A new way to remove fiber from corn has been discovered by a professor from Mississippi State University (MSU). He calls his process Elusieve and has filed for a patent. The process was invented by Dr. Radhakrishnan Srinivasan of the MSU Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering with some help from University of Illinois professor Dr. Vijay Singh who believe …
Private Investments for Alt Energy At Four-Year Low
According to new research from Lux Research, investments in the alternative fuels sector have reached a four-year low of $930 million for alternative fuel start-ups in 2010. However, 2010 was also a record-breaking year for investments to companies with flexible technologies that can use a variety of feedstocks to produce a variety of products at $698 million. Lux says that …
Biofuels Truth Express
I finally made it to the Iowa State Fair last weekend and while I was walking around getting my eat on I spotted this biofuels truck. It was the “Biofuels Truth Express,” and was parked along the road across from the main grand stand, where I was headed to go hear the Maroon Five and Train concert (and yes they …
Biofuel Offering to Expand in Western U.S.
The network of biofuels stations in the west will be expanding with a new partnership between Propel Fuels and Pacific Convenience and Fuels (PC&F). The program will co-locate Propel “Clean Fuel Points” with PC&F gas stations and convenience stores throughout the west. So far, 80 potential locations for the program have been identified in California, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado. The …
Abengoa Gets DOE Loan Guarantee for US Biomass Plant
Abengoa Bioenergy has been selected by the US Department of Energy for a $133.9 million federal loan guarantee to build a new generation commercial scale biorefinery facility to produce renewable liquid fuel from plant fiber, or cellulosic biomass. With the offer of a conditional commitment now received, Abengoa Bioenergy has announced that they intend to start construction shortly on the …
Sobering Cost of Oil Addiction
A CNN Money report this week offered some sobering statistics on the true cost of our addiction to oil. According to the report, about 3,000 of the Army casualties reported in Iraq between 2003 and 2007 were protecting fuel convoys. That is one out of eight killed or wounded during that time period. The report notes, “Among the many incentives …
President Talks Ethanol in Illinois
The 11-year-old grandson of a corn farmer and ethanol plant investor got to ask President Obama a question during a town hall meeting at the Wyffels Hybrids corn seed production plant in Atkinson, Illinois on Wednesday. “My grandpa is a farmer, and he owns part of the local ethanol plant,” young Alex McAvoy said to the POTUS. “I was wondering, …
Navy, Energy and USDA Partner for Advanced Biofuels
The Obama Administration today announced a partnership between the private sector and the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Energy and Navy to produce advanced drop-in aviation and marine biofuels to power military and commercial transportation. President Obama made the announcement during a stop in Iowa, at the same time the three department secretaries held a telephone conference call with the press. …
Speeding Up Butanol Production
Last week, several researchers from Rice University unveiled a new method for converting simple glucose (sugar) into biofuels and petrochemicals 10 times faster than any method previously reported. The research was published in Nature online and details how the team reversed one of the most efficient of all metabolic pathway, the beta oxidation cycle, to engineer bacteria that quickly produce …
Level the Playing Field for Biofuels
Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) announced this week his intent to introduce bipartisan legislation in the U.S. Senate that would help level the playing field for advanced biofuels such as algae. He wants to accomplish this by reforming the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) to make it technology agnostic. Of the 36 billion gallons required by the RFS, up to 15 billion …