By Dr. Gerald Kutney, Lee Enterprises Consulting The 150th anniversary of Confederation on July 1st is a time to reflect upon the country’s achievements; this article covers the evolution of the Canadian biofuel industry – including gaseous, liquid and solid biofuels, and biomass power – from 1867 to 2017. The foundations of the biofuel industry in…
By Lorenz Bauer, Ph.D., Lee Enterprises Consulting. The methanol and bioeconomies are two of the buzz words of the last decade. They had their origin in the “peak oil” scare and the predicted sky rocketing oil prices. They were further boosted by environmental concerns about pollution and climate change. Both economies are continuing to grow;…
What do biogas experts do? Biogas is a renewable energy source that is produced by anaerobic digestion, where anaerobic organisms break down the organic materials, or by the fermentation of biodegradable materials. Biogas can refer to any of a wide range of gases produced from biological sources including municipal wastewater sludge, animal manures, agricultural wastes,…
By: Dennis Zeedyk, Lee Enterprises Consulting Glycerin Traders LLC’s flagship operation, based in Defiance, OH, takes in waste raw glycerin from biodiesel companies and acidulates it to remove the fats, methanol and some water that is then further distilled to nearly 100% purity. This year the Defiance plant spent an average of about $15,000/month on natural…
Methanol (CH₃OH) is a chemical and is the simplest alcohol. Also known as methyl alcohol or wood alcohol (since it was originally produced mainly by the distillation of wood), methanol today is mainly produced industrially by the hydrogenation of carbon monoxide. It is a light, volatile, colorless, flammable liquid and has an odor quite like…