Alberta's first large-scale biofuel refinery planned

Alberta's first large-scale biofuel refinery planned:
by Geoffrey Scotton, CanWest News Service -- Nov. 14, 2006
"A $400-million integrated biodiesel and ethanol refinery the first complex of its kind in North America will be built in central Alberta."

RAND Study Says Renewable Energy Could Play Larger Role in U.S. Energy Future

RAND Study Says Renewable Energy Could Play Larger Role in U.S. Energy Future:
Nov. 14, 2006
"Renewable resources could produce 25 percent of the electricity and motor vehicle fuels used in the United States by 2025 at little or no additional cost if fossil fuel prices remain high enough and the cost of producing renewable energy continues falling in accord with historical trends, according to a RAND Corporation study issued Nov. 13."

VeraSun Energy Plans to Use One Feedstock to Produce Ethanol and Biodiesel

BFJ.com EXCLUSIVE: VeraSun Energy Plans to Use One Feedstock to Produce Ethanol and Biodiesel:
by Susan reidy, Biofuels Journal Editor -- Nov 15, 2006
"The Brookings, SD-based company announced Nov. 3 plans to produce biodiesel using oil extracted from distillers grains, a coproduct of ethanol production."

Mascoma ready to scale up cellulosic ethanol production

Technology Review: Making Ethanol from Wood Chips:
by Kevin Bullis
"Experimental methods for converting wood chips and grass into ethanol will soon be tested at production scale. "

Florida Company to Make Ethanol from Citrus Waste

Fueling Station | Tampabay.com - St. Petersburg Times: Citrus ethanol. A cheap Florida fuel option.:
by David Adams -- Nov. 4, 2006
"Unlike other 'five-carbon' sugars being experimented with, the citrus waste can easily be fermented into ethanol using regular brewers yeast."

Partnership to Develop Ethanol from Cellulosic Biomass

Partnership to Develop Ethanol from Cellulosic Biomass:
Renewable Energy Access -- Nov. 6, 2006
"Broin and Novozymes will collaborate on the next steps needed to bring cost-effective ethanol derived from corn stover to market."

New Technology could turn straw into ethanol and high-value byproducts

Straw into gold:
by Crystal Reid, Bismark Tribune -- Nov. 5, 2006
"Truly, any sort of wheat straw or biomass refinery is at least a decade away, researchers say. But North Dakota researchers recently released an economic feasibility study on a new technology that could make such refineries rival the economic impact of oil and ethanol refineries."

New Research Paper Finds Water Availability Critical to Growth of Ethanol Industry

BFJ.com EXCLUSIVE: New Research Paper Finds Water Availability Critical to Growth of Ethanol Industry:
by Susan Reidy, Biofuels Journal Editor -- Nov. 7, 2006
"Without some careful planning, water availability could stand in the way of growing the ethanol industry, according to a new paper from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)."

Bioreactor will convert CO2 into biomass, Ethanol, Biodiesel

This is yet another technology on the verge of commercialization that promises to improve the energy balance of ethanol. -- Jeffrey Goettemoeller
GreenShift Corporation - Press Room - GS CleanTech Releases Process Demonstration of CO2 Bioreactor Technology: "A 50 million gallon per year dry mill ethanol production facility consumes about 500,000 tons of corn. About one third of this mass exits the dry mill ethanol production process at the fermentation stage in the form of exhaust carbon dioxide.
As applied at a standard dry mill ethanol production facility, GS CleanTech's bioreactor consumes exhaust carbon dioxide and has the potential to significantly enhance the net energy value of corn-derived ethanol processes by producing a number of valuable co-products that can increase plant output and gross margins."

E3 Biofuels to Launch First Closed-Loop Ethanol Plant in Mead, NE

E3 Biofuels to Launch First Closed-Loop Ethanol Plant in Mead, NE:
October 30, 2006
"Mead, NE -- Dennis Langley, Chairman and CEO of E3 BioFuels, announces the Genesis plant will begin production in December 2006 at Mead, NE as the first-ever closed-loop system for distilling commercial quantities of ethanol using methane gas recaptured from cow manure, instead of fossil fuels. "

Ford May Impliment Ethanol Injection in Vehicles

This is one of the more promising ethanol technologies. It would mean a substantial miles per gallon improvement using ethanol as opposed to the substantial loss using ethanol in current flex fuel vehicles. I can't help but think this would be a huge hit with motorists. -- Jeff Goettemoeller
MIT Ups MPG 30 Percent With Ethanol-Injected Engine | TechFreep Automotive: "Ethanol Boosting Systems is currently working alongside Ford to implement the ethanol-injection system in future models."

Leftovers from harvest are potential fuel source

The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Leftovers from harvest are potential fuel source:
by Hal Bernton -- October 16, 2006
"Federal studies at the University of Nebraska's research center in Mead indicate that on some lands all the corn residues should be left.
On others, only a portion should be removed, and researchers here are scrambling to develop new guidelines they hope farmers will respect."

Chevron and NREL to Advance Cellulosic Biofuel

RenewableEnergyAccess.com | Chevron and NREL to Advance Cellulosic Biofuels:
October 6, 2006
"Researchers from CTV and NREL will collaborate on projects to develop the next generation of process technologies that will convert cellulosic biomass, such as forestry and agricultural wastes, into biofuels such as ethanol and renewable diesel."

Glue made from ethanol leftovers might be worth more than fuel

This could be a great way to make cellulosic ethanol viable. Rather than trying to squeeze out more ethanol, making good use of coproducts might make the whole operation profitable with existing ethanol extraction technology. -- Jeffrey Goettemoeller
Glue made from ethanol leftovers might be worth more than fuel | WTN:
by Margaret Broeren, Wisconsing Technology Network -- September 26, 2006
"Rather than dwelling on finding ways to squeeze extra ethanol out of biomass from crops such as switchgrass, Weimer is concentrating his research on the leftovers. He thinks that the large heap of fermentation residue from the ethanol-making process - what many people consider a byproduct - could be far more valuable than the ethanol itself."

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."

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."

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."

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. "

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."

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. "

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."

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.'"

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."