Modern wildcatters see gushers of green - Researchers have high hopes that a tropical grass known as a "superweed" will one day replace crude oil 2007-06-11 04:00:00 PDT Monticello, Ill. -- The farmer, standing in a field of tall grass, talked like an oilman. The grass was waist-high as John Caveny held out a business card with his title printed in green: "Biomass Energy Wildcatter." He compared the potential energy productivity of the Corn Belt to that of East Texas more than 100 years ago. "I tell people this is the next Spindletop," he said, referring to the famed gusher near Beaumont that started the age of petroleum in 1901. That era is fading and a new energy age is beginning. According to Caveny's analysis, the new energy gold isn't black, it's green, and the new energy wildcatters aren't sitting on gushers, they're standing in them. Caveny demonstrated as he waded among rows of miscanthus, a tropical "superweed" so tough and prolific that it looks to him like a good bet to make mountains of cellulose -- and bundles of cash for farmers. Caveny is among the first to get involved. BP partnership raises no eyebrows in Illinois
Startup lands funding from Imperium to turn algae into biofuels A Tacoma startup by the name of Inventure Chemical has raised about $1.5 million to continue development on a chemical process that turns algae into biodiesel and ethanol. One of the biggest backers of the company is Imperium Renewables, the Seattle biodiesel producer that just opened a massive biodiesel plant in Grays Harbor County last week. And this isn’t the first time that Imperium — which has filed to raise up to $345 million through an IPO — has sprinkled investment dollars on new biofuel startups in the Pacific Northwest. It also recently provided a loan to Propel Biofuels, money that the Seattle company is using to set up biodiesel fueling stations in the state. Imperium has not been shy about experimenting with algae to create biodiesel, especially since its plans to use imported palm oil have been met with criticism from environmentalists. Chris Santella, a spokesman for Inventure, declined to name investors in the most recent round.
To go green in jet fuel, Boeing looks at algae Once reluctant to believe that alternative energy made any sense in jet airplanes, Boeing now ponders how to take the biofuels revolution off the ground. The world's largest airplane maker is working with fuel developers from around the world to find the holy grail of alternative fuels: one that will shrink jet flight's substantial environmental footprint without requiring an overhaul of the world's existing airplane fleet. "Two years ago, we were quite skeptical of this whole area, because we thought there were too many challenges," said Bill Glover, environmental-strategy director for Boeing's commercial plane division. "Then we started to see a few things we hadn't seen before, people entering the field looking at alternatives, all kinds of feedstock." Sometime next year, the company, in partnership with Virgin Atlantic and engine maker GE Aviation, plans to fly a biofuel-propelled 747. The perfect compound would help stave off global warming without compromising the industry's growth.
Plug and Play Algae Production for Biofuels? | Green Energy News September 2, 2007 – Vol.12 No. 24 Before the discussion of algae production begins, please put up with a little jabber. The US seems to be closing in on the bust end of another of its usual boom-bust economic cycles. (This time too many less-than-wealthy buyers were duped by greedy mortgagers into buying overpriced homes. The last boom-bust was what, overvalued dot-coms?) Anyway chin up, we’ll survive and the next boom could begin late in the current president’s term, and the next man or woman behind the desk in the Oval Office will get all the credit for the economic upturn. And the driving force behind the next boom (and bust) cycle? The technologies, the companies, the interest in the investment community are there, ready and willing to do it. It makes good economic sense: i.e. it will create jobs, many of which can’t be exported and many of which will pay well. It makes good foreign policy. The question many may have is which technologies will be the winners when the boom comes. Links:
Iowa State researcher studies the sustainability of the bioeconomy Public release date: 30-Aug-2007 [ Print | E-mail Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Robert Anexrpanex@iastate.edu 515-294-6576Iowa State University AMES, Iowa – This spring farmers responded to the ethanol industry’s demand for grain by increasing their corn acreage by 19 percent over last year, according to U.S. What if that happens again next year? What if farmers decide against crop rotations and plant corn on the same fields, year after year? Will soil lose fertility? Will the bioeconomy be sustainable? Robert Anex, an Iowa State associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering and associate director of Iowa State’s Office of Biorenewables Programs, is working to answer those and other questions about the transition to an agriculture that produces biomass as well as food and fiber. One answer is that American agriculture is likely to change. And that potential for nutrient recycling means there’s potential for a new kind of agriculture feeding a sustainable bioeconomy.
Biodiesel Magazine The 2007 Farm-to-Fuel Summit attracted more than 400 people to the Marriott Renaissance Vinoy Resort in St. Petersburg, Fla. In mid-July, St. Petersburg, Fla., was a bioenergy hotspot as the state ag department hosted the 2007 Farm-to-Fuel Summit, where legislators and renewable energy participants came together to build on growing biofuels momentum and fulfill the progressive energy vision cast by Florida Gov. Although the summit's focus was on the larger, more mature ethanol and biomass-to-power industries, a small biodiesel contingent talked about the challenges and opportunities facing existing and future biodiesel producers today. Fred Tennant, vice president of business development with Melbourne, Fla. Soybean pricing was also discussed since the increase in corn planting and decrease in soybean acres helped to push soybean oil prices up to 37.5 cents per pound in mid-July.
Icky water could make fine fuel, Sandia Labs scientists say : Local : Albuquerque Tribune More Local *Note: The Tribune does not create and is not responsible for the blogosphere's headlines and stories. These links to blogs talking about ABQTrib.com are automatically generated. Use them at your own risk. An answer to the nation's energy woes could be hiding in southern New Mexico's brackish water. What's been a negative for many years could actually lead to an abundance of biofuels like ethanol - created by the algae that thrive in the state's bad water, said Tom Hunter, director of Sandia National Laboratories. "Our first step for biofuels is to become nationally less reliant on oil imports from the Middle East," Hunter said. Hunter and other Sandia officials discussed the labs' foray into biofuels - gas and oil substitutes created from corn, plants and algae. Recently, Sandia became part of a national biotechnology center called the Joint BioEnergy Institute, led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. America uses about 140 billion gallons of gasoline each year.
Better Than Corn? Algae Set to Beat Out Other Biofuel Feedstocks One acre of algae can produce enough oil to make 5,000 gallons of biodiesel in a year.Photo by Roth Washburn via Flickr Forget corn, sugar cane, and even switchgrass. Some experts believe that algae is set to eclipse all other biofuel feedstocks as the cheapest, easiest, and most environmentally friendly way to produce liquid fuel, reports Kiplinger’s Biofuels Market Alert. “It is easy to get excited about algae,” says Worldwatch Institute biofuels expert Raya Widenoja. “It looks like such a promising fuel source, especially if it’s combined with advances in biodiesel processing.” The inputs for algae are simple: the single-celled organisms only need sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to grow. “Your bang for your buck is just bigger because you can really do this on a much smaller amount of land and yet yield much, much higher biomass,” said Michael S. But creating an optimal environment for algae can be difficult—and costly.
ALGAE MAKES BIOFUEL At the recent solar energy conference, a highly placed representative of a major eastern utility spoke very favorably, off the record, about the potential of this technology. It may offer an alternative much superior to food crop biofuels OR cellulosic biofuels. Algal hydrocarbons can be utilized in almost the same way as fossil fuel hydrocarbons and would, therefore, provide high octane fuels and chemical feedstocks as well as basic transportation fuel. International Energy Developing New Technologies For The Production of Biofuels From AlgaeOctober 4, 2007 (Oil and Gas Online) WHOInternational Energy, Inc. Schematic: The basic idea. WHATInternational Energy will further research on the development of biofuels from the photosynthesis of water and carbon dioxide by algae. WHENResearch programs at NREL and in Japan during the 1980s and 1990s thoroughly proved the feasibility of the process but were discontinued because when oil prices were low it was not competitive.
Future Energy Investor: A View to the Future: Algae-Based Biodiesel? Photo: Valcent Products Inc algae culture system. The bleeding edge of biofuels development has to include development of algae based biodiesel. Today, there are a number of companies, both publicly listed and privately held that are following in the footsteps of an early U.S. government alternative fuels program. This week the Houston Chronicle profiled two Vancouver based companies that are developing technology for algae-based bio diesel (see Could West Texas algae curb oil dependence? Algae BioFuels, a wholly-owned subsidiary ofthe oil field services company Petro-Sun (OTC/PK: PSUD) and Solix Biofuels, a privately held company, are in the process of developing similar technologies. Privately held GreenFuel Technologies Corporation (highlighted in the National Geographic article referred to in my last post) is taking algae based systems one step further, using the algae cultures for scrubbing power plant emissions.
Algae, the Next Great Biofuel - Vertigro Energy : The Alternative Consumer The following post comes to us from guest blogger, Lori Guner, of San Diego. Vertigro Energy, a joint venture of ecotechnology companies, Valcent Products Inc. and Global Green Solutions, has begun producing algae as a potentially revolutionary source of biofuel. Valcent’s High Density Vertical Growth system maximizes algae growth in a closed loop, vertical system. The production of the algae only requires light, water, and air. In addition to biofuel, the oil derived from the algae can also be used in foods, feed stocks, pharmaceutical supplies, and beauty products. the process burns no fossil fuelexponentially less acreage is used in production than traditional biofuel crops like soy, palm oil and corndoesn’t require arable land or compete with food crop growthrequires limited supplies of water (closed loop system)high yieldmuch lower cost than traditionaly biomass cropsno pollution from fertilizers or pesticides Get more info @ www.valcent.net, and be sure to click on the video.
Global Green Solutions Inc. - Home Page - Thu Oct 18, 2007 Global Green Solutions Inc. (GGRN) , with operations in North America and Europe, develops and implements ecotechnology solutions for biomass-derived renewable energy generation. GGRN is currently developing Greensteam; a commercial-stage, high-efficiency combustion system that generates industrial steam and electrical power from waste biomass. GGRN is strategically well-positioned in today's market due to the strong and immediate need for renewable energy solutions that are economical and sustainable. GGRN's ecotechnology solutions directly address: Greenhouse gas emissions reduction.