And the Oscar goes to… researchers at Iowa State University for their work on biodiesel. This ISU press release posted on IowaPolitics.com says the team won a 2009 R&D 100 Award, dubbed the “Oscars of Invention” by the Chicago Tribune and handed out by the editors of R&D Magazine that salute the 100 most technologically significant products introduced into the …
Homebrewing Biodieselers to Meet in DC
While the big National Biodiesel Conference is geared toward the big producers, there is a gathering for those folks who like to brew up a batch of the green fuel in their garages. After spending the last three years in Colorado, the Collective Biodiesel Conference is being held at American University in Washington, DC. This year’s meeting features Josh Tickell, …
Synthetic Biology for Next-Generation Biofuels
The 2009 World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing, is in full swing in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and I had the opportunity to listen in to a webinar sponsored by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). The session focused on the technical and commercial advances in the use of synthetic biology for next-generation biofuels. Four companies participated in the panel and …
New Biodiesel Plant Starts in Canada
A new, 2.6 million-gallon-per-year seed-crushing and biodiesel plant has come on line in Canada. Biodiesel Magazine reports that the Milligan Bio-Tech Inc. plant in Foam Lake, Saskatchewan is now fully operational: According to a spokesperson for the company, the new plant is being referred to as Milligan Bio-Tech’s “optimization” plant. Its production capacity is10 MMly (approximately 2.6 MMgy) and uses …
RWE Patents New Algae Oil System for Biodiesel
A South Carolina company has a patent pending on a new method for growing, harvesting and extracting oil from microalgae, promising dramatic cost savings and greater yields over existing algae production technologies. Renewed World Energies (RWE) says company president Richard Armstrong and chief technical officer Tim Tompkins have come up with a system efficiently remove nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide …
BP to Focus on Ethanol Only
Just when ExxonMobil finally gets into the biofuels game with its announcement of $300 million in funding for Synthetic Genomics, BP quits its biodiesel efforts. BP has extracted itself from a jatropha biofuel project with D1 Oils to focus on production of ethanol in both the United States and Brazil. The company will also pursue the development of advanced biobutanol …
Fairmont Hotels Making Own Biodiesel
One of the leaders in lodging is working on becoming a leader in sustainable green energy. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has announced that it will be recycling its used kitchen grease into biodiesel to power its hotels worldwide: As part of the brand’s focus and commitment to sustainability, more than 22 Fairmont locations worldwide are reducing their waste disposal costs …
Biodiesel Cop Car Maker Picks Three Factory Finalists
A car maker that plans to build the world’s first police car designed from the ground up specifically for law enforcement officers and that will happen run on biodiesel has narrowed its choices to three states for its factory. This press release from Carbon Motors Corporation, a new homeland security company, says Georgia, Indiana and South Carolina are finalists for …
Biodiesel Racing Series Featured in Car & Driver
Neat article I just read in Car and Driver about the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup series, which features young drivers (16 to 26 years old) driving practically identical VWs running on a 5 percent biodiesel blend. Writer Mark Gillies got to take one of cars out during an actual qualifying run at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course near Columbus: …
Biodiesel Not on Agenda for US-EU Trade Talks
Just as the European Union was extending for five years the temporary duties the EU has slapped on American biodiesel, you would think would be the time the U.S. Trade Representative would want to talk about the protectionist tariffs with his European counterpart. Nope. Ambassador Ron Kirk had bigger fish to fry when he met with European Union Trade Commissioner …