New York City is trying to clean up the emissions from the city’s burning of heating oil, and biodiesel is part of the plan for the Big Apple to go greener. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Quinn that they have agreed on legislation to cut allowable sulfur levels for No. 4 heating oil in half. This …
Truckstop Operators Lobby for Biodiesel Incentive Renewal
The group that represents truckstops and travel plazas is urging renewal of the federal $1-a-gallon biodiesel tax incentive. Refrigerated Transporter reports that NATSO has teamed up with other partners in the industry, such as the National Association of Convenience Stores, the Petroleum Marketers Association of America, and the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America, to send a letter to …
EPA Data on Canola Biodiesel Pathway Released
Canola-based biodiesel is closer to becoming a fuel authorized for biomass-based diesel Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), now that the EPA has released a Notice of Data Availability (NODA) for its recent modeling of the canola oil biodiesel pathway. Earlier this year, EPA announced the final rule for the new Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2), but the canola pathway was not yet …
Railway to Test Montana Biodiesel
A switch engine in Havre, Montana is making the switch to 20 percent biodiesel for a year-long experiment to see how it works on trains in the Treasure State. On July 17, BNSF Railway celebrated the official start of the project where Montana State University-Northern’s Bio-Energy Center will test biodiesel produced by Earl Fisher Biofuels in one of two BNSF …
Marketers Back Renewable Fuels Bill
The nation’s major fuel marketing associations are advocating legislation that will help them sell higher blends of renewable fuels, including ethanol and biodiesel greater than E10 or B5. NACS – the Association for Convenience and Petroleum Retailing, along with NATSO (representing America’s Travel Plazas and Truckstops), Petroleum Marketers Association of America (PMAA), and Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America …
Biodiesel Board Looks to Fill Technical Position
I had a job interview with the National Biodiesel Board the other day. No, not a job interview for ME, but an interview about a job NBB has to offer. I sat down with my friend Donnell Rehagen, Chief Operating Officer for the NBB, and he told me about a technical position they have supporting the biodiesel industry with group’s …
Renewable Energy Group Makes Acquisitions
Leading biodiesel producer and marketer Renewable Energy Group (REG) announced a couple of major acquisitions today that will improve the company’s access to used cooking oil supply for biodiesel production. The Ames, Iowa company is acquiring Tellurian Biodiesel of California and American BDF, a joint venture owned by Tellurian, Golden State Service Industries and Restaurant Technologies Inc. (RTI) that focused …
Pickens Says Natural Gas Only Diesel Replacement; Biodiesel Says Wha….?
T. Boone Pickens is making a new pitch for natural gas to be the fuel of the future, especially in America’s big rigs. However, while declaring natural gas as the only replacement for petroleum diesel, the billionaire oilman seems to forget that biodiesel is already a great source to replace petroleum-based products… without having to convert any engines. In the …
US’s First Enzymatic Biodiesel Plant to be Unveiled
Industrial enzymes producer Novozymes and Piedmont Biofuels of North Carolina will be unveiling new technology at the first enzymatic biodiesel pilot plant in the U.S. tomorrow. The technology will turn low quality waste grease into high quality biodiesel: The enzymatic biodiesel pilot plant was developed in partnership with the Biofuels Center of North Carolina, and the Chatham County Economic Development …
Biodiesel Willing to Make Up Cellulosic Biofuels Shortfall
While the cellulosic ethanol industry is worried that it won’t be able to meet the U.S. EPA’s proposed advanced biofuels production volumes for the new Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2), the folks who make biodiesel believe they could pick up any slack. This article from Biodiesel Magazine points out that biodiesel plants in the U.S. have the ability to produce 2.2 …