Friday, September 29, 2006

Building the Cellulosic Ethanol Industry

RenewableEnergyAccess.com | Building the Cellulosic Ethanol Industry:
September 27, 2006
"Minneapolis, Minnesota [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] A new report issued by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) urges the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to change its piecemeal approach to commercializing ethanol from cellulose by developing a comprehensive strategy, namely that farmer ownership should be the federal focus in building the cellulosic ethanol industry."

Friday, September 22, 2006

MIT Developing Floating Wind Turbines

RenewableEnergyAccess.com | Floating Wind Turbines the Wave of the Future:
by Nancy Sauffer -- September 21, 2006
"Sclavounos estimates that building and installing his floating support system should cost a third as much as constructing the type of truss tower now planned for deep-water installations. Because of the strong offshore winds, the floating turbines should produce up to twice as much electricity per year (per installed megawatt) as wind turbines now in operation. And since the wind turbines are not permanently attached to the ocean floor, they are a movable asset."

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

RenewableEnergyAccess.com | Virgin Group Pledges to Invest $400 M in Renewable Energy

RenewableEnergyAccess.com | Virgin Group Pledges to Invest $400 M in Renewable Energy:
September 18, 2006
"Formed in June 2006, Cilion plans to build and operate ethanol plants that will be cheaper and greener than standard corn-to-ethanol plants, reducing the need for fossil fuels in ethanol production. "

New Technology Uses Cellulosic Biomass to Produce Ethanol

RenewableEnergyAccess.com | New Technology Uses Cellulosic Biomass to Produce Ethanol:
September 19, 2006
"The new technology uses RITE strain, a microorganism developed by RITE that converts sugar into alcohol, with Honda engineering to increase alcohol conversion efficiency, in comparison to current cellulosic bio-ethanol production processes."

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Chevron to Fund Major Biofuel Research Projects at UC Davis

UC Davis News & Information :: Chevron to Fund Major Biofuel Research Projects at UC Davis:
September 19, 2006
"Chevron Corp. will fund up to $25 million in research at UC Davis in the next five years to develop affordable, renewable transportation fuels from farm and forest residues, urban wastes and crops grown specifically for energy."

New ethanol process offers cost, environmental benefits

This process produces high-value byproducts for human consumption and making environmentally friendly plastics. -- Jeff
New ethanol process offers cost, environmental benefits:
Newswire -- reliableplant.com
"A Purdue University team led by professor Li-fu Chen and research assistant Qin Xu, both from the Purdue food science department, discovered a new method to create ethanol from corn. The method also produces biodegradable byproducts that could be safely eaten."

St. Joseph facility developing cellulosic ethanol

ICM is partnering with Lifeline Foods of St. Joseph to develop an ethanol research facility at the St. Joseph Lifeline complex. -- Jeff G.
Ethanol Producer Magazine:
by Ron Kotrba -- September 18, 2006
"ICM CEO and President Dave Vander Griend tells EPM that one of the major R&D objectives on which the company will focus in the new center will be developing a �best methods� commercial approach to cellulosic ethanol either through a gas-to-liquid production or via effective pretreatment followed by fermentation�or perhaps an alternative method. More details are provided in the October 2006 issue of Ethanol Producer Magazine. "

Thursday, September 14, 2006

NCGA Study: Farmer-owned Ethanol Refineries Contribute More to Local Economies

National Corn Growers Association - NCGA:
September 12, 2006
"The study, 'Economic Impacts on the Farm Community of Cooperative Ownership of Ethanol Production,' concludes that, 'Since a farmer-owned cooperative ethanol plant is literally a member of the community, the full contribution to the local economy is likely to be as much as 56 percent larger than the impact of an absentee-owned corporate plant.' John Urbanchuk of LECG, LLC, conducted the analysis."

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Why Isn't Butanol More Prevalent?

RenewableEnergyAccess.com | Why Isn't Butanol More Prevalent?:
by Scott Sklar -- September 12, 2006
"Butanol has a high energy content (110,000 Btu per gallon for butanol vs. 84,000 Btu per gallon for ethanol). Gasoline contains about 115,000 Btu's per gallon. Butanol is six times less 'evaporative' than ethanol and 13.5 times less evaporative than gasoline, making it safer to use as an oxygenate in Arizona, California and other states, thereby eliminating the need for very special blends during the summer and winter months."

Community Renewable Energy Is Just Around the Corner

RenewableEnergyAccess.com | Community Renewable Energy Is Just Around the Corner:
by Ted Bernhard -- September 11, 2006
"For decades, the conventional wisdom about developing energy projects in the U.S. has been that 'big' always meant cheaper, and therefore better, projects. This produced what has become our modern centralized electric power system fueled primarily by coal, natural gas and nuclear power. "

Friday, September 08, 2006

Fast-Growing Poplars Could Be Ethanol Source

Purdue University researchers are attempting to change the lignin composition produced by Poplar trees to facilitate easier ethanol production. -- Jeffrey
RenewableEnergyAccess.com | Fast-Growing Poplars Could Be Ethanol Source:
September 7, 2006
"Approximately 10 tons of poplar could be grown per acre annually, representing 700 gallons of ethanol. Changing the lignin composition could increase the annual yield to 1,000 gallons of ethanol per acre, according to experts. Planted on 110 million acres of unused farmland, this could replace 80 percent of the transportation fossil fuel consumed in the United States each year."

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Direct Injection Ethanol Breakthrough Increases Efficiency Using Ethanol-Water Mix

Ecosense Solutions is producing this direct injection system for Irrigation pumps, but they say it could be used on E85 Automobiles in the future. With the use of a water-ethanol mix, fuel efficiency is increased considerably. The ethanol would be less expensive to make because less of the water would need to be removed from the "beer." Refineries would need to be retrofitted to produce this hydrated ethanol because they are designed to remove virtually all of the water. -- Jeffrey
Midwest Producer: Top Stories:
by Terry Anderson -- September 7, 2006
"LaVaute said production on the Ethanol Pumper Retrofit Kit, with patent pending, will begin soon. The return on a farmer's investment would be speedy, Gehrke said.
'The system pays for itself in the first week of use,' he said.
And it's not just a device for the thousands of irrigation motors across the countryside.
'With our ethanol system, we can also implement its use in E85 autos, reducing emissions 90 percent while increasing mpg up to 60 percent,' Gehrke said. 'The auto's own computer won't know we're even on board.'"

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

GS AgriFuels to Build Integrated Multi-Feedstock, Multi-Fuels Production Facility in Memphis, Tennessee

GS AgriFuels Corporation - Press Room - GS AgriFuels to Build Integrated Multi-Feedstock, Multi-Fuels Production Facility in Memphis, Tennessee:
September 6, 2006
"GS AgriFuels intends to use standard fuel production technologies and a number of proprietary technologies, including innovative pre-treatment, process intensification, gasification, catalytic, and carbon capture technologies, synergistically at small-scales to enable the refining of many forms of biomass into clean fuels, including biodiesel and ethanol."