Articles in North Carolina
by Kathy Robertson (Sacramento Business Journal) Novozymes Inc. is staffing up to support a $2.5 million Department of Energy contract to find new and more efficient enzymes for turning corn leaves and stalks into fuel for …
by Erica Anderson (WNCT.com) A local school district is reaping the benefits of restaurant leftovers. At the start of the academic year, Pitt County Schools partnered with Green Circle N.C. to turn used cooking oil …
(Biofuels Center of North Carolina) Based in Wilson, Triangle Biofuels Industries produces biodiesel derived primarily from waste vegetable oils (WVO) obtained from local sources. Its target markets are agricultural, marine, residential, governmental, and commercial diesel …
(Metso) Domtar has successfully started up a commercial-scale LignoBoost™ lignin separation plant at its Plymouth, North Carolina mill, in the USA. This is the first commercial installation of a LignoBoost plant in the world and the …
(BlackGold Biofuels/PR Newswire) They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. This Earth Day, it certainly rings true for a newly open recycling facility converting wastewater into fuel. BlackGold Biofuels of Charlotte has opened an …
by Amanda Peterka (Governors Biofuel Coalition) Cellulosic biofuels can become profitable for farmers and help displace oil, but they must use already-available agricultural land, according to a study released by a nonprofit yesterday.
Commissioned by the …
(Biofuels Center of North Carolina) The Biofuels Center of North Carolina recently awarded $684,058 for six projects to accelerate the renewable fuels industry in western North Carolina. Awards are made through the 2012-2013 targeted biofuels …
(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 Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) A numbers of readers responding to “Biofuels from a raging fireball” (Friday’s Top Story, on research work with the raging fireball, Pyrococchus furiosus, to make biofuels and renewable chemicals from …
by Bill Chameides (The Green Grok/Duke University) …As a libation, ethanol’s been around for a long, long time. As a fuel, it dates back to 1826 when it was first used in an internal combustion engine. …
by James Hataway (University of Georgia) Excess carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere created by the widespread burning of fossil fuels is the major driving force of global climate change, and researchers the world over …
by Chris Hanson (Biomass Magazine) Southern Research Institute won a $925,000 energy award from the U.S. DOE to develop a mild liquefaction process to convert biomass to petroleum refinery-ready bio-oils.
“We hope the project will advance …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) The first wave of cellulosic biofuels projects are now reaching completion. But what does the next wave look like – from technology to financing? We explore the trends in our …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Although no commercial-scale cellulosic biofuels facilities are operating in the United States at present, at least ten projects exceeding 20 million gallons per year are expected to begin operations by …
(Southern Research Institute) Research could encourage blending of bio-oils into refinery streams for producing renewable diesel and gasoline
Durham, North Carolina — Southern Research Institute today announced it has entered into a cooperative agreement with the …
by John Ramsey (FayObserver.com) Construction on a $170 million refinery in Clinton to convert 20 million tons of grass into fuel each year could start as early as this fall.
Chemtex, an international company with offices …
Tours are set for TRI on Monday afternoon and for Piedmont BioProducts on Wednesday morning. Symposium presentations and discussions will take place all day Tuesday.
Preliminary Agenda:
Monday, April 22:
Arrival to the hotel and check in.
Make sure …
by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Interest in the Beta Renewables SpA commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant undergoing commissioning in Crescentino, Italy, has been high. “I was surprised,” said Guido Ghisolfi, CEO. “I expected perhaps 10 …
(Domtar) Plymouth Mill to produce bio-material with wide range of industrial applications as petro-chemical alternative – the first of its kind in over quarter century
Domtar Corporation (NYSE: UFS) (TSX: UFS) today announced that it has successfully …
by Chris Bagley (Triangle Business Journal) Universities and other state government agencies have cut their use of fossil fuels by 19.9 percent since 2004, according to an analysis by the Clean Transportation Program at N.C. State University’s Solar Center.
…Much of …
(SFN Today) At the North Carolina Board of Agriculture’s meeting on Tuesday, whether or not to classify Arundo donax as a noxious weed in the state was at the top of the agenda. Vernon Cox, …
(Biofuels Center of North Carolina) The Perennial Grass Grower Assistance program was established in 2011 by N.C. State University with funding by the Biofuels Center of North Carolina to support the expansion of biomass acreage …
by Nina Chestney (Reuters) * U.S. cellulosic biofuel goals not reached
* Beta sees industry stepping up output by 2015
* New players could emerge from eastern Europe
Biofuels made from wood waste and sugarcane have languished well …
by Neil Remiesiewicz and Steve Nielsen (WPRI.com) Ross McCurdy, who teaches at Ponaganset High School, teamed up with other fliers to take their biodiesel-powered aircraft for a test flight Saturday.
McCurdy and the team modified a …
(BusinessWire) Dr. Kenneth Hudnell, one of the foremost experts on harmful algal blooms, cyanobacteria, their toxins, and their effects on health and aquatic ecosystems is calling for a significant shift in government regulatory policy and remediation …
(AZO Cleantech) Piedmont Biofuels of Pittsboro, North Carolina has been certified under the internationally recognized Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB) Program following a third-party assessment conducted by SCS Global Services (SCS).
Piedmont Biofuels collects used cooking …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Could a switch to biofuels make super-dense JP-10 military aviation fuels affordable? Could F18A Super Hornets add payload or extend range?
Currently reserved for tactical missiles because of cost, biofuels could …
(WRAL Tech Wire) Novozymes, which operates its North American headquarters in Franklinton, N.C., has landed a federal grant worth as much as $2,5 million for research into ways to turn corn leaves and stalk, or …
(Biofuels Center of North Carolina) The Biofuels Center of North Carolina announced Monday, 4 February 2013, it will award up to $1.1 million for projects that address identified areas of critical need related to the …
(Biofuels Center of North Carolina) East Carolina University associate professor Baohong Zhang is currently working on cutting-edge approaches to increasing feedstock yields of Switchgrass for biofuels. Dr. Zhang and his collaborators have found that Switchgrass …
(Brookhaven National Laboratory/Biomass Magazine) Scientists studying an enzyme that naturally produces alkanes—long carbon-chain molecules that could be a direct replacement for the hydrocarbons in gasoline—have figured out why the natural reaction typically stops after three …
by Richard Craver (Winston-Salem Journal) The U.S. Energy Department has made a $500,000 award to the Alternative Fuel Implementation Team for N.C. project, which is led by the N.C. Solar Center at N.C. State University.
The …
by Mark Schulman (BlueRidgeNow.com) The Biofuels Center of North Carolina awarded $766,256 to 14 entities led by AdvantageWest Economic Development Group to advance biofuels in the region and create jobs, support sustainability, agribusiness, diverse education …
(Ashville Citizen-Times) Thanks to an innovative program aimed at helping North Carolina become more self-sufficient when it comes to energy, Asheville’s popular Biltmore Estate, that venerable bastion of the region’s travel and tourism industry, soon …
(Biofuels Center of North Carolina) The Biofuels Center received incredibly positive feedback from its 13 December 2012 event, Civic and Small-scale Biofuels Statewide: A Second Annual Convening of Civic, Production, and Agency Parties. The event, held …
The Biofuels Center of North Carolina and the Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC) will hold a joint symposium on Friday, 8 February 2013, from 1 to 4 p.m. to highlight facilities, services, and …
by Israel Balderas (FoxCharlotte.com) Silly or serious, the first day of 2013 means a new set of state laws in North Carolina. They range from child care protection to stealing old restaurant grease.
Here’s what you …
(SEED Center) Sustainability has been a central tenet of Central Carolina Community College (CCCC) (NC) since the 1990s, and for the past five years, has been an institutional value in the college’s long-range plan. The …
by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com) What do people in the Southeast think about biofuels? Do they support biofuel ventures? Who will grow the biomass? Will those in established industries fight against it? These are just a …
(Cherokee One Feather) The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is making its own biodiesel fuel from waste oil and grease in a new facility located behind the Cherokee Transportation Center. The facility, which can make …
by Chris Berendt (The Sampson Independent) Chemtex International Inc. is currently involved in a permitting process that will see a $200 million biofuels refinery production plant open at the start of 2015, creating around 350 direct …
(Renewable Fuels Association) The Advanced Ethanol Council this morning released a report giving a snapshot of cellulosic ethanol producers in the U.S. and around the world. A look at facilities owned by companies such as …
(US Department of Agriculture) Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced $10 million in research grants to spur production of bioenergy and biobased products that will lead to the development of sustainable regional systems and help …
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 …
(Capital Press) Researchers already know how to turn algae into fuel. The challenge is how to make that profitable.
A group from the University of Toledo is trying to make the process more efficient and says …
by Morgan Josey Glover (News & Record) Guilford County Schools will reduce air pollution by buying more cleaner-burning biodiesel from a state-approved supplier. But officials backpedaled on a plan to get into the biodiesel-making business.
…Members …
Many restaurants are becoming more energy conscious and are taking initiative, by the simple act of giving up their vegetable oil waste! Now you may ask, what good is left over vegetable oil? Well for …
(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 Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine) For biodiesel refineries, a good maintenance plan starts with good training. Austria-based BDI-BioEnergy International AG, which has built more than 30 plants worldwide, starts its plant personnel training routine during …
A range of leaders from the biofuels community will share experiences and trigger ideas for developing successful biomass and biofuel production projects that are smaller in scale. Communities statewide have potential to benefi t through locally …
(National Science Foundation) The Bioenergy Center at North Carolina A&T State University (NCA&T) will be an educational and research resource for the United States in the field of thermochemical conversion of biomass to bioenergy. The …
by Ronalds Gonzalez (Ethanol Producer Magazine/North Carolina State University) The concept of converting paper industry sludge to ethanol has been intensively studied in the past decade. Recently, research at North Carolina State University has shown …
by RP Siegel (TriplePundit) … 3p: If you look at where we today relative to the RFS, it says that by the year 2022, a total of 21 billion gallons of biofuel needs to be provided by something other …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Novozymes becomes preferred enzyme supplier for Beta Renewables’ current and future cellulosic biofuel projects; embedded in Proesa production technology.
In Denmark and Italy, Novozymes, the world’s largest producer of industrial enzymes, …
by W. Stephen Burke (Citizen-Times) America and North Carolina have a clear imperative to augment imported, carbon-emitting, politically destabilizing and unsteadily priced petroleum-based liquid fuels with increased production of renewable biofuels. How to effectively gain …
by Jessica Richmond (The East Carolinian) Campus Dining Services has begun recycling cooking oil to donate to local Pitt County schools to use as biodiesel in buses. This recycling is being done through a program …
(RTI) RTI International began construction last week on a new 3,000-square-foot energy technology development facility on RTI’s main campus in Research Triangle Park, N.C.
The facility will house a biomass pyrolysis reactor to further extend RTI’s biofuels …
by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) The next five years—the often scoffed mantra of cellulosic ethanol developers—is getting whittled down to the next year or two. A milestone was reached this year when Blue Sugars …
by John Perritano (HowStuffWorks) At first glance, the fields of miscanthus that blanket Sampson County, N.C., seem of little importance. Standing 4 feet (1.21 meters) taller than a basketball hoop, miscanthus is a giant, spiky, …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Every biofuels contender has its own route to the top – with unique advantages and technical challenges. Who is nearing the Summit, what’s their Hillary Step, who’s got Sherpas, who’s …
(Biofuels Center of North Carolina) The Patterson Science Center, in partnership with the Patterson Foundation and the Caldwell Green Commission, recently approved the establishment of a biofuels feedstock crop demonstration plot on the Patterson Campus …
by Andrea Fox (Water Environment Federation/WEF Highlights) Most wastewater treatment plants do not support acres of sunflowers, rapeseed, or sorghum. However, a grant-funded pilot program at the Neuse River Wastewater Treatment Plant (Raleigh, N.C.) could …
(Biofuels Center of North Carolina) As part of its project to establish energy grasses in the southeastern part of the state on hog lagoon sprayfields and verify the economic opportunities for biofuels, the Biofuels Center …
by Roy Roberson (Southeast Farm Press) • Sounds like a good deal for grain growers and a bad one for livestock producers and consumers, but are such high prices really good for any of us?
• …
By John Murawski (News and Observer/Bradenton.com/Bradenton Herald) It’s billed as a champion energy crop that yields three times as much ethanol per acre as corn, a fast-growing field grass that’s ideal for making clean auto …
(Biofuels Center of North Carolina) To accelerate development of a statewide biofuels industry, the Biofuels Center of North Carolina funds projects and activities supporting its legislatively mandated mission of implementing North Carolina’s Strategic Plan for …
(US Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service) …Of the five regions, the Southeast has the greatest natural capacity in the continental United States, with sufficient sunshine, soils, water, and other natural resources to produce more …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Once described as a “moon shot”, Beta Renewables’ commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol project hovers just over the lunar surface, weeks from completion. It’s transformative cost structure may well reignite the …
(Algae Industry Magazine) Jon Strunk reports that over the last two months, University of Toledo (UT) researchers have won $4 million in nationally competitive awards from the federal government to explore ways society can benefit …
(CoStar Research) South Carolina Firm To Test Commercial Viability of Algae-based Biofuel Process at Former Textile Dye-Manufacturing Site
Later this month if all goes as planned, Renewed World Energies (RWE), an alternative energy development company based …
(Biofuels Center of North Carolina) The Zymobile—a 2011 Dodge Charger flex-fuel vehicle (FFV)—is owned and operated by Novozymes, the leading provider of enzymes used to make biofuels.
Capable of running on an 85-percent ethanol blend, the …
(Biofuels Center of North Carolina) Restaurants in Asheville, N.C., are now required to recycle their used cooking oil through local biofuels producers in order to receive Green Restaurant Association (GRA) certification. The GRA is a …
by John Ramsey (Fayetteville Observer) The grass grows as tall as two men and thick as a jungle.
This, farmers across the Cape Fear region keep hearing, is the future of ethanol. The giant miscanthus is …
by Kerstin Nordstrom (News Observer) …A Triangle-based company has now come up with a way to turn that trash into treasure. Well, fuel.
The secret is using enzymes. Novozymes, a company with its North American …
(Biofuels Center of North Carolina) Gaining large biofuels production capacity across the state will require realistic juncture of feedstocks and production technologies. Grown or secured from waste materials, feedstocks must be directed to a centralized …
by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) In one of those interesting ironies of renewable fuels, Chemtex’s North Carolina proposed cellulosic ethanol project puts a sector of the hog industry rooting for the success of advanced …
(Platts) Eight groups representing a cross section of the US biofuels industry asked the White House on Monday to keep the ethanol mandate in place, despite governors’ calls to shrink it in response to a …
by Ken Silverstein (Forbes) …By most standards, the hope that is such first-generation fuel additives are supplanted by next-generation ones, or those produced from cellulose. Worth it?
Such fibers are abundant and could supply 130 million …
(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 …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In North Carolina, Chemtex announced that it has received a $99 million conditional loan guarantee from USDA, under the USDA’s 9003 Biorefinery Assistance Program for the engineering and construction of …
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) …Talk of a possible renewable fuel standard (RFS) waiver request became a reality in mid-August, when the U.S. EPA was officially petitioned. The clock starts on a 90-day deadline …
(Renewable Fuels Association) Responding to an official waiver request of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) by North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) released the following statement:
“The Environmental Protection Agency should reject …
(City of Raleigh, NC/Biodiesel Magazine) The city of Raleigh has received a $100,000 grant from the Biofuels Center of North Carolina to purchase processing equipment and begin biofuel production at the Neuse River Wastewater Treatment …
(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, …
(Citizen-Times) Farmers, area restaurants and energy-conscious drivers could benefit from a pilot program to develop homegrown biofuels in the mountains.
Blue Ridge Biofuels, AdvantageWest, Biltmore Estate and other partners have been awarded a $130,000 grant from …
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Key proteins have been identified in a family of bacteria that help the microbes grab onto pieces of plant material in order to better degrade it. This was discovered …
(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 …
(Weed Science Society of America) The biofuels industry is hitting its stride, with both small farms and large-scale plantations producing renewable crops that can be converted to energy. But scientists with the Weed Science Society …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Section 9011 of the Farm Bill – the Biomass Crop Assistance Program – USDA deploys $9.6M in new investments in bioenergy crops as questions revolve around the program’s future and …
(Chemtex International/Ethanol Producer Magazine) Chemtex International announced today (June 13, 2012) that it has been selected by the USDA to participate in the Biomass Crop Assistance Program. The $3,996,000 award will support establishing and growing over 4,000 acres …
by Emery P. Dalesio (The Republic/AP) An Italian company’s Wilmington-based subsidiary is geared up to build a factory that can convert grassy plants into fuel for cars and trucks amid Sampson County’s hog and turkey …
(Biofuels Center of North Carolina) The Oxford Biodiesel Plant is capable of converting virgin or recycled fats and oils from multiple sources into 35,000 gallons of high quality biodiesel per year. The plant was constructed …
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Most of the stories we write at the Digest on the subject of biofuels feedstocks fall into the well-established realms of normal. But every once in a while, a feedstock …
(Richmond County Daily Journal) Starting June 1, consumers will notice changes to the way ethanol-blended gasoline is labeled at their local gas station.
The N.C. Rules Review Commission this week approved changes adopted by the Gasoline …
(PhysOrg) The drive to develop crops for use as biofuel, continues to raise questions about additional uses of forest land. A cutting edge computer model developed at North Carolina State University offers detailed insight to predict …
by John Murawski (News Observer) The U.S. military’s quest to outfit American soldiers with an all-in-one power source could lead to a nondescript office in a Morrisville technology park where Triangle startups toil away in …
(Biofuels Center of North Carolina) A new sector and a new technology, biofuels necessarily requires places for discovery, interaction, and assistance to new companies and projects. Newly upfitted in spaces and equipment, the Biofuels Company …
(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) …
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 …
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 …
