The U.S. biodiesel market was a bit smaller in 2014, and policy uncertainty in Washington is being blamed for the decrease. The National Biodiesel Board says the destabilization of the industry, including the Obama Administration’s failure to finalize biodiesel volumes under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and Congress allowing the biodiesel tax incentive to lapse at the beginning of 2014, …
Regulators Urged to Rethink Corn Ethanol’s Carbon Value
Regulators are being urged to re-think corn ethanol’s carbon value. In a news release from the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE), the group’s President of its board of directors, Ron Alverson, reveals in a white paper how corn ethanol’s carbon footprint is decreasing, thanks to technology innovations by farmers and ethanol facilities to improve the accuracy of carbon intensity modeling …
Nat. Gas Inventories Up, Wind to Lead Renewables in 2015
Natural gas inventories are up dramatically from last winter, and wind is expected to lead renewable energy capacity additions in the coming year. Those are just a couple of findings in the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest Short-Term Energy Outlook. EIA Administrator Adam Sieminski says those prices for natural gas have also dropped to two-year lows as growing domestic …
Iowa Biodiesel, Ethanol Marketers Recognized
The Iowa Department of Agriculture honors some ethanol and biodiesel marketers in the state. Mark McKinley and Galen Barker from Fuel Time in St. Ansgar and Steve Neuendorf from Farmers Win Cooperative in Fredericksburg are the 2015 winners of the Secretary’s Ethanol and Biodiesel Marketing Awards, recognizing fuel marketers who have gone above and beyond in their efforts to promote …
Hydro Dynamics’ 98% Ethanol Race Car Featured on PBS
A race car that runs on a 98 percent blend of ethanol was recently featured on the PBS TV show Farm Connections. The US Ethanol Race Car is sponsored by Hydro Dynamics, Inc. of Rome, Georgia, the developer of a patented cavitation process intensification technology called the ShockWave Power Reactor (SPR), enabling customers to solve critical mixing and heating problems. …
TruMarx Offers Biodiesel and RINs Transactions on COMET
TruMarx Data Partners is now offering biodiesel and renewable identification numbers (RINs) transactions on COMET, the energy industry’s on-demand platform for custom bilateral OTC transactions. COMET now supports direct bilateral transactions for biodiesel and assigned RINs, separated D4 RINs, and RIN-less biodiesel (wet gallons). This new capability allows users to: • Electronically and confidentially structure their transaction to include important …
First Biodiesel Testing Lab in Southeast to Open
The first lab for testing biodiesel in the Southeastern United States is set to open in Asheville, North Carolina. This article from the Asheville Citizen-Times says it is opening at the Enka campus of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College. Researchers at the lab “will provide convenient, cost-effective testing of biodiesel to assure quality products are going to market,” said Sam Brake, …
World’s First Wood-to-Biodiesel Plant Running
The world’s first biorefinery to turn wood into renewable diesel has opened in Finland. UPM says its Lappeenranta biorefinery is now in commercial production, turning out about 30 million gallons of the green fuel a year. “Lappeenranta Biorefinery is the first significant investment in a new and innovative production facility in Finland during the ongoing transformation of the forest industry. …
New Biodiesel Plant Owner Wants to Re-Open It
Speculation over the new owner of the Great Lakes Biodiesel plant in Welland, Ontario, Canada is over, as Luxembourg-based Heridge SARL has been announced as the winner of a bidding process. And the Welland Tribune reports the new owner is vowing to re-open the $50 million refinery. “The big message that came out is that they’re not buying this operation …
US Ethanol Exports Hit High, DDGS Drop in Nov.
Exports of U.S. ethanol hit a nearly three-year high, while shipments of dried distillers grains (DDGS) slipped in November of 2014. In a piece from Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) Senior Vice President Geoff Cooper, the biggest share of the 90.9 million gallons of ethanol, a 15 percent increase from just a month earlier, went to India and a couple of …