Roadsides and median strips may turn out to be the perfect place to grow crops for biodiesel. “It’s a very non-traditional approach to utilizing some public lands that are not being utilized as well as they could be,” says Utah State University researcher Dallas Hanks. It is estimated that there are some 10 million available acres of land in roadsides, …
Fiberight to Produce Cellulosic Ethanol in Iowa
Several ethanol plants have been changing hands and one of the more recent was the purchase of Xethanol LLC, based in Blairstown, Iowa, by Fiberight LLC, based in Virgina. Fiberight purchased the plant with the intent of converting it into a cellulosic ethanol demonstration plant. The fuel will be produced through the conversion of municipal sold waste (MSW) to ethanol. …
SunBelt Biofuels to License Freedom Giant Miscanthus
There is another biofuel feedstock entering the mix next spring. SunBelt Biofuels LLC, based in Georgia, has announced that it will sell registered and certified rhizomes of its Freedom Giant Miscanthus to several hundred Southest U.S. licensed growers. This will mark an unusual relationship in that SunBelt has an exclusive licensing agreement with Mississippi State University. According to a company …
Flex-Fuel Photo Challenge: Cutest Kid
The E85 Flex-Fuel Challenge, a contest by the Renewable Fuels Association, is offering a lucky winner a pretty nice holiday present. The cutest kid photo will win a year’s supply of fuel. Here’s how it works. • Take the most adorable or funny snapshot of your child. • Submit the photo by midnight on January 5th. • Vote for your …
OH Biodiesel Plant Part of Advanced Biorefinery Projects
An Ohio biodiesel plant is among those 19 projects that Michelle told you about yesterday that will share in $564 million in federal Recovery Act monies. This press release from Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), whose district includes a biorefinery pilot project on the Health Science Campus at the University of Toledo, says that biorefinery will get nearly $20 million: Federal …
Iowa Biodiesel Backer Grant Applications Due Dec. 11
This coming Friday, Dec. 11 is the deadline for Iowa schools to get in their application for two, $2,500 grants from the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association’s (IRFA) Biodiesel Backer Award Program. This IRFA press release says schools eligible for the grants must educate their communities about biodiesel, incorporate biodiesel and renewable fuels into their school programming, as well as getting …
DF Cast: Recycling CO2 into Fuel
Big emitters of carbon dioxide are faced with a big problem. Industries and utilities will soon have to capture that CO2 and store it … somewhere. That’s where Carbon Sciences comes in. The California-based company has come up with a way that takes the captured greenhouse gas and turns it into gasoline and diesel … the exact same fuels that …
Government Awards $600 Million in Advanced Biorefinery Projects
Joining Secretary Chu, Agriculture Secretary Vilsack noted that USDA Rural Development has selected San Diego, California based Sapphire Energy to receive a loan guarantee for up to $54.5 million through the Biorefinery Assistance Program to demonstrate an integrated algal biorefinery process that will cultivate algae in ponds, and will use dewatering and oil extraction technology to produce an intermediate that …
Book Review – Cool It
What is the greatest crisis in the history of civilization? Global warming. Well, at least according to the media’s portrayal. However, according to Bjorn Lomborg, the author of “Cool It“, and the second review in my Copenhagen Climate Conference three views in seven days series, while global warming is an concern, it is not the most pressing worldwide issue. Lomborg …
Clean-Up Underway After Biodiesel Plant Explosion
Some workers are back on the job after a large explosion at a Seattle, Washington-area biodiesel plant. The Grays Harbor (WA) Daily World reports that Imperium Renewable’s employees were back at the company’s bioiesel plant after an explosion that sent at least one piece of a tank through a chain link fence 100 feet away: The blast hit the plant, …