Domestic Fuel

There is some actual good that will come out of the devastation of Hurricane Ike.

This story from Greentech Media says Biofuels Power Corp. has announced plans to build a 4-megawatt power plant the will produce electricity from the woodchips and other debris from the storm:

The Woodlands, Texas-based company, traded over the counter using the symbol “BFLS,” on Friday signed a preliminary agreement with a wood-waste storage operator, DSMC, and with a consulting firm, Texoga Technologies Corp., that will retrofit abandoned oil wells for carbon-dioxide storage.

DSMC, based in Humble, Texas, has handled a bulk of waste disposal from the hurricane cleanup effort.

While the debris from Hurricane Ike eventually will be burned up, the article did point out the the Gulf Coast has plenty of hurricanes every year, so at least potentially, there would be plenty of feedstock.

The folks in El Paso, Texas now have a way to get rid of their old, used cooking grease and fill up their gas tanks.

This story from KVIA-TV in El Paso says it’s a new pilot program offered by the city to turn the grease into biodiesel:

The service is free and available to residents who pay a solid waste disposal fee to the city. Officials advise residents to never wash cooking fats, oil or grease down the drain, as they can cause the sewer line to back up into homes or in the storm drains, which flow to the city’s wastewater treatment plants.

The City of El Paso has partnered with Global Alternative Fuel, LLC, to start the pilot program. Used cooking oils from businesses, including restaurants, will not be accepted.

You can find a drop off point by clicking here.

A symposium for biodiesel feedstocks is slated for November 21st in St. Louis, Mo. The Center for Evergreen Energy at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center will host the event, designed to address some of the current challenges in biofuel feedstock research and production:

Biodiesel producers, marketers and feedstock producers will hear from presenters including Monsanto, NASA, Enterprise-Rent-a-Car Institute and the National Biodiesel Board as well as scientists from the Center for Evergreen Energy and Danforth. Participants will address feedstock production, oil content, and innovation. For the purpose of the symposium, feedstock is separated into three categories: algae; near-term feedstock; and long-term feedstock. At the end of the day, each group will provide policy recommendations that will help fulfill future biodiesel goals.

“Increased availability of diversified feedstocks used in biodiesel is vital to the future growth of the biodiesel industry,” said J. Alan Weber, feedstock consultant to NBB. “This symposium grew out of a need to explore alternatives and educate the biodiesel industry on the short and long-term future of feedstocks.”

Ethanol production can yield some non-fuel uses that have yet to be realized.

The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) has been researching efforts that produce ethyl lactate from reactive distillation. Ethyl lactate is a general all-purpose solvent as well as a common ingredient in pharmaceutical preparations, food additives and fragrances, and it is typically derived from petrochemicals. The reactive distillation process provides a cost-effective way to produce it from ethanol.

NCGA Vice President for Research and Business Development Richard Glass says they have worked with a team from Michigan State University, including chemical engineering professors Carl Lira and Dennis Miller.

Among the benefits is that reactive distillation can cut the cost of ethyl lactate production in half and provide a significant non-fuel revenue stream for ethanol plants. “If all you produce from a biorefinery is ethanol, that is fine for a nascent industry but, in essence, all you have is a one-trick pony,” Glass said. “My dream is the integrated biorefinery where the only limits are your imagination and the ability to make the system utilize all components of the production output.”

Glass said that at a typical ethanol plant producing 25 million gallons a year, diverting one million gallons to make chemicals like ethyl lactate each year could bring in the same amount of revenue as the remaining 24 million gallons of ethanol produced for fuel. NCGA is currently seeking companies interested in purchasing a license for this ethyl lactate technology, which can be retrofitted into a dry-grind ethanol plant.

An Arizona-based maker solar panels has really taken off, as it has signed a long-term agreement to provide solar panels and its profits have doubled.

This story from Forbes says First Solar Inc. has seen its stocks surge as its solar business takes off:

First Solar also said Wednesday it is entering the U.S. residential market through a five-year contract with SolarCity Corp.

First Solar, which produces cadmium telluride-based solar panels, will supply 100 megawatts of modules to SolarCity, a Foster City, Calif.-based residential solar installer, beginning in the first quarter of 2009. First Solar will also make a $25 million equity investment in SolarCity, which is part of a $30 million round of financing that will fund SolarCity’s continued U.S. expansion.

Analysts say that First Solar is on track in its strategy to expand its U.S. utility presence.

Wind energy is a popular alternative energy source… so popular that New York’s Attorney General wants to make sure it’s done legally.

This story from WRGB-TV in Albany, NY has details:

Cuomo announced Thursday a new Wind Industry Ethics Code to ensure that development of alternative energy continues in New York properly and legally.

The Wind Industry Ethics Code prohibits conflicts of interest between municipal officials and wind companies, and establishes new public disclosure requirements.

An eco-friendly filter could help purify biodiesel, no matter what is used as a feedstock.

This story from Biodiesel Magazine says Schroeder Biofuels out of Pennsylvania has introduced the Eco2Pure, a filter made of cellulose and is considered natural and sustainable:

“It has the powerful dry washing capability of a magnesol, but has the applicability of a column-based treatment,” said Jonathan Dugan, Schroeder biofuels product specialist.

The Eco2Pure system works by passing unwashed biodiesel through a fixed bed of purification media, cleaning the fuel and removing residues, fuel contaminants and soaps. “Each kilogram of the system is capable of purifying between 93 to 185 gallons of biodiesel, keeping the frequency of media replacement to a minimum,” Dugan said.

Schroeder Biofuels officials say the new filter will bring down biodiesel purification costs about two cents a gallon, capable of cleaning batches of biodiesel from homebrew to million-gallon operations.

According to Motor Trend and cars.com, the Ford Fusion will be E85 compatible in 2010. The midlevel Fusion with a 3.0L V-6 250 horsepower vehicle will have the flexible fuel engine. Ford spokesman Alan Hall said the V-6 Fusion will only be available with an automatic transmission.

The 2009 flexible fuel vehicles Ford offerings include nine models: Ford Crown Victoria, Ford E-Series Commercial Van, Ford Expedition, Ford F-150, Ford Lincoln Navigator, Lincoln Town Car, and Mercury Grand Marquis.

Ford, along with General Motors and Chrysler have all promised to produce half their lines as E85 compatible by the year 2012.

Although the specific fuel mileage and power specs of the 2010 Fusion have not been confirmed, both have been reported improved from previous models.

A Texas company is moving forward with technology that converts non-food biomass into chemicals that can be processed into ethanol and other renewable fuels.

Terrabon has developed and is currently licensing its MixAlco™ biomass conversion technology to commercial customers. The company will dedicate its research facility on November 7 in Bryan, Texas to test the scaled-up commercial feasibility of the MixAlco technology.

Terrabon CEO Gary Luce addressed the National Renewable Resource Laboratory’s (NREL) 21st Growth Forum meeting this week in Denver. “Terrabon’s MixAlco technology is a cost effective, sustainable solution to the urgent need to produce biofuels and bio-chemicals that satisfy the world’s appetite for renewable energy resources and reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil,” Luce said. “MixAlco, which was inspired by the digestive processes of the ordinary cow, is an advanced bio-refining process that employs carboxylic acid fermentation followed by downstream chemistry to convert biomass products such as municipal solid waste, sewage sludge, forest product residues and non-edible energy crops, into industrial chemicals and renewable gasoline.”

When completed, the new semi-works facility in Bryan will have the loading capacity of 400 dry tons of biomass, equal to a loading rate of five dry tons per day. The Company will use sorghum as the primary feedstock with the objective of producing organic salts and converting them to ketones, which can be converted to renewable gasoline. The MixAlco technology has already been successfully tested for the past three years at Terrabon’s pilot plant in College Station, Texas.

Some trains in South Florida will be running on a nearly pure mix of biodiesel.

This story from the Miami Herald says the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority’s commuter train system, Tri-Rail, is planning to run eight of its 10 locomotives on a 99-percent biodiesel blend:

Thanks to South Florida’s comparatively temperate climate, Tri-Rail is one of the few commuter rail systems in the country that can operate on such a pure blend of bio-fuel.

”The Federal Transit Administration is committed to encouraging the use of alternative fuels in the nation’s rail and bus systems,” said FTA Administrator James S. Simpson.

The article does point out that the trains use a bit more fuel when using biodiesel, but the biodiesel costs are significantly lower… making the green fuel a good deal for the environment and taxpayers.

More than 650 attendees and 50 speakers looked at the future of algae biodiesel at a recent conference in Seattle.

The Algae Biomass Summit, hosted by firms Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Byrne and Company, brought together those exploring the scientific and commercial advances of the field of the slimy green biodiesel feedstock. Our friends at Biodiesel Magazine covered the event sponsored by the Algal Biomass Organization and filed this report (and, of course, several others):

Mario Tredici from the department of agricultural biotechnology at the University of Florence in Italy said algae has many of the properties for a second green revolution that could help satisfy the world’s energy and food needs. However, algae have very specific culture requirements to produce near their theoretical potential. Changing light conditions as the density of cultures increase can limit the efficiency of the plants ability to convert sunlight into biomass. “Algae are not a miracle,” he said. “It must obey the laws of thermodynamics.” He does believe, with the proper technology and understanding of algae’s biology, that yields of 70 to 80 tons of algae can be produced per hectare (approximately 2.5 acres), producing 15 to 20 tons of oil and about twice that much protein.

The true value of algae will rely on the total amount of biomass not just the oil content, said Mark Tegan, chief executive officer of Inventure Chemical. Inventure processes biomass products into value-added products. Algae produce three distinct products – oil, carbohydrates and protein. Each component can be processed downstream into a variety of valuable products. “There is a lot of opportunity available in the chemical market,” Tegan said.

The coverage included discussions on how the current credit crisis might actually be good for the algae biodiesel business and the market potential of the feedstock and fuel.

It’s that time of year again… to start making plans to attend the National Biodiesel Board’s Conference & Expo! This year’s event takes place Feb. 1-4th, 2009, in San Francisco. While that is a while off, now is the time to sign up to save some serious money on your registration.

It’s an event you won’t want to miss!

Conference features include:
Keynote Speakers
Gavin Newsom – Mayor, City and County of San Francisco
Pete Bethune and Bryan Peterson – Around the World on Biodiesel
Hear the harrowing tales from two men who led pioneering expeditions powered by Biodiesel!
Educational Tracks
Production, technical, fuel distribution, policy/regulations, and markets/users sessions
Exciting Networking Events
Golf Tournament
Super Bowl Party
Special California Wine Tasting & Jazz Reception

You can do your registration online by clicking here!

With the world’s existing supply of fossil fuels projected to last between 25-40 years, technologies for alternative fuels are now a critical component of a nationwide energy policy. Visionary solutions to the global energy crisis — from solar power to bio-fuels — will be unveiled at the Advanced Energy Conference on November 19 and 20 at the Hyatt Regency Windwatch in Hauppauge, NY.

The conference is expected to draw nearly 800 attendees including leading researchers in alternative fuels, top government officials, legislators, energy policy-makers, environmentalists, and leaders from the worlds of business, academia, and the not-for-profit sector. Among solutions to be explored related to increasing oil reserves are renewable energy such as solar, wind, bio-fuels and geothermal power.

The conference is being produced by the Advanced Energy Center in association with National Grid and LIPA. The Advanced Energy Center is a public-private partnership dedicated to the advancement of energy research and technology deployment. This is the second Annual Energy Conference produced by the Advanced Energy Center.

Shipping giant UPS has teamed up with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to put more eco-friendly delivery trucks on the road.

This story from CNN says UPS will order some new vehicles that uses technology developed by the feds, namely, a hydraulic hybrid system:

The Environmental Protection Agency holds many of the patents on the innovative technology, which was developed in an EPA fuel-emissions lab in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with the help of engineers from Eaton Corp., which designs hydraulics systems.

The motor converts pressure from the hydraulic fluid into rotating power for the wheels and uses stored energy to accelerate the vehicle, thereby recovering more than 70 percent of the energy normally wasted during braking.

The article goes on to say that the design is perfect for the stop-and-start driving UPS does in cities. The first truck will hit the road in Minneapolis soon after the first of the year.

A new report looks at the technology behind biodiesel production.

The Iowa-based Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) has released a new CAST Commentary—Convergence of Agriculture and Energy: III. Considerations in Biodiesel Production:

This new CAST Commentary reviews the technology of biodiesel production in the United States and outlines major issues and policy implications associated with its expanded production and use. Specific topics include:

“Biodiesel is developing into a widely accepted alternative fuel,” says Task Force Chair Dr. Jon Van Gerpen, University of Idaho, Moscow. “Quality concerns have been addressed, and most fuel today integrates easily into the existing diesel fuel infrastructure. Further expansion of the industry will require new or larger sources of vegetable oils and animal fats that can be produced at prices that allow biodiesel to compete with petroleum-based diesel fuel.”

The commentary will be presented at the National Farmers Union and the National Coalition for Food and Agriculture Research in Washington, D.C. You can get a free copy of the commentary at the CAST web site, www.cast-science.org.