Through a Freedom of Information request, Reuters obtained and reported in April on a European study "that claimed biodiesel from North American soybeans has an indirect carbon footprint of 339.9 kilograms of CO2 per gigajoule-four times higher than standard diesel-an annex that was controversially stripped from a report published in December," Reuters stated. 
 
 The European study focused on a number of other issues besides biodiesel, including the common agriculture policy, the EU emissions trading scheme and more. 
 
 A representative of the European Biodiesel Board told Biodiesel Magazine that the report quantifies the effects on greenhouse gas emissions of selected EU climate change policies and measures, and "does not cover our main biofuels legislation, Directive 2009/28/EC adopted last year, but merely our old biofuels directive." 
 
 The EBB representative added, "We understand that in assessing this older biofuels legislation, the consultants tried to evaluate potential indirect land use change (ILUC) impacts. Since no data or methodology was available, this was done in a very simplistic way, using a risk factor approach. In other words, if the risk factor is assumed to be 25 percent, the ILUC impact is X, and if the risk factor is 75 percent, the ILUC impact is Y. This 'risk factor' methodology explained why the consultants ended up with such incredibly high emission factors for biodiesel. Ultimately, it was considered as completely arbitrary and removed from the final study. Overall, this exercise has nothing to do with the current modeling exercise on ILUC conducted by the European Commission." 
 

 A representative with the German oilseed promotion council (UFOP) told Biodiesel Magazine that in this study, ILUC has been taken into account although there is no accepted method, even among scientists. "The ILUC factor of the Ecoinstitute in Germany, which is used in this study, is not correct," the source said. "This is because it does not take into account the replacements effects within a region. For example, although about 3 to 4 million hectares within the EU are used for rape methyl ester production, we have a tremendous overshoot of cereals. The methodology approach of the Ecoinstitute leads to the situation that ILUC in Indonesia is lower than in the EU." 
 
 The UFOP source went on to say, "The experience of the institutes involved in this study is also questionable-especially the German Fraunhofer Institute. I could not find any corresponding references on the Web site of this Institute." 
 
 One of the key sentences in the study is that biodiesel from European rapeseed has an indirect carbon footprint of 150.3 kg of CO2 per gigajoule. "In the EU's Renewable Energy Directive, the dimension is: gCO2/MJ," the source said. "But kg and gigajoule sounds worse."
 
 In response to this study and its purported findings, Don Scott, director of sustainability with the National Biodiesel Board, said, "Sustainability is a priority for our industry. The EPA process to conclusively establish GHG emission from soy biodiesel is the largest effort in history to quantify the benefit of biodiesel in a comprehensive way. This was also an open process with public stakeholder and expert involvement. It affirmed biodiesel's benefit over petroleum, including soy biodiesel. The European estimates were biased to European products, and did not follow proper life-cycle analysis for U.S. products."

European Report on Biodiesel GHG Emissions is Flawed

During his Iowa visit on April 27, President Barack Obama heard firsthand of the urgency to reinstate the biodiesel tax credit from Brad Albin, vice president at Renewable Energy Group Inc. and secretary of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association. Following Obama's speech and town hall session at Indian Hills Community College, Albin grabbed the president's attention. 
 
 During a 90-second exchange, Albin shared the message of the biodiesel industry's state of disruption and uncertainty resulting from the lapse of the federal biodiesel blender tax credit since Jan. 1.
 

 "I shook his hand and told him that we're losing jobs as we stand here, which seemed to get his attention," explained Albin, who had been sitting in the second row. "I told him about plants idling and that more than 90 percent of manufacturing staff at U.S. biodiesel plants have been laid off as a result of the tax credit lapse." 
 
 "We're going to die without this tax credit," Albin told the President, who then responded, "We won't let you die … I'm on your side, but I've got a Congress to deal with."

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Obama: 'We won't let you die'

Navistar International Corp. reached an agreement May 3 with the U.S. EPA in which EPA promised to hold a public workshop or hearing to address issues Navistar raised in its federal court appeal of EPA's certification policies for SCR-equipped diesel-powered trucks. Navistar had asked the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington to void those policies because they had been adopted by the EPA without the public process required by law, but instead following input only from the SCR engine makers. 
 
 In its appeal, Navistar charged that EPA is using those policies to allow SCR-equipped diesel-powered trucks to operate for extended periods without any control of NOx emissions and is certifying SCR engines as meeting NOx emission requirements when they do not. 
 
 The agreement reached yesterday provides that EPA will "engage in a public process to reexamine its policies, for future 2011 and later model year engines," during which it will "provide a thorough review of EPA's policies regarding operation of SCR-equipped engines." The agreement must be published by EPA in the Federal Register for comment before it can become final.

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Navistar resolves lawsuit against US EPA

SGS North America Inc. is offering its services to biofuels producers in meeting new U.S. EPA registration requirements mandated by RFS2. Multiple steps are involved in the registration process, including electronic application submission, EPA processing, approval, and finally verification by a licensed professional chemical engineer in the state in which the biofuel plant is located. To finalize the registration process, an independent third party company must be retained to provide written verification of key elements of the electronic application, including types of feedstocks used, a description of production processes, coproducts produced, process energy fuel types and locations of origin, and baseline volumes as specified in EPA-issued air permits. The company will provide an on-site visit, a review of critical documents and a written report and cover letter verifying the information provided in the electronic registration. With less than two months before the deadline, ethanol and biodiesel producers are under considerable pressure to complete this important requirement.

Biodiesel plant registration service offered

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced May 4 that the USDA is planning to accept applications for the Biorefinery Assistance Program, the Repowering Assistance Program and the Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels. Details on how to apply were to be released in early May in the Federal Register. 
 
 The Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels works to support and ensure expanding production of advanced biofuels by providing payments to eligible advanced biofuels producers. Advanced biofuels are derived from renewable biomass, other than corn kernel starch. These include cellulose, sugar and starch, crop residue, vegetative waste material, animal waste, food and yard waste, vegetable oil, animal fat, and biogas (including landfill gas and sewage waste treatment gas). The advanced biofuels program is an important part of achieving the Obama administration's goal to increase biofuels production and use. 
 
 USDA's Biorefinery Assistance Program provides guaranteed loans to develop and construct commercial-scale biorefineries or to retrofit existing facilities using eligible technology for the development of advanced biofuels. The amount of a loan guaranteed for a project under this program cannot exceed 80 percent of total eligible project costs. 
 
 The Repowering Assistance Program is designed to encourage the use of renewable biomass as a replacement fuel source for fossil fuels that are used to provide process heat or power in the operation of eligible biorefineries (those in existence on June 18, 2008, the date the 2008 Farm Bill was enacted).

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Details to come on advanced biofuel funds

LL Bio-fuels Namibia, a foreign-initiated multi-billion-dollar venture, has secured 300,000 hectares of land from chiefs in the northeastern Caprivi Region to plant jatropha for biodiesel production. LL Bio-fuels signed a 20-year lease agreement with the co-owners of Katima Farm-the Caprivi Regional Council and Namibia Development Corp.-to enable the firm to undertake various crop experiments aimed at maximum oil output. LL Bio-fuels plans to produce the first barrels of the green fuel next year.

Namibia to produce jatropha biodiesel

The CEO of Chico, Calif.-based Springboard Biodiesel, Mark Roberts, was honored recently with the Innovator of the Year Award by the Chico Chamber of Commerce during a local annual awards ceremony held at the Chico Fairgrounds. 
 
 Roberts was honored with the award for his work in promoting small- to mid-scale biodiesel production both locally and nationally. Springboard Biodiesel manufactures and sells small-scale, fully automated biodiesel processors, trademarked The BioPro line, that are used widely by businesses, universities, farmers and other groups who want to save money on their fuel costs while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 
 
 The company is preparing to release a fully integrated, multifeedstock processing system this summer that will allow its operators to make ASTM-grade biodiesel from the lowest-cost feedstock available. The system is called the ILP, which stands for Intelligent Local Production. Springboard Biodiesel anticipates its release will help to further promote local, affordable biodiesel production and usage.

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Springboard Biodiesel CEO wins award

The U.S. EPA supports a significant expansion of renewable fuels including corn ethanol and soy biodiesel. Corn ethanol is the most popular renewable motor vehicle fuel in the U.S., and soy biodiesel is the second most popular U.S. renewable fuel.

 
 EPA's national renewable fuel standard (RFS2) program is designed to significantly increase the volume of renewable fuels in both highway and nonroad gasoline and diesel vehicles. RFS2 will triple biofuels production from last year's 11 billion gallons to 36 billion gallons in 2022. 
 
 RFS2 will also reduce America's dependence on oil by more than 328 million barrels a year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions more than 138 million metric tons a year when fully phased in by 2022. The reductions would be equivalent to taking about 27 million vehicles off the road.
 
 RFS2 should decrease oil imports by $41.5 billion and boost energy security benefits by $2.6 billion. By 2022, increased use of renewable fuels should cut gasoline costs by 2.4 cents per gallon and diesel costs by 12.1 cents per gallon.
 
 RFS2 will create new markets for agricultural products, growing jobs in areas of the country hit hard by the economic downturn and increase farmers' incomes. EPA's RFS2 program will increase net farm income by $13 billion dollars in 2022. 
 
 EPA has partnered in the Biofuels Working Group with the USDA and the U.S. DOE to accelerate production of American biofuels and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.
 
 The Working Group's first report, "Growing America's Fuel-A New U.S. Government Strategy for Meeting or Beating the Country's Biofuel Targets," mixes short-term government support for the existing biofuels industry with the commercial establishment of advanced biofuels. Together, EPA's federal partners will build a viable long-term market by transforming how the U.S. government does business across departments and using strategic public-private partnerships. To read the full report: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/rss_viewer/growing_americas_fuels.PDF
 
 President Obama's administration initiated these steps to boost biofuels. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and I are committed to advancing biofuel production. Both the White House and EPA realize the potential to rebuild and revitalize rural communities.
 
 EPA is pleased to be a part of the president's efforts to combat climate change and put Americans back to work-both through the new renewable fuel standards and through our co-chairmanship of the Biofuels Working Group.
 Advanced biofuels is a field that is emerging rapidly and EPA is committed to continuing its transparent, science-based approach to bring more renewable fuels to market while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

 
 We appreciate the hard work of our nation's farmers and ideas that support our goals for a clean environment and greater energy security.
 
 More information on the RFS2 program is available at <a href="http://www.epa.gov/otaq/fuels/renewablefuels/index.htm">http://www.epa.gov/otaq/fuels/renewablefuels/index.htm</a>

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US EPA supports expansion  of biodiesel, ethanol production

Brookhaven National Laboratory is beginning work on evaluating the combustion properties of jatropha oil. The Upton, N.Y.-based lab selected SG Biofuels to supply seeds and oil from its Latin American jatropha plantations. 
 
 C.R. Krishna, Brookhaven's lead biodiesel researcher, told Biodiesel Magazine how Brookhaven came to choose a jatropha oil supplier for this new study. 
 
 Krishna said when Brookhaven first decided to test jatropha oil, researchers had difficulty obtaining samples. "I couldn't get one," he said. "If you look on the Web, there are all kinds of companies and people that want to sell you jatropha-some in India, some in Thailand-of course some of them wanted me to wire money to them first," he laughed. "Finally I got word of SG Biofuels, they are an American company, and we started talking." 
 
 Brookhaven has studied combustion and emissions properties of biodiesel-blended heating oil for years, and it will now use the same commercial boiler it used for previous studies to test residual fuel oil blended with jatropha oil in varying blends. 
 "I suggested Bioheat 15 years ago but no one wanted to listen," Krishna said. "If we're looking at biodiesel, we should also be looking at the base oils-it's cheaper." 
 
 Residential oilheat furnaces are not set up to burn blends of straight plant oils because the atomizers have trouble with the higher viscosity of such oils, but Krishna said commercial boilers do not have the same issues and can handle the thicker fuel. 
 Funding for this jatropha study is coming from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. 
 

 Kirk Haney, president and CEO of SG Biofuels, said, "As we continue our scientific and genetic efforts to enhance jatropha across a number of traits, including yield, climate tolerance and improved agronomic inputs, it's important that we continue to benchmark oil quality and performance. This partnership will provide valuable third-party research and analysis as we continue our efforts to develop elite cultivars of jatropha." 
 
 Krishna said he has already received an initial sample of jatropha oil at the lab, which was subsequently tested in a small preliminary experiment. He was expecting to receive drum-sized quantities of jatropha oil from SG Biofuels in early May. Krishna said he likely will be testing blends of jatropha oil at 10 and 30 percent, as well as 100 percent if enough jatropha oil remains toward completion of the study.

Brookhaven National Laboratory's lead biodiesel researcher, C.R. Krishna, is beginning to characterize the combustion and emission properties of jatropha oil in commercial boiler applications. PHOTO: BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY

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Brookhaven studying  jatropha oil combustion properties

Italian judicial authorities confirmed the seizure of a large quantity of biodiesel illegally imported in Venice on March 31. On April 20, the provisional seizure of the cargo was extended as a definitive one by an Italian judge, according to the European Biodiesel Board. The EBB welcomed the decision, stating that the measure "legally confirms the fraudulent nature of a number of existing illegal traffics of biodiesel, directly or indirectly imported from the U.S." 
 
 The official customs inquiry is set to be conducted throughout the EU, and will include the review of past imports of biodiesel, paving the way for definitive penal sentences, the EBB stated.
 
 On March 31, Italian customs authorities seized a large quantity of biodiesel in the port of Venice out of an import of 10,000 metric tons (about 3 million gallons) of biodiesel entered in the ports of Venice and Trieste. The product was declared as Canadian origin, but the EBB stated that "strong evidences" indicate that the shipment instead originated from the U.S., where it benefited from the $1 per gallon federal blender tax credit. 
 
 On April 21, the Venice daily newspaper La Nuova di Venezia reported that witnesses came from Canada in order to provide evidence that the 10,000 tons of biodiesel confiscated was manufactured and purchased in Canada, not in the U.S. as the European authorities and the EBB are claiming. 
 
 According to La Nuova di Venezia, the shipment was intended to be received by Bussinello Prodotti Petroliferi (Bussinello Oil Products). After the seizure Bussinello's attorneys appealed the move by trying to prove the ship was loaded between Feb. 20 and Feb. 23 in the Canadian port of Quebec by using testimonies from the cargo inspector who performed the operation in Canada, and a Canadian photographer who took photos of the vessel while in the Quebec port. But according to the charge held by public prosecutor Federico Bressan, the satellite track indicated that the vessel touched more than a call in the U.S., but not the Canadian stop indicated in the documentation accompanying the shipment. 
 
 The Venice-based newspaper goes on to say that on April 20, lawyers brought records of the Canadian witnesses in front of the Court, along with the photo taken in the port of Quebec and the customs documentation. This however was not enough for the Court of Venice chaired by Giovanni Maria Pietrogrande, which rejected the appeal forwarded by lawyers of Andrea Bussinello, investigated for customs evasion.
 
 The confiscated biodiesel was namely offered with a $150 to $180/ton (a 50-cent to 60-cent per gallon) discount compared to EU biodiesel of comparable quality, and at a lower price than the most common biodiesel raw materials such as soybean and rapeseed oils. 
 
 "A number of material evidences converge to indicate that the cargo is part of wider trans-shipment traffic aimed at evading existing EU antidumping and anti-subsidy measures on U.S. biodiesel," the EBB stated. Customs duties can be claimed back and collected with a retroactive effect of 3 years and, if infractions are established, are then to be paid within a few days.

 
 When Biodiesel Magazine asked the EBB to reveal the evidence on which these claims of customs evasion are being based, project manager Amandine Lacourt said, "As we indicate in the release, one of the main indications is that the product was offered with a substantial discount. Obviously, you cannot achieve this via better performing industry practice, but only thanks to the subsidy available in the U.S., which for B99.9 amounts to no less than $300 a ton." 
 
 While it is entirely possible that U.S. biodiesel subsidized with the now-expired federal blender credit stayed in the distribution chain from late December when the U.S. credit expired to late March, when the shipment was seized, the EBB made no public acknowledgement of the tax credit situation in the U.S. in its press releases on this issue of fraudulent imports. When Biodiesel Magazine asked Lacourt about this, she said, "On Dec. 9, the U.S. House already extended the credit until the end of 2010. Now the Senate has to adopt a similar measure but many players are already betting on a retroactive extension of the tax credit back to Jan. 1, 2010." While this is true, the retroactive nature of the credit-assuming the House and Senate versions are reconciled and it becomes law with such a provision-will only apply to biodiesel that has been sold and blended into the marketplace, and will not account for the tremendous amount of lost business that would have taken place if the credit were still in effect. 
 
 "Market players need to be aware that fraudulent practices will not remain unpunished and that EBB will do its utmost in assisting EU and national authorities to track and oppose these practices," said EBB president Bernard Nicol. "Retroactive financial penalties as well as penal terms will be involved." 
 In July 2009, following a complaint lodged by the EBB and an investigation conducted by the European Commission services, robust anti-dumping and countervailing duties were imposed on imports of biodiesel from the U.S. The EBB stated that, despite this, circumvention practices started emerging soon thereafter. "U.S. subsidized and dumped biodiesel continues to enter the EU market, either in blends lower than 20 percent, such as B19, or, like in this case [of biodiesel confiscated in Venice], when it is exported via third countries to artificially conceal its origin, including by using false certificates of origin," the organization stated. "All of these practices are of illegal or fraudulent nature. Recently, the EBB has taken strong steps towards the European Anti-Fraud Office, the EC Commission DG Trade and EU national customs, in order to put an end to these unacceptable traffics which may represent a global fraud of more than Euros 100 million ($128.89 million) of unpaid import duties to EU customs."

Europe claims US is guilty of biodiesel customs evasion

Wilks Enterprise Inc. announced that its InfraSpec VFA-IR Spectrometer, which has been marketed as a fast, easy way for nontechnical personnel to validate biodiesel blends, can also detect methyl ester content in fuel down to 0.05 percent, or 500 parts per million (ppm). 
 
 The company stated that this new application for the InfraSpec VFA-IR is important for nuclear power plants and some pipeline operators to ensure no biodiesel is present in their systems.
 
 "For nuclear power plants, fuel can be stored for as long as 10 years to power their standby diesel generators in case of an electrical power shut down," Wilks Enterprise stated. "Emergency diesel generators supply electrical power to safely shutdown the nuclear reactor in the event of a loss of normal off-site power and supply power to critical items such as cooling pumps for decay heat removal. Biodiesel is a natural food source for microbial growth and while biocides should prevent the growth of bacteria, fungi and mold, nuclear power plants cannot risk that microbial growth could clog filters and shut down the [generators]. In cold weather areas, there is also concern that the cold flow properties of biodiesel blended fuel may cause it to gel in cold temperatures and again clog filters. Therefore, it has become necessary for many standby generator operators to determine whether their fuel delivery contains biodiesel." 
 
 While Wilks Enterprise is marketing its InfraSpec VFA-IR Spectrometer for pipeline operators to ensure there is no trace biodiesel in certain fuel shipments, the airline industry will only allow up to 5 ppm-100 times less than what the InfraSpec VFA-IR Spectrometer can detect-in jet fuel. This, of course, has been a major roadblock in widespread pipeline distribution of biodiesel, and there is a move to approve up to 100 ppm biodiesel in jet fuel. Even so, there is still the need for more sensitive detection methods at reasonable prices. 
 
 Sandy Rintoul with Wilks Enterprise told Biodiesel Magazine that the company is conducting tests now to figure out precisely what the margin of error is for the InfraSpec VFA-IR Spectrometer when detecting down to 500 ppm.
 
 When asked what analytical technology might be capable of detecting down to 5 ppm, Rintoul said she doubts infrared technology could detect such minute traces of biodiesel. "That is such a low level, it's next to nothing," she said. "GC (gas chromatography) wouldn't really even be able to get to those levels-and if it could, at what price would it be?"

 
 Algae characterization Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. recently announced that its FT-IR sampling solutions are designed to provide a cost-effective approach to characterizing the chemical composition of biological systems, such as lipids in algae. 
 Thermo Scientific FT-IR-based automated sampling techniques, originally created for pharmaceutical high-throughput screening systems, can be applied effectively to the analysis of algae. The easy-to-use solutions combine instrumentation, accessories and software to greatly increase the number of biological samples that can be analyzed with automated spectroscopy. 
 
 Industry professionals can choose from among four different configurations capitalizing on ATR, transmission and reflectance spectroscopy, and infrared microscopy, to suit varying analytical requirements and sample preparation methods. 
 Researchers have emphasized the need to increase the amount of lipid produced by algae. To achieve this, a technique is required that can efficiently characterize the chemical composition of algae. 
 
 FT-IR has been used extensively to characterize the chemical composition of biological samples including bacteria, single cells and tissues. 
 
 Recently, FT-IR has been documented as a viable method for determining the protein, carbohydrate and lipid content in biomass from algae. Sample preparation is a key step of the process in order to increase the number of samples that can be analyzed and obtain reproducible results. 
 
 Thermo Scientific offers a complete range of FT-IR sampling techniques, forming a basis for developing rapid screening methods to determine the lipid content of microbiological species intended for biofuels. 
 
 A selection of Thermo Scientific infrared sampling techniques can be used to characterize the chemical composition of algae. A combination of the Thermo Scientific Nicolet iS10 FT-IR spectrometer configured with a Smart iTR diamond accessory or Smart OMNI-transmission accessory can be used to obtain spectra from dried algae. 
 
 The Thermo Scientific Nicolet 6700 FT-IR system, equipped with an automated well plate reader and the Thermo Scientific OMNIC Array Automation software analyzes multiple samples in reflectance studies in a simple and low-cost manner. 

 
 Finally, reliable infrared microscope transmission data can be obtained using the Thermo Scientific Nicolet 6700 and a trademarked Continuum infrared microscope configured with an automated X,Y stage.

Analytics: detecting trace FAME and characterizing algae with infrared

"No matter what happens, do not stop playing. You set the pace, you win the game." 
 
 That was my coach's pep talk as we faced a team slated to crush us to smithereens. They were better than we were, much, much better, but coach would not be deterred. She insisted that no matter how off balance the scorecard, giving in was not an option. 
 
 That was soccer, but the lesson was hard and fast. When you take on something bigger than you are, the most important part of the fight is to keep playing with all you've got. We won most of our games that season, not because we had the most talent in the league, but because we had the most will. We didn't quit, and we set the pace. 
 
 Since I joined the biodiesel family 18 months ago, the industry has faced obstacles that would have leveled a lesser competitor at first glance. The economic and credit crunch, feedstock prices, the RFS2 delay and the uphill battle to secure biodiesel's place in it, the EU tariff, the tax incentive ... a seemingly endless stream of fierce challenges have revealed an industry with a resolve that will not break, and the spirit to conquer repeated challenges. 

 
 The RFS2 rulemaking process showcased the industry's strength in a tough match. From NBB headquarters in Jefferson City, Mo., we coordinated a grassroots playbook that generated more than 8,000 comments to the U.S. EPA cheering for biodiesel. Our team positioned the needed expertise and research to counter inaccurate life-cycle analysis and other mislaid conclusions, and drafted an impenetrable fact-based defense. As a result, the rule was revised and biodiesel officially earned the title of the first domestically produced commercially available advanced biofuel. 
 
 Now we're at it again. This time the challenge is moving critical biodiesel legislation through Congress and on to the President's desk. Again we have activated our key strategies and brought in the big scorers to win the game. NBB's grassroots program has been on high power since last fall. The initiative empowers biodiesel industry leaders and supporters to make an impact. It is built around team captains carrying out targeted objectives in their states. For longer than nine months team captains have rallied contacts in key states to support the push to extend the biodiesel tax credit. Program accomplishments from the first wave of grassroots action include more than 125 earned media placements, many in national and top 100 markets, successful site visits, one-on-one conversations with President Barack Obama and an untold number of calls and communications to elected leaders. 
 
 In April, NBB launched Fueling Action, a massive expansion of this already successful grassroots initiative. All members of the NBB staff redirected their efforts to engage NBB's members and unleash the industry's most dramatic grassroots efforts to date. The expansion built on the strength of the biodiesel industry-its members. Within seven days of the campaign's kickoff, as many as 500 letters were on their way to the Capitol, hundreds of calls had hit the lines in the halls of Congress and NBB members were off the benches pushing for their industry. 
 My coach would surely be proud of that demonstrated ability to set the pace but I can hear from the sidelines now, "Keep playing!" It's been a long year, a long two years, but the game's still on. The industry has faced tough competitor after tough competitor but the brackets are not yet empty, the season not yet complete. With the long line of tough challengers we've already faced, and the tireless effort already invested, every voice remains absolutely critical in this effort. By definition, grassroots action relies on individual voices joining together to make an impact. The surest way to achieve success in the industry's long-term goals is to keep it up. It is imperative that we build on the progress we have already made and stay in the game. 
 
 My team left that year with a winning season. We finished what we started and let sheer will (and a ton of extra conditioning runs) drive the way. I am confident that the biodiesel industry will surely boast a winning record. Not only does the fuel we all champion offer the benefits it promises and that our nation needs, but also the resolve and power of the people standing behind America's first commercial-scale advanced biofuel are unstoppable.

Jessica Robinson communications director and grassroots outreach coordinator, NBB 

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In It to Win It

On April 27, the NBB filed a Petition for Reconsideration with the U.S. EPA formally asking the agency to reverse its initial position that allows an unlimited number of unused 2008 biodiesel renewable identification number (RIN) credits generated under RFS1 to be used to meet the combined 2009-'10 biomass-based diesel volume obligation provided for under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 and EPA's final RFS2 regulations.
 
 On March 5, the NBB sent a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson outlining the industry's position that the use of 2008 biodiesel RINs to meet the combined 2009-'10 biomass-based diesel volume requirement should be limited to 20 percent of the 500 million gallon volume requirement provided for by statute. NBB's position, expressed in comments submitted to EPA, is that the carry-forward of unused RINs should not be permitted. The 20 percent carry-forward is the amount allowed under both RFS1 and RFS2 regulations.
 
 On March 12, EPA posted a question and answer (Q&A) document that allows an unlimited number of 2008 biodiesel RINs to be carried forward to comply with the combined 2009-'10 RFS2 biomass-based diesel requirement. This interpretation is inconsistent with statute and runs contrary to the intent of Congress to provide specific annual volume requirements for biomass-based diesel. The Petition for Reconsideration filed by the NBB on April 27 formally seeks a reversal of the EPA's incorrect position on this specific issue. 
 
 NBB's March 5 letter to EPA Administrator Jackson; the EPA's March 12 Q&A document; and the NBB's April 27 Petition for Reconsideration can be viewed in their entirety on the Members Only section of the NBB Web site.

NBB asks US EPA to reconsider RFS2 rule regarding 2008 RINs

It happens every spring. Some poor soul misses the weather report and ends up in a hot sweater on a warm, sunny day or in shorts on a frigid day. The NBB understands that reliable, accurate and timely information is critical to more than just comfort.

 
 The most recent NBB member survey showed that e-mail is among the most popular forms of communications. In fact, more than 97 percent of respondents said receiving e-mail works for them. Other popular forms of communication include Webinars (53 percent) and teleconferences (41 percent). 
 
 To make it easy for NBB members to access the information they need, NBB emphasizes the most popular tools in communications. Members receive daily e-mails that capture commodity and rack prices as well as the day's top headlines in federal and industry affairs. The Member Minute is e-mailed each Tuesday and features a short update from each of NBB's core and strategic programs. The weekly Member Minute is the one-stop-shop e-mail, summarizing the latest trade association news and previewing what's to come. Once a month, NBB members have the option to participate in a government affairs update call. The regularly scheduled calls provide an inside look at what's happening in Washington and statehouses around the country. 
 
 According to the survey, the majority of NBB members agree these are useful tools. NBB also maintains the Members Only Web site, which includes industry information designed for members' eyes only. The site features the most current government affairs documents, governing board action and other valuable tools. Please contact our office if you have questions about member services or how to access these communications and updates.

Top tier communications help NBB members stay in the know

At the direction of the member-elected governing board, the NBB filed a motion to intervene in pending legislation related to RFS2. 
 
 On March 29, the American Petroleum Institute and the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association filed lawsuits in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit regarding RFS2.
 
 NBB issued the following statement from CEO Joe Jobe regarding the biodiesel industry's decision to intervene in the litigation on behalf of the U.S. EPA and in defense of renewable goals required by law:
 
 "Congress explicitly established minimum volume requirements starting in 2009 for biomass-based diesel when it expanded the renewable fuels standard in the 2007 energy bill. The final RFS2 rule must ensure the volume requirements mandated each year by Congress are implemented consistent with an energy policy that values the displacement of petroleum diesel fuel with low-carbon, renewable fuels like biodiesel. 
 
 "The API and NPRA lawsuits lack merit. The petroleum industry has long been on notice of the statute's volume mandates and their obligations under the program. The lawsuits ask the Court to ignore these statutory requirements, undermining the renewable goals established by Congress, in an apparent effort to further delay, stymie, and frustrate implementation of sensible public policy that displaces foreign oil with clean-burning, domestically produced biodiesel. I am optimistic that the courts will disregard this frivolous effort to stall implementation of RFS2.
 
 "As the legal process moves forward, the NBB will vigorously defend both the interests of the U.S. biodiesel industry and the common sense premise that displacing petroleum with advanced biofuels like biodiesel is in the nation's best interests."

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NBB files motion to intervene in API and NPRA RFS2 lawsuits

The National Biodiesel Foundation's 2nd Annual Silent Auction raised more than $6,000 benefiting the foundation's mission of outreach, education, research and demonstration activities for the advancement of biodiesel. 
 

 Cognis Corp., through its Quality Testing Analysis business, donated the auction's grand prize of two months of QTA service for biodiesel analysis, a $10,000 value. High Plains Bioenergy, a subsidiary of Seaboard Foods, was the winning bidder in the auction, and will use the QTA System at its biodiesel production facility in Guymon, Okla. 
 
 Tom Verry, NBF executive director, said, "We are grateful to Cognis, High Plains Bioenergy, and all of the participants in the auction who have been so generous in supporting the NBF." 
 
 Funds raised by the 2010 Silent Auction will support the foundation goals and activities for the coming year, such as the NBB's Sustainability Awareness and Analysis program. That includes vital research demonstrating the fuel's long-term sustainability, such as life-cycle analysis, land use analysis and water usage. Other programs it supports include feedstock development, focusing on efforts that include under-utilized acres and algae; infrastructure development, such as jet aircraft testing, terminal distribution, and environmental certifications, as well as foundation administration and grant writing. 
 
 The NBF was organized in 1994 to support and promote outreach, education, science and demonstration activities for the advancement of biodiesel and its co-products to improve national security, air quality and the environment. For more information on the NBF, visit http://www.biodieselfoundation.org.

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National Biodiesel Foundation benefits from Cognis' donation

The NBB, in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, hosted a Biodiesel Development Conference in April in Harrisburg. 
 
 The conference was designed to provide an overview of the Pennsylvania biofuels industry, and highlighted the importance of Pennsylvania's renewable energy initiatives, the emerging biodiesel mandate in the state and the opportunities the mandate creates for industries and consumers. Pennsylvania's mandate will create an estimated 32 million gallons of biodiesel use annually.
 
 Participants at the conference heard about a wide variety of topics including state biofuel development, legislation, regulations, enforcement, and fuel quality, and ended with a question and answer session. Presenters included Michael Devine, NBB, and Michael Rader and Ben Wootton, from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. Also in attendance was the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Secretary Russell C. Redding.
 
 In May, NBB joined forces with Sprague Energy, Ultra Green Energy, Metro Terminals and the New York Oil Heating Association in New York City, where participants heard from the leaders in the Bioheat industry including NBB, National Oilheat Research Alliance, and Brookhaven National Laboratories. New York's biodiesel industry has the potential to grow significantly with increased Bioheat use. 
 
 In the United States, 6.7 billion gallons of No. 2 heating oil is used annually. In the 11 Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states alone, 88 percent of this fuel, or 5.5 billion gallons of No. 2 heating oil, is utilized annually. If the annual heating oil volume in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states were to be supplemented with a B2 blend, 110 million gallons of B100 biodiesel would be required. New York is the largest oilheat-using state in the U.S.

Left to right: Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Secretary Russell C. Redding, Earth Energy Alliance CEO Mike Devine, and Ben Wootton and Michael Rader from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture help host the Pennsylvania Biodiesel Developm

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NBB hosts biodiesel-focused events in New York, Pennsylvania

Miller Boat Line is greening up its ferry service to Put-in-Bay, Ohio, this season by using a 10 to 20 percent biodiesel blend in one of its passenger vessels, the William Market. Put-in-Bay is located on South Bass Island in southwestern Lake Erie. The fuel, G2 Diesel, is produced locally in Ohio and is made from reacting soybean oil and ethanol-not fossil-derived methanol as most biodiesel processes use. Scott Market, vice president of Miller Boat Line, said the company has become the only environmentally friendly option for tourists. Using biodiesel costs the company more than traditional diesel but Miller Boat Line said it will keep ferry service fares the same. Miller Boat Line stated it has plans to eventually use G2 Diesel blends in all four of its vessels. 
 
 On 13 acres of long-vacant land in the Chicago Stockyards Industrial Corridor, Testa Produce Inc.'s new headquarters, expected to be the first U.S. food distribution facility to achieve LEED Platinum certification, is under construction. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a system used to rate the sustainability of construction projects governed by the U.S. Green Building Council. At $20 million, the facility's sustainable features include a wind turbine and solar panels to generate half of the facility's power, a partially vegetated roof to prevent storm-water runoff and an external retention pond, among many others. Testa Produce's fleet of 55 diesel delivery trucks is also running on B11. 

 
 Little Rock, Ark.-based biodiesel consulting group Lee Enterprises announced the addition of Lisa Screeton of Hilton Head, S.C., to lead the Grants and Government Relations division of the firm. "The combination of the economy and partisan politics has made for a difficult couple of years," owner Wayne Lee said. "But it does appear that the industry is now headed up in a big way." Lee said he recently read that once oil hits $125 a barrel, one-half of the world's wealth would be held by the OPEC nations. "Once we realize what this means, we will realize the urgency of the situation," he said. Screeton gives the firm a national balance, Lee said, with consultants on both the East and West coasts and in the central U.S. He noted that the firm's fluency in multiple languages also is of vital importance in dealing with international customers. 
 
 Biodiesel of Las Vegas Inc. launched its official Web site, www.BiodieselofLasVegas.com, on Earth Day. The company established an online presence, in particular, to enlist public participation in its clean air campaign. The interactive site was designed to keep consumers educated, informed and updated on the latest advancements in biofuel. The site has also made it easy for individuals to contribute to the green fuel movement by offering free eNewsletter subscriptions, support packages and a direct method of contacting Congress. The company anticipates it will act as a platform for alternative energy-related topics via the integrated discussion forum. 
 
 Sandmeyer Steel Co. announced that John P. McCreery has assumed the position of inside sales representative at its Philadelphia headquarters, replacing Loretta Wysocki who recently retired after 46 years with the company. McCreery joined Sandmeyer Steel in 1977 and since then he has held several different positions in the company. 
 
 
 Germany's biodiesel quality organization AGQM has attacked several biodiesel patents recently. These patent rights have been withdrawn after objections were filed and hearings conducted, even before the European Patent Court. The issue: the lack of an inventive step. Results could have been achieved by any expert trained in this field without any inventory input, or could have already been common knowledge among experts in one case. It is counterproductive if attempts are made to include facts into patent applications' scope of protection that are neither new nor contain an inventive step. Thus, AGQM will regularly conduct patent monitoring in biodiesel-related fields. With its systematic patent research, AGQM does not only intend to identify potentially objectionable patents as early as possible in order to be in a position to take suitable (counter-) measures, it also wants to follow up on the latest developments so that the potentials inherent in biodiesel and in the other biofuels can be better exploited. 
 
 
 Dover Corp.'s Pump Solutions Group promoted Walter Bonnett to vice president of PSG Marketing, a position from which he will report directly to PSG President Dean Douglas. Bonnett will lead PSG's Marketing Group, with the pivotal task of managing PSG's "Business Face to the Outside World." Bonnett's major functions and focus as leader of the Marketing Group will be to spearhead and support strategic sales and marketing activities, and implement programs that will aid PSG's image in the market. Among the key image-building components are market intelligence, brand promotion, E-business, Web strategies, marketing services, community relations and voice-of-the-customer interaction.
 
 WIKA Instrument Corp. recently signed an agreement with privately held 3D Instruments LLC, after its acquisition by WIKA Holding Corp. to become metro Atlanta-based WIKA's newest subsidiary, reporting to Michael Gerster, WIKA president. Acquisition of the Anaheim, Calif.-based 3D Instruments, an engineering innovator and manufacturer of the Direct Drive technology, extends WIKA's domestic manufacturing capabilities and expands the company's West Coast presence. WIKA will maintain 3D Instruments' distributor network, as well as begin integrating its multi-channel strategy. WIKA is working closely with 3D's operational management team and the conversion to lean manufacturing at the 3D Instruments facility has begun. Employees of 3D Instruments will remain working in the Anaheim location. 
 
 
 LS9 Inc. announced that its trademarked UltraClean Diesel fuel has been officially registered with the U.S. EPA, now making it eligible for commercial sale in the U.S. Wei Huang, vice president of process and engineering for LS9, said the company's technology is a one-step conversion process that can ferment C5 and C6 sugars to biodiesel, renewable diesel or any number of fuels and chemicals using so-called designer microbes and fatty acid biosynthesis. The chain length and saturation of the finished product can be controlled, depending on the enzymes used in the cells, Huang said, adding that the technology has "the highest yields, simplest process and lowest cost" of any out there today. LS9 bought an existing facility in Okeechobee, Fla., for its demonstration plant and anticipates breaking ground on a commercial-scale refinery in 2011. 

 
 
 French pump maker Mouvex announced the launch of its new SLP Series Seal-less Sliding Vane Pumps. Designed with no magnets, mechanical seals or packing, Mouvex said the SLP Series pumps are one of the most economical and energy-efficient pumps for applications that demand leak-free operation. The initial model available in the new SLP Series is the SLP25, which features a maximum flow rate of 110 gallons per minute (25 m3/h), differential pressures to 12 bar (174 psi), and the capability to handle viscosities up to 60,000 centistokes (or 278,000 Saybolt Universal Seconds) and can operate in temperatures up to 100 degrees Centigrade. &#61500;

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Business Briefs

One of the biggest research and development pushes today is the production and manipulation of nanomaterials to create new quantum mechanical effects by drastically increasing surface area-to-volume ratios. One method of producing these tiny scientific wonders, which researchers have found extremely proficient, is ultrasonic cavitation. Ultrasonics involves the use of sound waves at frequencies inaudible to human ears. The violent reaction in the flow cell, caused by ultrasonic vibration, creates nano-sized bubbles that vastly increase surface area on which reaction can take place. In addition to the role of ultrasound in nanomaterial manufacturing, uses of ultrasonic cavitation include everything from wastewater treatment to production of various chemical compounds, inks, coatings, biomeds, pharmaceuticals, cement and biodiesel. 
 
 "There are just so many applications because of the intense mixing and cavitation," says Mike Riebenfeld, sales manager for Hielscher USA, part of Hielscher Ultrasonics GmbH based in Teltow, Germany, outside of Berlin. 
 
 Hielscher Ultrasonics emerged in 1991 two years after the Berlin Wall came down. Kathrin Hielscher, marketing and communications person with the company, said Kenneth Suslick, a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne, did all the basic research and related work on ultrasonic chemistry, laying the foundation for the applications of ultrasound in the lab and industry. Hielscher Ultrasonics started with development of ultrasonic devices for laboratory use. 
 
 "But the research and the successful applications created more and more demand for devices with a higher capacity to sonicate material on an industrial scale," Hielscher says. As a result, the company developed its UIP1000 ultrasonic unit, which utilizes 1 kilowatt of electricity to provide cavitation and mixing shear. "This was the beginning for industrial ultrasonic devices," Hielscher says. "Now, Hielscher offers ultrasonic devices up to 16 kW and is worldwide the single supplier of such powerful ultrasonic equipment."
 
 Hielscher says since the early 2000s, when the company first introduced its ultrasonic reactor technology to biodiesel producers, the industry has been quite open-minded for any technology that could speed up reaction time and augment yield. And in the past decade, a growing number of producers and systems makers have incorporated Hielscher equipment in process lines. 
 
 
 Continuous Flow and Time
 

 One reason producers have chosen ultrasound technology is so they can move away from batch processing. Jeff Longo, principle with Genuine Bio-Fuel Inc., a 6 MMgy biodiesel plant northwest of West Palm Beach in Indiantown, Fla., says, "When we decided to set up the plant, we were looking for advanced technology and we definitely wanted to get away from the batch scenario. We wanted to have a true continuous flow facility, and one of the ways that we could accomplish this was with ultrasonics, so that's what we did. We used it for shearing and mixing, and it seems the most expeditious way to go." 
 
 Ultrasound can reduce the processing time from one to four hours needed in batch processing to less than 30 seconds. Also, it reduces separation time from up to 10 hours, down to one. 
 
 After feedstock pretreatment, the oil or fat is mixed with sodium or potassium methylate and heated to between 45 and 65 degrees Centigrade, which then is sonicated inline for five to 15 seconds. Hielscher states that, most commonly, sonication is performed at an elevated pressure of one to three bar using a feed pump and an adjustable backpressure valve next to the flow cell. 
 
 Many biodiesel producers hold trade secrets and technique close to the vest. "We push their technology way beyond their limits," Longo tells Biodiesel Magazine. "I'm sure [Hielscher] is not aware of what we do, but we've pushed them way beyond the capacities they advertise." Of Genuine Bio-Fuel's unique adaptation, Riebenfeld says, "I would love to have data on their process so we could commercialize the application." 
 
 Time and patience have paid dividends for Genuine Bio-Fuel, Longo says. "A lot of people using virgin feedstocks have no problems because there's no variables involved," he says. "But when your free fatty acid (FFA) content varies drastically between three and 30 percent, a database with different flow rates is very important." Genuine Bio-Fuel spent 18 months accumulating hourly data, which has helped to optimize performance of its ultrasonic reactors. "We vary our wattage through the ultrasonics predicated on the FFA content, flow rates and everything," Longo says. "The downside of this technology is, if you don't have a database that you've accumulated, it becomes very frustrating. I know other producers that have pulled in ultrasonics and put them online, and have had mild success with it. But when they have a variance in their feedstock, the results start to go sideways or whatever, and then they blame the ultrasonics-and it's not the ultrasonics." 
 
 
 Energy and Space
 
 Wisconsin Biofuels LLC, a biodiesel equipment and systems provider, also incorporated Hielscher's ultrasonic reactors into its designs. "We were looking for something that we could use in a continuous flow process, and I didn't really like the shear reactors-they do work but their safety with flammable liquids would be a concern for some people," says Wisconsin Biofuels owner Scott Weis. He says his company tested an ultrasonic unit, liked the way it worked, and now uses it in its continuous flow design. "I really like the quality of the German product, it's a well-made piece of equipment," Weis says. "We actually checked with many of the other ultrasonic companies in the U.S., but they didn't really offer anything we were interested in. They had some flow cells, but they weren't very high wattage, more for small mixing lab-scale stuff." 
 
 Wisconsin Biofuels' continuous flow design consists of three 1kW ultrasonic processors. Two of them are arranged in a series on the first reaction, after which the product enters a continuous settling-decanting tank, followed by a second reaction stage consisting of the third ultrasonic flow cell. "It gives the ability to change the output of the ultrasonics," Weis says. "The biggest advantage is just going continuous flow. And there's a lot less methylated product in the process, so it's safer." 

 
 Hielscher says that its ultrasonics can reduce catalyst consumption by 50 percent due to the increased chemical activity in the presence of cavitation. Another benefit is less excess methanol is needed. Also, glycerin purity is increased. 
 
 Perhaps one misconception about ultrasonic reactors is that, compared to conventional reactors, they increase the amount of energy necessary to make biodiesel. While sonication requires electricity, producers and systems vendors say energy consumption overall can be reduced significantly. "We use metering pumps and they are really low output, they don't take much power at all," Weis says. "And then only a little amount of heat is required because you're not heating up the entire 2,000-gallon batch in a fairly quick timeframe-that requires a lot of energy, and you have to oversize your boilers to do that." Also, if methanol recovery is employed, Riebenfeld notes that there is not as much methanol to recover from ultrasound because less of it is fed into the process, and therefore less energy is consumed in recovery. 
 
 Gerrit Smith with Bioneer Pty. Ltd., a South African company operating a pilot plant and supplier of skid-mounted continuous flow biodiesel systems, says while batch reaction works fine in small amounts, large batch plants require high-power mixing to get the same results. "When you scale batch up, it's more difficult to mix a big reactor than smaller ones," Smith says. "What ultrasound does is make a very fine emulsion-I'm talking like 0.5 microns, that is the size of the fat droplets and they're surrounded by methanol-that's why it's such a quick and complete reaction." 
 
 Riebenfeld says for $16,000 a producer can purchase the base-model 1kW Hielscher reactor, which can process between 2,500 and 4,000 gallons per 24-hour period. "You can really build a simple system, even the small producer just getting into it," Riebenfeld says. "Even in this down economy we've seen very good activity." One of the more recent biodiesel plants to incorporate Hielscher ultrasonics is EDG Fuels in Tucson, Az., which celebrated its grand opening in March. 
 
 EDG Fuels president Jeff Sires says its continuous flow plant, which incorporated one of Hielscher's explosion-proof reactors, what he jokingly calls the "Binford 5000 model," creates a small footprint and doesn't require much space. Longo testifies to this point as well. "These huge batch plants are just myriads of acres of tanks," he says. 
 
 "We bought the nicest unit they sell," Sires says. "It was close to $100,000. It has a water-cooled head and an explosion-proof cabinet too." He says Hielscher sent an engineer from Germany and its North American representative, Riebenfeld, to Tucson at their cost to help set up the equipment and commission the plant. 
 
 "We also incorporate a feedstock pretreatment center for our used cooking oil, which removes water/moisture and solids," Sires says. "Our pretreatment has allowed us to consistently enjoy high yields, up to 99 percent with low FFA feedstock." He says EDG Fuels uses an acid esterification module to retain a high yield when refining material with high FFA content. EDG Fuels also has a push-button blending dispenser at its plant, where they dispense B20, B50 and B99 to individual customers. Sires says EDG Fuels offers its engineering and design services and adds that, despite the down economy and the absence of the federal tax credit, EDG Fuels plans on opening another biodiesel plant soon using Hielscher's ultrasonic reactors. 
 
 Ron Kotrba is editor of Biodiesel Magazine. Reach him at (701) 738-4942 or <a href="mailto:rkotrba@bbiinternational.com">rkotrba@bbiinternational.com</a>.

At Genuine Bio-Fuel in Indiantown, Fla., Jason Urbas checks wattage for the ultrasonic reactors. PHOTO: GENUINE BIO-FUEL INC.

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Wisconsin Biofuels LLC, a biodiesel systems provider, uses three Hielscher Ultrasonics reactors in its continuous flow modular unit. PHOTO: WISCONSIN BIOFUELS LLC

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A number of biodiesel plants have incorporated ultrasonic reactors in their production lines. Biodiesel Magazine talks with some of them to explore why they chose ultrasonics, and what the technology has done for their process.

Ultrasonic Biodiesel Processing

Nationwide transportation is at its highest level in 50 years. Currently there are 6,400 providers of public transportation in the U.S. Many of these transportation providers are seeking to help reduce the nation's reliance on foreign oil by incorporating alternative fuels such as biodiesel. U.S. public transportation ridership has increased significantly within the past few decades. According to the American Public Transportation Association, public transportation ridership increased 168 percent between 1970 and 2007. During this same period, the U.S. population has increased by 48 percent (Figure 1).

 
 Reduction of dependency on foreign oil is not the only reason for seeking alternative fuels such as biodiesel. There are other advantages, such as the reduction of environmental degradation and pollution. Many major cities are now seeking new and emerging technologies, such as hybrid-electric vehicles, biofuels and other clean-energy alternatives. Transit authorities generally agree that addressing global warming requires taking a broader perspective of these issues.
 
 Mass transportation offers a good investment. According to APTA, activity over the next 10 years focusing on reshaping transportation infrastructure can benefit the local economy. Using public transport not only makes economic sense, but it is also beneficial for the environment. Due to rising fuel prices, more Americans are using public transportation because it offers an affordable and efficient mode for shopping, going to social events, school and work. 
 
 The fleet of the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority consists of 194 vehicles dedicated to public transportation, with 140 buses for regular transit, six smaller vehicles offering on-call service, and 48 buses for paratransit assistance. 
 
 Ridership on TARTA experienced an increase between 2007 and 2008, with a total volume of 4.7 million passengers in 2008. Like other mass transportation authorities, TARTA has pursued the use of alternative fuels. In 2006, a three-year study commenced with the use of biodiesel, based on a B20 blend of soy biodiesel and ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD). During the study, 116 of the diesel-powered buses, 60 percent of the TARTA fleet, were converted to B20 fuel. The fleet experienced a variety of operating conditions ranging from optimal, warm summer weather, to suboptimal, freezing winter conditions typical in the Midwest. 
 
 During the three-year study, it was observed that using biodiesel fuel sometimes achieved lower fuel economy than buses operating on conventional diesel. Over the course of the study, two types of routes were typically utilized: stop/go and express travel. Since buses were driven on ULSD and B20 during these travel routes, it was decided to perform an exploratory investigation to see if there was any difference between fuel use and travel route. Two mechanically-identical Blue Bird buses operating on different fuels were subsequently compared by alternating operation on the same duty cycle in transporting passengers. The current exploratory study took place during the optimal operating months of July and August 2009. 
 
 
 Research Scope
 
 During the TARTA biodiesel study, it was discovered that buses running on conventional diesel periodically achieved better mileage than those driven with B20 fuel. This, however, conflicts with other work, but no investigation took place regarding whether the same result occurs while operating in different travel routes, such as stop/go and express driving. Since biodiesel offers several emission advantages over conventional diesel, it was decided to investigate whether there are any other benefits in the two routes of travel. 
 

 Maintenance records in the TARTA fleet were investigated, and two Blue Bird buses were selected for this study. The routes chosen were representative of those typically driven by buses in the fleet. The buses chosen operated during a two-week period under optimal climate conditions beginning in late July 2009. When the study was completed, both the express and stop/go driving results were statistically compared. Mileage driven and fuel consumed per day were the test parameters used in the study. 
 
 
 Methodology and Results
 
 Initially, a meeting was set up with TARTA's director of information services to establish the logistics and protocol for the study, including route selections, driver assignment and field data collection. During the study, data consisted of daily mileage driven and fuel consumption. All four data sets-two for B20 (express and stop/go), and two for ULSD (express and stop/go)-were explored with general statistics and analyzed with a two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).
 
 Five days of usage were analyzed for each type of fuel (ULSD and B20), with each of the two travel modes. A total of 1,397.7 miles were driven with Bus 301 using B20. Express mode resulted in 658.7 miles traveled. Stop/go reflected 739 miles. 
 The bus operating on ULSD was driven a total of 1,892.8 miles. Stop/go reflected 1,036.8 miles, while express accounted for 856 miles. 
 
 The results were inconsistent with the conclusions found previously in TARTA's three-year study. For the current exploratory study, the statistical results with two-way ANOVA indicated there was a significant difference when reflecting on B20 fuel or ULSD fuel at the P<.05 level, but not in the travel type of express or stop/go travel for bus use in the study. 
 
 
 Conclusions

 
 This investigation seems to conflict with previous work where there was no significance noted in the test results between two groups of buses operating on B20 and conventional diesel over a three-year period. In the current short-term study there was also no significance noted for one of the parameters. However, the statistical analysis showed significance for both fuel type and interaction, which indicates that a difference does indeed exist. Additionally, when reflecting on the average miles-per-gallon graph for both fuel types and operating conditions, the vehicle operating on ULSD achieved better fuel economy in stop/go traffic than in the express mode, while the bus operating on B20 performed better in express traffic conditions than in the stop/go mode. When all four of these parameters are taken into consideration, there is a possibility that the fuel type could, however, influence the MPG when considering both stop/go and express travel. Graphical results support this. 
 
 The average values of fuel economy comparison between the two vehicles are graphed and exhibited in Figure 2. Even though the bus using B20 exhibited an improvement as it shifted from traveling in the stop/go mode to an express one, this did not occur with the vehicle using ULSD fuel. For the vehicle using ULSD fuel, stop/go travel achieved better MPG than in the travel mode. Additionally, the MPG of the ULSD vehicle was found to be better than the biodiesel vehicle in stop/go mode. 
 
 
 Recommendations
 
 Previously it was shown that decreasing ambient temperature can adversely affect biodiesel use, such as the extreme cold weather conditions found in the Midwestern U.S. It was also found by other authors that there is no significant difference between use of B20 and conventional diesel in a longitudinal study. No interaction was investigated by them, however, and this study seems to conflict with their results, offering potential insight for future investigation of fuel economy. 
 
 Further study aspects could entail the following: 
 
 1.	TARTA could apply these preliminary findings to assist in making funding decisions, and possible grant application pursuit for more longitudinal studies to better depict whether there is a difference between stop/go and express travel in vehicles operating on biodiesel versus pure diesel. 
 
 2.	 A longer-term study could be performed with more vehicles to provide more insight into whether there is a difference between stop/go and express travel in various blends of biodiesel versus pure diesel. 
 
 3.	 It may be beneficial to incorporate all direct/indirect costs into a similar study related to each vehicle, such as maintenance (planned, and unscheduled), fuel, and other attributable overhead. 

 	
 
 David M. Nelson is with the college of business at University of Toledo. Reach him at <a href="mailto:Nels.4@comcast.net">Nels.4@comcast.net</a>. Mark Vonderembse is director of the Intermodal Transportation Institute at UT. S. Subba Rao is with the department of Information Operations and Technology Management at UT. Mike Blackston is with Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority. Reach him at <a href="mailto:mblackston@tarta.com">mblackston@tarta.com</a>.

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TARTA completed a three-year study on biodiesel and another subsequent investigation into how different fuels, ULSD and B20, give different economies during stop-and-go and express travel. PHOTO: TARTA

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Growth in mass transit use has outpaced population growth since 1970, and fuels such as B20 biodiesel can help keep urban skies cleaner as more buses move greater numbers of people. PHOTO: TARTA

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After conducting a three-year fuel comparison study, the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority compared two mechanically-identical Blue Bird buses operating on different fuels by alternating operation on the same duty cycle in transporting passengers. Overall, significant differences were found in their fuel economy.

Toledo Transit Authority Studies B20 Fuel Economy

In 2008, Seattle-based process and design engineering firm E3 Energy Partners began to see a new trend forming in the biodiesel industry. Plant sizes were trending downward and desired free fatty acid (FFA) levels in feedstock were trending upward. Once it became clear that development of new 30, 50 and 100 MMgy biodiesel facilities was over, or at least on indefinite hold, E3 Energy Partners began a research project to identify processes capable of managing higher FFA feedstocks for production of biodiesel; and if possible, companies on the market that had a head start on commercializing these processes and related technologies.
 
 After a year of searching and testing, and with the assistance of Swedish colleagues and the U.S. Ambassador to Sweden, E3 Energy Partners discovered the Swedish biodiesel manufacturing firm Ageratec. Although relatively unknown in North America, Ageratec, with its family of modular processors capable of producing 180,000 gallons to 9 MMgy, is well positioned to serve the evolving North American biodiesel industry. Ageratec had developed and released a modular biodiesel processor with integrated acid esterification, which enabled the processor to accept feedstocks up to 10 percent FFA content. Without a pretreatment process such as esterification, traditional biodiesel processors would create soap from feedstocks with FFA content above 1 to 2 percent. 
 
 In early 2009, E3 Energy Partners and Ageratec entered into a market and technology partnership to bring the Swedish firm's modular biodiesel systems to North America for biodiesel operations using virgin oil, used cooking oil, yellow grease and animal fat. Currently, Ageratec has more than 10 systems in North and South America.
 
 While E3 Energy Partners and Ageratec were working to meet the demand of production facilities using feedstock with 10 percent FFA content, requests for processing feedstocks with FFA content up to 100 percent began coming through the door. These feedstocks included yellow grease to 15 percent FFA, brown grease to 80 percent FFA, and fatty acid distillates from palm and soy vegetable oil refineries. Since FFA levels exceeded 10 percent, traditional esterification of the FFA component was not viable and a new solution was needed.
 
 At the same time, E3 Energy Partners' chemical engineering team had been exploring the use of standard oleo-chemical processes from the food processing industry that forms glycerides (oils) from fatty acids. The result was a solution that converted very high FFA feedstocks into oils suitable for processing inside most standard base-catalyzed biodiesel processors already installed and on the market today.
 

 Ageratec and E3 Energy Partners have expanded their partnership into development of a new a modular biodiesel processor capable of processing biodiesel feedstocks up to 100 percent FFA. Lending itself to the conservative nature of biodiesel investors in today's business climate is the benefit that the process has already been in use for more than 70 years at food processing facilities worldwide. Simply put, the process reforms the FFA material into mono and di-glyceride oils that are run through the transesterification process to make biodiesel. The largest consumable in the process is heat. Otherwise, the process relies on FFA feedstock, crude glycerin and a small amount of a standard catalyst. It runs at 99.8 percent efficiency in FFA conversion and delivers dry oil due to water evaporation over the span of the processing period.
 
 Ageratec and E3 Energy Partners are finding strongest interest for this solution in the trap and brown grease, and the palm and soy fatty acid, processing industries. Brown grease and fatty acid distillates are rich in free fatty acids, while also carrying lower market prices, which make them attractive biodiesel feedstocks.
 
 With all silver linings come a few issues. For fatty acid distillates, the material is solid to 130 degrees Fahrenheit and feels like a hard, waxy candle. Heat tracing the entire system is mandatory to prevent pipes, pumps and heat exchangers from clogging. Trap and brown grease offer a host of other issues. Trap grease––the residual fats, oils and greases that have come in contact with water and are intercepted before they enter sewer or septic systems––is collected from food processing and preparation locations, including restaurants. Brown grease is rendered trap. Rendering includes the removal of water, sulfur, phosphate and the filtration and neutralization of residual fats, oils and greases. E3 Energy Partners and Ageratec have received a large amount of fatty acid distillate and brown grease samples from around the world. The resulting biodiesel meets ASTM specifications, with the exception of oxidative stability and sulfur or phosphate content. These issues have been resolved with additives for stability and additional pretreatment steps for sulfur and phosphate removal.
 
 
 Historical Acumen
 
 Ageratec, an original equipment manufacturer, originated in 1996 when David Fryker?&bull;s from the oil and gas industry realized the potential for biodiesel in the local canola farming community. He brought in his father, Gert Fryker?&bull;s, from the pulp and paper sector and they leveraged their combined experience in automation and process technology to create a fully automated biodiesel production plant that could be operated by someone who doesn't need a doctorate in chemistry. The first prototype was delivered in 1998 to a farm outside of Norrköping, Sweden, to make biodiesel to power tractors and farm machines from locally grown canola oil. Targeting the Swedish local agribusiness and canola back then, today the only heritage left is the prefabricated automated modular concept. The plants shipped today are 100-fold the first size, and are built for industrial scale processing of inedible low-cost fats, oils and grease with high FFA content.
 
 Today investors or plant owners looking to procure greenfield or brownfield projects have an array of vendors to choose from, especially in the sub-10 MMgy segment. A majority of these companies, however, are either start-ups with little or no history of operations, or are unable to provide meaningful performance guarantees due to their weak balance sheets and/or construction partners. With Ageratec's heritage in the established oil and gas and pulp and paper industries, it sees the real challenge of this new decade as biofuel industries being able to rise to the occasion to offer venture capitalists and industrialists the same degree of consolidated vendor scene as these industries enjoyed during the latter half of the 20th century. The plethora of superlatives in the area of esterification and purification adds to the inflated impression one receives when making crucial decisions for one´s investment.
 
 With the short history of the biodiesel industry functioning as an industry, a matter of years makes for a giant leap in process technology. In 2005, Ageratec developed and patented water-free wash chemistry. Next came its mechanical purification technology, which was further enhanced by deploying the high-speed separator technology developed by Alfa Laval. In 2006, largely influenced by the food vs. fuel debate and demand for inedible oil processing, Ageratec introduced front-end esterification pretreatment, which has been included on Ageratec plants as an integral part ever since. Ageratec delivered its 40th industrial plant in 2007, and celebrated the shipping of a new plant every 10 days, which led to the inauguration of a new 17,000 square-foot factory in Norrköping. By 2008, Ageratec´s separator developments had caught Alfa Laval´s attention leading to Ageratec becoming part of the Alfa Laval Group, with Alfa Laval becoming a majority stake holder in the company. By 2009, Ageratec sold more than 70 plants and participated in projects all over the world including Scandinavia, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Asia Pacific and Africa.

 
 
 Mechanical Biodiesel Purification Station
 
 Ageratec's patent revolves around the refining agent ACA90, which is slightly acidic in order to neutralize the biodiesel. The liquid solution also contains an inorganic chelating agent, which combines with impurities in the biodiesel, such as traces of phospholipids and others, to produce large, dense gum-like complexes referred to as sludge, which is easily removed by a separator. When forming, the complexes become slightly negatively charged and therefore attract counter ions (i.e., metals) in order to balance the negative charge. So, apart from the general neutralizing effect, the refining agent also acts as cation reducer and further refining is therefore unnecessary. The amount of refining agent needed for the neutralizing effect is typically around 0.4 to 0.6 percent by weight. 
 
 The adage "The Stone Age did not end because the cave men ran out of stones" should be remembered in the challenging times our young industry is experiencing. Big Oil has yet to draw that conclusion, still the biofuels industry can learn from that sector by consolidating with a legacy for a different kind of expertise and tailored solutions matched to feedstock and plant situations. The "jack of all trades" is not realistic for a maturing biofuel industry of the new decade. The availability of established OEM prefabricated plant technology to pick from in the toolbox while designing a project will be what determines the success of gradual take over from Big Oil´s heritage.
 
 Rich Bacigalupi is a principal with E3 Energy Partners. Reach him at (206) 462-3601 or <a href="mailto:richb@e3energypartners.com">richb@e3energypartners.com</a>. Ulf Johansson is sales manager with Ageratec. Reach him at <a href="mailto:ulf.johansson@ageratec.com">ulf.johansson@ageratec.com</a>.

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Ageratec 's mechanical biodiesel purification station PHOTO: AGERATEC 

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Biodiesel plant sizes have been trending downward while the use of high free fatty acid feedstocks is on the rise. As a result, Ageratec and E3 Energy Partners offer a new modular biodiesel processor capable of processing biodiesel feedstocks containing up to 100 percent FFA content.

Capitalizing on Emerging Trends

Organic byproducts or residues generated from industrial processes of agro-food, forestry or industrial processes are likely to be used as feedstock for the production of higher value-added compounds by using microorganisms or enzymes. Among the more interesting products is crude glycerin from the biodiesel industry. The growth rate of the biodiesel market has generated a similar increase in the production of glycerin as the byproduct accounts for one-tenth the volume of biodiesel produced at any methyl ester plant. 
 
 The global biodiesel industry has grown significantly over the past decade. Before the economic slowdown, it was estimated that the global biodiesel market would reach 37 billion gallons by 2016, growing at an average annual rate of 42 percent(1). The rapid development of the global biodiesel industry has been closely observed by countries interested in stimulating economic growth, improving the environment and reducing dependency on imported oil. In 2008, biodiesel production in Europe reached 7.75 million tons (2.3 billion gallons) and it was estimated that the surplus of crude glycerin on this continent was more than 700 kilotons per year(2). In the U.S., crude glycerin production reached approximately 251 kilotons per year(3). A rapid expansion in biodiesel production capacity is being observed not only in developed countries but also in developing countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Indonesia and Malaysia.

 
 In recent years the U.S. Congress has put in place a number of tax incentive programs that positively impact the biodiesel industry(4). These programs are designed to make biodiesel price competitive with conventional diesel fuel, and are structured in a manner that allows the value of the incentive to be recognized immediately in the market price of the biodiesel. 
 
 Refined glycerin has traditionally been used as raw material in cosmetics or pharmaceutical application. Refining the crude glycerin, which contains residual organic impurities, is too expensive and complex for small producers. Thus, 50 percent of the total crude glycerin byproduct generated is disposed of, with the remaining sold at a minimal price. 
 
 Crude glycerin's present commercial value is between $35 and 75$ a ton, and is expected to decrease in the near future. This has led biofuel companies to start considering crude glycerin as a waste that cannot be ignored. Researchers in the biotechnology industry are well aware of this situation and have recently invested in the means to develop technologies to convert glycerin to value-added products. 
 
 Although biodiesel can be obtained, theoretically, by any triglyceride of plant or animal origin, much of the current global production is focused on the use of vegetable oils from seeds such as sunflower and rapeseed (Europe), soybeans (U.S.) or coconut (Philippines), and fruits such as palm (Malaysia and Indonesia). Biodiesel produced from crops is a good alternative source but depends heavily on raw material prices, which can represent more than 60 percent of the cost of the process, not to mention the potential conflict with using "food" crops. 
 
 The search for other possible sources of raw materials has focused on new varieties of plants and microorganisms for oil production(5,6). The fatty-acid profile should contain saturated fatty acids (myristic, palmitic and stearic acid), monounsaturated (oleic acid) and a small proportion of linoleic acid (18:2). This fatty-acid profile is similar to the profile of plant varieties used in the conventional process (soybean, sunflower, rapeseed and palm) so that the biodiesel produced meets the specifications set by the European standard EN 14214.
 
 Although all microorganisms must synthesize a small amount of lipids to membranes and other functional and structural issues, only a small number are able to accumulate lipids in an amount exceeding 20 percent of cell mass as reserve material. Among more than 600 species of yeasts and 70,000 molds, only about 125 are capable of accumulating lipid concentrations above this percentage(7,8). Oleaginous micro-organisms are considered an attractive alternative source of lipids due to the possibility of reducing the cost of production processes using inexpensive substrates, their ability to synthesize a range of different products, finding more efficacy and strain availability of genetic techniques for improvement. It has been demonstrated that such microbial oils, also called "single cell oils" (SCO), can be used as feedstock for biodiesel production. Compared to other vegetable oils and animal fats, the production of SCO has many advantages, such as a short life cycle, less labor required, less affected by venue, season and climate and easier to scale up(9).
 
 Neuron BioIndustrial, a division of Neuron BPh based in Granada, Spain, has recently developed a new process to metabolize raw glycerin to turn it into microbial oil able to be used as raw material for biodiesel production. Using microorganisms as biocatalysts, Neuron BioIndustrial makes possible the conversion of this byproduct into a value-added compound. 
 
 
 MicroBioTools

 
 MicroBioTools (registered trademark) is the technological platform created by Neuron BioIndustrial to develop "tailor-made" bioprocesses for different applications (Figure 1). The platform is based on an exclusive collection of more than 8,000 micro-organisms (bacteria, molds, yeasts and microalgae) isolated from extreme ecosystems.
 
 MicroBioTools enables us to find quickly and efficiently the right micro-organism to develop bioprocesses to obtain added-value compounds from different industrial residues or byproducts. Through this platform, the company is able to find the best candidates that can metabolize raw materials and produce value compounds; and microbes are isolated from specific environments worldwide by high throughput screening. These techniques are used to find the best candidate strain for a specific process. Once selected, the strain and the process optimization program starts. The resulting process is then scaled up in bioreactors from 5 to 30 liters (1.3 to 7.9 gallons) in our laboratories to obtain the maximum yield and productivity. The process is finally scaled up in industrial bioreactors in sizes from 300 to 2,000 liters.
 
 So far, the company has developed some processes to be applied in different industrial areas such as pharmaceutical, agro-food and biofuel companies. Such strategy contributes to improving profitability of actual production processes, and to reducing their environmental impact. The processes are developed up to pilot scale including an economic and technical feasibility study for their industrial scale-up.
 
 
 MicroBioOil
 
 Currently, one of the most innovative bioprocesses of MicroBioTools is the development of MicroBioOil, a new process to metabolize raw glycerin from biodiesel production to turn it into microbial oil to produce biodiesel (Figure 2). 
 
 Neuron BioIndustrial has selected a specific type of microorganism that metabolizes large quantities of raw glycerin as the sole carbon source. The resulting microbial mass contains more than 50 percent of its dry weight as lipids. These microorganisms are nonpathogenic and are not genetically modified.
 
 The microbial oil can be extracted by common extraction methods due to its similar composition to oils conventionally used for biodiesel production (e.g., soybean, sunflower oils). This oil can be used as new raw material to produce biodiesel as its properties and fatty acid composition is in accordance with European (EN14214) and American (ASTM D6751) standards. It is also possible to carry out a methanolysis with the microbial biomass to directly obtain the mixture of methyl ester. 
 

 Thanks to this technology, the productivity of a biodiesel plant can be increased by 2 to 3 percent. Both the process and the strains used for this technology have been fully developed and patented by Neuron BioIndustrial. MicroBioOil is marketed through licensing agreements and technical consultancy contracts.
 
 
 References
 
 1. Sims (2007). Biodiesel Magazine. Dec. Issue.
 
 2. European Biodiesel Board. http://www.ebb-eu.org.
 
 3. Monthly Energy Review, Energy Information Administration (2009). 
 
 4. National Biodiesel Board. http://www.biodiesel.org
 
 5. Chisti, Y. (2007) Biotechnology Adv., 25: 294-306.
 
 6. Ratledge, C and Cohen, Z (2008) Lipid Technol., 20: 155-160.
 

 7. Q Li, W Du and Dehua L (2008). Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 80: 749-756.
 
 8. Ratledge,C (2004) Biochimie, 86: 807-815.
 
 9. Q Li and MY Wang (1997). Use food industry waste to produce microbial oil. Science and Technology of food industry. 6: 65-69.
 
 Malena Valdivieso is a research scientist with Neuron BioIndustrial Division of Neuron BPh. Reach her at <a href="mailto:mvaldivieso@neuronbp.com">mvaldivieso@neuronbp.com</a>.

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Figure 1. MicroBioTools, a registered trademark, is the technological platform created by Neuron BioIndustrial to develop 'tailor-made' bioprocesses for different applications. PHOTO: NEURON BIOINDUSTRIAL

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Figure 2. One of the most innovative bioprocesses of MicroBioTools is the development of MicroBioOil, a new method to metabolize raw glycerin from biodiesel production to turn it into microbial oil for biodiesel production. PHOTO: NEURON BIOINDUSTRIA

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The increased global production of biodiesel has led to an oversupply of glycerin in the market. Thus, the search for technologies that help to convert this surplus of crude glycerin into more-valuable applications is a priority issue for biodiesel plants.

MicroBiOil: From Crude Glycerin to Biodiesel

As in many businesses, biodiesel producers are trying to make sense of the 2000-page Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the subsequent Reconciliation Act, which together are known as health care reform. President Barack Obama signed health care reform into law on March 23. The White House's goal in health care reform is to "make health care more affordable, make health insurers more accountable, expand health coverage to all Americans, and make the health system sustainable, stabilizing family budgets, the Federal budget, and the economy." However, it also imposes requirements upon employers that will need to be addressed over the next 18 months and beyond.
 
 
 Preserving Grandfathered Plan Status
 
 The most important issue that biodiesel facility owners face is determining what changes need to be made to their existing health plans. If their group health plan was in effect on March 23, it will have grandfathered plan status. This is significant because grandfathered health plans have extended deadlines to make changes to their plans and are permanently exempt from certain provisions of the health care reform. The law provides that new employees may enroll in a grandfathered plan, and current participants may add family members to their coverage without causing the plan to lose its grandfathered plan status. The new law does not tell us if plan amendments or other changes to a grandfathered plan may cause the plan to lose its grandfathered status. Until guidance is issued, employers will want to be careful to avoid making changes or taking actions that may adversely affect the grandfathered status of their group health plans.
 

 
 Important Changes in 2010
 
 Small Business Tax Credit: Employers with no more than 25 employees with average annual wages of less than $50,000 may be eligible for a tax credit of up to 35 percent of the premiums paid by the employer, retroactive to Jan. 1.
 
 Reimbursement for Early Retiree Health Benefits: Plans may be reimbursed for 80 percent of annual claims between $15,000 and $90,000 for each retiree between age 55 and 65 who is not Medicare-eligible. 
 
 Coverage of Adult Children Required: If the plan provides coverage for dependent children, it must provide coverage for adult children until the child turns 26 years of age. Grandfathered plans do not need to cover adult children under age 26 who are eligible for other employer-sponsored coverage until 2014.
 
 No Annual or Lifetime Limits: Generally, plans may not impose lifetime or annual limits on the dollar value of essential health benefits. 
 
 No Pre-Existing Exclusions for Children: Plans may not impose any pre-existing condition limitations on participants who are less than 19 years of age. This is extended to all enrollees in 2014.
 
 Rescission of Coverage Prohibited: Plans will not be able to rescind an individual's coverage, except in cases of fraud and misrepresentation.
 
 Additional Changes That Do Not Apply to Grandfathered Plans: Appeals process, nondiscrimination testing, provider choice, preventive care coverage, emergency services coverage.

 
 Many of these changes take effect after Sept. 23. 
 
 
 Important Changes in 2011
 
 W-2 Reporting: Employers must include aggregate cost of employer-sponsored health coverage on W-2 forms that are due in January 2012.
 
 Changes to Qualified Medical Expenses: The definition of qualified medical expenses for HSA, FSA, HRA, and Archer MSA excludes over-the-counter medicine unless obtained with a prescription or is insulin. Also, there is an increased excise tax on distributions from HSA or Archer MSA not used for qualified medical expenses, from 10 to 20 percent. 
 
 SIMPLE Cafeteria Plan for Small Employers: Employers with 100 or fewer employees may establish a SIMPLE Cafeteria Plan that is deemed to comply with all applicable nondiscrimination requirements.
 Because all employers will be facing these health care reform issues, biodiesel producers should have sufficient examples as they begin to implement updates to their plans. The passage of health care reform does, however, contain one unique benefit for the renewable fuels industry: Congress will now be able to focus on other issues, particularly the extension of the expired biodiesel tax credit.
 
 Joshua Natzel is an employee benefits and executive compensation attorney at Lindquist & Vennum. Reach him at (612) 752-1041 or <a href="mailto:jnatzel@lindquist.com">jnatzel@lindquist.com</a>.

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Navigating Health Care Reform:  What Biodiesel Producers Need to Know Right Now

High-shear dispersion machines for liquid/liquid, solid/liquid, and liquid/gaseous have gained wide use in biodiesel laboratories and manufacturing plants. It is of broad interest to the emerging fuel industries and specifically to the manufacturers and processors of fatty acid methyl esters to utilize an economical, versatile and efficient dispersion methodology. On the laboratory scale, dispersion and formulation challenges in crude oil/fat refining such as acid or enzymatic degumming, neutralization, acid esterification, base transesterification, and even finishing processes such as dry or water wash processes, can be solved with small in-line or batch high-shear mixers. 

 
 Because of the many scientific and commercial challenges to be solved by dispersion and high-shear techniques, there is a need for an efficient system of high-shear mixers meeting the following requirements:
 
 1. Treatment of small volumes and large quantities should be possible.
 
 2. Precise scale-up to commercial machines from the same supplier. 
 
 3. Batch, continuous-flow, circulation and in-line methodologies should be available for laboratory and production scale.
 
 4. Energy demand should be low.
 
 5. The rotor/stator system should be compatible with the reactive and flammable process.
 
 6. Flexibility by shear-frequencies and numbers in order to accommodate different processes such as enzymatic degumming (ultra high-shear) or secondary transesterification (moderate high-shear).
 
 Today there are many mixing techniques available. Some are as old as Rudolf Diesel himself, who used a simple agitation mixing technique, and some others more recently invented during the latest biofuel hype. Newer techniques have evolved with interesting names such as shockwave, dynamic cavitation, hydrodynamic and ultrasonic.
 

 All these mixing techniques including agitation and high-shear dispersion have the same goal: reduce as fast as possible the droplet sizes of the two or three immiscible liquid phases and accelerate the reaction. The faster that small micron droplets are formed the faster the reaction becomes complete. The common transesterification process with a common ration of 78/20/2 percent can take up to 4 hours when mixed by conventional agitators. 
 
 Using high-shear methods can reduce the batch cycle down to 30 minutes or operate continuously. Many of the new plants will be designed with fully automated continuous systems. Current batch processors are searching for ways to produce in-line by utilizing their existing equipment. Depending on location, investment, space and other requirements, batch, semi-continuous, or fully continuous process approaches are utilized. 
 
 High-shear machines or generators, which were developed in the 1950s by Prof. P. Willems in Germany, meet all the requirements for refining, reaction enhancement and washing applications, as mentioned before.
 
 High-shear dispersers consist of a rotor inside a stator. The rotor is driven by an electric motor at speeds up to 26,000 revolutions per minute (Magic Lab High-Shear). Both the rotor and the stator have one or more, up to four, concentric rings of slots and teeth manufactured in 316 stainless or exotic alloys on request. Together the interlocking rotor/stator is termed a generator. The dimension can range from 10 millimeters (mm) up to 400mm depending on the volume or flow rate of the liquid streams to be processed. The inline machines can be fitted on one driveshaft with up to three generators (multiple stage high-shear mixer type Dispax Reactor). The shape of the teeth in the rotor and stator is chosen in such a way that the whole assembly, together with additional mechanical tools, acts like an efficient centrifugal pump. The liquid streams with or without suspended particles are pressed through the succeeding concentric rings of slots and teeth. During this torturous passage, each liquid portion is subdivided successively into very small volume portions that undergo high-frequency mechanical treatment produced by the relative movement of the stator and rotor rings against each other. The energy transmitted from such generators into the medium is generally quite small. For example, continuous primary transesterification with a multiple-stage high-shear mixer with a 40 gallon-per-minute (gpm) capacity would require 30 horsepower (hp); and continuous secondary transesterification with a single-stage high-shear mixer for 40 gpm capacity would require 20 hp. 
 
 High-shear mixing is a rapidly emerging processing technique in renewable energy to improve yield, product quality and reduce processing times. 
 
 
 Michael Janssen is regional sales manager/renewable energy specialist with IKA Works Inc. Reach him at <a href="mailto:MJanssen@ika.net">MJanssen@ika.net</a>.

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Mechanical High-Shear Dispersion

Posted May 21, 2010

 
 Seven Westerly Middle School students in Westerly, R.I., have been awarded the 2010 President's Environmental Youth Award. They are the only winner selected in U.S. EPA's New England region. At a series of events and a ceremony in Washington, D.C., the youths are being recognized for their "TGIF" project: "Turn Grease into Fuel."
 
 The students, Cassandra Lin, John Perino, Marissa Chiaradio, Taylor Fiore-Chettiar, Vanessa Bertsch, Miles Temel and Alaxander Lin are members of the Westerly Innovations Network at Westerly Middle School. Together, they decided to do their part in tackling global warming by creating a sustainable project that collected waste cooking oil, refined it into biofuel, and distributed it.
 
 "I am so impressed with the commitment these students showed by taking action to improve the environment," said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA's New England office. "We have serious environmental problems, but with the creativity and commitment displayed by these students, we can find ways to effectively work toward a cleaner and healthier world."
 
 The students presented the project to the local town council and convinced them to place a grease receptacle at the town's transfer station to collect the waste cooking oil from residents. The youths also convinced 64 local restaurants to donate their waste cooking oil, a byproduct of fried food. To collect the waste oil from the restaurants and the transfer station, the students collaborated with a company to collect it and bring it to a waste cooking oil/biodiesel refiner. The proceeds from the refiner were used to purchase Bioheat from a local distributor to give to local charities.
 
 This project has been, and continues to be, a success for the environmental and local families in need of heating assistance. To date, the project has collected over 36,000 gallons of waste oil (30,000 gallons of biodiesel produced) a year which offset 600,000 pounds of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere. This project has donated 4,000 gallons of Bioheat to local charities and has helped 40 families who need emergency heating assistance.
 
 Another critical piece of the project has been the education to school children and local residents. The students have made numerous presentations to the local elementary school and local residents about the program on alternative energy sources and global warming and encouraged their participation in TGIF. 
 
 The Presidents Environmental Youth Awards were established in 1971, and are designed to recognize children in grades K through 12 who learn about their environment and create strategies for improving their communities' public and environmental health. Projects from every state and U.S. territory compete regionally and nationally and are judged by EPA on impacts, benefits, how environmental needs were met and other criteria. PEYA encourages student participation in community projects that have positive environmental impacts and involvement in environmental issues.
 
 SOURCE: U.S. EPA

Biodiesel wins students a presidential award

Posted May 21, 2010
 
 The Iowa Biodiesel Board and the Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Stores of Iowa are teaming up for a free webinar, "Biodiesel Economics: What's In It For Me?" to outline how today's federal and state incentives can make biodiesel blends a profit margin earner for businesses. 
 
 The one-hour presentation will cover the latest information on the biodiesel tax credit and state incentives, blending economics, RFS2 compliance updates, and biodiesel quality and availability. 
 
 Presenters include Jeff Hove, PMCI; Randy Olson, IBB; and Jon Scharingson, Renewable Energy Group Inc. 
 

 The webinar is scheduled for May 27 from 10:30am to 11:30am Central Time. Click <a target="_blank" href="https://pmcofiowa.webex.com/mw0306lb/mywebex/default.do?service=1&siteurl=pmcofiowa&nomenu=true&main_url=%2Fmc0805lb%2Fe.do%3Fsiteurl%3Dpmcofiowa%26AT%3DMI%26EventID%3D136151522%26UID%3D1105639417%26Host%3D571f142719205b1b2e3a04%26RG%3D1%26FrameSet%3D2" rel="external">here</a> to register.

IBB, PMCI host free biodiesel webinar May 27

Posted May 24, 2010
 
 On May 20, the House Ways and Means Committee published its <a target="_blank" href="http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/111/HWC_711_xml.pdf" rel="external">"Amendments to the Senate Amendment to H.R. 4213,"</a> The American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010, in which the biodiesel industry's much-needed extension of the $1 per gallon tax credit resides. 
 
 This brings the vote and passing of the credit before the Memorial Day target within the realm of possibility. 
 
 The language extends the biodiesel tax credit to Dec. 31, and offers retroactive payment to blended biodiesel back to Jan. 1, 2010. 
 
 The full House is expected to vote on the measure early this week, with a Senate vote later in the week.

Tax credit scheduled for a vote this week

Posted May 26, 2010
 
 The Canadian Renewable Fuels Association released on May 26 the first-ever comprehensive third party economic impact assessment of renewable fuels investments in Canada. The assessment conducted by econometric firm Doyletech Corp. concluded that, "The grand total of the annual positive economic impact of renewable fuels is $2.013 billion." 
 
 The report studied 28 ethanol and biodiesel plants across Canada and added that there were major benefits from renewable fuels in "rural revitalization, increased oil exports from western Canada, industrial development, and valuable options for rebalancing fuel 'mix.'" 
 
 The economic impact of the construction phase of renewable fuels plant was assessed to include: 
 
 &bull; A total direct investment of $2.326 billion. 
 
 &bull; The total net economic activity of $2.949 billion, including $100.2 million to municipal governments, $492.1 million to provincial governments and $679.9 million to the federal government. 
 

 &bull; And the creation of 14,177 direct and indirect jobs during the respective construction periods. 
 
 The economic impact of operating the 28 Canadian renewable fuels plants was assessed to include: 
 
 &bull; The production of a total of 2.25 billion liters (approximately 594.4 million gallons) of renewable fuels annually. 
 
 &bull; A net annual economic benefit of $1.473 billion to the Canadian economy across Canada, including $14.1 million to municipal governments, $108.8 million to provincial governments, and $111.8 million to the federal government. 
 
 &bull; The creation of a net 1,038 direct and indirect jobs annually. 
 
 &bull; An estimated annual benefit of $540 million in additional oil exports that are possible because of western Canada biofuels production (using value of CDN $80/barrel). 
 
 &bull; The grand total of the annual positive economic impact of renewable fuels is accordingly $2.013 billion. 
 
 "Even making allowance for the opportunity costs of alternate investments, and the opportunity costs of alternate feedstock sales, renewable fuels plants in Canada represent a positive net economic benefit," the report concludes. 

 
 "This is the first report of its kind to study the economic impact of Canadian renewable fuel plants, and the results are undisputable, ethanol and biodiesel in Canada are driving growth," added Gordon Quaiattini, president of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association. "It's overwhelmingly clear that Canada's new renewable fuel standard is delivering on its promise of jobs, investment and growth." 
 
 Doyletech was contracted by CRFA to employ its EconWin econometric model to develop total impact assessments for each of the 28 renewable fuels plants in Canada that are commercially operating or under construction in 2010. The model was run for both the construction and operating phases for each plant and the results were in turn aggregated into the total economic impact of renewable fuels across Canada. All benefits are calculated as being net gains and should be interpreted as representing incremental benefits to the Canadian economy above and beyond what would have happened anyway if the industry had not come into being.
 
 A copy of the "Total Economic Impact Assessment of Biofuels Plants in Canada" can be found at <a target="_blank" href="http://www.greenfuels.org" rel="external">www.greenfuels.org</a>. 
 
 SOURCE: CRFA

Biofuels add $2 billion to Canadian economy

Posted May 28, 2010
 
 The biodiesel industry desperately waited for Congress to act this week on H.R. 4213, The American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010, to reinstate the much-needed $1 per gallon tax credit before the Memorial Day recess, but time for this to happen has run out essentially. 
 
 In an email early Friday morning, Alicia Clancy, corporate affairs coordinator with Renewable Energy Group Inc., wrote, "Last night, it become certain that the biodiesel tax incentive will not be reinstated before the Memorial Day recess. The House did not take action on the 'American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act' last night and the Senate went into recess without taking any action on this legislation. While the Senate will technically be in session today, we understand will not be taking any votes. The earliest this bill can be taken up by the Senate is now the week of June 7." 
 

 REG released an official statement on the matter. "The biodiesel industry is greatly disappointed that the U.S. House and Senate appear to be ready to adjourn for the holiday recess today without a solution for the biodiesel industry," the company, the largest U.S. biodiesel company, stated. "Since returning from their April recess, members of Congress and President Obama have marked the Memorial Day recess as the goal for the reinstatement of the biodiesel tax credit. When Congress returns on June 7, the biodiesel industry will have suffered through two fiscal quarters of market uncertainty, production idling and job losses as our elected officials continue to trumpet their support for alternative energies in the wake of the Gulf Coast oil spill. By not passing the biodiesel tax credit, they have missed an important opportunity to support environmentally-friendly fuel and thousands of green-collar jobs; and are putting a decade's worth of progress toward energy independence at increasing risk of collapse."

More 'wait and see' for biodiesel tax credit

Posted May 28, 2010
 
 Kam Controls Inc. of Houston, Texas, has successfully conducted a test of its upcoming in-line fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) detector-the Kam FAME Meter. The test, conducted in the lab with jet fuel contaminated with varying amounts of FAME, confirms the accuracy, stability and repeatability of the science and electronics behind the detector. 
 
 Accurate detection of FAME levels is critical for aviation safety. Recently the management agency for NATO's largest European pipeline (CEPMA), supplying both NATO and civilian airports, announced all clients must provide proof that deliveries satisfy current mandates of less than 5 parts per million (ppm) of FAME. 
 
 The Kam FAME Meter is of particular importance in these efforts because it installs in-line, providing real-time accurate data. Current methods for measuring FAME require time-consuming sampling and laboratory testing, which comes at great expense due to demurrage, storage, man-hours and more.
 
 Kam Mohajer, president of Kam Controls, said the device uses patent-pending optical technology. "We use one wave length that is absorbed equally by both the jet fuel and the FAME, and another wavelength that is only absorbed by FAME, which is used as reference and it automatically recalibrates and adjusts," Mohajer told Biodiesel Magazine. 
 
 He said some of the optics involved are also used by astronomers to study the cosmos, which is why the prototype cost over $170,000. 
 
 By the fourth quarter, however, when Kam Controls expects the product to be commercially available, Mohajer said the price tag would be between $30,000 and $40,000. 

 
 Two different models will be available, a flow-through version for pipeline operators and a laboratory model, Mohajer said, adding that all of the major oil companies have volunteered to test the equipment as part of the validation and certification process. 
 
 Tests of the Kam Fame Meter were conducted in the 100, 200, 300, and 500 ppm range. "We found the stability and the repeatability of the instrument to be very good, and suitable to measure FAME concentrations from 1ppm and higher," Mohajer said. "The response time was instantaneous. In short, we are confident that we will be able to measure the FAME from 1 ppm and higher with a great degree of precision." 
 
 Predicted accuracy will be plus or minus 1 percent of full scale, i.e., for a scale measuring 1 ppm to100 ppm, accuracy will be plus or minus 1 ppm; for a scale measuring zero to 200 ppm, accuracy will be plus or minus 2 ppm. 
 
 Contamination of jet fuel with FAME is a direct result of transporting biodiesel in product tankers or in multi-product pipelines. FAME can adhere to the walls of the tank or pipeline, in addition to manifolds and elsewhere. When jet fuel is transported after biodiesel in either a product tanker or pipeline, it can release the FAME that has been left behind. This contamination is of particular concern to producers, shippers, and consumers of jet fuel. 
 
 According to a Special Air Worthiness Information Bulletin issued by the Federal Aviation Administration in August 2009, "At high enough concentrations, FAME can impact the thermal stability of the fuel that could lead to coke deposits in the fuel system. FAME contamination can also impact the freezing point of jet fuel resulting in gelling of the fuel. These conditions can result in engine operability problems, and possible engine flameout."
 
 In addition, the product can be used to confirm compliance with government mandates for minimum biodiesel percentages within blended diesels.

New FAME meter tests down to 1 ppm

Posted June 1, 2010
 
 Last week was a turbulent one for those in the biodiesel industry as reissuance of the federal 1$ per gallon tax credit, or at least a Congressional vote, was anticipated by many. 
 

 As the week began the House was expected to vote on the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act (H.R. 4213) early in the week, leaving time for the Senate to act on the legislation before the Memorial Day recess. 
 
 As the Friday morning leading up to the holiday passed, and as it looked as if the measure wouldn't even see a House vote until after the break, representatives took up the measure in the afternoon and passed H.R. 4213. 
 
 "The National Biodiesel Board is pleased that the House has finally passed the biodiesel tax credit," stated Manning Feraci, vice president of federal affairs. "Since the tax incentive's inception six years ago, the biodiesel industry has created tens of thousands of green jobs, added $4.1 billion to the nation's GDP and generated $828 million in tax revenue for federal, state and local governments. However, since the incentive has lapsed the industry has shed thousands of jobs, shuttered plants and is struggling to survive. Timely reinstatement of biodiesel tax incentive will undoubtedly reverse this troubling trend and allow the industry to create over 12,000 new jobs in this year alone."
 
 Biodiesel is the only domestically produced, commercial scale advanced biofuel that is readily available and accepted in the marketplace. The biodiesel tax incentive makes biodiesel price competitive with the diesel fuel produced by petroleum companies-an industry that has received billions of dollars in taxpayer support over the previous decades.
 
 "There are compelling economic, energy security and environmental benefits associated with displacing petroleum with clean-burning, domestically produced biodiesel," Feraci said. "Common sense dictates that the Senate should act swiftly upon their return from the Memorial Day recess and extend this effective public policy."

House passes biodiesel tax credit

Posted June 2, 2010
 
 Pacific Biodiesel Inc. announced that the Marine Corps Base Hawaii is using a B20 blend of biodiesel for the first time as of May 28, part of the Biodiesel Demonstration in Tactical Vehicles Project. Pacific Biodiesel is donating the biodiesel, made locally from used cooking oil, for the project's initial fill-up. 
 
 "The military is one of the biggest consumers of petroleum in the country and Pacific Biodiesel is happy to be part of the solution to our energy security and sustainability issues," said Kelly King, Pacific Biodiesel vice president and director of marketing and communications. "The disastrous spill in the Gulf should be our last wake-up call that the true cost of petroleum is not accurately reflected at the pump and that we must reduce our dependency on fossil fuel." 
 
 Bob King, president of Pacific Biodiesel, said, "The military recognizing the importance of using biodiesel reinforces that it's an essential part of a sustainable energy future. Now it's time for Congress to take action and reinstate the expired tax credit that has 70 percent of the industry shut down." 

 
 This demonstration project will involve regular testing of fuel quality, fuel stability and operational parameters, and the results will support future efforts to use B20 in nontactical fleets by ensuring fuel quality and identifying appropriate environments for its use. 
 
 SOURCE: PACIFIC BIODIESEL INC.

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Marine Corps Base Hawaii testing B20

Posted June 2, 2010
 
 An alliance of industry, academic and government organizations, formed to commercialize technologies that will utilize concentrated solar energy to convert waste carbon dioxide (CO2) into diesel fuel, was announced June 1. 
 
 The alliance team members include Sandia National Laboratories, Renewable Energy Institute International, Pacific Renewable Fuels, Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne (a United Technologies Division), Quanta Services, Desert Research Institute and Clean Energy Systems. In addition, commercial partners have signed on to advance work on the first round of commercial plants.
 
 The project team has received a first phase of funding from the National Energy Technology Laboratory to demonstrate these technologies.
 
 Total CO2 emissions in the U.S. have increased 17 percent from 1990 levels and, left unchecked, will continue to grow at about 1 percent per year. To address the challenge of climate change, the U.S. has set targets to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. 
 
 The solar reforming technology platform will be co-located next to industrial facilities that have waste CO2 streams such as coal power plants, natural gas processing facilities, ethanol plants, cement production facilities and other stationary sources of CO2.
 

 "The alliance team members believe that the best way to accomplish CO2 reduction goals is to commercialize platforms that will utilize CO2 as a carbon feedstock for the production of valuable products, such as diesel fuel," said Dr. Dennis Schuetzle, president of REII. 
 
 Close to 60 billion gallons of diesel fuel are used in the U.S. every year, much of which is derived from imported oil. Domestic production of diesel fuel will jointly help the U.S. improve energy security while utilizing waste CO2.
 
 "Sandia began working on research, development and demonstration of solar reforming technologies more than 20 years ago. We are pleased for the opportunity to extend these concepts in a public/private partnership that we expect will accelerate commercialization to accomplish our joint goals of CO2 emissions reduction and domestic fuel production," said Ellen Stechel, recycling CO2 program development lead for Sandia National Laboratories.
 
 A solar reforming system is currently being demonstrated in Sacramento, Calif., and demonstrations will continue both at Sandia's facilities in New Mexico and at a power plant project site in Bakersfield, Calif. Planning for the first round of commercial plants is under way at several locations in the U.S. The project team anticipates that deployment of the first commercial plants can begin in 2013.
 
 SOURCE: RENEWABLE ENERGY INSTITUTE INTERNATIONAL

Solar reforming waste CO2 to diesel fuel

Posted June 8, 2010
 
 Today the U.S. Senate is expected to ask the Chair to lay before the Senate the House message with respect to H.R. 4213, the tax extenders bill containing the reissuance of the $1 per gallon biodiesel tax credit. 
 
 The House passed the measure just before the Memorial Day recess. If passed by the Senate and signed by President Barack Obama, the credit will be reinstated until Dec. 31, 2010, and will be retroactive back to the first of the year. 
 
 The biodiesel industry is pushing hard for a longer term credit, three or five years, to bring investment back into the biodiesel arena.

Senate expected to take up tax credit today

Posted June 8, 2010
 
 The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission approved a contract for Sime Darby, Malaysia's leading multinational conglomerate, to provide approximately 1 million gallons of palm oil-derived biodiesel for use in Maui Electric Company's Biodiesel Demonstration Project at its Ma'alaea Power Plant.
 
 The demonstration will assess the use of biodiesel in place of petroleum-diesel in Maui Electric's diesel generating units and other diesel units around the state. Converting to biodiesel will be an important part of meeting Hawaii's renewable energy goal of 40 percent of electricity from renewable resources by 2030.
 
 Maui Electric has long used clean-burning biodiesel for start up and shut down of its diesel generators but the demonstration will test biodiesel for four months to determine its long-term effect on air emissions, heat rate, operations and maintenance costs and other factors.
 
 The PUC has also approved a two-year contract for a subsidiary of Renewable Energy Group Inc. to supply three to seven million gallons of renewable biodiesel annually to fuel Hawaiian Electric Company's new 110-megawatt combustion turbine generator unit at Campbell Industrial Park Generating Station.The biodiesel is processed from used cooking oil and waste animal fat.
 
 Both contracts require that the biodiesel supplier meet all technical specifications, environmental and legal requirements as well as the terms of the Environmental Policy for Procurement of Biodiesel from Sustainably-Produced Palm Oil and Locally-Grown Feedstock adopted in August 2007 by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Hawaiian Electric companies.

 
 "We are moving forward in our quest for locally grown and processed biofuels for our units," said Robbie Alm, Hawaiian Electric executive vice president. "At the same time, this short-term contract for the new Campbell Industrial Park generator and the biofuel to test on Maui will allow us to provide power to our customers today as we create a market in Hawaii to nurture an agricultural energy industry for tomorrow.
 
 "We must pursue every renewable resource available-sun, wind, our land and oceans-and take advantage of our unique ability to substitute 'green' fuels in place of 'black' oil-based fuels in our new and existing generating units," Alm said.
 
 Campbell Industrial Park Generating Station was completed last year and because the generator is more efficient than older combustion turbines in the Hawaiian Electric fleet, with Public Utilities Commission approval, the unit has been used to help meet Oahu's energy needs during peak demand hours.
 
 The new unit can start quickly in emergencies and also can increase or decrease power output rapidly. This capability can help maintain reliability as more intermittent renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar power, are added to the grid on Oahu. The unit also has "black start" capability to help restart the electric system should an island-wide outage occur.
 
 The Public Utilities Commission approvals, which come after considering the contracts and input from the Hawaii Office of Consumer Advocacy, allow Hawaiian Electric and Maui Electric to recover the cost of the fuels, transportation, storage, and related costs in the energy cost adjustment surcharge. The utilities take no mark-up or profit on such fuel costs.
 
 SOURCE: HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC CO.

Hawaii PUC approves Sime Darby contract

Posted June 9, 2010
 
 "Advanced biofuels" is one of the hottest phrases in renewable energy today, representing a fundamental shift in the expectation of what biofuels must offer in terms of climate change mitigation and social responsibility, in addition to new production technologies and alternative feedstocks. 
 

 The Advanced Biofuels Workshop, a one-day event, will take place June 14 in St. Louis at the America's Center-and the panel and speaker lineup is solid. The event starts out with a keynote address from the president of the Advanced Biofuels Association, Michael McAdams, who will discuss the nature of advanced biofuels and some of the strong policy initiatives underway. 
 
 McAdams will then moderate the event's kick-off panel, Game-Changing Pathways: Exploring New Roads to Tomorrow's Advanced Biofuels. Speakers featured on this panel include Gregory Pal, senior director of corporate development for LS9 Inc., the company that recently had its trademarked UltraClean Diesel fuel certified by the U.S. EPA. The fuel is a product of fermenting C5 and C6 sugars to diesel fuel using designer microbes. Pal's presentation is titled, High-Quality, Low Cost Drop-In Fuels & Sustainable Chemicals. Greg Keenan, vice president of business development for Virent Energy Systems Inc.-the company that Royal Dutch Shell announced it invested a big equity stake in-will discuss the production of infrastructure-compatible liquid fuels using the BioForming process. 
 
 Also speaking on the Game-Changing Pathways panel is Randal Goodfellow, senior vice president with Envergent Technologies, who will give a presentation titled, Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP): A Proven Pathway to Renewable Liquid Fuel. Omar Abou-Sayed, vice president of corporate development for Elevance Renewable Sciences Inc., which owns rights to olefin metathesis technology that won three scientists a Nobel Prize, will present on building a biorefining industry using metathesis. Elevance is also the company contracted with Renewable Energy Group Inc. to build an olefin metathesis demonstration plant in one of REG's biodiesel plants. 
 
 The second panel at the Advanced Biofuels Workshop is titled, Basic Value Proposition: Understanding the Why and How of Selected Advanced Biofuels. Moderator will be Tim Portz, program manager for BBI International. 
 
 "It occurred to us that perhaps professionals within the existing biofuels industry could use a workshop that really focused on the very basic 'how and why' of growing the advanced biofuels industry," Portz said. 
 
 Michael Slaney, managing director with Gevo Development LLC will discuss butanol developments and the upside they can hold for the ethanol industry. Ted Aulich, a process chemist and senior research manager for the Grand Forks, N.D.-based Energy and Environmental Research Center, will present on Renewable and Petroleum Diesel Integration and Economics. Karl Seck, president of Mercurius Biofuels LLC, is scheduled to speak about Catalytic Hydrolysis: A Novel Biomass Conversion Technology. Also, Gary Luce, CEO of Terrabon LLC, will discuss why keeping it simple is hard, and how technology only gives one a seat at the table. 
 
 After a lunch break the conference resumes with the next panel, Second Life: Upgrading Existing Industrial Facilities for Advanced Biofuels Production. Ron Kotrba, editor of Biodiesel Magazine, will moderate the panel. Richard Aves, CEO of Cetane Energy, will discuss small-scale hydroprocessing. Cetane Energy contracted with Healey Biodiesel of Sedgwick, Kan., to retrofit the traditional transesterification facility to a renewable diesel plant using small-scale hydroprocessing. Roman Wolff, president of Enhanced Biofuels LLC, is scheduled to give a presentation titled, Sensible Solutions: Add-ons and Retrofits to Process and Upgrade High Acidity Feedstock. John Monks, business director for DSM BioProducts, will discuss practical solutions for improved ethanol yields from cellulosic side streams. Also on the panel is Eric Connor with ThermoChem Recovery International, who will speak on thermochemical biorefinery integration strategies, and will also give a pilot plant update and review. 
 

 The final panel of the workshop is Drop-In Biofuels: The Importance of Developing Fuels that are Infrastructure Ready. The moderator is scheduled to be biofuels research director for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Tom Foust. Seth Snyder with Argonne National Laboratory will give a presentation titled, Drop-In Biofuels: The Importance of Developing Infrastructure-Ready Fuels. Jeff McDaniel, director of business development for Velocys, is scheduled to speak about microchannel technology and enabling the production of cellulosic diesel. Finally, Steve Howell, president of MARC-IV Consulting Inc., also technical director of the National Biodiesel Board, will give a status update on biodiesel, America's first advanced biofuel, and activities on multi-product pipelines. 
 
 "We're just really pleased with the level of executive participation on the agenda," Portz said. "I'm looking forward to the program. I think at the end of the day, all of our participants will have a much broader understanding of this developing industry and, hopefully, the opportunities for them and their organizations within it." 
 
 To register for this premier event, go to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.advancedbiofuelsworkshop.com" rel="external">www.advancedbiofuelsworkshop.com</a>.

Advanced Biofuels Workshop, June 14 in St. Louis, offers solid agenda

Posted June 9, 2010
 
 While a full vote in the U.S. Senate has yet to occur on H.R. 4213, the legislation that includes extension of the biodiesel tax credit, the legislation was picked up on June 8 and initial action was taken. 
 
 Yesterday, on June 8, Sen. Max Baucus from Montana motioned to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 4213 with an amendment, S.A. 4301, made in the Senate. 
 
 This and other actions on H.R. 4213 are considered part of the resolving differences process between House and Senate versions of the bill. 
 
 Biodiesel Magazine will continue following this important issue and report on any new developments.

Senate action on biodiesel tax credit

Posted June 9, 2010

 
 Repsol has signed a framework agreement with Neuron BPh for the development of projects of joint interest in the area of industrial biotechnology. Neuron, developer of registered technology platform MicroBioTools, works on the development of bioprocesses for the food, chemical, pharmaceutical and energy industries. 
 
 The development of bioprocesses by Neuron Bioindustrial include the isolation and selection of microorganisms, optimization and scaling studies in bioreactors, and technical and economic feasibility studies in industrial plants. 
 
 Repsol technical managers have identified Neuron Bioindustrial as a strategic partner for its experience and know-how in the area of industrial biotechnology in the areas of industrial applications, biopolymers and bioenergy. 
 
 Among the developments achieved by Neuron's technology platform stresses MicroBiOil , a novel technology for the production of second generation biodiesel from crude glycerin; and TriBioPlast, a technology for the production of bioplastics. 
 
 Repsol is an integrated international oil and gas company, operating in over 25 countries and leader in Spain and Argentina. It is one of the 10 largest private oil companies in the world and the largest private energy company in Latin America in terms of assets. 
 
 SOURCE: NEURON BPH

Repsol, Neuron BPh sign agreement

Posted June 15, 2010
 
 "Show me the gallons," said Michael McAdams, president of the Advanced Biofuels Association and keynote speaker at the Advanced Biofuels Workshop, which took place June 14 in St. Louis as a co-located event at the 26th International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo. McAdams said he was bringing the audience into the "no spin zone" and discussed the troubling issues regarding the lapsed biodiesel and other tax credits that are crippling America's drive toward energy independence. 

 
 "It's not just tax credits that Congress is dealing with," he said. Health care, oil spill liability, offshore drilling and a number of other pressing issues are occupying Congress' time. "You pick them and I work with them," McAdams said. "I protect you from those you elect." He then observed that he wasn't sure how the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was ever going to get cleaned up because BP is so busy coming to Washington for hearings. 
 
 McAdams' consistency in his message over the years is unwavering, pushing for technology and feedstock neutrality and tax parity in the biofuels sector. The various biofuels industries need to work together, he said, but the way things are typically done tend to be in "siloed" form. 
 
 He forewarned of economic leavening and asked "how much food is in the trough" regarding the tax extenders package that has been going back and forth between the House of Representatives and the Senate-when it's not being ignored entirely. 
 
 "The House is tired of taking the Senate's position," said McAdams, indicating that the internal power struggle on the Hill is debilitating progress on all fronts. 
 
 "What is doable in terms of tax policy? How do we get across this valley of death?" McAdams asked. 
 
 He mentioned there are four bills floating around Congress now seeking to change cellulosic credit; and reminded everyone that there is no longer a 50 cent credit for black liquor, a byproduct of the pulp and paper mills that can be burned for energy. 
 
 "There's no parity across the divisions-and then one tax credit is for a product, another is for a process," McAdams said with cynicism, reemphasizing that the tax code needs to be technology neutral. "Now the tax codes look like they were all brought to you by special interests," he said. 
 
 Of the nearly $800 billion shelled out in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, only $564 million went to advanced biofuels projects; and only $80 million toward advanced biofuels research. McAdams asked, "Did you get your fair share?"

June 2010

Business Briefs

Business Briefs

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European Report on Biodiesel GHG Emissions is Flawed

Mechanical High-Shear Dispersion

Featured

Ultrasonic Biodiesel Processing

Toledo Transit Authority Studies B20 Fuel Economy

June 2010.css-7jxktu{position:absolute;bottom:0px;left:0px;right:0px;height:3px;border-radius:3px;background-color:var(--chakra-colors-brandBlack);}

Business Briefs

Business Briefs

Columns

European Report on Biodiesel GHG Emissions is Flawed

Mechanical High-Shear Dispersion

Featured

Ultrasonic Biodiesel Processing

Toledo Transit Authority Studies B20 Fuel Economy

June 2010