Minnesota gets its first biodiesel blender pumps with some help from the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council (MSR&PC). Staples Enterprises in Heron Lake has the pumps offering up to 20 percent biodiesel blends. “The store and the blender pumps have actually been in operation since January and we’re promoting biodiesel now during our fall celebration,” said Daric Zimmerman, Retail …
Iowa Looks to Expand Ethanol, Biodiesel Blends
Officials in Iowa are looking to up the choices consumers will have when filling up with ethanol and biodiesel. Gov. Terry Branstad announced a new public-private partnership called “Fueling Our Future” that will use state dollars to leverage investments in existing renewable fuel infrastructure to establish more blender pumps containing E-30 and biodiesel at gas retailers around the state. “This …
DF Cast: Ethanol Battles for Info & Against the Gov’t
Understanding what the auto industry wants and needs… and how ethanol can meet that… all while battling Big Oil and even the government… that’s the daunting task the ethanol industry has been facing for some time. In this edition of the Domestic Fuel Cast, we talk with Dave Vander Griend, the co-founder and president of one of the world’s largest …
Surmountable “Blend Wall”
Fuels America recently hosted a briefing on the Hill (Washington, D.C.) to give an update on the so-called “blend wall.” Energy experts and biofuel industry representatives discussed the need to provide consumer choice at the pump. Other topics discussed during the event included: benefits of renewable fuel; penetration of new fuels like E15 and cellulosic ethanol into the marketplace; compliance …
New British Columbia Biodiesel Blender Pump Opens
A cooperative in British Columbia, Canada opens a new biodiesel blender pump. This story from the Cowichan Valley (BC) Citizen says the area’s first blender pump opened to an enthusiastic crowd at the Bings Creek Solid Waste Facility: “It’s taken a little while to get here but we’ve done it and now I’d like to welcome you to Phase 1 …
KiOR Announces Cellulosic Milestone
KiOR has announced that its commercial scale cellulosic gasoline and diesel production facility in Columbus, Mississippi has achieved several key operational milestones. The first achievement was that the facility’s Biomass Fluid Catalytic Cracking, or BFCC, unit has completed its first uninterrupted 30-day run. In addition, the facility made its first shipment of cellulosic gasoline on June 28, which represented the …
Urban Air Initiative Worried About Stocks, Not Ethanol
Ethanol is good for taking harmful particles out of automobile emissions, but a group committed to cleaner air is worried that gasoline makers might just end up putting more particulates in the blendstock. “The [ultra-fine particulates] profile of the ethanol is very, very consistent,” but Greg Krissek, Director of Government Affairs for ICM, part of the Urban Air Initiative, told …
B20 Powering Navy Building
The first Navy plant in the Mid-Atlantic region to use B20 is located in St. Julien’s Creek Annex in Portsmouth, Virginia. The biodiesel blend will provide steam to heat 16 office buildings and 13 warehouses. Over the course of the winter, 235,000 gallons of B20 are expected to be used to create the heat. Previously the plant used traditional, petroleum-based …
Propel & Solazyme Deliver Algae-Based Fuel
Propel Fuels is believed to be the first in the nation to sell consumers algae-based fuel at the pump compliments of Solazyme Inc. The two companies have joined together to offer Solazyme’s algae-based Soladiesel®BD in the Bay Area. The month long pilot program provides the biofuels industry the first opportunity to test consumer response to the advanced biofuel. According to a statement from Propel, …
Iowa RFA Asks Car Makers to Endorse E15
The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) is asking all auto makers to recommend the use of 15% ethanol blended fuel (E15) for use in new model vehicles. IRFA has sent letters to the heads of 12 auto manufacturers asking them to follow the trend set by Ford Motor Company and General Motors and endorse the use of E15 as approved …