During a visit to a Massachusetts renewable energy company on Friday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack highlighted USDA’s continuing efforts to invest in research and development projects that will help reduce America’s reliance on foreign oil. Vilsack toured Agrivida, a company that is developing technologies to reduce the cost of converting biofuel feedstocks into sugar, focusing on sorghum, corn stover, and …
Canada Fears Rising Gas Prices
I just returned from Toronto, Canada after attending the 2011 BIO World Congress (great stuff and check back as I post a series of audio interviews from the conference) and the country is feeling the impacts of rising gas prices. Consumers in Central Canada have seen gas prices rise nearly 30 cents almost overnight despite the drop in oil prices …
Air Force Tests Independence Bio-Products’ Algae Jet Fuel
The Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base is testing jet fuel derived from algae produced by Dublin, Ohio based Independence Bio-Products (IBP). The algae was grown in open ponds in Ohio and harvested with the company’s patent pending harvest system. The tests are part of federally funded project to examine Algae to Fuel (ATF) processing technologies. …
AE Biofuels Re-Starts California Ethanol Plant
The AE Biofuels ethanol plant in central California is back in production. Subsidiary AE Advanced Fuels Keyes has restarted operations at the 55 million gallon per year ethanol production facility located in Keyes, California and hired about 50 full time employees. The company announced in March it was restarting the plant, which has been closed since 2009. The original $130 …
Sapphire & Linde Announce Algae CO2 Deal
Sapphire Energy and The Linde Group have announced a multi-year partnership to co-develop a low-cost system to deliver carbon dioxide (CO2) to commercial-scale, open-pond, algae-to-fuel cultivation systems. Linde, who is a leading supplier of CO2 in the US, will work with Sapphire to reduce the costs incurred when delivering CO2 for commercial-scale open pond algae cultivation. In addition, Linde will …
FPInnovations Now Producing Lignin for Research
Canada’s first lignin plant is operational and producing lignin for Canadian researchers according to an announcement made during the 2011 BIO World Congress. The plant is owned and operated by FPInnovations who is working in partnership with the Centre for Research and Innovation in the Bio-Economy (CRIBE), Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN) and AbitibiBowater. Lignin is a residual substance derived from …
Florida Farm to Fuel Summit Postponed
Florida’s annual Farm to Fuel Summit has been postponed. Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam sent out an announcement today saying that a bill passed during the recently concluded Florida legislative session prompted the decision. The Florida legislature approved the transfer of the State Energy Office from the Executive Office of the Governor to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer …
ICM Spotlights Biomass Gasification at Conference
The announcement by ICM last week on the commercial deployment of its biomass gasification system came just prior to the 4th International Biomass Conference and Expo in St. Louis last week, which gave the company much to talk about with attendees. The technology has the capacity to covert 150 tons of biomass per day to a syngas that can then …
New Corn Oil Extraction Technology Increases Yield
Inedible corn oil is an emerging co-product for the ethanol industry. Today, about 1/3 of all ethanol plants in production are producing some type of inedible corn oil. However, many current technologies on the market don’t deliver high yields. This may change with the announcement from Ashland Hercules Water Technologies who has released a patent-pending corn oil extraction aid, PTV …
BP Backs Verdezyne
BP Alternative Energy Ventures and DSM Venturing B.V. have both invested in renewable fuel and chemical company Verdezyne. The two companies were part of a funding round that also included additional monies from existing investors OVP Venture Partners and Monitor Ventures. The announcement was made today during the BIO World Congress underway in Toronto. “We are thrilled to have these …