Biofuels Digest launches biofuels job portal

Biofuels Digest
September 11, 2009 Jim Lane

Producer, academic, research, policy, construction jobs now online

Biofuels Digest has launched its Biofuels Jobs portal, in partnership with Simply Hired, at biofuelsdigest.jobamatic.com.

Through the portal, Digest readers will be able to access jobs posted directly with Biofuels Digest, as well as a database of 6 million jobs which have been filtered down to present biofuels-related career opportunities for analysts, engineers, finance, marketing, management, technicians and staff scientists.

Opportunities available include jobs for plant managers, supervising engineers, post doc research associates, O&M Managers, cost controllers, fuel calibration technicians, DDGs sales reps, research scientists, supply chain management, and operations management.

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Discovery to launch 60-part, five-year “Curiosity” program-

Biofuels Digest.com
Jim Lane September 11, 2009

Addressing the future of artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and genomics among others

In Maryland. the Discovery Channel announced the launch of “Curiosity,” a five-year, 60-part television series that will address underlying mysteries in fields such as space, biology, geology, medicine, physics, technology, nature, archaeology, history and the human mind. The five-year, multi-million dollar project will address 12 questions over 12 one-hour episodes each year, and will begin airing on the Discovery Channel beginning in January 2011.

The project will feature lifelong learning programming for adults, including multiple hours of “deep-dive” online content to accompany each episode and related learning retreats with experts featured in the series.

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Manitoba readies for November B2 mandate; offers biodiesel production incentive

Biofuels Digest.com
Jim Lane September 11, 2009

In Canada, Manitoba will become the first Canadian province to mandate biodiesel use when a B2 requirement comes into effect as of November 1st.

The provincial government is also replacing the biodiesel fuel tax exemption with a 3.7 cent (Canadian) per gallon, five-year production grant for biodiesel produced in Manitoba, commencing in spring 2010. The province presently has one biodiesel plant and two others are currently in construction in Arborg and Beausejour.

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Where the Cleantech jobs are

Biofuels Digest.com
Jim Lane September 11, 2009

Earth2Tech has published a map that locates more than 101 cleantech startups representing 12 different industries, and Triple Pundit has authored an article to accompany that maps, entitled “Maps Are Worth Ten Thousand Words: Where Cleantech Jobs are in the U.S.”

The article is by Carol McClelland, author of Green Careers for Dummies. The Earth2Tech map was last updated in 2008, and highlights the concentration of cleantech in the Northeast and California.

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BRAIN-y Idea Helps Wisconsin Biodiesel & Ethanol

DomesticFuel.com
Posted by John Davis – September 9th, 2009

Wisconsin will be getting $1 million to help put in E85 ethanol and biodiesel stations and infrastructure across the state.

This article from the Milwaukee Business Journal says that the new Biofuels Retail Availability Improvement Network (BRAIN) will fund the installation of 27 E85 and biodiesel retail locations around the state, as well as support the installation of biodiesel blending equipment at three terminals in Wisconsin:

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Idaho researchers pioneer new superyield process for cellulosic ethanol

BiofuelsDigest.com

In Idaho, researchers at the Idaho National Laboratory have developed a new technology to produce cellulosic ethanol. The researchers describe the process as bio-syntrolysis; it uses multiple technical steps, including the use of electrolysis to split water into oxygen and hydrogen, and combining this with a carbon-free electric source to convert up to 90 percent of carbon from biomass into liquid biofuel. Existing processes convert only up to 35 percent of carbon.

The researchers said that the process requires 1000 MW of power to produce 1 million gallons of fuel per day – the amount of power from a full-scale nuclear reactor, but far more than a conventional solar or wind power source can provide. In their process, oxygen is introduced with biomass to produce a syngas, while the remaining hydrogen is combined with the syngas is converted into liquid fuel.

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Study finds that biodiesel adds 25 cents per bushel to soy price and $2.5 billion in net returns to soy industry

BiofuelsDigest.com

In Missouri, the United Soybean Board released a study by Centrec Consulting Group, which concluded that US farmers received an additional $2.5 billion in net returns over the last four years due to the biodiesel industry’s demand for soybean oil. The demand added up to 25 cents in support for the per-bushel price of soybeans, the study found.

Additionally, the study found that higher demand for soybean oil led to an increased supply of soybean meal, resulting in meal prices dropping by $19 to $45 per ton.

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Sustainable Oils wins Navy camelina jet fuel contract; 40K gallons, option for 150K more

BiofuelsDigest.com

In Montana, Sustainable Oils, a producer of camelina-based fuels, announced that it has been awarded a contract by the Defense Energy Support Center for 40,000 gallons of camelina-based jet fuel.

The fuel will be delivered to the Naval Air Systems Command fuels team in 2009 and will support the Navy’s certification testing program of alternative fuels. The contract includes an option to supply up to an additional 150,000 gallons of camelina-based jet fuel.

Camelina was selected by the DESC because it does not compete with food crops, has been proven to reduce carbon emissions by more than 80 percent, and has already been successfully tested in a commercial airline test flight. In addition, camelina has naturally high oil content, is drought tolerant and requires less fertilizer and herbicides.

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Okla. researchers hope 1,000-acre switchgrass experiment turns up a cash-making biofuel

Los Angeles Times
MURRAY EVANS Associated Press Writer
September 9, 2009 12:44 a.m.

ARDMORE, Okla. (AP) — Watching grass grow is tedious, but researchers in the Oklahoma Panhandle say they'll stare at their switchgrass — all 1,000 acres of it — until they know whether they've found a commercially viable source of biofuel.

The site is billed as the largest such project in the world as scientists try to determine if making ethanol from switchgrass is cost effective. The goal is to determine whether small-scale experiments of using the tall, thin plant native to the Great Plains to make ethanol can be duplicated on a large scale.

And if so, whether farmers and others involved in its production could make a profit.

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NY energy crop project to develop regional bioenergy model

Biomass Magazine September 2009
By Anna Austin
Posted Sept. 9, 2009

A project in central New York aims to provide necessary data to those interested in growing energy crops or embracing them as fuel source, which includes estimates of total suitable land available by biomass type as well as the estimated cost and volume of shrub willow and various grasses that could be available to energy users in a specific region.

The project was launched in June and is funded by the New York Farm Viability Institute, a farmer-led nonprofit organization based in Syracuse, N,Y., that supports like projects to help farmers improve profitability. The NYFVI receives funds from state legislature and the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets.

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