The city of Denver is converting more than 100 trucks and snow plows to run on clean-burning biodiesel.
The Denver Business Journal says the city is getting $700,000 in federal stimulus bucks to retrofit the equipment:
Denver announced Thursday that it had received the “Clean Diesel Conversion” grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
This is part of an EPA grant to clean up the city’s diesel trucks, but it reminds us that cities in the US can do more than they are doing to utilize biodiesel and other clearer-air devices.
A substance made from shrimp shells may transform biodiesel production into a faster, less expensive, and more eco-friendly process, researchers are reporting.
Call it a "shrimp cocktail" for your fuel tank. Scientists in China are reporting development of a catalyst made from shrimp shells that could transform production of biodiesel fuel into a faster, less expensive, and more environmentally friendly process. Their study is scheduled for the Aug. 20 issue of ACS' Energy & Fuels, a bi-monthly journal.
The researchers describe development of a new catalyst produced from shrimp shells. In laboratory tests, the shrimp shell catalysts converted canola oil to biodiesel (89 percent conversion in three hours) faster and more efficiently than some conventional catalysts. The new catalysts also can be reused and the process minimizes waste production and pollution, the scientists note.
Perhaps coming to a biodiesel production facility near you, the Chinese are fully serious about making biodiesel for their own needs, and here we see them contribute to the science of biodiesel.
The world biodiesel production capacity increased four-fold from 591,000 metric tons (MT) to a total of 2 million MT from 1996 up to 2002. In Europe, Germany, France and Italy lead the pack with the highest biodiesel production, where more biodiesel is produced than fuel ethanol. In Asia, the active producers of biodiesel are Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. Production of biodiesel continued to grow reaching 4.6 million MT (International Energy Agency, 2005).
This is not an unbiased opinion, but a source of information on how one investing firm feels about the future of the biodiesel industry. As you can see, they have high hopes and plans, putting money on the deal.
This eco-friendly, direct-to-fuel conversion does not require high production costs or massive amounts of agricultural land, fresh water, or feedstock. That makes it a better choice than even the newest algae and cellulose based techniques. Joule Biotechnologies the company that makes this technology was founded in 2007 and already they are positioned with a revolutionary and world changing idea. I hope they keep there eye on the ball. http://www.joulebiotechnologies.com/
For fans of the algae-based production of fuel, this company appears able to make either biodiesel or ethanol from their systems. Their website is given, interesting ideas and philosophies.