Burning Bio News

I have reposted a corrected copy of the Burning Bio News.  In yesterday’s version I mis-stated the two months included in this newsletter. The only correction was the month names in the first sentence to May and June. The rest of the newsletter was not adjusted.  Sorry for the confusion.  Also if you haven’t found the archive of Burning Bio News, it is currently located at http://biomassrules.com/BurningBioNews/?page_id=168.  I am planning to relocate this archive, but will announce the new location, once it is moved.  Thanks! mj

Harrelson Materials Management and California-based Clean Earth Solutions Inc. have proposed bringing a new kind of recycling plant to Shreveport, LA. Clean Earth Solutions Inc. licenses and commercializes a process to convert municipal solid waste into alternative fuels and other sources of energy and marketable commodities. Clean Earth Solutions is building a pilot plant in Quitman County, MS. The Shreveport facility could be up and running in 2 to 3 years.

With grain prices easing, the Bush administration has decided against encouraging landowners to put conservation acreage back into production. Because of high feed prices and flood damage in the Midwest, the administration was considering waiving penalties for landowners who removed some land from the 34.7 million acres in the Conservation Reserve Program.

Recent miscanthus field trial reports indicate that 9 percent of US cropland planted to miscanthus could produce enough ethanol to offset 20 percent of the nation’s gasoline use. Much of the increase is due to the extremely efficient capture of solar energy and ability to grow in a wide range of soil qualty.

Gas from the Johnson County (MO) Landfill will help power Mid-Missouri EnergyÕs ethanol plant near Malta Bend. Landfill gas will displace more than 90 percent of the natural gas used to produce ethanol at its plant. It will also provide adiditional blending credits because they will be offsetting fossil fuels.

Much of the U.S. had weather trouble of some sort this spring, whether it was drought in the Southeast and Southwest or torrential rains and heavy flooding in the Midwest.

I just posted the latest issue of Burning Bio News on biomassrules.com!  It covers the bioenergy projects, policies, and technologies that were covered in the May and June news… plus a few other tidbits!

By a 4-1 vote, the Dickinson County Board of Adjustment approved a conditional use permit that will allow Iowa Lakes Electric Cooperative to build seven wind turbines to power the Superior Ethanol Plant, Superior, IA. For the power plant, Iowa Lakes Electric Co-op is using seven 1.5 megawatt GE turbines for power.

BlueFire Ethanol Fuels has been granted a conditional-use permit from the Department of Regional Planning of the County of Los Angeles for the construction of acommercial biowaste-to-ethanol facility.

North Carolina Agriicultural and Technical State University is studying cattails as both a nutrient remediation crop and as a feedstock into biomass fuels.

DuPont and the University of Tennessee have announced plans to build a new cellulosic ethanol pilot plant and research facility that could help provide the best of both worlds for the renewable fuel. The plant, which will be located in Vonore, Tenn., about 35 miles from Knoxville, is expected to produce up to 250,000 gallons of ethanol annually. The plant is expected to be operational by the fall of 2009.

MA Gov. Deval Patrick signed into law an incentives package for the state’s biofuels industry. Fuels made from biomass are exempt from the state gas excise tax. All diesel and home heating fuel must contain 2 percent biofuels in 2010 and 5 percent by 2013.

The Missouri Agricultural and Small Business Development Authority (MASBDA) is currently accepting applications for the Cellulosic Ethanol Feasibility Grant Program. This grant is for a feasibility study that involves developing and evaluating the use of woody biomass as an input for the production of fuel ethanol and other energy sources.

Geos Neighborhood, the country’s largest net-zero energy, master-planned community, announced plans for 250 residences located between Denver and Boulder, CO. Set to begin infrastructure construction this fall, Geos Neighborhood will generate enough renewable energy to offset 100 percent of the annual energy needs of the entire community.

Converted Organics Inc. announced it has formed a partnership with the city of Gonzales, CA and the Gonzales Unified School District to recycle food waste from local school cafeterias into all-natural organic fertilizer for application on Gonzales school fields, city parks and public spaces.

The Ventura County Biodiesel Cooperative was created to help people running their cars and trucks on biodiesel get the supply they need after the only local gas station that sold it commercially abruptly stopped. Co-founder Paul Jenkin says they’re in the unusual position of hoping to eventually become unnecessary when more gas stations start selling biodiesel.

The California Coastal Commission voted unanimously to approve a Pacifica, CA, 3 million gallon biodiesel plant from used oil. The biodiesel fuel will be used in the city’s fleet and used to generate electricity to be used on-site at the wastewater treatment plant. Treated wastewater will be used in the biodiesel process.

Blue Sun Biodiesel has been awarded a $41,059, Advancing Colorado’s Renewable Energy (ACRE) grant from the state of Colorado to commercialize a non-food energy crop, camelina, for use in biodiesel. Blue Sun is using the grant to develop camelina production practices by conducting water use efficiency trials, fertility experiments, date of planting studies and observing on-farm production.

Flathead Electric Cooperative, Kalispell, MT, plans to collect methane from the Flathead County landfill and use it to power a 1.6 MW generator.

Washington Electric Cooperative has filed an applicaton to expand its landfill power plant with the Vermont Public Service Board. The landfill power plant began operating a 4.8 MW power plant in July 2005. Increased to 6.4 MW in January 2007 and is now filing to expand to 8.0 MW