Biofuels Digest

Top Story:“Vinod you are still totally clueless” and “there will be pie in the sky by-and-by” were among comments hurled at billionaire investor Vinod Khosla in response to a second three-part series of articles posted at Grist. The second series focused on Biomass, including regulatory standards, “better agronomy for energy crops”, and “cellulosic ethanol yields”. […]

The U.S. Department of Energy will pull the plug on an $1.8 billion project to build a power plant that stores carbon emissions underground. The FutureGen project, which had aimed to build its first facility in Mattoon, Illinois, has been beset with delays and cost overruns.
FutureGen is a public-private partnership to design, build, and operate […]

In California, Green Star Products (GPSI) is expected to announce today that it will license technology from Biotech Research for a new, low-cost method for extracting algae oil and cellulose sugar from microscopic algae biomass.
The process replaces the mechanical dry-and-press process which has bedeviled algae oil economics, and continuously strips oil from algae as well […]

Gasoline prices are expected to spike higher than $3.50 per gallon as blenders move from winter to summer gas formulations amidst a shortage of the alkylate additive which has replaced ethanol as the summer oxygenate additive of choice for many blenders.
Prices in selected east coast markets could approach $4 per gallon as blenders scramble for […]

“Vinod you are still totally clueless” and “there will be pie in the sky by-and-by” were among comments hurled at billionaire investor Vinod Khosla in response to a second three-part series of articles posted at Grist.
The second series focused on Biomass, including regulatory standards , “better agronomy for energy crops” , and “cellulosic ethanol yields“.
Among […]

In Thailand, the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry is promoting sugarcane production for ethanol in a the cadmium-contaminated Mae Sot district of Tak, where food crops have been banned for health safety reasons. The Mae Sot Clean Energy plant, a joint venture between Padaeng Industry, Thai Oil and Petrogreen, will be completed in 2008 to produce […]

The Biofuels Digest Index™ (BDI) remained flat yesterday, rising 0.02 percent to 121.93 as slight increases at Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) and a bullish roar on Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) offset a biofuels investor retreat.
For the day, declines led advances 5 to 2, with Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) up 0.12 percent to $42.99, and Pacific Ethanol […]

In Thailand, Solvay will invest $184 million in a epichlorohydrin facility to produce feedstocks for epoxy resins. The plant will use Solvay’s Epicerol process, based on the transformation of glycerine, a biodiesel by-product. The plant is expected to be operation in 2009.

LiquidMaize is expecting to receive its air permit for the $24 million corn ethanol project slated to be built eight miles north of Pueblo. LiquidMaize has not yet applied for its water permit for the project, which received its building permits in November 2006.
The LiquidMaize project is just one of a series of projects underway […]

In Michigan, Kroger Stores debuted E85 at its Michigan locations, with an 85-cent-per-gallon E85 promotion that prompted lines of up to 20 minutes for low-cost gas at the Burton store.
Last August, Kroger, VeraSun Energy, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car announced the availability of VeraSun-branded VE85 ethanol at pumps in 20 Kroger locations in Ohio and Kentucky.
Enterprise Rent-A-car […]