Dale T. Decker, industry and government relations director for Decker Truck Line Inc., has got a new pet project: testing the potential of biodiesel. Now when a company states it's going to conduct real-world testing, you rarely get an accurate control group and conversely, lab conditions offer only theoretical insights to the real world. That's apparently not good enough for Decker.

The test, which they're calling the 2 Million Mile Haul, is aiming for an unprecedented level of accuracy by testing 20 brand new trucks in real-world conditions. Half will run on traditional petroleum diesel while the other half will run on soy-based B20. To minimize anomalies, the trucks will travel matching routes and carry matching loads. Measurements and data analysis will include engine wear, mileage, fuel consumptions and repairs.

The project brings together Iowa Central Community College, the Iowa Soybean Association, Caterpillar Inc., the United States Department of Agriculture and the Renewable Energy Group of Ralston, a biodiesel plant developer. Students and faculty at Iowa Central will be conducting data measurements and analysis.

Aside from providing proof of biodiesel's potential and viability, a Caterpillar representative believes that biodiesel needs a widely accepted technical standard and that Decker's project is a step in the right direction.

[Source: Messenger Online]

The Department of Agriculture predicts that the U.S., which exports 45-50 million tons of corn yearly, will instead convert 50 million tons to ethanol next year. Last year alone the country exported over 40 million tons which is enough to feed over 130 million people.

Federal requirement to double ethanol availability to 7.5 billion by 2012 is cited as the major cause for this change and the current corn prices. Analysts predict increasing competition between the fuel industry, service stations, and supermarkets.

Related: Rapeseed of War between food industry, biodiesel advocates

[Source: Financial Times via Truth about Trade & Technology]

In a good news, bad news sort of story, the USDA announced yesterday that they awarded almost $4.2 million worth of grants to companies who are working to turn woody biomass into affordable, useable fuel. The USDA defines woody biomass as “trees, woody plants, limbs, tops, and needles that are byproducts of ecosystem restoration and hazardous fuel reduction activities in national forests and grasslands.” In other words, a lot of the stuff that falls from trees onto the forest floor and is then considered a fire hazard. The grants go to businesses and groups that can make the conversion process affordable and also those that can find use for “small-diameter trees”.  It’s good that the USDA is paying out to turn this stuff into fuel (ethanol, for example), but forests also need to keep their “waste” as part of their ecosystem. [Source: USDA via Domestic Fuel]