PTE Investments

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Colleges & Technical Institutes

(offering ethanol and/or renewable energy courses & certifications)

Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007

Groundbreaking Study Finds that Certain Ethanol Blends can Provide Better Fuel Economy than Gasoline

Researchers from the University of North Dakota Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) and the Minnesota Center for Automotive Research (MnCAR) conducted the testing on four automobiles using the Highway Fuel Economy Test (HWFET), a test developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to determine fuel economy...click here to learn more about the study's results and the surprising fuel economy gained by certain blends of ethanol-to-gasoline (E20 & E30 blends being the best fuel economy mix).

[download the full report]

Ethanol Blender Pumps - with the results of the Optimal Ethanol blend-level investigation pointing to higher mileage results for non-flex-fuel (and flex-fuel) vehicles, there will be a push hopefully in the near future to have more service stations upgraded to include ethanol blender pumps. Ethanol blender pumps are already showing up in towns around the U.S. Britton, South Dakota has a service station with an ethanol blender pump that dispenses mid-range ethanol blends - from E-10 to E-85, including E-20, E-30 and E-40 blends.

During the test noted above, it was found that the non-flex-fuel vehicles (97% of the millions of U.S. vehicles on the road today) had no engine faults or other problems until the higher blends were reached. E-40 appears to be the peak of optimum fuel efficiency. For more details on the report be sure to click on the links above...

Ethanol blender pumps allow station owners to install the blender pumps along with an ethanol E-85 tank and their normal gasoline tank, and via the blender pump provide their customers with the desired blend of E-10, E-20, E-30, E-40, and the already popular E-85 blend (for use in flex-fuel vehicles). Congress needs to help with the effort by passing legislation that removes the E-10 barrier and opening up the ethanol choices to consumers for use in their vehicles they own, TODAY!

[download the full report]

National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition

(NEVC)

(E85 Refueling Location Search - USA)

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(Be sure to check out NEVC's numerous resources, low cost membership to help support their organization, products, and more!)

News of interest for the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition (NEVC): Senator Joseph Lieberman is a cosigner of a letter focused on helping secure "...$8 million of additional Clean Cities program funding that can be directed to the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition to expand E85 fueling capacity across the country in the fiscal year 2007 Energy and Water Appropriations bill."

Finding The Truth Among The Myths About Corn, Ethanol & Water

Ethanol Fact Book

(2007 version; opens as a .pdf)

The Ethanol Fact Book is available on Ethanol.org and it is distributed through the Ethanol Across America campaign...

...As note in the October issue of EthanolToday, "the Ethanol Fact Book addresses issues regarding the ethanol tax incentive, energy security and oil import reductions, economic impacts and benefits to the U.S. Treasury, greenhouse gas reduction and environmental benefits, and advancements in cellulose conversion technologies." The article went on to quote Doug Durante, Executive Director of the Clean Fuels Development Coalition (CFDC), "Ethanol is a complex and multi-faceted issue that needs to be viewed in its entirety. Its value is truly the sum of its parts, and this fact book clearly defines the energy security, economic, environmental, and national benefits derived from our ethanol industry."

Be sure to download your free copy of the Ethanol Fact Book today!

Question: Is the focus of corn use in ethanol production heavily impacting food prices? Here are two websites that express their view on the situation. You decide...

Balanced Food and Fuel: http://www.balancedfoodandfuel.org

Map (pdf) of U.S. Biorefinery Locations

Ethanol Industry at a Glance

EthanolToday

Renewable Fuels Association

RFA's National Ethanol Conference Blog

Annual Industry Outlook & Ethanol Industry Scrapbook

Advanced Energy Initiative

Changing the Way We Fuel Our Vehicles

Advanced Energy Initiative (pdf booklet)

Interesting resources to learn more about "lignocellulose"

Abstract Submission, "Lignocellulose is a potential substrate for ethanol production"
www.nrel.gov/biotechsymp25/docs/abst6a-25.doc

Wisconsin Biorefining Development Initiative™ - Fermentation of Lignocellulosic Biomass (http://www.wisbiorefine.org)
http://www.wisbiorefine.org/proc/fermlig.pdf

USDA Forest Service (www.fpl.fs.fed.us)

4 Fungal enzymes for lignocellulose degradation
www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/pdf1992/culle92a.pdf

Switchgrass - learn more on what role it can play in creating cellulosic ethanol, along with native prairie grasses.

NPR : Switchgrass: Alternative Energy Source?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5183608

Switchgrass - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switchgrass

State high on switchgrass - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/regional/s_434764.html

Harvesting Clean Energy Program
Creating Cellulosic Ethanol: "Spinning Straw into Fuel

Biofuels from Switchgrass: Greener Energy Pastures

Click here to download or view this brochure in PDF format (191 k)
 

Mesquite - learn more about the harvesting, states & regions with high density of mesquite (a woody tree or shrub as explained in various definitions and articles on mesquite)...and it's place in the production of ethanol

Harvesting Machine Driving Mesquite-to-ethanol Potential

Green Car Congress: Researcher Explores Mesquite-to-Ethanol

From campfire to gas tank, mesquite energy may be harnessed for ethanol

Definitions of mesquite

U.S. Department of Energy

Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy

Ethanol - topics & links of interest

Ethanol Basics

Fueling with Ethanol

Drive an Ethanol vehicle

Ethanol Incentives & Laws

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Ethanol / E85 / Alternative Fuels TIPS:

Visiting or live in Illinois and looking for a station with E85 available at the pump? Click here for the state's locator

E85 stations around the U.S. - click here for the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition (NEVC)'s locator

U.S. Dept. of Energy, Alternative Fuels Data Center's Glossary - common alternative fuel related terms & acronyms

U.S. Department of Energy - Renewable Energy Biomass program

Integrated Corn-Based BioRefinery (ICBR) - learn about U.S. Dept. of Energy program

- Integrated Corn-Based Bio-Refinery (pdf; will open in a new window to allow you to save it to your hard drive)

From the U.S. Department of Energy web site:

..."Today's biomass uses include ethanol, biodiesel, biomass power, and industrial process energy."

" Tomorrow, biorefineries will use advanced technology such as hydrolysis of cellulosic biomass to sugars and lignin and thermochemical conversion of biomass to synthesis gas for fermentation and catalysis of these platform chemicals to produce slates of biopolymers and fuels."

From the U.S. Department of Energy

E85 Fleet Toolkit - this toolkit from the U.S. Dept. of Energy is supported by the EPAct Program. This kit includes among other valuable details information on the technology needed to install an E85 fueling site, and developing E85 fueling stations.

Low-Level Ethanol Fuel Blends Fact Sheet (click here for the PDF; this will open a new window where you can view & save the file to your hard drive)

EPAct 2005 program summaries

Federal & State Incentives & Laws

Cellulosic Ethanol Summit: Integrating Communities in the Value Chain to Build a New Industry

(click here for direct link to the organizer's site for the Cellulosic Ethanol Summit)
...click here for the Cellulosic Summit brochure - pdf [will open in a new window]

Ethanol Summit 2006

December 11-12, 2006 - The Westin Oaks, Houston - Houston, Texas USA

A Global, Technical, Marketing and Investment Assessment

COMMENTARY:
Here's a link to interesting figures on gasoline & gasohol consumption in the U.S., state by state, month-by-month for all of 2005....139 billion gallons worth!

A recent comment by the head of the oil and gas lobby association, American Petroleum Institute (API), President Red Cavaney took issue with the national promotion and the long term use of 85% ethanol (E85) at the Advancing Renewable Energy: An American Rural Renaissance conference in St. Louis.

Colleges & Technical Institutes

Bismarck State College - Bismarck, ND

Ellsworth Community College - Iowa Falls, IA

Lake Area Technical Institute - Watertown, SD

Minnesota West Community & Technical College - Granite Falls, MN

Northeast Community College - Norfolk, NE

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Ethanol & Renewable Energy/Biofuels Producers/Biorefiners, and Production, Chemical & Equipment Companies

Broin Companies

Fremont Industries

ICM Inc.

Aventine Renewable Energy, Inc.

Sulzer Process Pumps US, Inc.

Sulzer Chemtech USA, Inc.

Novozymes North America, Inc.

Genencor International, Inc.

Victory Energy

Malloy Electric

Austin AECOM

Indeck Power

Hydro-Klean, Inc.

Hi Roller Conveyors

Ethanol Technology

Midwest Towers, Inc.

Ceres Inc.

 

 

More resources & news...

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