Defense Department Looking for Alt Fuels for Alaska

John Davis

eielsonexerciseAirmen and soldiers in Alaska could one day be using alternative fuels for their operations.

The Alaska Journal of Commerce reports the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency has announced it wants contractors to bid on a long-term deal to supply for those Air Force and Army cold weather warriors:

Mark Iden, deputy operations director of the Defense Energy Support Center, a part of the Defense Logistics Agency, said his agency is soliciting proposals from industry to supply a 50-50 blend of alternative and conventional fuels.

The agency wants the alternative fuels made through the Fischer-Tropsch process, a chemical process that converts carbon-based material like biomass, natural gas or coal to high-quality liquid products.

Officials say they want to let a minimum five-year purchase contract with options for extensions… a great departure from the agency’s typical one-year fuel purchase contracts.

Hmmm… maybe if the DoD wants to get a fuel that is earth-friendly and can stand up to the rigors of an Alaskan winter, maybe they should talk to our friends at the Indiana Soybean Alliance. As you might remember from the latest Domestic Fuel podcast, the ISA just recently successfully tested a 100 percent blend of biodiesel during a trip from Anchorage to the Arctic Circle… in temperatures well under 20 degrees below zero!

biomass

Manitoba Opens First Biodiesel Plant

John Davis

greenwaybiodieselAn American biodiesel maker has headed north of the border, but its product will come back to the U.S.

This story from the Winnipeg Free Press says North Carolina-based Greenway Biodiesel is opening a approximately 5 million-gallon-a-year refinery in St. Boniface, Manitoba… the first for the Canadian province. While the green fuel will be headed for sale in Minnesota, it will actually trigger a biodiesel mandate in Manitoba:

Its owner, Royce Rostecki, says that as things stand now, he won’t produce a single litre for the local market — he will sell all his production from the new St. Boniface plant to Minnesota, where his U.S. customers receive a $1-per-gallon blending subsidy.

“If we were on a level playing field, we would be winning the race (to produce for the local market), but because everyone else is getting subsidized, it has put Manitoba producers at an insurmountable disadvantage,” Rostecki said in an interview.

Greenway Bio-diesel is capable of producing 20 million litres of product a year — fulfilling a legislative prerequisite for the implementation of a biodiesel mandate in Manitoba.

During the last provincial election, Premier Gary Doer promised a five per cent biodiesel mandate for 2010 that would create demand for 40 million litres of the biofuel, which would be blended with petroleum diesel. But government officials have since indicated that the province intends to introduce some level of mandated use before the end of 2009.

Canadian officials say they are working on legislation that will make Canadian biodiesel more competitive.

Biodiesel

Verenium, Alfa Laval Ink Biodiesel Deal

John Davis

vereniumalfaMassachusetts-based Verenium Corporation, a developer of next-generation cellulosic ethanol, has signed a deal with Swedish provider of heat transfer, separation and fluid handling technologies Alfa Laval to market processes that degums vegetable oils, making them better for biodiesel production.

This Verenium press release says they’ll use Verenium’s Purifine PLC enzyme and Alfa Laval’s engineering services and equipment.

“Verenium is pleased to be working with Alfa Laval to expand Purifine’s global market penetration in the edible oil industry,” said Janet Roemer, Verenium’s Executive Vice President, Specialty Enzymes Business. “Together, our companies offer a comprehensive solution to increase efficiencies in edible oil and biodiesel production. Customers implementing Purifine enzymatic degumming through Alfa Laval have the security of process performance guarantees from a highly reputable, leading-edge engineering services company with proven technology and know-how in the edible-oils and biofuels industries.”

“Alfa Laval welcomes the collaboration with Verenium to bring leading edge enzyme technology to customers in the edible oil and biodiesel industries,” said Bent Sarup, General Manager for Alfa Laval’s Edible Oil Technology Business. “Use of the unique Purifine enzyme in combination with Alfa Laval’s equipment and plant design experience will enable customers to make significant steps to improve oil yields and separation efficiencies, thus fitting well with Alfa Laval’s corporate mission of optimizing our customer’s processes time and time again.”

Biodiesel

American Coalition for Ethanol to Award Scholarships

acelogoThe American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) will be awarding $5,000 worth of scholarships to employees and dependents of employees of ACE Voting and Associate member companies and organizations in good standing. The application is now available but 2009 membership dues must be paid for applicants to be eligible.

According to a press release from ACE, one $2,000 and three $1,000 scholarships will be awarded to students attending college or vocational programs at any accredited post-secondary institution.

The program was created through sponsorships and participation in the Jeff Fox Scholarship Golf Classic, which will be held again this year in conjunction with the ACE Annual Meeting and Trade show in Milwaukee, WI August 11-13, 2009. Winners of the 2009 scholarships will also be notified during this event.

The deadline for application is May 15, 2009. For a copy of the application or for more information, email sgustafson@ethanol.org or call 605-334-3381.

ACE, conferences, Ethanol

Ethanol Free in Maine?

lisa-marracheIt looks as though the state of Maine could have no ethanol blended with their gasoline. Assistant Senate Majority Leader Lisa Marrache has submitted a bill requiring oil companies to make ethanol-free fuel an option at the pump in Maine.

As an additive, ethanol has been blended with gasoline within the state of Maine in the last year. However, there have been reports of complaints from boat owners and owners of older engined vehicles. They say that the additive is harming their engines.

Marrache says she’d like to work with oil dealers and importers to come up with a solution that doesn’t require legislative action. She says her bill would require dealers to sell high-test gasoline that’s free of ethanol, giving buyers an ethanol-free option.

Ethanol, Government

Book Review: Uranium

Joanna Schroeder

58265186_a2“Man’s most carnal tendencies are inflamed by the most modern of elements, uranium.”

War, terrorism, treason, energy, and renaissance — the basic elements of uranium as vividly described in the new book, “Uranium: War, Energy, And The Rock That Shaped The World” by Tom Zoellner. This is a fantastic true tale of the quest for “nuclear fission,” the devastation it caused, its role as an “energy savior,” the worldwide frenzy to develop nuclear bombs, and the “nuclear renaissance” on the horizon.

In the 40s and 50s nuclear energy was going to save the world. People couldn’t get the word “atomic” into their lives fast enough incorporating “atomic” into the names of towns, businesses and sandwiches. The Atlantic Monthly wrote in the article, “The Control of Energy,” in 1955, “Reactors to produce electric power from nuclear fuels are now being built both here and abroad, and some soon to be designed should give enough power to fill the needs of the largest city. All of the electrical power now used in the United States could in theory be produced from 60 tons of uranium.”

Well, uranium has not saved the world. In fact, many would argue that its wrecked more hell than help. The US government conspired for decades to deny that nuclear fallout caused life-threatening health issues, and environmentalists can’t agree on whether nuclear energy is “green”. “One of the manifest ironies of the “nuclear renaissance,” though, is that it relies on image of atomic power as a green technology,” writes Zoellner.

nuclear-power-plantMany thought the debate over nuclear energy was cooled but in fact its as heated as ever. There is a vocal worldwide debate about the fate of nuclear energy and its role as a green alternative to coal. Uranium is one of the most abundant elements in the world and ours for the taking. The United States is working on bringing several new nuclear facilities online, the first in more than two decades, and while France is adding more nuclear plants Germany is shutting all their nuclear facilities down citing environmental issues. Yet a handful of countries trying to build nuclear facilities are being denied access to the technology citing “terrorism” concerns.

No one knows how this story is going to end, but I’m certain of two things. First, the movement to clean, domestic renewable energy is not an option. Second, you must read this book.

You can buy Uranium or any other book I’ve reviewed by clicking here.

book reviews

Senators Caution EPA Over Indirect Land Use Calculations

Cindy Zimmerman

Senators from ethanol producing states are asking the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) not to propose regulations assuming that greater U.S. biofuels use would increase carbon dioxide emissions.

Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) spoke on the Senate floor about the issue on Monday, following a letter sent by 12 senators to EPA administrator Lisa Jackson last week.

Grassley expressed fears that EPA is “going down a path of blaming our biofuels producers for land use changes around the globe.”

I’m afraid the climate folks at the EPA are heading in the wrong direction on this. I don’t think they’re bad people, but I’m afraid they don’t understand how American agriculture works. I don’t think they’re aware of the significant crop yield improvements we’ve seen in recent years or the great potential over the next 20 years. I also don’t think they fully understand the benefit of valuable ethanol byproducts, which further reduce the effective land used for fuels production. It defies common sense that the EPA would publish a proposed rulemaking with harmful conclusions for biofuels based on incomplete science and inaccurate assumptions.

Grassley is urging President Obama to take an active role in the issue and keep a close eye on what EPA is doing with regard to indirect land use calculations.

Ethanol, Government, Indirect Land Use

World Congress Focuses on Biofuels Progress

Cindy Zimmerman

QuebecProgress toward next generation biofuels will be a focus of the 2009 World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing, to be held July 19-22, 2009 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Now in its sixth year, the conference will move to its largest venue to date, the Palais des congrès de Montréal (the Montreal Convention Centre).

BioThe Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) has released the full schedule of breakout sessions and speakers, which includes topics such as, Synthetic Biology for Next Generation Biofuels; Progress Toward Commercialization of Lignocellulosic Ethanol Processes; and Algae for Fuels and Chemicals.

Registration information is available on-line here.

BIO, Biodiesel, Cellulosic, conferences, Ethanol

Cellulosic Firms Urge EPA to Approve 15% Ethanol

Nine cellulosic ethanol companies have sent a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson in support of the Green Jobs waiver that would increase ethanol used with gasoline from 10 percent to up to 15 percent.

lisa_jackson_epaThe companies – Edenspace Systems Corporation, ICM, LanzaTech Inc., POET, Qteros, Inc., Range Fuels, Red Shield Acquisition LLC, and ZeaChem – assert that removing the regulatory cap of 10 percent “will ensure the product market necessary to encourage continued investment in the commercialization of advanced biofuels.”

Ethanol offers a practical solution to fuel our country’s environmental sustainability, economic growth and energy independence. As we invest in the near term deployment of advanced biofuels, grain-based ethanol production is an important foundation upon which scientists and producers have begun to build. As we move from making ethanol from corn, to also producing it from agricultural waste, wood chips and other biomass materials, ethanol will continue to be a sustainable and effective energy solution for the U.S. and the world.

Read the full letter here.

blends, Cellulosic, Ethanol, Growth Energy

Illinois Offering Bioenergy Masters Degree

John Davis

Knowledge is power, and the folks at the University of Illinois are giving a new crop of students the power they’ll need in the fields of bioenergy… biodiesel and ethanol.

The Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research (CABER) on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus is offering the first new master’s degree in bioenergy approved by Illinois Board of Higher Education, a masters level degree program. This podcast from BioFuels Journal has more information.

blaschekDr. Hans Blaschek, director of the CABER explains the degree will provide a professional science master’s degree program.

“We have tailored it to provide students with some flexibility in being able to pick from a number of areas of bioenergy which could include policy but certainly could include the technical side as well.”

Blaschek says the university already has more than 100 faculty members on campus with plenty of knowledge and experience in bioenergy he thinks will turn into a first-class degree. Enrollment is going on now with classes set to begin this fall.

Pretty interesting podcast from our friends at BioFuels Journal. While you’re out there looking for interesting podcasts on renewable energy, don’t forget you can also subscribe to the DomesticFuel Cast here.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News