Iowa State University will get $8 million of a $78 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to research and develop advanced biofuels. This press release from the school says two teams will share the funds: Victor Lin – professor of chemistry, director of the Institute for Physical Research and Technology’s Center for Catalysis at Iowa State and chief technologist and …
Loss of Biodiesel Incentive Costs Farmers, Consumers
Biodiesel producers aren’t the only ones who are being hit by the loss of the federal $1-a-gallon tax incentive. This story from Agriculture Online says farmers and consumers are also being hurt: Ohio Soybean Association president Jeff Wuebker estimates that failure to renew the tax credit, which expired at the end of 2009, will cost him about $12.50 an acre …
Could Salicornia Be a New Wonder Feedstock?
On the Eve of the World Future Energy Summit, which began today in Abu Dhabi, the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Honeywell UOP, Boeing and Ethiad Airways announced a project that would study how to combine fish farms and biofuel crops to lower CO2, reduce ocean waste and produce renewable jet fuel. The star feedstock? Salicornia. Salicornia, also known …
DF Cast: Bring a Friend to the Biodiesel Conference
The 2010 National Biodiesel Conference and Expo is just around the corner, going on February 7-10 just outside of Dallas at the Grapevine Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center, and you’ll be able to bring a friend for free. CEO of the National Biodiesel Board Joe Jobe says, with federal legislation and rules pending, this is an event anyone in …
Soybean Genome Shows Ways to Improve Biodiesel
A team of scientists has cracked the code on the soybean genome, and that information could lead to better biodiesel yields from the oilseed. This article from Physorg.com says the team consists of 18 institutions, including the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI), the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), Purdue University and the University of …
WASDE: Soybean Exports Up; Biodiesel Unchanged
It looks like there will be plenty of soybeans for food and fuel use, especially since the non-renewal of the biodiesel tax incentive seems to have put a lot of refineries’ operations on hold. The latest World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimate report from the USDA pushes up the 2009 U.S. soybean crop now to an estimated record 3.36 billion …
Cold Puts Minnesota Biodiesel Mandate on Hold
As a guy who is from the Upper Midwest, I can tell you that the kind of cold that the Dakotas, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota have experienced the last couple of weeks was a “special” kind of cold. Forty or 50 below zero is Jack-London-Call-of-the-Wild-spit-freezin’-in-mid-air kind of cold. So, it’s no wonder that the cold has put Minnesota’s 5 percent …
Investigators Find Cause of Biodiesel Plant Explosion
Company investigators say they have found the cause of the explosion last month at the Imperium Renewables biodiesel plant near Grays Harbor, Washington state. The DailyWorld.com reports a 10,000-gallon glycerin neutralization tank became over-pressurized to the point of an explosion when sulfuric acid caused an unexpected exothermic reaction: “Personnel were unaware of the potential for such a reaction,” spokesman John …