The Missouri Renewable Fuels Association, an organization comprised of Missouri’s six farmer-owned ethanol plants and the Missouri Corn Growers Association, have elected Gene Millard of St. Joseph, as the organization’s 2008-09 president. Millard, chairman of Golden Triangle Energy in Craig, Mo., assumed the new leadership responsibilities October 1. He succeeds John Eggleston, president of POET Biorefining-Macon and founding MoRFA president. …
Corvette Powered by Cellulosic Ethanol Wins Green Challenge
The Corvette Racing team of Johnny O’Connell, Jan Magnussen and Ron Fellows went down in history as the inaugural winners of the Green Racing Challenge. The 1,000-mile Petit Le Mans win also cinched the American Le Man Series GT1 championship for O’Connell and Magnussen. The No. 3 Corvette C6.R also had the best score in the Green Challenge, securing the …
California Ethanol Lawsuit Blasted
Both the California-based New Fuels Alliance and the LA Times have taken fuel refiner Tesoro to task for suing the state over a regulation that would boost ethanol consumption in the state by 2010. The company, which operates refineries in Los Angeles and the city of Martinez, says “the new fuel specifications could conflict with the state’s push to cut …
DuPont Biofuels Goals on Track
A DuPont executive says plans to bring advanced biofuels programs to market are on track and making significant technical progress toward the commercialization of biobutanol and the conversion of cellulosic feedstocks economically into biofuels. “Biobutanol and cellulosic ethanol have the ability to transform the biofuels industry,” Vice President & General Manager John Ranieri told an investor conference last week. “Our …
National Biofuels Action Plan Expected
Department of Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer and Department of Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman are planning to release the National Biofuels Action Plan tomorrow in Washington DC. The action plan is an interagency plan detailing the collaborative efforts to accelerate the development of a sustainable biofuels industry. The Cabinet Secretaries will announce additional news related to the biofuels industry, new …
Transition to a Bioeconomy: Part III
In just about a week and a half, government officials, bioenergy experts and leaders in the private industry will gather in St. Louis, Mo., for the third in a series of conferences sponsored by the Farm Foundation addressing the issues facing rural areas as they move to a bioeconomy. Michael Popp, professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Arkansas, …
Sweet Sorghum for Ethanol in the Southeast
The land around Lake Okeechobee has long been one of the largest sugarcane producing regions in the nation. One company now wants to use a tract of land along the lake to produce sweet sorghum for ethanol. Southeast Renewable Fuels plans to build a 20 million gallon per year ethanol production plant on a 60 acre site in Hendry County …
Making Ethanol at Night
Ethanol plants are cool in a lot of ways. They’re producing a domestic fuel solution to our energy problems and that lessens our dependency on foreign oil for example. But they can also make a pretty picture too. I was driving south through Missouri last night and passed through Laddonia and the POET plant there. This was a handheld snapshot …
Report: Biodiesel, Ethanol & Renewables to Create 4.2 Million US Jobs
A new report from the U.S. Conference of Mayors says 4.2 million Americans will have green industry jobs by 2038… a dramatic increase from the current 750,000 green jobs in the country now. “This report proves that being green is not optional, it is necessary for a healthy and robust economy,” said U.S. Conference of Mayors President Miami Mayor Manny …
Geographic Information Helps Plan Ethanol Pipelines
Major U.S. pipeline company Colonial Pipeline is using geographic information system (GIS) technology to study the feasibility of shipping ethanol by pipeline. According to a press release from ESRI, a mapping and software company, Colonial is using GIS to find the best ways to get ethanol from the production areas of the Midwest to pipelines and terminals and retail gas …