Renewable Chemicals and Advanced Biofuels Company Gevo Files for IPO; Non-binding Letter of Intent with United Airlines for Renewable Jet Fuel
13 August 2010
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| Gevo has a low capital cost retrofit strategy for ethanol plants to produce isobutanol for direct use; for use in the production of plastics, materials, rubber and other polymers; and for use in the production of hydrocarbon fuels. Click to enlarge. |
Gevo, Inc., a renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels company that converts renewable raw materials into isobutanol and renewable hydrocarbons that can be directly integrated on a “drop in” basis into existing fuel and chemical products, has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) relating to the proposed initial public offering of shares of its common stock. Gevo anticipates a $150 million maximum from the offering, according to the S-1.
The number of shares to be offered and the price range of the offering have not yet been determined. UBS Investment Bank and Goldman, Sachs & Co. will be acting as joint bookrunning managers, with Piper Jaffray acting as a co-manager for the offering.
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Ford, Detroit Edison and Extreme Power Working to Build One of Michigan’s Largest Solar Power Systems at Michigan Assembly Plant; 2 MWh Battery Storage System
13 August 2010
Ford, Detroit Edison and Xtreme Power are teaming up to establish one of Michigan’s largest solar power generation systems and electric vehicle charging stations at Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Mich.
Ford will work with Detroit Edison to install a 500 kW solar photovoltaic panel system at Michigan Assembly. The system will be integrated with a 750 kW energy storage facility that can store 2 MWh of energy using batteries—enough to power 100 average Michigan homes for a year. Xtreme Power of Austin, Texas, is supplying its Dynamic Power Resource on-site energy storage and power management system.
The renewable energy captured by the project’s primary solar energy system will help power the production of fuel-efficient small cars, including Ford’s all-new Focus and Focus Electric going into production in 2011, and a next-generation hybrid vehicle and a plug-in hybrid vehicle coming in 2012. A secondary, smaller solar energy system will be integrated at a later date to power lighting systems at Michigan Assembly.
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Federal Task Force Concludes CCS is Viable, But Carbon Price Is Critical; Sends Recommendations to President Obama on Fostering the Technology
12 August 2010
President Obama’s Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), co-chaired by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE), delivered a series of recommendations to the president on overcoming the barriers to the widespread, cost-effective deployment of CCS within 10 years.
The report concludes that while CCS can play an important role in domestic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions thereby preserving the option of using coal and other abundant domestic fossil energy resources, it faces a key barrier in the lack of a price on carbon.
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Ford Revamps 2011 F-150 Powertrain Lineup; New EcoBoost 3.5L V6 20% More Fuel Efficient Than 2010 Model Year 5.4L V8
11 August 2010
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| 2011 Ford F-150 3.5-liter EcoBoost Engine. Click to enlarge. |
The 2011 Ford F-150 is receiving an extensive powertrain overhaul, featuring four new truck engines, all coupled to a revised six-speed automatic transmission. Each engine delivers improved fuel economy. When the direct-injection twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine joins the lineup early in 2011 (earlier post), the 2011 F-150 will have up to 20% better fuel economy compared with the outgoing 2010 F-150.
The F-Series is Ford’s top-seller. In July, the F-Series posted 50,449 units—the
first time since March 2008 that F-Series sales eclipsed 50,000—up 38.9% year-on-year. For the first seven months of the year, F-Series sales reached 290,794 units, up 34.7% year-on-year. Through July, the F-Series accounted for 26% of all Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles sold, and 28.7% of all Ford brand vehicles sold.
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Study Finds Environmental Impact of Li-ion Battery for BEVs is Relatively Small; The Operation Phase is the Dominant Contributor to Environmental Burden
10 August 2010
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| Environmental burden of a gasoline-fueled ICEV relative to that of a BEV (100%) assessed by four different methods: abiotic depletion potential (ADP), nonrenewable cumulated energy demand (CED), global warming potential (GWP), and Ecoindicator 99 H/A (EI99 H/A). Credit; ACS, Notter et al. Click to enlarge. |
A team from the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) compiled a detailed
lifecycle inventory of a Li-ion battery and produced a rough lifecycle analysis (LCA) of battery-electric vehicle mobility. Their study, published in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology, showed that the environmental burdens of mobility are dominated by the operation phase regardless of whether a gasoline-fueled ICEV or a European electricity-fueled BEV is used.
Compared to a reference internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV), use of a BEV in transport results in lower environmental burdens as assessed by four different methods, they found. However, the PM10, NOx and SO2 emissions caused by E-mobility were higher compared to mobility with an ICEV.
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California SB 375 Report Proposes GHG Reduction Targets to Curb Sprawl Emissions from Transportation
10 August 2010
The California Air Resources Board released a draft report that proposes targets for land use and transportation planning in 2020 and 2035 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with passenger vehicle travel in the state’s eighteen Metropolitan Planning Organizations, including the four largest: Southern California, San Diego, the Bay Area, and the Sacramento region. The Air Resources Board will consider adopting these targets at its September board hearing. (Earlier post.)
The proposed greenhouse gas reduction targets are designed to help to produce sustainable strategies for growth and development for cities and regions over the next twenty-five years. The goal is for people to live close to where they work and play to reduce vehicle miles traveled and the greenhouse gas emissions that come from cars. The report is the first major milestone in implementation of SB 375, a law designed to improve how cities and counties plan for growth and development.
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New Process Boosts Gasoline Production from the Catalytic Cracking of Vegetable Oil Under Refinery Conditions
9 August 2010
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| Adding nickel and co-feeding H2 increased gasoline yield 32% relative to a conventional catalyst. Credit: Rao et al. Click to enlarge. |
Researchers at TU Delft (The Netherlands) and Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Spain) have developed a new concept to increase the efficiency of the catalytic cracking of unsaturated vegetable oil to greatly increase the production of gasoline and light olefins (propene and butenes). A paper on their work is published in the journal ChemSusChem.
By incorporating nickel onto a base commercial FCC (fluid catalytic cracking) Ecat (equilibrium catalyst) and co-feeding hydrogen into the reaction system under realistic FCC operations (525 °C, 1.1 atm), the team found that gasoline production increased 32% relative to the standard Ecat.
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Gevo to Acquire Agri-Energy Ethanol Production Facility to Produce Renewable Isobutanol
9 August 2010
Gevo, a privately held renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels company, has signed definitive agreements to acquire Agri-Energy’s ethanol production facility in Luverne, Minn. for the production of isobutanol.
Mechanical retrofitting of the plant will begin upon closing the transaction. Isobutanol production is expected to begin by the first quarter of 2012. During most of the retrofit process, Gevo expects that the facility will continue to produce ethanol.
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Ford Awards 13 University Research Program (URP) Grants for 2010
9 August 2010
This year, Ford has awarded 13 University Research Program (URP) grants to 12 different universities around the world, including Wayne State University in Detroit; Stanford University in Palo Alto, California; RWTH Aachen University in Aachen, Germany; and Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.
The newly added three-year collaborative research projects are all championed by Ford research teams and vary in scope from testing the properties of thermoplastics modified with nanomaterials and developing an in-vehicle safety alert system for diabetic drivers, to studying the environmental and economic impact of batteries for electric vehicles.
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NSF Awards $510K to NDSU and Clarkson Researchers to Explore Use of Nanostructured Enzyme Capsules for Hydrolysis of Biomass for Fuels
7 August 2010
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $510,335 to a collaboration between North Dakota State University and Clarkson University researchers professors for a research project to improve conversion and reduce costs of making fuels from cellulosic biomass.
The goal of the project—“pH-Responsive Capsules for Enhanced Delivery and Recovery of Cellulases for Biomass Hydrolysis”—is to enhance conversion of cellulosic biomass into fermentable glucose to convert into ethanol or other chemicals or fuels. Their work aims at improving efficacy and reducing costs of cellulase enzymes needed for converting biomass to soluble sugars.
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$2.2M Project to Advance Bio-Oil As Basis for Renewable Chemicals, Fuels and Energy
7 August 2010
Aston University’s (UK) Bioenergy Research Group (BERG) is involved in a £1.4-million (US$2.2 million), two-year project aimed at developing technology for producing and fractionating bio-oil components as a basis for a biorefinery producing green chemicals, transportation fuels and energy.
The Bio-oil Refinery Project is part funded by the Research Council of Norway (RENERGI) program, and will develop new, integrated bio-oil technology to transform biomass more efficiently into biofuels through fast pyrolysis.
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