Biodiesel on “Pimp My Ride”

John Davis

65 Impala on Pimp My Ride
The hit MTV show “Pimp My Ride” will feature a 1965 Chevy Impala coverted to run on biodiesel for its Earth Day show on April 22nd. According to this story posted on CNET News, as part of the show, the converted Impala goes up against a Lamborghini in a quarter-mile drag race. And the Impala wins!

imperium.gif“You don’t have to sacrifice the fun aspects of a car. All you have to do is change your fuel,” said Martin Tobias, CEO of Imperium Renewables, a biodiesel refiner that developed the Pimp My Ride biodiesel experiment with MTV. “It completely blew away the Lamborghini. It was only two-thirds down the track when the Impala crossed the finish line.”

The man behind the conversion is Jonathon Goodwin, a biodiesel conversion specialist and founder of alternative energy start-up SAE Energy. He’s also converted about 60 Hummers which increases the SUV’s mileage from 10 miles a gallon to nearly 24!

Biodiesel

Interamerican Biofuels Seminar

Cindy Zimmerman

IAECThe Interamerican Ethanol Commission (IEC) held a seminar on biofuels last week in Washington DC.

At the event, IEC co-chairmen – former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Inter American Development Bank chief Luis Alberto Moreno and Roberto Rodrigues, Brazil’s former agriculture minister – introduced a comprehensive study of biofuels markets through 2020.

According to the IEC, some key findings of the study include: $200 billion in new investment is needed for biofuels to provide 5% of transport energy in 2020; blend mandates have been enacted in 27 of the 50 countries surveyed and 40 have some form of biofuels promotion legislation; there is a need for common global standards for ethanol or biodiesel, international futures contracts, and a reduction in tariff barriers to facilitate the development of global trade.

The commission also announced a new strategic ethanol information campaign. Recognizing that lack of information and misinformation are among the principal obstacles hindering expansion of the ethanol market, the commission views education as key to the success of increased ethanol production and consumption and aims to serve as a clearinghouse for up to date, accurate, and objective information on ethanol. This information will be shared with the general public, policy makers and shapers, industries, and investors.

Ethanol, International, News

Ethanol on the Speaking Circuit

Cindy Zimmerman

EPIC Racing Legend Bobby Rahal and Tony George, the CEO and Founder of the Indy Racing League, will be the featured guests at the National Press Club’s distinguished luncheon speaker series on May 5.

The topic will be “The Greening of Racing: Ethanol Powers the Indianapolis 500.” Special guests also include Ethanol Promotion and Information Council’s Board President Tom Branhan and Executive Director Tom Slunecka.

EPIC, Ethanol, Indy Racing, News

Ethanol on Tap

Cindy Zimmerman

High Falls BreweryOfficials in Monroe County, New York are working with High Falls Brewery on a plan to turn beer waste into ethanol and produce enough of it to power much of the county’s fleet of vehicles. If all goes well, the county hopes to have extra available to offer ethanol-based fuel to the public.

According to a Gannett News Service story out of Rochester, NY, the Coors brewery in Golden, Colo., is producing 3 million gallons of ethanol a year and is the largest operation of its kind in the country. Other brewers, including Anheuser-Busch and Miller, also produce ethanol, and Northeast Biofuels LLC is turning an old Miller brewery near Syracuse into the state’s first ethanol plant.

“The process is similar because so many of the ingredients that would go into beer, one could use to make ethanol,” said Matt Hartwig, spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association, a trade group in Washington D.C. “It’s just a matter of how much of that material is available.”

Ethanol, News

USDA Ethanol Enzyme Research

Cindy Zimmerman

ARS LabUSDA Agricultural Research Service scientists at the Eastern Regional Research Center in Wyndmoor, Pa., are investigating ways to avoid overburdening the corn market as ethanol production expands.

Researchers David Johnston and Kevin Hicks are investigating new processes using protease enzymes from microbial and fungal sources to make ethanol more efficiently.

Working with Vijay Singh, an agricultural engineer at the University of Illinois, Johnston conducted a field trial at a small wet-milling facility in Panang, Malaysia. They soaked U.S. corn in water for several hours and then applied the enzymes (provided by biotechnology company Genencor International Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif.). The scientists found that adding enzymes during processing increased starch recovery, just as it had in laboratory trials.

Read more from the USDA-ARS website.

Ethanol, News, Research

Mitsubishi Wind and Solar Efforts

John Davis

Mechanical giant Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will build a wind turbine model bigger than anything else in the industry in Europe by the year 2010 and establish more solar panel manufacturing bases overseas.

According to this article in Forbes, the move is part of Mitsubishi’s change in focus from the U.S. to European markets:

The wind turbine for the European market will feature output of 5 megawatts, compared with the 2-3 mw models currently available. A single unit will be capable of generating enough power for 4,000 households.

The firm plans to expand production of photovoltaic panels to 10 sites. The Netherlands and Spain are among four candidate countries in Europe, with California and Pennsylvania under consideration in the US.

This heavy industry branch of Mitsubishi has annual sales of about 700 billion yen (about $5.8 billion US), mostly from fossil-fuel plants. This possible expansion into renewable energy could boost that number to one trillion yen (about $8.3 billion US) in the next few years.

Wind

Military Bio-Trash Becomes Biofuel

John Davis

Interesting little article for a vet like me popped up in the International Herald-Tribune. According to the story, Richard Gross, a chemistry professor at Polytechnic University in New York is working on making plastics out of plant oils… and that plastic packaging would be used by the military and then converted to biodiesel out in the field:

The process does not yet work well enough to be commercial, but the Pentagon was impressed enough to provide $2.34 million for more research. The technique could reduce the amount of material the military has to ship to soldiers at remote bases, because the plastic would do double duty, first as packaging and then as fuel.

Defense officials say it would also reduce trash… which can add up to seven pounds a day for each military member.

Trust me, if you’ve ever had to do trash detail, you’d be happy that some of that waste would at least go to a good cause.

Biodiesel, Research

New Hampshire Biodiesel Progress

John Davis

As New Hampshire’s state legislature moves forward a proposal to study biodiesel production, distribution, and promotion in the state, the first commercial biodiesel plant is proposed.

According to an AP story posted on the WHDH-TV (Boston, MA) web site, freshman lawmaker Rep. David Borden’s bill to establish a biodiesel committee has passed the state House and now goes to the Senate:

The committee would be made of legislators, a University of New Hampshire faculty member and experts in energy, the environment, agriculture and transportation.

Borden believes the committee is a first step in creating a statewide plan to replace 20 percent of the fossil fuels used in diesel and home heating oils with biodiesel. Close to 60 percent of New Hampshire households heat with oil, according to the Oil Heat Council of New Hampshire.

“The state has a tremendous opportunity to find ways for the state to be more energy independent,” Borden said. “We probably can’t do more than 20 percent, but that would make an enormous difference.”

Meanwhile, the Andover (MA) Eagle-Tribune reports a pair of Salem businessmen want to put in New Hampshire’s first biodiesel plant:

Dan Espinal and Tim Hickey will go before the Salem Planning Board on Tuesday with plans for a manufacturing facility at 51 Northwestern Drive, located in one of Salem’s industrial strips off Interstate 93. If approved, the pair hope their company, Atlantic Biodiesel, will spark a cottage industry for local farmers willing to grow oil-seed crops to create fuel.

The plant is expected to produce three million gallons of biodiesel a year to start… eventually moving up to 10 million gallons a year.

Biodiesel, Legislation

School Heated with Biofuel

John Davis

North Country School, just outside of Lake Placid in upstate New York, is switching its heating source to biodiesel.

According to this story in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, the school has always been pretty progressive… organically farming and composting food scraps to make 150,000 pounds of compost material each year. Now, they want their energy sources to be good for the environment, too. That’s why they’re switching their 27,000 gallons of heating fuel used a year to biodiesel:

“Our goal has been being environmental stewards since we started,” [said facilities manager John Culpepper.] “It’s a natural fit for us.”

And a more natural source, too. Unlike fossil fuels like fuel oil, diesel, gasoline and kerosene, biofuel is a renewable fuel made from vegetables products like soybeans.

The school started with 5% biodiesel and has moved up to 20%… and would eventually like to use a 100% blend.

Biodiesel

Dallas Greens Up Biodiesel Buses

John Davis

Many of the city buses in Dallas, Texas are already running on biodiesel. Now, the city will put in an additive that will reduce NOx emissions even further. According to a press release, Dallas will be the first fleet in the nation to use the additive, ORYXE LED for Biodiesel, recently received approval from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ):

“The City of Dallas is constantly striving to be at the forefront of clean technology, and we hope our example will lead to other large diesel fleets using this cleaner fuel blend,” says Ramiro Lopez, who oversees fuel and environmental services for the Department of Equipment and Building Services. “With NOx being such a big issue in the Metroplex, we waited for this technology to become available so we could reintroduce biodiesel into our fleet.”

B20 fuel treated with the ORYXE additive showed equivalent NOx levels to Texas Low Emission Diesel (TxLED) fuel (5.7% lower than standard EPA petroleum diesel). In addition to reducing NOx, the biodiesel blend with ORYXE Energy technology also reduced particulate matter (PM) by 28.8%, total hydrocarbons (THC) by 17.5% and carbon monoxide (CO) by 19% beyond the required TxLED levels.

The release goes on to point out that the additive is available for just pennies, making it not only good for the environment but easy on taxpayers’ pocketbooks as well.

Biodiesel