Despite high oil prices, the financial future of the ethanol industry could be a challenge due to high corn prices, fluctuating energy prices and uncertainty of the future of ethanol policies such as the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC). To learn more about managing plant risk and to foster the environment for the biofuels industry to better work together, …
Carbon Science Focuses on Natural Gas to Fuel
Carbon Sciences has announced plans to produce samples of diesel fuel derived from natural gas and carbon dioxide in a demonstration facility. The refinery will utilize its catalyst technology to produce syngas that can then be converted into gasoline and other fuels using conventional Fischer-Tropsch (“FT”) gas-to-liquids (“GTL”) technology. The company believes that of varying technologies to produce syngas from …
Green Plains Builds Business
Green Plains Renewable Energy announced today its acquisition of a grain storage facility located in Hopkins, Missouri. The grain storage facility can house up to 2 million bushels of grain and was formerly owned by Horizon Grain of Hopkins, Inc and GS Grain LLC. The grain elevator is located about 45 minutes from Green Plains’ ethanol biorefinery in Shenandoah, Iowa. …
Cosan and Shell Partner Form Raizen
Regulatory approvals have come through for Shell and Cosan’s partnership to called Raizen. The new company’s goal is to produce low-carbon biofuels from sugarcane. This Brazil-based multi-billion dollar venture is one of the largest to date. Raizen will produce and sell over 2 billion litres per year of ethanol produced from Brazilian sugarcane through the more than 4,500 Shell stations …
Perdue AgriBusiness Assures Producers Barley Contracts Intact
Last month Osage Bio Energy announced that is would be selling its plant without going into production. Had the plant gone online, it would have been the country’s largest biorefinery using barley as its main feedstock. In light of this announcement, Perdue AgriBusiness is assuring its customers that it will honor all contracts for the 2011 barley crop. Perdue AgriBusiness …
SunPower Biodiesel Goes Into Production
SunPower Biodiesel is official producing biodiesel at its plant located in Cumberland Wisconsin. The plant is using locally grown canola oil to produce the biodiesel. To celebrate, SunPower held a grand opening event that included a biodiesel workshop, plant tours and a ribbon cutting ceremony. “Sun Power is very unique in our region,” said Laura Richard, Wisconsin Clean Cities, Southeast …
Propel Offers Sacramento, CA Drivers B20
Biodiesel is gaining traction in California. This week Propel Fuels began selling B20 biodiesel at two of its Sacramento area fuel stations. Propel says its B20 is a blend of 20 percent American made biodiesel and 80 percent petro-diesel, and provides motorists increased performance, longer engine life and reduced emissions. Next, Propel added B20 to its Roseville stations as well …
Propane Green Autogas Solutions Act Proposed
The Open Fuel Standard is not the only piece of fuel legislation that has been proposed recently. On May 27, 2011, the Propane Green Autogas Solutions Act was introduced to the House of Representatives and Senate by House Republican Conference Secretary Representative John Carter (R-TX) along with Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD). The bill aims to extend existing propane autogas tax …
Bi-Fuel Ethanol-Diesel Vehicle Debuts in Brazil
Typically flex fuel vehicles are a combination of ethanol and gasoline or diesel and biodiesel. But inroads have been made to create flex fuel vehicles that use a combination of ethanol and diesel fuels. Iveco, FPT Industrial and Bosch officially debuted the Iveco Trakker Bi-Fuel Ethanol-Diesel vehicle at Agrishow last week in Ribeirão Preto, the country’s largest agricultural show. The …
June 15 is World Wind Day
Global Wind Day is around the corner on June 15, 2011. Organized by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) and the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), the groups hope to use the day to educate people about the benefits of wind energy through fun activities. Last year there were 220 events in 29 countries that took place from Austria to …