Domestic Fuel

One of the EPIC member companies and Team Ethanol supporters is Endress+Hauser. They brought a lot of their staff out to Carb Day and I had a chance to visit with general manager Todd Lucey. He’s pictured here to the right of these EPIC staffers.

Todd says that EPIC has really helped create awareness and better understanding in the public about ethanol. He says that’s good for his business. Just a few years ago the amount of business they did related to ethanol was minor. That has changed dramatically and now represents a significant part of their business. In my interview with Todd he talks about what the company does which is basically making measurement and automation equipment for manufacturing applications. Additionally, he had the opportunity to present the fastest practice lap award to Tony Kanaan, which he was very excited about.

You can listen to my interview with Todd Lucey here:

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All the IndyCar drivers make themselves available for interviews prior to race day here in Indianapolis. One of them that I’ve wanted to interview is Ed Carpenter, seen here doing a media interview.

After that interview it was my turn. I asked him what he thinks about using ethanol as a fuel. He believes that although changing fuels is a big challenge and that many people expected a drop in performance the exact opposite is the case. He says it’s just another example of the IRL showcasing new technology and innovation. By the way, Ed is the stepson of IRL founder Tony George.

You can listen to my interview with Ed Carpenter here:

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The Freedom 100 Indy Pro Series race kicked off the weekend’s events at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I stopped in at the Tower suite where the Ethanol Promotional and Information Council hosted members with Endress+Hauser, a company that specializes in fuel flow control. Members enjoyed a sky high view of the Freedom 100, where a record 25 teams entered the race for a cash prize of $30,000. Alex Lloyd of England cruised ahead at the first turn of the race and kept the lead throughout the 40 laps to secure 1st place. During the race, IndyCar Driver Jeff Simmons, who’ll be competing in the Indy 500 Sunday, stopped by the suite. He greeted the large Endress+Hauser group and the members were eager to get Jeff’s autograph. The day rounded out with a free Kid Rock concert just below the Tower suite. Most members wandered down to catch the spectacle.

Just after the Freedom 100 Pro Series race, the top 10 qualifying IndyCar Drivers competed for $50,000 in the Carb Day Pit Stop Challenge. EPIC teammate Scott Sharp’s crew whizzed through the first few rounds of the challenge. But, Scott’s car got hung up in the semifinal and the crew missed it’s chance to advance. The Penske pit crew for IndyCar Driver Helio Castroneves edged out Sam Hornish Jr.’s team in the final for it’s second straight win, with a time of 8.335 seconds.

As some Domestic Fuel fans know I conducted the last interview that Paul Dana granted prior to his tragic death last year just prior to the opening IRL race in Homestead, FL. Paul is the man who worked so hard to bring the ethanol and racing industries together. He was the driver of the #17 Ethanol Car prior to Jeff Simmons. This year’s running of the Indy 500 with all the cars fueled with ethanol is the fulfillment of his dream.

Visiting the track yesterday was Paul’s wife Tonya, pictured here outside the Rahal-Letterman Racing hospitality suite. Although I’ve met Tonya before I never had a chance to interview her. She was gracious enough to allow me a few minutes though.

I was impressed with how strong she seems to be. It has to take courage to come out here in light of what happened to Paul. Tonya says that the support she’s received from friends in the ethanol industry and the IRL has been tremendous. She does see this year’s race as the fulfillment of Paul’s dream and she says she’s ready to help the ethanol industry in any way she can.

You can listen to my interview with Tonya Dana here:

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One of the ways that the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council is promoting ethanol here at the Brickyard today is with this banner being pulled around by a small plane.

It’s going to be circling the area all weekend.

The banner is part of the Gas America promotion that started out with the pump promotion earlier this week.

The agenda for the Ethanol Summit changed at the last minute and just 24 hours before the event, the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Andy Karsner, announced he would attend. Andy said ethanol is a key part of the solution to combating global warming. He said ethanol isn’t the silver bullet, but rather part of the silver buck shot. For Andy, it’ll take a number of committed strategies to establish a more green America. It wasn’t all business for the Assistant Secretary though. Andy strapped on an official Ethanol flame-repellent suit and hopped into the hot seat of a replica Ethanol car.

There’s been some talk around for a while about turning algae into biodiesel (remember Oilgae.com?).

The latest story comes from the Green Options blog:

Researchers at Utah State University say that farming algae, with reported oil yields of 10,000 gallons per acre, could become an economically feasible biodiesel feedstock by the end of the decade.

This is the Holy Grail of biodiesel: an oil source that could make a serious dent in our fossil fuel consumption. Our most productive feedstock today, the oil palm, doesn’t even come close with yields of 635 gallons/acre, and is followed distantly by the U.S. standard, soy, at 48 gallons of oil/acre.

And officials point out that algae can be grown just about anywhere… in extremely hot weather or even salty sea water.

Utah State researchers are producing their algae in a grid of indoor bioreactors. The light is captured by parabolic dishes on the roof and fed inside using fiber-optic cables. They’re stringing together several thousand to make an algae farm. And they received $6 million in a grant from the Utah Science and Technology Research Initiative,. The first commercial plant in Utah is in the works, and researchers say algae-biodiesel could become economically feasible by 2009.

Updating a story I first reported on March 22nd, Decker Truck Lines of Fort Dodge, Iowa has hit the 750,000-mile mark in a two-year, two-million-mile study of how well B20, 20% biodiesel, works in long-haul semi trucks. This story in Farm News-Iowa.com says the study is the first of its kind in this country and is getting some help from the federal government:

Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded a $74,990 grant to help fund the study which is being largely performed at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge. Don Heck, biofuels program coordinator at Iowa Central, said the grant dollars will be used for a variety of purposes in the study including additional expenses incurred by the test vehicles owned by Decker Truck Line Inc. of Fort Dodge.

Heck said the study was first launched in October 2006 with studies being performed on a fleet of 20 tractor-trailers. One-half of the trucks burn petroleum diesel with the other 10 trucks burning a B20 blend. Decker and Iowa Central are collaborating with the Iowa Soybean Association, Caterpillar, Inc., USDA and the National Biodiesel Board as sponsors of the study.

The article goes on to say a big part of the work has been perfecting the proper blend of biodiesel and then extracting the information such as gas mileage and wear and tear on the engine. The constant needed to be the blend of biodiesel, but Dale Decker, an industry and governmental relations director for Decker, said that was next to impossible.

‘‘Diesel fuel varies wildly when it comes in on the pipeline,’’ Decker said. ‘‘We know though that the biodiesel that we get from Doolittles (Oil Co. Inc. in Fort Dodge) comes from biodiesel plants owned by REG (Renewable Energy Group) and they meet industry standards (BQ9000).’’

Decker says after they got the supply problem solved, the study has been going very well.

Clean Diesel Technologies, Inc., has found a way to make diesel fuel burn cleaner. That means biodiesel, which already burns pretty clean, will be an even greener fuel.

Dr. Walter Copan, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Clean Diesel, says his company has developed a range of retrofit emissions control technologies, called Purifier. This new technology will help meet the requirements of new European LOw Emissions Zones (LEZs). One of these zones is about to take effect in London, England.

“The mayor of London, Ken Livingston, has spearheaded an initiative to bring cleaning technologies for new vehicles, as well as to retrofit the older, dirtier engines that are operating in the city,” says Copan. That’s where his company comes in.

“Clean Diesel’s Purifier technologies deliver robust emission control performance controlling particulate matter, the black smoke, that you see out of older diesels and those that do not have filters on them.”

So what about biodiesel that already has low particulate emissions?

“(Our technology is) a catalyst that helps the fuel itself burn more completely and more cleanly, and so the Purifier system working with biodiesel will have dramatically improved performance even in relation to current Number 2 diesel or ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel,” says Copan. “The Purifier technology has been demonstrated to be fully compatible with the biofuels in the market today.”

Listen to my full interview with Copan below:

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Check out Clean Diesel Technologies on the web at www.cdti.com.

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