Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is hosting a media roundtable with aviation business leaders today to discuss the important role of American-produced biofuels in the civilian aircraft and airline industry, and in the military. Participants in the discussion with Vilsack will include John Tracy with The Boeing Company and Billy Glover of Boeing Commercial Airplanes; Alex Marren with United Continental Holdings …
Beta Renewables Joins Advanced Ethanol Council
Cellulosic biomass company Beta Renewables has become the latest member of the Advanced Ethanol Council (AEC), an organization that promotes advanced ethanol fuels and technologies. Beta Renewables is a unique $350 million joint venture formed from the Chemtex division of Gruppo Mossi & Ghisolfi and TPG and is dedicated to making cellulosic biomass practical and cost-effective for the production of …
Pilot Biorefinery Dedicated in Perry, Florida
Florida State Representative Debbie Mayfield dumped a load of sugarcane waste to dedicate a new pilot biorefinery this week in honor of her late husband, Stan Mayfield. The dedication ceremony involved Mayfield pulling the lever on a front-end loader to dump a pile of pulverized sugarcane stalks, officially delivering the first shipment of feedstock to the facility, which will now …
Industry Says Cellulosic Ethanol Progress is Being Made
In response to recent media reports about cellulosic ethanol shortfalls, including a story in the New York Times, the advanced ethanol industry is stressing that progress is being made. “In a very difficult financial and policy environment, the first wave of commercial advanced ethanol production facilities are under construction in a number of states across the country,” said Advanced Ethanol …
DuPont and NexSteppe Team for New Bio Feedstocks
Two companies have teamed up to develop advanced feedstocks for biofuels, biopower and biobased products. The collaboration between DuPont and the bio-based firm NexSteppe will be working on new feedstocks for renewable energy, including sweet sorghum and high biomass sorghum hybrids. Under the agreement, DuPont has made an equity investment in NexSteppe, and through its Pioneer Hi-Bred business, will provide …
EPA Lowers Cellulosic Ethanol Target
Cellulosic ethanol continues to be out of reach for commercial use, according to the latest Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) requirements set by the Environmental Protection Agency for 2012. “EPA has essentially reduced the mandate for cellulosic, recognizing the fact that there aren’t supplies out there to meet it,” said USDA chief economist Joe Glauber. Back in 2007, Congress set a …
EPA Finalizes 2012 Renewable Fuel Standards
After nearly a month delay, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released final Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) requirements for 2012. The final 2012 overall volumes and standards are: Biomass-based diesel (1.0 billion gallons; 0.91 percent) Advanced biofuels (2.0 billion gallons; 1.21 percent) Cellulosic biofuels (8.65 million gallons; 0.006 percent) Total renewable fuels (15.2 billion gallons; 9.23 percent) The percentage standards …
Top Ethanol Stories of 2011
Ethanol industry developments in 2011 have set the stage for a new era. The Renewable Fuels Association has identified five top stories for the ethanol world from 2011 that will change the future. They are: 1. EPA approval of 15 percent ethanol for use in 2001 and newer vehicles 2. The end of the blenders tax credit and secondary tariff …
Biofuel and Chemicals Made from Wood Biomass
Researchers at Aalto University in Finland have developed a method using microbes from wood biomass to produce butanol suitable for biofuel and other industrial chemicals. Butanol is particularly suited as a transport fuel because it is not water soluble and has higher energy content than ethanol. Until now, starch and cane sugar have been the most commonly used raw materials …
OriginOil and Idaho National Lab Partner for Research
OriginOil has a new research agreement with the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to collaborate on establishing industry standards for algal biomass. Under the terms of the agreement, OriginOil will provide INL with its Single Step Extraction technology and contribute its knowledge of how to stimulate oil production and pre-treat for consistent extraction of the algae and its …