Eleven BYG Winners in Garst Giveaway

Cindy Zimmerman

Garst Garst Seed Company has announced the grand prizewinners in its Blue + Yellow = Green (BYG) sweepstakes.

Eleven growers won free one-year leases for new Chevy 1500 Flex Fuel pickup trucks and Garst awarded 110 first-place prizes of $100 ethanol certificates.

David Witherspoon, head of Garst says, “This initiative is part of our continuous efforts to provide seed and traits that help our customers be more productive and meet the increasing demand for corn that’s being driven by renewable fuels.”

Garst’s parent company Syngenta is conducting research and developing additional products that will benefit the renewable fuels market. One example is a proprietary corn amylase output trait that expresses higher levels of the enzyme amylase, which can increase the efficiency of ethanol production. Syngenta intends to launch the corn amylase trait by 2008, pending the achievement of a number of technical, commercial and regulatory milestones.

Ethanol, Flex Fuel Vehicles, News

BIO Urges Federal Cellulosic Research Funding

Cindy Zimmerman

BIO As Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman appeared before the House Energy and Commerce today to testify about the Bush Administration’s 2008 proposed budget, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) urged House and Senate budget writers to invest in research and development and support commercialization of ethanol from cellulose as outlined in the budget.

A BIO release quotes President and CEO Jim Greenwood as saying, “The Administration’s budget contains funding for biofuels research that is significantly increased over last year’s budget. It also contains funding to guarantee loans for construction of modern biorefineries. This backing will help the biotechnology and ethanol industries, farmers, and the investment community work together to achieve the President’s goal of annually producing 35 billion gallons of renewable fuel within 10 years.”

Ethanol, Government, News

Ethanol Company Chooses Illinois Plant Site

Cindy Zimmerman

Ethanex Ethanex Energy Inc. has selected Waltonville, Illinois as the location for a new 132 million gallon per year ethanol plant.

According to a press release, this is the Kansas-based company’s third planned facility in the region along with Ethanex at SEMO and Ethanex at Northeast Kansas.

This plant will incorporate the Company’s proprietary fractionation technology making it one of the largest and most efficient ethanol plants in the country. The 169-acre site would also have access to both the Union-Pacific Railroad and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad.

Ethanol, Facilities, News

Colorado’s Biodiesel Pickle

John Davis

Southeast Colorado is getting its first biodiesel plant as a group of investors has bought an old pickle factory with the intention of re-opening the vacant plant as a 10-million gallon/year refinery. The project is expected to be up and running in June. From this story in the Pueblo (CO) Chieftain:

Wayne Snider, director of economic development in La Junta, [says], “They will use local crops – their plan is to produce 5 million gallons using soy beans and 5 million gallons utilizing sunflowers.”

The announcement comes nearly one year to the day the pickle factory closed… and 118 people were suddenly without jobs. Local officials say the new biodiesel plant will be a boon to the economy.

Biodiesel, News

Biodiesel to Help Connect Unconnected in India

John Davis

GSMA This story on the BBC’s web site says GSMA, a fund to help people in developing countries gain access to wireless phone service, will be using locally-produced biodiesel to fuel mobile base stations in India. The project is expected to help the vast majority of India’s 1.2 billion people living in areas with, at best, fragmented coverage get phone service.

“It is about connecting the unconnected,” said Dawn Hartley, development fund manager at the GSMA.

Backers of the plan say one of the biggest issues has been fueling these base stations. Conventional fuels are expensive and dirty for the environment. Biodiesel, made from locally-grown Jatropha trees, offers a clean, affordable alternative. Ten base stations in Western India are expected to be open by mid-year.

Biodiesel, International

Team Ethanol Le Mans Entry

Cindy Zimmerman

Epic LeMans Not only will ethanol enrich the fuel for this year’s American Le Mans Series (ALMS), it will also sponsor one of the entries.

In conjunction with the announcement Wednesday that ALMS will begin using a ten percent ethanol blend this season, Rahal Letterman Racing announced that ethanol, through the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC), will be sponsoring their entry in the series.

“We are very pleased to announce an expansion of our commercial relationship with EPIC and ethanol into the American Le Mans Series with our Porsche RSR,” said owner Bobby Rahal. “Bringing ethanol into that mix is only the right thing to do because it has been proven in the IRL, certainly there’s been no drop off in performance by the cars switching in fact this year to 100 percent ethanol. So I think that message needs to get out through the ALMS because of its relevance to the street market.”

Ethanol also sponsors one of Rahal Letterman’s IndyCar Series cars.

EPIC, Ethanol, News, Racing

US and Brazil Seek Ethanol Partnership

Cindy Zimmerman

Officials from the world’s two largest ethanol producers, the United States and Brazil, have been meeting this week to discuss the possibility of a new “energy partnership.”

According to a Washington Post report, U.S. officials said they expect to sign accords within a year that would promote technology-sharing with Brazil and encourage more Latin American neighbors to become biofuel producers and consumers.

“It’s clearly in our interests — Brazil’s and the United States’s — that we expand the global market for biofuels, particularly ethanol, and that it become a global commodity of sorts,” said R. Nicholas Burns, the U.S. undersecretary of state, who led discussions with Brazilian government officials on Wednesday.

Ethanol, International, News

Making Hydrogen More Mainstream

John Davis

A deal between two companies could make the mass production of hydrogen-fueled vehicles more feasible. In a press release on their web site, Dynetek officials say they will make seven million Canadian dollars (nearly US $ 6 mil) worth of compressed hydrogen storage systems for Magna Steyr connected to DaimlerChrysler’s fuel cell program. Dynetek officials say the deal will ultimately lead to storage systems that allow the compressed hydrogen to be at a pressure of 700bar… and that allows for extended driving ranges… one of the knocks on hydrogen-powered cars:

“This contract is a significant step forward in direction of mass production and it underlines Dynetek’s technical leadership in storage of compressed hydrogen”, says Chris Rasche, President and CEO.

Dynetek will deliver the storage systems for testing later this year.

Hydrogen, International

Talking AllThingsBiodiesel.com

Chuck Zimmerman

Doug WhiteheadThe National Biodiesel Board has launched a one-stop marketplace for biodiesel interests to do business over the Internet. It’s AllThingsBiodiesel.com, and was introduced at the National Biodiesel Conference.

AllThingsBiodiesel.com takes its place as the world’s largest biodiesel marketplace, focusing on products, services and industry-related companies. A variety of services assembled within it include online ads and classified ads, the biodiesel store and a biodiesel directory, in which companies can be listed for free.

Additional features on AllThingsBiodiesel.com include:

• A biodiesel store with offerings that range from apparel to books and promotional materials.
• A continually-updated biodiesel directory that is searchable various ways, including by name or category. Businesses can sign up now at www.AllThingsBiodiesel.com for a free spot in the directory.
• Services include real estate listings, business services, feedstock purchases and shows and meetings, to name a few.
• Banner ads and other levels of advertising are available. For more information, contact Doug Whitehead, NBB Project Manager (pictured), at dwhitehead@biodiesel.org. Advertising space is limited.

“AllThingsBiodiesel.com is for companies who want to get the word out on their product on a large scale,” said Whitehead, “to companies who need to know where to turn for services and products helping their biodiesel business, to consumers wanting to make biodiesel-related purchases.”

Listen to my interview with Doug here: Listen To MP3 Doug Whitehead Interview (3 min MP3)

Domestic Fuel coverage of the
National Biodiesel Conference is sponsored by John Deere

Audio, Biodiesel, Biodiesel Conference

Eye on Biodiesel Award – Sprague Energy – Steve Levy

Chuck Zimmerman

Rod Lawrence AwardEach year the National Biodiesel Board bestows the “Eye on Biodiesel” awards, designed to recognize individuals and groups who have advanced the board’s mission of public education and industry growth. The awards were presented by NBB Chairman Darryl Brinkmann (left) and NBB CEO Joe Jobe (right). Award for:

Impact – Sprague Energy – Steve Levy.
A progressive Northeastern petroleum distributor has become the first petroleum company in the nation to earn the status of BQ-9000 “certified marketer.” The New Hampshire-based energy wholesaler also opened the first rack-blended biodiesel terminal in New York. The terminal stores and supplies 40,000 gallons of pure biodiesel for blending in over-the-road applications and #2 heating oil (Bioheat® heating oil) in several states.

Listen to the presentation with Steve here: Listen To MP3 Sprague Energy Presentation (3 min MP3)

Domestic Fuel coverage of the
National Biodiesel Conference is sponsored by John Deere

Audio, Biodiesel, Biodiesel Conference