Photo from: http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=37037
Biofuel producer Imperial Petroleum has said its newly-acquired biodiesel plant in Middletown, Indiana, is now on the way to becoming “highly profitable”.
The company bought the e-biofuels LLC facility back in May with the intention of converting it to its own technology (see this BrighterEnergy.org story).
Ahead of that process, Imperial said today that it has negotiated a series of feedstock purchase agreements and biodiesel off-take sales contracts.
The facility produced 1.2 million gallons of fuel in July 2010, generating $3.5 million in revenues.
Imperial said this looks to have increased in August to 1.4 million gallons and $4 million revenue.
Jeffrey T. Wilson, President of Imperial, said: “Expanding the plant throughput to its current capacity was one of our early goals for e-biofuels and a great deal of credit goes to the management of e-biofuels for their efforts and achievements thus far. August sales to date are on pace to exceed the July results.”
Some biodiesel plants are doing just fine without the tax credit, and this is a story about one of them in Indiana, so we have not seen the end of the biodiesel industry by a long shot.
Photo from: http://www.planmygreen.com/ideas/harvesting-algae-for-biodiesel/
Researchers at the University of Michigan have published the feasibility of a two-step hydrolysis-solvolysis process to produce biodiesel directly from wet algal biomass, eliminating the need for costly biomass drying, organic solvent extraction and catalysts. The paper on the process was published in the ACS journal Energy & Fuels. In the first step, wet algal biomass contained 80 percent moisture and was reacted with subcritical water to hydrolyze intracellular lipids, conglomerate cells into an easily filterable solid that retained the lipids and produced a sterile, nutrient-rich aqueous phase. In the second step, the wet, fatty acid-rich solids underwent supercritical transesterification with ethanol to produce fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs). The team used Chlorella vulgaris algae, which contained 53.3 percent lipid content. According to Phillip Savage, lead researcher on the project, the team gathered the wet algae grown from the lab and centrifuged it to transform the algal biomass into a paste-like substance. “At large scale that probably wouldn’t be applicable for an economical process,” he noted. “We got something that was probably around 10 to 20 percent solids to the balance of water.” The research yielded promising results, Savage added, but the project is anticipated to be refined and optimized in order for to demonstrate greater economic and environmental feasibility of the process on a larger scale. “More remains to be understood regarding how whole cells, hydrothermally processed algal biomass and intracellular constituents influence supercritical transesterification and potentially contribute to nonester components in the final fuel product,” the paper reported. “Additional research and process optimization are likely to improve yields and reduce process inputs (e.g. ethanol), thereby minimizing the overall environmental impact of algal biodiesel production. To be economically viable, biodiesel yields must be above 95 percent and preferably higher than current norms achieved with alkali-catalyzed processes.”
Dawn Chiniquy, a graduate student, cares for the Arabidopsis thaliana, a model plant that can be fed to E.coli to produce biodiesel
A team of local biotech researchers may have found a way to avoid using essential food crops for fuel, by genetically modifying harmless strains of a bacteria most people associate with human food poisoning.
The result is an extremely expensive fuel — hardly competitive with fossil fuels at $25 per gallon — but it marks the beginning of a new look at green energy.
Scientists led by University of California, Berkeley professor Jay Keasling created an alternative for biodiesel production harnessing E. coli, the bacteria responsible for some foodborne illnesses.
A recent study found that E. coli could synthesize production of biodiesel from plant waste, saving the resources — corn, peanut oil, soybean oil or sugar beets — spent on today’s leading “green” fuel, bioethanol.
The results of the study, written by Keasling’s team at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Joint BioEnergy Institute, were published in the journal Nature.
This is far from practical at this point in time, but look at all the new technology represented in this story, yet another way to make biodiesel without sacrificing food plants.
Fleet managers in the Charlotte, N.C., region had the opportunity to learn about biodiesel at a four-hour workshop hosted by the Centralina Clean Fuels Coalition on Aug. 27. A similar event, scheduled for Sept. 17, will offer members of the general public a more broad-based overview of the use and production of biodiesel. According to the CCFC’s Assistant Coordinator Emily Parker, approximately 30 people attended the Aug. 27 training session. “A lot of attendees were fleet managers,” she said, noting that the workshop was specifically designed for fleet managers and those who work in vehicle maintenance. The session opened with a basic overview of biodiesel before moving into more specific information on the maintenance needs of engines fueled with biodiesel. A local biodiesel engine expert, Dave Navey, spoke to attendees about the mechanics of running biodiesel in diesel engines, Parker said. “The gist of Dave’s presentation was to dispel myths,” she continued, and to educate attendees that using biodiesel won’t ruin diesel engines. “His point was to say, you’re not [going to ruin your engines], you just need to take some precautions, and don’t blame the fuel if things go wrong,” Parker said. The workshop also included a panel of four regional fleet managers who have experience using biodiesel. “They shared their experiences with the group,” Parker said, which was followed by a question and answer session. “People really piped up and chimed in,” Parker continued. “It was good, I think the people who were there really got a lot out of it. They were very plugged into what was being said.”