Oil-rich Texas is seeing a surge in renewable energy use, and that surge is being led by wind. This article from the Dallas Business Journal says an Electric Reliability Council of Texas report shows wind, solar and other renewable energy sources increased 12 percent last year, with wind making up the lion’s share of that increase. Renewable energy produced 38.1 …
Students’ Biodiesel Wins Environmental Award
A project by a group of Tennessee high school students to make and promote biodiesel garnered an environmental award in that state. The Whites Creek High School group is the winner in the Excellence in Energy and Renewable Resources category of the 2014 Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Awards, which this article in the Chattanoogan says recognizes exceptional voluntary actions that improve …
Biodiesel Producer Certain Uncertainty Will End
The manager of a biodiesel refinery from the Nation’s largest biodiesel producer believes the uncertainty in the green fuel’s future will disappear. I caught up with Bryan Christjansen, a general manager for Renewable Energy Group’s Albert Lea, Minn. and Mason City, Iowa plants, shortly after a news conference where several biodiesel producers joined with a group of U.S. senators to …
Biodiesel Adds Value, Diversification to Ethanol Ops
It’s not a brand new idea, but the concept of co-locating ethanol and biodiesel plants has been catching on more and more lately. This article from Biodiesel Magazine talks about how ethanol refiners are looking to take their by-product, distillers corn oil (DCO), and turn it into biodiesel to add value to those ethanol plants already on the ground, while …
Iowa Gov Says Biofuels Cure for Climate Change
As members of a federal task force visit Iowa and say that “climate change is here and now,” that state’s governor says biofuels, which are also here and now, are at least one way to fight the changes in climate. This article in the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier says this is the third meeting of the White House task force …
Glycerolysis Considered for Biodiesel Pretreatment
Using low-grade, waste feed oils for biodiesel production might look appealing on the surface, but those feedstocks contain high levels of free fatty acids (FFA), which can cause soap formation. This article in Biodiesel Magazine gives a good, in-depth look at using glycerolysis as a cost-saving alternative to traditional methods of biodiesel production. [G]lycerolysis reduces the amount of FFA in …
New Technology Supports Renewable Diesel Plant
New technology is supporting the Nation’s largest renewable diesel refinery, which, in fact, is the largest advanced biofuel facility in the country. This news release from Honeywell subsidiary UOP LLC says its UOP/Eni Ecofining™ process technology powers the 130-million-gallon-per-year Diamond Green Diesel facility in Norco, La., converting inedible oils and other waste feedstocks to produce high-quality renewable diesel, also known …
Biodiesel Producers, Farmers Take to The Hill
Biodiesel producers and farmers who raise the feedstocks for the biodiesel industry took to Capitol Hill this week, joining a group of U.S. Senate Democrats in their calls to end policy uncertainty that is hurting their industry. “The uncertainty caused by these policy setbacks in Washington, with this proposed retreat on biodiesel volumes under the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) and …
Biodiesel By-product Expected to be $2.1 Bil Industry
A new report says a by-product of biodiesel production will be a $2.1 billion industry by 2018. This Digital Journal article says the Transparency Market Research report, “Glycerol Market By Source (Biodiesel, Fatty Acids & Fatty Alcohols), By Applications (Personal Care, Alkyd Resins, Polyether Polyols, Others), Downstream Opportunities (Propylene Glycol, Epichlorohydrin, 1, 3 Propanediol And Others) – Global Industry Analysis, …
Senate Dems Against Obama on Biodiesel Proposal
Normally, they would be considered pretty staunch allies of President Obama. But a group of Democratic U.S. Senators have taken the Administration to task for its handling of the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to drastically reduce the amount of biodiesel required to be blended into the Nation’s fuel supply. “The EPA’s preliminary November rule will be disastrous,” said Illinois Senator …