The Environmental Protection Agency has handed out Energy Star awards to two Midwest ethanol plants… recognizing their efforts to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions that equal the amount of pollution from nearly 6,000 cars a year. The awards were presented Wednesday at the 23rd Annual International Fuel Ethanol Workshop and Expo in St. Louis. According to an EPA …
Royal Riding on Biodiesel
In an effort to be more friendly to the planet, Prince Charles says he is using biodiesel in a couple of his personal vehicles… and might even use the green fuel on the Royal Train. This story appeared in the Seattle Post Intelligencer: The report — printed on recycled paper in vegetable-based ink — said the prince had reduced the …
Solving the Glycerin Glut
Biodiesel is riding the wave of record production that only looks to get bigger as Americans yearn for the greener fuel to help break the addiction on foreign oil. That’s the good news. The bad news is the industry is facing a glut of a biodiesel by-product called glycerin. But researchers at Rice University have found a way to make …
Arkansas to Get 150 MGY Biodiesel Plant
Consolidated Biofuels and International Bio Fuels Corp. have announced plans to jointly open a biodiesel plant in Arkansas… one that will be among the biggest in the country. The refinery will be built on a 65 acre lot on the Mississippi Port of Yellow Bend and will produce 150 million gallons of biodiesel and 70 million bushels of soybean oil …
New Device to Cut Ethanol Costs
USDA Agricultural Research Service scientists in California have come up with a device that is purported to increase the efficiency of ethanol refineries. This story from the ARS web site says chemical engineers Richard D. Offeman and George H. Robertson at the ARS Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif., believe their device using special permeable plastic membranes will reduce …
TN, WI, & CA to Share $375 mill in Fed Research Funding
The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded three grants of $125 million each to set up Bioenergy Research Centers in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Madison, Wisconsin; and near Berkeley, California. According to this release from the DOE, they are intended to accelerate basic research in the development of cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels: “These Centers will provide the transformational science needed …
New Biggest Kid on Block?
Just as Imperium Renewables is set to open the nation’s biggest biodiesel refinery with a 100-million-gallon-a-year plant in Washington state, there could be a contender out there that will produce three times as much annually. This story on Inside Greentech.com says California-based SE-Energy has announced plans to build a 320-million-gallon-a-year biodiesel refinery at Chesapeake, Virginia: To be situated on the …
Imperium On Schedule
Biodiesel giant Imperium Renewables is on schedule to open a 100-million-gallon-a-year biodiesel refinery next month at Gray’s Harbor in Washington state… although there’s been some rumors there might be delays . This article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer explains the mixup seems to be a matter of when the party to celebrate the opening will be: Imperium spokesman John Williams said …
Report: Biodiesel to be Cheaper than Light Oil
A report from the Korean Energy Economics Institute (KEEI) says, as early as 2011, biodiesel will cost less than its petroleum counterpart. This story from the English-language version of Dong-A.com says the report is titled “Prospects on the Economic Feasibility of Biodiesel and Improving the Support System.” Right now in Korea, biodiesel costs about $.87 per liter to produce… compared …
Big Biodiesel Plant Groundbreaking in Kansas
Iowa-based Renewable Energy Group has broken ground on what will be a 60-million-gallon-a-year biodiesel plant in Emporia, Kansas. This story is from the Emporia Gazette: Actual construction work will begin in about two weeks, according to Chief Executive Officer Jeff Stroburg. The company expects to have the $70 million plant up and running by September or October of 2008. Once …