Biofuel News

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The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is far from over on discrediting biofuels as part of their mandated policy known as the Low Carbon Fuels Standard (LCFS). For the past year, the ethanol industry has been embroiled in a fight for proper reflections of biofuel's indirect greenhouse gas emissions, aka indirect land use. Now, CARB has created a working group to study soil sustainability provisions of biofuels. The specific crops under review at this time include corn ethanol, sugarcane ethanol, wood based fuels, palm oil, and soy biodiesel.

Today, CARB held a meeting to discuss this topic. In the proposed agenda, CARB offered several “loose” categories to be considered including carbon content, erosion, crop rotation, nutrition/chemical use, productivity, and crop expansion. I'll kick myself for saying this, but I'm surprised they didn't include water.

While I'm not sure what exactly has driven this new LCFS dimension of discussion, I can speculate that several recent events have in part led to this recent course of action. One is the Dead Zone/hypoxia issue which resurfaced when several scientists began calling the Dead Zone a bigger environmental catastrophe than the BP Oil spill. Corn and corn ethanol are being charged for creating the Dead Zone through its use of pesticides and fertilizers used in production.

Second, Friends of the Earth has been vocally opposed to how corn is produced and to corn ethanol (actually, to all current and future biofuels) and is currently engaged in a national campaign to end production of corn ethanol and reassess corn production methods.

While I do believe that soil sustainability is an area to be reviewed in general, I do not agree that you can regulate biofuels policy on this issue. Not only that, but like indirect land use, a theory not based in sound science, petroleum is not being held to the same standards. No where on the agenda is a discussion of the soil, or land implications of global petroleum production.

Last week, the University of Nebraska finally acknowledged that there are in fact, “indirect land use” effects of petroleum. Mainly transportation and war and released a study that examined these possible effects. More studies need to be conducted on this topic and I think they will.

As California moves to create more LCFS provisions on biofuels, consumers must call for CARB to consider the environmental implications of petroleum production. For the past three months, we have seen, first hand, some of the implications of oil with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill compliments of BP.

But we don't need a spill to have land impacts of petroleum. Drilling, chemicals and water are all elements of production. What about the emissions spewing from our refineries? CARB has created a list of hazardous chemicals that can't be used in biofuels production, but where is the list of chemicals that can't be used in petroleum production as part of these provisions?

I realize that I sound like a broken record when I say this, but you cannot hold biofuels up to a standard that can't be achieved, and not hold petroleum up to the same standard. If our goal is to produce more environmentally and sustainable fuels, then let's do just that.

One agricultural economist is disputing the findings of another when it comes to the impact on the domestic ethanol industry of removing the existing blenders tax credit and the associated tariff on imported ethanol.

In dueling commentaries posted Tuesday on “The Hill's Congress Blog,” Iowa State University’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) director and professor of economist Dr. Bruce Babcock, and ENTRIX technical director and agricultural economist John Urbanchuk share differing opinions about the impact of allowing allowing the current 45-cent-per-gallon ethanol blender’s tax credit (Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit, or VEETC) and 54-cent-per-gallon ethanol tariff to expire at the end of this year.

Babcock did a study, funded by the Brazilian sugarcane industry, that found there would be only a “modest” impact on the industry if the VEETC and tariff went away. Urbanchuk, who has done numerous economic studies for the U.S. ethanol industry, disagrees. “That’s true only if you take a “Field of Dreams” view of the ethanol industry: If we mandate that Americans use more ethanol, then someone, somewhere will produce that ethanol,” Urbanchuk writes. He says that “removing the tax credit would encourage the export of another U.S. industry.”

Meanwhile, Growth Energy notes in a blog post that the Babcock study assumes that the U.S. market will be able to utilize intermediate ethanol blends, such as E15, that will increase demand. According to the Babcock paper (top pg 12), “The key assumption here is not EPA approval, but rather, that EPA approves implementation of intermediate blends in a manner that increases the market demand for ethanol enough to sell 15 (billion gallons) at 75% of the price of gasoline.” Growth Energy says, “That is the essential contribution of the paper: if the ethanol industry gets access to a bigger share of the market, the government supports aren’t as important.” So, in other words, both views could be right, depending on whether or not the market is increased to 15 percent.

USDA researchers are studying the use of butter as a feedstock for biodiesel.

According to a study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, scientists with USDA's Ag Research Service looked into the concept of making butter that would otherwise go to waste into biodiesel.

Michael Haas and colleagues cite rising global demand for biodiesel, and the desire to expand the feedstock base, as motivating factors for their research. The United States alone has committed to producing 36 billion gallons of biofuel by 2022, a major increase from the current annual production level of about 11 billion gallons. Most of that was ethanol. Biodiesel production, now approaching 1 billion gallons annually in the U.S., is also slated to increase. As researchers seek additional and affordable feedstocks for biodiesel production, these scientists turned to butter, one billion pounds of which are produced annually. Could surplus, spoiled, or nonfood-grade butter be used to make biodiesel at competitive prices?

In an effort to find out, the scientists recovered the fat from a quarter-ton of butter and converted it into the fatty acid esters that constitute biodiesel. They found that the resulting material met all but one of the official test standards for biodiesel. The study concluded that with further purification or by blending with biodiesel from other feedstocks butter biodiesel could add to the supply of biobased fuel for diesel engines.

Read more here.

If you have an iPhone and would like to get Domestic Fuel posts fast and easy on it, there's now an app for that. ZimmComm New Media this week introduced the Agwired iPhone app that allows quick access to all of ZimmComm’s on-line publications, including DomesticFuel. The app is now available for iPhone users to download, free of charge, in the Apple iTunes store.

The app offers one-touch access to all the latest news and information in the agribusiness and agricultural marketing world posted on Agwired.com, including audio, photos and video, and connections to other ZimmComm news sites. The AgWired App features a news tab drop down menu to select ZimmComm News Network feeds as well as individual news on AgWired.com by category.

ZimmComm owns and operates four web-based news sites that are now accessible from the new iPhone app: Agwired, focused on news from the world of agribusiness; Domestic Fuel, which is all about renewable energy – from ethanol and biodiesel to wind and solar; World Dairy Diary for the dairy industry; and Precision Pays, which focuses on information about precision agriculture technology.

The Ethanol Report podcast received a Golden ARC award this week from the Ag Relations Council in the newly revived competition that includes new social media categories. Chuck Zimmerman, president of Domestic Fuel's parent company ZimmComm New Media received the award Tuesday, presented by ARC President Deron Johnson, during the Ag Media Summit (AMS) in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Matt Hartwig of the Renewable Fuels Association attended the summit of agricultural journalists this week and exhibited at their Info Expo for the first time. In this edition of the Ethanol Report, he talks about how RFA has been successfully using social media tools like Twitter and Facebook to communicate, and also about a new blog they recently launched called the E-xchange. Matt also discusses the Export Exchange event they are hosting with U.S. Grains Council in October to promote exports of the ethanol co-product DDGs for livestock feed.

Listen to or download the Ethanol Report podcast here. AMS Ethanol Report

Subscribe to this twice monthly podcast in iTunes by following this link.

Freedom Environmental will provide Pristine Biodiesel with yellow grease

Photo from: http://www.pristinebiodiesel.com/

ORLANDO, Fla., Jul 27, 2010 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- Freedom Environmental Services (Pink Sheets:FRDM) announced today that it has begun weekly delivery in the estimation of as much as 12,000 gallons of yellow grease to Pristine Biodiesel for refining into biodiesel. The contract will pay Freedom $1.75 per gallon and provide up to several thousand gallons (TBD) of biodiesel for its service fleet of 23 diesel trucks.

Michael Borish, CEO, Freedom Environmental, said, "This is one of many new revenue streams we plan to leverage out as part of our recent merger with Brownies Environmental. We now have the capability to deliver thousands of gallons of yellow grease picked up from our paid service contracts to our processor for additional revenue. We believe, but cannot guarantee, that this contract alone represents over $1 million in annual revenue for Freedom," said Borish.

Bio Diesel is made from sustainable renewable resources, that are abundant and available right here in the United States. It is made from plant oil, animal fats and even recycled grease and works in conventional diesel engines. Bio Diesel significantly reduces harmful emissions. Bio Diesel is better for the environment because it is made from renewable resources and has lower emissions compared to petroleum diesel. It is less toxic than table salt and biodegrades as fast as sugar. Since it is made in the USA from renewable resources such as soybeans, its use decreases our dependence on foreign oil and contributes to our own economy.

New Mexico: B5 biodiesel mandate kicked in July 1

Photos from: http://www.riovalleybiofuels.com/News.html

This month, New Mexico joined a handful of states mandating the use of biodiesel. All state agencies, political subdivisions and public schools operating on-road motor vehicles are now required to use at least B5.
After July 1, 2012, the B5 mandate will extend to consumers, and unless the state agriculture and energy departments find that the state has an insufficient supply of biodiesel, or the price of biodiesel significantly exceeds the price of diesel fuel for at least two months, the mandates will stay in effect. Rio Valley Biofuels, a biodiesel producer in Anthony, N.M., hopes the mandate will cause the government fleets to use more biodiesel, plant operations manager Jed Smith told Biodiesel Magazine.
Some government fleets however, didn’t need a mandate. The South Central Solid Waste Authority, a state agency responsible for management of solid waste in Las Cruces and Dona Ana County, has already run B20 blends in the majority of its diesel vehicles for the past three years.

I did not know that New Mexico was such a biodiesel-friendly state, but then again, why not? Many artists live there and the clean environment will stay that way longer with biodiesel.

Training diesel mechanics on the virtues of biodiesel

Photo from: http://alameda.peralta.edu/apps/comm.asp?$1=20605

In the past year, more than 750 diesel technicians and students have been trained on the benefits and use of biodiesel through an educational program established by the Iowa Biodiesel Board. The program, which is specifically targeted at Iowa’s diesel mechanic community and community college instructors, aims to increase professional knowledge on biodiesel and its performance in diesel engines. The program is fully funded by a grant from the Iowa Power Fund.
During the first year of the program, continuing education courses aimed at diesel mechanics in the workforce were held at all 15 of Iowa’s community colleges. A two-day “train the trainer” course was also offered for college faculty in September 2009, where instructors were provided with biodiesel curriculum and had the opportunity to interact with industry experts.

Programs such as this one help spread the word about biodiesel and what it can do for a diesel system. I would hope no diesel mechanic can get out of school with SOME biodiesel training.

Biodiesel merger: Universal Bioenergy to acquire Norcor Technologies in North Carolina

Image from: http://domesticfuel.com/2009/03/30/homegrown-biodiesel-behind-magic-fuel-bus/

IRVINE , Calif., Jul 28, 2010 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- Universal Bioenergy Inc. (Pink Sheets:UBRG), an alternative energy company, announced today that it is has signed a Letter of Intent to acquire Norcor Technologies Corporation, an energy, technology and facilities services company, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Norcor Technologies, provides a broad range of products and services which are primarily for use in the Health Care industry, Military Facilities, and the U.S. Department of Transportation. Its primary focus is selling biodiesel, transportation fuels, energy services and facility energy efficiency retrofits. Norcor's management states that they are in discussions with the U.S. Military for a contract to provide several of their bases with approximately $49,000,000 in biodiesel and transportation fuels, over the next one to three years. They are also evaluating the building of a new biodiesel fuel blending facility, and a solar energy plant in the U.S.

Staten Island, NY to add more biodiesel to heating oil in an effort to clear the air

Staten island Advance/William AlatristeJames Genarro, chairman of the City Council’s Environmental Protection Committee, speaks during the announcement of new legislation to reduce harmful sulfur in home heating oil at Metro Fuel in Brooklyn.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- New heating oil standards could mean a breath of fresh air for Staten Islanders.
The city and state have teamed up with a pair of laws that will drastically reduce the amount of sulfur in home and residential heating oil -- and, hopefully, the risks of asthma and lung disease along with it.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced legislation that cuts in half the amount of sulfur allowed in No. 4 heating oil -- used mostly older high-rise buildings -- to 1,500 parts per million. The legislation, expected to be passed at a City Council meeting Thursday, also requires all heating oil used in the city to contain 2 percent biodiesel fuels, which are often made from used grease collected at city restaurants.

I’m calling the environmental movement out for supporting nothing and opposing everything.

Not too long ago, I was proud to call myself an environmentalist. Today, I’m bordering on embarrassed to admit that I support sustainability programs. The cause of my distress is what is happening under the carpet among environmental groups. On the surface, they look squeaky clean, but when you pull back the carpet you find years of dust and dirt.

The result is crippling the system so that the status quo remains unchanged.

Are they doing this unknowingly? It’s hard to imagine a community founded on integrity and steeped in the honorable tradition of academia could blatantly miss the truth on the intellectually definable myths about renewable energy.

For example, for more than 30 years, environmental organizations have attacked the oil and gas industry in the name of environmental integrity. During this same time, these same groups have aided Big Oil in its attack of the biofuels industry in the name of subsidies. The irony is that ethanol subsidies such as the ethanol tax credit (VEETC) and the ethanol tariff are subsidies that actually go to the oil industry – not the ethanol producer.

Until recently, the oil industry was not attacked for the hundreds of billions of subsidies they receive nor were they held accountable for their greenhouse gas emissions until the University of Nebraska conducted an indirect land use emissions study from petroleum transportation and protection – mainly war.

How did everyone miss this?

Environmentalists shout that we must stop using oil and gas. Their solution—that everyone seems to have missed – more oil and gas. This is supported through their claims that biofuels are bad. Hydrogen? Ha. Plug in? Patience? Natural Gas? Never. In essence, the environmental movement is preserving our dependence on dirty fossil fuels.

In the last decade, environmental organizations that have been heralded as the watchdogs of the planet are now taking money from the same industry they are purporting to be saving us from – oil. In case you didn’t notice, this is a conflict of interest. Google some of the top biofuel critic studies by academia and you will likely find a trail of gifts and grants by major oil companies.  Look at the board of directors and you will find a tangled and interconnected web of renewable energy foes.

Many consumers revere and monetarily support these groups, but beware. They have won our trust. Now they are using it carte blanche to hide their true intent: halting the recovery of our economy and placing our national security at risk.

But wait. Aren’t these organizations policing environmental criminals on our behalf?

Who is policing them?

In the past two years, Congress has dragged the oil, biofuels, banking, agricultural, and auto industry to Washington, D.C. for a series of Congressional hearings to probe into their transgressions. They have even dragged in baseball players accused of abusing steroids. Yet they have never called environmental organizations to the halls of justice and asked them to defend their funding and research shenanigans.

We don’t have a decade to determine our future strategy. Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not advocating that we move forward blindly – as our country appears to be doing now. That would be an injustice. What I am proposing is an across the board analysis of all the potential strategies and solutions on the table. This means we must start vocally questioning the actions of environmental organizations. They need to become more transparent.

On behalf of American consumers, I am making an official request for Congress to hold a Congressional Hearing, this year, to look into the actions, funding, research, and programs of the most influential environmental groups. It’s high time we see what’s behind the curtain so we can make more educated policy decisions.

A California-based biofuel maker that extracts its feedstock oil from algae and uses that oil for several other products has its first customer.

OriginOil, Inc. has announced that it is shipping a Quantum Fracturing™ System, the first unit in a multi-phase commercialization program, to Australian company MBD Energy Limited:

“This is a major milestone for OriginOil and represents our first revenue event,” said Riggs Eckelberry, CEO. “We are excited to support MBD Energy, a leader in the global race to help coal-fired power plants absorb their massive CO2 emissions using algae.”

In May, the parties agreed on a multi-phase commercialization program under which OriginOil will supply MBD Energy with its algae-to-oil technology platform in progressively larger installations. Subject to the success of the initial test phase, MBD will purchase significantly larger systems to serve its power station projects in Australia, beginning with a one-hectare pilot plant at Tarong Power Station in South Eastern Queensland, and expanding to full production sites at all three of MBD’s power station projects in Australia.

OriginOil’s Quantum Fracturing System will make nutrients, such as CO2, able to stay suspended in water longer, and that allows algae to feed more efficiently.

New ethanol blender pumps from Dresser Wayne and Gilbarco Veeder-Root have received final safety certification from Underwriters Laboratory, which will help fuel retailers meet increasing demand for renewable fuel by dispensing mid to high ethanol blends along with conventional gasoline, according to ethanol industry group Growth Energy.

“We want to simplify alternative fuel adoption so retailers can feel more confident about embracing this developing energy segment,” said Scott Negley, Dresser Wayne director of Alternative Energy Products. “With this approval, our entire eco fuel product portfolio is now UL certified. This helps our customers achieve and maintain regulatory compliance as they add eco fuels to their product offerings.”

Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis notes that final certification for this fuel dispensing equipment is an important step toward providing higher level blends of ethanol directly to consumers to help decrease our dependence on oil. “Every blender pump we install will help make our country more energy independent and more secure, all while giving consumers a choice at the pump that includes domestic, renewable ethanol,” said Buis.

The Dresser Wayne dual hose ethanol blender blends gasoline and ethanol in both dispenser hoses enabling it to offer low blends on one hose for conventional vehicles and mid- to high-level blends on the other hose for flexible fuel vehicles. UL has also extended certification to include Gilbarco Encore blenders with the flexible fuel option.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/business/energy-environment/26algae.html

Algae are attracting attention because the strains can potentially produce 10 or more times more fuel per acre than the corn used to make ethanol or the soybeans used to make biodiesel. Moreover, algae might be grown on arid land and brackish water, so that fuel production would not compete with food production. And algae are voracious consumers of carbon dioxide, potentially helping to keep some of this greenhouse gas from contributing to global warming.

Companies/organizations mentioned include:

• Sapphire Energy
• Colorado School of Mines
• University of North Dakota's Energy and Environmental Research Center
• Union of Concerned Scientists
• Synthetic Genomics
• Bioalgene
• Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
• Phycal

No mention of local company PetroAlgae.

2 Iowa School Districts win “Biodiesel Backer” grants

Photo from: http://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com/blog/2007/02/biodiesel-toys-galore-and-cool-ones.html

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association last week awarded $2,500 grants to each of two Iowa school districts through its Biodiesel Backer Award Program at the Iowa Pupil Transportation Association annual conference. The recipients of the grants are Odebolt-Arthur and Battle Creek-Ida Grove (OA-BCIG) School Districts and West Sioux Community School District. To be eligible for one of the Biodiesel Backer Awards, Iowa K-12 schools were required to educate their students and communities about biodiesel and incorporate biodiesel into their school programming. The winners were then selected based on a competitive application process.

"With another school year right around the corner, it's a great time to recognize OA-BCIG and West Sioux as Biodiesel Backer Award Winners," says IRFA biofuels manager Grant Menke. "These two northwest Iowa schools have unique and impressive programs that highlight the benefits of using biodiesel in Iowa. We thank them for their support of Iowa biodiesel, and we hope their leadership will inspire more and more school bus fleets to make the transition to biodiesel. Clean, renewable Iowa biodiesel is the best fuel choice for school bus fleets, and more importantly, the healthiest choice for students.  IRFA encourages all Iowa schools to learn the facts about biodiesel and to try it in their school buses."

I have said it many times, our society needs to know about biodiesel and that means we have to teach it in school. Luckily, it makes for a beautiful laboratory experience making your own biodiesel.

Arkansas biodiesel plants struggling to stay afloat

Photo from: http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2903#

LITTLE ROCK — When Pinnacle BioFuels opened in Crossett in 2008, renewable fuels and reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil were on everybody’s mind.

A year earlier, the Legislature had approved the Arkansas Alternative Fuels Development Program to help jump-start the industry in the state with incentive grants.

Several proposed biodiesel plants took advantage of the incentive grants and at the end of last year there were three fully operational plants in Arkansas.

Fast forward to the present. Just one biodiesel plant is still running in the state, FutureFuel Corp. in Batesville, which is operating at less than 20 percent of capacity.

Pinnacle BioFuels in Crossett and Dewitt Oil and Seed Enterprises, formerly Arkansas SoyEnergy Group, have temporarily shut down.

Nationally, biodiesel production is down more than 80 percent.

Industry officials blame the slow down in biodiesel production on the shaky economy and congressional inaction on reinstating a $1 federal tax credit for blending the fuel with standard diesel. The credit expired Jan. 1.

When Congress reinstates the tax credit, the industry will begin to improve, some officials say. Others are optimistic that biodiesel production is on the way back, with or without the tax credit, because of new federal mandates.

Biodiesel has something to do with feeling a sense of freedom from foreign oil, and here is a proud state that needs the jobs and money of local biodiesel production.

DOE will help Hawaii commercialize CO2-to-biodiesel project

Photo from: http://www.oilburners.com/pictures.htm

The U.S. Energy Department has announced six projects to find ways of converting captured carbon dioxide, or CO2, emissions from industrial sources into useful products such as fuel, plastics, cement and fertilizers.

One of the projects will be located in Hawaii.

The department said in a Washington news release that a $24 million grant has gone to Phycal LLC of Ohio. It will design, build and operate a CO2-to-algae-to-biofuels facility in Central Oahu.

Officials say Hawaiian Electric Co. will qualify the biocrude for boiler use, and Tesoro will supply CO2 and evaluate fuel products.

The biocrude can be blended with other fuels for power generation or processed into renewable replacement fuels such as jet fuel and biodiesel.

Farmers in Tennessee to test improved switchgrass as an ethanol feedstock

Tennessee farmers will compare 1,000 acres of improved switchgrass with 1,000 acres of standard crops

Researchers at the University of Tennessee have planted more than 1,000 acres of switchgrass to assess how improved varieties could lead to cheaper biofuels production.

The massive planting is part of a US Department of Energy project aiming to make biofuels production more efficient, sustainable and cost-effective.

The University of Tennessee Biofuels Initiative is working with California firm Ceres and Illinois-based Dupont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol (DDCE) on the project, comparing the improved varieties with a different 1,000 acres planted with a standard switchgrass variety called “Alamo”.

In particular, they are testing the improved Alamo variety EG 1101 and the improved Kanlow variety EG 1102, both sold under Ceres’ Blade Energy Crops brand.

The Genera Energy/DDCE demonstration-scale biorefinery in Vonore, Tennessee, will process the energy crops into cellulosic ethanol.

The project takes in various farms in nine east Tennessee counties, which form part of the Biofuels Initiative’s farmer incentive program, which now totals 6,000 acres of switchgrass.

The researchers believe the research and development in this project could have a “significant national impact” on biofuels production using cellulosic feedstocks, reducing the amount of land required to meet US renewable fuels targets.

Dr Sam Jackson, a University research leading the project team, said: “These are the largest acreages to be planted for growth comparisons on private farms in the nation. The size of the project is necessary to adequately test and demonstrate the supply chain with local farm producers.”

“Fine tuning”

Ceres sales director Frank Hardimon said the project would allow for progress in developing improved seed varieties as well as “fine tuning” the crops for the DDCE ethanol production process.

He said: “We expect to make the same type of leaps in crop performance that seed companies have made in traditional crops. We’re just scratching the surface of what’s possible.”

The US will need 16 billion gallons of cellulosic or advanced biofuels each year to meet the terms of the Renewable Fuels Standard by 2022.

The University of Tennessee Biofuels Initiative believes farmers in Tennessee could produce enough switchgrass by 2025 to produce more than a billion gallons of ethanol each year, using 1 million acres of land without displacing food and fiber crops.

New York City is trying to clean up the emissions from the city's burning of heating oil, and biodiesel is part of the plan for the Big Apple to go greener.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Quinn that they have agreed on legislation to cut allowable sulfur levels for No. 4 heating oil in half. This press release from the Environmental Defense Fund says this bill will also work with current state law that tries to cut the pollution levels from the 9,500 buildings in New York City, which burn the dirtiest of diesel fuel grades and put out more pollution than all cars and trucks on the city's streets combined:

“This landmark legislation shows that the mayor, the speaker and city council members care deeply about New Yorkers breathing cleaner air and living a healthier life,” said Andy Darrell, New York regional director and deputy director of Environmental Defense Fund's national energy program, and a member of New York Mayor Bloomberg's Sustainability Advisory Board…

This new law also require that all heating oil contains 2% biodiesel, resulting in about 20 million gallons of biodiesel replacing petroleum heating oil. EDF hopes that this law will help stimulate the local waste vegetable oil market and that more restaurants will have their cooking grease turned into biodiesel. From an environmental perspective, it's best to use the local restaurant grease right here in New York City, rather than shipping it to landfills or even worse, pouring it down the drain illegally, which does tremendous damage to sewage treatment plants.

A new technology may aid in the development of pipeline infrastructure to move ethanol. MidContinental Chemical Company, Inc. has announced a new fuel ethanol additive designed to combat stress corrosion cracking (SCC) a problem that is inherent in shipping ethanol through pipelines. Today more than 100,000 miles of pipelines snake across the U.S. and deliver petroleum products including gasoline, diesel fuel, and home oil but not ethanol.

The ethanol industry has been pushing for an ethanol pipeline – the driving factor being the ability to transport fuel via pipeline offers lower transportation costs. Yet, fuel ethanol transportation and storage do have their challenges one of which is SCC, the slow growth of cracks along a pipeline that are caused by mechanical stress and exposure to corrosive material. Ultimately, SCC can lead to pipe rupture.

According to company materials, MCC’s new product family consists of film formers combined with other functional additives. These products are clear, non-hazardous, mobile liquids, that provide protection from corrosion and do not harm the fuel product. Phil Korosec, Technical Director at MidContinental Chemical Company, Inc., explained, “Our bench testing using ASTM G129 and other extensive tests on fuel ethanol under pipeline-like conditions indicate that fissuring and cracking can actually be halted, keeping harmful components of fuel ethanol from compromising the integrity of pipelines, without harming the ethanol.”

As more and more ethanol enters the fuel supply, in part due to the demand created by the Renewable Fuels Standard, the ethanol industry is searching for ways to transport the fuel at lower costs. Everett Osgood, Product Manager for Fuel and Renewable Fuel Additives with MCC concluded, “It’s estimated that transporting fuel ethanol in existing pipelines instead of by truck or rail can reduce transportation costs by up to 90% in some areas. That’s an enormous savings.”