by Rachel Leonard  (WestEndAlexandriaPatch)  City Manager Rashad Young is criticizing a request from Norfolk Southern for a permit to increase the number of rail cars containing ethanol that can be offloaded at its Alexandria facility.
In a …

(Algae Industry Magazine)  Nutrients PLUS (NP), a company headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Old Dominion University (ODU), in Norfolk, Virginia, have applied for a patent on recent discoveries they’ve made related to the use …

by Brock Vergakis  (Associated Press/The Washington Post) NASA researchers said Thursday that test flights conducted in California have shown a commercial jet could fly safely with a blend of jet fuel that includes a plant oil.
Scientists …

by Susanne Retka Schill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) A team of Virginia Tech researchers have adapted existing technologies to make a new product, transforming cellulose into amylose. One target market for the amylose would be functional foods, said …

by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  The ethanol industry reacted swiftly to the so-called RFS Reform Act, legislation introduced April 10 in the U.S. House of Representatives, which they said would gut the renewable fuel …

(G-Oil Green Earth Technologies/PR NewsWire)  Every day is Earth Day at Lindsey Wilson College, a 2,700 student collection of campuses in Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
Looking to become a pioneer in developing truly …

(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 …

(Virginia Tech News)  A team of Virginia Tech researchers has discovered a way to extract large quantities of hydrogen from any plant, a breakthrough that has the potential to bring a low-cost, environmentally friendly fuel …

by Leah Small (Progress-Index)  The future of the Appomattox Bio Energy Plant is ripe with uncertainties and unexpected turns after Future Fuels LLP of Great Britain agreed to buy the facility for an unknown sum …

by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com)  A Virginia Tech researcher, along with several others, have offered a way to ensure that plants grown for biofuels do not become an invasive weed. According to Jacob Barney, an assistance …

(National Aeronautics and Space Administration)   NASA researchers have begun a series of flights using the agency’s DC-8 flying laboratory to study the effects of alternate biofuel on engine performance, emissions and aircraft-generated contrails at altitude.
The …

by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com)  The first E85 station has opened in Richmond, Virginia. In addition, MAPCO Express, has “re-branded” their retail stores under the “East Coast” brand and the three new E85 stations, two near …

By Joanne Ivancic (Advanced Biofuels USA)  Thanks to Lee Publications, the organizers of farm shows up and down the mid-Atlantic, for donation of booth space at the “farm show for farmers,” Keystone Farm Show 2013.  …

by Susan Worley (Star-Tribune)   The Town of Gretna and Piedmont BioProducts LLC learned last week they will benefit from two Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission grants totaling $5.3 million.
The money will be …

by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  …University of Virginia researchers Jochen Zimmer, Jacob Morgan and Joanna Strumillo  wrote a paper entitled “Crystallographic snapshot of cellulose synthesis and membrane translocation.” It was published online in December …

(Eco-Energy/BusinessWire)  Eco-Energy Holdings, Inc. (“Eco-Energy”) is pleased to announce that it is partnering with NuStar Terminals Operations Partnership L.P. (“NuStar”) to jointly develop an ethanol unit train and storage facility to serve the Northern, VA …

(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 …

(America’s Navy)  Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Energy) Tom Hicks toured a steam plant at St. Julien’s Creek Annex in Portsmouth now running on B20, a 20 percent biodiesel, 80 percent number two fuel …

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 Michael Fabey (Aerospace Daily and Defense Report/Aviation Week)  Despite continued opposition from lawmakers like U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the U.S. Navy will continue its efforts to leverage biofuels technology for its ships and …

by John Crane (GoDanRiver.com)  The CEO of a company that wants to build commercial refinery that would convert feedstock hopes to locate at Gretna Industrial Park.
The town of Gretna and Ken Moss, CEO of Piedmont …

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 …

by Sarah Gantz (Baltimore Business Journal)  Fiberight LLC has been on the fast track to commercializing owner Craig Stuart-Paul’s technology for turning trash into biofuel since Stuart-Paul founded the company in 2007.  READ MORE

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?
• …

(Dyson Racing)  The corollaries that racing is always pushing the boundaries of technology and Dyson Racing never stands still meet this weekend at the American Le Mans Series VIR 240.  The defending series champions will …

Name of Provider: Technology ED- continuing education for scientists and engineers 
Type: basic: Overview/ Part of Certificate Program (CP)
Course: Biofuels- Biomass Pretreatment Technologies
Course description:   Lignocellulosic materials provide a raw material source for biofuel conversion and …

Name of Provider: Technology ED- continuing education for scientists and engineers 
Type: basic: Overview/ Part of Certificate Program (CP)
Course: Biofuels- Algae Biofuel
Course description:  Fuel derived from renewable resources present an attractive alternative to petroleum, with benefits …

Name of Provider: Technology ED- continuing education for scientists and engineers 
Type: basic: Overview/ Part of Certificate Program (CP)
Course: Biofuels- Cellulose Ethanol
Course description:  Fuel derived from renewable resources present an attractive alternative to petroleum, with benefits …

Name of Provider: Technology ED – continuing education for scientists and engineers 
Type: basic: Overview/ Part of Certificate Program (CP) 
Course: Biofuels- An Introduction
Course description:   Fuel derived from renewable resources present an attractive alternative to petroleum, …

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 …

(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 Markus Schmidt  (Progress-Index)  While Hopewell’s lawsuit against the owner of the Appomattox Bio Energy Plant over a $5 million letter of credit is still pending and the city has not yet collected taxes from …

by Rober Brown (Bristol Herald Courier/Tricities.com)  Bristol, Va., officials might have turned down the relocation of an ethanol plant in their city, but the facility is very much wanted in Bristol, Tenn., City Manager Jeff …

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 Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …Emerald Biofuels announced that it will build an 85 million gallonrenewable-diesel refineries at a Dow Chemical site in Plaquemine, Louisiana. The company will use Honeywell’s UOP/Eni EcoFining process technology for the …

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 …

by Bryan Sims (Biorefining Magazine)  The biorefining industry is hungry for a low-cost, high-quality and readily available supply of sugar feedstock from nonfood biomass sources. A number of pure-play sugar technology developers and manufacturers like …

(Virdia/Biorefining Magazine)  Cellulosic sugar developer Virdia announced April 24 the opening of its demonstration facility at its new technology center in Danville, Va. Located on the campus for the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, …

(Maryland Clean Energy Center/The Current)  Serial entrepreneur Craig Stuart-Paul has found a novel formula for growing a business.
For the CEO of Fiberight, personal expertise in brewing beer plus innovations in recycling residential waste has added …

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 …

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 …

by Mike Gooding (WVEC.com)  … Fourth district congressman Randy Forbes is challenging the Navy which is making a priority out of going green.
House Armed Services Committee member Randy Forbes had harsh words for Navy Secretary Ray …

by David McGee (TriCities.com)  …With about 100 city residents – nearly all opposed to the plan — looking on Tuesday, the City Council took no action on a proposal to give the 13.8-acre former Crowley …

by Bryan Sims (Biorefining Magazine)  In a continued effort to test and validate advanced biofuel utilization in both air and sea crafts, the U.S. Navy successfully concluded its final demonstration of the year Dec. 7-9 …

by Matt Soberg (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Virginia Tech and USDA researchers developed strategy that reduces barley toxins sometimes present in distillers grains used for animal feed. The strategy modifies the ethanol fermentation process and focuses …

by Ann Marie Edwards (DomesticFuel.com) Attention travelers in the Tidewater, Va. area, the Airport BP is now offering E85 ethanol at its full-service auto repair center and convenience store located near Newport News-Williamsburg International Airport. …

by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  The city of Hopewell, Va., has moved forward with a court case against Osage Bio Energy LLC and its wholly owned subsidiary, Appomattox Bio Energy LLC, after the company …

by Richard Blackwell  (CTV News/The Globe and Mail)   …The theft of used oil and grease has become a big problem in Canada, mirroring a trend south of the border.
The price of “yellow grease” – …

by Matt Soberg (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Norfolk Southern Corp. reports that a new transload system decreased the time of operations from an average of 90 minutes to just 30 minutes in its first year of …

by Matt Soberg (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Lincoln Energy Solutions will nearly triple its ethanol and biodiesel transportation services, increasing its current fleet to 16 tankers with seven additional units scheduled to arrive by year end. …

by Tara Bozick  (GoDanRiver.com)   …Chemtex International and its parent Gruppo Mossi and Ghisolfi, or the M&G Group, have been developing a lingo-cellulosic bio-ethanol technology called Proesa in a move away from petroleum and toward …

by Erin Voegele (Biodiesel Magazine)  When he was only 14 years old, Sam Flournoy set out to design and build his own biodiesel processor.
…According to Flournoy, it took about six months of work before he …

(Maersk/MarineLink.com)  W R Systems, Ltd (WRSystems) was asked to supply its Emsys laser-based Emissions Monitoring System (EMS) for the purpose of emission verification for an ongoing fuel trials on-board the AP Moller-Maersk vessel Maersk Kalmar. …

By Richelle Gonzalez   (Severna Park Patch)  University of Maryland researcher says algae could remove pollutants from agricultural wastewater.
The Eastern Shore is known for vast soybean and corn farms, but if Patrick Kangas had his …

by Allison Klein (The Washington Post)  For months, used cooking oil has been disappearing from containers behind Washington area restaurants. Thieves have been siphoning tens of thousands of gallons a month and reselling it, authorities say.
Arlington …

(US Department of Agriculture)  Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today (September 27, 2011) announced that USDA will make payments to more than 160 energy producers in 41 states to support and ensure the production and expansion …

by Charles Abbott (Reuters)  Legislation was being drafted in the U.S. House that would reduce the federal mandate to use fuel ethanol when corn supplies are tight.
…According to consulting firm MF Global, the legislation would …

by Bryan Sims (Biodiesel Magazine)  A growing number of restaurants and other industrial facilities that use cooking oil will be frying green as Filta Environmental Kitchen Solutions opened three new franchise locations in the U.S.—North …

by David Hughes (Post Carbon Institute)  This week the USGS released anew assessment of gas resources in the Marcellus Shale, Appalachian Basin. The report is a reasonable effort by the USGS to sort out some …

(Voice of America)  …  At Cork Street Tavern in Winchester, Virginia, kitchen manager Chris Bennett cooks his freshly-fried potato chips in canola oil from Shenandoah Agricultural Products, a small company just a few kilometers away.
… …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the USDA and DOE have awarded 10 grants totaling $12.2 million to spur research into improving the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of growing biofuel and bioenergy …

by Zak Richards (University of Virginia)  Algae-based fuel is one of many options among the array of possible future energy sources. New University of Virginia research shows that while algae-based transportation fuels produce high energy …

by Roger L Chang, Lila Ghamsari, Ani Manichaikul, Erik F Y Hom, Santhanam Balaji, Weiqi Fu, Yun Shen, Tong Hao, Bernhard Ø Palsson, Kourosh Salehi-Ashtiani & Jason A Papin   (Molecular Systems Biology)  Metabolic network reconstruction encompasses …

by Steve Szkotak  (Forbes)   Virginia is moving forward to power its fleet of 10,000 vehicles with alternative fuels, ranging from biodiesel to propane to exotic mixes intended to ease the state’s reliance on foreign …

by James Gough  (Fredericksburg Free Lance Star)  …My primary concern with the editorial, however, is the certainty with which the writer declares, “we know now that ethanol production actually degrades the environment and causes increases …

(US Department of Energy)  The U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Biomass Program will be conducting detailed biennial peer review meetings of its activities throughout the first half …

by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  A long-proposed municipal solid waste (MSW)-to-ethanol project in Lake County, Ind., has locked in the financing needed to construct the facility and is expected to undergo construction in July. …

by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  The winners of the recently completed three-year EcoCAR challenge used a combination of extended-range electric power and E85 to grab top honors. Taking first place was Virginia Tech University, …

by Tara Bozick (GoDanRiver.com)  …Other projects receiving tobacco commission money: …• The commission approved $490,000 for Piedmont BioProducts in Gretna to improve its biofuel-making process, which will lead to the company’s first commercial bio-refinery in Gretna Industrial Park. …

(Algae Industry Magazine) …The Fuel Feedstock Freedom Act (S. 1085), gives individual states the option not to participate in the corn ethanol portion of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). It also expands the cellulosic biofuel …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  In Virginia, Osage Bio Energy announced that its board of directors has decided to market the company for sale.The company has also decided not to start production at its Appomattox Bio …

by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Nearly a year after Virginia’s first ethanol plant was scheduled to be producing ethanol, the grounds of Appomattox Bio Energy stand quiet, with very little activity. In fact, the …

by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com)  A start-up company, Tyton BioSciences, is looking for a new outlet for tobacco – biodiesel and ethanol. The company is developing genetically modified tobacco that will, according to their website, “produce both …

by Lynwood Broaddus  (Free Lance Star/Fredericksburg.com)  …The editorial begins, “Ethanol production boosts food prices, steals feed corn for fuel. ”
One bushel of corn can produce 2.5 gallons of fuel ethanol, 12.4 pounds of 21 percent …

by Mary Kissel (Orange County Register)  …Mr. Pope is the chief executive officer of Smithfield Foods Inc., the world’s largest pork processor and hog producer by volume. He doesn’t mince words when it comes to …

by Jim Snyder (Bloomberg)  …Senators Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, and Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, said the 45-cent credit, which is given to oil refiners for each gallon of ethanol they blend with gasoline, was unjustified …

by Marjon Rostami (The Virginia Pilot/iStockAnalyst.com)  Recycled French fry oil could soon be part of what fuels local government vehicles after the city’s Planning Commission approved a conditional-use permit for a biodiesel plant in an industrial …

By Robert Kozak (Atlantic Biomass Conversions, Inc.)  Worldwide Importance of Protein Animal Feed
When I began working with sugar beet processors on our beet pulp biofuel sugar process, one of their first questions was, “Will there …

(U.S. Department of Agriculture)  Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced research grants awarded to spur production of bioenergy and biobased products that will lead to the development of sustainable regional systems and help create jobs. …

(GreenAirOnline)  Four industry and academic teams have been awarded contracts by NASA to continue research on technologies that could enable aircraft entering service between 2030 and 2035 to further reduce fuel consumption, emissions and noise. …

by Michael Finneran   (Yahoo! News/PR NewsWire)  In an RV nicknamed after an urban assault vehicle, scientists from NASA’s Langley Research Center traveled cross-country this month for an experiment with eco-friendly jet fuel.
The Langley team …

by James Marvin (The Virginia Pilot)  …Off the capes of Virginia, a modern Navy swift boat cuts a wake at more than 50 miles per hour on fuel made from algae and petroleum. High over …

by Karen Kiley (WDBJ7.com)  Americans are paying more than $3.50, on average, for a gallon of gasoline. In Virginia, the average gallon of gas is $3.45.
The prices have been on the rise for weeks with …

(Algal Industry Magazine)  Joyce Yang, Technology Manager at U.S. Department of Energy talks to Tyler Suiters about the College of William & Mary’s algal fuel research program and the state of that science as well.
Yang …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …(F)or some time, observers have been waiting for an intermediate group of technologies to spring up, or even one, that takes in unsorted MSW from a municipality, crushes, sorts and …

(SWVA Today)  At the beginning of February, the Sheetz in Wytheville became one of seven Sheetz in the country to offer the corn-based fuel.
In fact, according to the U.S. Department of energy, there are only …

by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  One year after receiving $1 million grant from Ohio Third Frontier, SuGanit Systems Inc. is getting another $2 million from the same group to establish a cellulosic ethanol pilot plant in …

(USDA) Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced new investments in 33 states to support the production and usage of advanced biofuels. Vilsack highlighted these projects as ways the Obama Administration is working to reduce the …

by Erin Voegele (Biodiesel Magazine)  NX Global Inc. has received a $100 million funding commitment from a private U.S.-based organization. The financial support will be used to purchase property and fund construction on a waste-to-energy …

by Zinie Chen Sampson  (AP/MSNBC)  Virginia company turns  alcoholic drinks into ethanol
Truckloads of Four Loko and other alcohol-laced energy drinks are being recycled into ethanol and other products after federal authorities told manufacturers the beverages …

(NewsGuide)  Conversion of biomass to fuel requires several steps: chemical pretreatment to break up the biomass – often dilute (sulfuric) acid, detoxification to remove the toxic chemicals required in pretreatment, and microbial fermentation to convert the …

Alternative Fuels Focus Day: Monday, January 24, 2011:  Sign up for these in-depth and interactive extended-learning sessions examining case studies and solutions on the latest technologies employed in alternative fuels. During this Focus day, you …

by Bill Sizemore (Virginia-Pilot)  The Navy took a step toward breaking its dependence on petroleum Friday, powering up a boat with fuel derived in part from seaweed.
In a demonstration at Norfolk Naval Station, an experimental boat …

by Philip Walzer (Virginia Pilot/HamptonRoads.com)   International Paper might maintain a presence near Franklin, but the mill won’t make paper anymore.
In the company’s most detailed comments since its paper mill stopped production in April, a spokeswoman said …

(GoDanRiver.com)  …On Friday, state and local leaders celebrated the groundbreaking of SEnTeC — a research and development facility that would commercialize bio-energy projects for the region through contract research, developing licensed technologies or creating spin-off …

(TAPPI)  The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Washington, D.C., USA, has awarded the College of William & Mary, WIlliansburg, Va., $500,000 to study various aspects of using wild aquatic algae as both biofuel feedstock and as …

Biorefinery Program at TAPPI PEERS Covers Spectrum of Latest Developments
A full Biorefinery Program at the TAPPI 2010 PEERS Conference, October 17 -20 in Norfolk, Va., USA, explores new and emerging advances in hemicellulose extraction for maximizing …

(Old Dominion University)  …During the past five years, researchers at Old Dominion University have devised ways to cultivate and harvest microscopic algae, and then to convert them into a biodiesel fuel by a proprietary one-step …

(US Department of Energy)  Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced research awards under a joint DOE-USDA program aimed at improving and accelerating genetic breeding programs to create plants better suited for …