Articles in Illinois
(United Sorghum Checkoff Program) The Sorghum Checkoff in collaboration with the NCERC at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (formerly the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center) is pleased to announce a successful bench-scale evaluation of sweet sorghum juice …
by Chris Hanson (Ethanol Producer Magazine) A study by Steffen Mueller, a researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago Energy Resources Center, and John Kwik, president of Dominion Energy Services LLC, surveyed ethanol producers …
by Ann Perry (US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service) A new strain of yeast that could help streamline cellulosic ethanol costs and production has been developed by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers. This …
by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com) A new study indicates that ethanol production is continuing to reduce its energy and environmental footprint.
The study, entitled “2012 Corn Ethanol: Emerging Plant Energy and Environmental Technologies”, found that recent innovations in …
(Environmental Protection Agency) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold two public hearings in April on the Tier 3 proposed rulemaking aimed at addressing the impacts of motor vehicles on air quality and public …
by Scott Irwin and Darrel Good (FarmDocDaily) …Here, we present a proposal for implementing the RFS2 through 2015 that recognizes the constraints implied by the E10 blend wall and will avert the impact of the …
(Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute/PR NewsWire) The $100K ACC Clean Energy Challenge, a business plan competition supported by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) encouraging students from universities in the southeastern United …
by Scott Irwin and Darrel Good (FarmDocDaily) …We concluded that the buying and selling of RINs within that supply chain results in something close to a zero-sum game in terms of profitability for the industry. The …
by Brooke Hasch (ConnectTriStates.com) … If only for a few hours, Roger Law’s Service Station provided ethanol, or E-85, for just 85 cents a gallon. Customers could fill up to 10 gallons worth that amount.
E-85 …
(U.S. Energy Information Administration/Ethanol Producer Magazine) Beginning in summer 2012, the prices of ethanol and corn reached levels where production costs at relatively simple ethanol plants exceeded revenue. These simple plants, which are not able …
by Scott Irwin and Darrel Good (FarmDocDaily/University of Illinois) …Our focus is on the increasing difficulty of meeting the RFS for both renewable biofuel (domestically produced ethanol) and advanced biofuels in the next 12 to …
The tcbiomass2013 Technical Program Committee invites you to share your latest breakthroughs, experiences, and innovations with the global bioenergy industry. A broad array of papers will be selected for oral or poster presentation at dedicated …
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) NEAtech, a new energy alternatives company, is searching for financing to further test and commercialize its patented distillers grain-to-cellulosic ethanol process.
The consulting company, which has a joint venture …
(PR NewsWire/Yahoo! News) Top 5 States For Advanced Biofuel Companies: Calif., Ill., Colo., Texas and Iowa; New Web Site at www.FuelingGrowth.org Documents Impact of Growing Industry
California is home to nearly 30 advanced biofuel companies, but dozens of …
Join us at the cutting edge of thermochemical biomass conversion—real science, real solutions.
Gas Technology Institute (GTI) is pleased to announce tcbiomass2013, the International Conference on Thermochemical Biomass Conversion Science. Mark your calendars for Chicago, IL USA …
(Reuters) CME Group said on Tuesday that the specification of its heating oil contract from May 2013 will contain no renewable fuel or biodiesel, matching the “Grade 62″ of ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) carried on …
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Scott Zaremba, owner of Zarco 66 convenience stores, didn’t just open the first E15 retail pump in the nation. Not long after offering 15 percent ethanol at the first station …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …Now – it’s all about organizing sustainable, affordable feedstock and building capacity. And, airlines providing capital for the first commercial projects — to ensure that capacity building reaches levels in …
(EurekAlert!/University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences) Perennial biofuel crops such as miscanthus, whose high yields have led them to be considered an eventual alternative to corn in producing ethanol, are …
by Emily Bruns (Ashton Gasette) In an effort to evolve with the constant changes and challenges within a $50 billion industry, Rochelle’s Illinois River Energy ethanol plant began producing and industrial corn oil on Nov. …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) As renewable fuel developers put steel in the ground, oil & gas points to a fossil-based transformation in transportation fuels just “five years away”.
Today, it is the oil & gas …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Next-gen renewable oils producer achieves first linear scale-up to 500,000 liter fermenters — clears path for large commercial production volumes.
…To date, no next-generation producer had successfully achieved linear scale-up in …
by Ned Stowe (Environmental and Energy Study Institute) EESI Policy Associate Ned Stowe recently gave a presentation on biomass, bioenergy, and sustainability to the 11th Annual Great Lakes Environmental Legislators Forum of the National Caucus …
by Don Dodson (The News Gazette) A University of Illinois professor says the ethanol boom is over, but farmers may soon enjoy the benefits of a boom in biodiesel.
Scott Irwin, a professor of agricultural and …
(University of Illinois/EurekAlert!) One reason that biofuels are expensive to make is that the organisms used to ferment the biomass cannot make effective use of hemicellulose, the next most abundant cell wall component after cellulose. …
by Kari Lydersen (Midwest Energy News) …Commercial-scale development of aviation biofuels is still in the early stages, and as experts explained at the Airports Going Green conference in Chicago earlier in November, viable aviation biofuel industries would look …
(US Department of Energy) Today (November 28, 2012), Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced 66 cutting-edge research projects selected by the Energy Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) to receive a total of $130 …
by Nat Williams (AgriNewsOnline) Ethanol production could be increased by as much as 5 percent from the same kernel of corn already being used, research has shown. And the only hurdle preventing it from being …
by Drew Kann (Medill Reports/NWI Times) …Chicago Biofuels, a local company that specializes in collecting used cooking oils from city restaurants for conversion into biodiesel, planted sunflowers on the lot this summer and harvested them.
Sunflower …
(Business Green) Illinois Basin-Decatur Project has stored 317,000 metric tons of CO2 from an adjacent ethanol plant in an underground reservoir
The first demonstration-scale carbon capture and storage (CS) plant in the US has successfully injected …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) UOP, Eni update on the complete conversion of Eni’s Venice refinery to renewable diesel. Why is renewable diesel getting traction – and where, and when?
…Unlike biodiesel, Green Diesel is a …
by Alan Yu (Medill Reports) Boeing, United Airlines and several other Chicago entities hope to make the Midwest a hub for the production of green jet fuels.
Although most of the technology required to produce biofuels …
(ACORE) The American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) released the 2012 edition of its report, Renewable Energy in the 50 States, as an interactive, online resource. Compiling updated financial data, resource potentials, market and policy …
by Holly Jessen & Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Looking into the future, Jeff Roskam, CEO of the Kansas Alliance for Biorefining and Bioenergy, fears any modification of the renewable fuel standard (RFS). “Period,” he …
(PR NewsWire) Accounting for dynamics in the global agricultural area reduces the current estimated contributions to global warming from ILUC by 60-70%
Indirect land use models that forecast the global warming impact of biofuels production incorporate …
by Gary Truitt (Hoosier Ag Today) Agricultural economists at the University of Illinois have been calculating the costs for farmers to produce biomass energy crops as renewable alternatives to fossil fuels. In fact – they …
(National Corn Growers Association) State corn associations across the country are working diligently to make the increased use of higher ethanol blends a reality through programs to put the necessary infrastructure in place. Laying the …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … Today, we’ll look at the bigger balance sheets to see who is investing what, and when, with whom, and why.
…We’ve also focused here, for the sake of brevity, on those …
by Kari Lydersen (Midwestern Energy News) Purdue University associate professor Richard Meilan is striving to develop a poplar tree that grows more quickly and can be more easily converted to biofuel than the average member of the genus …
by Ryan Tracy (The Wall Street Journal) …Since the blend known as E15 first hit the market for regular cars in July, eight fuel stations in Kansas and Iowa have started to sell it, according …
(VTT Technology) … So far, conventional diesel buses and conventional diesel fuel have dominated the market, with some contribution from natural gas buses. Now we are in a situation in which the technology options are increasing rapidly. …
by Joe Cogliano (Dayton Business Journal) A division of Honeywell International Inc. is being tapped by the U.S. Air Force to expand the domestic supply of biofuels.
On Thursday, the Defense Department announced Des Plaines, Ill.-based UOP LLC was …
by Chuck Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com) The President of the Chicagoland Speedway believes that Illinois Farmers and American Ethanol have been great partners for NASCAR.
…The Chicagoland race featured an Illinois Family Farmers exhibit in Champions Park outside the track that featured …
Thousands of companies from around the world and all industry segments will be at BIO, ready to build strategic partnerships. Attend the Global Event for Biotechnology and you will reap the benefits of an efficient four …
The 2013 BIO International Convention program will feature more than 100 breakout sessions in 13 specialty tracks covering a wide variety of topics relevant to the biotechnology industry including healthcare, environmental issues, food and agriculture, …
Gas Technology Institute is pleased to announce tcbiomass2013, the International Conference on Thermochemical Biomass Conversion Science. Mark your calendars for Chicago from 3-6 September 2013 and plan to connect with many of the world’s leading …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …While the economic growth in China has been drawing virtually all the headlines in recent years, the “Tiger” economies of Southeast and South Asia have been fast-growing for a long …
(Argonne National Laboratory) Nanoparticles synthesized from noble metals such as ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, silver (Ag), osmium, iridium, platinum, and gold (Au) are attracting increased attention by researchers around the world looking for advances in such …
(Environmental and Energy Study Institute) Cleaner, more sustainable, more climate-friendly, more affordable advanced biofuels are closer to reality than many outside the industry seem to think. At least three new, advanced biofuel biorefineries are being …
(Algae Industry Magazine) Gas Technology Institute’s (GTI’s) new pilot-scale IH2 Plant in Chicago, Illinois, demonstrates their efforts to broaden biomass-to-liquid hydrocarbon fuel conversion. The 70-year-old research, development and training organization has turned much of its research …
(The Iowa Biodiesel Board/Biodiesel Magazine) The Midwestern Governors Association has formally asked every major diesel engine and vehicle manufacturer to support the use of biodiesel blends of at least 20 percent (B20) in all diesel-powered …
(US Department of Agriculture) Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced payments for 125 advanced Biofuel producers across the country to support the production and expansion of advanced biofuels from a wide variety of non-food sources, …
by David Pruitt (The Alestle) On July 16 and 17, John Caupert, director of SIUE’s National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center, met with USDA officials about a new process the NCERC has discovered to use corn …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The recent focus on drought, and the scarcity scare, shows that diversification and yield enhancement remain the bioeconomy’s chief weapons in the war on availability and affordability. The USDA and …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …Here we are, some 30+ years into the era of genetic modification of crops. The primary breadbasket of the world, the United States, is experiencing its most severe drought conditions …
by Seth Slabaugh (The Star Press) … “High corn prices driven by the drought have caused some ethanol plants to temporarily idle or reduce production,” Matt Hartwig of the Renewable Fuels Association, an ethanol trade group …
by Tim Bryant (STLToday.com) The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is among five recipients of a $12.1 million federal grant to develop drought-tolerant grass as a sustainable source of biofuel.
Developing bioenergy grasses with …
(Bioenergy Science Institute) The Feedstock Cost and Profitability (FCAP) Calculator provides an estimate of the breakeven price needed to cover the costs of producing biomass from alternative feedstocks. These include crop residues from corn and …
by John Davis (DomesticFuel.com) Getting out the facts about ethanol is what the Renewable Fuels Association is all about. That’s why the RFA is partnering with car-talk host Bobby Likis to extend their ethanol educational …
(Solazyme) Solazyme, Inc., a renewable oil and bioproducts company, announced today the successful commissioning of its first fully integrated biorefinery (IBR) in Peoria, Illinois, to produce algal oil. Solazyme has been running routine fermentations at …
(IowaCorn.org) A new study conducted by researchers at North Carolina State University and the University of Illinois at Chicago found a statistical correlation showing that as prices increase, farmers make changes that result in higher …
by Mauricio Espinoza (Ohio State University/North Texas d-News) Ohio State University’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) will play a key role in the engineering of a novel plant-based fuel, funded by a $5.7 million grant …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …Yet, even in an era where venture capital has been harder to come by (Why? See these 42 article links under the rubric, “The VC Model is Broken” ) — some great …
by Hosea Sanders (ABC local WLS) …The Illinois Math and Science Academy in Aurora is a state-supported residential high school that cultivates exceptional young minds in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math. And …
by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com) Members of Congress are exchanging dueling fact sheets about corn ethanol and the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2).
Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) sent an email last month to members of the House Commerce, …
by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) After nearly two years of collaborative research, biotechnology company BioTork LLC and the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center have developed a yeast strain capable of fermenting the xylose found in …
A comprehensive course detailing the new policy and economic drivers of biofuel supply and demand.
Top experts in the fields of biofuels production, marketing, risk management, RINs accounting and environmental compliance will give you all the answers you …
(MASBI) Regional Initiative with National Reach Working to Achieve Energy Security
United Airlines, Boeing, Honeywell’s UOP, the Chicago Department of Aviation and the Clean Energy Trust today announced the formation of the Midwest Aviation Sustainable Biofuels …
by Scott Irwin and Darrel Good (Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics University of Illinois)…The rise in ethanol production has recently run up against what is known as the “blend wall.” Domestic ethanol consumption is almost entirely in the …
(PRWEB) Researchers at The NCERC today announced that they have successfully produced ethanol from the cellulosic portion of the corn kernel. “This research is demonstrated proof of the viability of ‘generation 2.0 ethanol,’” NCERC Director …
by Erin Voegele (Biorefining Magazine) …The BioFeed model is the product of University of Illinois researchers funded by BP’s Energy Biosciences Institute under a research program titled Engineering Solutions for Biomass Feedstock Production. According to …
(City of Galesburg) Pennycress Energy and the EBI Network are promoting Pennycress as a renewable, alternative energy fuel crop for the Galesburg/West Central Illinois Region. The project, generating interest among growers, will identify possible investors …
by Steve Everly (Kansas City Star) Ethanol industry pushes for the state to step up from the E10 blend now offered. But automakers warn of engine damage, voided warranties.
…E10 will still be available, and selling …
(Convenience Store News) Illinois biofuel companies who have faced a market glut since the end of a federal tax credit led energy companies to rush pre-expiration production may have hope in the form of a newly proposed …
by Kelly Madsen (IowaStateDaily.com) The Iowa State University-led Cenusa Bioenergy project works to develop a biofuel with both a Midwestern and environmental focus.
Through a five-year, $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National …
by Lisa Depies (GateHouse News Service/Galesburg.com) Retired Gen. Wesley Clark spent 38 years in the U.S. Army protecting America. Today, Clark is working to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil.
Clark is co-chairman of Growth …
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 …
(University of Illinois) With the support of a $3.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, researchers will take the first steps toward engineering two new oil-rich crops. They aim to boost the natural, …
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Removing fiber from dried distillers grains with solubles using the elusieve process results in an enhanced product with greater nutritional value for growing and finishing pigs, according to a …
(Environmental News Network) Biofuel production has ratcheted up to become a major part of America’s energy and agricultural industries. Corn, or maize, is by far the most widely grown crop to be converted into ethanol. …
by Steve Tarter (The State-Journal Register) More U.S. ethanol was shipped overseas in 2011 than any year in history.
The Washington, D.C.-based Renewable Fuels Association reported that 1.1 billion gallons of ethanol — worth about $2.5 …
by Gary Strauss (Chicago Sun-Times) Get ready for another round of pain at the pump: gas at $4 (or higher) a gallon. After rising 19 cents a gallon in the past four weeks, regular unleaded …
(Univerisity of Chicago/Energy Policy Institute at Chicago) By all outward appearances, former South Carolina Congressman Bob Inglis is a conservative’s conservative.
…At a lecture sponsored by the Energy Policy Institute at Chicago (EPIC), Mr. Inglis said …
(EurekAlert!) Research into biofuel crops such as switchgrass and Miscanthus has focused mainly on how to grow these crops and convert them into fuels. But many steps lead from the farm to the biorefinery, and each could …
(Iowa State University) Now, an Iowa State University-based study over the next five years will examine whether a single, coordinated production system can address all of these concerns while making profits for producers.
A multi-state, interdisciplinary …
(Chicago Tribune) …Congress and the federal agencies responsible for managing the biofuel industry need to stop trying to artificially create a market for a high-tech product that may never exist on a commercial scale.
…At current …
(University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) The Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research (CABER) in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign is offering an online class in bioenergy …
by Mary Rosenthal (Algal Biomass Organization) …Many of you will remember that 2011 began with a discouraging report that claimed algae biofuels could never play a role in US energy security. We at the Algal …
by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com) …Growth Energy, Horizon Fuels, the American Lung Association and Marquis Energy partnered to help with the promotions and labeling for the three new Flex Fuel pumps at the Princeton Fast Stop. “It …
The Chicago Farmers looks forward to welcoming Fred Iutzi of the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs will provide a strategic overview and update on renewable energy trends and industry status in Illinois, with an emphasis …
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) A one-month plant trial showed a commercial enzyme could help extract water from distillers grains, saving natural gas, electricity and water used in the ethanol process. More work needs …
by Tim Wall (Discovery.com) The Midwest now boasts the United States’ first large scale carbon sequestration project working in conjunction with a biofuel plant.
Carbon dioxide emissions from an Archer Daniels Midland Company corn ethanol plant …
by Mick Swasko (Chicago Tribune) … The city will unveil a new “green fuels depot” next week. The facility will be used to convert yard waste into electricity, ethanol and hydrogen.
The city can put the electricity …
by Luke Geiver (Biorefining Magazine) The second week in November could go down as one of the most significant weeks for advanced biofuels, airline companies and the use of biofuel-blended jet fuel in the U.S. …
by Graham Warwick (Aviation Week) As airlines launch the first commercial biofuel flights in the U.S., the government is working with industry to scale up production of biomass-derived jet fuel to commercial quantities beginning in …
by Terry Hillig (STLToday.com) The National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center has added $3.5 million in advanced corn fractionation technology, provided by Cereal Process Technologies LLC of Overland Park, Kan., with support from the Illinois Department of …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) United and Solazyme, Alaska and Dynamic Fuels hook up, as producers scramble to make fuel, raise cash, ratchet down costs. Will producers scale, or fail?
…United Airlines will operate the first …
by Jon Hilkevitch (Chicago Tribune) Solar energy collectors will be installed on up to 60 acres at O’Hare International Airport, and a service station selling alternative fuels for private and commercial vehicles will open near the …
by Susan Frick Carlman (Naperville Sun) The first phase of the local partnership working toward collecting yard waste and converting it into fuels is poised to go live in the coming weeks. In the works for …
by Will Buss (News-Democrat) Two state lawmakers believe they have a solution to Illinois’ high unemployment rate.
Rep. Dwight Kay, R-Glen Carbon, and Rep. Paul Evans, R-O’Fallon, have a blueprint that they believe will attract and …
