Articles from Alternative Fuel News

Misra, Baker Receive Research Awards from Nevada System of Higher Education
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Growing biomass in space? That's right. Right now an experiment is underway on the space station to see if microgravity can affect the growth of Jatropha curcas, a tropical flowering plant.

According to Popular Science ,

"This first-ever experiment to test a possible biofuel in microgravity aims to improve cell structure, growth and development in the Jatropha curcas plants. An identical set of samples that represent the experimental control are located at the University of Florida's Tropical Research and Education Center in Homestead.

Crops grown in space have already been used to produce space beer, courtesy of the Sapporo brewery company. But the possibility of improving biofuel stock courtesy of a space ride might have far greater implications for the world, assuming that the crops do respond well to microgravity."

What does this mean for the future? Space farms aren't right around the corner. Popular Science concludes,

"Sadly, we won't see any space farms really get going until launch costs go way down. Perhaps the new era of commercial spaceflight might also help usher in that future vision."

Grand Rapids, Michigan adds 7 new biodiesel VWs to Metro Cab fleet

Emily Zoladz | The Grand Rapids Press  Rev. Ronald Nyudam, of Grand Rapids, right, gets into one of Metro Cab's new bio-diesel fueled VW Jettas as Metro driver Bryan Kenez, of Kentwood, left, prepares to take off Monday at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport. According to VP of Operations Steve Walz, Metro Cab now has seven of these green cars in service, which get 42 miles to the gallon using bio-diesel fuel.

GRAND RAPIDS -- Metro Cab driver Bryan Kenez is making fewer stops at the gas pump lately.

Kenez recently switched to a bio-diesel-fueled Volkswagen Jetta cab, a shade greener than the traditional minivan he used to drive. His taxi now motors more than 500 miles on one tank of gas -- that's about 35-40 miles a gallon -- which gives him twice the gas mileage.

The Grand Rapids-based cab firm has added seven of the cars to its fleet in the past two weeks.

Metro Cab felt the investment would be appreciated in Grand Rapids, which is gaining a national reputation as a green city, said Steve Walz, vice-president of operations at Metro Cab, 4678 Danvers Drive SE.

I was in San Francisco last week and I saw one cab company using the Prius as cabs. Why shouldn't a cab run on biodiesel-it might open the eyes of many people who never gave biodiesel a chance.

Chicago's Mother McAuley High School builds biodiesel processor for Haiti

Photo from: http://biodieselprocessor.org/Appleseed_Biodiesel_Processors.htm

Last year, students at Chicago's Mother McAuley High School began building a biodiesel processor for a school in Pichon, Haiti.

When a devastating earthquake rocked Haiti on Jan. 12, the McAuley students found an even more important reason to complete their work. Roz Iasillo, who heads up the school's science department, says the disaster pushed back the ship date for the processor, but the work took on a new sense of meaning.

Most Americans probably think of soybeans when they hear biodiesel. However, the Iasillo explains the McAuley processor will use jatropha to produce fuel.

Jatropha, which grows wild and abundantly in Haiti, is a sort of shrub. Iasillo says residents will be able to harvest the seeds and use a hand-crank crushing device to extract the oil.

Once the oil is extracted, it is placed in the processor. Using solar panels for power, the processor cooks the oil. Here, the oil breaks down into biodiesel and glycerin. Iasillo says the glycerin can be used for a variety of products, including soap.

The biodiesel that results from the processing is 96% pure, which is plenty good for running an engine. However, Iasillo says it makes more sense to use it for cooking and lighting lanterns. "There's no reason to put it in a generator to create electricity," she notes. "There is no infrastructure for electricity."

With this processor, residents should be able to manufacture up to 40 gallons of biodiesel every three days.

Florida: 4 high school students push Senate committee to alter biodiesel law

Photo from: http://www.life.com/image/57576310

TALLAHASSEE -- Four Oak Hall High School science students received a lesson in government Tuesday when they persuaded a Senate committee to approve a measure designed to cut government red tape.

The students developed a process to take used cooking grease and vegetable oil and convert it into biodiesel, but then ran up against government regulations..

The Senate Higher Education Committee approved a measure by Sen. Steve Oelrich that would exempt secondary schools that produce less that 1,000 gallons of biodiesel a year from paying taxes. The measure also exempts them from registration requirements.

An identical bill is in the House.

I can't believe the state wanted to tax a school for making a small amount of biodiesel, but that is what governments do, they make red tape. Thank goodness this is being looked at now.

How BioFuelBox converts wastewater FOG into biodiesel fuel

Figure 1: BioFuelBox bio-refinery used to convert wastewater FOG into biodiesel. BioFuelBox is owner-operator of this small-sized facility with a 1 million gallons per year capacity.

Over 4 billion gallons of waste grease per year is generated in the United States, presenting costly challenges to wastewater treatment systems. Local governments spend over $25 billion annually maintaining sewer systems, necessitating more effective strategies to contain the financial and environmental impacts caused by sanitary sewer overflows (SSO) and combined sewer overflows (CSO). In addition, many States are placing stricter requirements on industries to resolve issues with waste fats, oils and greases (FOG) before wastewater enters the sewer system, adding logistical and technological challenges to those faced by waste generators.

We have heard about this company in the past, seems a perfect answer for helping to unclog our municipal sewers, and yet make a fuel that can be used for so many purposes. Good ideas here.

A group of engineers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has been able to turn biomass into the chemical equivalent of jet fuel, and they've been able to do it using a process that actually takes advantage of biomass sugars' bad habit of degrading.

This press release from the school says a simple process developed by James Dumesic, Steenbock Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at UW-Madison, postdoctoral researchers Jesse Bond and David Martin Alonso, and graduate students Dong Wang and Ryan West preserves about 95 percent of the energy from the original biomass, requires little hydrogen input, and captures carbon dioxide under high pressure for future use:

Much of the Dumesic group's previous research of using cellulosic biomass for biofuels has focused on processes that convert abundant plant-based sugars into transportation fuels. However, in previously studied conversion methods, sugar molecules frequently degrade to form levulinic acid and formic acid - two products the previous methods couldn't readily transform into high-energy liquid fuels.

In the presence of metal catalysts, the two acids react to form gamma-valerolactone, or GVL, which now is manufactured in small quantities as an herbal food and perfume additive. Using laboratory-scale equipment and stable, inexpensive catalysts, Dumesic's group converts aqueous solutions of GVL into jet fuel. "It really is very simple," says Bond, of the two-step catalytic process. "We can pull off these two catalytic stages, as well as the requisite separation steps, in series, with basic equipment. With very minimal processing, we can produce a pure stream of jet-fuel-range alkenes and a fairly pure stream of carbon dioxide."

The researchers say the fuel produced is high-energy density, making it better suited for the aviation industry than more conventional ethanol. Now, the team is working on making the process cost-effective.

It looks like the $1-a-gallon federal biodiesel tax incentive could be close to renewal, as the jobs bill to which it was attached has cleared a key vote in the U.S. Senate.

The vote came Tuesday as eight Republicans sided with 58 Democrats to end debate on the $150 billion measure.

The cloture vote clears the way for final passage in the Senate. H.R. 4213, the American Workers, State and Business Relief Act includes retroactive extension of the biodiesel tax credit, and it will have to be reconciled with the US House's version.

The American Soybean Association is urging lawmakers to work together to get a final bill done:

"Expiration of the biodiesel tax incentive has essentially caused the production and use of biodiesel in the U.S. to cease and has placed thousands of jobs currently supported by the domestic biodiesel industry in immediate jeopardy," said ASA President Rob Joslin, a soybean producer from Sidney, Ohio. "Companies have already started laying-off employees, and this situation is certain to worsen the longer the tax incentive is allowed to lapse."

An interesting note: I found out about this passage earlier on Tuesday when our friend Jessica Robinson from the National Biodiesel Board (@Biodiesel_Media) tweeted, or more accurately, re-tweeted @agripulse's tweet to my Twitter account (@jdavisreporter) when the vote happened. Didn't take long for at story to travel around the social media! No wonder Chuck and Cindy (@AgriBlogger and @FarmPodcaster) have been such big advocates!

Getting energy from the land and practicing good conservation are not mutually exclusive. A federal ag deartment researcher says we can have both through using biomass.

USDA researcher Doug Karlen, who works at the Agricultural Research Service's National Soil Tilth Lab in Ames, Iowa, told attendees of the recent USDA Outlook Forum that conservation and energy from biomass can be compatible if three things are considered.

"If we utilize multiple feedstock options, multiple conversion platforms and recognize that's there's no single solution."

Karlen also told the group that you have to consider how land conditions vary. In addition, biomass cannot always be seen as just a waste waiting to be made useful. He points out that the trade-off for using biomass from fields for bioenergy is that there is no residue left over to renew the soil with nutrients, as well as losing the habitat for wildlife those crop leftovers provided. Karlen says that's why it is so important to have a diversity of biomass products within a certain area.

S4 Energy Solutions has recently announced plans to develop a plasma gasification facility at Waste Management's Columbia Ridge Landfill in Arlington, Oregon. The facility will covert municipal solid waste into clean fuels and renewable energy. Construction is beginning in early summer and the plant will be online by the end of this year. During construction, 28 people will be employed with 16 being permanent once the facility is operational. S4 is a partnership between Waste Management and InEnTec, a deal that was solidified in May of 2009.

"Our goal is to extract as much value as possible from waste and this project will help us recover valuable resources to generate clean fuels, renewable energy and other beneficial products," said Dean Kattler, area vice president for Waste Management Pacific Northwest. "This project strengthens our focus on renewable energy and new technologies that use waste as a resource. We are committed to growing our business in this region in innovative ways, bringing green jobs to communities where we already have operations and community relationships."

Using S4's PEM process, waste materials are prepared and fed into a phase gasification chamber that operates at nearly 1500 degrees Fahrenheit. Once this phase is complete, the waste materials flow into a second closed chamber where they are superheated using plasma, an electricity-conducting gas. Ultimately, the intense heat rearranges the molecular structure of the waste converting it into syngas. From here, the syngas can be converted into ethanol or diesel or into industrial products like hydrogen or methanol.

This site also features a landfill gas-to-energy (LFGTE) facility which captures methane gas created during decomposition and to use for electricity which powers 5,000 homes in Seattle. Sixty-seven windmills also generate 100 MW of electricity at the landfill and the power is sold to PacifiCorp.

Jeff Surma, president and chief executive officer of S4 Energy Solutions, concluded, "Plasma gasification has garnered a lot of attention recently, as we look for new ways to sustainably manage waste while recovering valuable resources. We believe the project will demonstrate commercial viability of the new S4 integrated system, so that we can implement this technology at many other locations for a wide variety of applications."

Last September, the G-20 leaders announced during an event in Pittsburgh, that they are committed to phasing out controversial fossil-fuel based subsidies. According to the Global Subsidies Initiative, the G-20 leaders blame subsidies for encouraging wasteful consumption and undermining efforts to combat climate change. Referencing studies by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the International Energy Agency (IEA), the G-20 said that "eliminating fossil fuel subsidies by 2020 would reduce greenhouse gas emissions in 2050 by ten percent."

Last month, the preliminary report was released, "Analysis of the Scope of Energy Subsidies and Implementation of Phasing Out" written by researchers from the International Energy Association (IEA), World Bank, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The report has found that the world could spend in excess of $500 billion each year to subsidize fossil fuels.

In response to this early draft, Tom Buis, with Growth Energy, an organization that represents the US ethanol industry said, "This study confirms what millions of Americans have known all along. Our addiction to oil has a devastating impact on our nation's economy and energy security, as well as that of nations around the world. By increasing the production of domestic, renewable ethanol, we will not only enhance U.S. national security and green our environment but dramatically reduce the transfer of wealth that occurs today, keeping more money and jobs here at home at a time when it is needed most."

Buis concluded, "Further, by learning many of the agricultural innovations that the U.S. uses today for farming and ethanol production, developing nations can benefit from both food and fuel production, helping them to become more energy independent and grow their economies."

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) recently announced the opening of its Combine Heat and Power (CHP) and Renewable Energy Laboratory located on an 18-acre site in Des Plaines, Illinois. Much of the focus of this lab will be to bring to market more capabilities for developing a wide variety of efficient, sustainable renewable energy technologies such as solar thermal products. The site features a multitude of different types of low-to-medium temperature solar thermal technologies including tankless natural gas water heaters, boilers, space conditioning equipment, and more.

In a press statement Bill Liss, Managing Director, End Use Solutions said, "The advancement of renewable energy is crucial to reducing the demand for conventional fossil fuels while also reducing carbon emissions. A key challenge, however, is integrating renewable energy solutions – such as solar thermal – in a cost-effective way for homes, commercial businesses, and manufacturing facilities. We're addressing these challenges, with a goal of bringing practical, clean, high-efficiency hybrid solar thermal energy technologies to the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors."

According to GTI, their solar thermal R&D portfolio focuses on advancements of traditional lower-temperature solar thermal (less than 200°F) for hot water or space heating, and newer higher-temperature (over 200°F) systems that can be used for steam generation, absorption cooling, process heating, and other value-added uses.

"Solar thermal water heating technology has been around for more than a century," said Liss. "However, innovative processes are breathing new life into this technology. When coupled with the most advanced natural gas water heating systems and the latest computer controls, new solar thermal energy solutions are creating a very dynamic and reliable renewable application."

GTI also notes that advanced "hybrid systems," which use solar thermal energy along with natural gas or propane, can reduce energy consumption by up to 40 percent including lower capital and installation costs. With sponsorship from Utilization Technology Development, they are developing a residential hybrid-gas solar hot water system that will reduce materials, manufacturing and installation costs. GTI hopes to bring these types of technologies to market soon at a cost-effective price.

You don't hear much about North Dakota, especially about renewable energy. But today, that is changing. One of the top states for wind, they are inviting people to take an "energy tour" through North Dakota. The tour begins with a look at its oil shale production capabilities (and you thought oil shale was only for Canada). The Wall Street Journal recently featured the state's oil exploration efforts to cultivate more than an estimated 4 billion barrels of oil underneath the Baaken shale.

In addition to this project, the tour may stop at three other locations including a North Dakota wind farm. As of the end of 2009, the state broke in to the Top 10 Wind Producing States with its 6,500 MW of current production with another 6,500 MW planned. LM Glasfiber and DMI Industries are two companies that recently committed to wind projects in North Dakota.

Next, you may check out the Great Plains Synfuels Plant located in Beulah. According to the company, it is the only commercial-scale coal gasification plant that produces synthetic natural gas from coal in North America. By selling its CO2, captured as a byproduct of production, the sales are estimated to be as much at $30 million each year.

Finally, you may stop at Great River Energy's Blue Flint Ethanol plant located at Coal Creek Station. Coal Creek Station is the state's largest power plant using 22,000 tons of coal each day. Sited next to the plant is the Blue Flint Ethanol plant that produces 50 million gallons of ethanol per year and utilizes the waste heat from the coal plant for production.

A Colorado-based firm with a planned biorefinery located near Soperton, Georgia is the recipient of a loan guaranteed by USDA Rural Development to make cellulosic biofuel from wood chips, according to a USDA announcement. The finalized deal with Range Fuels was first announced last year and represents the first ever loan guarantee by USDA to a commercial-scale cellulosic biofuel plant. This project is expected to provide biorefinery jobs, construction jobs and support the timber industry.

"USDA's investment in the construction of Range Fuels' commercial facility, which will produce cellulosic biofuel from non-food biomass, such as wood chips, demonstrates the Obama Administration's goal to make the United States a leader in renewable energy production and furthers the President's ongoing efforts to bring jobs to rural communities," said Under Secretary for Rural Development Dallas Tonsager. "USDA is proud to work with the lender and the private sector to bring economic opportunity to rural areas."

The $80 million loan, being made by AgSouth Farm Credit to Range Fuels, Inc., is being guaranteed through USDA's Biorefinery Assistance Program authorized by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 and administered by USDA Rural Development. When fully operational, the plant is expected to produce an estimated 20 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year. USDA announced a conditional commitment to provide the loan guarantee for Range Fuels in January, 2009.

Representatives from the University of Florida, Buckeye Technologies Inc. and the Florida Legislature broke ground for a new pilot plant to produce ethanol from cellulosic biomass.

Funded by a $20 million appropriation from the Florida Legislature, the plant will be built at the Perry, Fla. facility of Buckeye Technologies Inc., a manufacturer and worldwide distributor of cellulose-based specialty products made from wood and cotton. It is scheduled to be operational by spring 2011.

Much of the plant's research will be based on the work of Lonnie Ingram, UF distinguished professor of microbiology and cell science and director of the Florida Center for Renewable Chemicals and Fuels. Ingram engineered an E. coli bacterium that breaks down inedible plant material into sugars that can be processed into fuel-grade cellulosic ethanol. Variations of the technology are already at work in fuel plants in Louisiana and Japan.

Click on photo, courtesy of IFAS news, for a larger view. Pictured left to right: Lonnie Ingram, UF distinguished professor of microbiology and cell science; Leonard Bembry, Florida House of Representatives District 10; Ralph Poppell, Florida House of Representatives District 29; Debbie Mayfield, Florida House of Representatives District 80; John Crowe, Buckeye Technologies, Inc. chief executive officer; Bernie Machen, University of Florida president; Cynthia O'Connell, University of Florida Board of Trustees; Larry Arrington, University of Florida interim senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources.

Marty Lyons, Chief Commercial Officer with Hawkeye Gold, LLC has resigned from the Iowa ethanol company to pursue other interests. Lyons worked for Hawkeye Gold since 2007, helping to create and expand marketing opportunities for one of the nation's largest ethanol producers. Previously, Lyons was the Senior Vice-President, Ethanol, Sweetners, and Starches at Archer Daniels Midland in Decatur, Illinois.

"It was a pleasure to work with the team at Hawkeye Gold and I wish them all the best in the future," said Lyons. "I will miss my hard working colleagues but am excited about the prospect to pursue other opportunities and continue my involvement in the renewable fuels industry. Clearly, plants need more control of their business as they manage their inputs in these volatile markets. I am focused on looking for ways to bring that necessary control back to the plants."

Lyons and his family will be relocating to the St. Louis area while looking to pursue other opportunities. Lyons has spent more than 30 years in the grain and renewable fuels industries, working to improve efficiencies and business opportunities through more streamlined and integrated business activities.

Hawaii Pure Plant Oil begins harvesting jatropha for biodiesel

The jatropha fruit contains a seed that yields oil that can be used to produce biofuel.

If the vision of father and son farmers Christian and James Twigg-Smith becomes reality, acres of now-fallow sugar cane land will be growing crops again.

But rather than producing food, the land would be used to grow fuel oil.

About two years ago they planted jatropha, an oil-rich nut native to South America, on 250 acres in Keaau on Hawaii island. They have leased another 750 acres that could be put into production if the crop is successful.

The plants take two to four years to mature, but last summer they were able to harvest their first, small crop -- enough to make a few gallons of biodiesel and run some tests on the oil they produced.

"At this point it's looking promising, but we don't know for certain if it will work yet," Christian Twigg-Smith said.

Their venture, called HIPPO for Hawaii Pure Plant Oil, is the first commercial biofuel plantation in the state.

Here is yet another example of a family business in the biodiesel industry, did you know Hawaii is a great place to grow jatropha? Obviously, it is, and we'll be hearing more about this venture.

Could this be the next big biodiesel feedstock? Euglena may fill the bill

Major Japanese oil wholesaler Nippon Oil and Hitachi subsidiary Hitachi Plant Technologies are developing a technology that's supposed to make it possible to mass-produce eco-friendly jet fuel from Euglena, single-celled organisms that live in ponds and lakes.

To be more exact, both companies are cooperating with and acquired shares in a Tokyo-based venture called Euglena, Inc., which is trying to find a way to extract oil from these organisms to produce fuel.

The venture says they already have a culturing system in place that can be used to grow Euglena efficiently, adding their production yield is superior to crops usually used to produce biofuel, i. e. corn or sugarcane. The current goal is to push down production costs per liter in a test plant to $0.80 per liter in order to be able to compete with regular jet fuel as far as prices are concerned. Another option, according to Euglena, is to use the biofuel for buses.

The company says mass-producing Euglena-derived biofuel should be possible by 2015.

Interview with Exxon's "$300m man" on biodiesel from algae

The Wall Street Journal has an interview with J. Craig Venter, the biologist who mapped the human genome and whose company Synthetic Genomics last year received a sizeable commitment from ExxonMobil to develop biofuels from algae.

Venter strikes an interesting balance between optimism and the reality of the many unknowns in getting algal biofuel towards being both cost-effective and scalable.

[We were interested to read the Synthetic Genomics is also working on a project with BP, although the financial details of that arrangement have not been disclosed.]

He talks about using natural or modified organisms that consume CO2 as their feedstock to create transport fuels.

The big question, of course, is when?

Shipping giants Maersk Line And Lloyds to test biodiesel fuel

UK / DENMARK / NETHERLANDS – Two of the most renowned names in the shipping industry, Maersk and Lloyd's Register, are cooperating with the Dutch government and a number of specialist contractors to run a trial on the use of biodiesel fuel in marine engines.

The trials aim to explore the problems that could be encountered by vessels using the FAME (fatty acid methyl esters) fuel, which has experienced variable results in studies conducted by the automotive industry. The potential benefits are significant however, as this fuel is based on sustainable crops that can be grown in temperate climates or reused oils.

Speaking of the test program, Kim Tanneberger, a specialist on biodiesel at Lloyd's Register's Strategic Research Group (SRG), said that: "One of the aims of the tests is to establish the degree to which issues experienced by the automotive industry in the use of FAME will be duplicated on board ship, in particular the impact on storage stability, handling and its subsequent use in the engine. Where adverse effects arise it is hoped to find solutions to overcome them."

Marine engines would be a wonderful test of biodiesel, I think they will find it cleaner-burning with less sludge, and I hope we will hear about the results of this testing of biodiesel at sea.

Biodiesel from palm oil looks better to the market as crude oil goes up

Palm oil, the most promising biodiesel fuel when it comes to yield – Photo from: http://afrodiesel.blogspot.com/2005/01/afrodiesel-basic-idea_110721212729730932.html

March 8 (Bloomberg) -- Palm oil rose as crude oil gained to above $82 a barrel, raising the appeal of the commodity as a feedstock for biodiesel and as Indonesia and Malaysia, the top producers, agreed to tackle environmental and labor issues.

May-delivery contract advanced as much as 0.9 percent to 2,693 ringgit a metric ton on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange, before pausing at 2,686 ringgit at the 12:30 p.m. break.

Crude oil for April delivery added 0.6 percent to $81.95 a barrel amid speculation improving world demand and OPEC supply restrictions will help slow growth in stockpiles. It traded as high as $82.04 a barrel earlier today.

If you look at biodiesel feedstock as a commodity, this story might prompt you to invest in palm oil, which I believe is both edible and a biodiesel feedstock, palm oil is also used in cosmetics, no? 

Queenstown, New Zealand's first public biodiesel refueling facility, selling B20

Endorsed and funded by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, the ground-breaking community initiative brings sustainable fuel (used cooking oil and diesel mix) to Queenstown in what could potentially be a pilot programme for the rest of the country.

It also has the full support of the Queenstown Lakes District Council, which has supplied land and seed funding for the refuelling facility, as well as regional tourism organisation Destination Queenstown.

The biodiesel consortium model was initiated and developed by Otago Polytechnic's Centre for Sustainable Practice in collaboration with a group of local tourism operators.

Thirty Queenstown business operators are now on board for the 12-month pilot programme and will initially run their vehicles on 20% biodiesel mixed with standard diesel (B20). In the future 100% biodiesel will also be available for use. Biodiesel blends can be used in virtually all diesel engine vehicles and the pilot programme will test the compatibility of a wide range of vehicles, from 4WDs to 53-seater buses.

Biodiesel should team up with ethanol to seek long-term tax credits says one soybean farmer

Photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/35828669@N00/2824136134/

As Congress finishes work on a second jobs bill, the biodiesel industry may soon get its $1-a-gallon tax credit that expired last year restored. But because it's a tax credit that must be renewed annually, the soy-based fuel plants that are operating at only 14% capacity will have to go to Congress again for support. A longer term tax credit for ethanol, worth 45 cents a gallon, also expires this year.

Bob Metz, a South Dakota soybean farmer who is a director of the National Biodiesel Board, told farmers at the Commodity Classic in Anaheim, California, Friday that even though the tax credit for biodiesel has strong support in Congress, it got caught up in delays caused by the health care debate in the Senate. His group would like to see the tax laws changed to create a longer-term tax credit that doesn't have to be renewed annually.

Metz called on the ethanol industry to work with biodiesel to get longer term tax credits for both fuels.

Could poplar trees become the next popular biofuel?

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Maryland and Bowie State University is working on ways to turn poplar trees into high-yield crops for biofuels including ethanol, the renewable biofuel used in gasoline blends and flex-fuel vehicles. The hybrid trees would be grown on plantations and harvested without affecting existing woodlands.

The study is funded by a $3.2 million, four-year grant from the National Science Foundation's Plant Genome Research Project, which supports research on plants seen as having economic and agricultural importance. Researchers Gary Coleman, Ganesh Sriram and Jianhua Zhu of Maryland and George Ude of Bowie State are using the recently completed poplar genome to look for ways to improve the tree's nitrogen processing capability, which would enhance its growth rate and feasibility for use in fuel production.

This might be a source of both ethanol and biodiesel, depending on the oil content of the seeds, but why this tree instead of another? Anyone in the forum know about this species?