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In a world of tight margins, biodiesel producers are looking for an edge that will help them maintain their profitability. That edge might come in the form of modular designs for their refineries.

This article from Biodiesel Magazine says a compact modular plant design using proven techniques can improve biodiesel plant economics and help the construction or expansion process, while saving the builder and/or operator moneY:

Biodiesel plants represent an ideal opportunity to employ modular designs. Their scale lends itself well to modularization of all or significant portions of the production process. Modular techniques can positively impact equipment selection and configuration, producing a compact plant layout, and improving product quality and profitability.

Modular designs typically have a smaller footprint than field-erected plants. Storage tanks are usually free-standing, but the vast majority of the process equipment can be modularized and strategically located, lowering capital costs and improving plant efficiency. A well-implemented modular design takes advantage of a combination of horizontal and vertical layouts to locate equipment in an optimum spatial relationship. An experienced modular system designer can minimize space requirements, reduce piping runs and, in some cases, eliminate pumping requirements by allowing for gravitational flow.

The article goes on to say that a modular design can help a refiner optimize key process steps, assist in integrating quality assurance measures, and offers the ability to incorporate heat integration methodology.

The American Lung Association of Minnesota has teamed up with the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association to offer a scholarship to a senior who writes the best essay on biodiesel.

This press release from the ALA of Minnesota says high school seniors are welcometo participate:

Current Minnesota high school seniors with plans to attend postsecondary education are eligible and encouraged to submit a personal essay on the topic of biodiesel. Two scholarships will be awarded. The author of the top essay selected will receive a $500 scholarship and the second place essay will be awarded a $250 scholarship. All essays and application materials must be submitted by 4:30pm on Wednesday, April 30, 2008.

“The American Lung Association of Minnesota is committed to increasing awareness of the environmental benefits of emerging alternative fuels, such
as biodiesel,” said scholarship coordinator Alison Chandler. “We hope the leaders of tomorrow can help us educate others today about the growing role
biodiesel plays as a transportation fuel in Minnesota.”

More information is available through the ALAMN website: www.CleanAirChoice.org, or you can contact Alison Chandler at (651) 268-7615 or email at Alison.Chandler@alamn.org.

Arkansas, home to the Tyson chicken empire, could be the home to a new feedstock for biodiesel… chicken fat.

This story from UPI says researchers in that state are looking at ways to perfect the chicken fat-to-biodiesel process:

Chemical engineers at the University of Arkansas were successful in using so-called supercritical methanol to transform chicken fat and tall oil fatty acid into biodiesel fuel, the university said Wednesday in a news release. The yield was greater than 90 percent, the university said.

Graduate student Brent Schulte subjected low-grade chicken fat and tall oil fatty acids to a chemical process known as supercritical methanol treatment. Substances become “supercritical” when they are heated and pressurized to a critical point, the highest temperature and pressure at which the substance can exist in equilibrium as a vapor and liquid.

The process is more efficient than other methods of turning chicken fat into biodiesel… as few other chicken fat biodiesel plants have started to pop up, mostly near poultry-processing plants.

The Earthrace, a biodiesel-powered boat out of New Zealand, will be making another attempt to set the world record for circumnavigation of the globe.

Earlier this year, the Earthrace had to abandon a record-setting try (see my May 31st post). But according to this story on FoxNews.com, the captain believes he’s got the bugs worked out since then, and he’s literally even put part of himself into the project by donating some of his own fat to make biodiesel:

The 24-meter (78-foot) Earthrace, skippered by New Zealander Pete Bethune, will set off from Valencia, Spain, on March 1 and traverse the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans as well as the Panama and Suez canals in its more-than-24,000-nautical-mile journey.

He also made a symbolic gesture towards the project, undergoing liposuction with two other volunteers, which produced 10 liters — a bit more than 2 1/2 gallons — of human fat, enough to power the boat for 8 nautical miles.

Well, at least the boat will be a little lighter.

President Bush’s signing of H.R. 6, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, has gained the praise of the National Biodiesel Board.

Joe Jobe, President of the NBB issued this statement:

“The U.S. biodiesel industry praises President Bush, Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid and the bipartisan supporters of biofuels in Congress who worked tirelessly to enact an expanded Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). This is good public policy that meets the needs of consumers and addresses America’s pressing energy security concerns by increasing the use of clean burning, domestically produced biofuels like biodiesel to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. The nearly five-fold expansion of the RFS in this legislation is truly a landmark achievement.

“U.S. biodiesel producers are eager and capable of meeting the aggressive renewable goals in this bill, and our industry looks forward to doing its part to help America meet its energy security needs.”