Burning Bio News

TerraCycle, a company selling worm casting compost in Trenton, NJ, is experience enormous growth. Product sales have grown from $70,000 in 2004, to $500,000 in 2005, $1.5 million in 2006, an estimated $4 million this year, and a projected $8.6 million in 2008.

SunOpta Inc. plans to construct a 10 million-gallon-per-year cellulosic ethanol plant in Minnesota with the Central Minnesota Ethanol Co-op. SunOpta has developed a “steam explosion” process, which uses heat and steam to pre-treat cellulosic materials such as woodchips and break chemical bonds within the substance by adding water.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Cooperative State Research and Extension Education System awarded a one-year $55,000 grant to Michigan State University Extension and the MSU Department of Forestry to develop Extension educational programs related to cellulosic and woody biomass biofuel development.

Purdue University recycles 24 percent of its solid waste stream. With 39,230 students and more than 10,750 non-student staff members, Purdue’s West Lafayette campus has a higher headcount during the school year than most Indiana cities. Purdue recycled 1,736 tons of material or 24 percent of its 7,152-ton waste.

New England Organics, Division of Casella, awarded $40,000 from a Renewable Energy Trust Grant to install an anaerobic digester to produce electricity from food waste.

A trash-to-energy incinerator has received the backing of the Carroll County administration, which rejected the recommendation of an environmental advisory panel. The Environmental Protection Agency prefers trash-to-energy incinerators over additional landfills.

Three Florida biomass energy projects moving forward slower than intended. A Tampa ethanol plant has been mired down with a lawsuit, biomass power plant is still searching for property, and converting a closed citrus processing plant to a large biodiesel fuel plant is taking longer than anticipated. The biodiesel plant is producing biodiesel fuel, just less than planned.

After months of controversy, the Chesapeake, VA city council on Wednesday rejected a proposal to build one of the country’s largest ethanol plants, 216 million gallons, at a riverfront site near a residential neighborhood.

Four Tucson, AZ, sites will be collecting grease and fats the day after Thanksgiving, that will be turned into biodiesel fuels. The event collected 1,400 gallons last year, and this year’s goal is 2,000 gallons.

Microbes in the gut of Termites — notorious for their voracious appetite for wood — may provide the biochemical means to a greener biofuel future. These microbes may provide a source of enzymes for improving the conversion of wood or waste biomass to valuable biofuels.

Two companies forming a joint venture to produce up to 100 million gallons of biodiesel a year by 2010, primarily with Montana crops, said they will be looking to sign up as many as 50 farmers by next year. To produce 100 million gallons of biodiesel will require 1 million acres of camelina production.

An ethanol plant producing up to 10 million gallons a year and employing 15 to 20 people could open in Keokuk next year. The new ethanol plant would use waste starch from ADM.

Michigan State University and Michigan Technological University are teaming up to further support the developing renewable-fuels industry in the state. The universities each have strong biofuel programs. That expertise will be combined to create new collaborative research, outreach and economic development programs centered on fuels and energy made from forest biomass.

PA, Governor Rendell announces $2.5 million investment in agriculture, tourism projects. Only one bioenergy development project, an anaerobic digester project was funded ($75,500).

DuPont business Pioneer Hi-Bred introduced QualiTrak(SM), a new measurement and reporting system that facilitates the flow of predicted ethanol yield information to both plant personnel and corn growers from a grain sample.

The Resource Conservation and Development Council (RC&D) has nearly completed a study aimed at identifying renewable energy projects in the Southern Alleghenies RC&D Region (PA).

The newly-formed National Biomass Producers Association promotes commercial switchgrass production. The organization’s website can be found at http://www.biomass-producers.org/.

Albany, NY, County Comptroller Michael Conners proposed the creation of a home heating oil cooperative and construction of a cellulosic ethanol plant at the Port of Albany as part of a county plan for local fuel-economy measures.

Dixon Ridge Farms, Winter, CA, is using walnut shells to fuel a 50 kW generator. A second module added to the BioMax unit will convert walnut shells into synthetic diesel.

Five townships in Northampton County, PA, have begun composting yard waste at the first intermunicipal composting center. Planning began in 2000 and now the first compost should be ready by the Spring of 2008