When farmers are making money, they tend to spend it on better farm equipment. With grain prices higher and the biofuels business booming, the outlook is bright for farm machinery sales in 2007. According to a Reuters report, sales of farm equipment were disappointing last year despite the higher corn prices, but one industry analyst expects that to turn around …
Diamond Investment Opportunity
Meetings begin this week in Illinois to interest investors in the Diamond Ethanol plant at Charleston. Green Lion Bio-Fuels is the developer of the plant and others underway in Streator (Emerald Ethanol LLC), and Beardstown (Prairie Breeze Ethanol LLC). The meetings will offer interested farmers, landlords, and other off-farm investors an opportunity to buy shares in the Diamond Ethanol plant. …
Pacific Ethanol Announces Idaho Groundbreaking
Pacific Ethanol will soon begin construction on a 50 million gallon per year ethanol facility in Burley, Idaho according to a company announcement. The plant would be located mid-way between Boise and Salt Lake City, Utah and is expected to begin construction within the next thirty days. The Burley Idaho plant site is located on a parcel of 177 acres, …
Ethanol and Hydrogen Working Together
The Energy & Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota is leading a project to demonstrate the production of hydrogen at existing and future ethanol facilities in a unique, economical way, providing a near-term path toward a hydrogen economy. According to a center press release, the hydrogen produced could be used on-site in fuel cells to provide additional …
State of the Union Speculation
The anticipation is mounting for President Bush’s 2007 State of the Union address to be made on January 23. The media is already busy speculating about what the president will talk about, with stories out this week that global warming will be on the teleprompter, although the White House is denying reports that Bush will advocate mandatory emissions caps in …
Pocatello Next on Biodiesel Bandwagon
A couple of days ago, I told you about how Cincinnati, Ohio had changed its bus fleet to biodiesel and saved the city nearly half-a-million dollars last year. Now, officials in Pocatello, Idaho are making the change to the cleaner form of fuel. They expect to change the city’s entire fleet… cars, buses, snowplows… over to a 20% blend of …
Biofuels Buoy Cargill’s Second Quarter Earnings
Cargill reported that its second quarter earnings for last year jumped 34 percent over the same time a year ago… due in part to the increased demand for ethanol and biodiesel. Earnings went from about $500 million in the same quarter in in fiscal year 2006 to more than $660 million dollars for the quarter ending November 30th. In addition, …
New York to Get First Commercial Biodiesel Plant
A former brewery in New York state will soon be brewing up biodiesel. Officials with GS AgriFuels have announced a partnership with Homeland Energy to build a biodiesel plant at the site of the old Miller Brewing Company plant in Fulton. Homeland Energy already has an ethanol plant adjacent to the site. In a release on Business Wire, GS AgriFuels …
Research to Work on Ethanol from Beet Pulp and Wheat Bran
Biotech firm Dyadic International, Inc. has joined with a consortium in Europe to work on producing ethanol from sugar beet pulp and wheat bran. According to a company release, the Florida-based company will be working on the research and development project with one of Europe’s leading producers of bioethanol, Royal Nedalco, and other partners funded by the Netherlands government. Jan …
First New Fuel Ships for Indy
The first tanker truck loaded with 100 percent fuel-grade ethanol to power this year’s IndyCar® Series left the Renova Energy plant in Torrington, Wyoming this week bound for Indianapolis. According to a release from the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council, the plant was contracted to supply approximately 120,000 gallons of the fuel to the IndyCar Series in 2007. Renova Energy …