DMB digs biodiesel
When The Dave Matthews Band finished their final set at the Gorge Amphitheater over Labor Day weekend, the rockers hit the road for Sacramento. On the road with them were eleven semi trucks carrying the band's lights, amplifiers and other musical equipment. They wouldn't have made it very far if it weren't for Imperium Renewables, the Seattle biodiesel company that supplied 1,800 gallons of blended biodiesel for the voyage.

US Ethanol, Biodiesel Production Must Compete For Stocks
Rising ethanol and biodiesel production must compete with existing domestic and export markets for raw materials in the future because projections already show some major corn-producing areas soon could be importing from other states, said Alan Brugler, president of Brugler Marketing & Management, here Friday. Rising ethanol production already is helping to eat into U.S. corn inventories, and projections for the 2007-08 crop year show further erosion at the end of the crop year, Brugler said. Brugler was speaking to a gathering of the National Grain Trade Council/Transportation, Elevator and Grain Merchants Association, and said the futures markets already are trading corn and soyoil for their value as a fuel-production alternative.

Our bio-fuel safe say Bay duo
The EECA has warned consumers to stare clear of "backyard producers" indicating the product could do more harm than good to their vehicles. But Mr Walker, co-founder of Bio-Fuel Direct, said there were no problems with his locally developed product. "It's a completely different process, we are making bio-fuel not bio-diesel. They are different products," he said. The reaction comes just one week after a bio-diesel making workshop was held in the Western Bay, with another scheduled in Matamata on September 23. Mr Walker said unlike bio-diesel there was no sign of any damaging chemicals in his alternative fuel, made from recycled vegetable oil. "We don't use all the nasty chemicals that are known to cause problems. There is no caustic soda or methanol - these can eat away at seals and injectors if you don't do it right."

Argentina's soybean producers eye biodiesel boom
Soy farmers in Argentina, the world's top soyoil exporter, are eyeing expansion to meet demand for biodiesel, but green campaigners say the oilseed's continuing spread is unsustainable. Demand for biodiesel is surging, especially in Europe, where the European Union sees grain use for biofuels quadrupling by 2013 - and Argentine producers are determined not to miss out. Many expect sown area to increase from a record 15.3 million hectares in the 2005/06 season. "There's the eventual potential to double the production of all Argentina's crops, including soy. Between 20 and 30 percent of that could come from expanding area and the rest from getting higher yields," said Gustavo Grobocopatel, one of the South American country's biggest soybean producers.