The National Alfalfa and Forage Alliance recently conducted its first Renewable Fuels Summit, “Bioenergy Systems: Alfalfa the Sleeping Giant,” in Washington D.C. The August 8 event, which had more than 80 registered attendees, included presentations on cellulosic ethanol, alfalfa as a green biomass alternative, the role of corn-alfalfa rotation in bioenergy systems, and more. Speakers also focused on United States …
Abengoa Announcement Official
Abengoa Bioenergy was given a key to the city of Hugoton, Kansas last week after formally announcing plans to build a 300-million dollar cellulose ethanol plant near there. The plant is expected to be the first commercial cellulosic ethanol facility and will eventually produce 30 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol and 85 million gallons of traditional corn-based ethanol per year. …
Florida Crystals Wins Bid for Cellulosic Plant
The University of Florida has selected Florida Crystals Corp. as the site to build a cellulosic ethanol plant that will produce 1 million to 2 million gallons of ethanol a year, university officials said. According to a South Florida Business Journal article, the plant is financed by a $20 million state grant and will operate as a research and development …
Lignol Seeks DOE Grant
The U.S. subsidiary of Canada’s Lignol Energy Corporation has filed a formal application for a $30 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to fund the development of a cellulosic ethanol commercial demonstration plant in Colorado. Lignol Innovations Inc. has also signed a Project Development Agreement with Suncor Energy Products Inc. and its affiliate Suncor Energy to jointly fund the project …
Cellulosic Ethanol Summit
The second annual Cellulosic Ethanol Summit in October will be a veritable “who’s who” in the rapidly accelerating industry of cellulosic ethanol. The keynote address will be given by Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns. Among those on the multi-faceted program are Ross MacLachlan of Lignol Energy Corp. Doug Berven of POET, Jeff Passmore from IOGEN, Gerson Santos-Leon of Abengoa, Craig Evans …
Biodiesel from Cellulose
While refiners have been making ethanol from cellulosic material for a while, a Japanese-government affiliated research institute is working on turning grass clippings and wood chips into biodiesel. This story on CattleNetwork.com has more details: The Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth is aiming for commercial production in three years. RITE was established in 1990 by the government …
The Power of Q
A naturally occurring microbe could hold the key to converting cellulose into ethanol in a single step, without the need for costly enzymes. SunEthanol of Amherst, Mass. is commercializing the discovery to produce ethanol from biomass in a simpler and more cost-effective manner. According to the company website, “SunEthanol has the full genome sequence of this remarkable microbe and is …
Kansas Cellulosic Plant Coming
Abengoa Bioenergy will formally announce the site of its cellulosic ethanol plant later this month, but word is already out that it will be located in the southwest Kansas town of Hogoton. The $300 million project, which will be partly funded by a $72 million Department of Energy grant awarded earlier this year, which will also include a traditional corn-to-ethanol …
Presentations and Photos From Farm to Fuel
Presentations from the 2007 Farm to Fuel Summit in Florida are now available on-line at floridafarmtofuel.com. All of the power point presentations from panels on Renewable Fuels Status Reports, Advancing the Science of Bioenergy, Business of Bioenergy, Biomass Resources/Feedstocks in Florida, and Renewable Energy Technology Grants Program are available, as well as the presentation on “25x’25 – America’s Energy Future” …
Energy Title of House Farm Bill
The US House passed its version of the 2007 Farm Bill Friday by a vote of 231 to 191 – a vote largely along party lines on a bill that came out of the House agriculture committee as a bipartisan piece of legislation. Republican members of the committee withdrew their support for the bill when a tax increase on foreign …