The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee has extended the federal biodiesel tax incentive. The passage came with several other measures seen as critical to the sustained growth of the biodiesel industry. The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) applauded the action in this press release: Specifically, the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Act of 2007 includes: * Extension of the biodiesel …
EarthFirst Building U.S.’s First Bio-refinery
EarthFirst Technologies, Incorporated will be building America’s first bio-refinery, capable of producing ASTM 6751 biodiesel from palm-based methyl esters. Similar projects have been built in Singapore and Malaysia. This story on the Power Online web site says the new bio-refinery will be in Channahon, Illinois: The key to the Company’s Bio-refinery is the use of palm oil based feedstock. The …
Two New on Better Biodiesel Board
Two veterans of the energy business from Houston, Texas have been named to the board of directors of Better Biodiesel, Inc…. a Utah-based company that uses a proprietary technology that eliminates the use of some caustic chemicals for the production of biodiesel (see my post from January 26th). Check out this story that appeared on Grainnet.com: Steven A Nordaker was …
Bahrain Poised for Major Alternative Energy Investment
Something is brewing with the oil-rich nation of Bahrain and alternative fuels. This story posted on Grainnet.com says the CEO of Chicago-based Consolidated Biofuels has been invited to a private reception at the Bahrain Embassy in Washington, DC tomorrow (June 20th). Daniel Honeycutt’s visit to the embassy comes after his late-May trip to the Middle Eastern kingdom: This invitation follows …
Doyle Calls for Biofuels Backing
Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle is calling on Republicans in his state’s legislature to back his plan to spend $30 million on renewable energy. TV station WKBT in La Crosse posted this AP story on its web site and said Doyle made the call in front of a biodiesel plant in De Forest: Doyle is still smarting from Republicans on the …
Biodiesel Better for Building
The smell of french fries fills the air. But this isn’t the back of some fast food restaurant… it’s a construction site where 100% biodiesel is fueling the heavy equipment. Destiny USA, a destination resort under construction in Syracuse, New York, is dedicated to reduce the amount of fossil fuels in its construction site… and eventually at Destiny USA when …
Algae Biodiesel is Popular Science
There’s been some recent talk about turning algae into biodiesel… enough to catch the attention of the magazine Popular Science. This article highlights an operation in Colorado with some great pictures, graphics, and even video of the process: Algae seems a strange contender for the mantle of World’s Next Great Fuel, but the green goop has several qualities in its …
Closing the “Splash and Dash” Loophole
Lawmakers on the U.S. Senate’s Finance Committee will take up a bill that’s supposed to close a loophole that has allowed importers to get millions of dollars in biodiesel subsidies designed to help U.S producers but for biodiesel that doesn’t end up helping American drivers. This article from TheHill.com has more: Known as “splash and dash,” the loophole allows 100 …
Mitigating Biofuels Effects on Food
AACC International (formerly known as the American Association of Cereal Chemists) is inviting senior food industry executives to a three-day symposium and workshop to discuss the impact the biofuels industry is having on the food market. The AACC web site has more information on the seminar, titled “Biofuels and Food, Mitigating the Impact of Biofuels Demand on Food Ingredients” scheduled …
Ethanol Plants Could Make Biodiesel
Ethanol refiners are looking at ways of getting more products out of the raw ingredients they are using, and one of those new products could be biodiesel. Normally, corn is used to make ethanol and soybeans are used in biodiesel. But this article on the Truth About Trade & Technology web site says many ethanol plants are looking at changing …