Biofuels

[millionairemind]

oh yes...no need technology to harness these human faeces... i saw this documentary which showed that in some parts of northern china...where the temperature is real low...farmers gladly go to public toilets and lumber it back to their fields...these "sai" to use as fertilizers...

haha K.. funny how you mention this. Alot of toilets in central and western China do not have modern sanitation.

When I was stationed in China back in 2001 and was taking a tour through XiAn on my days off with my better half, one day we were walking on the street and smelled something terrible. Both of us were wondering what it was ...

In the short distance, we saw 2 peasants using 2 buckets and a bamboo pole carrying human excrements from a nearby toilet into a "dump truck"...accidentally dropping bits of extrement on the pavement.

The strangest thing was these 2 peasants were smiling as they worked on the job.

That set me thinking... many times alot of executives complained about their jobs and how much stress they have.. haha..... compared to the peasants, they work in air conditioned comfort and are highly compensated so what is there to complain about life??

Just a short "stinky" story for the day..

[kennynah]

mm : life is like dat one...only when one has the privilege of going through genuinely tough times that one really learns to appreciate that remaining 50 cents in the pocket... i have had that experience....have u ?

on occasions, i have the pleasure of speaking with 30+ year old singaporeans who are really sensible in their approach to work and equally often enough with people who have no idea why they are even hired in a job.... this latter group is "lost" and need to seriously do some soul searching.... i gather it's got to do with our education system and family upbringing...

[iam802]

Ethanol industry faces slump with falling prices

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi- ... 2881.story

INDIANAPOLIS


Midwest ethanol producers are facing falling prices, a tight credit market and possible overbuilding -- which raises questions about whether the industry is in a temporary slump or a severe downturn.

The cost of corn, a major raw ingredient of ethanol, has swung wildly this year, The Indianapolis Star reported. Meanwhile, the price of ethanol has fallen from nearly $3 a gallon in June to nearly $1.50 in October. And some say the industry has overbuilt itself, glutting the market for now.

The problems have caused some ethanol producers to see shrinking profits and falling stock prices. Other companies have scrapped projects.

"There's a little bit of a shakeout going on, but that's to be expected," said Mark Walters, director of biofuels programs for the Indiana Corn Marketing Council. "What it means is the industry is maturing. The euphoria is over."

On Friday, Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings said it would slow construction of a plant in Mount Vernon, Ind. and delay the opening for about nine months. That plant had been scheduled to open early next year.

Company spokesman Les Nelson said the margins in the ethanol business today are nearly break-even.

"We need to make sure we have liquidity in our business," Nelson said.

In 2005, Indiana wanted to jump into the ethanol industry. The state had just one ethanol plant at the time and wanted to compete with Iowa, Illinois and other Midwestern states.

The state offered $16 million in tax incentives to kick-start the industry, and more than 40 plants were envisioned for Indiana.

"I think there certainly was excessive optimism," said Chris Hurt, an agricultural economist at Purdue University. "There was a lot of talk and a lot of interest. But the vast majority of those projects did not go ahead."

About 20 ethanol plants never made it off the drawing board, but 11 plants are up and running in Indiana today.

Several ethanol companies have taken hits because of recent problems, and some fear a slumping economy will make things worse.

"I think it's going to be really difficult to make money in ethanol in the next year," said Wally Tyner, an energy economist at Purdue University.

[winston]

Next Up: Tobacco-Powered Autos

FOXNews.com

By increasing the oil in tobacco plant leaves, researchers may have turned the health-hazardous crop into the ideal biofuel.

William Rafti

The ideal biofuel comes from a plant that isn't used in food production. Some scientists think tocabbo plants like this one may fill the bill.

Researchers from the Biotechnology Foundation Laboratories at Thomas Jefferson University have identified a way to increase the oil in tobacco plant leaves, which may be the next step in using the plants for biofuel. Their paper was published online in Plant Biotechnology Journal.

According to Vyacheslav Andrianov, assistant professor of Cancer Biology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, tobacco can generate biofuel more efficiently than other agricultural crops. However, most of the oil is typically found in the seeds: Tobacco seeds are composed of about 40 percent oil per dry weight.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/01/ ... red-autos/

[winston]

World's Largest Biodiesel Plant Opens in Singapore

Singapore. The Finnish operator of the world's largest renewable diesel plant, which opened Tuesday in the western industrial district of Tuas, has started investing heavily in research to find new materials to be turned into biofuels.

As the price of crude palm oil continues to surge, Neste Oil is looking for alternatives to the commodity which currently makes up 45 per cent of its feedstock - its single largest raw material input.

Its S$973 million renewable diesel plant was opened by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean.

It is looking for ways to convert new raw materials, such as microbes, algae and wood waste, into biofuels, he said.

However, it will be quite a while before such research comes to fruition. "It will take another six years at least before algae can be used as feedstock. Microbes could take a shorter time but there aren't huge volumes of microbes that you could get from the market," Lievonen said.

The plant, with a capacity of 800,000 tonnes a year, is the biggest renewable diesel facility in the world.

Besides palm oil, the plant also uses by-products of palm oil production from Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as waste animal fat from Australia and New Zealand, to produce its renewable diesel, which Neste Oil claims is the cleanest diesel fuel on the market today.

It is being sold in Europe and North America, where governments have adopted biofuel mandates, under which sellers of transportation fuel have to ensure that part of the fuel they sell is biodiesel.

Biodiesel is more expensive than conventional diesel, and fuel sellers have little incentive to buy biodiesel if they are not required by law to do so.


http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business ... ore/427641

[behappyalways]

How biogas from Indonesia's tofu is helping one village
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34634647