Leading industries in the race to commercialize next generation biofuels told a House agriculture subcommittee hearing on Thursday that more funding and stable government policy are needed to do the job. “The current financial crisis has prevented venture capitalists and bankers from investing in many worthwhile investments,” BP Biofuels North America president Susan Ellerbusch testified. “The industry and investors must …
Cereplast to Develop Bioplastics from Algae
Do you feel guilty when you buy drinking water bottled in plastic? If you don’t, you should and if you do then Cereplast may have a way to ease your mind. The company’s mission is to producing bio-based sustainable plastics and today announced that it has developed a breakthrough technology to transform algae into bioplastics. Cereplast intends to launch a …
Next Gen Biofuels Hearing Today
The House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy, and Research will hold a hearing today to review the future of next generation biofuels. Subcommittee chairman Tim Holden (D-PA) will preside over the hearing, which will include testimony from U.S. Department of Agriculture officials, as well as representatives from several companies involved in exploring new technologies and new feedstocks for biofuel …
Algae Biodiesel Maker Updates Progress
Algae-biodiesel maker PetroSun, Inc. has released reports on the progress of three keys areas for the company: the domestic algae-to-biofuels program, algae derived co-products and alternative energy programs: D.O.E. Integrated Biorefinery Proposal (DE-FOA-0000096) The D.O.E. Integrated Biorefinery oral presentation was completed on October 15th by the University of Arizona-led team that included Texas A&M, Los Alamos National Lab, Air Liquide, …
Algae Biodiesel By-Product to be Sold to Indonesia
A Florida-based algae-biodiesel company has found an international market for a by-product of its clean energy business. This press release from PetroAlgae Inc. says it has has received official notice that the protein from PetroAlgae’s proprietary micro-crop production technology has successfully passed testing by the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture and is suitable for use in animal feed: Furthermore, the protein …
Open Ponds Could Be Key to Algae-Biodiesel Production
Rising feed prices for catfish farms and the rising Chinese market are bad news for those in the South, as more than 320,000 catfish pond acres could be up for grabs. But where one door closes, another opens, as a possible glut of open-air ponds could provide a boon for those looking to raise algae for biodiesel. To explore the …
Iowa Ethanol Producer Embarks on Algae Project
Iowa Governor Chet Culver was seeing green at the grand opening of the Green Plains Renewable Energy (GPRE) Algae Project Thursday in Shenandoah. “This project here is an ideal of what this could mean not only to securing our energy future and helping fuel the world and lower emissions, but jobs in Iowa,” Culver said during the event held at …
Company Developing Algae Farm & Power Plant
Renewed World Energies Corp. is working on turning a 5 acre site into an algae biomass farm that will make biodiesel as well as producing electricity at Georgetown, South Carolina with hopes of being in production by late next year. Biodiesel Magazine reports that 3 to 4 acres of photo-bioreactors are planned to produce algae-based fuels to generate electrical energy: …
Future is Today for Five Producing Algae Biofuels
While I know we’ve talked about the promise of algae-based biofuels, especially biodiesel, many of you have pointed in derision to the seemingly always present caveat: in about five years… the amount of time the ideas seem to take until they’re ready for the street. But there are some companies that are not still five years away from making algae …
Algae to be Focus of BIO’s Pacific Rim Summit
Leading researchers and companies looking to turn algae into biofuels will meet in Hawaii next month to talk about progress and challenges with the green-slime-into-green-fuel process. The Biotechnology Industry Organization’s (BIO) 2009 Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy will be held Nov. 8-11, 2009 in Honolulu: Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO’s Industrial and Environmental Section, said, …