As California continues down the highway of low carbon fuels, the state’s biofuel industry is calling for more funding to ensure the highway doesn’t end in the ocean. The biofuel industry, including the ethanol, biodiesel and biomethane trade associations, is calling on Governor Brown to allocate $210 million from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to help spur in-state production of …
IA Gov Signs #Biodiesel Incentive Legislation
Iowa Governor Terry Branstad signed SF 2309 into law this week, a bill expanding state biodiesel incentives. The bill includes a tax credit that assists the states 13 operational biodiesel producers remain competitive in the marketplace. The bill also includes a retailer’s credit that encourages fuel retailers to carry higher blends of biodiesel than they may currently offer consumers. Gov. …
Duke Energy to Capture Methane from Swine Waste
Duke Energy has finalized a deal to purchase captured methane gas derived from swine waste. The project will take place at farms located in Kenansville, North Carolina and its the second waste-to-energy project of its kind for Duke Energy. The captured methane will be treated, injected into a pipeline system and then used to produce renewable electricity at two power …
Biodico Awarded Net Zero Farm CEC Grant
Biodico has received a $1.2 million grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC) to help fund its Zero Net Energy Farms project, which would enable farms to generate all electrical and heating power needs from on-site renewable resources. The monies were awarded under CEC’s Electric Program Investment Charge Challenge, a program designed to help develop advanced energy communities. Biodico is …
USDA Leading Mexico Trade Mission
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Acting Deputy Secretary Michael Scuse is leading a U.S. ethanol mission to Mexico on May 24–25, 2016 to explore trade opportunities. On hand for the trip will be ethanol industry representatives from the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), Growth Energy and the U.S. Grains Council (USGC). While there, they will be meeting with government officials, legislators …
Gevo and Clariant Ink ETO Tech Deal
Gevo will be developing catalysts for Clariant to enable its ETO technology, which uses ethanol as a feedstock to produce tailor mixes of propylene, isobutylene and hydrogen. These chemicals are valuable as stand-alone molecules and also as feedtstocks to produce other products such as diesel fuel and bioplastics that would replace their petroleum counterparts. Clariant will be scaling up the …
USGC Heads to Egypt to Promote DDGS
The. U.S. Grains Council (USGC) recently returned from a trip to Egypt to discuss using dried distillers grains (DDGS), a by-product of corn-based ethanol production, as feed for its growing aquaculture industry. Also on the trip was USGC member Mirasco who has a large client base in the Egyptian aquaculture industry. “Egypt has the most active and the largest aquaculture …
#USDA to Award $21M for Bioeconomy R&D
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has made $21 million available to support the development of regional systems in sustainable bioenergy and biobased products. The funds will also be awarded to train the next generation of bio-scientists. The monies are offered through the AFRI Sustainable Bioenergy and Bioproducts challenge area designed to provide renewable energy, chemical, and product options, among …
BioEnergy Bytes
Sealed, an energy software company based out of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering cleantech incubator called NYC ACRE, has announced the launch of Sealed Pay As You Save, the first program that invests in energy savings resulting from residential efficiency improvements. Sealed guarantees these savings to customers by leveraging its proprietary software and analytics. Sealed PAYS will enable New …
Anti-Ethanol Bill Steps Consumers, Farmers Back
There is still buzz around a bill introduced last week by Representatives Bill Flores (R-Texas), Peter Welch (D-Verm.), Bob Goodlatte (R-Vir.) and Jim Costa (D-Cali.) that would cap ethanol blends in America’s transportation fuels at 9.7 percent by volume. This cap would be in direct opposition to the goal of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) that aims for 20 percent …