The biofuel market is turning into a diverse romp of venture-backed companies auditioning different microbes, catalysts and feedstocks, all with the same goal: to quickly, efficiently and cheaply transform renewable, non-food products (ranging from sugar cane to switch grass to carbon dioxide) into viable forms of fuel that can work in today’s gas tanks.
The problem is, almost all of these players hit the same ceiling: they can’t figure out a way to inexpensively scale with the technology they have. But biofuel startup LS9 may have just changed that.
The company’s scientists have published a paper, academically titled “Microbial Biosynthesis of Alkanes,” claiming that they can now implant genes into E. coli that allow the bacteria to directly churn out alkanes — otherwise known as the hydrocarbons in car and jet fuel — in one step. This is a major breakthrough for the field, one that has been chased for years.
Photo from: http://www.texasgreen.biz/index.html
LITTLEFIELD, TX (KCBD) - In the heart of Littlefield's cotton industry, you will find a biodiesel plant called Texas Green. Anyone can use their alternative fuel with little or no modifications to their car, simply if they have a diesel engine.
Jeffrey and Jerry Bigham started the alternative fuel plant three years ago when they noticed they could provide energy to local people from local products. "It is a local fuel and can be used locally. So we can take our products you can take cotton seed oil, you can take tallow, you can take waste vegetable oil from our restaurants," says Jeffrey Bigham.
Texas Green uses mostly beef tallow, or animal fat from local slaughter houses, mixes it with chemicals to create their biodiesel fuel. "Clean it up and recycle it and make it into a fuel we can use in our tractors to plow the fields of cotton or sort them. Or to use it in our diesel trucks that we use to move our cattle or work on our ranches," says Bigham.
Bigham says some states have mandates put in place that forces gas stations to use a percentage of biodiesel in every gallon of diesel fuel. "For instance in Minnesota, 2 percent of biodiesel has to be in every gallon of fuel sold," says Bigham.
Bigham says these mandates limit the use of foreign oil and better yet recycles local products instead. "One of the most famous biodiesel stations is in Texas Carl's Corner, where Willie Nelson has his truck stop. That truck stop has three million gallons per year bio diesel. Willie Nelson is very, very supportive of biodiesel and uses biodiesel blends of the material he makes and sells it to the truckers right there," says Bigham.
The benefits of biodiesel, according to Bigham, include it's the safest fuel to store, use and handle, along with reducing greenhouse gas emissions. "Our biodiesel is a 90% greenhouse reduction over regular diesel fuel," says Bigham.
Another benefit, Bigham says is biodiesel is completely tax free in the state of Texas, which can save people some green in their wallet. "Biodiesel is not taxed in the state of Texas, so basically every gallon of biodiesel that a service station uses they save 20 cents," says Bigham.
The Bighams say they continue to learn new techniques to make better biodiesel fuel everyday. Currently they are not in commercial production, but they hope in the future to have their own biodiesel pump located at their plant for local farmers and people in the community to use.
Peter Aziz, President of Bantam Fuel, testified before the legislature's Environment Committee in March and explained Bantam Fuel's success with its Bantam BioHeat fuel over the last four years.
Legislation that will reduce sulfur and require increasing levels of biodiesel in home heating oil supplied by Bantam Fuel and other Connecticut oil dealers has been signed into law by Gov. M. Jodi Rell effective July 1. Rell's approval of Senate Bill 382 came after the legislature, which heard testimony from Bantam Fuel President Peter Aziz, voted in support of the measure. Aziz testified before the legislature's Environment Committee in March and explained Bantam Fuel's success with its Bantam BioHeat fuel over the last four years. Bantam BioHeat, Aziz testified, doesn't cost more than regular heating oil, performs well in cold weather, and burns with greater efficiency. Improved efficiency, Aziz said, means customers use less fuel and save money. Bantam BioHeat features a biodiesel component (an organic renewable resource) equaling 5 percent. A greater biodiesel component means less sulfur being emitted in the form of greenhouse gas. "Passage of the law is great news for Connecticut fuel consumers," Aziz said. "Their heating oil will be cleaner, more reliable and have a significant renewable energy content."
I am also happy to see more biodiesel going into the heaters of America, surely we can heat our own homes with out own fuel. This is a real success story, glad to hear the state of CT is on the ball.
Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times--Bins like this one will be installed in buildings across New York City as a result of a new law.
It was like Earth Day for the New York City Council on Thursday as members passed legislation to improve air quality and expand recycling programs.
As announced earlier this week by the City Council speaker, Christine Quinn, and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, one of the new laws will halve sulfur levels in a common type of home heating oil, No. 4, starting in October 2012. The law also will require that biodiesel fuel make up at least 2 percent of all grades of petroleum heating oil.
With the enactment this month of a New York State law that will drastically reduce the sulfur content in No. 2, the most common type of heating oil, the city’s action is expected to make an important dent in soot pollution and asthma cases.
The City Council also approved a package of bills ushering in the first major overhaul of recycling laws adopted in 1989. The new laws will increase plastics recycling, put more recycling bins in schools and public areas and allow residents to recycle hazardous waste like paint.
“This is a big day for the environment in the council,” said Eric A. Goldstein, environmental director for the Natural Resources Defense Council in New York City. “These bills represent evolutionary, not revolutionary, change. Slow but steady wins the race.”
Another environmental group, the Environmental Defense Fund, praised the improvement in heating oil as a way of reducing the hospitalization rate for children with asthma and raising the failing grade the city now gets from the federal government for its air quality. In a report last year, the group said that about 9,500 buildings in the city burning the dirtiest grades of heating oil – No. 4 and No. 6 – account for more pollution than cars and trucks.
New Yorkers burn more than one billion gallons of heating oil a year. Bloomberg administration officials said they were working on a plan that would further limit the use of No. 4 and No. 6 heating oils by phasing out the boilers that burn them.
Here is an opportunity to save millions of gallons of foreign oil and clean up the air of a very dirty place. I hope this will lead other cities to do the same thing and add biodiesel to heating oil.