It only figures that a state known for some awfully pretty blue skies would recognize biodiesel as a good way to keep that air pollution free. This article from the Deseret News says the Utah state legislature’s Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee has endorsed HJR5, a measure recognizing biodiesel as a clean, renewable resource that should be encouraged in …
Changes in the Law Drive U.S. Biodiesel Trends
While the proposal to cut the amount of biodiesel and ethanol to be blended into the Nation’s fuel supply has green fuel makers nervous, a new report shows that turmoil at the end of 2013 actually helped biodiesel spike. Financial services provider for agricultural producers and agribusinesses Rabobank Food & Agribusiness Research (FAR) says the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposal …
Dutch Company to Use SkyNRG Biodiesel
A Netherlands-based company in the construction and maritime infrastructure maintenance businesses will use biodiesel from a company used to fueling things a bit higher above the ground. Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) reached an agreement with SkyNRG, a supplier of renewable, sustainable aviation fuel, to provide about 65,000 gallons of biodiesel for Boskalis trucks. The pilot is consistent with Boskalis’ …
Deal Finalized on Texas Biodiesel Plant
A biodiesel maker and a town in Texas finalized a deal to bring a $30 million refinery to the central part of the state. Following up on a story we told you about last month, this article from the Austin Business Journal says the Temple City Council approved a package of incentives to bring waste-cooking-oil-to-biodiesel producer Thomas Biodiesel LLC to …
Biodiesel By-product Could Help with Better Soils
The quality of soils to grow the very feedstocks to make biodiesel could be helped by a by-product of that green fuel’s production. This article from Farmers Weekly says Rothamsted Research in the United Kingdom found that applying biodiesel co-product (BCP) increased soil micro-organism numbers and this effectively “locked up” the nitrates in the soil until spring. Researchers looked at …
Analysis: RINs Price Drop Indicate EPA Reversal
A drop in prices for biodiesel and ethanol Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) could indicate that the government’s proposal to cut the amount of the green fuels to be blended into America’s fuel supply will be reversed. In an analysis by University of Illinois agricultural marketing expert Scott Irwin, lower RINs suggest the market believes odds are the Environmental Protection Agency …
UK Researchers Study Algae-to-Biodiesel and More
Researchers in the United Kingdom are looking at turning a particular strain of algae into biodiesel … and more. This University of Greenwich news release says the school is leading a nearly $14 million international project to get products from the bright pink-orange microalgae Dunaliella found in salt lakes and coastal waters. The project will build a biorefinery called the …
Firefighters Brew Up Own Biodiesel
Firefighters are certainly some of the best public servants, and now at least one group of them in Arizona is trying to be ecological heroes, too. This story from KGUN-TV in Tuscon says the Rio Rico fire department is converting waste cooking oil into biodiesel. “There’s a lot of technical processes to go through and there’s a few of us …
Student Talks Biodiesel By-Product at Conference
The cutting edge of innovation was certainly on display at the recent National Biodiesel Conference & Expo in San Diego. Among the many innovations was a University of Kansas graduate student, who, with a little financial assistance from the folks at the Kansas Soybean Commission (KSC), talked about a new use for the biodiesel by-product, glycerin. Derek Pickett … was …
Biofuels’ Feedstock Growers to Host Ag Secretary
The growers of the two biggest biofuels feedstocks, corn for ethanol and soybeans for biodiesel, will once again host the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture for their biggest meeting of the year. For the fifth time in a row, Tom Vilsack will deliver the keynote address to Commodity Classic, the annual convention and trade show for corn, soybean, wheat and sorghum …