BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

Algae.Tec Ltd has announce that it has received its first purchase order from an affiliate of Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings Limited (RIIHL) in connection with the arrangements announced on January 21, 2014. This purchase order is for $2.4 million and is for the supply of certain Algae.Tec algae production technology and associated technical expertise. The work and equipment ordered …

Bioenergy Bytes

Patriot Out Front with Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

Patriot Renewable Fuels wants to be the “poster child” for other ethanol plants when it comes to marketing higher blends in their own communities. You might remember Darrell Rakestraw as the veteran we interviewed last fall about the EPA proposal to lower the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). When we spoke to him last week at his first National Ethanol Conference, …

Audio, blends, Ethanol, Ethanol News, National Ethanol Conference, Patriot Renewable Fuels, RFA, RFS

EV Fast Charger Network Rolls Out in China

Joanna Schroeder

ABB, a power and automation technology group, has announced a strategic collaboration with Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology Co., Ltd. (BDNT) to supply direct current fast chargers over the next six years for DENZA. The partnership is designed to help China become a global leader for electric vehicle (EV) fast charging. The wall-mounted chargers will have a number of innovations …

Alternative Vehicles, Electric Vehicles

Army Awards Renewable Energy Contracts

Joanna Schroeder

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, working with the Army Energy Initiatives Task Force (EITF), has awarded another 20 base contracts to companies in energy-related technologies. The awards are part of the $7 billion capacity, large-scale renewable and alternative energy power production Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC). The 20 contracts are for the following …

biomass, military, Renewable Energy, Solar, Wind

Biodiesel By-product Could Help with Better Soils

John Davis

The quality of soils to grow the very feedstocks to make biodiesel could be helped by a by-product of that green fuel’s production. This article from Farmers Weekly says Rothamsted Research in the United Kingdom found that applying biodiesel co-product (BCP) increased soil micro-organism numbers and this effectively “locked up” the nitrates in the soil until spring. Researchers looked at …

Biodiesel, Research

State Level Blend Walls Update

Cindy Zimmerman

The phrase “all politics is local” seems like it sure could apply to some of the decisions to overcome the ethanol blend wall. Challenges to increasing ethanol in the marketplace exist on the state level as well as the federal level, and participants at the National Ethanol Conference learned more about efforts to break down the blend wall in various …

Audio, blends, E15, E85, Ethanol, Ethanol News, National Ethanol Conference, RFA, RFS

Ethanol Exports Important to Industry

Cindy Zimmerman

Exports of both ethanol and the animal feed co-product distillers dried grains (DDGs) are important for Patriot Renewable Fuels, located near the Quad Cities and not far from Chicago. Patriot commodity manager Judd Hulting attended a trade mission with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) to Brazil last fall. “It’s just another outlet for our …

Audio, Ethanol News, Exports, National Ethanol Conference, Patriot Renewable Fuels, RFA, RFS

NEC Global Ethanol Conversation

Cindy Zimmerman

It is always interesting to hear the perspectives of different countries during the National Ethanol Conference global panel and to see the similarities as well as differences in viewpoint. The panel was moderated by Bliss Baker, Global Renewable Fuels Alliance, and included Renewable Fuels Association president Bob Dinneen, as well as (from left to right): Joel Velasco, Senior Advisor to …

Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Exports, International, National Ethanol Conference, RFA, Video

Students Interested in Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

The 2014 National Ethanol Conference scholarship winners are three totally different young men who all share the common interest of ethanol. Gavin Kenney is a farm boy from Nebraska who is about to graduate from the University of Nebraska with a major in agricultural economics and minors in agronomy and entrepreneurship. He grew up around the ethanol industry and is …

Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, National Ethanol Conference, RFA

Engine Experts Talk Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

Specialists in the areas of auto, motorcycle and small engines presented their experience with ethanol fuels in the real world during the National Ethanol Conference. The panel was moderated by radio host and automotive expert Bobby Likis of Bobby Likis Car Clinic in Pensacola. “In 43 years, more than 200,000 cars have rolled through the doors of my automotive service …

Audio, automotive, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Motorcycle, National Ethanol Conference, RFA