California UST Issue Resolution
After much work, the California Biodiesel Alliance (CBA) is nearing the goal line on the variance program it has worked to create with the California Water Board to resume the storage of biodiesel in underground storage tanks (USTs). Read more...
All Things Biodiesel, Today, 3:12am
North Carolina State Senate Moves Ahead on Local Sales Taxes
Transport Politic, August 6, 2009 Read more...
NC Alt Fuels, Today, 3:12am
Duke Energy seeks federal funds for "smart grid"
Business First of Louisville, August 6, 2009 Read more...
NC Alt Fuels, Today, 3:12am
New Bay Area Station: San Mateo's Autopia
Via a post on the SF Biofuels Yahoo Group, comes news of a new Bay Area biodiesel filling station in San Mateo, Autopia Biofuels. Info: Read more...
Biodiesel Blog, Today, 3:12am
Thirteen Businesses in Three States Receive Green Plus Recognition
Green Plus, July 9, 2009 Read more...
NC Alt Fuels, Yesterday, 3:14pm
U.S. EPA's Region 4 Awards More than $1.9 Million in Recovery Funding to the ALA of the Upper Midwest to Reduce Diesel Emissions and Create Jobs
EPA News Release, July 10, 2009 Read more...
NC Alt Fuels, Yesterday, 3:14pm
Waste Oil project in Quito Ecuador - Intelifuel
http://www.intelifuel.com/ Read more...
BrevardBioDiesel Blog, Yesterday, 3:14pm
U.S. Pumps $2.4 Billion in Creating a Electric Vehicle Manufacturing Base & Thousands of Jobs
MYGreen Education and Career, August 5, 2009 Read more...
NC Alt Fuels, Yesterday, 3:14pm
Public Transportation Bill One Step Closer to Law
The Progressive Pulse, August 4, 2009 Read more...
NC Alt Fuels, Yesterday, 3:14pm
Perdue Appoints Transportation Board Members
Politics.MyNC.com, August 4, 2009 Read more...
NC Alt Fuels, Yesterday, 3:14pm
North Carolina State Releases First Greenhouse Gas Inventory
Campus Technology, August 4, 2009 Read more...
NC Alt Fuels, Yesterday, 3:14pm
India Biodiesel Update
Via an email from my Dad, here's an MIT Tech Review article about India and Biodiesel:"Biodiesel could be an important renewable substitute for fossil fuels. And, in certain parts of the world, governments and some corporations consider the jatropha plant, common in hot climates, one of the most promising sources of biodiesel. The plant can grow in wastelands, and it yields more than four times as much fuel per hectare as soybean, and more than ten times that of corn. But the commercial-scale cultivation of jatropha, which has not previously been grown as a crop, raises several significant challenges." Read more...
Biodiesel Blog, Yesterday, 3:13pm
Book Review: In Defense of Food
Michael Pollan’s follow-up to the acclaimed Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food offers an intriguing, haiku-like mantra for healthy eating in the 21st century. Read more...
CapeFearBioBlog, Yesterday, 3:13pm
Virgin Air Biofuel
Here's a Chronicle piece about Virgin Atlantic testing biofuel in a London/Amsterdam flight sometime in February. Read more...
Biodiesel Blog, Yesterday, 3:13pm
And More FUD
A NYTimes piece with more FUD about biofuels and greenhouse gas pollution: Read more...
Biodiesel Blog, Yesterday, 3:13pm
Yokayo Biofuels is hiring a BOOKKEEPER
Be a critical part of the values-driven culture at Read more...
Fueled for Thought, May 19, 3:13am
10k gallon / day biodiesel production coming to Brevard?
Thor Renewable Energy, Inc is looking for tax abatements from Brevard County to help establish a corporate/R&D headquarters in Brevard County, Florida. Part of their plans include a commercial biodiesel production facility, employing 55 new engineering and plant operator personnel at an average wage of $48,838. The anticipated volume of the plant is 10,000 gallons of biodiesel per day - likely feedstock being biomass per this article at Florida Today. With the support of the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast (EDC), it would be somewhat surprising if this application for abatement is not approved by the County... Read more...
BrevardBioDiesel Blog, May 18, 3:41am
Aquaflow Algae
Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation (ABC), Melbourne, New Zealand, states on its website: The world is expected to move from the cultivation of corn and sugar cane for energy purposes to the cultivation of marine algae. Aquaflow has set itself the objective to be the first company in the world to...
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The Energy Blog, May 18, 3:13am
What do San Francisco, President Obama, Darryl Hannah, and Melissa Etheridge have in common?
They all appear in another great story from my friend, biodiesel advocate and journelist, Eric Smith. Read more...
All Things Biodiesel, May 18, 3:13am
Biodiesel Letter To San Francisco Gas Stations
I thought I would share this letter from the San Francisco Biodiesel Taskforce to gas stations in San Francisco encouraging them to consider selling biodiesel at the pump. Read more...
All Things Biodiesel, May 18, 3:13am
San Francisco Biodiesel Pump Opening
Olympian and Tellurian Biodiesel held an opening ceremony for their B20 pump at Olympian's station on 3rd street in San Francisco. It is great to now have B20 available to commerical fleets in the City. Here is a link to CNET's coverage with some good photos. Read more...
All Things Biodiesel, May 18, 3:13am
Triangle left out of latest NCDOT awards
Triangle Business Journal, July 31, 2009 Read more...
NC Alt Fuels, May 18, 3:13am
2010 Nissan Leaf electric car: In person, in depth - and U.S. bound
AutoBlogGreen, August 1, 2009 Read more...
NC Alt Fuels, May 18, 3:13am
Congress scrambles to fund "cash for clunkers" program
Citizen Times, August 1, 2009 Read more...
NC Alt Fuels, May 18, 3:13am
NCSU researchers land $1.3 million grant for advanced battery research
WRAL Local Tech Wire, July 8, 2009 Read more...
NC Alt Fuels, May 18, 3:13am
Duckweed "Quacks" Volumes of Potential
From Ethanol Magazine Read more...
NC Alt Fuels, May 18, 3:13am
Molecular Scissors
A guy named Richard Carpenter has recently raised a question about B100 use in modern diesel engines on the Biofuels Interest Group (BIG). His observations have centered on the potential problems of using B100 in modern diesels given the differences in viscosities between B100 and petrol diesel. Here are the viscosities of petrol and B100 at 27 and 75C: Read more...
WFU Biofuels, May 18, 3:13am
What's coming out of that pipe?
I've been reading a lot of papers on testing and production of B100. I found a very good review article (Analytical Methods Used in the Production and Fuel Quality Assessment of Biodiesel, Transactions of the ASAE, Vol 44(2), 193-200). There are several methods used to monitor fuel quality; Gas, High Performance Liquid and Gel Permeation Chromatography. As well as spectroscopic methods; proton and carbon 13 NMR and Near IR. Other methods are viscometry, titrations and enzymatic reactions. Read more...
WFU Biofuels, May 18, 3:13am
DOE
Who says the gov't is lame on alternative energy? At least they make pretty and informative web sites, like this one from DOE. It has a great biofuels section. Read more...
WFU Biofuels, May 18, 3:13am
****COLD FLOW ADVISORY****
Temps are heading down into the mid-30s this week. Everyone please be aware that the biodiesel in the 17th street tank is chicken fat based and has a high cloud point (~45 degrees F). Mixing with petroleum diesel to a 50/50 blend will be sufficient to counteract most cold flow issues this winter. Read more...
CapeFearBioBlog, May 18, 3:13am
The innovation of our members shines like a beacon!
As the Dixie Classic Fair starts to wind down (to an unfortunately rainy weekend), the grease is flowing freely into our collection barrels. Although we have a 10gpm pump to get the stuff out of the bins and into our collection tote (about 264 gallons), we found on the last collection run that the flow can get frustratingly slow towards the last third of the barrel, due to particulate, thick grease and such. Read more...
WFU Biofuels, May 18, 3:13am
Now we're posting!
This should come as an email to wfubiofuels. (Test) Read more...
WFU Biofuels, May 18, 3:13am
Grants
The Sorcerer's Apprentic and I are ready to submit 1-2 Pro Humanitate grants on November 9th and The Educator is working up an EPA curriculum grant. Should we move into the big leauges? Here are a couple of sites with links to grants that I think we might be able to land. From the biology side there are some simple things that we could do with algal stocks and oil degrading organisms that would be competitive, I think. Here is the NREL biofuels site, and there are some great links to grants at the Oak Ridge biofuels site. Read more...
WFU Biofuels, May 18, 3:13am
Energy use per capita vs. "standard of living"
Graph from the Franklin Institute: Great analysis of energy usage versus "Standard of Living" (as measured by the United Nations' "Human Development Index"). Read more...
WFU Biofuels, May 18, 3:13am
Fair oil filtered and ready for reaction/barrels ready for collection.
Brian and I successfully de-gunked and cleaned four collection barrels, and filtered about 300 liters of oil from the Fair. One more session of filtering (there is still at least one more large tote with clear, well-settled oil at the top) and we'll have at least half of a large tote (1000 liters) ready for reaction. Hopefully Asa Gray can haul it to our reaction facility with some help, and that will cover the next several reactions. Read more...
WFU Biofuels, May 18, 3:13am
Sugar Catalyzed Reaction
Recently there has been a lot of buzz by a Japanese group’s solid acid catalyst made from sugar (Nature, vol. 438, p 178, 2005). They reported converting FFA’s to the ethyl esters. This catalysis is special because it is hydrophobic and consists of sheets of fused rings with covalently attached SO3H groups. Read more...
WFU Biofuels, May 18, 3:13am
UPDATE: Sugar Catalyzed Reaction
We already know the feed stock oil requires 8 to 9g/L of NaOH when used as is. But after pretreatment with the sugar catalyst I regarded it as virgin oil. I used 3.5g/L of NaOH and 25% by volume MeOH. I heated to 65 C for 3 hours under nitrogen. I also used a reflux condenser to stop MeOH loss. I separated the glycerin off and washed three times with dilute HCl. Then a final water wash. I did not see a lot of emulsion unless I used distilled water??? The washed product was heated to 60 C and allowed to cool overnight. The FAME was transparent and light amber in color. I performed a GC analysis and it passed the GC test. So at least on a small scale (10 g oil) the pre-treatment shows promise. I suspose how well this works for a range of FFA levels as well as how scale effects matters remains to be seen. Read more...
WFU Biofuels, May 18, 3:13am
Easing into microalgae oil production.
I've been looking at some of the published articles on production of oil for biodiesel from microalgaes, and it seems that there is a LOT of work being done on this. Read more...
WFU Biofuels, May 18, 3:13am
Finding a flue to stuff with algae...
It would appear that in order to efficiently grow the oil-producing algae that it needs to have a constant high level of CO2. Read more...
WFU Biofuels, May 18, 3:13am
Easing into microalgae oil production.
I've been looking at some of the published articles on production of oil for biodiesel from microalgaes, and it seems that there is a LOT of work being done on this. Read more...
WFU Biofuels, May 18, 3:13am
Titrations-Not as hard as I thought.
Been a while since I posted anything. I am doing a whorkshop for High School teachers this summer so I thought I'd run a few experiments they will perform. We will titrate some WVO, make B100 and determine it's viscosity. So today I let my 9 year girl and 7 year old boy help do the titrations. I had read the ASTM procedure for a titration and was a little intimidated but after thinking about it I saw where it could be made a lot easier. I made a 1g NaOH/L isopropanol (IPA) solution the day before. We added 25 mL of IPA to a 125 mL flask with a stir bar and then added 3 drops of phenolphthalein indicator . We titrated to a faint pink lasting for about 20-30 seconds. So the solvent takes about 0.5 to 0.8 mL of base. We then add 1mL of waste oil from the Dixie Classic Fair (Dave gave me some a while back). We recorded the starting volume and then titrated to the faint pink again. We recorded the ending volume and subtracted to find the amount of solution used. After four... Read more...
WFU Biofuels, May 18, 3:13am
The Educating of Ricky Bobby
After my Ricky Bobby with the MeOH I thought maybe I need to step back and educate myself on dealing with larger amounts of liquids before I start NASCAR racing. Read more...
WFU Biofuels, May 18, 3:13am
Film: Fields of Fuel
Fields of Fuel looks really good. Here's the trailer: Read more...
Biodiesel Blog, May 18, 3:13am
American Freedom Biodiesel
On a recent roadtrip through the northwest USA, I filled up on biodiesel in a bunch of places. Here's the brochure from American Freedom Biodiesel in Salt Lake City, UT: Read more...
Biodiesel Blog, May 18, 3:13am