Scania’s Ethanol Diesel-Engine, Runs On Biodiesel Too
Archive for the ‘Biodiesel’ Category
Biodiesel Myth (Or Fact?) #23: Biodiesel is Raising Food Prices
Increased world demand for grains and vegetable oils due to population growth (esp. in China and India), the weak dollar, agricultural production problems around the world, and $100/barrel oil are some of the driving factors accounting for increasing food prices.
After covering 22 of the most popular myths about biodiesel, I realized I’d only given lip service to a major issue: increasing food prices. In Myth #2, I mentioned that the goal of biodiesel production is to move away from food-based feedstocks.
But until that happens, the question remains: if I use biodiesel made from soybeans right now, am I contributing to the larger problem of increasing commodity prices and starving poor people? Read the rest of this entry »
Biodiesel Mythbuster 2.0: Twenty-Two Biodiesel Myths Dispelled
Most of us are at least vaguely familiar with biodiesel, but how much do we really know?
While biodiesel is easily the most popular alternative fuel available, it’s commonly misunderstood or misrepresented by inaccurate information. Since the most frequent question I get is, “So what exactly is biodiesel, anyway?“, I decided to write a tome covering all the basics—a one stop shop for all your biodiesel- related questions.
It’s been exactly one year since I published the first Biodiesel Mythbuster on GreenOptions.com, and its popularity made a sequel inevitable. By way of a short introduction, here’s what I wrote last year: Read the rest of this entry »
Ethanol from Cheese?
There’s always a better whey.
A Wisconsin cheese producer, Joe Van Groll of Stratford, Wisconsin, has a way with whey.
For nearly a decade, Van Groll experimented using the waste product of cheese manufacturing, whey permeate, to manufacture ethanol. During the past four years, he’s been doing just that, and believes his process can produce ethanol for less than $1 a gallon.
Smokestacks Make Biofuels
Would I put you on? It’s true, algae-based biofuels are being produced from CO2 emitted from smokstacks.
It’s happening through a company called GreenFuel, headquartered in Cambridge, Mass.
GreenFuel has been partnering with Arizona Public Service Company to create biofuels from algae grown using carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from a power plant. The companies successfully grew algae at APS’ Redhawk natural gas power plant in Arizona, and is moving their tests to a coal-fired power plant at Farmington, NM.
According to a release from APS, algae at Redhawk grew at levels 37 times higher than corn and 140 times higher than soybeans, which are now used to create biofuels. Read the rest of this entry »
Farmers Invest In Diesel-Producing Trees
Farmers in Northern Queensland, Australia, are investigating another approach to producing renewable fuel: growing diesel trees. As weird as that sounds, it’s real, and it isn’t a scientific breakthrough. We’ve actually known about the trees for over 300 years.
As Treehugger reported earlier this week, farmers in the more tropical region Queensland purchased about 20,000 Brazilian diesel trees, or Copaifera langsdorfii, with the intention of having a living oil-mine in 15 years. According to Purdue University, a 100 acre plot of trees could produce about 25 barrels of oil per year.
First Algae Biodiesel Plant Goes Online: April 1, 2008
PetroSun has announced it will begin operation of its commercial algae-to-biofuels facility on April 1st, 2008.
The facility, located in Rio Hondo Texas, will produce an estimated 4.4 million gallons of algal oil and 110 million lbs. of biomass per year off a series of saltwater ponds spanning 1,100 acres. Twenty of those acres will be reserved for the experimental production of a renewable JP8 jet-fuel.
Gordon LeBlanc, Jr., CEO of PetroSun, had this to say:
“Our business model has been focused on proving the commercial feasibility of the firms’ algae-to-biofuels technology during the past eighteen months. Whether we have arrived at this point in time by a superior technological approach, sheer luck or a redneck can-do attitude, the fact remains that microalgae can outperform the current feedstocks utilized for conversion to biodiesel and ethanol, yet do not impact the consumable food markets or fresh water resources.”
Top 15 Unexpected Uses For Biodiesel
While virtually everyone is familiar with the use of biodiesel as a substitute for diesel fuel, there are a few novel uses that may not have crossed your radar. Biodiesel can produce hydrogen, clean up oil spills, degrease your tools, heat your home, and more.
Here’s My Top 15 Unexpected Uses for Biodiesel:
1. Producing Hydrogen for Fuel-Cell Vehicles
This was the big story of the month: Researchers at InnovaTek have developed hand-sized microreactors that can turn biodiesel (or any other liquid fuel) into a hydrogen stream for use in an adjoining fuel-cell. Chevron has already invested $500,000 to develop hydrogen refueling stations for fuel-cell powered cars. InnovaTek hopes to eventually install the microreactors in vehicles, which would allow cars to fill up on biodiesel but be powered by a much more efficient and even cleaner-burning electric drivetrain. See the full story here.
How Biodiesel Fuel-Cells Could Power The Future (And Your Car)
After years of development, the Washington-based company InnovaTek is testing a hand-sized microreactor that can convert virtually any liquid fuel into hydrogen, producing a portable hydrogen stream for use in adjoining fuel-cells.
Since the microreactor units can be linked together, InnovaTek has developed systems capable of producing anywhere from 1 to 160 gallons of hydrogen per minute—enough to supply a hydrogen refueling station or, even more exciting, creating on-board hydrogen for fuel-cell powered vehicles.
That’s InnovaTek’s eventual goal anyway: having their technology built into cars, where energy-dense renewable fuels could be converted into motion, bypassing combustion and the production of exhaust gases entirely, and powering a much more efficient engine. (Imagine for a moment, filling up on biodiesel and driving off to the exhaust-free hum of an electric motor.) InnovaTek plans on commercially licensing the microreactors by 2009.
Biofuels: Energy, Food and People
Is it going to come down to a choice between eating or driving? Is that what are future holds? If it does, it looks like the driving contingent may win (or in other words many others will lose…or starve). That’s a distorted overview of last night’s EcoNow presentation that highlighted the current and future state of biofuel. Actually I like the term that one of the speakers Eric Holt-Giménez used - “agrofuels” rather than “biofuels” because “bio” means “life” which certainly doesn’t represent these alt fuels.
The event held in Berkeley (where else?) gave Tad Patzek, Professor of Geoengineering at UC Berkeley, Miguel Altieri, Professor of Agroecology at UC Berkeley, Eric Holt-Giménez, Executive Director of Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy, and Judith Mayer, Project Coordinator of the Borneo Project a chance to educate or frighten the audience into what’s happening with agrofuels, whether it’s ethanol, B20, or something else that makes our cars go.
