DC Blowout Party, SF Blowout Biodiesel Party (with golf and Superbowl)

Stafford 'Doc' Williamson
January 18, 2009
This week the world is abuzz with news of the Pennsylvania mandate for 2% biodiesel content in all diesel fuel sold within the state. Oh, yes, there is all that racket going on down in Washington, but I will get to that later.

Governor Ed Rendell, of Pennsylvania, seems delighted with the legislation passed last week. According to the report by Tom Barnes and the Pittsburgh Post-Express, if the state achieves a capacity of 100,000,000 gallons per year the mandated makes will turn from B2 to a B5 (5%) biodiesel content. Looking forward to however the rules also provide that once the capacity of a native Pennsylvania production reaches 200,000,000 gallons per year the requirement again increases to 10% biodiesel content.

Nor does the Pennsylvania law ignore the other current leading Biofuel, for when the native production achieves 350,000,000 gallons of bioethanol per year all gasoline sold within the state will be required to contain 10% ethanol content. The legislation is designed to assure progress on the climate change front, but also to guarantee a market for local producers of these biofuels.

Strange connections riddle:


What do Melissa Ethridge, Crown Ironworks, BASF, Pacific Biodiesel, The Bratney Companies, and John Deere (yes the farm equipment company) have in common?



The answer is the Biodiesel Conference in San Francisco from Feb 1 - 4, 2009. Those are just some of the sponsors, of course. The National Biodiesel Board is behind the conference, and while attendance projections are not available to me at this time, I am planning on attending if I can arrange it.

If you were under the impression that this was NOT a major deal, maybe you should look at the list of exhibitors (exhibition hall is only scheduled to be open on Feb. 2 & 3).



Advanced Biofuel Solutions 726

AG Processing, Inc. 332

AG Solutions, LLC 826

Ageratec North America 843

Agilent Technologies 940, 942

Agri-Systems 829

Alfa Laval, Inc. 830

Alternative Energy Recruiting 417

American Heating Company 741

Analytical Instrument Recycle 514

AOCS 724

AP Innovations 334

Applikon Biotechnology 245

Arisdyne Systems 108

Ascendant Partners Inc. 835

Axens North America, Inc. 1013

BASF Corporation 709

Bayer Technology Services Americas 354

BBI International 420, 422, 424

BBI International, Media and Events 150, 152, 154, 156, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 260, 262, 264, 349, 351, 353, 355, 359, 360, 361, 362, 363, 364, 459, 460, 461, 462, 463, 464, 559, 561, 562, 563, 564, 659, 660, 661, 662, 663, 664, 750, 752, 754, 756, 759, 760, 761, 762, 763, 764, 849, 850, 851, 852, 853, 854, 855, 856, 859, 860, 861, 862, 863, 864, 949, 951, 952, 953, 954, 955, 956, 959, 960, 961, 962, 963, 964, 1051, 1053, 1055, 1059, 1061, 1063

BDI - Biodiesel International AG 230

BEI International, LLC 652

Bently Tribology Services 911

Bio-Alternative LLC 456

Biodiesel Analytical Solutions 944, 946, 1039, 1041, 1043, 1045

Biodiesel Experts International 326

BioFuelBox Corporation 840

BioFuels Business 240

Biofuels Journal 736

Blackmer a Dover Company 339, 341

Blue Sky Biofuels, a Sirona Fuels Company 220, 222

Bratney Companies 818, 820

Buckman Laboratories, Inc. 817

Canadian Renewable Fuels Association 544

Cavitation Technologies, Inc 140, 142

Centrifuge Repair & Engineering 508

Centrisys Corp 526

Chemtex International Inc. 625

Chromalox, Inc. 643

Cim-Tek Filtration 543

CINC Industries 455

Circle Biodiesel & Ethanol Corporation 342

Cognis Corp / QTA Group 710, 712

Columbia Boiler 612

Compass Instruments Inc 836

Conestoga-Rovers & Associates 335

Core Ventures, LLC 608, 707, 708, 807

COSA Instrument Corporation 631

Crown Iron Works Company 718, 720

CSX Transportation 451

Dallas Group 329

DCG Partnership 1, Ltd 409

Desmet Ballestra North America, Inc. 810, 812

Determan Brownie, Inc. 414

Dolphin Marine Services 821

DTN 923

Dulcette Technologies LLC 126

DuPont 907

E3 Energy Partners, LLC 845

EDF Man/Westway 607

Edwards 933

Eide Bailly LLP 541

Endress + Hauser 224

Engineered Storage Products Company 930

EP Minerals 319

ESA Biosciences Inc. 1035

Evonik Degussa Corporation 630, 729

Exhibitor Service Center 160, 162, 164, 259, 261, 263

FCStone 308, 407

Federal Equipment Co. 313

First Capitol Risk Management 909

Florida Syngas LLC 646, 745

Flottweg Separation Technology 321

Fluid Engineering 532

Fluor 822

FMC Technologies, Measurement Solutions 932, 934

Frazier Barnes & Associates 314

French Oil Mill Machinery Company 520

GenTech Scientific, Inc. 223

Global Flexi Systems 533

Greenline Industries Inc 426, 523, 525

GreenShift Corporation 622, 624

GROWMARK, Inc. 831, 833

Harburg-Freudenberger Maschinenbau GmbH 722

Harris Group Inc. 929

Heat Exchange And Transfer, Inc. 730

Hengye USA 844

Hielscher USA,Inc. 842

Highland Tank 636

Horiba Instruments, Inc. 310

Horizon Biofuels, Inc. 832

Huntleigh McGehee 423

Hutchison Hayes, LP 539

IKA - Process Division 733, 735

Incobrasa Industries 130, 229

Indiana Soybean Alliance- Cold-Flow Biodiesel Technology 614

Industrial Construction and Engineering 642

Infineum USA LP 226

Innospec Fuel Specialties 913

Innovation Fuels 318

Inspectorate America Corp. 418

International Process Plants - IPP 509

Interstate Chemical Company 924

Interstates Companies 721

Intertek Caleb Brett OCA 114

Invensys Process Systems 823, 825

Iowa Biofuels Training International 452

J. Rettenmaier USA LP 644

Jatrodiesel, Inc. 356

Junge Control, Inc. 641

Kennedy and Coe, LLC 324

Koehler Instrument Company 925

Koko-Best, Inc. 212

Kyte Centrifuges Sales & Consulting 425

Lake Erie Biofuels 919, 921

Lanxess Corporation 908, 1007

Lawler Manufacturing 411

Lazar Scientific, Inc. 813

Louisiana Chemical Equipment Co. 610

LPP Combustion, LLC 633, 635

M & W Contractors, Inc. 723

Malaysian Palm Oil Board 340

Malcolm Pirnie, Inc. 743

MAPCON Technologies, Inc. 1009

Merrimack High School Biodiesel Crew 814

Methanol Institue 655

Methes Energies Canada Inc. 546

Metrohm USA 846

Mettler Toledo, Inc. 521

MidContinental Chemical Co. Inc. 441

Mid-States Mechanical Services 656, 755

Midwest Laboratories Inc. 432

Monster Diesel, Inc. 235

MP Biomedicals, Saftest Division 433

My Dream Fuel, LLC 651

N. Hunt Moore & Assoc. 834

Nalco Company 1029

National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium 841

Nationwide Agribusiness 732

New Holland 926, 1025

Novus International, Inc. 611

Nowata Filtration div of amafiltergroup 336

Nu-energie,LLC 522, 524

Oil-Dri Corporation of America 819

OPWFTG 343, 345

OTA/The New York Times 443

PAC, LP 208, 307

Pacific Biodiesel Technologies, Inc. 808

Pall Corporation 430, 529

Paradigm Sensors 918, 920

Paratherm Corporation 309

Par-Kan Company 540

Paul Mueller Company 613

Paul Oil Company, Inc. 931

PeopleFlo Manufacturing, Inc. 442

Pepperl+Fuchs 246

PerkinElmer Inc. 910, 912

Perry Videx, LLC 239

Peter Cremer North America 609

Petrolab / Ametek 312

Plastic-Mart.com 436, 439, 535

PRI 629

Primrose Oil Company, Inc. 542

Process Concepts 510, 512

Process Plus LLC 824

Propel Biofuels 536

Protectoseal Company, The 219

Purolite 935

R.C. Costello & Assoc., Inc. 210

Render Magazine 323

Renewable Energy Group 408, 507

Renewable Fuel Corp 809

River 742

Rock Hill Mechanical Corporation 922

Roeslein & Associates, Inc 939

Rohm and Haas Chemicals LLC 350, 352

SafeRack, LLC 213

SAMCO Technologies, Inc. 811

Sanimax Energy 320, 322

Schroeder Biofuels 209, 211

Schubert & Salzer 429

SGS North America Inc. 714

Shimadzu Scientific Instr., Inc. 531

Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc. 619

SMOTEC PLUS 410

Solution Recovery Services 444

SPX Process Equipment 421

SRI Consulting 419

SRI Instruments, Inc. 434

SRS Engineering Corporation 632, 634

Stanley Consultants, Inc. 734

Stepan Company 440

Stoel Rives LLP 725

Sud-Chemie 751

Supelco/Sigma-Aldrich 552

Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance 917

Tank-Depot.com 550, 649

Technochem International Incorporated 914

Teikoku USA Inc 325

Teledyne Leeman Labs 746

Tellus Renewables/RDP Technology,Inc 136

The IMA Financial Group, Inc. 225

The Jacobsen Publishing 618

Thermax 445

Thermo Fisher Scientific 717, 719

Trackmobile, Inc 346

Tuthill Vacuum & Blower Systems 412

U.S. Water Services 331

University of Kansas Energy Council 311

US Department of Energy Biomass Program 553

US Department of Energy Clean Cities Program 551

US Environmental Protection Agency 753

USFuelTech 236

Vance Bioenergy Ltd. 333

Varian, Inc. 317

Velcon Filters, Inc. 214

VFTechnical Services, LLC 621, 623

Vitusa Products, Inc. 534

WCR Incorporated 530

Westfalia Separator - Biodiesel 517, 519

WIKA Instrument Corporation 936

Wilks Enterprise, Inc. 744

Wintek Corporation 435

World Energy Alternatives 518, 617

World Minerals 945

XOS X-Ray Optical Systems, Inc. 555

Zachry 511,513

 



EVENT REGISTRATION is at http://www.biodieselconference.org/2009/pre/conf/info.asp .



Somehow I have managed to restrain myself for at least, well, several column inches, from returning to that other major news event of the upcoming week. Frankly, it is an exaggeration to limit the duration of the Obama Inaugural celebration to only the day after the Martin Luther King Holiday on Monday. Indeed, one of my colleagues extorted me not to send any more email to David because he is, "wrapped up in the inaugural," until next week, and that missive arrived last Tuesday or Wednesday.


I'm certainly not complaining. I very much enjoyed the 2 hours broadcast by delayed on the HBO channel of the huge concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. That is a larger understatement. The crowds extended from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial all the way down both sides of the reflecting pool and didn't thin out until the slight rise of ground around the Washington Monument. More than once today I have heard the President-elect's declaration that, "We are not a collection of Red States and Blue States. We are the United States of America." In that bipartisan spirit, I will refrain from further commentary, except to say that if you want to have your say on what happens in the governing of this country for the next few years, you can start exerting that influence right now at the website the Obama Transition Team is maintaining at http://www.change.gov/ .

One final note that fringes on the world of entertainment, while also at least tangentially touching on the issue of fuels: Piaggio Avanti. The Avanti is an especially modern design, very similar in many ways to the Beechcraft Starship, which, sadly has been abandoned by that company, and now sits awaiting destruction (the company having bought back almost all of the Starships it produced) on a "boneyard" in Arizona. The Avanti, however boasts an advance in design that reduces drag by in innovative fuselage shape that contains a uniform curve from nose to tail. That, combined with a pair of "pusher" propellered jet engines allows the makers to boast that it cruises at 100 knots faster than any other executive jet turbo-prop. That puts it slightly over 400 knots, and nearly as fast a executive jets, except that it also consumes 30% less fuel. That is the kind of innovation I hope to see a lot more of in the coming years.

Love and warm wishes,

Stafford "Doc" Williamson

http://daochienergy.com