Burning Bio News

Algenol partnered with BioFields, which has committed $850 million to build an industrial-scale ethanol facility in Mexico on 102,000 acres of desert located near the Pacific coast. The algae takes the waste CO2 and converts it into oxygen and evaporated alcohol, which is then removed and concentrated for use as fuel. Algenol’s test facilities have yielded 6,000 gallons of ethanol per acre per year, with yields expected to grow to 10,000 gallons of ethanol per year by the end of 2008. By the end of 2009, the Mexican plant should have a capacity of 1 billion gallons of ethanol.

Plastic has a high BTU content. The environmental benefits surrounding plastic as a fuel are a bit gray. Releasing fossil carbon from converting plastic to fuel, is not much different than burning fossil fuel for energy. The value of energy can provide the incentive to keep it out of landfills and the environment. This article is a good technology review on plastic to fuel technologies.

After demonstrating long-term compliance with environmental laws and voluntarily agreeing to implement continuous improvements, five new members have been accepted into the IN Dept of Environmental Management’s (IDEM’s) Environmental Stewardship Program (ESP). This is the third year of the ESP program, and there are 38 members participating in this initiative. ESP members qualify for expedited permit review, flexibility in permitting, reduced reporting frequencies, and coordination of compliance inspections. To maintain ESP membership, companies must report on their environmental initiatives every year and reapply for ESP membership every three years.

The Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company and the University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center at Morris have scheduled public demonstrations of corn cob biomass collection next month (Morris, MN). The systems that will be demonstrated will be the Vermeer CCX770 Cob Harvester - a pull-behind cob collection system and the Ceres Ag Residue Recovery System which is designed to mount directly on the corn combine.

Andalusia, AL, recently received a $76,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Business Enterprise grant to establish a biofuels plant, converting used cooking oil to biodiesel for use in the city vehicles. The vegetable oil processor for which the city is accepting bids will produce 200 gallons of biodiesel in a 24-hour period.

Government Accounting Office Report has been issued entitled, “Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations: EPA Needs More Information and a Clearly Defined Strategy to Protect Air and Water Quality from Pollutants of Concern.” This regulatory revision process has been on-going for ten years. It is a great example of how politically contested issues can not be effectively remedied by legal and political battle. The political and legal ‘wins’ have generally produced the opposite intended effect of the respective battle winners.

Jes Sprouse, Burrowsville, VA, is cultivating algae in a 1-acre pond. Once the project reaches a yield of 3,000 to 5,000 gallons of biodiesel per year, into four, 25-acre ponds.

Sturgis, MI commissioners approved a 15-year lease agreement with Optional Energy Partners to produce algae and biodiesel at the city’s wastewater treatment facility.

In a landmark move to build a clean energy economy and cut global warming pollution, Northeastern states opened an emissions trading market to promote efficiency and cut pollution from power plants. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is designed to reduce carbon dioxide pollution to a level 10% below current emissions by 2019, while rewarding companies that outperform new pollution limits and lowering energy costs for consumers. The RGGI program is noteworthy because it is the first mandatory cap-and-trade program in the U.S., but also because it is the first program to auction the pollution permits, rather than give them to polluters for free based on their past emissions, as has been done in other programs.

Snohomish County, WA, rolled out its first $12 million center to dry and store canola seed, steps needed before turning them into biodiesel. This year, local farmers are harvesting about 400 acres of canola. The county expects to build a crusher in a few months in Monroe or Stanwood, WA.

Panda Ethanol has fired the contractor building its flagship cow manure-fueled, 115 million gallon ethanol plant and told SEC regulators it is no longer sure it will be able to finance the plant. While Panda has had to deal with the same constraints as the rest of the ethanol industry, it has been delays in building construction — not their manure gasification system — that have cause the biggest challenge. The Hereford, TX ethanol plant is 98 percent finished and Panda plans to complete it without the general contractor.

This is a very comprehensive list of research that is going on around the US in bioenergy. This list was compiled by the American Society of Agricultural Engineers in April.

USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have found that composting manure from beef cattle could reduce concentrations of antibiotics by more than 99 percent.

Demand for windrow turners has been growing in the agricultural sector as farms look to replace synthetic fertilizer with compost produced from their own residuals. The international marketplace has been strong as well.

The Kern County Fair (Bakersfield, CA) generates about 1.5 million pounds of waste throughout the 12 days of festivities. Everything but the food waste, 84,000. lbs, gets recycled: paper, cardboard, plastic, and manure. That is about 95 percent recovery.

New England Recycling and a construction and demolition recycling trade group filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Concord against NH Dept. of Envr. Service and NH Attorney General, charging that NH is enforcing laws that violate the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution in order to protect the virgin wood pellet industry in New Hampshire. The rub appears to be that NH has banned burning of construction and demolition waste, and prohibits the export of NH C & D waste to other states to be burned. This effectively interferes with interstate commerce of construction and demolition waste.

The Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District, CA, has a $250 rebate-incentive program to encourage a change-out to a new, EPA certified appliance.

PelletSales.com LLC, a national distributor of biomass that specializes in wood pellets, has developed proprietary software that allows the company to gauge biomass demand and locate supply throughout the United States.

A report issued by PA Gov. Rendell and the Chesapeake Bay Commission, proposes that swithgrass and other energy crops be grown for biofuels on abandoned and reclaimed minelands. A new State law requires that gasoline be blended with at least 10 percent cellulosic ethanol once in-state production of that commodity exceeds 350 million gallons annually.

Verasun Energy Corp. announced the startup of its 110 million gallon per year ethanol biorefinery located near Dyersville, Iowa. The biorefinery will annually process about 39 million bushels of corn and produce about 350,000 tons of distillers grains for livestock feed, in addition to employing about 55 workers. VeraSun took ownership of the plant on April 1, following its merger with U.S. BioEnergy.