Exxon Sinks $600 M Into Algae-based Biofuels in Major Strategy-Shift

By KATIE HOWELL of Greenwire
Published: July 14, 2009

Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. is making a major jump into renewable energy with a $600 million investment in algae-based biofuels.

Exxon is joining a biotech company, Synthetic Genomics Inc., to research and develop next-generation biofuels produced from sunlight, water and waste carbon dioxide by photosynthetic pond scum.

"The world faces a significant challenge to supply the energy required for economic development and improved standards of living while managing greenhouse gas emissions and the risks of climate change," said Emil Jacobs, vice president of research and development at Exxon Mobil Research and Engineering Co. "It's going to take integrated solutions and the development of all commercially viable energy sources, improved energy efficiency and effective steps to curb emissions. It is also going to include the development of new technology."

Exxon Mobil's collaboration with Synthetic Genomics will last five to six years, Jacobs said, and will involve the creation of a new test facility in San Diego to study algae-growing methods and oil extraction techniques. After that, he said the company could invest billions of dollars more to scale up the technology and bring it to commercial production.

"We're not claiming to know all the answers," said Craig Venter, founder and CEO of Synthetic Genomics, which has so far done early work on algae strains. "There are different approaches to what is truly economically scalable, so we're testing things and giving a new reality to the timelines and expectations of what it takes to have a global impact on fuel supply."

Jacobs and Venter are mum about the specific technology the collaborative effort would employ. They said the team would investigate all options, including growing organisms in open ponds and in closed photobioreactors.

They added that they were likewise uncertain what end-product fuels would result from the collaboration. Other startup companies have announced that they were producing both synthetic crude and biodiesel using photosynthetic algae (Greenwire, April 28).

"As far as products to expect from this program, our intent is to make hydrocarbons that look a lot like today's transportation fuels," Jacobs said. "We want to produce hydrocarbons that look like today's refinery products, that can go into a refinery to be processed along with other petroleum streams and then used in the transportation fleet or even jet fuel. And we think we've got a good chance of doing that."

Exxon Mobil launched the partnership after years of being publicly opposed to investing in renewable energy. Privately, though, Jacobs said the company has been investigating the sector for years.

"It's fair to say that we looked at all the biofuels options," Jacobs said. "Algae ended up on top."

Others in the algae-biofuels industry say Exxon Mobil's investment validates the sector.

"A couple years ago, the petroleum institute said there's only a couple of years left for oil, and now they're really finally acting on that," said Riggs Eckelberry, president and CEO of OriginOil Inc. "Algae is the feedstock to overtake petroleum. It's the real alternative to petroleum."

Environmentalists were more cautious in their appraisal of the Exxon Mobil-Synthetic Genomics plan.

"They've never done anything like this before -- invested real money in the renewables sector," said Kert Davies, research director at Greenpeace. "We've always said [the oil industry] has to be part of the climate change solution. We can't solve anything without companies like Exxon helping."

He added, "I'm guarding my optimism."

Exxon Mobil's timing is noteworthy, Davies said, because of the ongoing energy and climate legislative fight.

"It's interesting timing as the oil companies are struggling to find a place at the table," Davies said.

Renewable fuels standard

While Exxon Mobil's investment marks a sea change in activity in the sector, significant challenges remain in place to achieve wide-scale commercial development.

Next-wave biofuels that could reduce carbon emissions and displace oil imports are politically popular but have not moved into commercial production as fast as supporters would have hoped. Biofuels overall got a boost through a 2007 law that expands the national renewable fuels standard, or RFS, to reach 36 billion gallons by 2022.

But Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said the RFS expansion is too restrictive and could freeze out emerging technologies -- including algae-based biofuels. He is calling for changes that would make it more "technology- and feedstock-neutral" to accommodate fuels that could ultimately prove superior in several respects.

"Algae-based fuels are the most obvious example, which, despite having characteristics superior to any renewable fuels in commercial production today, have no home in the RFS," Bingaman said in a column about the standards published in the Politico newspaper.

Senior reporter Ben Geman contributed.

quote:

Originally posted by Graydon Blair:
Exxon Sinks $600 M Into Algae-based Biofuels in Major Strategy-Shift

Reposted this under algae.

My 2 cents: It was inevitable that once the research went from federally funded to smaller private companies and especially universities, that the big boys would come along and scoop up enough of the patents to control the algae industry once all the research was complete.

It's coming. It's almost here...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: clean and green,

First East Tenn. biodiesel production facility opens
http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=10733566

By ANN KEIL
6 News Reporter

KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- Fryer grease from 30 Knoxville area restaurants will soon be used in the area's first biodiesel production facility. The ribbon cutting ceremony was Wednesday.

The facility is small, but effective according to the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), the local non-profit that partnered with the University of Tennessee to make the facility possible.

"It's a win-win. It cleans up the environment by cleaning up the waste. Then, it also cleans up the environment by providing renewable fuels," says SACE Director Dr. Stephen Smith.

"It basically displaces petroleum so every gallon we produce here is one less gallon we're buying from the Middle East. It also helps improve the air quality," Smith explains.

He calls biodiesel one of the fuels of the future that can be produced locally. That fuel will soon go to UT and local governments to help power their vehicles.

The grease will need to flow through a series of trucks and tanks built using almost $500,000.

"We also see it as an economic development tool for the state, rural areas especially. There are lots of opportunities here for biofuels, and we feel like Tennessee is well positioned to be the leader in the nation," says UT project coordinator Sam Jackson.

The facility might also supply biodiesel to community businesses in the future, but in the meantime it will be used as a hands-on research center for UT students.

More localized facilities like this one, using local resources and supplying local markets will likely be much more successful then mega projects designed to feed an export market while relying on US taxpayer funded subsidies.

quote:

Originally posted by john galt:
More localized facilities like this one, using local resources and supplying local markets will likely be much more successful then mega projects designed to feed an export market while relying on US taxpayer funded subsidies.

Interesting you should say that. I finished reading a book a while ago where that was the authors main point of arguement..localizing economies.

Deep Economy

Eyes turn to salt-tolerant plant
http://www.theglobeandmail.com...plant/article770162/
RANDALL CHASE

LEWES, Del. — Associated Press Last updated on Friday, Apr. 03, 2009 10:03AM EDT

John Gallagher pinches a pod from the long-stemmed plant in the greenhouse next to his office, cracks it open and pops the BB-sized seeds into his mouth.

“They're not going to compete with peanuts, but they're good,” said Dr. Gallagher, a University of Delaware researcher.

While the seashore mallow might be handy for a quick snack, the sturdy plant has provided Dr. Gallagher food for thought in addressing a smorgasbord of environmental problems, from global warming to the disappearance of coastal farmland.

Dr. Gallagher, a marine biosciences professor, said the seeds are a promising source of biodiesel, with an oil composition similar to that of soybeans and cottonseed.

Unlike soybeans and corn, which require annual plantings to feed the growing appetite for biofuels, the pink-flowered seashore mallow is both a perennial and a halophyte – salt-tolerant plant – that grows in areas where other crops can't.

“You don't have to divert land that is presently used for producing food and feed to the process of making biodiesel,” said Dr. Gallagher, who runs the university's Halophyte Biotechnology Center with his wife and fellow researcher, Denise Seliskar.

With the threat of sea water encroaching on farmland and coastal aquifers because of global warming, Dr. Gallagher believes the seashore mallow could help preserve the economic value of arable land transitioning to marshland.

The meal left after oil is extracted from mallow seeds has enough protein to be used for animal feed, while the stems have potential for use in cellulosic ethanol, Dr. Gallagher said. The roots of the plant could be used to make industrial gum.

“It's almost like the pig of the vegetable world; you can use everything but the squeal,” he said, noting that the roots sequester carbon from the atmosphere, making the plant a carbon-neutral source of energy.

Dan Soeder, a U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist studying saltwater intrusion in coastal areas, is among those intrigued by Dr. Gallagher's research on the mallow as biofuel.

“I don't know if it's going to be the cure for all evils, but it certainly fills a niche,” Mr. Soeder said. “It's a biofuel crop that you're growing without tying up agricultural land.”

While more than 20 countries are involved in saltwater agriculture projects for food crops, the idea of using halophytes as biomass for fuel is a recent development, said Dennis Bushnell, chief scientist at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.

“This is a revolution for agriculture as well as for energy,” said Mr. Bushnell, who has been advocating the use of halophytes as fuel sources for more than a decade but has been unable to generate much interest among federal agencies.

According to Mr. Bushnell, some 250 halophytes are potential food staple crops, while thousands more might be available as fuel biomass.

Dr. Gallagher and Dr. Seliskar are tending a 2½-acre plot of seashore mallow planted last year. While that crop is planted on conventional farmland, plans are in the works for an experimental plot in saline soil elsewhere.

Seed yield would need to be improved before the mallow can be commercialized for biodiesel purposes, but Dr. Gallagher and his colleagues say selective breeding, tissue culturing and genetic engineering could improve the crop potential of the plant, which is native to salt marshes stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the mid-Atlantic coast.

Biodiesel plant to trade in transesterification for hydroprocessing
http://www.biodieselmagazine.c....jsp?article_id=3622
By Ron Kotrba

Posted July 17, 2009

A small biodiesel refinery in Sedgwick, Kan., Healy Biodiesel Inc., has signed a letter of intent with Cetane Energy LLC to license its patent-pending hydroprocessed renewable diesel technology. Cetane Energy operates a standalone hydroprocessing plant in Carlsbad, N.M., which started operations late last year.

“It is all about feedstock flexibility and fuel quality,” said Ben Healy, president of Healy Biodiesel. He told Biodiesel Magazine his company began looking at different hydroprocessing options about a year ago, talking with well-known green diesel tech providers such as UOP, before signing the letter of intent with Cetane Energy. “As good as biodiesel is, renewable diesel is superior,” he said. “Cetane Energy’s Gen II technology will allow us to break into markets never possible before with traditional biodiesel. We are also very impressed with the quality of fuel that Cetane’s technology can put out on a consistent basis.”

Healy Biodiesel is a commercial methyl ester refinery with a 1.2 MMgy production capacity. The technology transition phase is expected to begin in November 2009 and completed by April 2010. Healy said while the plant’s biodiesel production capacity is at 1.2 MMgy now, they’ve only been producing a fraction of that volume. Once the process changes are made, the plant will be able to produce 3 MMgy of green diesel. According to Cetane Energy, the operating costs for hydroprocessing will be lower for Healy Biodiesel than what’s required for transesterification.

...A 'Green' Process For Biodiesel From Feather Meal
http://www.sciencedaily.com/re.../07/090722110903.htm

ScienceDaily (July 22, 2009) — Scientists in Nevada are reporting development of a new and environmentally friendly process for producing biodiesel fuel from "chicken feather meal," made from the 11 billion pounds of poultry industry waste that accumulate annually in the United States alone.

In the study Mano Misra, Susanta Mohapatra, Narasimharao Kondamudi, and Jason Strull note that chicken feather meal consists of processed chicken feathers, blood, and innards that have been processed at high temperatures with steam. Currently feather meal is used as animal feed and fertilizer because of its high protein and nitrogen content. With as much as 12 percent fat content, feather meal has potential as an alternative, nonfood feedstock for the production of biofuel, the report says.

The researchers describe a new process for extracting fat from chicken feather meal using boiling water and processing it into biodiesel. Given the amount of feather meal generated by the poultry industry each year, they estimate this process could create 153 million gallons of biodiesel annually in the U.S. and 593 million gallons worldwide. In addition, they note that removal of fat content from feather meal results in both a higher-grade animal feed and a better nitrogen source for fertilizer applications.

ha anywhere in this world we find oil we have a potential biodiesel feedstock.. very interesting times.. chickens, who knows what nxt

They've found a new way to get oil out of the feather meal. That's great.

They say the oil can be made into biodiesel. That's obvious.

They say that removing the oil from the feather meal makes a better animal feed. That's what's relevant.

Biodiesel plant opens at Foam Lake
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saska.../sask-biodiesel.html
July 23, 2009
CBC News

Canada's first canola-based biodiesel fuel plant opened Thursday in Foam Lake, Sask.
The Milligan-Biotech plant cold crushes canola to produce biodiesel and other products.

Zenneth Faye, one of the original group of farmers who decided to build the Milligan Bio-Tech plant, said it had been a long road that began with an idea about 20 years ago.

Faye, an engineer, is now the executive manager of the plant, which crushes canola seed to produce various renewable products including lubricants and diesel fuel. He was one of a small group of canola farmers who sat around a kitchen table in 1991, trying to find new markets for their oilseed crop.

The group knew canola had been converted to fuel in Europe, but the winters are milder there than in Saskatchewan, so the challenge was to develop a fuel that wouldn't freeze at sub-zero temperatures.

"It's been a very bumpy road along the way," said Faye. "Developing the technology, developing the equipment that can be utilized and doing it in a cost-effective manner."

Twenty years and $20 million later, Faye expects to expand production at the new Milligan Bio-Tech plant as demand for its products increases.

"We have market opportunities to be a blending agent for other feedstocks and also a product that we can sell on its own. Because it has the highest flowability in cold temperatures and also the greatest lubricity … of any feedstock."

Faye is quick to assure critics that this plant is not taking food away from the hungry.

"We use non-food canola that is rejected by the food plants," he noted. "And we have developed an efficient cold crushing [process] with the University of Saskatchewan and Agri-Food Canada to extract that oil. Then we take that oil and produce our biodiesel."

Demand for biodiesel is expected to increase when the federal renewable fuel mandate comes into effect in 2012.

That's when all diesel sold in Canada will have to contain at least two per cent biodiesel.

New “BioTrucker” Stop Offers Biodiesel Savings
http://domesticfuel.com/2009/0...s-biodiesel-savings/
by Cindy Zimmerman – July 23rd, 2009

NBB, The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) welcomed the Gas City station in Romeoville, Illinois as the latest addition to the BioTrucker network. BioTrucker is a program that encourages truck stops to sell environmentally friendly, domestically produced biodiesel blends.

Biodiesel is an alternative to diesel fuel. It’s made from diverse renewable resources, such as recycled cooking oil and soybean oil.

Bill Schireman, Executive Vice President of Gas City, says they will be celebrating by offering customers a savings of 50 cents per gallon on the purchase of B11 – diesel fuel blended with 11 percent biodiesel – on Thursday, July 23 from 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. The B11 blend, common in Illinois, normally sells for about the same price as regular diesel fuel.

“Gas City is proud to be part of this program and we always look for ways to improve the environment and reduce the dependency on foreign oil and we think it will benefit us going forward in the future,” said Schireman. “In fact we are going to add a few more locations here in the next couple of months.”

BioTrucker is a network of more than 5,000 fueling locations offering trucking companies and owner-operators the benefit of purchasing fuel without a transaction fee, and at cash prices.

NBB BioTrucker Consultant Sharon Bell says BioTrucker is a program to encourage more truck stops to make biodiesel available. “We developed maps that show the truck stops and truck accessible locations that are now available on BioTrucker.com, so it’s a way to help truckers find biodiesel and a way to educate them about biodiesel and how it can help their engines, help the American farmer and alleviate some use of petroleum and imported oil,” she said.

The Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup racing series transport team will be visiting the Gas City BioTrucker stop Thursday as they fuel up their trucks with the biodiesel blend. They are en route to the Autobahn Country Club in Joliet for the race this weekend, July 25-26. Volkswagen is using biodiesel blends to power its racecars, transport vehicles and generators throughout the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup racing season, in partnership with its official fuel sponsor, HYPERFUELS.

Jess Hewitt, President of HYPERFUELS and NBB Marketing Chairman, says the racing series and the BioTrucker program are complementing each other in helping to promote the benefits of biodiesel to truckers and the public in general.

“These drivers love the biodiesel blends. They do stop at every truck stop that is BioTrucker networked and they are filling up with biodiesel as they go across the country,” said Hewitt.

Yet another reason why I NEVER want to live in California....

Bye bye, biodiesel
http://www.latimes.com/news/op...ul26,0,1984635.story

State regulations force vendors to switch to petroleum-based fuels for now, driving green motorists to distraction.

By Judith Lewis
July 26, 2009
It was a fine June day in 2007 when a senator from Illinois, then a long-shot for the presidency, stood beside the pumps at Conserv Fuel in West Los Angeles and congratulated the heroes of the biofuel revolution. Conserv Fuel was one of the first fueling stations in the country to offer biofuel at the pump, and Barack Obama was looking to establish himself as an alternative-fuel-friendly candidate. He railed against the Bush administration's oil-centric energy policy. He commended Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for establishing a low-carbon fuel standard. He described the man who brought biofuels to Conserv Fuel, Kris Moller, as a fearless warrior for the planet who went to work while Washington fiddled.

"Folks like Kris are part of a grass-roots movement that's making American greener right now," Obama concluded. "He's way ahead of Washington."

Oh, how long ago that day seemed last month when I drove my diesel-powered 2002 Volkswagen into the Conserv Fuel station for a fill-up. I bought the little green Bug four years ago to run exclusively on biodiesel. The fuel, made from vegetable oil or animal fat, works in diesel engines just as well as diesel made from petroleum, and it requires no modifications to the machine.

I'd been a regular at Conserv Fuel ever since I bought the car, but on that June day, the station attendant tried to head me off: "No more! No more!" he shouted, waving his hands. When I got closer, I saw what the fuss was about: The biodiesel pump had a shiny new sign on it: "Diesel #2."

The man pointed at a letter taped to the inside of the window. It said that Conserv Fuel would no longer sell the sweet-smelling, cleaner-burning fuel on which I'd come to depend. My local fueling station's flirtation with biodiesel was over. I put enough stinky fossil-fuel diesel in my tank to get home and drove off, shamefully chugging soot all the way.

Conserv Fuel's abandonment of biodiesel grew out of a June decision by the State Water Resources Control Board to begin enforcing laws against storing biodiesel underground. As commercial fueling stations have no economical way to hold fuel in tanks on the surface, the ruling forced most of the state's retail biodiesel pumps to switch to petroleum or close.

I'm all for caution when it comes to storing chemicals in the ground, and California's regulators want to avoid another underground-storage fiasco like the one in which the gasoline additive MTBE migrated into drinking water. What's better for the air isn't necessarily better for the ground, which is why green fuels get no special treatment. "Everything that's going to be stored underground has to be tested by an independent authority," water board spokesman William Rukeyser says.

The problem is that getting a new fuel tested can take up to three years. And the board's concerns would make a lot of sense were biodiesel a new, foreign substance. But it's not. Several studies have found that biodiesel in its pure form is less toxic than maple syrup; it degrades faster than sugar. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found its exhaust does no harm to human health.

The water board has said it is less worried about the fuel itself than about substances added to biodiesel. One agency official claimed biodiesel comes in as many as 1.5 million different formulations. That's a wild exaggeration -- by law every batch of fuel conforms to a chemical standard. But it's true that some manufacturers add preservatives to the fuel to extend shelf life. Others add a small amount of petroleum so that vendors can take advantage of a tax incentive that the federal government grants to sales of blended fuels.

But none of those additives are necessary, says Eric Bowen, chairman of the California Biodiesel Alliance. "Only if it's traveling over long distances and in storage for a long time does biodiesel begin to degrade," he says. "There's no practical reason for adding anything to local, sustainable biodiesel."

Regulators have already made a temporary exemption for the underground storage of blends up to 20% biodiesel and 80% petroleum, just to keep the industry afloat until independent certification comes through. Why not make the same allowance for 100% home-grown biodiesel from local producers? Such a ruling could help foster the state's hoped-for green economy by encouraging ever-more sustainable biofuels. It could also help us biodiesel users assure our cynical friends that we aren't destroying rain forests to fuel our cars.

In the meantime, many of us who wanted to reduce the environmental impact of our driving remain helplessly shackled to petroleum, our green dreams thwarted by California's inconsistent energy policy. State agencies pass laws to clean up the air and pledge to address climate change, then allow industry pressure to kill the electric car and throw up obstacles to alternative fuels. It makes you wonder, were Obama campaigning today, where in California he'd deliver his defiant speech on energy policy. It seems unlikely, right now, that he'd pick California at all.

Judith Lewis is a Los Angeles journalist who writes about technology and environmental issues. She is a contributing editor to High Country News.

I live near Conserve Fuel in So. Cal.. Because I make my own bio it does not impact me but what can be done to get this changed? Conserve Fuel must have gone to great expense already just getting going. Why is the government not helping these people? California claims to be a leader in “greener” living but the commercial biodiesel industry is just not a priority here.

It's sad.

The item by Ms. Lewis is a bit misleading. The decision by the board is of course related to BD but the reason is the concern about BD's well know ability to eat seal material, in this case the rubber seals on tanks. Of course we know, or think we know what works and what does not but they are going to need more than the word of home brewers. This is in my mind a temporary thing but keep in mind the "green" forces are the ones behind most of the regulations concerning underground fuel storage, and that is not a bad thing but sometimes things have a way of giving a bite to the butt even if unintended.

quote:

Conserv Fuel's abandonment of biodiesel grew out of a June decision by the State Water Resources Control Board to begin enforcing laws against storing biodiesel underground.

Ridiculous. After all these years their suddenly scared of possible 'chemical leakage' and put the kabosh to the whole thing. Phooey.

What probably really happened is that Conserv wasn't making enough money on their bio and wanted to get out of the business, but wanted to save face, so they got their person inside the DNR to come up with a rule to enforce against them. Notice no fines, even though they are apparently guilty of a crime.

Of course, my theory that a business could engage in a conspiracy like this may make me seem like a kook. Shady deals, in America? The great state of Illinois no less? Perish the thought.

quote:

he decision by the board is of course related to BD but the reason is the concern about BD's well know ability to eat seal material, in this case the rubber seals on tanks.

Seals of any kind on underground tanks are unheard of, welded or seamless construction only, same goes for above ground bulk storage tanks as far as I know...
Jon

Biodiesel prompts biothievery
http://www.mailtribune.com/app...907280322/-1/NEWSMAP
Restaurants that once paid to have used oil removed now lock it up

Ron Roth, owner of Gepetto’s restaurant, dumps used rice bran oil into a container, which he stores inside before it’s picked up. Roth says he stopped using oil recycling containers outside his restaurant because they were getting stolen.

July 28, 2009
By F.B. Drake III
for the Mail Tribune

Long the scourge of the restaurant business, old fryer oil is now valuable, which has created a new problem: People will steal it.

The oil is used to make biodiesel, which is suddenly a hot commodity. Reports from the New York Times, The Associated Press and National Public Radio have noted that the theft rate of grease has increased along with gas prices.

Local businesses have taken precautions to protect their fryer oil, which once was something they paid to have removed.

"I remember those years of paying for removal," said Elks Club Chef Joshua Parliament. "Southern Oregon Tallow was the first to start paying for the oil, even though it was just nickels."

Parliament said he had issues at other restaurants where oil was stolen, but Rogue Biofuel, a new company that handles the oil has "pretty foolproof containers."

"Rogue is a good company, and I'd rather see them take the oil away," Parliament said. "They do the refining properly."

Ron Roth of Geppetto's restaurant has lots of experience dealing with old restaurant oil and its theft. He is doing what many in Ashland are — giving the oil to a local who produces the fuel.

Roth keeps the old oil in the original jugs it came in, and it is removed biweekly.

"When we started giving the oil to the biodiesel people we stored it in drums in the alley," Roth said. "It started disappearing, so we started keeping it inside about a year ago. Since we've been keeping it inside, it doesn't get stolen anymore."

Rogue Biofuel of Central Point has many Ashland accounts, and Vice President Gabriel Rowland said biodiesel has "a huge global market," and deals with the theft issue daily.

"We know a lot about that," Rowland said. "Some of our accounts are a long way away and to show up to an empty bin costs the company money." Rowland said in Eastern Oregon, restaurants still pay to have oil removed, but that's not the case in most of the state.

Earlier this month, the company opened a 3,000-gallon gas station on Highway 99 in Ashland, which sells the biodiesel it produces. He said a major issue is the quality of biodiesel produced by those who are stealing the oil.

"A lot of this fuel is creating a bad name for biodiesel," Rowland said, "and it is difficult for us to overcome."

Parliament has seen bad biodiesel in action.

"Good biodiesel is actually a refined product," Parliament said. "The guy going down the highway with black smoke coming out of his exhaust and a 'powered by biodiesel' sticker is just polluting."
At the Standing Stone Brewery on Oak Street, Chef Eric Bell keeps his oil tucked away in an enclosed area, and believes if it didn't get removed on a regular basis, it too would get stolen.

"It doesn't happen much here because there are arrangements," Bell said. "In Salt Lake City, many times some hip people would show up at your door and ask for it, but many times it would just get stolen."

Bell hopes eventually to use the oil himself to power the equipment needed to run his dream farm, which would produce food for the brewery. He's had experience making biodiesel and said one aspect of it is unmistakable.

"The exhaust smells like French fries," he said.

F.B. Drake III is a freelance writer living in Ashland.

quote:

Bye bye, biodiesel
http://www.latimes.com/news/op...ul26,0,1984635.story

State regulations force vendors to switch to petroleum-based fuels for now, driving green motorists to distraction.

California is terrible when it comes to biodiesel. It makes no sense. Worse than even Texas in my opinion. How they can justify allowing B20 underground, but not B99/B100 is beyond me. And not only can they not store bio over B20 you have to belong to a Biodiesel User Group (BUG) to even be able to purchase biodiesel in CA. No other state has such a ludicrous requirement. And even tho belonging to a BUG is a very simple thing, it's still a hurdle that has to be jumped, made even worse if you travel between LA and SF. We used to rent biodiesel cars in LA, and even tho we shut that operation down for many other reasons 1.5 years ago, we would have ended up shutting it down for this reason today anyway. When we open new Bio-Beetle offices we will not be looking at CA for those new offices until their beaurocracy finally gets a clue.

Shaun

quote:

Originally posted by Jon Heron:

quote:

he decision by the board is of course related to BD but the reason is the concern about BD's well know ability to eat seal material, in this case the rubber seals on tanks.

Seals of any kind on underground tanks are unheard of, welded or seamless construction only, same goes for above ground bulk storage tanks as far as I know...
Jon

If you say so, I have no idea if they are there or not.