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VW Announces 2010 Biodiesel Racing Schedule

John Davis

VWRacingWith just four races left in the current racing season, Volkswagen Motorsports has announced next year’s SCCA Pro Racing Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup schedule… a series that features clean-burning B5 biodiesel in its cars.

This press release says Volkswagen of America has an online application page for prospective drivers at www.vwmotorsportusa.com, adding one more path that drivers may follow in order advance to the final driver selection event that will be held in February:

The final driver selection event will be held in early February 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada and is the last step in qualifying for the factory series. During the event, candidates will undergo a comprehensive examination on the asphalt and in the classroom. After driving tests, media-readiness assessment and physical fitness examination, 25 drivers will be chosen to participate in the 2010 season. Once selected, Volkswagen provides factory maintained and prepared racecars, media support and promotions, a first class at-track hospitality area as well as ongoing driving instruction for these future racing stars in hopes of advancing their careers to the next level.

Potential driver candidates must be between the ages of 16 and 26 as of January 1, 2010 and hold a passport from the U.S., Canada or Mexico. In addition, drivers entering the series for the first time must not have competed in any professional racing series regardless of location.

There are three paths now available for qualifying for the final driver selection event: online application, through the iRacing.com Jetta TDI Cup online racing season, and through the Karting qualifier competitions.

Biodiesel, Racing

Aurora Biofuels Improves Carbon-Eating Algae

John Davis

AuroraBiofuelsIn what is being characterized by the company as a major breakthrough in algae technology to be turned into biodiesel, California-based Aurora Biofuels has optimized algae strains that more than double their intake of carbon dioxide… important for producing the oil that is eventually turned into biodiesel.

This article from Biodiesel Magazine says while it’s hard to figure how much more economical and closer to industrial-sized commercial biodiesel production these algae will be, company officials believe it will bring algae-biodiesel production costs down to about $1.75 a gallon:

Optimized algae have been producing oil in Aurora Biofuels’ outdoor pilot ponds for several months, providing strong evidence that these strains will remain robust at the industrial scale and remove more carbon emissions than previously thought possible.

“This is a major breakthrough showing that one can take algae with improved productivity from the research lab to the field. What Aurora scientists have achieved is an impressive milestone on the path to large-scale commercial algae production,” said Kris Niyogi, a member of the company’s scientific advisory board and professor of algal biology at the University of California, Berkeley.

The company is currently investigating three different locations for its demonstration stage algae cultivation sites, but could not disclose specifics in a conversation today with Biodiesel Magazine. “We can say that we expect to be cultivating and harvesting algae oil at a 50-acre site by the second quarter of 2010,” the Aurora spokesman said.

Aurora has been growing the algae in Florida and shipping it to its headquarters in California to be turned into biodiesel that meets ASTM standards. But Aurora is not looking at producing biodiesel and selling the green fuel itself… just the algae’s oil.

algae, Biodiesel

Algae Researchers to Talk Energy in St. Louis

John Davis

ceelogo.gifResearchers will be gathering in St. Louis next week for the “Algae-to-Energy Research and Development in the South” meeting.

SouthernGrowthThe Center for Evergreen Energy in conjunction with The Southern Growth Policies Board and The Southern Agriculture and Forestry Resource Alliance (SAFER) is hosting the meeting of southern algae researchers on August 26th at the Regional Chamber and Growth Association’s office in St. Louis at One Metropolitan Square, Suite 1300:

Safer-Logo“Algae-to-Energy Research and Development in the South,” [is] a gathering of scientists and stakeholders in the southern United States who are researching effective and innovative ways to convert algae to biofuels. This gathering will be the first of several events related to algae biofuel research and development that the Center for Evergreen Energy will host.

Location: The Regional Chamber and Growth Association : One Metropolitan Square, Suite 1300, St. Louis, MO, 63102

August 26th, 2009 8:00 am – 5:00 pm

The event is free, including lunch, as long as you register by Monday, August 24th, 2009. After the August 24th deadline, there will be a $25 charge to attend the event.

algae, biofuels

Another E85 Facility in North Carolina

marathonStancil Oil Company has recently broken ground to open a Marathon-branded E85 station in January 2010. The station will be the first in Smithfield, North Carolina to carry the renewable fuel.

“We’re trying to go green because a lot of cars can use flex fuel,” said owner Larry Stancil. In fact, according to R.L. Polk, 589 vehicles are registered as flexible fuel in the city.

The company is pursuing the project now in part because of the recession, Stancil said. “With the economy where it’s at, it’s actually a good time to get better pricing,” Stancil said. “You can get work done easier.”

A 3,300-square-foot convenience store and restaurant will also be included in the project.

There are currently 14 E85 fueling facilities in the state of North Carolina.

E85, Ethanol, Ethanol News, News

Drive Smarter Video Challenge: Win $5,000

Joanna Schroeder

Lights, camera, action! It’s time to produce a cinematic masterpiece that will be seen by millions. The topic: driving smarter. Contestants have the opportunity to submit a two-minute video to the Drive Smarter Challenge video contest, that demonstrates one or more of the Driver Smarter Challenge campaign’s gas-and money-saving tips. The winner will receive $5,000.

promo-contestSecond/Third Prize is a choice between a VIP NASCAR Race package or one VIP Indy Racing League Package and fourth prize is a Transportation Efficiency Package. In addition the first 80 entrants whose videos meet the contest criteria will receive a $25 ExxonMobil Gift Card and a Car Care Council Car Care Guide. The contest runs from August 17 through September 20, 2009.

“Even though gasoline costs are down from their high levels of last summer, there is no need for consumers to spend more than necessary to fuel their vehicles in today’s tough economy,” said Alliance President Kateri Callahan.  “So we urge drivers to use the fuel-efficiency tips provided by the Drive Smarter Challenge campaign to ‘drive down’ those expenses.”

All eligible videos will be posted on the Drive Smarter Challenge website. Once the contest judges select the finalists, the public will vote for the winners of these prizes. For more information about the contest rules and to enter, visit www.drivesmarterchallenge.org.

Education, Energy, Miscellaneous, News

Indirect Land Use Science Lacking & World Knows it

Joanna Schroeder

cornfieldsYet another study has found that Searchinger et al.’s paper on Indirect Land Use was not based on ‘sound science’. According to researchers Professor John Matthews and Dr. Hao Tan, from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, the Searchinger paper is more ideology than science and is seeking to put biofuels in the worst possible light. In addition, they say, alternative approaches are more likely to be fruitful in genuinely evaluating effects of biofuels grown around the world. This from the new report, “Biofuels and indirect land use change effects: the debate continues”.

Their efforts revealed that the framework used started with assumptions as to the diversion of grain to ethanol production in the U.S. but then extrapolated these parts of the world, such as sugarcane growing in Brazil, which are actually much more bio-efficient. Professors Mathews and Tan’s analysis concluded that Searchinger et al. failed sound scientific standards on many fronts and that government agencies relying on Searchinger et al. findings for evaluating biofuels would be better served by utilizing other controls.

“Indirect land use change effects are too diffuse and subject to too many arbitrary assumptions to be useful for rule-making,” stated Professor Mathews. “The use of direct and controllable measures such as building statements of origin or biofuels into the contracts that regulate the sale of such commodities would secure better results.”

According to Matthews and Tan, there are six ways Searchinger et al. fell short:

  1. 1.    Direct plantings of biofuels crops around the world are ignored, and instead a spike in U.S. corn-based ethanol is considered a trigger.
    2.    The U.S. spike is met exclusively by growing corn, but other ways of meeting the U.S. spike, all involving fewer GHG emissions, are ignored.
    3.    The U.S. spike met entirely within the U.S. – without regard to trade (such as half of the spike being met by Brazilian sugarcane and imported into the U.S.).
    4.    The Searchinger et al. calculations of carbon release are based on trends recorded in the 1990s but are projected forward up to 2016.
    5.    Improvements in biomass yields around the world are not considered.
    6.    The U.S. spike leads to indirect effects around the world without regard to regulatory limits (even in the U.S.).

“If you wished to put U.S. ethanol production in the worst possible light, assuming the worst possible set of production conditions guaranteed to give the worst possible set of indirect land use effects, then the assumptions would not be far from those actually presented in the Searchinger et al. paper,” commented Dr. Hao Tan. “Frankly, better science upon which to base rule-making is available today.”

If you’d like to participate in the debate, then consider attending the Land Use Conference in St. Louis hosted by NCGA (Aug. 25-26). They will be discussing current models, limitations and develop recommendations for future science and policy.

biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Indirect Land Use, NCGA, Research

A Few Minutes with ‘The Father of Ethanol’

Joanna Schroeder

Two dear friends: Merle Anderson with Shirley Ball, EPAC

Two dear friends: Merle Anderson with Shirley Ball, EPAC

“I thought it would take one-and-a-half years to get things done but now its been 22 years for me,” said Merle Anderson during our conversation at the 22nd Ethanol Conference & Trade Show. Merle is often known as ‘the father of ethanol,’ and with good reason. He helped to start the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) in 1977. As a farmer, he was involved in all the commodity groups and this gave him the idea to start an organization to promote agriculture.

“When you look back at it, I think we’ve done well. We’ve done some really good things,” said Anderson. “I think we’ve helped farmers an awful lot. I think we’ve done what’s right for America. When you talk about the transfer of wealth, I think we’ve helped a little bit –could of and should have done more. And I always have an interest in supporting our troops.”

Wealth distribution, our money going to terrorist countries, is one of the biggest reasons why we need to get off of oil. That has to change says Anderson, and he even has a way to do it, and quickly. “Have the auto industry stand up and admit that their vehicles will operate successfully on higher blends.”

Speaking of higher blends, it’s the answer to the problem of too much production and not enough demand. “We’ve been successful in creating production. We haven’t worried enough about selling the product, and we have got to solve this if the industry is going to move forward.”

That’s why ACE, in conjunction with the Renewable Fuels Association, and the National Corn Growers Association has announced a program to install 5,000 blender pumps in the next three years. The program is called BYOethanol. Anderson helped to get the first blender pumps installed in his region in Climax, Minn. and he knows that “higher blends is the answer to our problems.”

You can see photos from the conference in our Flicker photo album.

ACE, conferences, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Seawater to Jet Fuel? The U.S. Navy Thinks So

Joanna Schroeder

dn17632-1_300The search for renewable energy sources is varied and sometimes strange and here is another one to add to the strange category: turning seawater into kerosene-based jet fuel. Who would research something like this? Look no further than our very own U.S. Navy. Navy chemists have processed seawater into unsaturated short-chain hydrocarbons that with further refining could be made into jet fuel. The catch? They will now have to discover a clean energy source to power the reaction if the end product is to be carbon neutral.

The process, according to a report from New Scientist, involves extracting CO2 dissolved in the water and then combining it with hydrogen. The hydrogen is produced by splitting water molecules using electricity (hopefully not coal based) to make a hydrocarbon fuel. For those scientists out there, you’ve probably already figured out that this is a variant of the Fischer-Tropsch process which is currently used to produce a gasoline-like hydrocarbon fuel for syngas.

The project is headed by Robert Dorner who is a chemist with the Naval Research Laboratory based in Washington, D.C. Dorner, along with several other researchers have published a paper on the project, “Catalytic CO2 hydrogenation to feedstock chemicals for jet fuel synthesis“.

Dorner notes that CO2 is not often used in the Fischer-Tropsch process due to its instability but due to its abundance and concerns about global climate change, it becomes a feedstock of interest.

Energy, Environment, News, water

Kentucky Biodiesel Plant Set to Open This Month

John Davis

BluegrassBiodieselA 14-million-gallon-a-year biodiesel plant in Kentucky is on schedule for opening later this month.

Biodiesel Magazine reports that the multi-feedstock Bluegrass BioDiesel plant at Falmouth, Ky. is about halfway through testing all of its systems and should be up and running by the end of August:

General Manager Rich Wojtkowski described a number of features used in the plant to reduce the capital investment such as using stainless steel only where required, substituting lower cost carbon steel. Flexible hoses will give the ability to reroute product streams. Gravity separation will be used, eliminating the cost of centrifuges. While using standard acid pretreatment and base transesterification, the plant is capable of handling 2 to 22 percent free fatty acids with three stages where water can be removed. “Our objective is to produce a very pure product that we can market as B100 ultra, removing all impurities,” Wojtkowski said. The plant also includes a methanol recovery and glycerin purification. “We will push for BQ9000 certification,” he added. “I have experience with ISO certification, so I know the policies and quality control that has to be in place.”

Bluegrass Biodiesel plans to offer B90 or B99 blends as well as B100 to its regional customers. “Some want a blended product, which they can blend further,” Wojtkowski said. “We handle the government issues, the filings, etcetera.”

The plant has been a work in progress for the last five years with starts and stops along the way, including running out of construction funds about a year ago. But local officials say they are pleased the company has persisted, and the plant is now on the verge of opening.

Biodiesel

The Science of Algae Biodiesel Explored on Nova

John Davis

NovaScienceNowOne of the benefits of doing this job is that I can do it from the comfort of my easy chair, while watching some of my favorite programs with one eye and searching for stories with the other (hey, God gave me two eyes… just consider it multi-tasking). But tonight, my eyes are firmly fixed on the tube, as one of my favorite programs, Nova Science Now, is featuring the really green fuel, algae biodiesel.

In this episode (on TV tonight but available on the PBS Nova Science Now Web site tomorrow, August 19th), they showed how algae is available everywhere, how the little green one-celled organisms actually turn sunlight into energy, and how to release that energy by making biodiesel out of the algae’s oil.

While the story was a good primer on how algae can be turned into biodiesel and how it will become a viable feedstock for fuel, I do have to take issue with the dig the show took on other biofuels, including corn-based ethanol and soy-based biodiesel, are contributing to the food vs. fuel debate. Reporter Andrea Kissack made some pretty big leaps in her proclamations that those crop-based renewable fuels were causing food prices to spike and contributing to the destruction of the rain forests. It might have been nice if she could have talked to some folks who know that we can get both food and fuel from crops, while getting more and more from less and less land. But, this time, it was not to be.

I suggest you take a look at the story on Nova’s Web site and judge for yourself. And if you’d like to set the record straight, there’s even a place for feedback on the story.

algae, Biodiesel