Advanced biofuels can be commercialized rapidly for military use, on military timelines, with adequate support and coordination of efforts by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Defense and Energy, according to comments submitted by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) to the Air Force’s Request for Information on the commercial status and market for advanced drop-in biofuels. “The U.S. military and the …
Southeast Partnership Formed for Biomass Development
Development of biomass for energy in the southeast was also included in the USDA grants announced this week in the Pacific Northwest. Among the grants is $15 million for research to be led by the University of Tennessee to develop sustainable feedstock production systems using switchgrass and woody biomass that will “produce low-cost, easily converted sugars for biochemical conversion to …
Sorghum Could be Aviation Biofuel Feedstock
Louisiana State University is getting $17 million from USDA to study how to turn sugar cane and sorghum into biofuels. The project is one of the five announced yesterday by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, focused on developing aviation biofuels from various types of biomass. “We have an incredible opportunity to create thousands of new jobs and drive economic development in …
Novozymes Supports FuelChoiceNow
Novozymes has joined FuelChoiceNow, a coalition announced last week to create more open access to alternative fuels. “The formation of this new coalition proves that momentum is continuing to build behind biofuels. Consumers deserve to have a choice with their fuel and our economy needs the jobs,” said Adam Monroe, President of Novozymes North America. “Novozymes is proud to be …
Tips For Methanol Safe Handling
Chemicals are an everyday part of operating a biorefinery facility as we learned in Part 1 of Biorefinery Safety Series. Chemicals are also an integral part of biodiesel production. Therefore, it is vitally important that all employees at a biodiesel facility, whether a large operation on a small backyard operation, learn, practice and live safe methanol handling techniques. So today, …
How to Properly Handle Chemicals in a Biorefinery
I’ve spent the last few weeks speaking with people in the biorefining industry in an effort to learn more about safety issues and best practices. The result is a series on Biorefinery Plant Safety and part one focuses on chemical safety. Chemicals are a necessary component of producing ethanol or biodiesel. On the ethanol side, some plants use chlorine dioxide …
Embraer & GE Test BioJet Fuel
It seems like it won’t be long before aircraft flying with biofuels is an everyday occurrence. The latest test flights were conducted by Embraer and GE flying a EMBRAER 170 jet from the Company’s Gavião Peixoto facilities. The purpose of the tests were to benchmark the operational characteristics of the airplane and its GE CF34-8 engines when flying with a …
Algae Industry Gets Sneak Peak of OriginOil Technology
The biofuel industry was invited to tour OriginOil’s algae technology during the recent Algae World Australia conference. The end-to-end algae production project is located in North Queensland, Australia. Riggs Eckelberry, company CEO, spoke during the conference and joined the visitors touring the facility, which is operated by their partner MBD Energy on the James Cook University campus (JCU) in Townsville. …
Blue Angels Perform With Biofuels
The Blue Angels, the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, performed over the Labor Day weekend using a biofuel blend at the Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River Air Expo. All six F/A-18 legacy Hornets were powered with a 50-50 blend of conventional JP-5 jet fuel and a camelina-based biofuel. “Changing the kinds of fuels we use and the way we …
DOE Announces Another $12M in Funding
The Department of Energy closed out August with the announcement of an additional $12 million to fund three small-scale projects in Illinois, Wisconsin and North Carolina. Announced by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, the technologies selected were chosen to help accelerate the development of advanced drop-in fuels and biochemicals. Drop-in fuels have received much attention from both investors and the …