The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) hosted it’s first ever Washington Legislative Forum this week and Senator John Hoeven took time to discuss the elements of the bipartisan Domestic Fuels Act that was released this past March. The discussion was timely as RFA recently released results of a poll showing that 58% of respondents were more likely to purchase fuels with …
Algae Technology May Clean Up Dirty Water
OriginOil has announced that a breakthrough chemical-free process developed for algae harvesting may also aid in the clean up of dirty water that is a byproduct of oil well water flooding and hydraulic fracturing. According to the company, using a lab prototype of the technology, its researchers have successfully clarified samples of flowback water from a Texas oil well carrying …
First Sorghum Renewables Summit This Month
The Sorghum Checkoff is hosting the first ever Sorghum Renewables Summit April 19-20 in Denver. The summit will bring together the industry’s leading researchers and companies for an event focused on agronomics, composition, technology, corporate governance and more related to using sorghum as a feedstock for renewable fuels. National Sorghum Producers chairman Terry Swanson, a grower from Colorado, says about …
Biofuels Groups Support RFS in Federal Lawsuit
Ethanol and advanced biofuels groups are mobilizing to fight a court challenge by the petroleum industry over the Renewable Fuel Standard. Six biofuel trade associations have filed a motion in the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to intervene in support of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) 2012 final rule being …
Sweetwater Energy & BioGasol Partner for Bioproducts
Rochester, New York based Sweetwater Energy and BioGasol ApS, a Danish biotechnology company, have entered into a strategic partnership to improve sugar extraction from biomass. Sweetwater is a cellulosic sugar manufacturer and will use BioGasol’s pretreatment technology, Carbofrac, as part of an overall technological solution to increase the amount of sugar extracted from plant-based feedstocks. “We’re very excited about this …
Finding Opportunity in a Changing Landscape
One of the most unique conferences of the year is getting ready to take place on June 20-21st in Minneapolis, MN. The “Finding Opportunity in a Changing Landscape” is the theme of this year’s conference, hosted by Christianson and Associates. A must attend for the financial gurus at the country’s ethanol and biodiesel companies, this year’s event will feature two …
Join Ag Sec. Vilsack in First Twitter Chat on Energy
Tomorrow at 1:30pm EDT, Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack will hold the first “USDA Virtual Office Hours on Twitter.” I’d recommend using TweetChat, Twubs or an app like TweetDeck or HootSuite to follow along. It looks like these planned monthly sessions will focus on different topics. Tomorrow it’s renewable energy. You’re asked to submit your questions via Twitter to either @USDA …
20 Ethanol Plants Part of E15 History
On Monday, Cindy announced to our DF readers that the EPA has approved the first E15 applications. This was welcome news to the biofuels industry who needs a greater use of higher blends of ethanol to break through the blend wall. Today, after a successful two days in Washington, D.C. meeting with federal policy makers about the importance of biofuels …
World Crude Prices Threaten Global Economy
World crude prices are threatening the global economy is the call from the International Energy Agency’s Chief Economist, Fatih Birol. In response, the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance (GRFA) is calling for the G20 to enact agressive biofuels policies that will reduce reliance on crude oil. Those hit hardest, says GRFA, are underdeveloped countries because at the slightest rise in oil …
Biodiesel – A Year Round Biofuel
It may feel like summer already, but spring only arrived on March 20th. And believe it or not, some areas actually had snow this winter. Okay, so what’s my point? Biodiesel once again had success with cold temperatures around the country. Let me give you a few examples. ➢ Cranmore Mountain Resort in New Hampshire was the first resort to …