Mercedes Offers Biodiesel-Compatible Engines Again

John Davis October 29, 2013

Biodiesel lovers might soon be singing a the line from the old Janis Joplin song, “Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?” The German car maker will once again offer its line of biodiesel-compatible vehicles. This news release from EINNews.com says that after several years of not selling its BlueTEC diesel engines, the clean burners are back.

Improving the design and returning stronger than ever, the Mercedes-Benz line of BlueTEC engines can now properly utilize B5 biofuel. Biodiesel-consuming engines are available on some of their most popular vehicles including the GLK, M, GL, and E-Class. Providing emission passing ratings and some of the highest fuel economy marks for their respective classes, the Mercedes-Benz BlueTEC engines are great options for drivers searching for an alternative to gas-powered vehicles.

The story goes on to point out that this is the latest development in Mercedes’ long history of offering diesel-powered passenger vehicles, which most diesels are already compatible with biodiesel. The latest advances in the BlueTEC engine allow it to run both ultralow-sulfur fuel and B5 biodiesel.

Biodiesel

Darling Buys Biodiesel Feedstock Renderer

John Davis October 29, 2013

Texas-based Darling International Inc. has closed the deal to buy a Canadian company dealing with rendering and biodiesel. This company news release says Darling bought Rothsay, the rendering and biodiesel division of Maple Leaf Foods Inc., for about $618 million.

Darling International Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Randall Stuewe said, “We are excited to add the Rothsay assets and employees to our portfolio. Together we will bring new solutions and opportunities to our many customers across North America.”

Darling International Inc. is the largest and only publicly traded provider of rendering and bakery residuals recycling solutions to the nation’s food industry. The Company recycles beef, poultry and pork by-product streams into useable ingredients such as tallow, feed-grade fats, meat and bone meal, poultry meal and hides. The Company also recovers and converts used cooking oil and commercial bakery residuals into valuable feed and fuel ingredients. These products are primarily sold to agricultural, pet food, leather, oleo-chemical and biodiesel manufacturers around the world.

Earlier this year, Texas-based Darling opened a joint venture renewable diesel plant with energy giant Valero in Louisiana. That plant also uses animal fat to make the renewable diesel, as well as using waste cooking oil and corn oil.

Biodiesel

EPA Response to Calls for Lowering RFS

Cindy Zimmerman October 28, 2013

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued a statement regarding the AAA call to lower the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), stressing that no decision has yet been made on for 2014.

The Obama Administration remains firmly committed to furthering the development of all biofuels – including corn-based ethanol, cellulosic biofuel, and advanced biofuel – as part of the President’s commitment to developing a clean energy economy. Biofuels are a critical part of the President’s all of the above energy strategy that is reducing America’s dependence on oil and creating jobs across the country. At this point, EPA is only developing a draft proposal. The agency has made no final decision on the proposed renewable fuel standards for 2014. And no decisions will be made on the final standards without a full opportunity for all stakeholders to comment on the EPA’s proposed 2014 renewable fuel standards and be heard on how to best foster a growing biofuels industry that takes into account infrastructure- and market-related factors.

Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) president and CEO Bob Dinneen said today that it did appear EPA is planning on lowering the Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) for 2014, which would be a “reversal of stunning proportions” that effectively “guts the program.”

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Government, RFA, RFS

Dinneen: Lowering RFS Would be Mistake

Cindy Zimmerman October 28, 2013

Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) president and CEO Bob Dinneen fears “the Obama Administration is about to make a huge mistake” in lowering the volume requirements for ethanol under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

In an interview for “The Ethanol Report,” Dinneen says it does appear that the Environmental Protection Agency is planning on changing the Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) for 2014. “I find that hard to believe because this administration has been so strongly supportive of the RFS, of farmers, of a growing renewable fuels industry … this would be a reversal of stunning proportions,” he said. “It guts the program.”

Dinneen notes that EPA has not yet made the proposal for 2014 and once that happens there will be at least a 30 day comment period. “They’re supposed to have a final rule by November 30, but nobody in this town expects that to happen,” he said. “I do anticipate they will have the rule proposed sometime this month or early next.”

Dinneen also talks about the RFA response to AAA comments about the safety of E15 and how a recent NREL study proves it is safe in this Ethanol Report interview Ethanol Report with RFA's Bob Dinneen

Subscribe to “The Ethanol Report” with this link.

Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Ethanol Report, Government, RFA, RFS

REG Opens Mason City Biodiesel Plant

Cindy Zimmerman October 28, 2013

Renewable Energy Group today formally opened the company’s recently acquired biodiesel refinery in Mason City, Iowa. The biodiesel company also announced the start of a $20 million project to upgrade the plant to a multi-feedstock facility.

REG completed the acquisition of the former Soy Energy, LLC refinery on July 31, 2013. REG immediately began efforts to repair and re-start the plant and began producing biodiesel on October 1.

“REG Mason City fits into our existing network of biodiesel plants very well and is an ideal location to bring in raw materials for biodiesel production, is a good distribution point, and is sited well to serve our customers and terminals,” said Daniel J. Oh, President and CEO of Renewable Energy Group, Inc. “As we continue to grow as a company and an industry, we are dedicated to our communities like Mason City, and providing America with advanced biofuel.”

Brad Albin, REG Vice President, Manufacturing told the crowd about the upgrades the company will make. “With these upgrades, we will be able to utilize lower cost raw materials like inedible corn oil from ethanol production, used cooking oil and animal fats, with the majority coming from a close proximity to Mason City,” Albin said. “This will give REG Mason City the ability to deliver the highest quality product available, in line with the REG quality standards.”

REG now has eight active biorefineries in four states, with Mason City being the company’s third Iowa facility, joining the company’s first refinery in Ralston and a plant in Newton. The company also has a multi-feedstock biorefinery in nearby Albert Lea, Minnesota, where a $21 million multi-feedstock upgrade was just recently completed. REG also has two refineries in both Illinois and Texas respectively. The REG-owned biodiesel production fleet has an annual production capacity of 257 million gallons.

Biodiesel, REG

Ethanol Industry Refutes AAA Claims

Cindy Zimmerman October 28, 2013

The American Automobile Association (AAA) is calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to “lower the amount of ethanol required to be blended into gasoline for 2014” in order to “protect drivers by preventing a possible surge in gas prices or the increased use of potentially damaging E15 gasoline.”

The ethanol industry wasted no time in responding. “The Energy Department and more than 40 studies say that more than 60 percent of cars on the road today can safely use E15,” said Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) president Bob Dinneen of the blend that has been approved by the EPA for 2001 and newer vehicles. “More than 40 million miles have been driven on E15 without a single complaint.”

Dinneen says RFA has reached out to AAA with data that proves E15’s safety, including the recently released NREL review of E15 studies but so far have been rebuffed. “Why is AAA resistant to data that benefits a nation of drivers?” Dinneen asked.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

ShockWave Reactor Helps Biodiesel Efficiency

John Davis October 28, 2013

A new video demonstration is showing how the new ShockWave Power Biodiesel Reactor (SPR) is making production of the green fuel more efficient. Hydro Dynamics, Inc. (HDI) posted the video to show how its product will make the transesterification process go better.

Although not a complete replacement for seeing the technology in person, video is becoming commonplace on the web to demonstrate technology and quickly convey information to customers. Our other SPR cavitation videos have been viewed over 750,000 times showing everything from simple cavitation bubbles to gas-liquid mixing to an ethanol extraction animation http://hydrodynamics.com/about-us/videos/.

The ShockWave PowerTM Reactor (SPR) is manufactured by Hydro Dynamics, Inc., a world leader in process intensification reactors. Together with World Energy, Hydrodynamics, Inc. offers reactor systems to the biodiesel industry for every size of plant and the expertise in biodiesel processing necessary to implement ShockWave PowerTM Reactor in any new or existing biodiesel production facility. With over 500 million gallons of annual reactor capacity now sold, the ShockWave Power Reactor is setting a new standard for efficient biodiesel production.

More information is available on the company’s biodiesel page.

Biodiesel, Video

Pentti Itkonen Chosen as Energy Ambassador

Joanna Schroeder October 28, 2013

EnergyVaasa, the largest energy cluster in the Nordic countries, recently chose 25 year old engineering student Pentti Itkonen as their Energy Ambassador. In a press conference held at Citec’s premises at Navi Mumbai, India, it was announced that Itkonen will embark on a global tour, beginning in Kittilä in Northern Finland to Norway, USA, Ecuador, Brazil, Spain, Thailand and India. Pentii will spend a week at each of the chosen countries and meet and hope to influence key stakeholders of renewable and green technologies.

In this journey, Pentii Itkonen could experience a project where experts from many countries work together to come up with the best solutions to the customer’s needs. Thus, Itkonen became more acquainted with one of Waste-to-Energy power plant projects designed by Citec, a company that provides multi-discipline engineering and information management services to the Energy and Power industry, and other technology-dependent industries. In this project, the customer is from Switzerland and the plant is built in the UK.

Pentti Itkonen said, “It’s amazing to be in Incredible India, I have to admit that this has probably been the destination I’ve been looking forward to the most. The people at Mumbai office have welcomed me with fascinating Hindu ceremonies and I was honoured to start off my week like that. It was interesting to discover how Citec is working globally and specially the Indian operations. We also discussed over a certain waste-to-energy project.”

One of the highlights of Itkonen’s visit was when Mr. Alexander Stubb, Finland’s Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade met with Citec’s senior management – Mr. Martin Strand, CEO, Mr, Nasir Mulani, Managing Director India, Mr Arun Tyagarajan, Director Citec India and the Energy Ambassador in Mumbai.

“In an agro-based country like India, Bio-power has a growing demand. Nevertheless, solar and wind power are also areas where the future is heading towards. Citec is also working on such projects. Aiming for a cleaner environment, we are proud to support the Energy Ambassador campaign,” said Mulani.

In addition to his exposure to Citec as a global company and its energy business in India, the Energy Ambassador also received insight into other aspects of India.

Alternative energy, Clean Energy, International, Renewable Energy

Argonne National Lab Releases Updated GREET Model

Joanna Schroeder October 28, 2013

The Argonne National laboratory has announced the release of the updated GREET fuel cycle model. The GREET model was first released in 1996 and since its release, Argonne has continued to update and improve the model. GREET (Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation) is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).

The GREET model is a tool designed to fully evaluate energy and emission impacts of advanced vehicle technologies and new transportation fuels, the fuel cycle from wells to wheels It also takes into account the vehicle cycle through material recovery and vehicle disposal.

Key updates include:

New marine fuel pathways and commercial vessel operations
New sorghum ethanol pathways
New Tallow pathway
Electric power sector technology shares, efficiencies and emission factors by technology and utility regions
CH4 emissions for natural gas pathways
Transmission and distribution (T&D) emission factors, energy intensity, mode shares and distances
Biofuels land use change (LUC) data and new modeling options
Cellulosic biomass feedstock updates (e.g., farming, T&D, dry matter losses)
Fertilizers and nutrients use for biofuels pathways
Petroleum refining efficiency
Light duty vehicles (LDV) tailpipe emission factors
Hydrogen production with latest DOE H2A models
Urban share of criteria air pollutants (CAP) emissions (petroleum, electricity, LDVs)

The GREET model is free to use. Click here to download the updated GREET fuel cycle model.

Alternative energy, Alternative Vehicles, biofuels, feedstocks, Indirect Land Use

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder October 28, 2013

Natural Power has announced that consent has been granted for Fred. Olsen Renewables’ 20.7 MW Mid Hill II Wind Farm. The wind farm will comprise up to nine 2.3 MW Siemens turbines, and is sited next to the 25-turbine Mid Hill Wind Farm, which is currently under construction in Fetteresso Forest, near Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire, giving both developments a combined capacity of over 75 MW. When operational, Mid Hill and Mid Hill II could potentially generate enough electricity to power over 38,500 homes.
The school board of the Lucia Mar Unified School District (San Luis Obispo County, California) awarded Chevron Energy Solutions a contract to design and develop a program which will include solar energy systems, energy efficiency measures and improved lighting components that are estimated to save the district over $40 million, or about $20 million after paying all program costs over the 30-year project life. The project will include 1.7 MW of solar generation capacity at 7 district sites, upgraded HVAC systems, irrigation controls and energy-saving LED lighting. In total, the project is expected to reduce the district’s utility-purchased electricity costs by approximately 75 percent.
ForceField Energy, an international manufacturer, seller and distributor of energy products and solutions, has announced the appointment of Stephane Vachon as its new Vice President of Business Development and Operations. Prior to joining ForceField Energy, Mr. Vachon was Chief Executive Officer and President of DEK International SA.
First Power and Light, LLC has signed an Engineering, Procurement and Contraction contract valued at $7.5 million to install a 2 MW solar array on an existing landfill that will supply electricity to the community of Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania. This system to be installed will use approximately 8 thousand 250 kw solar panels. The project’s developers will use approximately 15 acres of land and the project is projected to break ground by the first of the year.

Bioenergy Bytes

Page 806 of 1,940
←
1
...
805
806
807
...
1940
→