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In a few years we can fly much safer with Onur Air again. Blinded by the algae hype, the French-Dutch airline company Air France-KLM has signed an agreement with the most controversial company in the industry: Algaelink. Algaelink, who exists about two years and was founded from the remainings of another controversial enterprise of the Van de Ven family clan, Bioking, has about 2 years experience in the algae field, experience of which about 99,9% has been acquired from temporary partnerships with Ingrepro, a visit to Fraunhofer institute in Germany, a bit of web browsing and a lot of fantasy.

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With methanol prices dropping down rapidly hitting EUR 200 per tonne (FOB Rotterdam), biodiesel producers are in an excellent position. In the past months, crude glycerine byproduct only got more expensive with spot prices between EUR 450/tonne for crude up to EUR 1450 for refined.

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The biodiesel equipment market in Europe seems to be collapsing as prospects remain silent, projects are on hold and existing biodiesel plants stopped working, various sources report, due to high oil prices and difficult supplies. At least one high profile company (as seen on CNN) from The Netherlands has run into trouble by not being able to cope with the resulting negative cash flow. And as initial payments of last year’s projects went to luxury cars and spinoff algae projects rather than to the projects themselves, the company is reportedly unable to fulfill its obligations.  Private homes of the company’s directors and shareholders have been seized pending further legal action.

Various other equipment and plant manufacturers confirm business stagnation in Europe, but are able to maintain their positions with the business shifting to Africa and Latin America.

What does it take to sell unsafe centrifuges for mineral oils to biodiesel customers? Another UK company with no morals. Check out this page which features the mineral oil separator line from Alfa Laval and read what happens when second hand car salespeople get into selling industrial equipment.

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The WBM C&E takes place from 12-14 March 2008 in Brussels (of all places). So you have some time left to move out if you happen to live there. If you have nothing to do and your internet connection hasn’t been working for the past few years, why not visit?

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Ultrasonics and biodiesel, you probably know about it. We will not tell you that using ultrasound waves doesn’t increase the reaction speed in a reaction, on the contrary. But to sell this type of equipment, one company, Hielscher Ultrasonics, will give you facts and fiction on one page. Can you really use lab equipment for industrial scale production in explosion hazardous areas like with biodiesel production plants?

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Removing methanol from biodiesel (or glycerol) doesn’t mean you can reuse it. First of all the methanol will not be as pure as the methanol you bought: it will contain water (a byproduct of methanol and catalyst) and even biodiesel.

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So you’re waiting for that glycerol to settle down and you’ve had enough with it. So you decide to go for a centrifuge. But which one? Our home consultant Kurt Swindelberger tells us that there is no right centrifuge unless you know what you want to swing out of your biodiesel. Then there is the safety issue. Methanol and centrifuges have a very sensitive relationship.

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Investors, this is one is for you. If you believe what is said on algae, you might as well believe anything. A lot has been said on algae recently and while everybody seems to have stuck on press releases, promises and proforma invoices, Biodieselfever Labs now introduces a new approach for algae based biodiesel production: intralgeous ultrasonic nanoreactions.

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