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Truly Sustainable Renewable Future
April 17, 2012 – 10:42 am | No Comment

Advanced Biofuels are high-energy liquid transportation fuels derived from: low nutrient input/high per acre yield crops; agricultural or forestry waste; or other sustainable biomass feedstocks including algae.  The key word is “sustainable.”
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To Strive, To Seek, to Find, and Max Out Yields
March 22, 2012 – 3:52 pm | No Comment

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Yield unlocks value, and especially feedstock yield. What’s the latest? What feedstocks are reporting yields that could support 1000+ gallons per acre for terrestrial crops?
…Yield from the acre, yield from …

NASA’s Astrobiology Research Sparks ‘GreenTech’ Revolution
March 20, 2012 – 5:58 pm | No Comment

by Ruth Marlaire (NASA)  …A few years ago, Ames Exobiology scientists formed the Algae for Exploration (ALEX) group, which studies various types of lipids produced by different algal species under specific conditions, and started applying …

Biodiesel Maker Pleads Guilty to Illegal Dumping
March 20, 2012 – 5:30 pm | No Comment

(AP/NewsOK.com)  The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality says a 56-year-old man who made biodiesel at his home in Iberville Parish has pleaded guilty to illegally dumping pollutants into a canal behind his home.
DEQ says Tommy M. Francise pleaded guilty in state …

U.S. Navy Successfully Tests SoladieselHRD-76® During Operational Transit Voyage in USS Ford Frigate
March 20, 2012 – 5:27 pm | No Comment

(Solazyme/BusinessWire)  -Solazyme, Inc., a renewable oil and bioproducts company, announced today that the USS Ford, a U.S. Navy Frigate fleet ship, successfully journeyed from its homeport in Everett, WA to San Diego, CA using Soladiesel HRD-76®, …

Gasoline’s Comeback in the Bio-Based Era: 5 Cleantech Companies Vie for Green Gasoline Breakthroughs
March 20, 2012 – 4:47 pm | No Comment

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …But in the past two years, five technologies have emerged that are focused on renewable gasoline (along with some others that have the capability of producing gasoline-like fuels but are …

DeltaWing: The Future Has Arrived
March 16, 2012 – 1:12 pm | No Comment

by Robert Kozak (Advanced Biofuels USA)  The future arrived yesterday (March 15, 2012) at about 1:00 pm EDT. It arrived in Sebring, Florida.
It came shrouded in a black tarp. By the time it drove away, …

State Concerned with Algae-to-Ethanol Process of Fort Myers Company
March 14, 2012 – 6:16 pm | No Comment

by Laura Layden (Naples News)  State concerns with a Southwest Florida company’s plans to make ethanol from algae may have stalled the business’s expansion.
Tucked inside an energy bill the Legislature approved in the final hours …

U.S. Ag Secretary Says Ethanol Holding Gas Prices in Check
March 14, 2012 – 6:08 pm | No Comment

by Jim Martin (Erie Times-News)  U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack knows gas prices are high.
…But Vilsack, a Pittsburgh native, said prices could be a lot worse.
In an interview with the Erie Times-News, Vilsack said Tuesday …

Forage, Corn Feed Alternative for Cattle May Come from Biodiesel Industry
March 14, 2012 – 3:26 pm | No Comment

by Kay Ledbetter   (PhysOrg.com)  Crude glycerin, a byproduct of biodiesel production, could be an economical ingredient in cattle diets, according to studies by Texas AgriLife Research and West Texas A&M University personnel.
Dr. Jim MacDonald, AgriLife …

Dollars and Sense: Analyses Vary, but Ethanol’s Economic Benefits Are Clear
March 14, 2012 – 10:10 am | No Comment

by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) …Analysts may disagree on the exact indirect effects of ethanol production, but they agree that the industry has had a positive direct effect on jobs and GDP over the …

By the Numbers: Trends and Patterns in the Ethanol Industry
March 14, 2012 – 10:03 am | No Comment

by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  …The arrival of the blend wall and expected increase in E85 prices due to the lapse of VEETC are two factors that have complicated the future outlook of ethanol …

Engineering Study Looks at Ethanol Plus Bolt-On Green Diesel
March 13, 2012 – 5:45 pm | No Comment

by Holly Jessen  (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Al-Corn Clean Fuel, a 50 MMgy plant in Claremont, Minn., is working with a St. Paul company investigating secondary production of green diesel at a new or existing ethanol …

Synthetic Fuel Firm Targets International Adoption
March 13, 2012 – 5:40 pm | No Comment

by Bob Brooks (Automotive Industries)  Possibly the most innovative new synthetic fuel, developed by privately financed Joule Unlimited, has proven the cost effectiveness of its system during 18 months at a pilot plant in Arizona. …

Mendel Biotechnology, Inc. and BP Biofuels to Conduct Demonstration Field Trial of PowerCane(tm) Miscanthus
March 13, 2012 – 5:33 pm | No Comment

(iStockAnalyst)  Four-Year Agreement Includes 100 Acres of PowerCane Miscanthus Near BP Biofuels’ Demonstration Plant in Jennings, Louisiana
Mendel Biotechnology, Inc. (MBI) and BP Biofuels have signed a four-year agreement to conduct a demonstration field trial of …

USS FORD on Alternative Fuel Blend
March 13, 2012 – 5:25 pm | No Comment

by Naval Sea Systems Command Office of Corporate Communications (MarineLink.com)  USS Ford Conducts Operational Transit on Alternative Fuel Blend.
USS Ford (FFG 54) successfully transited from the ship’s homeport in Everett, Wash., to San Diego, March …

Mabus Defends Biofuels during Hearing on Navy Ship
March 13, 2012 – 3:28 pm | No Comment

by Brock Vergakis  (AP/Wisconsin Rapids Tribune)  Navy Secretary Ray Mabus defended the service’s investment on biofuels Monday, saying that it is a “false choice” for critics to suggest the Navy should focus on building more ships instead …

36 Billion Gallons of Biofuels by 2022?
March 13, 2012 – 1:59 pm | No Comment

by Cory Nealon (Daily Press)  U.S. must “hustle” to reach goal, Ag. Secretary Tom Vilsack says
…Vilsack expects the U.S. will eventually produce 15 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol, a target set by the U.S. Environmental …

Nonfood Crops to Be Used at New Ethanol Site
March 13, 2012 – 12:35 pm | No Comment

by Leslie Brooks Suzukamo  (TwinCities.com/Pioneer Press)  Cellulosic ethanol – ethanol made from nonfood crops – has been an alluring but elusive promise. That promise might finally be taking solid form.
Today, ethanol powerhouse Poet will officially break …

Motiva to Convert Storage to ULSD Heating Oil and Biodiesel at Sewaren Terminal
March 13, 2012 – 12:09 pm | No Comment

(Motiva Enterprises LLC/PR NewsWire)  Motiva Enterprises LLC (Motiva) today announced plans to convert all of its High Sulfur Diesel Heating Oil (2000 ppm) storage to Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) (15 ppm) at Motiva’s Sewaren …

Energy Secretary to Look at Hanford Land Transfer
March 12, 2012 – 7:04 pm | No Comment

(Yakima Herald)  Energy Secretary Steven Chu will look at speeding the transfer of 1,600 acres of Hanford nuclear reservation land for industrial development in response to a request by Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash.
Inslee, who is …

Butamax(tm) Files Biobutanol Patent Infringement Lawsuit to Stop Gevo’s Use of Butamax KARI Enzyme Technology
March 12, 2012 – 1:13 pm | No Comment

(Butamax/iStockAnalyst.com)  Butamax™ Advanced Biofuels, LLC, the biobutanol technology leader, announced today that the Company filed a new lawsuit against Gevo, Inc. for infringing the recently awarded Butamax™ patent8,129,162.
The patent covers recombinant KARI enzymes which perform …

Barrels of Biofuel Flowing from Success at Louisiana Facility
March 12, 2012 – 11:21 am | No Comment

(Advanced Biofuels Association)  Better Fuels Moment
With barrels of biofuel flowing from the success of America’s first commercial advanced biofuels plant, the Advanced Biofuels Association, ABFA, takes its online video series, Better Fuels Moment, on the …

OriginOil Facilitating Urban Algae Cultivation in Paris
March 12, 2012 – 10:32 am | No Comment

(Algae Industry Magazine)  OriginOil, Inc. has received an order to supply the company’s Algae Appliance™ harvester and other components for a test of urban algae production at the iconic La Défense Complex, near Paris, France. The program aims …

Free Ethanol Safety Seminar March 27, 2012 Forsyth, GA
March 12, 2012 – 10:10 am | No Comment
Free Ethanol Safety Seminar    March 27, 2012   Forsyth, GA

The RFA, in partnership with Norfolk Southern Railroad and Motiva Enterprises, will be hosting a free Ethanol Safety Seminar in Forsyth, Ga. on March 27 at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center. There will be …

Tenn. Professor Cruises Cross-Country on 2.15 Gallons of Gas
March 12, 2012 – 9:25 am | No Comment

by The (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) Daily News Journal (USA Today)  … (Cliff) Ricketts, a Middle Tennessee State University professor, and his eight-member support team drove three Toyota hybrid alternative-fuels vehicles approximately 2,582 miles across country, using …

E85 Available for $.85 a gallon
March 12, 2012 – 9:20 am | No Comment

by Jim Whitfield (ConnectTriStates.com)   As the price of regular unleaded gasoline hovers just under $4 a gallon, some drivers in Carthage caught a break when the Hancock County Farm Bureau offered E-85 ethanol for 85-cents a gallon. It was all …

Ohio Airmen Help F-16 Go ‘Green’
March 9, 2012 – 2:15 pm | No Comment

by Tech. Sgt. Mareshah Haynes (U.S. Air Force)  In a joint effort by Airmen from the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and Airmen from the Ohio Air National Guard’s 180th …

Boosters of Butanol Say Change in Law Needed
March 9, 2012 – 1:24 pm | No Comment

by Leslie Brooks Suzakamo (TwinCities.com/Pioneer Press)  A Colorado green fuels company wants a Minnesota ethanol law that expires at the end of the year to be extended and changed so gasoline can be blended with …

Rail Plan to Ship Ethanol Is Decried
March 9, 2012 – 1:00 pm | No Comment

by Katheleen Conti (The Boston Globe)  Eight firefighters are seen dousing a couple of rail cars, as bright flames and a plume of dark smoke engulf parts of the freight train in a still image …

Amendment Would Extend Domestic Energy Tax Credits
March 9, 2012 – 12:41 pm | No Comment

by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com)  Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) introduced an amendment to the Transportation Bill (S.1813) Thursday that would extend tax incentives for domestically produced energy sources, including biodiesel, ethanol, cellulosic biofuels, electric vehicles, wind energy and …

Cobalt Technologies Completes Demostration Of Advanced Strain Fermentation Process
March 9, 2012 – 10:54 am | No Comment

(Cobalt)  Confirms 40-60% cost reduction compared to petroleum-derived n-butanol
Cobalt Technologies, a leading developer of next generation technology for the production of n-butanol, announced the successful demonstration of one of its advanced biocatalyst. Partnering with the …

Growing Ambitions
March 8, 2012 – 5:26 pm | No Comment

by Pamela Glinski (Highlands Today)  Vercipia is no more. The name has been changed to BP Biofuels, Highlands Ethanol LLC, explained Mike Milicevic, the agricultural operations manager for the company.
Vercipia was a joint-venture company formed …

Montana State University-Northern’s Bio-Diesel Now Available Commercially in Havre
March 8, 2012 – 4:45 pm | No Comment

by Kay Rossi   (KRTV.com)   MSU-Northern’s bio-diesel product is available commercially for the first time for engines in Havre.
With the possibility of more distribution in the future, the school’s Bio-Energy Center is working to …

Students Show off Their Clean Snowmobiles
March 8, 2012 – 3:54 pm | No Comment

by Gabrielle Mays  (Upper Michigan’s Source)  For the past seven months, hundreds of students from all over North America have been working hard on their innovative designs for the Clean Snowmobile Challenge.
Students take a production built …

More People Choosing Ethanol
March 8, 2012 – 3:47 pm | No Comment

(KFYR-TV)  With the price of gasoline increasing to $3.70 a gallon, more and more motorists are choosing E-30 and E-85, a less expensive alternative to gasoline. In fact, sales of ethanol-blended fuel in North Dakota …

Maverick BioFuels and TopLine Energy Systems Announce Joint Technology Development Initiative
March 7, 2012 – 4:14 pm | No Comment

(Maverick BioFuels)  Companies will integrate technologies to accelerate the cost competitive production of transportation fuels and bioplastics from biomass and waste feedstocks…
Maverick Biofuels, a second-generation biofuels and bioplastics technology company, and TopLine Energy Systems (TES) …

Cobalt Pre-Treatment Test Clears Way for Commercial Scale
March 7, 2012 – 3:53 pm | No Comment

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In California, Cobalt Technologies announced that it has successfully demonstrated its dilute acid hydrolysis pretreatment process, the first step of Cobalt’s  process for converting sugars into n-butanol for use as a renewable …

Grafton Ethanol Plant Could Re-open
March 7, 2012 – 3:42 pm | No Comment

(WDAZ-TV) The former Alchem Ethanol plant in Grafton could re-open later this year. When it does, it will be turning sugar beets into the alternative fuel instead of corn.  READ MORE and MORE (Grand Forks Herald)

Virdia Ups the Ante in the Race for the New Sugars
March 6, 2012 – 5:52 pm | No Comment

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …In California, Virdia, formerly HCL CleanTech, a leading developer of cellulosic sugars, today announced major company milestones, including a new brand and CEO, its latest funding round, and a $75 …

Connecting Classrooms to Cutting-Edge Science
March 5, 2012 – 4:59 pm | No Comment

(Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center)  Students in Craig Kohn’s biotechnology classroom are on the hunt for biomass degraders. Scavenging for unique samples in piles of leaves or compost bins, they can use a simple filter …

Ethanol, Farm Groups File Brief Supporting Court-Ordered Injunction on California LCFS
March 5, 2012 – 4:53 pm | No Comment

(Renewable Fuels Association)  A coalition of national ethanol groups, along with California and Midwest farming groups, filed a brief urging the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a court-ordered injunction on the California …

American Jianye Greentech Holdings in Marketing Partnership with Gulf Coast Energy Ltd. to Accelerate Retail Expansion in United States
March 5, 2012 – 4:42 pm | No Comment

(The Business Journals/American Jianye Greentech Holdings, Ltd.)  American Jianye  Greentech Holdings, Ltd., a leading developer, manufacturer and distributor of alcohol-based automobile fuel and civil-use fuel in China, today announced that it has signed a marketing partnership …

The U.S. Air Force Dares You to Laugh At Their Biofuel
March 5, 2012 – 3:59 pm | No Comment

by Tina Casey (Talking Points Memo)  Republicans recently had themselves a good laugh over President Obama’s enthusiasm for biofuel made from algae, but they might want to stifle that chuckle when it comes to another modest-seeming but …

Ethanol Sales Nearly Double in North Dakota
March 5, 2012 – 10:03 am | No Comment

(The Jamestown Sun)  State Tax Department data shows that more than 1.3 million gallons of ethanol-blended fuel was sold in the state last year. That’s up from about 663,000 barrels in 2010.  Officials credit the …

[LL] Cool Planet Rocks the Bells
March 5, 2012 – 9:51 am | No Comment

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  What are Google, BP, Conoco, and GE investing? Is 3,000 gallons per acre of renewable gasoline possible?
In the past few weeks, news has begun to circulate around the industry – …

Fueling Education Loud and Clear: AIDB’s Biodiesel Program Provides Unparalleled Work Experience for Its Students
March 2, 2012 – 5:10 pm | No Comment

by Bryan Sims (Biodiesel Magazine)  Alabama native Helen Keller once said, “No one has the right to consume happiness without producing it.” The same could be said of biodiesel at the Alabama Institute for Deaf …

Piedmont Proves Out Liquid Enzyme Catalysis
March 2, 2012 – 5:02 pm | No Comment

by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine)  Small North Carolina producer continues to innovate
The founder of Pittsboro, N.C.-based Piedmont Biofuels, Rachel Burton, gave details at the 2012 National Biodiesel Conference & Expo in Orlando on the company’s …

An Endeavor into Biofuel: University of Rhode Island Fuels Its Research Vessel with Biodiesel
March 2, 2012 – 4:58 pm | No Comment

by Erin Voegele (Biodiesel Magazine)  In mid-January the University of Rhode Island topped off its research ship Endeavor’s fuel tank with 53,000 gallons of biodiesel-blended fuel. The move was the initial step in URI’s plan …

Delta Development: New Plant under Development in Louisiana
March 2, 2012 – 4:55 pm | No Comment

by Erin Voegele (Biodiesel Magazine)  A former polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pelletization plant in Plaquemine, La., will soon be home to a new biodiesel plant. Construction on the facility, which is under development by Louisiana Biodiesel …

Innovation Heats Up: Unique Process Heat Solutions Offer Biodiesel Producers Options to Increase Efficiency and Cut Costs
March 2, 2012 – 4:50 pm | No Comment

by Erin Voegele (Biodiesel Magazine)  …Development on innovative heating solutions will continue, but several unique heating systems are already in operation at plants across the U.S. In North Carolina, Patriot BioDiesel LLC has installed a …