ACE Conference 2026

Wilks’ Biodiesel Analyzer to Meet ASTM Standards

John Davis

Meeting ASTM methods D7371 and EN 14078 for biodiesel standards usually requires FTIR spectrometers, an expensive proposition considering the equipment would be placed on a loading dock. This article in Biodiesel Magazine says Wilks Enterprises has something that could help producers meet those ASTM standards with a fast, easy-to-use and inexpensive infrared method:

wilksanalyzerThe InfraCal Biodiesel Blend Analyzer is a rugged, compact, specific-analysis fixed-filter infrared analyzer that is easy for fleet managers, distributors or regulators to use. It reads out directly in percent biodiesel and provides the user with the capability to measure the blend ratio on-site in 30 seconds. Its measurement range is zero to 100 percent with an accuracy of plus or minus 0.20 percent and can be operated by personnel having little or no knowledge of infrared analytical techniques.

The InfraSpec VFA-IR Spectrometer is a spectral range analyzer that contains a linear variable filter and a detector array covering the wavelength range of 5.4-10.8 μm (1850-925 cm-1). This provides the capability to not only measure biodiesel in diesel, but also ethanol in gasoline or water in ethanol. It is a compact, portable instrument with a simplified PC interface that provides nontechnical personnel with the ability to make measurements on-site at the blending terminal, as well as the manufacturing facility or laboratory.

The company touts the InfraCal Biodiesel Blend Analyzer and InfraSpec VFA-IR Spectrometer as ideal workhorses, specifically designed for use in the field. This ASTM method now goes before the full committee for voting and should be approved and accepted before the end of this year.

Biodiesel

Webinars Focus on Legal Issues For Ethanol Producers

Joanna Schroeder

The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) along with Michael Best & Friedrich LLP (Michael Best) are hosting a webinar series focused on pressing legal issues facing ethanol producers. The first webinar focused on compliance issues with federal Health Care Reform in 2013. The 30 minute webinar, says ACE Executive Vice President Brian Jennings, will be a valuable resource for the ethanol industry.

ACE-Michael Best“With so many demands on our members’ time, we are pleased to team up with ACE member Michael Best to sponsor this series of webinars providing ethanol producers with useful and timely updates on important legal issues,” said Jennings.

Porter J. Martin, Michael Best partner, describes the webinar series as an approachable way to communicate information every ethanol producer needs in the most efficient way. “The webinars are based on our experience representing ethanol producers and other industry clients. The goal is to provide participants with a basic understanding of potential legal challenges they may face in their business and prepare them to make educated decisions in the future,” said Martin.

Future webinar topics include, long-term compliance with health care reform (2014 and beyond), intellectual property concerns, OSHA inspections, State and EPA enforcement activities, negotiating air permits, employee wage and hour matters, and others. You can access the first webinar here.

ACE, biofuels, Education, Ethanol

Kit Teaches Students Wonders of Soy Biodiesel

John Davis

BiodieselChemistryKit1Biodiesel made from soybeans is a clean fuel for many gas tanks, including the buses that haul kids to school. Now those same children hauled by the green fuel can also get a lesson in chemistry from it. The Indiana Soybean Alliance is offering a Soy Biodiesel Chemistry Kit, touted as a valuable educational science lab for high school students, free of charge to teachers in Indiana and just $225 to out-of-state teachers:

Developed by Purdue University researchers and public school teachers, the kit is an engaging way to apply the basic skills and principles of chemistry. It’s also useful for showing high schoolers real-world chemistry applications and the growing importance of the alternative fuel industry, which is primarily derived from renewable natural resources like soybean oil.

“The lessons offered in the kit are aligned with the National Science Education Standards, and we think that it is an important component to encourage teachers to incorporate these lessons into their classrooms,” said Don Wyss, chairman of ISA’s biofuels committee and a farmer from Ossian, Ind.

The kits have enough supplies for 20 students working in pairs to perform each of each of the six hands-on exercises and experiments. More information is available here.

Biodiesel, Soybeans

Wisconsin Opens 8 New E15 Pumps

Joanna Schroeder

Wisconsin is the home of eight new E15 pumps. The 15 percent ethanol 85 percent gasoline blend is now offered at SmartStation, 1290 Business Highway 151, Platteville, Wisconsin. The station is a wholly owned subsidiary of Badger State Ethanol.

smartStationLogo“We are honored to be Wisconsin’s first retailer to offer E15 to our customers who have been asking for it,” said Erik Hushitt of Badger State Ethanol. “We hope other retailers follow our lead so that consumers around the state have an opportunity to gain access to a cleaner burning fuel that contributes directly to the billion dollar ethanol industry in Wisconsin.”

E15 is approved for cars and light duty trucks model year 20o1 or newer. This represents a market of more than 75 percent of vehicles on the road today eligible to use E15. This market also represents 85 percent of the unleaded fuel sold across the country.

“We congratulate Badger State Ethanol and Wisconsin’s ethanol industry for working together to bring E15 to the Wisconsin market,” said Joshua Morby of the Wisconsin Ethanol Coalition, an organization that helps retailers interested in selling E85 navigate the process. “E15 offers retailers a chance to set themselves apart by offering a new, exciting fuel to their station that not only confirms their commitment to domestic renewable fuels but also offers them a competitive advantage.”

Morby added, “We expect retailers around the state to take notice of the demand by consumers for cheaper, cleaner, more homegrown E15.”

biofuels, E15, Ethanol

New Database Tracks Energy Legislation

Joanna Schroeder

Screen Shot 2013-05-07 at 8.02.27 PMColorado State University’s Center for the New Energy Economy (CNEE) has launched an Advanced Energy Legislation (AEL) Tracker, a database tracking energy-related state legislation pending in all 50 states. Types of energy include solar, wind, biofuels, natural gas and more. The AEL was created in partnership with Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) and the system will also enable CNEE to conduct analysis of trends in state energy legislation.

To date, there are more than 2,100 bills being considered in U.S. states and the energy tracker monitors the progress of each bill as they move forward. Of these bills, nearly 25 percent call for new financing tools, including tax incentives, for the installation of energy facilities. In addition, roughly 21 percent of the bills are promoting development of clean energy sources, and about 8 percent encourage the adoption of energy-efficient appliances, building codes and practices.

If we look at where the country is going on advanced energy policy, overwhelmingly that transition is being led by states,” said Bill Ritter, Jr., director of CNEE and former governor of Colorado.”To get the pulse of where the country is going we need to understand what the states are doing.”

Ritter continued, “AEL Tracker brings together information on energy-related legislation in all 50 states, in a form that is easily accessible not only to lawmakers at all levels of government, but to academics, analysts, environmentalists, funders, business leaders and the general public. It will allow our Center to conduct critical academic analysis of issues to energy legislation nationwide.”Read More

Alternative energy, energy efficiency, Legislation

New Natural Gas Partnership Announced

Joanna Schroeder

Clean Energy Fuels and Mansfield Energy have created a strategic partnership to offer customers a comprehensive solution in the compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel industry. The partners will offer Clean Energy’s natural gas fueling station construction and operational services. The services will be supported by Mansfield’s large-scale fuel supply capabilities and Gas-2-Gallons fuel management system.

Clean Energy logo“This agreement joins two leaders of fleet fueling into strategic partners that will provide the highest level of service and best value for customers in the rapidly-growing natural gas fuel market,” said Andrew J. Littlefair, president and CEO of Clean Energy. “No other company offers fuel customers the benefit of scale and expertise that Mansfield provides. Clean Energy has built and operated more CNG stations and fueled more natural gas vehicles than any company in the U.S. Together, we will be the best solution in the marketplace.”

Mansfield logoMansfield Gas Equipment Systems has ongoing CNG service and operations contracts with 43 locations as well as 20 new CNG sites currently under development in the waste, transit, and municipal fleet sectors. This portfolio will be combined with the 348 CNG and liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling stations Clean Energy currently owns, operates or supplies. Clean Energy’s total strategic partnerships to-date represent over 11 billion gallons of gasoline and diesel delivered annually. The company also will become the Western distributor of Mansfield Gas Equipment Systems’ FuelMaker, a small scale business and home re-fueling system.

Michael Mansfield, CEO of Mansfield added, “We want our customers to have the best solution possible for fueling with natural gas. We bring scale in commodity supply, risk management, and transaction processing. Clean Energy has scale in design, engineering and operations. Bringing these strengths together for our customers provides the benefits of proven technology coupled with large scale operating efficiencies to provide the best value and simplest path to natural gas adoption in the market today.”

Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Natural Gas

Ethanol Report on Current Events

Cindy Zimmerman

dinneen-capitolIn ethanol-related news over the past week or so we have seen senators request a probe into the European Union’s anti-dumping duties on ethanol, comments to the House energy committee on the RFS, and legislation introduced for an energy title in the next farm bill.

To find out more about all of those stories and more, we caught up with Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen to get his comments in this new edition of “The Ethanol Report.” We’ll be hearing more from him and others in the nation’s capitol next week when we attend the annual National Association of Farm Broadcasting Washington Watch.

Listen to or download the Ethanol Report here: Ethanol Report on Current Events

Subscribe to “The Ethanol Report” with this link.

Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Ethanol Report, RFA

Farm Bill Energy Title Introduced in Senate

Cindy Zimmerman

Legislation to reauthorize the Farm Bill energy title was introduced in the Senate Monday.

harkinSenators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Al Franken (D-MN) introduced the Rural Energy Investment Act to “help farmers, ranchers, and rural communities by encouraging the growth of agricultural energy technologies, including advanced biofuels, biogas, biomass, and renewable energies.”

“These energy programs are essential for expanding clean energy supplies, which also spur rural economic development and job creation,” said Harkin. “The tradition of providing strong support for an energy title in a farm bill must continue today, so for that reason I am hopeful that this measure will serve as a marker as the 2013 bill moves through the U.S. Senate.”

franken“Advancing our agricultural energy technologies is good for our farmers and economy, and it improves our overall energy independence and security,” added Franken. “This legislation will create jobs and play a critical role in cutting costs for our farmers and producers and will help them with the adoption of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.”

The Agriculture Energy Coalition supports the legislation and thanked the senators for introducing it. Last week, the coalition joined more than 100 national, state and regional organizations in a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees, urging them to adopt a new Farm Bill with robust mandatory funding for renewable energy and energy efficiency programs.

Energy, Ethanol, Ethanol News, farm bill, Government, Legislation

EV Connect Successfully Raises Funding

Joanna Schroeder

Basic CMYKEV Connect has closed its initial round of financing with funding coming from 37 Technology Ventures, Jackrel Ventures, Tech Coast Angels, Maverick Angels Keiretsu Forum, and other key individual investors. The company works with companies, government and transit agencies, hotels and consumers to install, operate and maintain electric vehicle charging stations. With this funding, EV Connect will expand its sales, marketing, and software development to capitalize on increasing customer demand. EV Connect will also build out its already-successful partnership program and fast-track strategic alliances with charge station manufacturers and network system providers.

“From 2011 to 2012, plug-in vehicle sales grew nearly 200 percent. I’m impressed with EV Connect’s market opportunity,” said Yuri Pikover, Tech Coast Angels. “EV Connect doesn’t make car charging hardware, rather, it focuses on its differentiated and defensible charge station deployment, management services, and proprietary cloud-based software platform. This unique combination of services allows EV Connect to offer customers their own branded or centrally-managed charge station network at all of their parking lots.”

Jordan Ramer, CEO of EV Connect added, “Our goal is to make EV infrastructure more accessible than ever for all companies and organizations.” We believe in the future, all parking spaces will offer EV charging–and EV Connect will be there to integrate, operate and maintain them, as well as customize their customer-facing features.”

Alternative energy, Electric Vehicles

New Wind Turbine for Low Wind Sites

Joanna Schroeder

Northern Power Systems has launched two new wind turbine models specifically designed for low wind sites. The NPS 60-23 and the NPS 100-24 are based on the NPS 100-21 platform, but according to the company, leverage product features that produce higher energy capture in low winds while reducing the noise profile of the turbine. To date, more than 20 of these turbines are operating in the U.S., United Kingdom and Italy.

“NPS is committed to delivering enhanced offerings that lower costs and increase performance for turbine owners,” said Troy Patton, President and CEO of Northern Power Systems. “We are increasing the value proposition of our already highly-capable NPS turbines through an integrated road-map of expanded product and services offerings, of which our proven low wind enhancements are just one example.”

NPS-100-24The NPS Low Wind turbine fleet has surpassed 50,000 operational hours with availability in excess of 97 percent, and has generated more than 1,500 MWh of energy, enough to power more than 150 U.S. (or 450 UK) homes for an entire year. The company says these improved models are optimized for low wind and yield comparatively more energy in low wind regimes.

The NPS 100-24 is based on the platform of the NPS 100-21, which was originally designed to service remote areas such as Alaska, where regular maintenance is not an option. The NPS 100 utilizes permanent magnet direct-drive technology and has fewer moving parts than a conventional gear-box based wind turbine. The larger rotor diameter, lower rpm and tip speed of the NPS 100-24 and 60-23 makes for quieter operation, while the longer blades capture more energy at lower wind speeds. The NPS 60 model generates 59.9kW rated power and is utilized in areas where grid connection capacity is a constraint.

Scottish farmer Mervyn Wallace recently installed an NPS 60 at his farm, his second Northern Power Systems wind turbine. “I’m excited that Northern Power came out with a new turbine that is designed specifically for lower wind speeds. I am very pleased with the revenue that both of my Northern Power turbines are now earning for me. NPS turbines are an excellent return on capital invested.”

Alternative energy, Electricity, Energy, Wind