Daily Summary for Wednesday August 22

Top Story: The U.S. Agriculture Department awarded $97 million in loan guarantees to four biofuel projects. Clean Burn Fuels received $35 million for an ethanol plant in Hoke County, N.C.; Blackhawk Biofuels received $27.5 million for a biodiesel plant near Freeport, Ill.; Appling County Pellets LLC received $19.5 million for a wood pellet fuel plant in Appling County, Ga.; and National Trail Biodiesel received $15 million for a biodiesel plant in Jasper County, Ill.

Producers: In New York, a citizen’s group will appeal a dismissal of their lawsuit aimed at preventing the construction of an ethanol plant in Romulus….An 220-million gallon per year ethanol project in Indiana has reached the hearing stage….In Virginia, the city of Richmond has signed an agreement with US Biofuels to build an ethanol plant. The City will sell methane gas from the city landfill to the new venture….In Utah, a biodiesel plant had its operating permits revoked due to safety concerns and unpaid fines….In Iowa, the state Transportation Commission awarded Hancock County $270,000 to provide access to the proposed new site of the Harvest Biofuels LLC ethanol plant….In Pennsylvania, a biofuels producer signed an agreement for a facility at a 3,000 head dairy farm that will utilize animal waste as a feedstoock….In South Carolina, a $5 million investment was announced for a biodiesel plant that will open in spring 2008.

International: In China, Yunnan province released its ethanol industry development plan, calling for production of 2 million tons of fuel ethanol by 2010.

Policy: In New Hampshire, US Presidential candidate and Illinois Senator Barack Obama said that he believed that rising feed prices were a short-term problem for American farmers. He stated that higher prices will encourage corn production, which in turn would bring prices down.

Research: A new study titled “US Ethanol” reports that more than 200 ethanol plants will be online by 2008….In Japan, researchers are seeking ways to convert used chopsticks into a biofuel feedstock. Japan produces 90,000 tons of wood each year on chopsticks….In Canada, the Fédération des producteurs de bovins du Québec was awarded $300,000 by the government for feasibility study on converting animal by-products into biofuels. 11 other firms were awarded grants through the Biofuels Opportunities for Producers Initiative (BOPI)….In Scotland, Abertay University has received a grant which will be used to develop means of converting beer and whiskey residue into ethanol.

Demand-side: In Australia, BP announced an agreement with Manildra to produce and market 10 million gallons of ethanol.

Free Subscription to the Daily Biofuels Digest e-newsletter

Related Stories

Richmond signs agreement with US Biofuels that will utilize city landfill methane

WHIO-TV reports on an agreement signed by the City of Richmond with US Biofuels to build an ethanol plant. The City will sell methane gas from the city landfill to the new venture. The capture and use...

Earth Day is Wednesday, April 22nd – events and activities links

Next Wednesday, April 22, is Earth Day, and events are planned around the globe in celebration and observation of the international environmental day founded by US Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970 as a ...

Daily Summary for Wednesday August 8th

Top Story: Farmland prices are soaring in the Midwest as the effect of ethanol and biodiesel production is felt. In Illinois, farmland prices have risen an average of 60% in the past five years, while...

Daily Summary for Wednesday August 1

In today's producer news, a new ethanol plant has been proposed for Virginia, but the plant is expected to consume 80 million bushels of corn, more than double Virginia's state corn harvest, prompting...

DOE Revolving Loan Fund for renewable energy webinar scheduled

In Washington, "How to use funding from the 2009 Recovery Act to establish a revolving loan program to support renewable energy projects," is the subject of a DOE Technical Assistance Project webinar ...

Biofuels Digest Index drops 1.05 percent to 84.91 as ethanol wilts; BDI closing daily values for last year available for download

The Biofuels Digest Index™ (BDI), a basket of public biofuels stocks, lost 1.05 percent to close at 84.91 as ethanol stocks were battered.  For the day, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) fell 0.63 perce...