The Future of Biofuels

Cindy Zimmerman

ErinA middle school student from Merritt Island was in the spotlight at the 2007 Florida Farm to Fuel Summit last week in St. Petersburg for her work in making biofuels.

Yep, you read that right. Erin McCaskey, 12, attends Thomas Jefferson Middle School and her seventh grade science project last year was making biodiesel from a variety of sources.

“I got five different types of oil – used peanut oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil, corn oil and Wendy’s oil (leftover from a local restaurant),” said Erin. “And I made biodiesel and I tested that and E-85 and B-20 in a calorimeter for their energy content.” Used peanut oil was declared the energy winner by Erin.

For her eighth grade project, Erin will be making ethanol from different sources. She sees a bright future for biofuels. “There’s so many ways you can make biodiesel and ethanol – it’s amazing.”

Erin received recognition for her work from Florida Governor Charlie Crist and Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson.

Here’s an interview I did with Erin at the Summit: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/audio/f2f-erin-edit.mp3]

And here’s a great post about Erin on the BIOStock Blog by C. Scott Miller.

Follow up: I found out that young Erin got more than just recognition from the governor at the Summit – she also received a free ride to the college of her choice, courtesy of Florida state representative Marty Bowen, Haines City. Read more from the Miami Herald.

Audio, Biodiesel, Ethanol, Government, News

Looking for Crops to Make Fuel

Cindy Zimmerman

BanksThe main focus of the Florida Farm to Fuel Summit in St. Petersburg last week was getting biofuels production going in the Sunshine State.

President/CEO Alan Banks of Losonoco, Inc, the company building Florida’s first ethanol plant in Bartow, says he wants to talk to citrus people about alternative crops for empty acreage and citrus by-products that can be used in ethanol production.

Gary“We have the only existing fuel ethanol plant in Florida,” said Banks. “With an aim of being up and running by the summer of 2008. For that, we need about four million bushels of something.”

The plant was originally designed as a corn plant, but Losonoco says they are encouraging farmers in the area to grow some other crops that might be economically feasible, such as sorghum.

Gary Cooper, President of Southeast Agnet and Citrus Industry Magazine, interviewed Banks at the summit.

Listen to that interview here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/audio/banks.mp3]

Audio, Ethanol, News

North Dakota Opens First Wind-to-Hydrogen Project

John Davis

North Dakota State University has opened a first-of-its-kind wind-to-hydrogen project at the North Central Research Extension Center just south of Minot, ND.

In an article in the Minot Daily News, Sen. Byron Dorgan said this country desperately needs an energy source besides oil:

Sen. Byron Dorgan“In the longer term, in my judgment, the fuel of the future is going to be hydrogen,” Dorgan said. “I’m a big fan of the biofuels, I’m a big fan of ethanol, I believe it’s enormously important that we’ve invested in wind energy. But I believe —especially in the longer term — our grandkids need to be driving vehicles that put water vapor out the tailpipe and have twice the efficiency of power to the wheel. That comes with hydrogen fuel cells. It allows us to say to the Saudis and the Kuwaitis and others, ‘We don’t need your oil.’”

The intermittent wind energy will be used to secure a more reliable energy source: hydrogen. The power generated from the wind will be used to seperate hydrogen from water molecules. The hydrogen can then be used in vehicles and generators equipped to burn it.

Hydrogen, Wind

Marathon Pumping Biodiesel at Two Illinois Terminals

John Davis

MarathonMarathon Oil Company is now pumping biodiesel at two of its terminals in Illinois.

This company press release says the biodiesel blended fuel will be available at its Robinson and Champaign terminals:

“Marathon is proud to announce that two more locations have been expanded to offer biodiesel storage and distribution. Similar to our existing biodiesel facilities in Minnesota and Kentucky, Robinson and Champaign feature in-line ratio blending in order to provide our customers with a blended, quality product,” said Mary Ellen Peters, Marathon’s senior vice president, Marketing. “Biodiesel helps us meet the changing needs of our customers while supporting our nation’s alternative fuels goals. Our focus continues to be on delivering the quality products our customer’s desire.”

Soy-based B2 and B11 biodiesel will be available and adds some much-needed infrastructure to the nation’s biodiesel distribution system. Marathon is also pumping biodiesel at its St. Paul Park, Minnesota and Louisville, Kentucky terminals.

Biodiesel

VeraSun’s Charles City Biorefinery Opening

John Davis

VeraSun logoVeraSun Energy will hold a grand opening ceremony for its 110 million-gallon-a-year ethanol plant at Charles City, Iowa on August 17th, 2007.

Sen. Barack ObamaA company press release says Democratic Presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama will be the keynote speaker at the event… which still has its exact time to be determined. The grand opening actually comes several months after the plant started opening:

VeraSun Charles City began production in early April, nearly three months ahead of schedule. It was the third VeraSun facility to begin production, bringing the company to its current annual capacity of 340 million gallons per year (MMGY). The plant will annually process 39 million bushels of corn and produce 350,000 tons of distillers grains for livestock feed in addition to 110MMGY of ethanol.

Don Endres, Chairman and CEO of VeraSun, will also speak at the event. Bob Dinneen, President of the Renewable Fuels Association and Rick Tolman, CEO of the National Corn Growers Association will join the group as well.

Check out this picture of the Charles City plant from VeraSun’s web site.
Vera Sun Charles City

Ethanol, News

Michigan in the Cellulosic Race

Cindy Zimmerman

Mascoma Mascoma Corporation of Cambridge, Mass. is planning to build a cellulosic ethanol facility somewhere in Michigan by the end of 2009, putting that state in the race to be the first in the nation to produce ethanol from wood on a commercial scale.

Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm joined Mascoma Corporation CEO Bruce Jamerson in making the announcement.

“Mascoma’s decision to choose Michigan is helping us achieve a key part of our economic plan – making our state a leader in alternative energy production,” Granholm said. “Cellulosic is the next step in wide-scale ethanol production, and this puts Michigan on the leading edge of technology that will create good-paying jobs for Michigan citizens.”

“It is exciting that the birthplace of the American automobile industry is becoming a leader in next-generation biofuels,” said Mascoma’s Jamerson.

Mascoma’s Michigan cellulosic plant will make ethanol from mainly wood chips and other non-food agricultural crops.

Cellulosic, Ethanol, News

New Team Ethanol Driver Debut

Cindy Zimmerman

Hunter-ReayRyan Hunter-Reay said he would be happy if his first IndyCar Series race ended with a “top 6 or 7” finish and he got his wish. He finished seventh, overcoming some mechanical problems in practice.

“It felt great. The first time out in these cars with no testing and to finish in the top seven feels like a win for me,” said Hunter-Reay. “We had a couple of fluky things happen in practice and the Ethanol team showed amazing tenacity, we kept after it, we didn’t do anything cute, we had good pace and ran well. It was a satisfying day for us.”

The driver who replaced Jeff Simmons in Rahal Letterman Racing’s No. 17 car slid off the track during practice with a stuck throttle, damaging the left front suspension and wing package. It was repaired in time to start in the 10th spot.

The next race is August 5 at Michigan International Speedway.

EPIC, Ethanol, Indy Racing, News, Racing

Cellulosic Ethanol Toast

Cindy Zimmerman

ToastThere was reason for a cellulosic ethanol celebration at the second annual Farm to Fuel Summit held in St. Petersburg last week.

In this photo released from the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, UF Senior Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources Jimmy Cheek (left), UF Distinguished Professor of Microbiology Lonnie Ingram (center) and Verenium Vice President for Business Development Tim Eves (right) raise a toast to celebrate the first payment from Verenium to UF for use of cellulosic ethanol technology developed by Ingram. (AP photo/University of Florida/IFAS/Thomas Wright)

VereniumThe check, representing the beginning of profitability of this technology, was presented at the second annual Farm to Fuel Summit.

Verenium Corporation, a leading developer of biofuels derived from low-cost, abundant biomass and a developer of specialty enzyme products, presented the University of Florida a $66,000 royalty check for its patented cellulosic ethanol technology.

BioEthanol Japan — a joint venture of Marubeni Corp. and Tsukishima Kikai Co., LTD — is using the technology under license from Verenium in their 1.4 million liter-per-year cellulosic ethanol plant in Osaka, Japan. It is the world’s first commercial plant to produce cellulosic ethanol from wood construction waste.

Professor IngramDomesticFuel did a story and telephone interview with Dr. Ingram in April 2006, so it was a pleasure to meet him at Farm to Fuel to do a follow-up. He has been working on production of cellulosic ethanol for about 20 years. “The breakthroughs we have had in the past year are successes in scaling this up and actually having the first commercial plant operational,” said Ingram. He says it is fully commercialized at this point, with that first royalty check being paid by Verenium, and a small plant in Japan is converting wood waste to ethanol. “The first wood-to-ethanol plant in the world,” says Ingram.

As for the big question, how long before cellulosic ethanol production will really be commercially viable, Ingram avoids a direct answer, but notes that there is another demonstration plant being built in Jennings, Louisiana using sugarcane bagasse. “In addition, the University of Florida has received a grant to set up a research demonstration plant in Florida to specifically address Florida biomass sources.”

He believes the potential is there for “Florida to produce all of its automotive fuel needs as ethanol from renewable biomass. There’s also a potential that Florida could produce much of its power from biomass.”

Listen to the 5:00 interview with Dr. Ingram here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/audio/f2f-ingraham.mp3]

Audio, Cellulosic, Ethanol, News, Research

Simmons’ Statement

Cindy Zimmerman

Team Ethanol GarageNow former Team Ethanol car driver Jeff Simmons released a statement this week after being replaced on the Rahal-Letterman team.

“I want to thank everyone involved in the Team Ethanol program for all of their support and friendship. I was honored to be a part of the program and to have the opportunity to carry on Paul Dana’s vision.

I truly believe in Ethanol’s importance to the world’s energy needs and environmental future. The demand for Ethanol will continue to grow and prosper through the important work of the dedicated people at the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council. They are tireless in their efforts and I will miss working with them.

Additionally, I want to thank Bobby Rahal, David Letterman, and all of my friends at Rahal-Letterman Racing˜not just for ‘the ride,’ but for the opportunity to be a part of something so ground-breaking. It was a real honor, and I wish them the very best.

As for me, I look forward to being back in the IndyCar Series very soon.”

Jeff has been a class act and a great spokesperson for the ethanol industry. We here at Domestic Fuel wish him the very best and we definitely look forward to him being back very soon.

EPIC, Ethanol, Indy Racing, News

Florida Getting Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

Matt and RobertThe Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) both had a presence at the Florida Farm to Fuel Summit this week in St. Petersburg.

Matt Hartwig with RFA (pictured at the podium) drove home the growth of the ethanol industry, the economic importance and what RFA has been doing in Washington to help the industry expand. “It’s important to appreciate the scope of the industry,” said Hartwig. “There are 123 biorefineries in 23 states, not just corn producing states, they states like Arizona and California.” In the next 24-36 months, he said, production will exceed 12 billion gallons.

He noted that federal and state legislative policy and regulations remain the number one driver for increasing ethanol demand and use across the country.

Listen to Matt’s remarks here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/audio/f2f-hartwig.mp3]

EPIC’s Robert White (seated) talked about his organization’s marketing and promotion efforts in Florida with the “Florida Needs Ethanol” campaign that kicked off earlier this year, one he says will be ramping up in the next few months. “Obviously our objective is to educate Floridians on ethanol as it starts to flow,” said White. “I can tell you that there is a contract being negotiated right now to clean 1180 underground storage tanks to bring in E10 before the end of the year. So, congratulations, you are about to become a very welcomed ethanol state.”

Listen to Robert’s remarks here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/audio/f2f-robert.MP3]

Audio, EPIC, Ethanol, News, RFA