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Posts Tagged ‘biodiesel feedstock’

The next few months could be “make or break time” for the soy biodiesel industry in the U.S.

Biodiesel faces several challenges right now, including the high cost of the feedstock and the loss of the one dollar biodiesel blenders’ tax credit, which Congress allowed to expire on December 31^st.  Indications are that most biodiesel plants have ceased production as they await Congressional action on the tax credit, which may not happen until March.

In Iowa, the state’s Renewable Fuels Association has launched a campaign to highlight the importance of biodiesel—and renewable fuels, in general—to Iowa’s economy.  Monte Shaw is the executive director ofIRFA. “We’ve got a lot of exciting thing coming down the road for this industry—things that are going to really redefine renewable fuels for the future,” says Shaw. “Whether it’s exciting feedstock projects like the algae project at Shenandoah, or maybe it’s the biorefinery  project that’s scheduled to go into Newton.”

Good reasons, Shaw says, to keep Iowa’s biodiesel industry viable.

“If we let the current biodiesel industry wither away and lose the jobs we have today, it also means we’re not going to be the place—we’re not going to be the state—where those next generation investments and next generation jobs come either,” he says.  “So we’re really at a turning point, not just for the investors and jobs of today, but for making Iowa the place to be for the future of this industry as well.”

In addition to the federal tax credit extension, Shaw says IRFA will also be lobbying for a five percent biodiesel mandate in the Iowa legislature.

“We really do need a B5 fuel quality standard to create a low level of demand,” says Shaw. “It’s constant, it’s year-around, it’s predictable—and that’s what can help these plants cash flow during the good times and the bad times.”

A bill creating a B5 fuel quality standard passed the Iowa Senate in 2009, but time ran out before the Iowa House could consider the legislation.

Algae Farming for Fuel is a Proven Science! Some proponents of clean renewable energy talk about being green and forward thinking with their sustainable green energy plans, but no one actually is willing to step up to the plate with the money needed to fund the projects! This technology is not a back yard set up that you put together from a box kit. You can equate the latest Algae Photo Bioreactor setups to the Amoco, Shell Oil and BP’s of the world when they start new operations. On the up side the operation cost are not as intensive, you are after all growing a plant. If you are smart about the Algae Farming operation, you will use free nutrients, Saltwater or Sewage Waste water that will provide you with the nutrient base.  What about the carbon dioxide? Well again smarter is better, contact the local coal fire plant or concrete refinery in your area and help them out with their Carbon Dioxide problem.

Bottom line, this new technology cost money for a renewable energy Biofuel plant, but being smart and using the resources in your area (Partnering) will make the job much easier and less capital intensive. Soon we will be able to make biofuel from algae at low cost and we will have wondered why it took so long to make it happen.