Tag Archives: waste feedstock

Nuts for biodiesel!

Posted on February 25, 2011 | 1 Comment

It’s big, it’s shaped like a peanut and, best of all, it runs on biodiesel.

The latest incarnation of the Planters Nutmobile is going green, using a biodiesel-powered modified Isuzu NPR box truck as the base for its fiberglass body. The nutty vehicle also touts a rooftop wind turbine, solar panels, LED interior lighting, recycled parts and reclaimed-wood floors.

It is fitting that the Planters Nutmobile should be powered by biodiesel since Rudolf Diesel originally designed his engine to run on peanut oil. There’s no word on if the biodiesel used will be of a nutty variety.

Read more from the New York Times.

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Posted in News Links, Biodiesel, Vehicles, Biodiesel Production, Feedstocks, Big Oil, blog

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Propel Hosts First Stop of EcoTREK’s “Best of America Tour”

Posted on January 21, 2011 | 1 Comment

EcoTREK is driving 10,000 miles crosscountry in an American-made Flex Fuel vehicle, powered with cellulosic ethanol provided by POET — all with the goal of increasing awareness of the economic, environmental and national security benefits of domestically grown biofuels.

Tom Holm, Executive Director and intrepid driver for EcoTREK, made Propel’s Oakland Clean Fuel Point the tour’s first destination. Propel CEO, Matt Horton welcomed Tom to the station and shared his enthusiasm for EcoTREK’s goal. “Today we got a preview of ultra-low carbon fuels from non-food sources, representing the next level of sustainability for fuels that can run in our vehicles today. Propel, EcoTREK and POET each represent critical pieces to reducing our dependence on petroleum; widespread consumer access, advanced vehicle technologies, and the next generation of renewable fuels.”

POET’s cellulosic ethanol is produced from corn cobs and light stover (leaves, husks, some stalk) at a pilot pant in Scotland, South Dakota. Work is underway at Project LIBERTY, POET’s planned 25 million-gallon-per-year cellulosic ethanol plant, which will be built in Emmetsburg, Iowa.

Read more about EcoTREK’s Propel visit.

Follow Tom’s journey on the EcoTREK blog.

EcoTREK in Oakland

Music: Quiet Life hailing from Portland, OR. Check out their music.

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Posted in At the Pump, blog, Emissions, Ethanol Research, Flex Fuel, Flex Fuel E85, Green Business, News Links, Next Generation Feedstock, Propel Biofuels, Propel Customers, Retail locations, Vehicles

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Waste Grease Biodiesel Plant for San Francisco

Posted on December 10, 2010 | 1 Comment

Plans for a biodiesel plant at Pier 92 in San Francisco have finally gained approval from the city’s Port Commission. The plant will produce 10 million gallons of waste-grease biodiesel each year, creating local production jobs as well as locally-produced, renewable fuel.

The plant will be in an old rendering facility run by Darling International, who has been in operation on the pier since the 1960s. The facility is already equipped to create tallow from grease and other waste products. The switch over to biodiesel production will include new odor-regulation devices and alert systems.

Read more from San Francisco Gate.

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Posted in Biodiesel, Biodiesel Production, Feedstocks, Green Business, Green House Gases (GHG)

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Waste fats into renewable Dynamic Fuels

Posted on November 12, 2010 | Leave a comment

In Geismar, LA, Dynamic Fuels’ production facility is converting non-food grade tallow and other animal fats into ASTM-certified renewable diesel fuel.

The production facility, a joint venture of Syntroleum Corporation and Tyson Foods, Inc., began processing fuel in early October and is currently producing 2,500 barrels a day.

Dynamic’s diesel fuel is made from renewable sources, reducing carbon emissions by  75%. What’s more, the performance specifications outshine petroleum diesel, boasting cetane rating of 88, more than twice that of regular diesel.

Read more from Syntroleum.

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Posted in News Links, Biodiesel, Emissions, Green House Gases (GHG), Biodiesel Production, Feedstocks, Biodiesel Quality, Green Business, Next Generation Feedstock

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Propel tours San Diego’s New Leaf biodiesel production facility

Posted on October 22, 2010 | Leave a comment

New Leaf Biofuel is a waste-source biodiesel production company located in San Diego, CA. Propel had the opportunity to tour the New Leaf facility earlier this week.

Jennifer Case, CEO of New Leaf, hosted the facility tour, walking through the production process of using waste-oil and waste-grease refined into quality biodiesel fuel ready to put straight into tanks. New Leaf collects waste oil and grease from local San Diego restaurants to use as the feedstock for their biodiesel production.

New Leaf is a great example of a local producer working within a community to process waste products into quality renewable fuel.

Learn more about New Leaf Biofuels.

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Posted in Biodiesel, Biodiesel Production, Biodiesel Quality, Biodiesel Research, blog, Feedstocks, Green Business, Vehicles

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Can’t recycle that soiled cardboard? Try fuel.

Posted on June 11, 2010 | 1 Comment

Of all the tons of corrugated cardboard recycled by the Cedar Rapids paper mill in Iowa, 5 percent of fibers from old containers cannot be recycled, which equates to about 50,000 tons of paper waste ending up in a landfill every year. Fiberight LLC plans to change this.

Fiberight has partnered with International Paper Cedar River to convert waste paper into cellulosic ethanol fuel. The clean tech company converted a first-generation corn ethanol plant in Blairstown, Iowa into a cellulosic ethanol production facility.

According to Todd Olstad, the paper mill’s operations manager, “through Fiberight’s new facility, we can now be assured that whatever recycled fiber can’t be made into new packaging can be used to create green energy, while helping us offset our disposal cost.”

By 2011, Fiberight’s facility will reach a final commercial production capacity of about 6 million gallons of cellulosic fuel per year.

Read more about Fiberight’s cellulosic fuel plant.

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Posted in Biodiesel, Biodiesel Production, Ethanol Research, Flex Fuel, Flex Fuel E85, Green Business, Next Generation Feedstock

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Amtrak runs biodiesel in America’s heartland

Posted on April 23, 2010 | 1 Comment

Earlier this week, Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer train made its first journey powered by B20 biodiesel.

The Heartland Flyer will run on tallow-based B20 biodiesel for the next year with plans to potentially expand the program to the entire system. The Heartland Flyer uses over 100,000 gallons of diesel fuel every year on its 400-mile route between Fort Worth, TX and Oklahoma City, OK.

The biodiesel test program is funded by a federal government grant. Amtrak will monitor and track train performance and emission reductions from the use of biodiesel.

The majority of Amtrak’s passenger trains burn petroleum diesel. In one year, Amtrak trains use over 62 million gallons of fuel. Switching to B20 biodiesel would significantly reduce consumption of petroleum diesel and has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by almost 200 million pounds.

More about the Heartland Flyer’s biodiesel test.

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Posted in Biodiesel, Biodiesel Quality, Biodiesel Research, Climate Change, Emissions, Green Business, News Links, Propel Biofuels, Uncategorized

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Waste into power, POET teams up with the city of Sioux Falls

Posted on January 26, 2010 | Leave a comment

The joint project by leading ethanol producer, POET, and the city of Sioux Falls uses landfill gas to help power POET’s Chancellor, South Dakota ethanol production facility. Methane gas created by the Sioux Falls Regional Sanitary Landfill is transported down an 11-mile pipeline to POET’s biorefinery, helping to power ethanol production.

Methane, a major factor in global warming, is captured, converted and put to use producing process steam for ethanol production–using methane offsets 15 percent of the facility’s  energy needs, reducing overall CO2 emissions by more than 26,000 tons per year.

Revenue from selling methane to POET and subsequent carbon credits, earns an additional 1 million dollars per year for the city of Sioux Falls.

Earlier this month, the Environmental Protection Agency recognized the innovative work of the POET-Sioux Falls project in an award ceremony for programs that “employed unique project structures and took creative approaches to utilize (landfill gas) from municipal solid waste landfills.” The project will continue to grow as the supply of landfill gases increase, doubling capacity by 2025.

Read more about POET and Sioux Falls.

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Posted in Emissions, Flex Fuel, Green Business, Green House Gases (GHG), News Links, Next Generation Feedstock, Uncategorized

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Production advances create fuel from forest waste

Posted on November 19, 2009 | Leave a comment

Fuel sourced from waste derived feedstock is the gold-standard in sustainable energy production. And the pine forest waste left over from Georgia’s paper industry will soon be turned into fuel.

Range Fuels’ cellulosic ethanol production facility aims to utilize the limbs, needles and tops of timber typically left out in the woods as an entirely new source of fuel. A technology that is a perfect fit for the State of Georgia that has an abundance of forest-derived feedstocks.

“This is zero carbon footprint fuel” says David Aldous, Range Fuels’ CEO.

The Soperton, Georgia-based plant held ground breaking ceremonies in 2007 and is scheduled to be producing this fuel in 2010. The project is permitted to produce 100 million gallons of fuel per year.  In addition to vehicle fuel, the plant will generate renewable power from energy recovered during the process of converting biomass into fuel.

Watch Video from WSBTV.

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Posted in Biodiesel Production, Energy Balance, Feedstocks, Flex Fuel, Green Business, Next Generation Feedstock, Vehicles

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Cellulosic Plant takes a big step towards converting Corn Cobs into Fuel

Posted on November 4, 2009 | Leave a comment

South Dakota based POET is pioneering commercial-scale next generation ethanol Poet_Libertyproduction with their Project Liberty plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa. The 25 million-gallon-per-year plant reached a significant benchmark yesterday receiving a 20 million dollar commitment from Lt Governor Patty Judge. Former four-star General Wesley Clark spoke to attendees about the important role they would play in providing more homegrown fuel for the nation.

“We are involved in something that is historic,” Clark said. “We are going to significantly reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources, and we will strengthen America’s national security.”

POET currently operates a pilot-scale cellulosic plant in Scotland, S.D. currently producing 20,000 gallons per year of cellulosic ethanol. The newly funded Iowa plant will commercialize the process creating hundreds of new green jobs.

Watch coverage by KTIV News 4

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Posted in Energy Balance, Feedstocks, Flex Fuel, Green Business, News Links, Next Generation Feedstock

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Fuel from Waste – New Revenue for American Farmers

Posted on July 16, 2009 | Leave a comment

stoverNot Corn…Cobs. This harvest refuse, typically plowed back into the field, is now a source of fuel for American drivers, and new profit for American farmers.
Making this possible are the leading edge cellulosic ethanol plants like the Iowa based plant currently being built by Poet Energy. The $200 million plant will make cellulosic ethanol, which comes from plant material such as cobs, wood chips and switchgrass. About two dozen cellulosic ethanol projects are being developed or built around the country, according to the Renewable Fuels Association.
Poet spokesman Nathan Schock said the company hasn’t yet figured out how much it will pay farmers, but it could be $30 to $60 per ton for corn stover, which includes cobs and some stalk. An average acre in Iowa yields about 1.5 tons of corn stover.
Read more

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Posted in Biodiesel Quality, Feedstocks, Flex Fuel, Green Business, Next Generation Feedstock, Propel Biofuels

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