FLORENCE – The city’s cooking oil recycling program has a problem. Public response has been so good, more oil is being collected than the city has capacity to convert to biodiesel fuel.

It’s a problem Mayor Bobby Irons and Gas and Water/Wastewater manager Mike Doyle like.

“We would like to expand and treat a larger volume during the warmer months,” Doyle said. “These (treatment) units are expandable, and we could double our treatment capacity to 200 gallons at a time real quick by adding another one.” Leer más »

Global Biodiesel Market Expected to Produce 45,291 million liters by 2020.

Production increased from 959 million liters in 2001 to 15,760 million liters in 2009, at a CAGR of 41.9%. Supported by governments to increase energy independence and meet the rising energy demand the biodiesel market is expected to produce 45,291 million liters of biodiesel in 2020, representing a CAGR of 10.1% during 2009 to 2020. Europe is the leading biodiesel market with a production share of 49.8% followed by the Americas with a production share of 32.8% and Asia Pacific with a share of 4.4% in 2009. Leer más »

Micro-algae as a source of cheap renewable energy are at the center of new research being conducted at Argentina’s National Technological University.

The use of algae as a source of energy is being researched in different countries across the world and is at an advanced stage in the United States.

But as research has grown so has the realization that converting algae into energy may not be as cost-effective as originally thought possible. As a result, new research and investigation has been two-pronged, both to make optimum use of algae as a source of energy and to do it cheaply. Leer más »

Soybean, one of the most important global sources of protein and oil, is now the first legume species with a published complete draft genome sequence. Credit: Roy Kaltschmidt, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Soybean, one of the most important global sources of protein and oil, is now the first legume species with a published complete draft genome sequence. The sequence and its analysis appear in the January 14 edition of the journal Nature. Leer más »