Forbes Tiny Reactor Boosts Biodiesel Production

"A tiny chemical reactor that can convert vegetable oil directly into biodiesel could help farmers turn some of their crops into homegrown fuel to operate agricultural equipment instead of relying on costly imported oil.

The device - about the size of a credit card - pumps vegetable oil and alcohol through tiny parallel channels, each smaller than a human hair, to convert the oil into biodiesel almost instantly.

By comparison, it takes more than a day to produce biodiesel with current technology."

redux [02.02.06]
NPR Professor Attacks Enthusiasm for Bio-Fuels

"A growing number of Americans are embracing ethanol and bio-diesel as possible alternatives to gasoline. But one Berkeley engineering professor is waging a campaign against what he considers a delusion about bio-fuels. Martin Kaste reports."

redux [11.26.05]
National Geographic News Cheaper Veggie Diesel May Change the Way We Drive

"Japanese scientists may have found a cheaper and more efficient way to produce "biodiesel." The renewable, vegetable oil-based fuel can be used in conventional diesel engines, which are found in about 2 percent of cars currently sold in the U.S. and in about 40 percent in Europe."

"The breakthrough could provide cost savings on a massive scale, he said, because the technique could fairly easily make the transition from the lab to the refinery—if interest warrants."

redux [10.03.05]
USA Today Counties switch to biodiesel school buses

"Sherry Dean has a secret she's been keeping from her drivers since March — their Upshur County school buses are running on an alternative fuel made of vegetable oil and diesel.

"I wanted to run it without my drivers or mechanics knowing," she said. "That way I can have a true feeling for how it's doing."

So far, the results have been "great."

Dean is among a slowly growing number of county transportation directors in West Virginia and across the nation who are switching from straight diesel to a mixture of diesel and biodiesel, a fuel based primarily on vegetable oils."

MSNBC Biodiesel gathering steam

"Fueled in part by high diesel prices and the twin hurricanes that pushed those prices even higher, the Washington Legislature may take its biggest step yet in promoting the biodiesel industry.

State leaders are considering direct state funding for a biodiesel crushing and refining facility in Eastern Washington -- a move that could help position Washington as a national leader in a once-obscure energy sector that's getting renewed attention."

Albert Lea Tribune Governor hails historic biodiesel law

"Gov. Tim Pawlenty visited the SoyMor Biodiesel plant in Glenvillee Thursday as part of his biodiesel kick-off fly-around. The tour's goal was to promote a newly adopted law in Minnesota which requires all diesel fuel sold in the state to contain at least 2 percent biodiesel."

""In Minnesota, we're going to be the Saudi Arabia of renewable fuels," said Pawlenty, "and if other states catch up, we're going to raise the bar on ourselves.""

The Chief Engineer Work Begins On Biodiesel Plant

"A massive biodiesel plant to be built in northern Iowa is just the kind of project the new energy bill will help foster, said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.

Cargill Inc. was to break ground in Iowa Falls on the world’s largest biodiesel plant, expected to churn out 37.5 million gallons of fuel a year. It will use soybeans, all bought from area farmers, said Bill Brady, spokesman for the Minnesota company."

"The cost of biodiesel is still higher than regular diesel. In almost every area, biodiesel outperforms regular diesel. So, it’s been strictly a cost issue,” Olson said."

Wired News Green Berets Prefer Biodiesel

"When Erwin Rommel's Panzer tanks ran out of diesel fuel in North Africa in World War II, the German general poured cooking oil into their gas tanks to keep the vehicles fighting.

The U.S. military thinks Germany's "Desert Fox" might have been onto something. At bases throughout the United States, soldiers are filling their gas tanks with biodiesel -- diesel fuel made from soybean or other vegetable oil.

The Marines are among those leading the charge."

ConsumerAffairs.Com VW Diesels Can Run On Beans

"Volkswagen says its diesel engines can run on beans, soybeans that is. The German automaker has decreed that diesel fuels containing five percent soybean oil or other natural farm products are suitable for all of its diesel engines sold in the United States -- and it is extending its warranty coverage accordingly.

The announcement means that VW owners can safely use what's known as B-5 biodiesel, which contains up to five percent vegetable oil. VW says it is researching biodiesel fuels containing as much as 20 percent farm products."