Iowa E85 Sales Jump 43% in 2nd Quarter

Joanna Schroeder

Sales of E85 have increased 43 percent over the first quarter of 2013. Iowans purchased more than 2.62 million gallons of E85 in the second quarter of 2013, up from the 1.83 million gallons of E85 purchased in the first quarter of 2013, according to Iowa Department of Revenue data. “E85 sales were down at the end of 2012 and …

biofuels, E85, Ethanol, Iowa RFA

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

Canadian Solar has been chosen to provide solar modules for a solar project on the Leeward Islands. Comet Solar, an Anguilla-based solar installation company selected Canadian Solar, and when complete the solar power project will provide an estimated 600KW of power per year, making it the largest commercial project permitted by the St. Kitts & Nevis Government to date. The …

Bioenergy Bytes

Algae Int’l, Gulf Hydrocarbon Ink Biodiesel Deal

John Davis

A commercial scale algae producer and a biodiesel maker ink a deal that will end up turning algae oil into biodiesel. Biodiesel Magazine reports Gulf Hydrocarbon will represent Algae International Group in sales and distribution of its algal oils and products created with the algal oils, including biodiesel, and precedes Algae International Group’s commercial production at its pilot facility located …

algae, Biodiesel

Investing Big Bucks in Biodiesel from Down Under

John Davis

The owner of Australia’s biggest biodiesel plant is seeing more greenbacks (or, well, whatever the nickname is for Down Under Dollars) for its company. Lignol Energy Corporation, already a leader in advanced biofuels and renewable chemicals, is putting another nearly $1 million US dollars into Territory Biofuels Limited, increasing LEC’s share of TBF to about two-thirds of its holdings. “We …

Biodiesel, International

How the Make the RFS Attainable

Joanna Schroeder

According to Purdue University energy policy specialist Wally Tyner, the U.S. can likely produce federally mandated levels of biofuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) in 2014 if the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reduces its requirements by 2.3 billion gallons. The RFS requires a minimum amount of biofuels to be blended into transportation fuels such as gasoline and diesel. For …

advanced biofuels, biofuels, Cellulosic, Ethanol, RFS

DOE Looks to Better Catalysts for Biomass to Biofuel

John Davis

New and better catalysts could be the key to unlocking the potential biofuel locked up in biomass. This article from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory says scientists at the lab’s Institute for Atom-Efficient Chemical Transformations (IACT) for the past four years have been looking at how to improve the efficiency and selectivity of catalysts: IACT was originally …

biomass, Government

New EPA Head Positive on Renewable Fuels

Cindy Zimmerman

The newly confirmed head of the Environmental Protection Agency visited the Iowa State Fair last week where she spoke to farmers and met with environmentalists. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy stressed her goal of building a better relationship with farmers. “My commitment to you is that at the end of my term, we will have a stronger, more productive, more trusting …

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Government

Ethanol Industry Celebrates Patriot’s 5th Anniversary

Joanna Schroeder

The ethanol industry is helping Patriot Renewable Fuels celebrate it’s 5th Anniversary this month with congratulations and well wishes for another successful five years and beyond. In addition, Patriot is thanking several of its partners including CHS, a farmer-owned cooperative that has enabled Patriot to connect to global distiller grain (DDGS) markets. Each year, the ethanol plant produces 320,000 tons …

Agribusiness, biofuels, corn, Ethanol

LanzaTech & Centre for Advanced Bio-Energy Partner

Joanna Schroeder

LanzaTech, a producer of low-carbon fuels and chemicals from waste gases, has partnered with the Centre for Advanced Bio-Energy (Centre), a joint venture between Indian Oil Corporation, Ltd. (IOC) and the Indian government’s Department for Biotechnology (DBT), to create a novel process for the direct production of low carbon fuels from industrial carbon dioxide emissions. LanzaTech and the Centre will …

advanced biofuels, International

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

POET Biorefining plants in Gowrie and Coon Rapids, Iowa have donated $1,000 each to support the Fly Iowa 2013 Airshow that will feature the ethanol-powered Vanguard Squadron. The event takes place on August 24, 2013 and will be held at the Perry Municipal Airport, and is free and open to the public. Huaneng Power International, Inc. has announced that Huaneng …

Bioenergy Bytes