It looks like motorists, not ethanol makers, stand to feel the pain of a federal tax credit that expired at the end of last year.

Current infrastructure for delivering the alternative fuel isn't adequate to use all that the federal government says must be produced.

Xylogenics claims its yeast strain, developed at the Indiana University School of Medicine, can increase yields and lower costs of producing corn ethanol.

National Biofuels Distribution LLC, a subsidiary of Carmel-based Telamon Corp., signs two distribution contracts to expand its distribution reach. The company began marketing its ethanol-based racing fuel, Ignite, about a year ago.

A firm that may have developed a breakthrough yeast for ethanol production has landed new investment and high-octane board members. Two-year-old Xylogenics Inc. also says it plans to license its first bioengineered yeast later this year.

Carmel-based Telamon Corp. rose to become one of the largest minority-owned businesses in the area largely by serving telecommunications giants. Now it is veering off its traditional course to supply racing teams with an ethanol-based fuel made from Indiana corn.

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and other city officials will travel to Brazil in May to explore renewable-energy production, in hopes of making the city a leader in the technology.

Poet Biorefining has four more Indiana ethanol plants on the drawing board, but they'll stay on paper until capital markets and demand for the biofuel improve, an executive of the South Dakota company said on a recent trip to Indianapolis

A firm hatched out of the Indiana University School of Medicine has raised $150,000 toward bringing to market yeasts that could be a cure for one of the biggest bioengineering challenges of the day.

A state fund supporting an 18-cent-a-gallon tax credit for gas stations selling E85 ethanol was exhausted in the first three months of the state's new fiscal year.

The Indy Racing League suddenly finds itself at odds with Midwestern farmers over a decision to make a Brazilian consortium its ethanol supplier starting next year.

Last month, Purdue University launched the Center for Energy Systems and Policy to make sure its researchers are working early in the process with business and public-policy experts at the university.

Indianapolis-based engineering and consulting giant RW Armstrong has become lead investor in an upstart ethanol firm that would apply novel technology to make the automotive fuel without using corn as the key ingredient. It would be the first big commercial plant in Indiana to make the alcohol fuel with so-called cellulosic material--the holy grail, of sorts, in the ethanol industry.

The list of potential Hoosier ethanol plants is nothing short of astounding for a state that had just one ethanol-fuel distillery as recently as 2005. Beyond the six ethanol plants now operating and six others under construction, Purdue University agricultural economist Chris Hurt counts 27 others under consideration for Indiana.

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management proposes a change in regulations that could reduce the time it takes to approve air permits for ethanol plants. The change would establish industry-specific control standards for emissions.

Indiana's plan to become the Middle East of biofuels could be a boon well beyond the rural towns that will welcome more than a dozen refineries . Firms that make and supply parts and expertise needed to build the $1.8 billion in ethanol and biodiesel plants--and related infrastructure--are gearing up.