Iowa-based Renewable Energy Group will be opening a new multi-million dollar research and support lab for seven network biodiesel production plants and others in the industry this coming Tuesday, July 28th at its Ames locaiton.
The company is promising reporters some pretty cool photo and video opportunities with a live demonstration of biodiesel production and more than 25 biodiesel feedstocks of tomorrow including coffee bean oil, jojoba, coconut and karanja oils.
Iowa has some of the richest farmland in the world, so it is not surprising to see biodiesel centers spring up there. This one state could probably feed the whole world and supply it with biodiesel.
11 billion pounds of chicken feather meal are accumulated annually by the poultry industry in the U.S., and if a process developed by scientists in Nevada moves forward, those chicken parts could be used to produce 153 million gallons of biodiesel a year, and 593 million gallons worldwide.
Chicken feather meal consists of processed chicken feathers, blood, and innards that have been steam processed at high temperatures, and because of its high protein and nitrogen content is currently used as animal feed and fertilizer. The meal also has a 12% fat content, which could be used as a nonfood feedstock to make biodiesel.
If you read this short article carefully, you’ll learn that it is really the fat that gets turned into biodiesel. Chicken fat apparently makes good biodiesel, and right now, this is waste going into the landfills of the world.
Photo from: http://www.cherryhill-nj.com/government/departments/public-works/public-works.asp
“This type of fuel will significantly reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants associated with burning through petroleum diesel,” Mayor Bernie Platt said in a press release. “With the cost difference of this cleaner, greener alternative being made up through the BPU’s rebate program, we believe making the switch is a no-brainer.” B20 fuel is an alternative fuel that contains 20 percent biodiesel – which commonly consists of soybeans or canola oil as its base – and 80 percent petroleum diesel fuel. B20 fuel can generally be used in unmodified diesel engines, so the township’s fleet would not have to be modified.
This is a significant program to run municipal vehicle on B20. I think we should push local government to run as much biodiesel as possible, to save money, pollution, and to serve as a good example to all.
The Milligan-Biotech plant cold crushes canola to produce biodiesel and other products. (Milligan-Biotech)
Zenneth Faye, one of the original group of farmers who decided to build the Milligan Bio-Tech plant, said it had been a long road that began with an idea about 20 years ago.
Faye, an engineer, is now the executive manager of the plant, which crushes canola seed to produce various renewable products including lubricants and diesel fuel. He was one of a small group of canola farmers who sat around a kitchen table in 1991, trying to find new markets for their oilseed crop.
I have always thought we have a lot of good things we can learn from Canada, and with biodiesel from canola, why not if you can grow it? Go Canada, show us how to make some biodiesel.