Biodiesel Powers Sleds and Tractors

Chuck Zimmerman

Chuck interviews Donnie BungartWhat do you think of when you hear that there’s a sled running on biodiesel? Probably not thinking tractor pull sled are you? Unless you’re a tractor pull fan. Well those big machines that the tractors and trucks pull are also diesel powered and in Jefferson City, MO there’s a company that manufactures them and runs them on biodiesel.

The company is Bungart Motor Sports and I learned about if from Donnie Bungart. Thanks to Tom Steever, Brownfield Network, for the picture.

Bungart Biodiesel SledDonnie says they do over 160 shows a year around the country. At the Midwest Extreme Truck and Tractor Pull in Jefferson City he says they had two sleds in operation. He says they run B20 in them and have been for over 3 years very successfully. Donnie says they’ve had a lot of luck locating the fuel when they need it, especially at major truck stops.

So if you’re not a tractor pulling enthusiast you might ask, “What’s a sled?” Donnie says it’s a weight transfer machine. It starts out not weighing much but as the tractor pulls it more and more weight is transferred which ultimately stops the tractor. At least we hope! Thanks again to the United Soybean Board for inviting me out to the tractor pull.

You can listen to my interview with Donnie below:

Audio, Biodiesel, Racing, Soybeans

Ethanol Report on Corn Grower Conference

Cindy Zimmerman

Ethanol Report PodcastThis edition of “The Ethanol Report” features comments from the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) “Land Use and Carbon Impacts of Corn-based Ethanol Conference” held August 25-26 in St. Louis. Comments come from National Corn Growers Association Director of Biofuels & Business Development Jamey Cline, NCGA CEO Rick Tolman, North Dakota grower Bart Schott, and Geoff Cooper with the Renewable Fuels Association.

You can subscribe to this twice monthly podcast by following this link.

Listen to or download the podcast here:

Audio, conferences, corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Ethanol Report, NCGA, RFA

Tractor Pulling With Biodiesel

Chuck Zimmerman

Dennis Shramek and Young BloodThanks to an invite from the United Soybean Board I met this Missouri soybean grower. He’s Dennis Shramek and one of the competitors in this weekend’s NTPA Midwest Extreme Truck and Tractor Pull in Jefferson City, MO. He’s one of several competitors who use a biodiesel blend in their tractors.

I met him early Friday evening long before his class was set to compete. Dennis grows soybeans and corn in central Missouri. He says they do a lot of no-till. Besides growing crops he’s got this AGCO DT225 which he competes with for points. He says they run over 3,000 horsepower! They blend their own biodiesel and jug it up and bring it along to the event. He gets better lubrication with biodiesel than pure low sulfur diesel. He says they’ve been competing with this tractor for about 6 years and they’ll compete at least 16 to 18 times a season.

Dennis is sure that the biodiesel industry will grow since it’s a clean fuel and helps the U.S. economy and helps reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

You can listen to my interview with Dennis below:

Biodiesel, Racing

Book Review – Two Cents Per Mile

Joanna Schroeder

Front Cover on TCpM websiteOne of the things I love about America is “freedom of the press” and the ability for people to disseminate “conspiracy theories”. Conspiracies are driving amuck in the quest for the ‘winning’ technology to replace gas guzzlers. The best way forward, according to author Nevres Cefo – electric vehicles. The worst way forward – hydrogen.  In his new book, “Two Cents Per Mile: Will President Obama Make it Happen with the Stroke of a Pen?” Cefo says that the government is in collusion with the Little Autos (formerly known as the Big Autos) and Big Oil to determine what is best for our future – hydrogen – and not moving forward with technologies that are best for the people – electric vehicles.

“We are at a pivotal juncture in in history–a showdown between hydrogen and electric powered vehicles,” he writes. While Cefo has some interesting insights into the development and ultimate adoption of electric vehicles, at first blush, I somewhat disagreed with his view of government support for hydrogen. The hydrogen program was suspended and only brought back from the dead this past July. But just yesterday, the DOE announced that it would award a $1 million for the best “breakthrough” hydrogen technology.

Regardless of whether you are a fan of electric vehicles, hydrogen both or neither, Cefo writes something that should resonate with everyone  – especially as our country continues to suffocate under a recession caused by our addiction to oil.

“People may feel that their elected officials do not hear the voice of their constituent, or at least not as much as they pay attention to corporate influence, power and money. That is exactly what Big Oil and the Big Three are counting on–the belief that we, the average American, cannot do anything to change the course they outlined for us.”

On this issue, I agree and ultimately “Two Cents Per Mile” is a call for action for every one of us to get involved in our future.

To read this book or any book I review visit my bookstore. If you have a book you’d like me to review, email me at jomschro2071@gmail.com.

book reviews

Energy Grants $1.6 Mil for Public Education Efforts

John Davis

DOEThe U.S. Department of Energy has handed out $1.6 million to the Alternative Fuel Trade Alliance… a group made up of the Renewable Fuels Association, the National Biodiesel Foundation, the Propane Education & Research Council, the Clean Vehicle Education Foundation and ASG Renaissance… to boost efforts for a targeted educational plan aimed at Clean Cities Coordinators and related stakeholders.

This NBB release says the move is seen as vital to educating and training “Clean Cities Coordinators who are and will be at the forefront of communicating what our fuels and vehicle technologies mean as engines of economic growth and environmental sustainability.”

dineenBob Dinneen, President and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, commented, “This DOE grant will supplement our individual and joint efforts to work with and train coordinators, stakeholders, and others at the national and regional level to enhance their knowledge and expertise on the latest developments and applications for alternative fuels and advanced vehicle technologies which include ethanol, biodiesel, propane, and natural gas fuels as well as hybrid/electric technologies and idle reduction strategies to improve fuel economy.”

joe-jobethumbnailJoe Jobe, CEO of the National Biodiesel Board, said “This program unites the mainstream alternative fuel organizations in working collaboratively towards a common goal: educating America on all aspects of alternative fuels, and increasing their use. This will benefit our air quality, our energy independence and our economy.”

According to the Alliance proposal, the grant funds will also be used to:

* Train coordinators as high-level public spokespeople;
* Increase awareness of sustainability as it pertains to the stated technologies;
* Increase the number of states that enforce fuel quality standards;
* Train key stakeholders on fire safety issues;
* Increase OEM technician/mechanic training and advanced technology acceptance;
* Provide a forum for students interested in alternative fuels on college campuses nationwide; and
* Increase the availability and consumption of domestic alternative fuels.

The Alliance will conduct more than 45 workshops, author a minimum of 20 educational pieces, and participate in a minimum of 64 collective independent stakeholder events. In addition, the group will manage two conferences and four press events to increase knowledge about alternative fuels and advanced vehicle technologies.

Biodiesel, communications, Ethanol, Ethanol News, NBB, News, RFA

Melons Could Be the Next Great Ethanol Feedstock

John Davis

watermelonWatermelons… that tasty summertime treat… could be the next feedstock for the green fuel ethanol.

We’ve told you previously about how the National Watermelon Association has been pushing the idea of the fruit being used for ethanol (see our posts from May 20, 2009 and January 7, 2008). Now, it looks like there’s some research to back up that idea.

Wayne W. Fish, Benny D. Bruton and Vincent M. Russo have published this paper in the latest edition of Biotechnology for Biofuels showing how the melons that aren’t good enough for grocery stores might be just fine for the gas pumps:

Two economic factors make watermelon worthy of consideration as a feedstock for ethanol biofuel production. First, about 20% of each annual watermelon crop is left in the field because of surface blemishes or because they are misshapen; currently these are lost to growers as a source of revenue. Second, the neutraceutical value of lycopene and L-citrulline obtained from watermelon is at a threshold whereby watermelon could serve as starting material to extract and manufacture these products. Processing of watermelons to produce lycopene and L-citrulline, yields a waste stream of watermelon juice at the rate of over 500 L/t of watermelons. Since watermelon juice contains 7 to 10% (w/v) directly fermentable sugars and 15 to 35 umol/ml of free amino acids, its potential as feedstock, diluent, and nitrogen supplement was investigated in fermentations to produce bioethanol.

The researchers concluded that the watermelon juice would have to be concentrated 2.5 to 3 times if it were to be the sole feedstock for ethanol. But it could be used with other more concentrated feedstocks.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, News

Growth Energy Launches Driving Ethanol Website

Cindy Zimmerman

Growth Energy has launched a new, re-designed version of the former Ethanol Promotion and Information Council website, DrivingEthanol.org.

“DrivingEthanol.org is a one-stop shop to learn more about the remarkable benefits of high-tech, homegrown ethanol,” said Tom Buis, Growth Energy CEO. “We hope consumers and retailers alike will visit DrivingEthanol.org to learn more about the promise of ethanol.”

Driving EthanolThe online resource is designed to help consumers learn more about the benefits of ethanol for America’s environment, economy and national security and includes answers to many frequently asked questions about the ethanol industry.

DrivingEthanol.org also contains retail information such as E85 and blender pump locations, uses of ethanol and a listing of the Flex-Fuel Vehicle models on the market today. The site offers resources for prospective ethanol retailers including information on tax incentives, pump installation and conversion, as well as ethanol purchase.

The website domain was originally launched about four years ago by EPIC, prior to that ethanol organization becoming part of Growth Energy last year.

Ethanol, Flex Fuel Vehicles, Growth Energy

Corn Growers Spotlight Indirect Land Use Issues

Cindy Zimmerman

Corn growers want regulators to know that trying to measure unintended consequences of biofuels production could result in more unintended consequences.

NCGA Land UseThe National Corn Growers Association held a conference this week in St. Louis to focus on the issue of land use and carbon impacts of corn ethanol and how the future can be predicted with models to determine lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions. The problem, according to NCGA CEO Rick Tolman, is the language that was put in the 2007 energy bill’s Renewable Fuels Standard. “We had some arcane language put in there that said we’ll take a look at indirect land change and its implications as an unintended consequence,” Tolman said. “What we think is there’s an unintended consequence of the unintended consequence, which may be that we may in fact start using more imported oil because of this language we have regulation that exceeds our ability to measure.”

Tolman says California’s low carbon fuel standard is an example of how using unproven models that fail to use updated information or accurate future predictions of new technology and higher yields is going to have the opposite effect of what was intended – that is, using less imported fossil fuels. “After 2010, you won’t be able to sell ethanol in California,” said Tolman. “And it is really the only viable low carbon fuel that’s available in California, so that means more oil.”

The corn growers are hoping regulators will take a closer look at what they are trying to do and consider the impact that it will have down the road.

Listen to or download an interview with Rick Tolman here:

Audio, corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Indirect Land Use, NCGA

Algae-to-Energy Researchers Talk Future in St. Louis

John Davis

Safer-LogoSt. Louis was the destination this week as more than 100 researchers and industry leaders from 10 states came together for the “Algae-to-Energy in the South” regional summit aimed at looking at algae’s potential as a renewable energy resource, particularly making it into biodiesel.

This National Biodiesel Board press release says Dr. Richard Sayre, the Director of the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable Fuels at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, called biodiesel a sustainable component of our fuel supply:

“Biodiesel is going to be very important for transportation,” he said. “Trains and trucks use biodiesel of course. Oil based systems and biodiesel is really going to be the future.”

ceelogo.gifThe National Biodiesel Board has been proactive to support research and development to learn more about algae’s potential as well as honing algae extraction techniques. NBB’s feedstock program, with funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation, is working with Dr. Sayre to further develop a non-destructive oil extraction process, sometimes referred to as “milking the algae,” that is capable of continuously removing oil from living algal cultures. The program is considering what strains perform best and how the process may benefit production efficiency by removal of contaminants.

SouthernGrowthDr. Sayre explained that oil based fuels, such as biodiesel, have many benefits. They boast twice the energy density of alcohol; oil producing plants have reduced impact on the environment; and algae based biodiesel can be produced on land not suitable for other uses and result in higher oil per acre than currently available.

The summit was hosted by the Center for Evergreen Energy, the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association and the Southern Growth Polices Board.

algae, Biodiesel, NBB

USDA Hands Out $4.2 Mil for Woody Biomass Projects

John Davis

usda-logo2Federal officials have handed out $4.2 million in grants for projects that will reduce the fuel for forest fires, while creating a green fuel source.

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says the grants to 17 small businesses and community groups will encourage development of woody biomass into fuel:

“By harnessing the full potential of woody biomass, America’s forests can produce renewable energy and new products and we can create new, green job opportunities for local workers,” Vilsack said. “These grants will help restore our forests by reducing hazardous fuels, handling insect and disease conditions, and treating forests impacted by catastrophic weather while creating markets for small-diameter material and low-valued trees removed from these areas.”

These funds are targeted to help communities, entrepreneurs, and others turn residues into marketable forest products and green energy. The Forest Service Woody Biomass Utilization grant program has been in effect since 2005 and has provided over $26.3 million towards various projects, ranging from biomass boilers for schools and prisons, to helping businesses acquire equipment that improves processing efficiencies. During this time period, 110 grants have been awarded to small businesses, non-profits, tribes and local state agencies to improve forest health, while creating jobs, green energy and healthy communities.

You can see the complete list of grant recipients here.

biomass