Orbital ‘Orbit’ reaches Alternative Fuels Down Under

John Davis

The Australian market for alternative fuel has a new player. Orbital Corporation Limited has announced the acquisition of Boral Alternative Fuel Systems, entering what it believes to be Australia and New Zealand’s rapidly growing alternative fuel system markets.

International clean energy technology group Orbital Corporation Limited, is pleased to announce the addition to its existing portfolio the Australian LPG fuel systems supplier, Boral Alternative Fuel Systems (“BAFS”).

BAFS is Australia’s leading supplier of original equipment LPG fuel systems and is a Tier One supplier to the global automotive group, Ford Motor Corporation.

The acquisition provides Orbital with a low-risk entry into the rapidly growing Australian and New Zealand alternative fuel system markets, and represents a first step in a broader intent to offer ‘next generation’ greenhouse friendly alternative fuel systems that meet the requirements of fleet operators and private buyers.

Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, Orbital will make an investment of approximately $1.6 million to assume BAFS’s working capital (excluding debtors and creditors) including a small component of goodwill. Subject to satisfaction of all conditions precedent transfer of the business is expected to occur prior to June 30th, 2008.

BAFS is based in Sydney and currently generates approximately $6 million in revenue each year.

Energy, International

Grassley Promises Push for Biodiesel Tax Incentive

John Davis

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) renewed his commitment to Congress renewing the biodiesel tax incentive… while he took a shot at the Grocery Manufacturers Association for what he says is a smear campaign by the group against biofuels. Grassley’s comments come on the heels of Tuesday’s vote, when the U.S. Senate came up just eight votes short of cloture to end debate on extending the $1-a-gallon biodiesel tax credit.

Speaking to National Biodiesel Board members at their meeting in Washington, DC today, Grassley stressed just how important biodiesel is for America’s environment, economy and energy security.

“We ought to keep the dollars in the United States rather than send them over to the Arabs to shoot back at us.” In his capacity as the Ranking Member on the Senate Finance Committee, he reiterated his desire to work in a bipartisan manner to pass an extender package that includes the biodiesel tax incentive.

Senator Grassley was also critical of the anti-biofuels public relations campaign that is being waged by the GMA. He noted that only one chief executive officer from the grocery industry, out of 15 invited, has accepted the invitation to meet with him and Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer to discuss the GMA’s multi-million dollar campaign to discredit biofuels.

“The biggest culprit behind the rising food cost is $135 barrel oil,” he said. “This campaign is led by an organization that should be a loyal member of the food chain. Instead, they are making biofuels the scapegoat to defend their own bottom line. The truth is that America’s family farmers are producing more food, and fuel, than ever before.”

“Lifting the biofuels incentives won’t ease food prices,” Grassley said. “By using less biofuel, we will in fact lift food prices. Who are they trying to kid?”

Biodiesel, Government, Legislation

Biofuels from Algae in Isreal

John Davis

Algae is becoming a growing source for biofuel development in Israel. Inventure Chemical is the latest company to invest in algae biofuel technology.

Inventure Chemical has announced that it has entered into a joint venture with Seambiotic Ltd. (based in Tel Aviv, Israel) to construct a pilot commercial biofuel plant in Israel, using algae created from CO2 emissions as feedstock. The plant will utilize high-yield oil-rich algae strains that Seambiotic has developed and grown in its open pond system coupled with Inventure’s patent-pending conversion processes to produce ethanol, biodiesel and other value-added chemicals.

“We reviewed many potential processes for converting our algae strains to biofuel,” said Prof. Ami Ben-Amotz, chief scientific adviser to Seambiotic. “In numerous tests we’ve conducted with Inventure at their Seattle plant, we’ve been consistently pleased with the quality of the biofuel resulting from their process. Inventure’s technology will enable us to maximize the biofuel yield from our algae.”

“Our joint venture with Inventure will illustrate not only the technological capabilities of our combined processes, but also the validity of the CO2 to algae to biofuel model as a means for coal-fired power generators to meet CO2 reduction mandates,” said Amnon Bechar, Seambiotic’s chief executive officer. “The biofuel that’s created from algae can be used in the power generator’s operations, or sold on the open market to create a new revenue stream. Either way, this model can pay for the infrastructure necessary to put in place.”

Seambiotic grows and processes marine microalgae for biofuel and Omega 3 oil production.

Inventure Chemical dvelops and commercializes feedstock conversion technologies for biofuel producers.

Energy, International

Just Say “Yes” to Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

FEW 08 Ethanol buttonsButtons of many colors can be seen on hundreds of name badges walking around the 2008 Fuel Ethanol Workshop creating a positive mantra for the ethanol industry.

FEW 08 Ethanol buttons LanserThe “Yes Ethanol” buttons are the creation of Lanser Public Affairs, an agency in New Berlin, Wisconsin that specializes in helping ethanol plants with site approval and community relations.

The husband and wife team of Mary Claire Lanser and Al Ogorzalek were handing the buttons out and promoting their services at the expo and trade show.

So far, Lanser has helped about a dozen ethanol plants in Wisconsin, Illinois, Virginia and Pennsylvania. Appropriate public affairs strategies have assured approvals, prevented costly delays, and improved the public image for their clients.

2008 Fuel Ethanol Workshop Photo Album

Ethanol, FEW, News

Team Ethanol at the FEW

Cindy Zimmerman

Visitors to the International Fuel Ethanol Workshop this week in Nashville had a chance to meet Indy car champion and Team Ethanol car owner Bobby Rahal of Rahal Letterman Racing in an appearance sponsored by ICM, Inc.

FEW 08 Bobby RahalWith a model of the Number 17 Team Ethanol car behind him, Rahal chatted with ethanol industry representatives about the season so far and the talent of driver Ryan Hunter-Reay.

“This year he’s been very strong,” said Rahal. “I’m very enthusiastic about our chances and I couldn’t be happier with the kind of work he’s doing for us.”

Rahal is looking forward to the Iowa Corn 250 this weekend and thinks they have a good shot. “It’s going to be an interesting race but with each race Ryan’s getting more confident and so I expect we’ll be competitive.”

Rahal says ethanol has been great for the Indy Racing League and he thinks there is a lot of misinformation out there about the fuel. “Hopefully we are helping to dispel many of the myths and misinformation exists,” he says. “Ethanol is a credible solution to a large part of the problem that we face and the truth will reign out in the end.”

Listen to an interview with Rahal from the 2008 FEW here:
[audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/few08/few08-rahal.mp3]

2008 Fuel Ethanol Workshop Photo Album

EPIC, Ethanol, FEW, Indy Racing, News

Ethanol Racing Again at Iowa Corn Indy 250

Chuck Zimmerman

Iowa Corn Indy 250It looks like the flooding in Iowa has not affected things at the Iowa Speedway where I’m headed this afternoon for pre-race activities for this weekend’s Iowa Corn Indy 250.

Iowa’s flooding disaster is not directly affecting scheduled events for the IndyCar Series weekend, June 20-22, at Iowa Speedway. The facility has immediate access to I-80 and is located on elevated ground near an adjacent airport. Racing fans who plan to attend the Iowa Corn Indy 250, especially those out-of-state, are encouraged to proceed with plans to attend the event.

There are a number of activities planned from various pump promotions to press conferences. I’ll be attending them all and providing pictures and interviews whenever I can. Our coverage of the activities is once again sponsored by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

EPIC, Ethanol, Indy Racing, News, Racing

New Ethanol Products

Chuck Zimmerman

Carl LiraWhile Cindy and thousands of people involved in ethanol production are attending the FEW in Nashville, I thought I’d share an interview I did at the recent Corn Utilization and Technology Conference. While we’re focused on ethanol as a fuel and that seems to be its primary use, some research is being done on other products ethanol can be used to produce.

Carl Lira, Michigan State University, spoke on “Reactive Distillations for Chemical Products from Ethanol.” Carl says he’s looking at methods to diversify the ethanol production platform. For example, he’s looking at new products that can be made from ethanol so that producers can diversify and react to the market in different ways. He’s trying to get them to think with more of a bio refinery philosophy. From a product standpoint, he’s using ethanol as a reagent to produce high quality chemicals. He says they’ve done some economic analysis which is available from the National Corn Growers Association and that it looks very attractive.

You can listen to my interview with Carl here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/ncga/cutc-08-carl-lira.mp3]

Audio, conferences, corn, CUTC, Ethanol, News, Research

Biodiesel Helping Fuel “Dump the Pump Day”

John Davis

This coming Thursday is national “Dump the Pump Day,” a day when drivers are encouraged to use public transportation instead of their own vehicles to save money and fuel. Some of those folks will be running on biodiesel, as many communities use the green fuel to run their buses.

One such community is Springfield, Missouri, which runs 1.2 million miles of bus routes a year on biodiesel. And this story from the Springfield News-Leader says the city’s utilities Transit Service will give free rides on its buses on Thursday:

“By participating in the national ‘Dump the Pump Day,’ we hope people who have never used our services will give us a try instead of driving their car,” CU Transit Director Carol Cruise said. “We will welcome new riders and thank our regular riders.”

Public transportation is seeing an increased number of riders across the country. In 2007, CU Transit Services provided 2 million rides. CU’s biodiesel fueled buses drove 1.2 million miles and operated over 85,000 hours to provide transportation services to the Springfield community.

Biodiesel

Moving Beyond 10 Percent Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

Moving beyond ten percent ethanol offers both opportunities and challenges for the industry.

FEW 08 Robert WhiteOn a panel addressing the issue at the 2008 Fuel Ethanol Workshop Tuesday was Robert White with the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC). White has spearheaded the nationwide pump branding and E85 program for EPIC and he talked about some of the success stories they have seen just recently.

“An E85 station recently opened in metro Atlanta,” said White. “The station has been opened about five weeks and as of Saturday they were selling 1800 gallons of E85 a day, compared to 1750 gallons of regular unleaded a day.”

EPIC helped to open the station, made sure it was branded, held a pump promotion and grand opening event with state officials, and send notifications out to fleets in the area. “One station that has been opened five weeks has the potential of selling 650,000 gallons of E85 a year,” White said. “That’s amazing.”

He also talked about the importance of moving toward blender pumps, which can offer a variety of blends between 10 and 85 percent ethanol. “Our recent research found that 45 percent of Americans are seeking out alternatives, they want choices, and specifically they’re looking for ethanol,” said White.

He noted that E85 and mid-level blends give consumers choices, help retail fuel stations offer customers something new, and help ethanol plants sell more product.

Listen to Robert’s address to the 2008 FEW here:
[audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/few08/few08-white.mp3]

2008 Fuel Ethanol Workshop Photo Album

Audio, E85, EPIC, Ethanol, FEW, News

Biodiesel Cleared for Case Construction Equipment

John Davis

Heavy equipment manufacturer Case has approved the use of B20 biodiesel for more than 85 percent of its products.

This company press release says this follows Case’s move two years ago to give B5 the OK, the first construction equipment maker to do so:

“Case is proudly leading the construction industry to help lower customers’ fuel costs and make a positive impact on the environment,” said Jim Hasler, vice president, Case Construction Equipment, North America. “Using biodiesel to power Case equipment reduces our dependence on foreign oil and increases our U.S.-based energy production. Plus, biodiesel has the potential to save customers money.”

“Biodiesel adds lubricity to the fuel, which is beneficial in many circumstances, particularly as sulfur and aromatics are removed from the fuel,” said Ray Good, engine application manager, Case Construction Equipment. “Biodiesel has a higher Cetane number and burns cleaner with less particulates and smoke emissions. It is also fully biodegradable and nontoxic.”

Case officials remind customers that they need to use ASTM approved biodiesel in their products.

Biodiesel