Infant algae industry makes its case as alternative fuel source

KansasCity.com
By LES BLUMENTHAL
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON A 75-gallon tank of goo was one of the stars of last summer’s Farnborough International Air Show in England.

As airlines ordered hundreds of planes worth billions of dollars at the world’s largest air show, the tank, or bioreactor, was a near-perfect breeding ground for what could become the fuel of the future: the lowly algae.

Aerospace companies and airlines are betting that algae — simple organisms that come in some 30,000 species, many of which can be genetically modified — will prove to be a green fuel that can power jet planes. Algae also could be blended into diesel and gasoline, and perhaps could even replace petroleum-based diesel and gasoline one day.

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Farm Foundation Report Issued

Farm Foundation Issues "The 30-Year Challenge: Agriculture's Strategic Role in Feeding and Fueling a Growing World" Report

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Ethanol Fuels Big Three Bail Out Caravan

Domestic Fuel - Alternative Fuel News
Posted by Cindy Zimmerman

The Big Three auto makers traveled to Washington this week to ask for a bailout in fuel efficient, high mileage cars, including flex fuel vehicles that run on up to 85 percent ethanol.

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VeraSunEnergy Receives Bankruptcy Court Approval for $196.6 Million in Debtor-in-Posession Financing

GrainNet.com
Date Posted: December 5, 2008

Sioux Falls, SD—VeraSun Energy Corporation announced that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court has entered orders granting final approval for debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing totaling $196.6 million, including $93.6 million of incremental financing, $25 million of which was previously loaned to the Company on an interim basis, to be provided by certain holders of VeraSun’s 9 7/8% senior secured notes due 2012.

The incremental financing will be available, subject to certain conditions, to fund operations at ethanol production facilities in Aurora, South Dakota and Fort Dodge, Charles City and Hartley, Iowa and to maintain the idled Welcome, Minnesota facility.

The balance of the financing consists of approximately $103 million used to refinance prepetition loans that had been made by the noteholders who participated in the DIP financing.

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GEAPS, Purdue University, and Kansas State Offering Ethanol Production Distance-Learning Course

GrainNet.com
Date Posted: December 4, 2008

Registration is now open for "Fundamentals of Fuel Ethanol Production," a distance-education course from the Grain Elevator & Processing Society (GEAPS), Purdue University and Kansas State University.

The five-week, 10-lecture course begins March 2 and ends April 3, 2009.

"This course was designed to help professionals who are either new to the fuel-ethanol industry or who want to learn more about the fundamentals of production," said Dr. Dirk Maier, head of the Grain Science and Industry Department at KSU and director of the GEAPS-KSU distance-education partnership.

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Tarleton dean to chair plan supporting Bush's bioenergy initiative

AbileneBiz
Reporter-News Staff Report
Saturday, December 6, 2008

Dr. Don Cawthon, dean of the College of Agriculture and Human Sciences at Tarleton State University, will chair a U.S. Department of Agriculture task force focusing on the development of a national higher education plan supporting the President's bioenergy initiative.

"I have the opportunity to work with approximately 25 leaders from across the nation to accomplish our tasks," Cawthon said in a news release. "Our goal is to complete our work by September 2010. It is exciting to have the opportunity to chart America's future in bioenergy and agriculture education."

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FEDERAL BIOMASS BOARD RELEASES BIOFUEL FEEDSTOCKS REPORT

USDA

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4, 2008-- The interagency Biomass Research and Development Board today released a report on the economic feasibility of developing both farm- and forest-derived biofuel feedstocks to meet national targets for biofuels to reduce gasoline consumption.
Among the report's overall conclusions is that new technologies resulting from research and development are the linchpin to developing a sustainable biofuel industry that meets national targets. Last year's energy bill set out a Renewable Fuels Standard that calls for production of 36 billion gallons of biofuels annually by 2022.

"Our national security, our economy, and the future of the planet require that we explore the development of biofuels in a cost-effective, environmentally sound manner and that we move beyond food crops to include a diverse base of feedstocks," said Dr. Gale Buchanan, USDA Chief Scientist and Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics, who co-chairs the Biomass Research and Development Board. "This report addresses the constraints and implications of meeting our biofuel production goals and provides invaluable guidance for further research."

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Morgan Family Foundation funds research in bio-energy

Penn State
Wednesday, December 3, 2008

University Park, Pa. -- The Morgan Family Foundation, of Los Altos, Cal., has committed $270,000 over the next two years to fund research at the Biomass Energy Center in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

The Biomass Energy Center coordinates and facilitates bioenergy research and outreach across the University, building teams to address the complete value chain of biomass energy systems.

Biomass energy or "bioenergy" refers to the use of organic materials to generate electricity, produce biofuel, or create products normally made through nonorganic methods.

The foundation's gift supports a project that will partner Penn State with Dartmouth College, Iowa State University, and the environmental stewardship organization, Sustainable Conservation.

According to Biomass Energy Center Director Tom Richard, the project team will address problems associated with increased demand for national biofuel production. Researchers will investigate innovative cropping systems that are productive in terms of food and fuel as well as sustainable in terms of environmental, economic, and social impacts. Specific project goals include designing next-generation farming systems to increase food and biomass productivity while enhancing ecosystem services in existing agricultural landscapes, and evaluating the potential for these systems to provide both food and significant amounts of renewable energy for society.

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Bioplastic, bioenergy center opens in Waterloo, Iowa

Biomass Magazine
December 2008
By Susanne Retka Schill
Web exclusive posted Dec. 5, 2008 at 9:41 a.m. CST

In February, the first tenant is expected to move into a new bioplastics business incubator in Waterloo, Iowa, and bioplastics developer MCG BioComposites LLC is looking for more interested businesses. MCG BioComposites has been contracted to provide marketing and industrial recruitment services for Cedar Valley TechWorks. Sponsored by the Waterloo Development Corp., TechWorks will be developed as a virtual and physical regional center for the development of bioproducts and bioenergy industries.

“The TechWorks concept has been in development for over five years in partnership with Deere & Co., which provided the land, buildings and various resources and has an interest in the project to explore additional opportunities in the commercialization of biomass into bioproducts, bioprocesses and bioenergy,” said Sam McCord, president and chief executive officer of MCG BioComposites. “This project will provide new jobs related to applying science through research and development, establishing of incubators for new businesses of the bioeconomy leading to commercialization and eventually new manufacturing operations of bioproducts.”

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Replacing corn with perennial grasses improves carbon footprint of biofuels

Eureka Alert
Public release date: 2-Dec-2008

Converting forests or fields to biofuel crops can increase or decrease greenhouse gas emissions, depending on where – and which – biofuel crops are used, University of Illinois researchers report this month.

The researchers analyzed data from dozens of studies to determine how planting new biofuel crops can influence the carbon content of the soil. Their findings will appear next month in the journal Global Change Biology Bioenergy.

Plants use the sun's energy to convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the organic carbon that makes up leaves, stems and other plant parts. As plants decay, this carbon goes into the soil. Organic carbon is an important component of soil health and also influences atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Whenever the soil is disturbed, as occurs when land is plowed or cleared of vegetation, some of this carbon returns to the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide.

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