Sit Down with Sabin: Henrik Scheller: Customizing plants for biofuels.

Uploaded on Aug 10, 2011

Henrik Scheller from the JBEI appeared on August 3rd, 2011 for this installment of "Sit Down with Sabin," a conversation in which former reporter Sabin Russell chats with Lab staff about innovative science. They will discuss "Customizing plants for biofuels." During this series of conversations, Russell and Lab staff will explore the ups and downs of pioneering science, all without the aid of PowerPoints.

Tags: genetic engineering, feedstock, mutant, mutation, acetic acid,

Algae Biofuels and Biotech - Stephen Mayfield UC San Diego

This video is a little old (2010), but it still has some good information.

GE Capital Fleet Services Launches New Interactive Website Focused on Alternative Fuels and Sustainability

Press release:

22 August 2012

GE Capital Fleet Services Launches New Interactive Website Focused on Alternative Fuels and Sustainability

 

Eden Prairie, Minn. – August 22, 2012 – GE Capital Fleet Services today announced the launch of a new eco-focused website that provides access to the company’s depth of knowledge regarding alternative fuels and related sustainable products. The website can be accessed via this link:

www.gefleet.com/eco.

The new website provides interactive tools that allow visitors to learn more about how GE Capital Fleet Services helps customers reduce costs, improve fleet performance and increase productivity via alternative fuel strategies. Highlights include:

• A video presentation focusing on GE’s Vehicle Innovation Center, a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to the alternative fuel vehicle experience
• An interactive Learning Center featuring an alternative fuel locator app and guides, resources and news for drivers, fleet managers and businesses
• An overview of GE’s WattStation™ technology and associated smart grid products and services
• Built-in accessibility to GE’s Intelligauge tool, an easy-to-use online app that calculates current and projected fuel costs and CO2 emissions
• Educational videos demonstrating the benefits of alternative fuel vehicles and infrastructure solutions

“Our new, enhanced eco website presents users with an interactive and educational experience that shows how our green solutions can help optimize customers’ fleets,” said Deb Frodl, chief strategy officer for GE Capital Fleet Services and global alternative fuels leader for GE. “GE’s global depth of knowledge around alternative fuel vehicles allows us to tell the story of sustainability in fleet management from a unique perspective.”

“Our goal is to create a web experience that puts current and prospective customers in the driver’s seat of the total alternative fuel vehicle experience,” said Jadine Starmer, web product manager. “We continually strive to identify ways to help our customers preserve capital and look to greener solutions by use of the latest technologies and interactive tools.”

The launch of the interactive website follows the May 31^st 2012 opening of GE’s world-class Vehicle Innovation Center at the company’s Fleet Services headquarters in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. The center provides current and prospective customers the ability to test drive and learn about the latest advancements and innovations for alternative fuel vehicles, via an on-site test track and education center.

About GE Capital, Fleet Services

GE Capital Fleet Services, based in Eden Prairie, Minn., is a global fleet management company with operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Visit the website at gefleet.com or follow the company’s eco news and updates via Twitter (@GEFleetSvcs).

GE Capital offers consumers and businesses around the globe an array of financial products and services. For more information, visitwww.gecapital.com or follow company news via Twitter (@GECapital). GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.

# # #

Energy Department Investments to Develop Lighter, Stronger Materials for Greater Vehicle Fuel Economy

Press release from the U.S. Dept. of Energy:

Energy Department Investments to Develop Lighter, Stronger Materials for Greater Vehicle Fuel Economy

August 13, 2012 - 9:14am

WASHINGTON – As part of the Obama Administration’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to reduce the United States’ reliance on foreign oil and save drivers money at the pump, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today seven new projects to accelerate the development and deployment of stronger and lighter materials for the next generation of American-made cars and trucks. These projects include the development and validation of modeling tools to deliver higher performing carbon fiber composites and advanced steels, as well as research into new lightweight, high-strength alloys for energy-efficient vehicle and truck engines.

“With strong, lightweight materials we have an opportunity to dramatically increase vehicle fuel economy, while helping America maintain its competitive edge in automotive design and manufacturing,” said Secretary Chu. “Today’s investment in new lightweight materials builds on the Obama Administration’s historic fuel economy standards that are already helping drivers save money at the pump.”

The Obama Administration has taken unprecedented steps to improve the fuel efficiency of American vehicles, reaching historic agreements to improve fuel economy standards for passenger cars and light-duty trucks through Model Year 2025. These standards are expected to save consumers $1.7 trillion at the pump, or about $8,200 in costs over the lifetime of each vehicle. In fact, the initial set of standards for Model Years 2011 to 2016 is already having an impact for American families and businesses. The Energy Information Administration estimates model year 2011 cars achieved record average fuel economy at 34.4 miles per gallon, representing a 2 percent increase over 2010 model year cars.

Achieving the goals of this historic agreement will rely on innovative technologies and manufacturing that will spur economic growth and create high-quality domestic jobs in cutting edge industries across America. The projects announced today will help provide additional technologies and innovations that will enable manufacturers to continue to improve vehicle fuel efficiency beyond the regulated levels. Advanced materials are essential for boosting the fuel economy of cars and trucks while maintaining and improving safety and performance. Replacing cast iron and traditional steel components with lightweight materials – including advanced high-strength steel, magnesium, aluminum, and carbon fiber composites – allows vehicle manufacturers to include additional safety devices, integrated electronic systems and emissions control equipment on vehicles without increasing their weight. Using lighter materials also reduces a vehicle’s fuel consumption. Reducing a vehicle’s weight by just 10 percent can improve the fuel economy by 6 to 8 percent.

The new investments announced today support materials innovation in two critical areas:
Improving Carbon Fiber Composites and Advanced Steel through Computational Design
The Energy Department will award two projects to validate existing modeling tools to optimize the performance and cost-effectiveness of carbon fiber and other specialized composite materials for vehicle body, chassis and interior uses. For example, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, based in Richland, Washington, is receiving a $1 million investment to validate carbon fiber composite models.

Additionally, the Department is investing $6 million to develop new modeling tools to advance third-generation high-strength steels. Through this project, Detroit-based United States Automotive Materials Partnership will leverage an additional $2.5 million in private investment to help create modeling tools for deploying high-strength steels for lighter passenger vehicles.

Advanced Alloy Development for Automotive and Heavy-Duty Engines
Today’s investment also includes four project that will develop lightweight, high-strength alloys for automotive and heavy duty engine blocks and cylinder heads. For instance, Caterpillar Inc, based near Peoria, Illinois, is leveraging a $3.4 million Energy Department award, as well as $1.5 million in private investment, to develop high-strength iron-based alloys to allow for higher cylinder pressures and increased engine efficiency.

Read the full list of awards HERE.

The Energy Department will provide $8 million this year for these awards, and has requested an additional $13.75 million next year, subject to congressional appropriations, to support the completion of these projects over the next two to four years.  The Department’s investments are leveraging an additional $11 million from the private sector. These projects support the Materials Genome Initiative, an ambitious effort announced by President Obama to double the speed and cut the cost of discovering, developing, and deploying new high-tech materials in the United States.

From developing stronger, safer and lighter materials for today’s automobiles, to lowering the costs of electric vehicle batteries and better combustion engines, the Energy Department has supported a range of technological advances in vehicle efficiency that has helped maintain America’s competitive edge in this global industry. More information on these investments is available HERE.  

Press release:

RFS program not working needs overhaul

Bill Bush | 202.682.8114 | bushw@api.orgShareThis

WASHINGTON, August 8, 2012 – API Downstream Group Director Robert Greco told reporters this morning that the nation’s renewable fuel standard program isn’t working and needs to be revamped and better managed to ensure its long term viability:

    “The RFS program has been the most important mechanism for bringing biofuels into the nation’s energy mix. But it is being undermined by impractical requirements and bad agency decisions.

    “The biofuels volume requirements established by Congress will soon push concentrations above the safe E10 level. Volumes will grow from more than 13 billion gallons this year to 36 billion gallons in 2022.

If the RFS is fully implemented, it would raise the per gallon ethanol concentration in gasoline to an average exceeding 20 percent.

    “To increase the amount of biofuels blended in gasoline, EPA has approved the sale of E15 for a portion of the nation’s vehicle fleet. It approved E15, even though it knew or should have known of the existence of compatibility problems and even though it knew engine testing was ongoing.

    “EPA also has still not resolved the problem of fraudulent renewable fuel credits purchased by some refiners. EPA told refiners the bad credits were the companies’ problem and they’d have to purchase more RINs, potentially adding more costs to making gasoline. This is a problem the agency could have, and should have, fixed by now. Instead, the situation has introduced uncertainty in the RINs market and hurt some smaller biofuels producers.

    “Finally, EPA continues the bizarre requirement that refiners blend cellulosic ethanol into gasoline, even though no one is producing any for commercial use. Nevertheless, EPA has ruled that refiners must purchase credits for this non-existent fuel. Requiring refiners to pay for a fuel that doesn’t exist is regulatory absurdity. It drives up costs and does nothing to increase use of biofuels. It may even undermine public confidence in the RFS program itself.”

API represents more than 500 oil and natural gas companies, leaders of a technology-driven industry that supplies most of America’s energy, supports 9.2 million U.S. jobs and 7.7 percent of the U.S. economy, delivers more than $86 million a day in revenue to our government, and, since 2000, has invested more than $2 trillion in U.S. capital projects to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives.

Press release:

Lockheed Martin to Integrate Fuel Cells, Solar Power for Military Applications Under Contract with Office of Naval Research

AKRON, Ohio – Aug. 8, 2012 – Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] secured a contract with the Office of Naval Research for the design and development of solid oxide fuel cell generator sets as an alternative to traditional battlefield power generation equipment. Lockheed Martin’s fuel cell technology will be integrated with solar panels, providing the military with the power needed to perform missions while using dramatically less fuel.

At the end of the 32-month development program, Lockheed Martin will demonstrate and deliver a multi-kilowatt JP-8 compatible Fuel Cell Efficient Power Node for evaluation by the U.S. Marines. The goal of the approximately $3 million dollar contract is to reduce overall fuel usage required for tactical electrical generation by 50 percent or more.

More than 100,000 military generators are used worldwide to power services from lighting and air conditioning to computers, radios, and command and control systems. Solid oxide fuel cells convert fuel into electricity using a chemical reaction that is 30 to 50 percent more efficient than the combustion engines used in diesel generators, which are the largest consumers of fuel on the battlefield today. Because fuel cells require less fuel to create the same amount of power, they offer the potential to save billions of dollars in operational costs and to reduce the number of military casualties that are directly related to the delivery of fuel.

“Lockheed Martin shares the U.S. Department of Defense’s top goals of increasing the safety of our troops and reducing operational costs,” said Dan Heller, vice president of new ventures for Lockheed Martin Mission Systems & Sensors. “Alternative energy solutions, such as the fuel cell we are developing for the Office of Naval Research, can help mitigate these challenges, advancing the strength and flexibility of our military operating in some of the world’s toughest conditions.”

Lockheed Martin is working with Cleveland-based TMI to mature the fuel cell technology. In addition to Lockheed Martin-funded research and development, this team has received competitive grants from the Ohio Third Frontier, a program committed to creating new technology-based products, companies, industries and jobs. In 2011, Lockheed Martin became the first company to continuously operate a solid oxide fuel cell generator set for over one thousand hours on standard DoD-supplied JP-8, and remains the only company to do so to date.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs about 120,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation's net sales for 2011 were $46.5 billion.

Boeing Next-Generation 737 Performance Improvement Package Delivers on Promise to Cut Fuel Burn

Press release:

Customers validate improvements on package's first anniversary

RENTON, Wash., July 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Customers of Boeing's [NYSE: BA] Next-Generation 737 are validating the benefits of the industry-leading Performance Improvement Package (PIP), one year after the first airplane PIP airplane was delivered. PIP combines aerodynamic and engine performance improvements to reduce fuel burn by up to 2 percent and is part of the continuous innovation on the world's best-selling airplane. More than 420 Next-Generation 737s have now been delivered with PIP.

"The Performance Improvement Package has contributed to a remarkable fuel mileage improvement compared to the non-PIP airplanes," said Takeshi Katsurada, vice president of flight operations engineering for Japan Airlines. "We can validate its improvement through each delivery flight performance monitoring and also daily flight operations monitoring to the extent of more than 2 percent fuel mileage improvement."

Elements of the performance improvement package, provided at no charge to customers, have been gradually introduced on the 737 over the past year. They include aerodynamic-shaped anti-collision lights, streamlined slat and spoiler trailing edges, ski-jump wheel well fairings re-contoured to smooth the air flow near the main landing gear, and enhancements to the CFM engine. A re-contoured plug and cutback nozzle completed the propulsion portion of the performance improvement package. The final element of the package, a redesigned environmental control system exhaust vent, is scheduled for mid-2013.

"These improvements are important for our airline customers," said Beverly Wyse, vice president and general manager of the 737 program, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "The improved fuel savings are part of our commitment to deliver market-leading value to Next-Generation 737 customers. Improving fuel efficiency by 2 percent saves more than $120,000 annually on each airplane and reduces the carbon footprint."

Boeing began performance improvement testing in November 2010 with the goal of reducing fuel consumption by up to 2 percent.

"Our latest tests have shown that aircraft, which incorporate the Performance Improvement Package, provide flydubai with up to 1.6 percent reduced fuel burn over non-PIP aircraft," said Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO of flydubai. "With a growing fleet, any savings we can make towards our fuel costs are positive from both a financial and environmental perspective. We look forward to Boeing introducing the final part of the package, which will provide us with even greater fuel savings."

Press release:

Unworkable RFS law needs overhaul, API tells Congress

Bill Bush | 202.682.8114 | bushw@api.orgShareThis

WASHINGTON, July 10, 2012 – API President and CEO Jack Gerard told a congressional subcommittee today that while America’s Renewable Fuels Standard law had increased use of ethanol and other biofuels, implementation of the law’s requirements was becoming increasingly difficult and could hurt consumers. The volume requirements in the law could soon require concentrations of ethanol in gasoline above levels known to be safe.

    “This would present an unacceptable risk to American car owners, who have invested billions of dollars in vehicles that were designed, built, and warranted to operate on a maximum 10 percent ethanol blend,” Gerard said in testimony delivered to the House Subcommittee on Energy and Power. “It also would put at risk billions of dollars of gasoline station equipment in thousands of retail outlets across America, most owned by small independent businesses.

    “Biofuels are now in almost all gasoline. While API supports the continued, appropriate use of ethanol and other renewable fuels, the Renewable Fuels Standard law has become increasingly unrealistic, unworkable, and a threat to consumers. It needs an overhaul.”

    Almost 15 billion gallons of biofuels will be blended in transportation fuels this year, and that number must double by 2020 under the law’s requirements.

    Gerard said he also was concerned that EPA had insisted the industry pay penalty fees to the agency for failing to blend cellulosic ethanol in gasoline, even though no cellulosic ethanol is commercially manufactured. “Mandating the use of fuels that do not exist is absurd on its face and inexcusably bad public policy,” Gerard said. He also called on EPA to resolve the problem of fraudulent renewable fuel credits, which have been sold to refiners under a program created by EPA.

    API represents more than 500 oil and natural gas companies, leaders of a technology-driven industry that supplies most of America's energy, supports 9.2 million U.S. jobs and 7.7 percent of the U.S. economy, delivers more than $86 million a day in revenue to our government, and, since 2000, has invested more than $2 trillion in U.S. capital projects to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives.

GE Opens Innovation Center for Alternative Fuel Vehicles

Strictly speaking, the energy sources (compressed natural gas and electricity) for the vehicles discussed in this article are not renewable.  Nevertheless, this press release may still be of interest.

04 June 2012

GE Opens Innovation Center for Alternative Fuel Vehicles

· Located at GE Capital Fleet Services' headquarters in Eden Prairie, Minn., the center allows GE customers to experience electric, natural gas, propane, hydrogen and other formats of alternative fuel vehicles

· The center reinforces GE’s commitment to accelerating the adoption of alternative fuel vehicles that maximize resources, drive efficiency and make the world work better

Eden Prairie, Minn. – May 31, 2012 – GE Capital Fleet Services announced today the opening of its Vehicle Innovation Center, a world-class facility that provides businesses, industry groups and researchers with a first-hand experience with alternative fuel vehicles and enabling GE technologies.

The first-of-its-kind center reinforces GE’s commitment to the deployment of more efficient vehicles in its fleet and in customer fleets. Showcasing the latest in a growing array of alternative fuel vehicles in electric, natural gas, propane, hydrogen and other formats, the center gives GE’s commercial customers the opportunity to learn about and test drive numerous alternative fuel cars and trucks in a single location with assistance from GE’s fleet, transportation, energy and advanced technology experts.

“At GE, we are at work, providing solutions to the world’s toughest challenges,” said Clarence Nunn, president and CEO of GE Capital Fleet Services. “Through our Vehicle Innovation Center, we are committed to sharing alternative fuel vehicle technologies and solutions with our customers and helping them put more of these vehicles on the road.”

Located on the campus of GE’s fleet management business headquarters in Eden Prairie, Minn., the center features a private half-mile driving course and a vehicle center that includes alternative fuel vehicles from 20 automotive manufacturers. With 6,000 square feet of classrooms and showrooms, the center also allows visitors access to a variety of products and solutions from GE’s ecomagination portfolio, including solutions for the smart grid, Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in a Box, fuel savings mobile applications, and other advanced energy and infrastructure technologies.

“We believe that businesses, through their company fleets, can lead the way in putting drivers across the country and around the world into cleaner, more productive vehicles,” said Deb Frodl, chief strategy officer for GE Capital Fleet Services and global alternative fuel leader for GE. “The best way to accelerate adoption of alternative fuel cars and trucks is to experience them. Once they get behind the wheel, they can see that these vehicles are real and ready for action.”

The center supports GE’s broader ecomagination business strategy – to accelerate the development and deployment of clean energy technology though innovation and R&D investment. GE Capital Fleet Services will run the center in collaboration with other GE businesses and GE energy and transportation experts around the world.

“The city of Eden Prairie is delighted and proud to be the home of GE’s Vehicle Innovation Center, “ said Nancy Tyra-Lukens, mayor of Eden Prairie. “This is truly a world-class facility and we are pleased to have GE working on the future of sustainable transportation right here in our own community.”

About GE GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.

About GE Capital, Fleet Services

GE Capital, Fleet Services, based in Eden Prairie, Minn., is a global fleet management company with operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Visit the website at gefleet.com or follow the company’s eco news and updates via Twitter (@GEFleetSvcs).

GE Capital offers consumers and businesses around the globe an array of financial products and services. For more information, visitwww.gecapital.com or follow company news via Twitter (@GECapital). GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.

A Working Model

The following is the introduction to the cover article of the new Renewable Energy from Waste magazine.


A Working Model

Greenwood Energy is producing market-friendly fuel pellets from waste in America's heartland.

Brian Taylor
April 23, 2012

Many alternative energy efforts get their starts with an application for a government grant or a proposal designed to tie into a specific tax advantage.

Greenwood Energy has applied for and received low-interest government-backed loans, but General Manager Ted Hansen says his company has created its business model specifically to “avoid reliance on unreliable government subsidies.”

New York-based Greenwood Energy is ramping up a facility in Green Bay, Wis., based on following that premise. It can handle 150,000 tons of inbound material while creating a fuel pellet that can compete with or supplement coal as boiler feedstock.

According to its website www.gwenergy.com, the fuel pellet production is a key part of one of the two main divisions of Greenwood Energy, the Fuels division. The other division focuses on “clean power generation [and] investing in and evaluating a number of projects across the biomass, fuel cell, hydro and biogas spaces.”

Having yielded positive early returns, Greenwood Energy’s project in Green Bay now signifies just a start to a wider plan to build several similar facilities in other parts of the country.


For more, click the link below:

http://www.rewmag.com/rew0412-fuel-pellets-from-waste.aspx

GE Capital Fleet Services Launches New IntelliGauge℠ Tablet and Mobile Application

Press release:

10 May 2012

GE Capital Fleet Services Launches New IntelliGauge℠ Tablet and Mobile Application

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn.--10 May 2012-- GE Capital Fleet Services today announced the launch of IntelliGauge, a mobile fuel and CO2 calculator application that allows users to compare components of their current vehicles against future vehicles. IntelliGauge is designed to help companies and consumers alike make smart decisions on their vehicle purchases. IntelliGauge is free to use and is optimized for use on iPads, smartphones and desktops. It is available at www.geintelligauge.com.

Using IntelliGauge, decision makers can quickly and intuitively calculate annual fuel savings, CO2 emissions and the fuel efficiency to assist in budget planning, vehicle selection and other decisions that take these factors into account. The application asks users to provide information regarding the makeup of their vehicles, annual mileage estimates, and allows users to edit fuel prices delivering a customized report that can be saved, shared, or compared against other scenarios.

“Fuel price volatility continues to have a big impact on the decisions companies make, including vehicle replacement strategies,” said Brad Hoffelt, senior vice president and general manager of products and services at GE Capital Fleet Services. “We’re focused on identifying ways to couple technology solutions with our deep domain expertise to help our customers preserve capital and optimize fleet efficiency.”

The application also includes links to a number of other GE Capital Fleet Services mobile and educational resources, including GE’s ecomagination℠ site, an alternative fuel locator application, a U.S. fuel price map, and information regarding GE’s WattStation™ technology.

About GE Capital, Fleet Services

GE Capital, Fleet Services, based in Eden Prairie, Minn., is a global fleet management company with operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Visit the Web site at gefleet.com or follow the company’s eco news and updates via Twitter (@GEFleetSvcs)

GE Capital offers consumers and businesses around the globe an array of financial products and services. For more information, visitwww.gecapital.com or follow company news via Twitter (@GECapital). GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.

Industry Milestone: GE’s Heavy Duty Gas Turbines Surpass 2 Million Fired Hours on Low Carbon-Intensity Fuels

28 March 2012

Industry Milestone: GE’s Heavy Duty Gas Turbines Surpass 2 Million Fired Hours on Low Carbon-Intensity Fuels

 

• Waste Fuels from Industrial Operations Like Steelmaking Produce Power with Zero Incremental CO₂ Emissions
• Power from Coal Gasification Enables Future Generations of Low Carbon Coal-Fired Plants
• GE Low-Carbon Technologies Demonstrate Maturity, Reliability and Affordability

ATLANTA, GA.—March 28, 2012—GE’s (NYSE: GE) fleet of 47 heavy duty gas turbines operating on low British thermal unit (BTU) fuels has accumulated more than 2 million fired hours, an operational milestone that underscores GE’s commitment to developing specialized solutions that meet the demands of today’s evolving energy industry.

Low BTU, or low calorific value fuels have significantly less heating values than natural gas. Examples include syngas, steel mill gases and dilute natural gas. These fuels are lighter than natural gas and have less energy per unit volume.

The fuel flexibility inherent in GE’s B, E and F-class turbines has allowed these units to operate on low BTU fuels in a variety of applications, including integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC), refinery-based IGCC and steel mills.

“In a carbon-constrained environment, the technology trend is for combustion systems capable of burning syngas and other nontraditional fuels while also delivering the required operability. In this context, the strong operational experience gained by GE gas turbines with a wide variety of fuels creates favorable prospects, both for robust E-class machines and for F-class machines that deliver high performance,” said Paul Browning, president and CEO—Thermal Products for GE Energy.

To achieve the same heat input as natural gas-fired units, low BTU fuels need increased fuel flow. This flow rate requires the fleet to use GE’s Multi Nozzle Quiet Combustion (MNQC) and standard (single nozzle) syngas combustors, which provide robust and reliable operation on low BTU fuels.

The hours accumulated by the fleet include projects totaling more than 4 gigawatts of installed power generation capacity at 21 plants. One million of those hours have been achieved on GE’s E-class turbines. Roughly 600,000 hours have been accumulated on GE’s B-class while the remaining 400,000 hours were amassed on the F-class. Some of the turbines have been running on syngas or other fuels for more than a decade including a large coal-based IGCC facility in Florida and an Italian refinery. Others are newer installations operating at locations in the United States, Germany, Italy, Canada, Netherlands, Czech Republic, China, Middle East,and Singapore.

A case in point is the Wuhan Iron & Steel Group Corp. (WISCO) steel mill near Wuhan City in Hubei Province, China. To comply with China’s goals to reduce energy consumption and emissions, WISCO installed a combined-cycle power plant—powered by two GE 9E Gas Turbines—at the Wuhan mill.

Reusing the mill’s own “blast furnace” and “coke oven” waste gases (BFG and COG) as “free” fuel, the two GE 109 combined-cycle systems each generate 164 megawatts of onsite power to support the mill’s activities. Currently, the power plant’s annual output is 1 billion kWh/a, with a guaranteed electrical efficiency greater than 42 percent (LHV).

The key benefits of this project for WISCO include a reduction in emissions associated with the waste gases created during the steel production process and new revenues generated by the sale of some of the power plant’s electricity to the local grid.

GE’s fleet of heavy duty gas turbines operating on low BTU fuels continues to grow, as customers look to do more with less.

GE Heavy Duty Gas Turbine Hours Fired on Low BTU fuels
Experience by frame:

• 1 million hours on GE E-class turbines.
• 600,000 hours on GE B-class turbines.
• 400,000 hours on GE F-class turbines.

Experience by application:

• 450,000 hours at coal-based IGCC facilities.
• 860,000 hours at refineries.
• 700,000 hours at steel mills.

Experience by region/country:

• 250,000 hours at facilities operating across Asia.
• 280,000 hours at facilities operating across North America.
• More than 1 million hours at facilities operating across Europe.

About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.

GE Energy works connecting people and ideas everywhere to create advanced technologies for powering a cleaner, more productive world. With more than 100,000 employees in over 100 countries, our diverse portfolio of product and service solutions and deep industry expertise help our customers solve their challenges locally. We serve the energy sector with technologies in such areas as natural gas, oil, coal and nuclear energy; wind, solar, biogas and water processing; energy management; and grid modernization. We also offer integrated solutions to serve energy- and water-intensive industries such as mining, metals, marine, petrochemical, food & beverage and unconventional fuels.

Follow GE Energy on Twitter @GE_Energy.

Boeing, Airbus and Embraer to Collaborate on Aviation Biofuel Commercialization

Accelerating Availability is Key Pillar of Industry's Sustainable Growth Strategy

GENEVA, March 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Boeing (NYSE: BA), Airbus and Embraer today signed a memorandum of understanding to work together on the development of drop-in, affordable aviation biofuels. The three leading airframe manufacturers agreed to seek collaborative opportunities to speak in unity to government, biofuel producers and other key stakeholders to support, promote and accelerate the availability of sustainable new jet fuel sources.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Jim Albaugh, Airbus President and CEO Tom Enders, and Embraer Commercial Aviation President Paulo Cesar Silva, signed the agreement at the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG) Aviation and Environment Summit in Geneva.

"There are times to compete and there are times to cooperate," said Jim Albaugh. "Two of the biggest threats to our industry are the price of oil and the impact of commercial air travel on our environment. By working with Airbus and Embraer on sustainable biofuels, we can accelerate their availability and reduce our industry's impacts on the planet we share."

"We've achieved a lot in the last ten years in reducing our industry's CO2 footprint - a 45 percent traffic growth with only three percent more fuel consumption," said Tom Enders. "The production and use of sustainable quantities of aviation biofuels is key to meeting our industry's ambitious CO2 reduction targets and we are helping to do this through Research and Technology our expanding network of worldwide value chains and supporting the EU commission towards its target of four percent of biofuel for aviation by 2020."

"We are all committed to take a leading role in the development of technology programs that will facilitate aviation biofuels development and actual application faster than if we were doing it independently," said Paulo Cesar Silva. "Few people know that Brazil's well known automotive biofuels program started within our aeronautical research community, back in the seventies, and we will keep on making history."

The collaboration agreement supports the industry's multi-pronged approach to continuously reduce the industry's carbon emissions. Continuous innovation, spurred by competitive market dynamics that push each manufacturer to continuously improve product performance, and air traffic modernization, are other critical elements to achieving carbon-neutral growth beyond 2020 and halving industry emissions by 2050 based on 2005 levels.

"Having these three aviation leaders set aside their competitive differences and work together in support of biofuel development, underscores the importance and focus the industry is placing on sustainable practices," said ATAG Executive Director Paul Steele. "Through these types of broad industry collaboration agreements, aviation is doing all it can to drive measurable reductions in carbon emissions, while continuing to provide strong global economic and social value."

All three companies are affiliate members of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group (www.safug.org), which includes 23 leading airlines responsible for approximately 25 percent of annual aviation fuel use. Boeing and Embraer are already collaborating on how to establish a sustainable aviation biofuels industry in Brazil and exploring new technology pathways to broaden biofuel sourcing and availability. Boeing and Airbus are also active around the globe in helping to establish regional supply chains, while the three manufacturers have all supported numerous biofuel flights since global fuel standards bodies granted their approval for commercial use in 2011.

DuPont Wins 2012 Sustainable Biofuels Award

DuPont News, March 16, 2012

DuPont Wins 2012 Sustainable Biofuels Award for Feedstock Innovation

DuPont has won the 2012 Sustainable Biofuels Award in the Sustainable Feedstock Innovation Category for its Stover Harvest Collection Project.  This is a comprehensive research and scale-up project for DuPont Industrial Biosciences that significantly advances the cellulosic ethanol industry toward commercialization and furthers DuPont’s efforts to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

DuPont received the award at the World Biofuels Markets 2012 Congress, Europe’s largest conference and exhibition focused on biofuels.  The awards are designed to recognize innovation in the development of sustainable and renewable fuels.

“It is an honor to receive this award,” said Jim Collins, president of DuPont Industrial Biosciences.  “We recognize that a reliable, sustainable source of biomass is critical to the success of advanced biofuels.  Our collaborative approach involving growers, researchers, environmental organizations and government ensures we’ll be able to meet the needs of the evolving market sustainably while creating new opportunities for rural America.”

The Stover Harvest Collection Project is a highly collaborative endeavor, involving experts in the field of agronomy from DuPont’s Pioneer Hi-Bred business and Iowa State University working in conjunction with custom harvest equipment manufacturers and more than 50 local farmers.  The project provides key knowledge on the sustainable collection, transport and storage of corn stover for conversion to biofuel.  Going into its third year, the project is expanding its reach in 2012 with a goal of involving up to 150 farmers and collecting biomass that will be used in its planned biorefinery in Nevada, Iowa.

“We had thousands of nominations from around the world and across the entire biofuels value chain,” said Claire Poole, event director for Green Power Conferences, the organizer of the awards and conference.  “The winning companies demonstrated a layer of achievement and promise above their peers that bodes well for themselves as well as the industry.”

Post from Dept. of Energy Blog

Veolia and Johnson Controls Get the Job Done with Clean, Fuel Efficient Fleets

March 9, 2012 

With their presence in almost every neighborhood and community, refuse trucks, like the one shown above, can benefit from alternative fuels and advanced technology. | Photo courtesy of Veolia Environmental Services.

What are the key facts?

• Veolia operates four compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations and more than 100 CNG vehicles.
• Johnson Controls operates more than 500 hybrids, together saving $500,000 in fuel costs.

With a total of 18 members that run more than a million vehicles across the country, the National Clean Fleets Partnership addresses a wide variety of transportation needs.  The program, part of the Vehicle Technologies Program’s Clean Cities initiative, works to help partners reduce their vehicle fleet’s petroleum use, whether they use telecommunications repair vans or soda delivery trucks.  With Secretary Chu’s announcement on Monday of the Partnership’s expansion, this is the second of two posts highlighting our four new members.

Veolia Environmental Services

With their presence in almost every neighborhood and community, refuse trucks can benefit from alternative fuels and advanced technology, which this National Partner knows well.  The Solid Waste division of Veolia Environmental Services maintains a fleet of more than 3,000 trucks, heavy equipment, and support vehicles that service both households and businesses. The company is dedicated to reducing petroleum use and emissions through route optimization, alternative fuels, and hybrid vehicles. As of 2012, the company operates four compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations and more than 100 CNG refuse-collection and support vehicles. Veolia joined the partnership in December 2011.

Johnson Controls, Inc. 

As a leading supplier of battery systems for hybrid electric vehicles, Johnson Controls is committed to designing and delivering increasingly sustainable products, services and solutions that will help its customers improve their energy efficiency, reduce their carbon footprint, and achieve their environmental goals. Leading by example, Johnson Controls has implemented several greenhouse gas reduction strategies in its global fleet of 19,000 vehicles. It first introduced hybrid electric vehicles into its fleet in 2009. Today, it operates more than 500 hybrids, each reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 30%, and together saving $500,000 in fuel costs during the first two-and-a-half years of operation. In 2011, it deployed 20 all-electric vans, which are estimated to achieve a 61% GHG reduction per vehicle. Other strategies include the use of CNG vans, and higher MPG vans and trucks. In 2012, Johnson Controls will pilot the use of telematics —allowing them to better collect and share geographic and other data with drivers—and continue with the deployment of additional alternative fuel vehicles, including propane-fueled units. Johnson Controls joined the partnership in February 2012.

News Release from Illinois EPA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 23, 2012

Illinois EPA Designates 15 Chicago Area “Green Fleets”

Oak Park—The Illinois EPA, in coordination with the Chicago Area Clean Cities coalition, designated 15 new Chicago area Green Fleets at an event held today in Oak Park.  The Illinois Green Fleets program provides for “Green Environment, Green Energy, & Green Economics for a Green Illinois,” through the use of clean alternate fuels, such as natural gas, biodiesel, ethanol, propane and electricity in their fleet vehicles, as well as retrofiting existing diesel trucks with clean technology options to reduce diesel particulates. Information regarding the program can be found at http://www.illinoisgreenfleets.org/.  “These are family-owned and larger businesses, as well as public bodies, that have seen the value in supporting clean air, energy independence, jobs and providing insurance against the concern about high prices for gasoline and diesel,” said Interim Illinois EPA Director John Kim. “These new Green Fleets join an elite fraternity of over 100 designated fleets throughout the state. We see more and more family-owned small businesses that are taking the initiative to purchase and convert their vehicles and equipment to run on a clean American fuel,” said Darwin Burkhart, program manager for the Illinois EPA and Chairman of Chicago Area Clean Cities. The 15 new Illinois Green Fleets are: Abt Electronics, a family-owned electronics and appliance store based in Glenview, uses biodiesel in its diesel truck fleet and has 30 vans that use E85 ethanol fuel and two vans that run on natural gas. In addition, the Abt family installed diesel oxidation catalysts on eight diesel delivery trucks to further reduce particulate emissions. Groot Industries, a family operated waste hauler based in Elk Grove Village, has 33 refuse trucks that run on natural gas and has installed two natural gas refueling stations to share with other fleets. Other waste companies being recognized are Waste Management in Wheeling and Veolia ES Solid Waste in Northbrook with 33 and 20 natural gas refuse trucks, respectively. Competitive Lawn Service, a small commercial lawn business in Downers Grove, is the first lawn and landscaping business in the country to convert many of its pickup trucks and mower equipment to propane.  Doreen’s Pizzeria, a family-owned business in Calumet City, has seven natural gas-powered delivery trucks that display “Green Pizza Machines” on the sides of the vehicles. Ozinga Ready Mix, a family-owned business in Mokena, is believed to be the first concrete company in the country to convert 14 of its mixing trucks to run on natural gas. SCR Medical Transportation, a family run paratransit service in the Chicago area, operates 20 natural gas vans and shuttles for people needing mobility assistance. In addition, GO Airport Express operates two propane and two natural gas-powered shuttle vans and Yellow Cab Chicago has 79 natural gas taxis; both companies operate from O’Hare and Midway airports. Other Green Fleets that are being acknowledged at the event are Northern Illinois University in DeKalb that uses E85, biodiesel, natural gas, and hybrid vehicles in many of its trucks, buses, campus police cars, and other campus vehicles and equipment; Chicago Park District that has E85, biodiesel, natural gas, hybrids and electric vehicles; Dillon Transport of Burr Ridge that uses E85 in the company’s flex fuel vehicles; Foodliner of Franklin Park that operates six Freightliner trucks on natural gas; and the DuPage County Division of Transportation that has nearly half its fleet running on E85, biodiesel, natural gas and electricity.    ###

Biofuels News from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Fill 'Er Up With Tobacco? Berkeley Lab-Led Team Explores New Path to Biofuels

ARPA-E funded project aims to produce fuel molecules in plant leaves

FEBRUARY 23, 2012

Dan Krotz   dakrotz@lbl.gov

 2 

 

 

    

Feature

It'll take some doing, but Berkeley Lab's Christer Jansson and others hope to create a new recipe for biofuels. The idea is to take hydrocarbon-synthesizing genes from cyanobacteria (in the flask) and introduce them into tobacco plants. Jansson will discuss the project at the Feb. 27-29 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit.

Mention biofuels and most people think of corn ethanol. Some may think of advanced biofuels from switchgrass or miscanthus. But tobacco? Not likely.

That could change. A team of scientists led by a researcher from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is exploring a way to produce gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel from the iconic plant of the South.

Their goal is to engineer tobacco plants that use energy from sunlight to produce fuel molecules directly in their leaves. The leaves would then be crushed, and the fuel extracted and separated. The scientists estimate that about 1000 acres of tobacco could yield more than one million gallons of fuel.

Why tobacco? It’s grown in large tracts throughout the U.S and in more than 100 countries. It generates multiple harvests per year, its large leaves could store a lot of fuel, and it’s amenable to genetic engineering.

But before you fill up with gas squeezed from tobacco, the scientists must first get through a long checklist of pioneering research. Success could give the nation a new source of transportation fuel.

If this sounds promising—albeit a bit of a long shot—that’s by design. The $4.9 million project is funded by DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), which focuses on “high risk, high payoff concepts—technologies promising genuine transformation in the ways we generate, store and utilize energy.”

The project is led by Christer Jansson, a plant biochemist with Berkeley Lab’s Earth Sciences Division. He’ll discuss the project at the 3rd Annual ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit, to be held February 27-29 near Washington, D.C.

Can tobacco leaves hold fuel molecules? An ARPA-E funded project at Berkeley Lab is taking on the challenge.

Jansson will be joined at the summit by other Berkeley Lab scientists who’re pursuing ARPA-E projects, all potential game-changers. These include a way to quickly discover materials that capture CO₂ from power plant emissions, an innovative method to produce biofuel from microbes, and the development of a low-cost flow battery for the grid that could boost the adoption of renewables.
In the tobacco-to-fuels project, Jansson and his collaborators want to create a shortcut in the way in which solar energy is converted to biofuel. Today, one approach to advanced biofuel production requires deconstructing biomass and then using microbes to ferment the resulting sugars into fuel. In contrast, the team hopes to create a plant that grabs CO₂ from the air and converts the carbon into a fuel that’s almost ready for the tank.
“We want to bypass downstream processes like fermentation and produce fuels directly in the crop,” says Jansson. “After the biomass is crushed, we could extract the hydrocarbon molecules, and crack them into shorter molecules, creating gasoline, diesel, or jet fuel.”
To get there, the scientists will work to create tobacco plants that are optimized to take in CO₂, harvest sunlight, and produce hydrocarbon molecules.
For the latter, Jansson will start with cyanobacteria genes that encode for enzymes which produce alkane, a type of hydrocarbon. He’ll then make synthetic versions of these genes that are suited for expression in tobacco. In another approach, Tasios Melis, a UC Berkeley biologist, will conduct a similar exercise with green algae genes that produce isoprenoids, another type of hydrocarbon.

These genes will be introduced into tobacco plants grown by UC Berkeley scientist Peggy Lemaux. Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of the leaves by UC Berkeley chemist David Wemmer will enable the scientists to spot any carbon bottlenecks in the plant and refine their metabolic engineering. In addition, Cheryl Kerfeld, a scientist at DOE’s Joint Genome Institute, will search the genomes of hundreds of cyanobacteria species for other alkane-producing genes that could also prove useful.

The scientists also want to get as much carbon into the tobacco plant as possible to maximize hydrocarbon production. Ordinary tobacco “fills up” with CO₂ very quickly. To increase the plant’s carbon uptake, the team will again turn to cyanobacteria, which are very efficient at grabbing carbonate from the surrounding water and transporting it into the cell. Jansson hopes to insert cyanobacteria genes that facilitate this carbon transport into the chloroplasts of tobacco plants.

Melis and UC Berkeley scientist Kris Niyogi will also work to enhance tobacco’s use of light during photosynthesis. Melis will use a technique he developed that enables the manipulation of a plant’s light-harvesting mechanisms.

The team hopes to grow their first plant in about 18 months. Their ultimate goal is a plant in which between 20 and 30 percent of its dry weight is hydrocarbon. Promising plants will be grown in Kentucky in a pilot test overseen by the Kentucky Tobacco Research and Development Center, whose scientists will explore ways to optimize the plants’ growth and harvest conditions.

###