Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Making ammonia fertilizer from corn cobs

Here is an example of cellulosic technology thinkinging outside the box. It may be more efficient to make fertilizer from cellulosic material rather than liquid fuels. This would displace natural gas now used in the production of ammonia fertilizer.
Plant to make ammonia from cobs | DesMoinesRegister.com | The Des Moines Register: "SynGest of San Francisco said it will make anhydrous ammonia fuel and fertilizer from corn cobs and other biomass from a factory to be located on 75 acres near Menlo."

Friday, March 27, 2009

Ethanol biorefinery using landfill gas as process fuel

Co-locating an ethanol plant near a landfill is one way to utilize landfill gas. Most landfills are not exploited as they could be.
GRAINNET News and Information for the Grain, Milling, Feed, Seed and BioFuels Industry: "The POET plant will utilize the landfill gas in a wood waste-fuel boiler to generate process steam."

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Methane form sewage to power buses

Plans are in the works to run city buses in Oslo, Norway, with biomethane extracted from sewage and food waste. These underutilized resources are available in any city.
Norway turns to poo-powered buses COSMOS magazine

Lower cost method for processing algae

ALgae is a potential feedstock for various biofuels such as ethanol or biobutanol. If the cost of harvest, drying, and dewatering can be lowered as much as the linked article mentions, it could make algae much more competitive.
GRAINNET News and Information for the Grain, Milling, Feed, Seed and BioFuels Industry: "'We have demonstrated a truly disruptive technology that reduces that cost by more than 99 percent - from $875 per ton to $1.92 per ton,' Youngs said."

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Ethanol pipeline studied for U.S.

It seems that some ethanol commentators are under the impression that ethanol cannot be shipped by pipeline. This is not strictly true. Many years ago, a U.S. compamy did some successful tests on shipping ethanol in a multi-product pipeline. Recently, Magellan and Poet announced plans to explore the possibility of building an ethanol pipeline from the midwest to the east coast. Brazil is already shipping ethanol by pipeline.
Poet, Magellan to study ethanol pipeline - Ethanol Producer Magazine

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Solazyme turning out auto-ready ‘crude’ from algae

Solazyme Inc. is using a non light dependent algae fed with biomass. The result is a sort of crude oil that can be made into many products including biodiesel. A bid advantage is he compatibility with existing automobiles and distribution infrastructure.
ABC7.com Green Content - Algae fuel start-up Solazyme turning out auto-ready ‘crude’