Biodiesel Back on the Menu for NC Town

John Davis

GreensboroA North Carolina city that had tried using biodiesel in the past is giving the green fuel another chance.

The Greensboro (NC) News & Record reports that after dropping a seven-year experiment with biodiesel last year, the city is ready to start fueling its garbage trucks with soybean-based B5:

“For the period that they used it, they had technical issues. So now that they are getting ready to go back they sort of want to go in one step at a time,” said Stephen Randall , Greensboro’s energy and sustainability program manager…

The city started using B20 — a 20 percent biodiesel blend — in 2002 in an effort to reduce air pollution. Greensboro even won an award from the Department of Energy for the switch to biodiesel.

But the city ran into problems when its fleet suffered from plugged filters — typical when changing to this type of fuel.

“Our worst morning we had 17 trucks go down within three hours,” said Steve Simpson , Greensboro’s fleet manager. “It definitely made it more difficult.”

Experts believe that the B5 will give the city fewer problems this time around, and Greensboro might even be able to go back to B20 because production methods are better now.

The article adds that the city is also considering natural gas for vehicle fuels.

Biodiesel

Cob Collection Trials Successful

Joanna Schroeder

corn_cobs_full_size_landscapeIt’s harvest time somewhere and it’s in Texas. Today, the first cob collection of 2009 is complete and POET is continuing to work with agricultural equipment manufacturers and growers to discover the most efficient and affordable means for harvesting cellulosic feedstock.

July 6-22, equipment for harvesting corn cobs was tested near Harlingen, Texas. The trials were in anticipation for larger harvesting efforts that will be underway this fall in the Midwest. In all, POET expects to harvest as many as 25,000 acres in Texas, South Dakota and Iowa.

POET has been using corn cobs in its pilot cellulosic ethanol plant in Scotland, S.D. and will they will also be used at its first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa in 2011. The project is known as Project LIBERTY and will produce 25 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year.

“Agriculture equipment manufacturers are putting the final touches on a variety of harvesters that will be on the market soon,” said Scott Weishaar, Vice President of Commercial Development. “Farmers will have a lot of ways to take advantage of corn cobs as a new revenue stream.”

POET will continue work with 15-20 farmers in the Emmetsburg area in further tests this fall and will purchase cobs for use in Project LIBERTY.

“Farmers will play a big role in our nation’s energy future,” Weishaar said. “Their support has been instrumental in the success of grain-based ethanol and will continue to be crucial in commercializing cellulosic ethanol.”

Click here to view a documentary about POET’s pilot cellulosic ethanol plant.

Cellulosic, Company Announcement, Ethanol, News

Ethanol Free Fuel in Oregon

bill_signing_2009oregonOregon Governor Ted Kulongoski signed HB 3497 to amend Oregon’s ethanol mandate by allowing service stations to sell premium, higher-octane gasoline without ethanol. House Republican Leader Bruce Hanna and Rep. Tim Freeman introduced introduced the bill.

“HB 3497 will give service stations the choice of selling unblended premium fuel,” Rep. Freeman said. “The bill addresses the concerns we’ve heard from many Oregonians who have experienced problems with the state’s ethanol mandate. HB 3497 doesn’t repeal the mandate, but better enables loggers, snowmobilers, fisherman and others to purchase the fuel they need to operate their equipment safely and effectively.”

Under previous law, retailers are required to sell gasoline that contains at least 10 percent ethanol. Though a 2008 law permitted the sale of unblended fuel for certain non-road uses, unblended fuel has been difficult to access because of distribution and storage issues.

“This bill will allow more retailers to sell unblended fuel to owners of the vehicles and tools who are exempted from the ethanol requirement,” Rep. Hanna said. “While improving access to unblended fuel, this new law will give the state’s renewable fuel standard an opportunity to work as it was originally intended.”

House Bill 3497 exempts premium gasoline, which has an octane rating of 91 or above, from the 10 percent ethanol blending requirement imposed under ORS 646.913. The new law will apply to gasoline sales that occur on or after January 1, 2010.

Ethanol, Government, News

Senators Urge EPA to Approve Higher Ethanol Blends

Cindy Zimmerman

US SenateA bipartisan group of nearly 20 senators have sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) urging approval of up to 15 percent ethanol blends in regular gasoline.

The letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson was signed by Senators John Thune (R-SD), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Mike Johanns (R-NE), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Roland Burris (D-IL), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Al Franken (D-MN), Richard Lugar (R-IN), Kit Bond (R-MO), George Voinovich (R-OH), Evan Bayh (D-IN), Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Dick Durbin (D-IL).

The letter from the senators also advocated the approval of an interim blend between E10 and E15 “to meet the new RFS and keep our renewable fuels industry growing. Particularly as second generation biofuels are being developed and commercialized, it is important that we also support the steady expansion of markets for ethanol by moving to a higher percentage of ethanol blended gasoline in the near future.”

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Government

OriginOil Announces ‘Milking’ Live Algae Oil Extraction

Joanna Schroeder

OriginOil has seen many successes the past few months and today they have achieved another. The company has succeeded in extracting algae oil on a continuous basis without cell sacrifice. This process, which OrginOil has coined ‘milking,’ joins the company’s Cascading Production technique to create a combined cycle which creates additional process efficiencies. Aside from any production gains, combining the two processes is desirable because algae cultures must be refreshed regularly to remove waste toxins. Cascading Production supports Live Extraction by removing a percentage of the culture every day, refreshing the environment and giving the algae culture space to grow.

Milking, or Live Extraction, is efficient because it achieves continuous production of algae oil without destroying the algae cell. Consequently, a single algae cell can produce more oil during its lifetime using lower amounts of energy. This process is also different from others in that OriginOil’s process does not use expensive consumables such as reverse osmosis membranes nor is it limited to oil-bearing algae strains.

Live_Extraction_Diagram_highres2

Usually, algae protect their oil behind a tough cell wall. The challenge of live extraction is to harvest the oil without causing permanent damage to the cell. This goal has been achieved in the laboratory at bench scale and is now being scaled up to OriginOil’s intermediate 200-gallon tank size.

“We are pleased with the results we are getting from conventional harvesting,” said Vikram Pattarkine, PhD, OriginOil’s CTO. “We expect the new Live Extraction process to coexist with our daily ‘destructive’ process to create an even more efficient combined cycle.” The company recently filed for patent protection of the new Live Extraction process.

algae, Company Announcement

Nebraska Students Win Award for Ethanol Report

Cindy Zimmerman

Eight journalism students from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are receiving a national award for an in-depth report on ethanol.

The report titled “Ethanol: Salvation or Damnation?” has taken first place in a student reporting category in the Society of Environmental Journalism’s 2009 awards.

According to SEJ, “the students took a vital issue in their community and shone a light on a wide variety of angles. That they went far enough to find people in their community affected by ethanol’s varied impacts — from farmers to families shopping for tortillas — made this a clear-cut winner.”

The full-color magazine – with this clever graphic depicting the seal of the United States with a fuel gauge, gas nozzle and corn plant – will be available in August.

Ethanol, Ethanol News

Brazil Ethanol Group Supports E15

Cindy Zimmerman

The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) provided comments to the Environmental Protection Agency in support of the request for increasing the amount of ethanol allowed to be blended into regular gasoline in the United States up to 15 percent.

UNICAIn the final days of the comment period for the waiver request, UNICA submitted a 15 page document to EPA outlining Brazil’s experience with higher blends of ethanol in gasoline. Brazil blends up to 25 percent in gasoline with “very few incidents where the existing fleet had to undergo engine retuning or recalibration or where there were noticeable negative effects on emission control systems over the useful life of the engine.”

UNICA notes that there is no “pure” gasoline currently for sale in Brazil and that “state-of-the-art technologies have been adopted” by automakers to attain the country’s strict emissions requirements.

“The Brazilian experience shows that preparation, storage, transportation and fuel dispensing requirements of E15 blends do not differ from those of E10,” the comments conclude. “Material compatibility requirements and operational procedures are basically the same and should not present any particular source of concern under normal conditions for E15 in the United States.”

Ethanol, Ethanol News

North Carolina Port Running on Biodiesel

John Davis

WilmingtonPort2One of the biggest ports on the East Coast of the United States is now handling freight with a cleaner option: biodiesel.

The StarNewsOnline says the Port of Wilmington, North Carolina is switching to B20 biodiesel:

Wilmington container handlerThe new fuel system systems in Wilmington and the Port of Morehead City will replace existing diesel storage tanks and systems that are approaching the end of their useful life, ports spokeswoman Karen Fox said.

The Ports Authority said two biodiesel tanks – holding 20,000 and 10,000 gallons of fuel – will be installed at the Port of Wilmington by Jones and Frank Corp. of Raleigh. One 10,000-gallon tank will be installed at Morehead City.

The Ports Authority received a $104,000 NC Clean Air grant to cover about half the costs of the transition.

Biodiesel

Massachusetts to Get First Biodiesel Distribution Center

John Davis

BaystateBiofuelsMassachusetts is about to get its first commercial biodiesel distribuiton facility.

This story from the North Andover (Mass.) Eagle-Tribune says Baystate Biofuels is using an old Lucent property for the center and will come as the state’s biodiesel mandate kicks in next summer:

“In about 10 days, we’ll have biofuel for sale off our rail cars,” Baystate Biofuels chief executive officer Jesse Reich promised the crowd.

Reich noted that parts for the pumping station had arrived. Once it is assembled, oil companies will be able to buy biodiesel shipped in from Chicago and New Jersey to blend with petroleum diesel for use in automobiles and home heating to meet the requirements of the state’s Clean Energy Biofuels Act of 2008 which goes into effect in July of next year.

Under the first year of the law, diesel and home-heating oil sold in Massachusetts must contain 2 percent biodiesel. The mix increases by 1 percent per year until it reaches 5 percent in 2013.

Reich told the gathering Tuesday night that North Andover’s master plan had called for two 175,000 storage tanks already on the Lucent property at Osgood Landing to be torn down within a few years.

Instead, Baystate Biofuels cleaned them up and converted them so they can hold biodiesel, a clean-burning fuel produced from oil bearing plants, animal fats, algae and recycled products like oils and greases.

In the next year and a half, Baystate Biofuels plans to have its own 10-millon-gallon-a-year facility at the location, with plans to eventually expand that to 57 million gallons.

Biodiesel

Brazil to Get Hydrogen Buses

John Davis

Brazilian government officials say the country will buy, operate and maintain up to five hydrogen-cell-fueled buses, as well as putting in a station to produce hydrogen to supply the buses.

The project is part of country’s Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) partnership with the Urban Transportation Metropolitan Enterprise in Sao Paulo to develop cleaner urban public transportation in Brazil. Money for the program comes from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the Studies and Projects Funding Body (FINEP), with support of the United Nations Program for Development (UNPD).

EdisonLobao2For MME Minister Edison Lobão, the project is a further step for the government to consolidate the country’s expertise in the use of renewable sources. “This project results from a huge effort of the Ministry of Mines and Energy with its partners. With the hydrogen-fueled bus we are further developing the Brazilian economy,” he said.

The first vehicle will serve the ABD Metropolitan Corridor (Sao Mateus / Jabaquara), located in the Greater Sao Paulo area.

MME’s Secretary for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Renewable Fuels, José Lima, said this is a pioneering project in Latin America aimed at disseminating the technology. “The Brazilian success with ethanol and biodiesel allows us to use hydrogen from renewable energy sources. From now on, our challenge will be to structure the hydrogen economy in Brazil,” he said.

The technology being used is a combination of hydrogen cells and batteries, that allows for increased fuel saving and rational energy use by storing the energy generated by the cell during the periods when the vehicle is idle, such as passenger boarding or stops at traffic lights.

Hydrogen, International