Pecologix Political Ecology Blotter

A new fuel additive, namely solketal tert-butyl ether (STBE), was developed and optimized under continuous flow conditions using a Corning® Advanced-Flow™ glass reactor. STBE was obtained in two steps from glycerol, a renewable building-block produced in large amount in the processing of biodiesel. The advantages of the highly engineered Corning glass reactor included high mixing [...]

Biodiesel is a promising alternative diesel fuel which has increased worldwide public interest in a number of countries including China. But the high cost of producing biodiesel from feedstock, predominately food grade oils, limited its economic feasibility. An alternative of using grease extracted from restaurant waste to produce biodiesel is a potential low cost approach. [...]

In 2008, sugarbeets and sugarcane were both classified as advanced biofuel feedstock. However, in 2009 sugarbeets were not listed in the new Renewable Fuel Standard, he said.So the beet team members at NDSU and Green Vision Group have applied for this classification from the Environmental Protection Agency and to request a loan as an advanced [...]

In Washington, D.C., the latest government figures show that U.S. biodiesel production has already set a new record for 2011. The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) reports that the industry has produced more than 802 million gallons of biodiesel, more than doubling 2010 production of about 315 million gallons, breaking the previous record of about 690 [...]

Designed to facilitate the testing of algae harvesting process scale-up from laboratory to pilot scale, the Algae Appliance™ provides a low energy, chemical-free, continuous flow ‘wet harvest’ system to efficiently dewater, compromise cell walls, and concentrate dilute microalgae in suspension. Algae Appliance | OriginOil – Breakthrough Algae Oil Technology

This article compares biodiesel derived from vegetable oils and biodiesel obtained from algae in light of fuel properties. While the properties of biodiesel fuels derived from vegetable oils are well-known, the properties of biodiesel obtained from algal oils have usually not been reported. The fatty acid profiles of many algal oils possess high amounts of [...]

This research compares two generation components in grid-connected and stand-alone power supply (SPS) systems (6 kWp solar photovoltaic array, and a 6 kWp diesel generator), separately supplying a homestead’s electricity load (12 kWh day−1 average, 10 kWp), against a 2 km underground electricity distribution line extension. The technical simulation intervals (15 min) included realistic peak [...]