Darling Int’l Buying Canadian Rendering for Biodiesel

John Davis

Texas-based rendering leader Darling International Inc. is buying all the assets of Canadian company Rothsay, a division of Maple Leaf Foods Inc. for approximately CAD $645 million in cash. This Darling news release says the deal includes machines to turn fats and proteins into biodiesel feedstocks, as well as an actual biodiesel operation itself. Rothsay has a network of five …

Biodiesel

Farm Bureau: RFS Bendable, Just Don’t Break It

John Davis

Farm Bureau officials are making the case that the Renewable Fuels Standard has some flexibility… but just don’t break it. In this story on its newsline, American Farm Bureau energy economist Matt Erickson makes the case that the RFS is working, but Americans are using 10 billion fewer gallons of gasoline this year than in 2007 when the law was …

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Farm Bureau, RFS

Univ. of Tenn. Develops More Sensitive Biodiesel Sensor

John Davis

An issue that biodiesel runs into in the jet fuel field is the lack of tolerance for ASTM D1655, the jet fuel specification at just 5 parts per million (ppm) of allowable amount of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) contamination. Biodiesel Magazine reports while that traditional analytical equipment, such as gas chromatography, Fourier transform infrared and high-performance liquid chromatography, cannot …

Biodiesel, biojet fuel, Research

Biodiesel Board Defends RFS in USA Today

John Davis

The National Biodiesel Board is coming to the defense of the renewable fuels standard (RFS) in a national newspaper. In USA Today’s “Your Say” opinion piece asking readers for their thoughts on the importance of biofuels, Anne Steckel, vice president, federal affairs, for NBB in Washington, D.C., made the case that the RFS has helped her industry grow from a …

Biodiesel, NBB, RFS

Better Biodiesel Lab for Loyola

John Davis

Loyola University Chicago is giving its biodiesel lab an upgrade. This Biodiesel Magazine story says the school has given students hands-on, real-world, experiential learning in sustainability education for the past five years. But it was time to update the whole lab. “We were space-constrained, and limited to what we could do in that space,” said [Lab manager Zach] Waickman. The …

Biodiesel

Biodiesel Production Starts at Promethean Biofuels

John Davis

Earlier this summer, we told you about the deal between U.S. Energy Initiatives Corp. Inc. and California-based Promethean Biofuels for upcoming biodiesel refining. This Biodiesel Magazine article says they’re now actually producing biodiesel at Promethean’s 2.1 to 3 MMgy refinery. “We are just excited to be producing B100 biodiesel, which is a high-grade, single-source ASTM-quality biodiesel,” said USEI CEO Anthony …

Miscellaneous

DF Cast: Agencies Work Together on Biofuels Targets

John Davis

On August 6, 2013, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its final rule for the 2013 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) based on analysis provided by, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which revised downward its cellulosic biofuel forecast for 2013 to 4 million gallons (or 6 million ethanol-equivalent gallons) target for cellulosic biofuels use in 2013, less than half what was …

Audio, biofuels, Cellulosic, Domestic Fuel Cast, Government

Pacific Biodiesel to Use Hawaiian Jatropha

John Davis

Pacific Biodiesel will soon be using oil from jatropha. Biofuels Journal reports the feedstock will come from the 200 acre Hawaii Pure Plant Oil (HIPPO) farm started in 2008. Now, five years after the farm’s inception, the [father and son partners Christian and James Twigg- Smith] have formed a direct collaboration with Pacific Biodiesel Technologies (PBT) under its federally funded …

Biodiesel

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