Researchers at Louisiana State University are among those hard at work to find ways to “make ethanol fuel an efficient reality.”
According to an LSU release, James Spivey, McLaurin Shivers professor of chemical engineering at LSU, and Challa Kumar, group leader of nanofabrication at LSU’s Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices are working on the project withClemson University and Oak Ridge National Laboratories, with the help of $2.9 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy and its cost-sharing partner, Conoco-Phillips.
“We’re working with our project partners to produce ethanol from a coal-derived syngas, a mixture of primarily carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The United States has tremendous reserves of coal, but converting it to affordable, clean fuels is a challenge – one that we are addressing in this DOE-funded project,” said Spivey. “Because ethanol is a liquid, it can be more easily distributed to the end user than gaseous hydrogen. It can be converted into a hydrogen-rich gas at the point of use, such as a fuel cell. The net result is clean energy produced from a domestic resource.”
El Paso has more than 10,000 E85-compatible vehicles on the road, the coalition reported. Nationwide, an estimated 6 million E85-compatible vehicles are on the road, according to the coalition.
With those words of wisdom, the 
New York City-based Tri-State Biodiesel has put out a call for people to join its Bio-NYC campaign… an effort to encourage New Yorkers to buy more biodiesel, especially that sold by the company, made from used restaurant cooking oil.
In Eugene, Oregon, SeQuential Biofuels opened the state’s first commercial biofuel facility last year. The station dispenses ethanol as well as locally sourced biodiesel. Company cofounder Ian Hill worked with his mother, Susan Hill, AIA, an architect based in Lexington, Kentucky, to incorporate green features into the station’s design. A roof embedded with a 32.6-kilowatt photovoltaic array shelters the pump islands; its central panels have clear backings to transmit more daylight. The roof above an accompanying 2,000-square-foot convenience store also received a green treatment: It is planted 5 inches deep with 4,800 native Oregonian plants. Bioswales adjacent to the parking areas filter storm water.
Alan Eliot Goldberg, FAIA, a former design consultant to ExxonMobil, has developed a prototype station that embraces sustainable materials as well as solar power, which is used to create hydrogen fuel via electrolysis. Adapted from his Advanced Refueling Retail Center concept, it dispenses six different kinds of fuel. The 5,000-square-foot station will include a convenience store and an information center for hydrogen power. “If you’re introducing a new product, you should have a new concept,” Goldberg says of its design. Developed by the ARRC/H2 Alliance, the first station is planned for Syracuse, New York. 
Production has started at Iowa’s 13th biodiesel plant… this one, a Western Dubuque Biodiesel, LLC, plant near Farley. 
Western Dubuque Biodiesel, LLC, will produce fuel from soybeans or other vegetable oils at the new plant, which will be beneficial to area soybean farmers, says Ray Gaesser, (Iowa Soybean Association) president and a soybean farmer near Corning, Iowa.
While at the ACE Convention I got to meet fellow biofuels blogger Nathan Schock. Nathan is the public relations director for