The Biofuels Journal 2nd Annual Commercial Ethanol Technology and Research Workshop is taking place today at POET headquarters in Sioux Falls, SD. POET’s own Nathan Schock is providing online coverage via his Rhapsody in Green and of course with Twitter. You can find tweets here @nathanschock and here @ethanolbyPOET. If you want to see who all tweets about it then …
El Paso Biodiesel Plant to Expand
A Texas biodiesel plant will expand its operation by four-fold. This story from Biofuels International says El Paso-based Global Alternative Fuels (GAF) will increase its capacity from 5 to 20 million gallons a year: The expansion also includes installing equipment to process grease thrown out by restaurants without having to blend the grease with refined soyabean oil. This and the …
Algae Biodiesel By-Product to be Sold to Indonesia
A Florida-based algae-biodiesel company has found an international market for a by-product of its clean energy business. This press release from PetroAlgae Inc. says it has has received official notice that the protein from PetroAlgae’s proprietary micro-crop production technology has successfully passed testing by the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture and is suitable for use in animal feed: Furthermore, the protein …
Biofuels on the Lesson Plan for Some Students
Students across the country recently had a chance to have a blast with biofuels. The 4-H National Youth Science Day taught kids some of the basics of the green fuels. This story from KSFX-TV in Springfield, Missouri says a University of Missouri chemistry lab played host to one such group of students looking to the future of renewable energy: With …
Midwest States Support Ethanol and Biodiesel
The Midwest Legislative Conference of The Council of State Governments recently issued a series of policy resolutions supporting increased use of both ethanol and biodiesel, and specifically support ethanol blender pumps. The group also adopted resolutions calling for use of sound scientific methods when calculating carbon emissions. The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) is pleased with all the resolutions, particularly …
BlueFire Ethanol Locating Plant in Mississippi
California-based BlueFire Ethanol received approval from the Department of Energy (DOE) recently to locate its second planned cellulosic ethanol biorefinery in Fulton, Mississippi. The company was awarded a $40 million dollar grant from DOE for a second facility in 2007 that was originally to be located in California. However, development and licensing concerns, coupled with the challenging business climate in …
Novozymes Responds to Science, Indirect Land Use Debate
The Science magazine article that was published last week and co-authored by Tim Searchinger, a lawyer, has added another level of controversy to the indirect land use change (ILUC) debate. The article suggested the land use effects of fuel produced from various forms of biomass were miscalculated, in part, because they cause deforestation around the world as land is cleared …
Loan Program Needs Changes to Advance Cellulosic Ethanol
An ethanol industry group says the loan guarantee program at the U.S. Department of Energy needs to function more efficiently and effectively to make capitol available to advance next generation biofuels like cellulosic ethanol. The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) is asking US Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu to make needed changes in the loan guarantee program for biorefineries. …
Switchgrass Varieties From Ceres
We’ve certainly heard a lot about switchgrass as a biomass option for the production of ethanol. How many of you have seen it growing? That’s it behind Cory Christensen, Director of Product Managment, Ceres, who was conducting Sunbelt Ag Expo presentations in the field. He says it’s a first season stand of their Blade energy crop. It was developed specifically …
ND Offers $2 Mil for New Ethanol Blender Pumps
The State of North Dakota has launched a program that will make $2 million in grants available for fuel station owners who install new, multifuel pumps that will mix ethanol right at the point-of-sale. This post on InForum, the forum of Fargo-Moorhead, says buyers will be able to choose from pure gasoline up to E85 ethanol: “We’re excited about this …