On empty in East Lansing? Runnin’ low near the Alamo? The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council or EPIC has an E85 station finder on its web site www.drivingethanol.org. Playing around with it a bit, I was able to easily find a station on the northeast side of San Antonio… on the way to New Braunfels, home to German brats and …
Biofuel Pipelines Proposed
Congress is considering some proposals that would fund studies to figure out if pipelines that would carry ethanol and biodiesel are viable options. Wallaces Farmer reports Democrat Iowa Congressman Leonard Boswell, and Republican Cong. Jerry Moran of Kansas have introduced the bill: The Ethanol Infrastructure Expansion Act, H.R. 2426, would direct the U.S. Secretary of Energy to fund studies on …
Ethanol: The Hot Rod Fuel of the Future
Nearly 50 years in the business of engine performance should be enough experience to earn one the title of “Auto Performance Expert.” Gale Banks with Gale Banks Engineering started his business in 1958. His business, which consists of designing engines for various factories, manufacturing his own line of engines and developing after market performance products, is just a year shy …
VeraSun Production Feeds EPIC Promotion
VeraSun Energy, one of the country’s largest producers of ethanol, aims to expand its business as consumers become more educated about the fuel. Marketing Director Melissa Ullerich said VeraSun Energy supplies E85 fuel to more than 90 locations. Melissa said with plants in Aurora, SD, Fort Dodge, IA and Charles City, IA the company produces about 340 million gallons of …
Food Price Inflation
Ethanol continues to get more than its fair share of blame for higher food prices, but Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns urges people to look at the whole picture. Speaking to farm broadcasters in Washington D.C. recently, Johanns said that he hates to pick out one item in the food chain and start blaming it for rising costs. “Look at how …
SW Missouri Biofuel Hub
It looks like a 50-million-gallon-a-year ethanol plant is in the works at a site near Nevada, Missouri… just up the road from $90 million plant that will make soy-based biodiesel. Officials with Ozark Ethanol LLC recently met with the Vernon County Commission and citizens to discuss the plant. According to this AP story in the Springfield News-Leader, not much officially …
Plant Materials Key to Bioenergy
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is on the forefront of developing plants that could be used as future energy sources through the NRCS Plant Materials Program. National Program leader for Plant Materials Bob Escheman says that is part of their mission to solve resource concerns. “The Plant Material program began back in the middle ‘30s when the Soil Conservation Service …
Ethanol Expansion and Education
One former and two current Democratic presidential candidates are sponsors or co-sponsors of a bill introduced by Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) intended to expand consumer access to 85 percent ethanol fuel, or E-85. Primary sponsors of the bill with Klobuchar include Barack Obama, (D-IL), Kit Bond (R-MO), George Voinovich (R-OH), and Dick Durbin (D-IL). Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE), Debbie Stabenow …
No New Records
Apparently no new records to report, but ethanol production still remains strong, according to the latest figures. The Renewable Fuels Association reports that production of domestically produced ethanol in March averaged 384,000 barrels per day while demand was 414,000 barrels a day, which is an increase over last year by 83,000 b/d in production and 34,000 in demand.
US BioEnergy Makes New Move Into Millennium
US BioEnergy Corporation, one of the largest producers of ethanol in the United States, just got bigger. The company has agreed to acquire Millennium Ethanol, which is constructing a 100 million gallon ethanol plant near Marion, South Dakota, expected to begin production in the first quarter of 2008. With this acquisition, US BioEnergy will have 8 plants in 6 states …