Magnolia, North Carolina is the newest home of an E85 station, just off of Interstate 40. This marks the state’s 16th E85 station, but the first one funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act via the Carolina Blue Skies and Green Jobs Initiative. The official grand opening took place on June 17 and 90 guests from the local community …
Biofuels Survive G20 Ag Ministers Meeting
Biofuels survived a challenge on the international level this week as agriculture ministers meeting in France declined to recommend countries limit production to avoid impacting food prices. The agreement reached by the ministers mainly focuses on creation of an agricultural market information system and removing barriers to food exports for humanitarian purposes. The ministers did call for further analysis of …
Genencor Releases Next Gen Cellulosic Enzyme
Genencor has announced its next generation cellulosic ethanol enzyme, Accellerase TRIO. The enzyme will help biofuel producers more cost-effectively produce cellulosic ethanol from a wide-range of renewable feedstocks including switchgrass, wheat straw, corn stover and municipal waste. In essence, this enzyme improves the effectiveness of converting biomass into sugars, one of the critical steps in the production process. Accellerase TRIO …
Boat Race to Highlight Ten Percent Ethanol
Ethanol will be in the spotlight this weekend as boat racing teams from more than twenty states will gather to compete at the National Boat Racing Association (NBRA) “Garnett Ethanol Hydroplane Nationals” this weekend, June 23-26 in Garnett, Kansas for a chance to break national straight away speed records using E10. The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) partnered with NBRA earlier …
Iowa Corn Indy 250 Going Green for Ethanol
The Iowa Speedway will experience a “green out” under the lights on Saturday night with the fifth running of the Iowa Corn Indy 250, presented by Pioneer and powered by 100 percent home grown ethanol. Officials and fans will be wearing green apparel to the first Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented under the lights, with the green flag dropping at …
Site Prep Completed for BlueFire Cellulosic Plant
The site preparation has been completed for BlueFire Renewables’ cellulosic ethanol plant in Fulton, Mississippi. The work was conducted by Century Construction and the site is now ready for the construction of the plant to begin. “With support from the County of Itawamba and the City of Fulton and excellent work done by Century Construction, the Fulton site is ready …
EPA Proposes 2012 Renewable Fuel Standards
Cellulosic ethanol targets were reduced while biodiesel was increased under the latest standards proposed by the federal government for the Renewable Fuel Standard program (RFS2). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today proposed the 2012 percentage standards for four fuel categories under the RFS2 based on the annual renewable fuel volume targets. EPA once again lowered the target for cellulosic …
US Ag Secretary to Defend Biofuels at G20 Meeting
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says he intends to defend biofuels at the G-20 Summit of Agricultural Ministers in Paris this week, stressing their importance to the economy and the environment. “America is working on developing new feedstocks that don’t pit food versus fuel but that create new rural economic opportunities and allow us to continue to expand on our efforts …
Millons Spent on Lobbying for VEETC Reform
Last week was a crazy week in DC as several amendments to alter or kill the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) were voted on by the Senate. While the first vote was in favor of ethanol (it defeated the Coburn amendment), the industry took a hit when Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) bill was passed, essentially killing VEETC and the …
Blaming Biofuels for Higher Food Prices One-Sided
In an effort to curb global rising food prices and food insecurity concerns, members of G20 nations will be meeting in Paris this week. A major focal point of discussion is set to be biofuels and earlier this month a report from Oxfam concluded that biofuels were part of the reason food prices are rising. The ethanol industry deems this …