ACE Conference 2026

Ethanol Report on Safety

Cindy Zimmerman

Recent accidents involving transportation fuel, including ethanol, have highlighted the importance of safety when it comes to moving flammable and hazardous materials. It turns out that the tanker truck explosion in California on June 13 was actually carrying petroleum, not ethanol as the media reported, but the Canadian National Railway train that derailed in Illinois over the weekend was carrying ethanol.

Ethanol Report PodcastThis edition of the Ethanol Report features comments from Renewable Fuels Association Director of Technical Services Kristy Moore discussing the importance of safety to the ethanol industry and what RFA has done to develop and distribute safety information specifically related to ethanol production and transportation.

More information about ethanol safety can be found on the Ethanol Emergency Response Coalition website – ethanolresponse.com.

You can subscribe to this podcast by following this link.

Listen to or download here:

Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Ethanol Report, RFA

Don’t Miss The Award Winning Documentary “Fuel”

Joanna Schroeder

The award winning documentary, “Fuel” produced by Josh Tickell will be featured during the 2009 Farm to Fuel summit being held in Orlando, Florida July 29-31st. Tickell will be the keynote speaker during lunch on Thursday, July 30 and then later that evening summit participants can enjoy a private screening of the movie.

“Fuel” a documentary about “changing your fuel” fueled controversy. But controversy sells, and the film was awarded Best Documentary, audience award at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. The LA Times says about the film, “Fuel” is a vital, superbly assembled documentary that presents an insightful overview of America’s troubled relationship with oil and how alternative and sustainable energies can reduce our country’s — and the world’s — addictive dependence on fossil fuels.”

Fuel will be in selected theaters this fall.

Other speakers during the Farm to Fuel summit include Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture, Charles H. Bronson and Florida Governor, Charlie Crist. To learn more about the event, visit www.floridafarmtofuel.com.

Biodiesel, conferences

Toyota Promises New Hydrogen Car By 2015

John Davis

toyotaThe world’s biggest car maker is promising to launch a new fuel-cell car by the year 2015.

This Wall Street Journal article says Toyota made the pledge during today’s annual shareholders meeting:

Other investors asked about the company’s strategy for low-emission, fuel-economic vehicles, a core growth area for many car makers in the current tough environment.

Executive Vice President Masatami Takimoto said at the meeting that the company hopes to roll out an “upgraded” fuel-cell car by 2015, but did not give any further details.

Fuel-cell vehicles are seen as among the most promising green cars, as they run on hydrogen and emit only water, but the high costs of the technology are a major issue for car makers.

Toyota, one of leading fuel-cell car makers, currently leases hydrogen-powered vehicles to governments and corporate customers.

The move is part of the car company’s hopes to stop its current sales slump.

Car Makers, Hydrogen

Oklahoma Wind Farm Completed

John Davis

acciona2A wind farm capable of generating power for 40,000 homes has been completed near the Western Oklahoma town of Elk City.

PennEnergy.com reports that Acciona Energy North America has completed its 123 megawatt Red Hills Wind Farm… the company’s first renewable energy project in the state:

redhillswindfarmUsing 82 Acciona Windpower 1.5 MW wind turbines, Red Hills Wind Farm will generate enough clean energy to power over 40,000 U.S. homes and offset approximately 294,000 tons of carbon emissions annually. The Red Hills facility is spread across 5,000 rural acres. With the exception of the small footprint made by the 82 turbines, at about 1 acre each, land use is dominated by cattle grazing which coexist with the wind energy production.

The energy generated at the Red Hills Wind Farm will be sold to Western Farmers Electric Cooperative (WFEC) in a 20 year power purchase agreement (PPA) that kicked off June 1, 2009.

Acciona Energy has more than 6,000 MW of installed wind capacity owned by the company and other companies.

Wind

America’s Biggest Biodiesel Plant For Sale

John Davis

greenhunter1A year after opening on the Houston Ship Channel, the nation’s biggest biodiesel plant has a “for sale” sign out on its lawn.

The Houston Chronicle reports that GreenHunter Energy is trying to find a buyer while it rearranges some financial obligations on the refinery:

GreenHunter hired an investment banking firm to look for a potential buyer for the 105 million gallon per year plant, the nation’s largest. The firm will also help find domestic or international partners, alternative financing, potential new equity capital and enough working capital to get the plant running again, the company said in a statement today.

The $70 million GreenHunter plant opened in June 2008 and was touted for its ability to make biodiesel from a variety of vegetable oils and animal fats, rather than being tied exclusively to expensive soybean oil, like many of its rivals.

At a grand opening ceremony last summer, Gov. Rick Perry said the project represented “the future of energy in Texas and the United States.”

But GreenHunter’s Houston plant has been idle since February amid weak domestic demand for the fuel, new trade barriers on U.S. biodiesel exports to Europe and low oil prices that have made renewables less competitive with petroleum based fuels, said Jack Zedlitz, a company spokesman. Last year, the plant also was temporarily forced to shut down after receiving damage from Hurricane Ike last September.

GreenHunter says by amending its credit agreement, the company hopes to survive its current financial problems.

Biodiesel

Ethanol Industry Official Recieves ASTM Award

Cindy Zimmerman

The Director of Technical Services for the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) has been recognized by ASTM International for her work on behalf of America’s ethanol producers to make sure fuel ethanol meets standards and has access to petroleum markets across the country.

Kristy Moore received the Award of Appreciation from ASTM International’s Committee D02 on Petroleum Products and Lubricants, which has jurisdiction over 725 standards relating to those materials.

kristy mooreWith RFA, Moore works on a number of technical and safety issues important to the ethanol industry and oversees the Technical Committee, the longest standing committee within the RFA. Moore and the committee have been responsible for increasing market share for ethanol, including opening new markets for ethanol including the southeastern states.

“This is a well deserved award,” said Chuck Corr, Manager, Biofuels Technical Service at Archer Daniels Midland and current chair of RFA’s Technical Committee. “We are all appreciative that the RFA provides a forum for the techies to work together on the many technical issues facing the industry. We are also thankful that Kristy is available to provide assistance at every turn.”

ASTM International is one of the largest voluntary standards development organizations in the world-a trusted source for technical standards for materials, products, systems, and services.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

Learn How To Pitch Your Story To Bloggers

Chuck Zimmerman

Communicating Renewables WebinarIf you’re interested in learning something about pitching stories to bloggers you might want to participate in a today’s webinar that’s part of the Communicating Renewables Webinar series. There’s still time to register. All the information is posted below. The things we’ll discuss are applicable to any industry but our focus will be on energy. I’m one of the presenters. If you’ve got any thoughts on the subject please feel free to comment here or send me a message via Twitter.

The Communicating Renewables Webinar series is a project of Joanna Schroeder, 4R Communications. Joanna is currently a contributing editor here on Domestic Fuel.

TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 2009
1:00 pm — 2:00 pm EST / Cost $49

Pitching Energy Bloggers: Best Practices

Presented by Jim Lane, Editor, Biofuels Digest and Chuck Zimmerman, Editor, energy.agwired.com

The media landscape has changed and with the proliferation of blogs, the web has become the leader in breaking news, and a primary source for consumers to get their information. So how do you get bloggers to cover your story? This webinar will discuss the power of blogs; how blogs have changed the way reporters report; what types of stories bloggers write about; and how to craft a successful pitch to a blogger.

Click here to register.

communications

Biodiesel Essay Winners Announced for MN, SD

John Davis

cleanairchoicelogo2Students in Minnesota and South Dakota are the latest recipients of Clean Air Choice Scholarships.

This Biodiesel Magazine story says the winning essays touted the virtues of biodiesel:

Emily Johnson of Minnetonka, Minn., a recent graduate of Hopkins High School, has been awarded first place in the 2009 Minnesota Clean Air Choice Scholarship, presented by the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association and the American Lung Association in Minnesota. Johnson received $1,000 for her winning essay, “The Benefits of the Use of Biodiesel.”

Leah Grothe of Thief River Falls, Minn., has been awarded second place in the 2009 Minnesota Clean Air Choice Scholarship, presented by the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association and the American Lung Association in Minnesota. Grothe received $500 for her essay, “Biodiesel: The Right Choice.”

Taylor Geppert, a recent graduate of Kimball High School in Kimball, S.D., has been awarded first place in a statewide essay contest. The biodiesel essay contest was sponsored by the South Dakota Soybean Research & Promotion Council and administered by the American Lung Association in South Dakota. Geppert will receive a $500 check to help pay for ongoing studies.

Alex Edward Sproul, a recent graduate of Harrisburg High School in Harrisburg, S.D., was awarded a $250 scholarship for his second-place essay about biodiesel. The statewide contest was sponsored by the South Dakota Soybean Research & Promotion Council and administered by the American Lung Association in South Dakota.

You can read the winning essays for yourself at www.CleanAirChoice.org.

Biodiesel

Ohio State Students Win EcoCAR Competition

Joanna Schroeder

20090612-_3rf60831A team of students from Ohio State University are in the lead after the first phase of the three-year EcoCar: the NeXt Challenge that took place last week in Toronto, Canada. The actual challenge was to convert a Saturn VUE into an electric vehicle with increased fuel economy and lower tailpipe emissions.

The team from Ohio State utilized a battery pack and E85 to power a 1.8 liter Honda engine which a rechargeable battery pack. The team’s engineering achieved a 300 percent increase in fuel economy.

09may14_090514004Launched in late 2008 by the Government of Canada, General Motors, the U.S. Department of Energy, and others, 17 university teams from the U.S. and Canada competed. Approximately half of the teams, including the Ohio State team, designed extended-range electric vehicles, six teams utilized plug-in hybrids, two teams experimented with fuel cell plug-in hybrids using renewable resources, and one team designed an all-electric vehicle. Every team used lithium-ion batteries and then retrofitted them to become plug-in batteries.

GM provided the vehicles, parts, seed money, mentoring, and operational support. The DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory research facility provided team evaluation, technical and logistical support, and competition management.

The first step in the challenge was to design the vehicles using advanced software and computer modeling tools given to the teams by GM. In years two and three, students translate their design into reality and develop a working vehicle that meets the competition’s goals. The teams come together at the end of each academic year to compete against the other university teams in more than a dozen static and dynamic events.

Car Makers, E85, Electric Vehicles, Miscellaneous, technology

Landfill Methane to Help Power Tulsa Cement Plant

John Davis

tulsacementplantA landfill is now one of the sources of power for a the Lafarge Tulsa Cement Plant.

The Tulsa World reports that an 8,000-foot pipeline will bring methane, produced from the rotting garbage, from the Waste Management landfill where the city’s residential waste is taken:

By substituting methane for coal, a renewable energy source is tapped and reliance on fossil fuels is decreased, said Jim Bachmann, the Lafarge plant’s manager.

“We’ll use at least 80 percent of it; we’ll take 100 percent when we can,” Bachmann said.

Mayor Kathy Taylor was one of many officials at the dedication who applauded the companies’ partnership, which she called an “innovative step” toward reducing greenhouse gases.

Michael Patton, executive director of the Metropolitan Environmental Trust, said the pipeline is good for Tulsa and the environment.

“This landfill now can produce a product that can be used,” he said.

The methane is estimated to reduce carbon dioxide output by 200,000 tons each year.

biomethane