BrevardBioDiesel Blog

Florida Space Coast Clean Cities Coalition is putting on a 1 day workshop covering biodiesel topics on Friday October 3rd, 2008. It will be held from 10am to 3pm at the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) at 1679 Clearlake Road in Cocoa FL.

Topic: Bio-diesel Production and Use in Florida

Fee: $10 for workshop materials

Registration (I think it should be on-line at some point via FSEC. Will update this link then.)

Agenda:
9:00 AM Registration
10:00 AM Welcome and Introduction
10:10 AM Overview of Alternative Fuel Vehicle Technologies
10:30 AM Feedstock for Producing Biodiesel
11:00 AM Production of Fuel
11:30 AM Quality Standards for Fuel Grade
Noon Lunch (on your own)
1:00 PM Using Bio-Diesel in Your Vehicle
1:30 PM Fueling Stations: How do I Get it
2:00 PM Incentives and Regulations
2:30 PM State of the Technology
3:00 PM Closing

The sponsors of this event are:
National Alternative Fuel Training Consortium
Florida Solar Energy Center
Space Coast Clean Cities Coalition
Traviss Technical College
University of Central Florida

Kip Kay at MAKE Magazine's Weekend Project walks through the steps of making one litre of biodiesel from vegetable oil. He includes a water wash/dry step at the end. Note that you need the yellow Iso-HEET bottle, which is methanol, and *not* the red Iso-HEET bottle.
The original MAKE Magazine article, in PDF format, is still available.

Today in a Town Hall stop at BCC's Titusville Gymnatorium, Barack Obama made several references to biodiesel.
In response to a question about the planet's oceans - he said:

"It may be that there are ways that we can actually cultivate our oceans, that help to give us answers to issues like energy - for example algae, it turns out, might be a very good source of us creating biodiesel. And there is a lot of research taking place right now. This is the kind of committment to science that we have to have here in the United States."

FloridaToday points out the use of biodiesel by many agencies in Brevard County. Included are:

• City of Titusville: 105 fleet vehicles
• City of Cocoa: fleet ($12,000 per year fuel savings, 80 vehicles)
• City of Palm Bay
• Brevard Public Schools
• City of Melbourne: Pilot testing approved
• City of Rockledge: Testing in 2 vehicles
• Brevard County Solid Waste Division ($60,000 per year fuel savings)

The article reports that 500,000 gallons of biodiesel are used in Florida each month.

Solazyme, a synthetic biology company, has announced that their algal derived biodiesel has passed (ASTM) D-975 testing. Their fuel, called SoladieselRD(tm), has also been road-tested at B100 levels in a 2005 Jeep Liberty CRD. From their press release:

Solazyme implements a unique microbial fermentation process that allows algae to produce oil in massive vessels quickly, efficiently and without sunlight. The process can utilize many forms of non-food feedstocks, including waste glycerol and many cellulosic materials including wood chips, corn stover and switchgrass.