The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced what it thinks the 2011 percentage standards for the Renewable Fuel Standard program (aka RFS2) should be. The EPA proposed that the overall volumes and standards for the four fuels categories in the program should be:
This weekend's round of the American Le Mans Series at Miller Motorsports park in Utah will see the four Ferrari F430 GTs of Extreme Speed Motorsports and Risi Racing switch from running on an E10 ethanol/gasoline blend to using cellulosic E85. With this change, 10 of the 13 cars running in GT2 will be using the second-generation biofuel. The Corvette Racing team was the first to use E85 in early 2
The U.S. Renewable Fuels Standards (RFS2) becomes effective Thursday, July 1 and it describes a whole lot of changes for the biofuels industry in the U.S in the coming decade or so. To prepare for the changes and to figure out just what's even possible, the USDA issued a "Regional Roadmap to Meeting the Biofuels Goals of the Renewable Fuels Standard by 2022" last week. One thing that's not changing – not yet, anyway - is the dominating role of ethanol made from corn in the U.S.
Following news that the EPA has once again not made a decision about increasing the ethanol content of gasoline sold in the nation's pumps, the ethanol industry is kind of peeved. The Renewable Fuels Association has issued a press release lashing out at the Environmental Protection Agency f
Kudzu is sometimes called "the vine that ate the South." Anyone who's lived or visited the southeastern U.S. can certainly understand why. The fast-growing vine swarms over trees and buildings and other items. A few years ago, there was a lot of talk about finding a way to use the invasive plant as a biomass ingredient for cellulosic ethanol, with both the University of Toronto and the U.S
Back in the early days of mass-produced biofuels, corn-based ethanol and soy-based biodiesel were all the rage. But criticism about food vs. fuel and scalability abounded and, by 2008, cellulosic ethanol became known as a so-called second-generation-biofuel and, maybe, the answer to our oil-addicted prayers. Blame Nik Bristow
Canadian cellulosic ethanol developer Iogen Corporation and its joint venture partner Royal Dutch Shell have committed further funding to keep the venture going for two more years. Iogen Energy is currently running a demonstration plant near Ottawa that is producing ethanol from wheat straw. The demonstration plant has produced over 170,000 gallons of ethanol over the past year. This ethanol is blended with gasoline and is commercially available at Sh
Poet TV "How close is Cellulosic Ethanol?" – Click above to watch video Sebastian Blanco
Scientists in Germany have engineered the common industrial yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to ferment the sugars pentose (C5) and hexose (C6) from biomass feedstock to create ethanol and butanol. Translation: cellulosic ethanol may be one step closer to being more than the green automotive buzzword of 2008 or, worse, one of the Nik Bristow
Holden Commodore VE family – Click above for high res image gallery
Fernando Alonso winning the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix – Click above for high-res image gallery
Yesterday, the Obama Administration announced new biofuel rules for a Renewable Fuels Standard (aka RFS2) and there's a lot for ethanol producers to love in there.
BP could become the first major energy company to start commercial scale production of cellulosic ethanol in 2010 if all goes according to plan. BP has been partnering with Verenium Corporation to commercialize the latter company's process for breaking down cellulose into sugars.
Coskata Lighthouse Cellulosic Ethanol Plant - Click above for high-res image gallery
Coskata Lighthouse Cellulosic Ethanol Plant - Click above for high-res image gallery
Corvette C6.R GT2 - click above for high-res image gallery
The EPA issued a report not long ago stating that the U.S. would produce 100 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol in 2010, with 70 percent of this production expected to come from a single company in Alabama called Cello Energy. The EPA might have put a few too many eggs in a single basket this time.
Back in February, Mascoma opened its first pilot plant for the production of cellulosic ethanol. According to General Motors, which invested in Mascoma and its unique method for producing the alcohol, Mascoma's consolidated bioprocessing process has proven successful in a laboratory environment.
Representatives from one of the GM-backed cellulosic ethanol concerns, Coskata, have been visiting the Asia-Pacific region recently to tout their anything-into-ethanol technology. In Thailand, they recommended that the Thai government work to make "Thailand the ethanol manufacturing hub for Asia," according to the Thai newspaper The Nation. Before committing to a Thai location, th
