A landmark 2009 study, conducted by researchers at Iowa State’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, and updated this week for impacts through 2011, found that US ethanol production reduced wholesale gasoline prices by an average of $1.09 per gallon, in 2011.

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ARA’s ReadiJet Alternative Fuel Initiative has a new member: Chevron Lummus Global (CLG) a 50-50 joint venture between Chevron Products Company and Lummus Technology. The goal of the project is to create drop-in diesel and jet kero biofuels. The two companies will work together to combine ARA’s CH PROCESS technology with CLG’s ISOCONVERSION process technology to create drop-in biofuels for jet and diesel engines.

“The integrated ARA/CLG process provides a pathway for fulfilling the military and civilian markets’ requirements for alternative fuels at parity with petroleum while spurring opportunities for America’s farmers without subsidies,” said Rob Sues, ARA’s President and CEO.

ReadiJet fuel is currently being produced in anticipation for a number of upcoming activities including ground engine testing at OEM facilities, a test flight planned for June 2012 and generation of fit-for-purpose data necessary for ASTM certification.

According to Ed Coppola, ARA fuels principal engineer, the CH Process uses water to reduce hydrogen and catalyst consumption as well as carbon emissions when compared to other conversion processes.  Once the project proves successful and construction is complete on commercial scale biorefineries, CLG will provide licensing and engineering services, reactor engineering, catalyst supply, and start-up assistance.

“With the combination of ARA’s CH PROCESS and CLG’s ISOCONVERSION process technology, we can now produce fungible distillate fuels that meet full ASTM quality requirements and can be blended into refiners’ distillate fuel pools without the density and blending quality issues associated with other biodiesel processes on the market,” said CLG’s Co-Managing Director, Leon DeBruyn.

He added, “We’re also excited that our process works just as well with any other fatty acid bio-derived oils, plant seed oils, and algal oil, which will provide long lasting value for our customers by giving them flexibility to process what is available in the market.”

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The Aberdeen, Scotland City Council is offering a Hyundai Tucson ix35 hydrogen fuel cell vehicle to their car-sharing club members to test drive. This is believed to be the first time in the world that a car-sharing club has been given this opportunity.

ITM Power has offered their H-Fuel mobile hydrogen refueling station to refuel the vehicles with on-demand hydrogen. Refueling with compressed hydrogen gas takes about 4 minutes and gives the Hyundai a range of over 300 miles.

According to Chief Executive of the Aberdeen City Council Valerie Watts, “This is a major coup for Aberdeen and testament to the efforts of the enterprise, planning and infrastructure officers involved …

“…It is really encouraging that Hyundai recognises the city’s ambitious determination to develop expertise in this area and is working with us to promote it as a fuel of the future and fuel celled vehicles as the way forward in transport in the long term.”

I’ve talked many times about how Scotland is high on hydrogen and other forms of alternative and renewable energy such as wind turbine technology. Aberdeen is also planning to roll out a fleet of hydrogen buses in the near future. With this kind of commitment to hydrogen vehicles, Scotland is becoming another bright spot on the map of leading edge clean technology.

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Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and Iowa State University discovered a family of plant proteins that play a role in the production of seed oils, substances important for animal and human nutrition, biorenewable chemicals and biofuels.

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