Engineering students from Virginia Tech University, utilizing E85/hybrid technology, beat out teams from 16 other universities in the U.S. and Canada to win the second annual Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable Mobility competition, sponsored by the Department of Energy and General Motors last week in Mesa, Arizona. The Virginia Tech team redesigned a 2005 Chevy Equinox to utilize a split …
Panda Climbing
Texas-based Panda Energy has announced a merger and private placement to build it’s portfolio of ethanol refineries. The company release says the merger is expected to become effective this summer, subject to the satisfaction of certain requirements, and the combined entity will operate under the name of Panda Ethanol Inc. The private placement was approximately 14.9 million shares of common …
Fuel Station of the Future
Pearson Ford Fuel Depot, the site of a Willie Nelson biodiesel promotion earlier this year during the National Biodiesel Board annual meeting in San Diego, is in the news. An AP article features Pearson as the “fuel station of the future” with its many fuel choices, including biodiesel and E85. The station also offers “compressed natural gas” along with recharging …
New Millennium for ADM
Archer Daniels Midland Co. and Millennium Ethanol LLC have formed an ethanol marketing agreement, under which ADM will market all ethanol produced by Millennium Ethanol at its planned 100-million-gallon Marion, South Dakota facility, according to an ADM company release. Millennium Ethanol is owned by 914 South Dakota investors, including farmers and business people from across the state. ADM is the …
Biodiesel Helps Green Government
Three winners of this year’s White House Closing the Circle Awards use a 20 percent biodiesel blend (B20) to help them achieve outstanding environmental track records. They are the Department of Defense, Naval Station Great Lakes; the Department of Energy Green Fleet Team and the U.S. Postal Service. According to a National Biodiesel Board release, 16 winners and 11 honorable …
Ethanol Fuels Learjet 500
Jeff Simmons and the Ethanol Indy car started 15th finished 15th in the Learjet Bombadier 500 Saturday night in Fort Worth, TX – a nice clean race with only two cars out and no accidents. See the full race results at WhoWon.com. It was just nice to see the Ethanol car cross the finish line. Prior to the event, the …
Ethanol Distribution Solution
A new turn-key solution to deliver enough ethanol to supply the daily needs of the Dallas/Fort Worth market was announced recently by BNSF Railway Company and Musket Corporation, a privately owned petroleum and petroleum products wholesaler. According to a release, Beginning June 23, ethanol will be transported by rail from the Midwest and other production areas to a BNSF terminal …
Ultrasonics and Ethanol
Iowa State University is using some high technology to try and boost the release rates of corn sugars for ethanol production. According to an ISU release, a team of Iowa State researchers has demonstrated that pre-treating milled corn with ultrasonics can break the corn pieces into even finer particles. That exposes more of the corn’s starch to the enzymes that …
Idaho Biodiesel School
The University of Idaho is holding a one-day crash course in biodiesel June 15 in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. Among the topics are Growing Oilseeds in the Pacific Northwest, Biodiesel Production Practices, and Biodiesel Economics. The course is just $75. More information available here.