[Sustainable-biodiesel] Excellent article on sustainable biofuels from Climate Solutions

[John Bonitz]

Friends,

This article on sustainable biofuels innovations comes from Climate
Solutions, a Portland Oregon group.  I've enclosed two excerpts and link to
the whole story.
~ ~ ~

John Bonitz,
Farm Outreach & Policy Advocate
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
PO Box 1833, Pittsboro, NC  27312
Phone: 919-545-2920
Mobile: 919-360-2492
bonitz at cleanenergy.org



Growing Sustainable Biofuels: Producing Bioenergy on the Farm
http://harvestjournal.squarespace.com/journal/2007/11/12/growing-sustainable
-biofuels-producing-bioenergy-on-the-farm.html

By Patrick Mazza

While growing biofuels feedstocks on farms is becoming a commonplace,
actually making biofuels on the farm is fairly rare.  Two Pacific Northwest
efforts to develop advanced technologies for farm-scale production
illustrate significant potential to produce fuels from local feedstocks for
local use. 

In Corvallis, Oregon a start-up company is working to commercialize a
biodiesel microreactor that could serve a small community¹s fuel demands
with a device that would fit on a bench in a shed.  Near Spokane a nonprofit
group is developing a farm-scale operation to process agricultural residues
into energy products.

The biodiesel device is based on a microchannel technology developed by
Goran Jovanovic of Oregon State University and announced in 2006.

. . .

The agricultural residues project is being developed by Farm Power, a
nonprofit dedicated to promoting farm-scale bioenergy production.  The group
is partnered with USDA Agricultural Research Service.  In a federal
bioenergy research complex heavily focused on large-scale technologies, ARS
is a welcome oasis for distributed, community-based bioenergy development.
The outfit is looking at potential feedstocks ranging from hog manure in
North Carolina to cotton seed oil in Georgia to crop residues in the
Northwest. 

ARS has done some first-order studies looking at biofuels potential of
Northwest residues.  But, notes Gary Banowetz of ARS, the challenge is that
these feedstocks have low energy density and a certain amount must be left
on the soil to preserve fertility.  Taking these constraints into account,
it would require 167,000 acres worth of residues to supply one plant making
10 million gallons of ethanol yearly.  So ARS is interested in smaller-scale
technologies that are less hungry.

The Farm Power project at Rockport, Washington a few miles south of Spokane
fits the bill.  It employs technology developed at ARS Western Research
Institute which uses heat to convert biomass into energy gas.

To read the complete article, click here:
http://harvestjournal.squarespace.com/journal/2007/11/12/growing-sustainable
-biofuels-producing-bioenergy-on-the-farm.html