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Environmental
News & New Developments:
Biofuel Companies making strides producing Biodiesel and Ethanol from Algae
Due
to the concerns expressed by some that using corn or other food crops
for making ethanol and biodiesel leads to food shortage and using
arable lands to plant crops for energy leads to less arable lands
for growing crops for food, several biofuel companies have embarked on
researches to identify alternative feedstocks for manufacturing
biofuels (alcohols and biodiesels). A number of these biofuel companies
are claiming to be making progress in turning Algae to Fuels (Biodiesel and Ethanol). The
lipids and oils in Algae are turned to biodiesel while the Algae
cabohydrates are turned to ethanol. List of some of these biofuel
companies can be found at the following link:
Biofuels companies, researchers and
manufacturers Read More: Ethanol from Algae - Oilgae - Oil from Algae First commercial ethanol-fuelled power
plant developed and commissioned in Brazil
Brazil has opened the
world’s first ethanol powered power plant.
Brazil’s
state-owned company
Petrobras and
General Electric (GE)
designed the project and it was commissioned during the week of January 19,
2010. It is a conversion project from natural gas powered plant to ethanol
powered plant.
The ethanol-fired plant, with an installed capacity of 87 MW
is capable of powering a city of 150,000 people. It is situated in the city
of Juiz de Fora, in the state of Minas Gerais,
approximately 180km north of Rio de Janeiro. The plant uses sugar cane as its
ethanol feedstock.
Read More:
Brazil opens world's first ethanol-fired power plant - Reuters
Biofuel Power Corporation developed the
second biodiesel powered electricity generating plant in Woodlands,
Texas, USA.
Biofuel Power
Corporation (BPC) has commissioned its Woodlands-Area Renewable Power
Plant (“WARPP”) that will provide up to 10 Megawatts of electricity into the
Entergy power grid fueled by 100% biodiesel, a renewable carbon-neutral fuel
produced from vegetable oil and animal fats. The WARPP clean energy plant is
located adjacent to The Woodlands, Texas in south Montgomery County. It
utilizes a General Electric Frame 5 turbine purchased from Eglin Air Force
Base.
This unit is located on the
Safe Renewables Corp.
(“SRC”) biodiesel refinery site that will produce up to 1 million gallons
per month of fuel from a variety of feedstocks including soybean and
cottonseed oils, as well as chicken, beef and pork fats.
Read More:
Biofuel Power Corporation Press Release
A biodiesel powered electricity generating
plant developed by a US company
A company based in The Woodlands
Texas, Uniyed States of America (USA),
Biofuel Power Corporation (BPC),
developed a grid-connected biodiesel powered electricity
generation plant. The plant, which is the first power plant in USA
to run exclusively on biodoesel, is located in Oak Ridge North
(“ORN”), just north of Houston in Texas. The plant uses three
Caterpillar generators that produce up to 5 MegaWatts (MW) as a
peaker plant into the Centerpoint Energy connection in the Texas
power grid known as Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).
The bioodiesel for
running the plant is produced by
Safe Renewables
Corporation (SRC); SRC makes the fuel from soy, cottonseed, and canola
oil combined with animal fats. The biodiesel refinery is located within 2
miles of the power plant.
Funding for the
plant was provided by
Texoga BioFuels Ltd., a partnership financed by
M1 Energy of Chicago.
The principle investors are commodity traders with the Chicago Board of
Trade.
Read More:
Biofuel Power Corporation Press Release
Previously reported News
Headlines
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Africa wants Industrialized Nations to pay for Climate Change
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