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Posts Tagged ‘Alternative Fuels’

During his State of the Union address in January, Pres. Barack Obama pleased some alternative fuels producers by giving special mention to “advanced biofuels.” Biofuels have received presidential utterances in past addresses, but results haven’t always been forthcoming. “First of all, there were no specifics, so there was really nothing there,” said Jatrodiesel president Raj Mosali. “The president mentioned biodiesel specifically when he was campaigning, and now he’s talking about ‘biofuels,’ which could mean anything—and that’s concerning.”

In addition, grants, loan guarantees and even American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds are not going to biodiesel producers for the purposes of plant optimization and upgrades. “That’s 100 percent true,” Mosali says. “All of this assistance is being directed toward things like fuel cells, cellulosic ethanol and electric motors—all technologies that are still far off.”

The Obama administration coming out with billions of dollars from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to increase “clean energy manufacturing” could seem almost like a taunt to biodiesel producers.Obama announced “awardees” of the $2.3 billion clean energy manufacturing tax credits as existing biodiesel producers languish over the lapse of their specific federal blender tax credit. “Projects are assessed based on the following criteria: commercial viability, domestic job creation, technological innovation, speed to project completion, and potential for reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions,” the White House stated on Jan. 8.

While the word “biofuels” was good to hear spoken by the president, there’s a word that describes the 2009 biodiesel year—idle. Huge plants sat quiet for months as vegetable oils were high and diesel prices were not. Imperium Renewables Inc., which suffered an explosion at its Grays Harbor plant in Washington State, said it was in no big hurry to make repairs while the tax credit is nonexistent.

A new program at the Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy (Arpa-e) is looking to develop alternative liquid fuels using microorganisms. On Thursday, Technology Reviewreported that Arpa-e, a division of the U.S. Department of Energy, will begin funding research for biodiesel development.

Endeavors to create alternative fuels using microorganisms are hardly new. In July HeatingOil.com reported that biotechnology firms are working to develop biofuel using nonfood plant matter in order to avoid sacrificing food for fuel and contributing to rising food costs.

What is new about Arpa-e’s research is the goal of creating liquid fuels using organisms that do not require photosynthesis. According to Arpa-e director Arun Majumdar, photosynthesis is highly inefficient. Although not proven, the hope is that nonphotosynthetic microorganisms will allow for more efficient biofuel development.

Researchers also hope that the use of nonphotosynthetic microorganisms will allow for the creation of an alternative diesel fuel. Should Arpa-e researchers prove successful, the use of nonphotosynthetic microorganisms could potentially be used to create other alternative fuels that are chemically similar to diesel, such as heating oil.

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