The Big Biofuels Blog

"In early August 2007, the industry was well on its way to overbuilding, much as the U.S. biodiesel industry already has," Tierney said.

The credit crisis and declining ethanol margins dried up financing for 11 billion gallons of "probable" projects, he said. 

It is an ill wind that blows no good.

Hattip to Ron Steenblik and his del.icio.us page

1. How is the syn crude made?
2.  Is it a biological process
1. If so is it bacteria driven/mould/enzyme driven or some other route (as much detail as possible please) What is the yield and the rate of the process?
2. Is it a chemical process. How is it catalysed (as much detail as possible please) what is the yield and the rate of the process ?
3. Refining the biocrude sounds very much like Fischer-Tropshe is that the case what kind of catalysts are you using. What is the yield and the rate. ?
4. How much gasoline can you generate from a tonne of straw?
5. What is the energy balance of the process. How does it compare with ethanol fermentation/crude processing.
6. What distance do you think that you'll need to take straw from to meet demand. At what distance is it uneconomical?
7. Does the process regenerate carbon that could be added to the soil to stop it becoming depleted.

I would really appreciate as much data on these points as you can manage by Monday afternoon (9 Feb 2009). Please let me know if this is going to be possible.

Best wishes

Japanese researchers say they have gone some way to overcomnig the difficulties in using ethanol as a fuel cell material.

Thanks to Hugh Baker

It isn't particularly fast, and there is no detail on the yeild, but Japanese researchers have developed an enzyme-based route to producing ethanol from shredded copy paper. There is no information about whether the ink on the paper makes any difference to the quality of the fuel.

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Thanks to Hugh Baker

It would only take 10% of the surface area of the state of New Mexico to meet the US energy needs if it were devoted to algae production according Val Kurtz, ceo Valcent Products, speaking in this video.

Thanks to Hugh Baker

ST1 has an animation about its plans for decentralised ethanol production integrated with the existing gasoline distribution network. Looks interesting.

Thanks to Hugh Baker

Plans to switch from gasoline to electricity or biofuels to increase energy security are effectively a strategic decision to switch dependence from foreign oil to domestic water. Attempts to alleviate some serious problems - such as energy security and climate change - can aggravate an even more serious problem, acute water shortages.

• The Department of Energy report to Congress on the interdependency of energy and water stated that energy production is very much at the mercy of water availability
• Utilities in the US recognize that water quantity is becoming a significant permitting issue - Maryland County denies cooling water to proposed power plants18
• Tennessee Valley Authority shut down one of three reactors at its Browns Ferry nuclear plant to avoid heating the Tennessee River to dangerous levels. Due to a drought that reduced the river level and hottest temperatures in 50 years, the plant could not discharge the cooling tower water since it would have crossed the permissible limit.

The gist is that...
Researchers at the Ghent, Belgium-based Flanders Institute of Biotechnology (VIB) have developed transgenic poplars deficient in the enzyme cinnamoyl-CoA reductase. This reduces the lignin content making them more suitable for bioethanol production, although so far their benefits have only been demonstrated in the lab.

A final decision from the Dutch government is due in spring 2009.