Biomass

An editorial article from South Carolina's TheState.com expresses concern for funding for Fuel Cell research. The guess columnist expresses his concerns and feels that they would be better served looking at Biomass alternatives. An abstract of this opinion article is show below, with a link to the full story. A growing group of distinguished scientists sees the “hydrogen economy� as a ruse ��? a distraction from the much more viable alternative of biofuels. Nor has the hydrogen illusion escaped the notice of astute investors, as the major fuel-cell companies have seen their share prices drop by half...

Aarhus United USA Inc. has awarded Northern Power Systems, Inc. a subsidiary of Distributed Energy Systems Corp (DESC), a contract for a $1.7 million turnkey on-site power system that will use the oil distillate and waste byproduct of the company's vegetable oil processing operations as fuel. Northern's system will be designed to deliver 65% of the Port Newark, New Jersey facility's electrical needs and 12% of its thermal consumption. The NJ Clean Energy Program has deemed the fuel a renewable source that is CO2 emissions-free and has therefore committed funds to pay 30% of the project cost.

by Debra Fiakas CFA Last week Brazilian agriculture technology developer Ceres (CERE:  Nasdaq) made formal plans to shift its focus to seed traits and the food and feed markets and away from energy.  Ceres is not abandoning biofuels as such, but with oil prices at historic low levels, it is not economic enough to justify working capital not to mention new investments.   The company is restructuring operations and reducing personnel in both its U.S. and Brazilian operations.  Ceres management estimates the changes will save between $6 million and $8 million next year. The question investors need to...

O2Diesel Corp (OTD) announced that one of the largest sugar millers and ethanol producers in the world, COSAN (annual revenues of US$500 million) of Brazil, began using O2Diesel(TM) in the diesel powered fleet located at their mill in Barra Bonita, State of Sao Paulo. This mill is the world's largest sugar and ethanol production facility with the capacity to process 6.8 million tons of sugar cane per year. The patented fuel technology developed by O2Diesel Corporation of Newark, Delaware, will be used in a wide variety of trucks and agricultural equipment. COSAN operates 12 mills in Southeastern Brazil with...

by Debra Fiakas CFA Once upon a time there was a boy named Jack, Who lived with his widowed mother On their small farm in the country. Benjamin Tabart, The History of Jack and the Bean Stalk Jack made a mistake or two on the road to fixing his family’s income problems, but in the end Jack’s bean deal prove lucrative.  We are wondering if Darling Ingredients' (DAR:  NYSE) acquisition of VION Group in early 2014, will prove as beneficial to the food by-products processor.  The VION operation was a division of VION Holdings N.V. based in the Netherlands that just like Darling collects...

GE Global Research, the centralized research organization of the General Electric Company (GE), announced that it was selected by the Department of Energy (DOE) to lead $11 million of research projects in the development of hydrogen as a fuel source. The programs are focused on near and long term solutions for the production of hydrogen with sustainable, clean technologies. GE Global Research will contribute approximately $2.5 million to the projects with the balance coming from DOE and other industry partners. This project plans to study the creation of hydrogen from solar water splitting, naturual gas/bio production, and...

Last week, I mentioned that I had attended a conference focused on opportunities in the biomass and bioenergy sectors. One of the article ideas I got from this conference was on the emerging market for wood pellets (tightly packed sawdust and other wood shavings) for heat and electricity. How interesting that, over the weekend, the magazine Science published an article suggesting that the US should ramp up its use of wood for small-scale heat and electricity production (the article is not available free of charge but you can find a summary here). The Wood (Pellet) Advantage It...

Jim Lane In grains, the big news has been the USDA prospective plantings report, which has corn up to 93 million acres in 2016, up 5 million over last year, and it was an unexpected gain given that stock levels of grain are high now. Big stocks plus a big planting equals even bigger ending stocks and prices have declined substantially for corn as a result, down 15 cents per bushel on the report. The USDA report? Officially, here’s what USDA had to say: Corn planted area for all purposes in 2016 is estimated at 93.6 million...

By Ed Hamrick Municipal solid waste in Berlin. Photo by S. Müller via Wikimedia Commons Remember the one about the two guys in the woods who are seen by a hungry bear? They start running from the bear, and one guy says to the other guy “Why are we running? Everyone knows you can’t outrun a bear”. The other guy says “I don’t need to outrun the bear, I only need to outrun you”. Any company can find a market for their ethanol if they can make...

Environmental Power Corp (POWR) announced today that it had signed an agreement with De Snayer Dairy of Lodi, California, for the on-farm location of an animal feed production system based on Microgy's anaerobic digester technology. Microgy expects to own and operate the proposed facility that will utilize manure from De Snayer's dairy operations to generate biogas for the operation of equipment developed to process feed ingredients, utilizing a process that is being pioneered by The Scoular Company.

Intrepid Technology and Resources, Inc. (IESV) announces the company's flagship Methane anaerobic digester located at the 4000 head Whitesides Dairy near Rupert Idaho has achieved a fully automated operational status. The anaerobic digester, which processes animal and industrial waste products, produces substantial quantities of Methane gas as a by-product. Methane is the primary combustible component in normal household and commercial natural gas. ITR intends initially, to sell the excess gas to a pipeline carrier. However ITR will, in 2005, power an alternate fuel vehicle with this gas making ITR one of the few companies ever to take...

by Debra Fiakas CFA This week Darling Ingredients (DAR:  NYSE) reported earnings of $100,000 on net sales of $874.7 million in the first quarter ending March 2015.  Darling is a recycler of sorts, collecting by-products of the food production industry and recycling the left-overs and waste into proteins, fats and leathers.  Nothing goes to waste.  Every last chicken feather, hide, gallon of used cooking grease and cake crumb gets up-cycled to a usable material for feed, food, fuel or clothing.  Its customers include pet food producers, personal care manufacturers and textile users, among others. Darling used...

Biochar and Activated Carbon Markets by Hugh McLaughlin, PhD., PE Biochar is an emerging market; growing rapidly, still in its infancy, but with gigaton market potential when we, as in humanity, start addressing the climate crisis. Activated carbons are a mature market of about one million tons annual production, which is growing slowly. They are basically like fraternal twins; they have a lot in common, they share the same world, and they are different. First, let’s explain the basic difference between THREE materials: activated carbon, charcoal and biochar. Activated carbon, also known as activated charcoal and several...

Green Energy Resources, Inc. (GRGR) met coal producers to discuss cofiring and development of premixed fuels. Cofiring is an environmentally friendly application of mixing wood biomass with coal, to reduce harmful green house emissions. Biomass is the 4th largest energy source in the world, with potential application in 65% of the US and world power generation markets. Retrofitting existing coal burning power plants (for cofiring) would elevate biomass into the top three energy sources in the world. Barrons featured Green Energy Resources in this weeks edition, reporting its 1st qtr profit and forecasts for growth in 2005. ...

Reclamation Consulting and Applications Inc (RCAA) announced that it has initiated an aggressive marketing program for the sale of BioDiesel fuel oil manufactured by Topia Energy. Topia Energy has developed a unique BioDiesel blending process, and is Certified: BioDiesel Driven(TM). In order to earn the right to call their fuel Certified: BioDiesel Driven(TM), Topia must subject their product to rigorous and consistent long-term testing. BioDiesel Driven(TM) is a mark of quality that BioDiesel users trust to meet the most rigorous standards in the world.

Intrepid Technology and Resources, Inc. (IESV) has determined that due to recent positive developments related to new financing options and better than predicted gas production rates being experienced at the Company's operating Whitesides facility, expansion of the previously announced WestPoint Dairy Project now will include a commercial pipeline. The WestPoint Dairy, on which ground breaking will begin this spring, is ITR's second commercial biogas production facility and is the "anchor" dairy for the much larger Westside Project planned for the Wendell, Idaho area.