at three large scale facilities, including our 2,000 MT/year integrated facility in Peoria, the 20,000 MT/year Iowa facilities in Clinton/Galva and the 100,000 MT/year facility in Brazil,” said Jonathan Wolfson, CEO Solazyme. “Continued progress at the recently completed adjoining co-gen facility has resulted in more reliable power and steam, enabling startup of commercial operations and production of our first commercially saleable product. We are truly excited to have begun manufacturing operations at our joint venture’s flagship facility in Brazil.”

“The start of production at the Solazyme Bunge Renewable Oils plant is an important milestone for this joint venture. We’re proud of the work we have done with our partner Solazyme in bringing the world’s first built-for-purpose renewable oil plant on line. We remain committed to the success of the joint venture and see significant market opportunities that we can address together,” said Ben Pearcy, Managing Director, Sugar & Bioenergy, Bunge Limited.

The plant is expected to hit its nameplate capacity within the next 12-18 months.

International

I-75 Corridor Creates Biodiesel, Ethanol Roadtrip

John Davis

I-75-Corridor-Map[1]The summer travel season is here, and if you’re looking for a way to see the U.S.A. while driving on clean-burning biodiesel and ethanol, a roadtrip down Interstate 75 might be just the ticket. The latest edition of the National Biodiesel Board’s Biodiesel Bulletin talks about the I-75 Green Corridor, the planet’s longest biofuels corridor, that runs from Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. to Miami, Fla. where they’ve just upped the availability of B20 and E85.

The project’s goal was to install biofuel pumps at least every 200 miles or to fill in gaps between existing biofuel stations along the interstate.

To date, over 2.8 million gallons of biofuels have been sold from project stations, and 2.2 million gallons of petroleum have been displaced. This equates to 6,735 tons of CO2 emissions avoided compared to conventional petroleum-based fuels. Thus far, nearly 30 new biofuel pumps have been installed, resulting in the 1,786-mile interstate becoming what is believed to be the planet’s longest biofuels corridor.

Time to hit the road, you eco-Road Warriors!

Biodiesel, E85, Ethanol, Ethanol News, NBB

Wet and Dry Milling Focus of Conference

Cindy Zimmerman

cutc-14-martinThe 2014 Corn Utilization and Technology Conference is underway in Louisville, Kentucky and this year the focus is on wet and dry milling technologies and new uses.

National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) president Martin Barbre says the event brings together researchers with the common goal of facilitating the next ground-breaking technologies and corn-based products of the future. “It’s a great place for researchers to see what others are doing,” he said. “We also have a very good international focus with visitors and attendees from all four corners of the world.”

As corn growers are just about finished planting what is expected to be another record crop this year, Barbre says they are happy to see increased export demand for corn and the ethanol co-product distillers grains. “When you put an ethanol plant in, it doesn’t change the market (for corn),” he said. “Really there’s only two things that change the market – weather and exports. We’re working hard to increase corn exports worldwide and we’re even working with other countries to open up new markets.” Interview with NCGA president Martin Barbre


2014 CUTC Photo Album

Audio, conferences, corn, CUTC, Ethanol, Ethanol News, NCGA

AgWired Gets a Facelift

Joanna Schroeder

When you visit the ZimmComm New Media websites dedicated to agriculture, you will see a new integrated AgWired brand Animal.AgWired.comand new website names to better serve the animal agriculture segment of the industry.

WorldDairyDiary.com will now be known as Animal.Agwired.com, which will offer news and information about all segments of livestock and poultry. “We regularly cover events such as the International Production and Processing Expo, World Pork Expo, and national beef cattle meetings, in addition to World Dairy Expo,” said ZimmComm president Chuck Zimmerman. “We wanted to consolidate all of our animal agriculture coverage into one site to make it easier for our readers to access.”

Precision.AgWired.comPrecisionPays.com is now Precision.Agwired.com and will continue to include the latest news and information about precision agriculture, conservation, biotechnology and more. “Both websites (PrecisionPays and WorldDairyDiary) will remain accessible under the old URLs,” explained Zimmerman. “But they will now also be prominently featured on the AgWired.com home page.”

In addition, the AgWired App for the iOS and Android store has also been innovated and users can now create the AgWired App on their mobile device themselves. To do this, just visit AgWired.com on your mobile device of choice and a popup will ask if you want to create a desktop icon. AgWired will then open with a click of the app in a very user-friendly format. Full instructions are included in an instructional video on YouTube.

The New AgWired.comAgWired.com is ZimmComm’s flagship agribusiness news and information site, started in August of 2004. WorldDairyDiary began the following year and Precision Pays was started in February 2007. “The new design will provide consistency in the look of ZimmComm’s major agricultural websites,” Zimmerman added. energy.agwired.com, started in September 2005, will also sport a new look consistent with the other sites, but will remain under its current name. So keep an eye out for a DF Facelift as well.

Other ZimmComm online services of interest include AgNewsWire.com dedicated to news release distribution and audio combined from all websites and available to all agricultural media.

Agribusiness, Company Announcement

DEINOVE & SUEZ Enter Into Waste to Ethanol Project

Joanna Schroeder

DEINOVE has entered into a collaborative agreement with SUEZ ENVIRONMENT Group to explore the potential for developing a new industrial sector for transforming urban organic waste into ethanol through the use of Deinococcus bacteria. The goal of the two-year agreement is to define the optimum conditions for producing ethanol on a per-industrious scale.

Today, organic waste is essentially recycled through composting and methanization. The abundant availability of this source of carbon, its cost and its composition, which is favorable to the growth of microorganisms, make it a realistic candidate for innovative recycling into molecules of industrial interest, including commodities, according to DEINOVE.

Deinoccoccus bacteria“With its amazing capacity for effectively degrading all types of biomass, Deinococcus creates value from waste that is little used today,” said Emmanuel Petiot, CEO of DEINOVE. “In cooperation with SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT, one of the world leaders in processing and recycling waste, we are expanding our potential markets and are contributing to the development of a real circular economy.”

During the past six months, DEINOVE has been working with SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT who has been providing various types of waste coming from its processing units. The results of this upstream research phase have confirmed that these substrates can be transformed into interesting molecules, including ethanol, by Deinococcus bacteria.

As a result of the R&D, the partners have decided to undertake a two-year collaborative extension of their DEINOL programme. The first phase will focus on optimizing the main stages of the process’ development including: choice of substrates supplied by SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT and pretreatment conditions; choice of a Deinococcus strain adapted to these substrates; and the definition of the conditions for fermentative production in order to achieve a satisfactory ethanol production rate in 20-L bioreactors.

advanced biofuels, enzymes, Ethanol, Waste-to-Energy

Maryland Energy Admin Releases Wind Energy Survey

Joanna Schroeder

The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) has released a report detailing a high-resolution geophysical and oceanographic survey of the entire Maryland Wind Energy Area. The survey, focused on opportunities for offshore wind development, is believed by MEA to be the first by any state to map the seafloor geology of a complete Wind Energy Area. This information is critical to optimizing the siting, design and layout of an offshore wind project.

MEA Offshore Wind Energy AreaMEA contracted with Coastal Planning & Engineering to pilot the Scarlett Isabella along lines set 150 feet apart, over 1,500 nautical miles. The team gathered data characterizing the depth, seafloor conditions and seabed geology, as well as looking for submerged cultural resources such as shipwrecks.

MEA Director Abigail Ross Hopper said of the report launch, “MEA is excited to issue this groundbreaking report on our geophysical survey campaign. The data we are making available will reduce the risks and costs of offshore wind energy development, protect the marine environment, and contribute to our scientific understanding of the oceans off our coast.”

This report outlines the physical environment of the Wind Energy Area, including the composition of geological layers, the location and nature of hazards, and distribution of cultural resources. The project trained students at University of Maryland Eastern Shore to serve as federally certified Protected Species Observers on the mission, ensuring that marine mammals and other protected species were not impacted, while providing students with skills in high demand. Teams of scientists from University of Maryland Baltimore County deployed LIDAR, weather balloons and other tools to gather valuable data for refining power production and climate models of the Wind Energy Area.

offshore wind, Renewable Energy, Research