What you see above could be the biggest boost to ethanol in this country: a pipeline that will move ethanol to the East Coast of the U.S. at a transportation cost on par to what petroleum now enjoys. Magellan Midstream Partners and Buckeye Partners, both in the fuel transport business, put out this press release saying they are looking into …
POET Funds ISU Research
POET is helping to fund research at Iowa State University into starch for ethanol production in the hopes of finding starches to further improve the efficiency of POET’s patent-pending BPX™ process. BPX is a raw starch hydrolysis that converts starch to sugar and then ferments to ethanol without the use of heat. It is utilized in 20 of POET’s 22 …
Back Over a Barrel
This post was on Corn Commentary yesterday: The price of a barrel of crude shot up to $110.10 today before closing at $100.01, driven by fear despite evidence of good supplies and falling demand, illustrates the tightrope the United States walks in terms of energy security. A refinery explosion in Texas over the weekend and fear that OPEC will decide …
Ethanol Maker to Squeeze Biodiesel Out of Process, Too
Two biofuel interests are partnering to extract corn oil from the by-product of an ethanol plant in Wisconsin and turn that oil into biodiesel. This story from Ethanol Producer Magazine says GreenShift Corp. (through its subsidiary GS CleanTech)is partnering with United Ethanol to extract 1.5 million gallons of corn oil a year from the distillers grains produced at the 42-million-gallon-per-year …
C2B2 Searches for Best Biofuels
Researchers from several schools in Colorado, including Colorado State University, the University of Colorado, and the Colorado School of Mines, along with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden are putting their heads together for the sake of alternative fuels. This story in Colorado State’s publication, CSU Zone, says they have created the Colorado Center for Biorefining and Biofuels, or …
E85 Pump Openings Grow Slower
The number of E85 stations nationwide only grew by 35 percent last year, compared to 118 percent the previous year. Still, an increase of more than a third is pretty decent growth and the total number of stations as of the end of 2007 was 1420, according to the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition. That number has already increased this year …
International Cleantech Forum
San Francisco will play host to more than 800 investors, entrepreneurs and leading renewable energy experts at the international Cleantech Forum XVI convening next week. This year’s forum is highlighting 2008 as ‘The Defining Year for Cleantech Globalization.’ Investors, entrepreneurs, industry influencers and corporate leaders at the forefront of the rapidly developing cleantech investment and business category from North American, …
Renewables and Clean Tech in NYC
Options for alternative energy are on the rise and the third annual Piper Jaffray Clean Technology and Renewables Conference aims to explore the leading innovations of this rapidly growing sector of U.S. energy. Piper Jaffray & Co. will host its third annual Clean Technology and Renewables Conference Feb. 20, 2008 in New York City. The conference will provide insight on …
Policy Choices Will Impact Prices
Researchers at Purdue University have developed a model that shows how economic policies related to ethanol may impact future prices and production. Purdue professor of agricultural economics Wally Tyner says the prices of corn and crude oil, which prior to 2007 fluctuated almost independent of one another, have become more closely linked as the use of corn to make ethanol …
Racing Fever
Chomping at the bit for the 2008 Indy racing season to get underway? You’re not the only one. A fellow photog that covers the Indy Racing League sent me this all too appropriate IndyCard. I think it’s safe to say that the smell of burning ethanol has quickly evolved into one of the distinct smells of Indy races. That and …