Burning Bio News

DuPont and BP said they were able to create a fuel blend with a 16 percent concentration of biobutanol. Ethanol is generally blended at 10 percent.

Two Phoenix, AZ, biodiesel firms plan to operate commercial biodiesel plants off used cooking oil. Americo Biofuels Corp. intends to market 15 million gallons of biodiesel fuel, while AZ BioDiesel intends to begin producing 5 million gallons annually.

Coskata hit the ground running in January 2007, when they obtained strains of bacteria that converts gases into ethanol. Within months, they had built a laboratory in suburban Chicago, formed an alliance with General Motors, and announced a 40,000 gallon demonstration facility that will be operational within a year.

Plans for a 60-million gallon biodiesel plant in Quincy, IL, have been put on hold. The decision is based on construction costs, high corn prices and fluctuations in the agricultural market.

Agribusiness has emerged as a lucrative sweet spot of the marketing industry, thanks to strong global demand for grain and meat and the huge amounts of capital sloshing around the ethanol market. A 2006 survey by Chesterfield-based trade publication AgriMarketing found companies spending $615 million a year promoting products and services for agricultural producers.

The Andersons Inc. and Marathon Oil Corp. have announced the start of ethanol production at their 110 MMgy plant in Greenville, Ohio. The corn-based facility will also produce 350,000 tons of distillers dried grains annually and employ a workforce of 45.

Purdue University study looks at ethanol subsidies, the price of oil and who pays for biofuels. This is a thought-provoking study (from the article that describes it). The final article published later this year will explain their cost assumptions in more detail.

The cost of compost, heating oil and other essentials needed to grow mushrooms has risen so quickly since Hurricane Katrina caused a spike in crude-oil prices two years ago that some growers in the area - where more than half the nation’s mushrooms are produced - say they are operating in the red. This article is significant because the mushroom industry does not depend on corn or soybeans for inputs, but clearly suffers from high energy costs. Also increased cost of compost is mentioned as adding to their costs. As supply and demand for carbon (biomass) increase, all forms will increase in value.

The US workforce continues to move to green-collar jobs. As manufacturing jobs move off-shore, job creation from renewable energy wind, solar, and bioenergy continue to create new jobs. This is the first reference I have seen to these new jobs as “green collar” jobs. Many of these jobs are being created in rural areas.