The Year of Ethanol

John Davis

e-podcastThe ethanol industry has come a long way this year and a large part of the renewable fuel’s success is unquestioningly a result of the concentrated efforts of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council. Looks like all that hard work paid off. Agrimarketing magazine named ethanol the Agrimarketing Product of the Year. EPIC’s Reece Nanfito says the late accomplishments of the ethanol industry are just the beginning.

This edition features comments from Reece Nanfito, the Director of Marketing for EPIC.

The “Fill up, Feel Good” podcast is available to download by subscription (see our sidebar link) or you can listen to it by clicking here (5:30 MP3 File):
[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3?http://www.zimmcomm.biz/epic/epic-podcast-12-17-07.mp3]

The Fill Up, Feel Good theme music is “Tribute to Joe Satriani” by Alan Renkl, thanks to the Podsafe Music Network.

“Fill up, Feel Good” is sponsored by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

Audio, Energy, EPIC, Ethanol, Fill Up Feel Good

Measuring Up the Candidates

John Davis

repubguide.jpgSo you say you haven’t heard enough from the 16 candidates running for President? There’s just not been enough media coverage for your tastes? OK, so maybe you think you’ve heard enough about the crowd (especially if you’re living in Iowa or New Hampshire), but you do need some information to make an informed decision, right? Especially when it comes to how they stack up on alternative energy issues.

Well, The Daily Green web site is offering a voter’s guide to how green all the candidates are (don’t be fooled by the graphic, there’s plenty of links to see how the Democrats are on alternative fuel issues). Here’s an example of what you would see on the page. I put these two candidates side by side. Normally, it’s just one at a time. Do your own comparing:
votersguide.jpg

As I said, there are similar links for each of the candidates, Republicans and Democrats, at the Daily Green’s election guide web sites. Check ’em out and make the decision for yourself. Maybe the sooner you make up your mind, the sooner they’ll leave the poor folks in Iowa and New Hampshire alone!

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Government, News

VeraSun Gets Two For One

John Davis

VeraSun EnergyVeraSun Energy has broken ground on a new Oil Extraction Facility in Aurora, South Dakota. The new facility will use technology that enables the large ethanol producer to generate two renewable fuels from one kernel of corn.

VeraSun Energy Corporation, one of the nation’s largest ethanol producers, today announced that it began work on an oil extraction facility at its 120 million-gallon-per-year (MMGY) ethanol biorefinery located near Aurora, S.D. The facility will utilize a technology designed to extract corn oil from distillers grains, a co-product of the ethanol production process.

Production is targeted to begin in the fourth quarter of 2008 and the process is expected to yield 7-8 million gallons of corn oil annually from 390,000 tons of distillers grains. The corn oil will be made available for sale to the biodiesel market. One gallon of corn oil yields approximately one gallon of biodiesel, increasing the production of renewable fuels without creating additional feedstock demand.

“The production of two biofuels from one kernel of corn makes economic and environmental sense,” said Pete Atkins, VeraSun vice president, corporate development. “This is a great example of the innovation that will continue to develop as the industry matures. We are pleased to contribute to the commercialization of this technology.”

VeraSun Energy first introduced the concept behind this new technology in 2006. The company plans to get the technology up and running at its Fort Dodge and Charles City, Iowa, biorefineries by the end of 2009.

Agribusiness, Biodiesel, Energy, Facilities, News, Production

Biodiesel Plants Employing Modular Designs

John Davis

In a world of tight margins, biodiesel producers are looking for an edge that will help them maintain their profitability. That edge might come in the form of modular designs for their refineries.

This article from Biodiesel Magazine says a compact modular plant design using proven techniques can improve biodiesel plant economics and help the construction or expansion process, while saving the builder and/or operator moneY:

Biodiesel plants represent an ideal opportunity to employ modular designs. Their scale lends itself well to modularization of all or significant portions of the production process. Modular techniques can positively impact equipment selection and configuration, producing a compact plant layout, and improving product quality and profitability.

Modular designs typically have a smaller footprint than field-erected plants. Storage tanks are usually free-standing, but the vast majority of the process equipment can be modularized and strategically located, lowering capital costs and improving plant efficiency. A well-implemented modular design takes advantage of a combination of horizontal and vertical layouts to locate equipment in an optimum spatial relationship. An experienced modular system designer can minimize space requirements, reduce piping runs and, in some cases, eliminate pumping requirements by allowing for gravitational flow.

The article goes on to say that a modular design can help a refiner optimize key process steps, assist in integrating quality assurance measures, and offers the ability to incorporate heat integration methodology.

Biodiesel

Mexico Turns Sights Toward Biodiesel

John Davis

Mexico, a big producer of petroleum, could be getting into the biodiesel business.

This story from Reuters says a new biofuel law that kicks in next year will encourage the production of biodiesel from crops like beets, yucca root, and sorghum, possibly solving some of the food-versus-fuel debate Mexico has been going through:

“Mexico could develop biodiesel faster than ethanol,” said Agriculture Minister Alberto Cardenas at a news conference.

“We have to seek out other sources for biofuel to differentiate ourselves from Brazil and the U.S.,” said Cardenas.

The law, passed last week, offers unspecified support to farmers that grow crops for the production of any renewable fuel.

Cardenas said a biodiesel industry would help the country’s poorest farmers, and that none of the crops Mexico currently grows for food would be replaced with biofuel plants.

No estimate of how much biodiesel Mexico could produce.

Biodiesel, International

Ameren Gets Into Wind Power

John Davis

ameren.jpgSt. Louis-based AmerenUE, which serves 2.4 million electric customers and nearly one million natural gas customers in a 64,000 square mile area of Missouri and Illinois, has announced its first venture into wind energy.

horizonwindenergy.jpgThis Ameren press release says the Midwest power giant will buy 100 megawatts (MW) of wind power from Horizon Wind Energy’s Rail Splitter Wind Farm located near Delavan, Illinois, honoring Ameren’s promise to add 100 megawatts of renewable capacity to serve its Missouri customers by 2010:

“This is an exciting day for AmerenUE,” says AmerenUE President and CEO Tom Voss. “It is our first venture into wind development. We will be looking for additional opportunities as we increase the amount of renewable resources in our generating portfolio. This is a significant first step toward further diversifying our fuel mix and demonstrating our commitment to environmental stewardship.”

(Thursday’s) announcement is a culmination of a thorough, year-long review of proposals UE sought earlier this year. AmerenUE intends to sign a 20-year purchased power agreement (PPA) for the wind farm’s output. The PPA has not yet been signed, and terms are still subject to negotiation. Once the agreement is signed, construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2008, with the project completed by the end of 2008. Sixty seven turbines will be located on the site, with each turbine capable of generating 1.5 megawatts of electricity.

Horizon is owned by Portuguese utility Energias de Portugal, S.A. (EDP), which produces more than 1,700 mgawatts of renewable power In Spain, Portugal, and France with another 3,000 megawatts worldwide due to come on line by the end of next year.

Wind

Biodiesel is Topic of Scholarship Contest

John Davis

cleanairchoice.jpgThe American Lung Association of Minnesota has teamed up with the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association to offer a scholarship to a senior who writes the best essay on biodiesel.

This press release from the ALA of Minnesota says high school seniors are welcometo participate:

essaycontesticon.gifCurrent Minnesota high school seniors with plans to attend postsecondary education are eligible and encouraged to submit a personal essay on the topic of biodiesel. Two scholarships will be awarded. The author of the top essay selected will receive a $500 scholarship and the second place essay will be awarded a $250 scholarship. All essays and application materials must be submitted by 4:30pm on Wednesday, April 30, 2008.

“The American Lung Association of Minnesota is committed to increasing awareness of the environmental benefits of emerging alternative fuels, such
as biodiesel,” said scholarship coordinator Alison Chandler. “We hope the leaders of tomorrow can help us educate others today about the growing role
biodiesel plays as a transportation fuel in Minnesota.”

More information is available through the ALAMN website: www.CleanAirChoice.org, or you can contact Alison Chandler at (651) 268-7615 or email at Alison.Chandler@alamn.org.

Biodiesel

Chicken Fat Biodiesel Research

John Davis

Arkansas, home to the Tyson chicken empire, could be the home to a new feedstock for biodiesel… chicken fat.

This story from UPI says researchers in that state are looking at ways to perfect the chicken fat-to-biodiesel process:

univofarkansas.gifChemical engineers at the University of Arkansas were successful in using so-called supercritical methanol to transform chicken fat and tall oil fatty acid into biodiesel fuel, the university said Wednesday in a news release. The yield was greater than 90 percent, the university said.

Graduate student Brent Schulte subjected low-grade chicken fat and tall oil fatty acids to a chemical process known as supercritical methanol treatment. Substances become “supercritical” when they are heated and pressurized to a critical point, the highest temperature and pressure at which the substance can exist in equilibrium as a vapor and liquid.

The process is more efficient than other methods of turning chicken fat into biodiesel… as few other chicken fat biodiesel plants have started to pop up, mostly near poultry-processing plants.

Biodiesel

Biodiesel Boat Using Captain’s Fat

John Davis

earthrace.JPGThe Earthrace, a biodiesel-powered boat out of New Zealand, will be making another attempt to set the world record for circumnavigation of the globe.

Earlier this year, the Earthrace had to abandon a record-setting try (see my May 31st post). But according to this story on FoxNews.com, the captain believes he’s got the bugs worked out since then, and he’s literally even put part of himself into the project by donating some of his own fat to make biodiesel:

The 24-meter (78-foot) Earthrace, skippered by New Zealander Pete Bethune, will set off from Valencia, Spain, on March 1 and traverse the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans as well as the Panama and Suez canals in its more-than-24,000-nautical-mile journey.

Bethune will be attempting to break the current world record of 74 days, 20 hours and 58 minutes, established by the Cable and Wireless Adventurer boat in 1998.

He has said he believes his trip could help promote biodiesel as a viable alternative to petroleum diesel.

“I wanted to do a positive project run on biodiesel and take it round the world,” he has explained, noting that some 165,000 liters of biodiesel would be necessary for the trip, which will have a net carbon footprint of zero.

He also made a symbolic gesture towards the project, undergoing liposuction with two other volunteers, which produced 10 liters — a bit more than 2 1/2 gallons — of human fat, enough to power the boat for 8 nautical miles.

Well, at least the boat will be a little lighter.

Biodiesel

Wind, Solar Left Behind in Energy Bill

John Davis

While the ethanol and biodiesel industries will benefit from President Bush’s signature on the new energy bill, wind and solar could be left out in the cold a bit.

Tax credits for the solar and wind energy industries are going to expire at the end of 2008. Renewal of the $21.5 billion of those credits prompted a veto threat from President Bush and eventual withdrawal of that section from the bill. This story from Reuters says the lack of the tax credits could have a chilling effect:

Without the tax credits set to expire at the end of 2008, homeowners and businesses will hesitate to invest in the new technologies, industry officials warn. Manufacturing plants for solar and wind power components will also be endangered, they said.

seia.gifThe credits are “absolutely critical for making a market in the United States,” said Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association. “What will happen is you will see solar installations start to drop off in the second quarter of 2008 if they are not extended.”

awea.jpgCongressional action in the early part of 2008 is needed “to keep investors from getting nervous,” said Greg Wetstone, governmental affairs director for the American Wind Energy Association.

“It would be hard to imagine a worse time for the United States to effectively shift away from the one policy that’s now in place that reinforces renewable energy,” Wetstone said.

In the past, the solar and wind energy tax credits were saved at the last minute. But the article points out that the credits will expire three weeks before President Bush leaves office, and there’s seems to be little incentive for him to change his mind.

Government, Legislation, Solar, Wind