The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) today announced the appointment of David Thomas as Chief Lobbyist and Leticia Phillips as Representative for North America, both based at UNICA’s Washington, D.C. office. They replace Joel Velasco, who left UNICA in January to become Senior Vice-President for External Relations at California Biotech Company Amyris. A seasoned strategist with almost two decades of …
E85 Station Opens in Atlanta
“Protec Fuel is excited to work with Ayad and his team to make E85 available to more Atlanta flexible fuel vehicle (FFV) drivers. We would like to inform all FFV owners of the benefits of E85 versus regular unleaded gasoline and of the cost benefit to using this product,” said Protec Fuel’s Managing Partner, Todd Garner. “It has been a …
Grading The Secretary of Ag’s Mid Term
What grade did you give U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack for his mid-term? I think the results of our last ZimmPoll show how difficult it is to please everyone. We asked the question, “What mid-term grade would you give Ag Sec. Vilsack?” The votes for an A and an F were the highest and equal. 24% give him an …
Proposed Indiana Biodiesel Plant Gets Green Light
A planned $165 million biodiesel and soybean-processing facility in Indiana got a boost when a local commission approved the company building a storage facility so its air quality permit will stay current. This article from the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel says Ultra Soy of America got approval to put up a 21,450-square-foot steel storage building at its site near South Milford: …
Recovering Ethanol From Waste Water
R3 Fusion, Inc. has announced the availability of its commercial system for recovering ethanol from waste scrubber water. The technology is coined the SPaCeRTM. The system is designed to process 50 gallons per minute of scrubber waste generated from a 50 million gallon per year (MMGY) ethanol plant and the first modular system will be fully operational this month. Dr. …
American Ethanol Heads to Texas
American Ethanol is heading to Texas this weekend for the NASCAR Nationwide Series race, the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at the Texas Motor Speedway on April 8th beginning at 8:30 pm EST on ESPN2. While the ethanol logo is on all the race cars, eyes will be on the No. 9 Toyota Camry driven by Kenny Wallace, who is sponsored …
Kansas Ethanol Producers Visit DC
A delegation of six Kansas ethanol supporters are in Washington D.C. this week for a series of meetings with members of Congress. Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis welcomed the group’s visit. “Kansas is a crucial, steadfast ally for the American ethanol industry, and we are pleased that so many Kansans have made the trip to Washington to educate their members …
Ethanol Production Up, Demand Down
Ethanol production started the year strong, but demand is much weaker, according to the latest figures. The first monthly ethanol production data for 2011 shows continuing strong production numbers. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), monthly ethanol production for January 2011 was just over 920,000 barrels per day (b/d), or 1.2 billion gallons for the month. That’s up slightly …
Latest on E-xchange Blog
The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) has been on a roll lately with a series of timely topical posts on the E-xchange blog. Who Gets Your Food Dollar? Matt Hartwig writes about the latest report from USDA’s Economic Research Service on the farmers’ share of the food dollar, which is now estimated to be less than 12%. “So, if the farm …
Pennsylvania Biodiesel Plant on Track for Record Year
One of the country’s busiest biodiesel plants is on track to have a record year. This article from the Erie (PA) Times-News says Hero BX was part of a recent USDA tour checking out the plant’s success: Operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the plant on Erie’s lakefront is on track to produce 40 million gallons of …