Commissioners in Santa Rosa County, California are considering whether to use the county’s name to help back bonds for a proposed biodiesel plant. Biofuels Digest reports the chairman of the commission wants more information before signing off on the Integrated Energy Partners’ proposed biodiesel facility: The facility intends to run year-round using camelina and other crops including cotton seed to …
Genera Energy & Alcoa Partner to Grow Switchgrass
Tennessee is becoming a hotbed for switchgrass activity, and one of the newest partnerships is between Alcoa, Inc, the steel giant, and Genera Energy. Alcoa has leased nearly 238 acres of land to a local farmer who is participating in an incentive program with Genera Energy. Genera Energy, along with the University of Tennessee, is researching and developing technology to …
BlueFire Ethanol Rebrands as BlueFire Renewables
BlueFire Ethanol Fuels is rebranding itself as BlueFire Renewables “to more clearly illustrate the company’s vast capabilities in renewable energy,” according to the company. “BlueFire is more than just an ethanol company. We’re happy to at last announce the expansion of our capabilities, and feel that this name captures our spirit for innovation and development of cleaner alternatives to fossil …
Iowa Gov Chet Culver Celebrates 1st Biomass Harvest
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of dreams. And this has been a dream for many, many years,” began Iowa Governor Chet Culver during his presentation to kick off the largest global biomass harvesting pilot project in Emmetsburg, Iowa. Project Liberty, the dream of Jeff Broin, CEO of POET and his company, is less than two …
Range Fuels Makes Cellulosic Methanol
Colorado-based Range Fuels reports the successful production of cellulosic methanol using non-food biomass at a Georgia biofuels plant in the first phase of an operation to ultimately produce next generation ethanol. According to a Range Fuels’ press release, this first phase uses heat, pressure, and steam to convert woody biomass and grasses into a synthesis gas composed of hydrogen and …
Seaweed Could be Another Ethanol Feedstock
The pursuit of new feedstocks for next generation ethanol has gone underwater. Seaweed has been getting quite a bit of attention for its potential in ethanol production, especially in Asia. Most recently, scientists from Tohoku University and Tohoku Electric Power announced they have developed a technology to efficiently generate ethanol from seaweed such as sea tangle and sea grape, according …
SunOpta Reports Strong Second Quarter Sales
SunOpta, a Canadian-based company that is developing a sugar substitute using ethanol, has reported strong revenues for second quarter. According to company financials, they brought in $235.9 million this quarter, as compared to $216.1 million in second quarter of 2009, a 9.2 percent increase. During this same time frame, SunOpta reported a significant increase in net income on a GAAP …
Verenium Reports Positive Second Quarter
Verenium Corporation announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2010 and the outlook is positive. On the enzyme side, the company reported increased total product revenue by 27 percent for the 2nd Quarter compared to the 2nd Quarter in 2009 and a 15 percent increase in revenue over 1st Quarter sales of this year. In the biofuels space, …
POET to Begin Biomass Harvesting in Texas
This week, POET will begin biomass harvest research in corn fields near Navasota, Texas. This is part of an ongoing effort to learn more about the most efficient ways to harvest and store biomass for cellulosic ethanol production. Project LIBERTY, the country’s soon-to-be largest corn cob and corn stover cellulosic-to-ethanol plant, located in Emmetsburg, Iowa, is also engaged in biomass …
Oodles and Oodles of Biomass, Oh My!
There are several barriers to the success of converting biomass to biofuels including harvesting, transportation and storage. But of these three challenges, one of utmost importance is not only how to store the biomass but how long can it be stored without compromising the feedstock? The most advanced commercial scale corn stover to ethanol project in the U.S. is Project …