Burning Bio News

Production has begun at the 60 million gallon a year ethanol plant in Burley, ID.

Corn Plus, a 44 million gallon ethanol producer in Winnebago, MN sold its first carbon credits in March of 2008. Corn Plus qualifies for carbon credits because it has reduced its natural gas consumption by 52 percent through the installation and use of a fluidized bed boiler that burns as fuel the concentrated syrup leftover from ethanol production from corn.

A POET ethanol plant in Chancellor, SD will purchase methane gas from a Sioux Falls, SD landfill for use as an energy source. The solid waste fuel boiler currently being constructed at the facility will also use 150 to 350 tons of wood chips daily.

Researchers at Western Michigan University are working to develop two biofuel production processes: Bronco Biodiesel converts waste oils into biodiesel, the second project is working on identifying a viable algae strain to be used for both waste treatment and as a feedstock for biodiesel or ethanol production.

Indiana Ethanol Power LLC (IEP) will begin contract negotiations with the Lake County Solid Waste Management District (LCSWMD) to build one of the first facilities in the United States to convert commercial municipal solid waste to ethanol using the patented GeneSyst process. The facility will utilize 1,500 tons of waste biomass to produce 20 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year. There are at least three other ‘first’ MSW to ethanol proposals that are underway. One is the Masada technology in New York. BlueFire Ethanol is being built in California and Coskata just recently announced a MSW to ethanol plant planned for Missouri.

Leaf Clean Energy, formed by the Shaw Group, is investing $20 million in Greenline’s waterless biodiesel technology. Greenline uses a Rohm and Haas ion-exchange resin to purify the biodiesel.

George Huber of the University of Massachusetts Amherst has received a $400,000 CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation to pursue the commercialization of his experimental fast pyrolysis technology.

GreenHunter BioFuels, LLC announced it has begun construction of a 200 million pound per year glycerin distillation system for use in biobased chemicals at its Renewable Fuels Campus located in Houston, Texas.

The Minnesota Corn Research and Promotion Council, along with the Agriculture Utilization and Research Institute of Minnesota, have each invested $50,000 to determine the value and viability of corn cobs as biomass energy feedstock.

New Zealand’s Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation is commercializing a technology to harvesting of tons of wild algae, on a continuous, commercial-scale.  Equipment that utilizes ‘wild’ algae for biofuel production is a noteworthy approach to feedstock development.  Now we need a noxious weed harvester… mj

Green Plains Renewable Energy’s alternative energy development plan took a huge step forward as it was approved for a $2,190,407 grant by the Iowa Power Fund. The project the GPRE is working on is using the ethanol plant to develop a small-scale algae farm to create energy.

Last week I posted a new issue of Burning Bio News on my site at http://biomassrules.com/eNews/BBNv2n2.pdf.  If you are not registered to receive newsletter announcements, you can register on this page.  There are no strings.  I use the newsletter for business development.  I am more caught up on my news link postings than I have been for months, so I hope that my April news link activity is a sign of more continuity from here on out.  Thanks for your interest!  mwj.

Range Fuels Inc. announced $130 million in new equity funding. The money will go toward the first phase of construction on a plant in Soperton, Ga., which is expected to create ethanol using wood material that typically goes unused when timber is harvested.

American Electric Power subsidiary Appalachian Power issued a request for proposals today seeking long-term purchases of up to approximately 100 megawatts of new renewable energy resources to be operational by the end of 2010.

ConocoPhillips announced the launch of a new awards initiative offering up to $300,000 in cash prizes to researchers developing ideas and technologies capable of curb US greenhouse gas emissions.

Dynamotive Energy Systems Corporation announced that initial tests conducted on hydro-reforming of BioOil have shown positive results indicating a low cost path to BioOil upgrading.

An interdisciplinary group of scientists evaluated potential impacts of grain- and cellulose-based ethanol on nutrient and animal management as they relate to water quality impacts on U.S. inland and coastal waters, particularly the Northern Gulf of Mexico (Mississippi River Basin discharge). The group of scientists recommended rigorous implementation of advanced conservation measures to minimize N and P losses from new or more intensively managed corn to partially offset nutrient loss increases.

The U.S. Forest Service formally announced it would give a $250,000 grant to the Nevada Forest Service to help collect biomass for a Northern Nevada Correctional Center wood-fired power plant.

Xethanol Corporation announced that due to company losses in 2007, the company has indefinitely deferred construction of a second corn-to-ethanol facility next to its Blairstown facility. Xethanol is also considering cutting back its production of ethanol at its Blairstown facility until market prices for ethanol improve and costs decline.

After a few weeks of stalled construction on a Nebraska biodiesel plant, Beatrice Biodiesel LLC will resume construction on the project Ð which is within weeks of completion. Work on the nearly completed 50 million gallon biodiesel plant was hallted in February, but should be completed by June.