Eco-Portal: An Information Gateway Empowering the Movement for Environmental Sustainability
Earth News
January 08, 2009
- VeruTEK completes new green chemistry remediation project
Company that uses plant extracts to remedy toxic pollution claims another customer win. - about 19 hours
source: (Cleantech Group - Latest clean technology news) - Travolta Family Tragedy
My son suffered from Kawasaki syndrome just before his third birthday ["Jett Travolta and Kawasaki Syndrome," usnews.com]. - about 19 hours
source: (U.S. News) - Hybrid Sales in Australia Up 2% in 2008
The Age. Sales data released by Australia’s Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) shows 5,042 hybrid cars were sold in 2008, up 2% on the previous year. Combined sales of passenger cars and SUVs and commercial vehicles in 2008 were 791,223—down 5.3% compared to 2007—giving hybrids a 0.64% share of the new light-duty vehicle market.
The passenger car segment ended the year down 6.3% (596,765 units) compared to 2007; SUV sales were down 1.9% (194,458 units).
Toyota’s Prius model posted the strongest sales growth of any hybrid vehicle on the local market in 2008, with a record 3,413 sold, almost 7.5 per cent higher than 2007. This figure also accounted for more than two-thirds of all hybrids in Australia sold last year.
Honda sold 813 units of its Civic Hybrid.
- about 20 hours
source: (Green Car Congress) - 10 Things You Didn't Know About Leon Panetta
Democratic sources revealed Panetta is Obama's pick to lead the CIA. - about 20 hours
source: (U.S. News) - 5 Steps to Set Up a Retirement ETF Portfolio
Check your age, goals, and appetite for risk, then choose your funds. - about 20 hours
source: (U.S. News) - Will Barack Obama Reverse the George W. Bush Presidential Power Grabs?
No more imperial presidency, please. - about 20 hours
source: (U.S. News) - Pregnant Women: Just Say 'No' to Early C-Section
Giving birth a week before your due date, as many doctors urge, is bad for your baby's health. - about 20 hours
source: (U.S. News) - The One Stock Fund You Need to Own in 2009
Jensen Portfolio looks for substance behind the stock ticker. - about 20 hours
source: (U.S. News) - Health Buzz: Salmonella Outbreak and Other Health News
Drug resistance bacteria: the cost of free antibiotics; how teens can avoid bogus health info online. - about 20 hours
source: (U.S. News) - Lebanese Officials Deny Responsibility for Rockets Hitting Israel
As the war in Gaza drags on, Lebanon says it knew nothing about a rocket barrage into Israel. - about 20 hours
source: (U.S. News) - House Democrats Prepare Ledbetter Bill to Overturn Supreme Court on Equal Pay for Women
Good for the women of the House. - about 20 hours
source: (U.S. News) - Teen Birthrates: Where Does Your State Rank?
More than half the states in the nation saw teen birthrates climb in 2006. - about 20 hours
source: (U.S. News) - 5 New Investing Rules for Retirement
The struggling economy means changes must be made. - about 21 hours
source: (U.S. News) - White House Lost $23 Million in Value Over the Past Year
Zillow reports on what the housing crisis has done to the value of the nation's most famous residence. - about 21 hours
source: (U.S. News) - Sheila Bair Likely to Stay at FDIC
Republican official is poised to continue her role in the Obama administration. - about 21 hours
source: (U.S. News) - Bush and Ex-Presidents Counsel President-Elect Obama
In a goodwill gesture, President Bush held a summit for Obama and all of the living past presidents. - about 21 hours
source: (U.S. News) - Economic Headlines Stretch Limits of Imagination
At least some warnings are so bad they're impossible. - about 21 hours
source: (U.S. News) - President-elect Barack Obama on His American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan
Obama begins to lay out a plan for tax cuts and new spending that would make up a new stimulus package. - about 21 hours
source: (U.S. News) - 3 Ways Baby Boomers and Seniors are Coping with the Recession
Many Americans are becoming more frugal, some people have cracked into their nest egg early - about 21 hours
source: (U.S. News) - ZeaChem Raises $34M for Indirect Ethanol Process Biorefinery
Elements of the ZeaChem process. Click to enlarge. ZeaChem Inc., the developer of an indirect process for the production of cellulosic ethanol, raised $34 million in initial Series B financing. The funding round was co-led by venture capital investors Globespan Capital Partners and PrairieGold Venture Partners with follow-on investment by MDV-Mohr Davidow Ventures, Firelake Capital and Valero Energy Corporation, the largest petroleum refiner in the United States.
ZeaChem’s process combines the outputs of two traditional ethanol production pathways (fermentation of sugars and gasification of biomass) into a third catalytically-driven step—hydrogenation—to produce ethanol. (Earlier post.) Zeachem now says that it can produce 40% more ethanol per ton of biomass over any known competitor. The company will use the new funds to build its first cellulosic biorefinery this year.
In the ZeaChem process, the biomass is chemically fractionated to produce a sugar stream containing both xylose (C5) and glucose (C6) sugars, and a lignin residue stream.
The sugars are fermented by a carbon-efficient acetogen—Clostridium thermoaceticum, found in termites—to acetic acid without CO2 as a by-product. (Conventional yeast fermentation creates one molecule of CO2 for every molecule of ethanol.) The acetic acid is converted to an ester which is then be reacted with hydrogen to produce ethanol.
The hydrogen is produced by the gasification of the lignin residue to produce syngas. The hydrogen is separated from the syngas and used for ester hydrogenation and the remainder of the syngas is burned to create steam and power for the process. The net effect of combining the two processes is that about 2/3 of the energy in the ethanol comes from the sugar stream and 1/3 comes from the lignin steam in the form of hydrogen, according to ZeaChem.
An analysis of the ZeaChem process included in a report on ethanol by the University of Illinois, published in November 2007, notes that:
In this process, 3 moles of ethanol are produced from 1 mole of glucose resulting in a 50% improvement over the conventional route where 2 moles of ethanol are produced from 1 mole of glucose. The energy for the third mole of ethanol is supplied by hydrogen, which can be generated by the gasification of the lignocellulosic biomass.
ZeaChem says that it expects to be able to deliver an Nth plant yield of 135 gallons of ethanol per bone dry ton (BDT) of biomass.
In February 2008, ZeaChem and GreenWood Resources, Inc. (GWR) signed a non-binding Letter of Intent for the supply of poplar tree (Pacific Albus) feedstock under a long-term agreement to support the operation of an initial 1.5 million gallon per year (MGPY) ZeaChem cellulosic biorefinery near one of Greenwood’s Pacific Albus tree farms in the Columbia River Basin. (Earlier post.)
Resources
Agroforestry and Cellulosic Ethanol from Sustainable Poplar Tree Farms (Greenwood Resources)
“Science of Alternative Feedstock”, Chapter 7, Corn-Based Ethanol in Illinois and the US: A Report from the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois
source: (Green Car Congress)
