Palm oil, the most promising biodiesel fuel when it comes to yield – Photo from: http://afrodiesel.blogspot.com/2005/01/afrodiesel-basic-idea_110721212729730932.html
March 8 (Bloomberg) -- Palm oil rose as crude oil gained to above $82 a barrel, raising the appeal of the commodity as a feedstock for biodiesel and as Indonesia and Malaysia, the top producers, agreed to tackle environmental and labor issues.
May-delivery contract advanced as much as 0.9 percent to 2,693 ringgit a metric ton on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange, before pausing at 2,686 ringgit at the 12:30 p.m. break.
Crude oil for April delivery added 0.6 percent to $81.95 a barrel amid speculation improving world demand and OPEC supply restrictions will help slow growth in stockpiles. It traded as high as $82.04 a barrel earlier today.
If you look at biodiesel feedstock as a commodity, this story might prompt you to invest in palm oil, which I believe is both edible and a biodiesel feedstock, palm oil is also used in cosmetics, no?
Endorsed and funded by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, the ground-breaking community initiative brings sustainable fuel (used cooking oil and diesel mix) to Queenstown in what could potentially be a pilot programme for the rest of the country.
It also has the full support of the Queenstown Lakes District Council, which has supplied land and seed funding for the refuelling facility, as well as regional tourism organisation Destination Queenstown.
The biodiesel consortium model was initiated and developed by Otago Polytechnic’s Centre for Sustainable Practice in collaboration with a group of local tourism operators.
Thirty Queenstown business operators are now on board for the 12-month pilot programme and will initially run their vehicles on 20% biodiesel mixed with standard diesel (B20). In the future 100% biodiesel will also be available for use. Biodiesel blends can be used in virtually all diesel engine vehicles and the pilot programme will test the compatibility of a wide range of vehicles, from 4WDs to 53-seater buses.
Photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/35828669@N00/2824136134/
As Congress finishes work on a second jobs bill, the biodiesel industry may soon get its $1-a-gallon tax credit that expired last year restored. But because it's a tax credit that must be renewed annually, the soy-based fuel plants that are operating at only 14% capacity will have to go to Congress again for support. A longer term tax credit for ethanol, worth 45 cents a gallon, also expires this year.
Bob Metz, a South Dakota soybean farmer who is a director of the National Biodiesel Board, told farmers at the Commodity Classic in Anaheim, California, Friday that even though the tax credit for biodiesel has strong support in Congress, it got caught up in delays caused by the health care debate in the Senate. His group would like to see the tax laws changed to create a longer-term tax credit that doesn't have to be renewed annually.
Metz called on the ethanol industry to work with biodiesel to get longer term tax credits for both fuels.
An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Maryland and Bowie State University is working on ways to turn poplar trees into high-yield crops for biofuels including ethanol, the renewable biofuel used in gasoline blends and flex-fuel vehicles. The hybrid trees would be grown on plantations and harvested without affecting existing woodlands.
The study is funded by a $3.2 million, four-year grant from the National Science Foundation's Plant Genome Research Project, which supports research on plants seen as having economic and agricultural importance. Researchers Gary Coleman, Ganesh Sriram and Jianhua Zhu of Maryland and George Ude of Bowie State are using the recently completed poplar genome to look for ways to improve the tree's nitrogen processing capability, which would enhance its growth rate and feasibility for use in fuel production.
This might be a source of both ethanol and biodiesel, depending on the oil content of the seeds, but why this tree instead of another? Anyone in the forum know about this species?