Range Fuels has received a $80 Loan Guarantee grant from the US Department of Agriculture. A commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol company, Range fuels is the first to have received such an assistance from a government department.
The loan guarantee grant is said to help the construction of the company’s plant in the state of Georgia. Range Fuels said that the construction of the plant is expected to start in early 2010.
The said loan guarantee grant was also the first since the 2008 Farm Bill was approved. According to Section 9003 of the Farm Bill, appropriately called Biorefinery Assistance Program, the government will provide loan guarantees to commercial-scale biorefineries. The Section also mandates the government to give grants for demonstration-scale biorefineries that manufactures fuels that were not made out of food sources (advanced biofuels).
The guarantees given to selected companies may be used to assist and support the development or construction of their own biofuel refineries. The bill limit grants to a large $250 million for every project.
Tags: Bio Fuels, Range Fuels, USDA
A recent analysis of Postia placenta’s genome, secretome and transcritome, may pave ways for better biofuel productions in the future. Postia placenta, also known as brown rot, can decompose plant, specifically wooden material rapidly.
In the recent scientific study, the international group of scientists found a system of extracellular enzymes that occurs uniquely in the rot fungus species. This particular enzyme is believed to be a potential ingredient in the production of more cost-effective biofuels.
To be more specific, this particular enzyme system, according to the analysis, can work around the polymer lignin structures of the plant matter. Brown rot has the ability to effectively unbind, breakdown and ferment the sugar units in the plant matter.
In other words, with the help of brown rot, wood can be harnessed as distilled, liquid biofuel in the future.
Tags: Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Brown Rot
Researchers forecasts a good price of $3 per gallon or Euros 0.8 per liter for the biosynfuel that will be produced through the Bioliq biosyncrude gasification method that has a capacity of more than 1 Mt/a.
The estimate price has a 30% margin which will translate into a price between US$2.72 and $5.03 per gallon. The estimate price basing on a $100/ bbl of crude oil is $2.72/gallon before taxes.
Bioliq consists of three processes involving fast pyrolysis facility, a centralized gasification plant, and a fuel production factory.
Starting from a biomass, the raw material is pyrolyzed and converted into pyrolisis oil. This pyrolysis ou is processed with coke to create a raw biocrude which can be made into syngas or converted to other fuels components.
To some, it might seem absurd to combine the luxury of a Cadillac Escalade with a hybrid powertrain, but then, Cadillac excels at going beyond expectations, so why not pair a full-sized, never-intended-for-off-road-driving SUV known for generally poor fuel economy and use it to show just how mainstream green technology is becoming? The 2009 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid may not be the environmental lobby’s choice of an official car, but Cadillac has certainly turned it into a rolling advertisement for their green line.
The hybrid engine in the 2009 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid is the same one used in the GMC Yukon and Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrids (which latter was voted the 2008 Green Car of the Year by the Green Car Journal). It’s a system that allows the Escalade to offer roughly the same fuel economy whether it’s on the open highway, or in stop-and-go city traffic.
Under the Hood
Specifically, the Escalade Hybrid has a 332-horsepower, 6.0-liter V8 engine that includes cylinder deactivation technology, allowing the engine to run on four cylinders in certain conditions. It’s mated to an electrically variable four-gear transmission and a 300-volt battery pack. It’s two-mode hybrid system allows the vehicle to accelerate on electric power alone from both cruising and full stop, with the gasoline engine kicking in to add supplementary power. As with most hybrids, the 2009 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid captures energy during braking, and stores it in the battery pack to be used later. Cadillac says this combination will allow the Escalade Hybrid to achieve city fuel economy of about 18 mpg, which isn’t terribly impressive for hybrid cars, though it is a significant improvement over the 12 mpg achieved by the gas-only version.
Where the Hybrid falls behind the gas-only Escalade is in towing. Properly equipped, the rear-wheel drive hybrid can pull up to 6,000 pounds and the four-wheel drive hybrid maxes out at 5,700 pounds, while the gas-only version can tow up to 7,700 pounds.
Inside the Escalade Hybrid
The interior of the 2009 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid is essentially the same as that of the regular version, with a few hybrid-specific features added. One of these is the additional gauge that monitors the vehicle’s efficiency.
The cabin provides seating for up to eight people in three rows – the second row is a bench, like the third, and comes in two colors, cashmere and ebony, with leather seats the standard. Cargo space behind the back row totals 16.9 cubic feet.
Safety features of the Escalade Hybrid are fairly standard, and include side-curtain airbags for all three rows, an electronic stability system, and anti-lock brakes.
Exterior View
The body of the 2009 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid has no appreciable differences from the gas-only version, unless you count the myriad Hybrid badges that appear on the C-Pillars, lift-gate, and front fenders. It comes standard with 22-inch chrome wheels, and a power lift-gate.
The MSRP of the 2009 Cadillac Escalade Hybrid ranges $73,135 to $87,435.
A subsidiary of Tata Motors, Miljo Innovasjon has chosen TM4, a subsidiary of Hydro-Quebec, to supply electric motors, vehicle regulators, power electronics for an exhibition program of electric cars to be initiated in Norway in 2009-2010. Li-ion batteries are to be supplied by Electrovaya.
This exhibition program will make Miljo create more than one hundred units of an all-electric version of Tata Motors’ Indica Vista.
Tata Motors and Miljo will gain advantage from TM4’s latest production of motors for the industry of automobile, the TM4 MOTIVE series. An inverted rotor topology was utilized by the TM4 motors for utmost torque density.
Novozymes and its Chinese partner COFCO signs an agreement with another Chinese energy and oil company Sinopec for the possible commercial-scale production of cellulosic bioethanol from corn stover.
To date, China is the second-biggest corn producer globally, next to the US. The US Department of Agriculture projects a 16.5 million metric tons produce from China this year. That amounts to at least 20.9% of the worlds total corn production.
The US, on the other hand, produces an average of 307.39 million tons of corn every year. This makes up for about 38.9% of the world’s total corn production.
China is also a big corn consumer overall: 72% of the country’s produce is used as feed; 20% as ingredients for biofuel, starch and sugar; and 1% are sold as food. The remaining 7% is either used as seed to replenish supply, or is amounted to harvest loss.
Volkswagen will be rolling out Passat versions which are fuel efficient and with low emissions during the early part of 2009. Zooming out of the assembly line will be the new gen Passat BlueMotion, Passat TSI EcoFuel, and Passat Blue TDI.
The three new vehicles will be under a new brand, the BlueMotion Technologies. The range of cars under the umbrella will primarily be products that have low carbon dioxide emissions and efficient fuel consumption.
The BlueMotion Technologies will represent evolving solutions and systems that are still on the works like regenerative braking, stop-start system, hybrid systems, and electric drives.
The all electric vehicle 2e from Aptera Motors will go into production and is expected to be delivered by October 2009.
The three-wheeled vehicle Type 1, now coined as 2e, is a Carlsbad concept with investments from big names like Google and Idealab. The sleek electric vehicle is made from composite high strength materials with good aerodynamics. The e2 can travel 100 -120 miles in a single charge with a top speedometer reading of 85 to 90 miles per hour. Aptera boasts of the e2 passing the safety standards and crash testing with flying colors.
Production of the vehicles will early January or a year few weeks delayed from the original plan of late December 2008. It is not yet clear if the first batch of e2 will go the test fleet or to the consumers. It is certain though the mass production will be this fall.
Car experts declare that the days of the heavy and inefficient automobiles are numbered. Current trends are asking for solutions to solve the high cost of fuel and deteriorating state of the environment.
The race is on to make lighter vehicles to improve efficiency using hybrid technology, bio fuels, fuel cells, and combinations of these resources. The lighter vehicles also decrease the wear and tear of other components like the tire and suspension.
Amid the pressure from consumers, international regulations, and global warming concerns, the automobile game changes. Aluminum is starting to be the name of the game to answer all these concerns.
Car manufacturers are steadily funding the development of aluminum to be used in their production lines. Studies have concluded that use of the high technology metal gives way better fuel rating of trucks and cars.
With the constant threat of global scarcity of gasoline and global warming, big automobile companies have started developing vehicles that run on electricity. While Nissan vowed to be the leader in electric vehicle technology, its parent company, the French automaker Renault, announced its plans to release three electric vehicles in 2012.
According to the scoop in Autocar, the French electric vehicles will include an electric version of the Kangoo MPV, a new electric car patterned after the Megane sedan, and a new smaller 5-seater model.
At present time, Renault has been testing the electric versions of Megane Sedan in Israel, the results of which will serve as the basis for the production of several more electric vehicles by the same company. The electric version of Megane will be released in the market sometime in 2011 while the Kangoo MPV electric car will follow shortly.
While the new Renault electric vehicles will emerge as compact city cars, it will not have the boring and nondescript designs like its counterparts in other brands. The French automaker is eager to make the new electric models fun and youthful with a unique look and cool driving features.
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