Georgia Cellulosic Plant Gets Permit

Cindy Zimmerman

Range FuelsRange Fuels has been awarded a construction permit from the state of Georgia to build the first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in the United States.

According to the company, ground breaking will take place this summer in Treutlen County, Georgia for a 100-million-gallon-per-year cellulosic ethanol plant that will use wood waste from Georgia’s forests as its feedstock. Phase 1 of the plant is scheduled to complete construction in 2008 with a production capacity of 20 million gallons a year.

“We are thrilled to receive this permit and anticipate the construction of many plants throughout Georgia and the Southeast using wood waste to make ethanol,” said Mitch Mandich, CEO of Range Fuels. “With Independence Day on July 4, we are excited to begin the march toward independence from our country’s reliance on fossil fuel.”

Range Fuels, which is privately held and funded by Khosla Ventures, announced plans to build the plant on February 7 of this year (see previous post and interview with Mitch Mandich.) The company was subsequently selected to negotiate for up to $76M in a grant from the Department of Energy on February 28 (see previous post.)

Cellulosic, Ethanol, News

Green Racing in Watkins Glen

Cindy Zimmerman

GGPThe scenic community of Watkins Glen, NY will once again play host to the Green Grand Prix on July 6 as hybrid and alternative fueled vehicle owners highlight energy independence and a cleaner environment.

The Green Grand Prix features a road rally held on a 78-mile course around the perimeter of beautiful Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York.

A new driver will be participating in the road rally this year, representing the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC). Joanna Schroeder, EPIC Director of Communications, will be behind the wheel of a 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid Flex-Fuel Vehicle. Could she be the next Danica Patrick?

Watkins IndyFollowing the Green Grand Prix will be the Watkins Glen Grand Prix IndyCar Series on Sunday, July 8, starting at 3:30 pm Eastern and running on 100 percent fuel-grade ethanol.

Both events will help to increase public awareness of environmentally friendly vehicles and offer additional activities for visitors coming to the area for the race weekend.

EPIC, Ethanol, News, Racing

Illinois State to Offer Renewable Energy Degree

John Davis

illinoisstate.bmpThe flux in high-tech jobs in the renewable energy field has prompted Illinois State University to look at offering a bachelor’s degree in the field.

This article in the Matoon and Charleston, Illinois Journal Gazette Times-Courier says the degree would offer studies in biofuels, wind, and solar power:

If approved by the Illinois Board of Higher Education, ISU will launch the new major in the fall of 2008, joining just a handful of U.S. universities that have created renewable energy degrees since the Oregon Institute of Technology established the nation’s first program in 2005.

“It’s still cutting edge, so it’s like those folks who got into the computer field before everybody had a PC. They’ll be that far ahead of the game,” said Tehri Parker, executive director of the Midwest Renewable Energy Association.

The article goes on to say employers have already been contacting the school… five years before the earliest class would even be earning the new degrees.

An analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists says there are potentially 355,000 jobs to be created in the electrical sector alone if Congress approves the group’s guidelines of 20% of electrical energy production coming from renewable sources by the year 2020.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News, Wind

NASCAR Could Switch to Alternatives

John Davis

nascar.jpgNASCAR is looking at switching to some form of alternative fuel for its racers… but what kind is still up in the air.

This article in the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times says NASCAR’s chief Brian France made the announcement during his annual midseason conference call:

brianfrance.jpgFrance said because there are “eight or nine different versions of what alternative fuels mean to people, ” the ultimate solution will be determined by the marketplace, meaning the automotive and energy industries will play a major role.

France suggested that NASCAR – which used leaded fuel in the Nextel Cup series until this season – wasn’t so much attempting to recoup the public relations advantage the Indy Racing League had gained by using ethanol, but act on a newfound concern for the environment, saying “it’s important for us to be in step and lead when we can.”

France says when you consider the continuing rise in gas prices and the harm carbon-based fuels have on the environment, the switch only makes sense.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News, Racing

Impact of Ethanol Seminars

John Davis

gfai1.bmpThe Grain & Feed Association of Illinois (GFAI) is hosting two seminars to outline the impact ethanol is having on grain elevators.

According to the GFAI web site, the seminars will happen on August 13th at the Thelma Keller Convention Center in Effingham and August 14th at the Mendota Civic Center in Mendota:

University of Illinois professors Darrel Good and Bob Hauser will team up to provide the background information, analysis and possible implications of various corn production trends for a robust time of discussion.

Topics to be covered include:

• Examination of corn prices and food prices
• Impact on transportation and storage
• Long-run price projections and new price equilibrium
• Cropping patterns locally and internationally
• Implications of disruption in production
• Analysis of international trade

Registration begins at 1 p.m. on both days, and the seminar will last through the afternoon until about 5 p.m.

Check the GFAI web site for more information.

Ethanol, News

The Hydrogen-powered Ford

John Davis

itmpower.jpgUnited Kingdom-based ITM Power Ltd. has converted a Ford Focus that can run on gasoline or pure hydrogen.

This story from Britain’s Channel 4 News says the car’s engine was modified to run on both fuels since hydrogen is not that readily available yet:

However, ITM is developing, in parallel, a home refuelling system for owners to refuel their car: a low-cost electrolyser, which can convert water using electricity (preferably from renewable sources such as wind, wave or solar power) to generate hydrogen. Both car and electrolyser can be used anywhere with water and electricity supplies, potentially doing away with the need for a fuel supply infrastructure.

So far, the prototype can travel only 25 miles on a tank of hydrogen. But officials are planning to build these water-to-hydrogen converters known as electrolysers starting in the first half of next year, and the converted car will be demonstrated later this year.

Jim HeathcoteITM Power’s CEO Jim Heathcote said: ‘Both these developments represent a seismic advance in our efforts to cut ourselves free from the dependence on oil and other fossil fuels. The bi-fuel car and refuelling system clearly demonstrate a simple, convenient and low-cost transportation solution that can significantly reduce greenhouse gases and help mitigate climate change. We believe combining electrolysers with an internal combustion-engined vehicle brings affordable hydrogen transportation forward by many years.’

Hydrogen

Oregon Gets Ethanol, Biodiesel Mandates

John Davis

kulongoski.jpgOregon Governor Ted Kulongoski has signed into law two mandates for biofuel blending in his state.

This story in the Oregonian says the package also includes tax incentives for producers and consumers:

Gasoline sold in Oregon must be 10 percent ethanol after the state’s production of ethanol reaches 40 million gallons a year. Diesel fuel sold in Oregon must be blended with two percent biodiesel when the Pacific Northwest’s production of biodiesel reaches 5 million gallons per year; the blending requirement then increases to 5 percent when annual biodiesel production reaches 15 million gallons a year.

At 50 cents per gallon of biofuel purchased, Oregonians can receive up to $200 a year in tax credits for using a gasoline blend that is at least 85 percent ethanol or biodiesel blended with a 99 percent concentration. Tax incentives also will go to producers or collectors of biofuels feedstock, including forest or agriculture-based biomass, oil seed crops, grain crops other than corn, and grass or wheat straw.

Oregon joins a growing number of states that require a blend of biofuel be sold.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Government, Legislation, News

Texas A&M, Blue Diamond Team Up for Biodiesel

John Davis

Texas A&M University and Blue Diamond Ventures, an agriculture, biofuels (including ethanol and biodiesel) and commercial development company with operations in Central America and the U.S. have joined together in a plan to make biodiesel in the Central American country of Belize.

This company press release says the focus will be turning non-food sources into biofuels:

txamlogo.JPG“We are delighted that private industry, and Blue Diamond in particular, is very active in searching for alternative sources of energy,” said Dr. Gerald Riskowski, professor and department head of the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering. “Texas A&M University wants to develop collaborative efforts to help utilize bioenergy for the benefit of society.”

The research initiatives will also focus on various technology advancements, identifying, assessing, cultivating and optimizing production of second generation energy feedstocks for cellulose and bio-oils, characterizing and optimizing the design of dedicated bioenergy crops and developing integrated logistics systems associated with the harvest, transport, storage and conversion of bionergy crops.

bluediamond.jpg“We will be producing a product in accordance with international fuel standards, and this requires having the best minds and most efficient technology to achieve our goals,” said Blue Diamond Chief Executive Officer John Quincey Moaning. “We are delighted to have one of the country’s leading biofuels institutions as a partner.”

Biodiesel, International

Making Biofuels Cheaper & Faster

John Davis

Being able to make biofuels cheaper, faster, and without the help of government subsidies seems to be the theme of some recent work by American researchers.

This story in the Des Moines Register highlights a couple of programs, in particular, one by an Iowa State professor who has teamed up with the private sector to find a way to make biodiesel more efficiently:

Vic LinNew ideas have found support through venture capital firms such as Mohr Davidow Ventures in Menlo Park, Calif. MDV licensed the biodiesel technology of ISU professor Victor Lin and created Catalin, a company that will build its pilot plant at the university’s Biomass Energy Conversion Facility in Nevada.

Erik Straser of MDV said Catalin’s new method can use cheap waste grease from restaurants and animal-processing plants as well as, or instead of, more expensive virgin plant oils. And it reduces the amount of water each plant has to use, he said.

The secret is in the “giant tea bag,” which is a solid reusable catalyst – something that triggers a chemical reaction.

“If you want to wash one gallon of biodiesel, you would need about four gallons of water. That’s a lot,” Lin said. He said adapting the catalyst to existing biodiesel plants should be a reasonably affordable option.

The new process could reduce the cost of making a gallon of biodiesel by 10 to 20 cents… that would make the fuel more profitable and possibly able to live without the 50 cent to $1 a gallon government subsidies.

The article goes on to talk about the competition heating up to build cellulosic ethanol plants and mentions the world’s first closed-loop ethanol plant that runs on the manure from the cows fed the distillers grain made from producing the ethanol that just opened in Nebraska (see my post on June 28th).

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News

McDonald’s Driving on Own Cooking Oil

John Davis

Fast-food giant McDonald’s will be fueling some of its delivery trucks in the United Kingdom on the leftover oil used to cook its french fries and chicken nuggets.

This story in London’s Financial Times says 155 trucks could be running on the fuel made from the grease by the end of the year:

The fast-food group, which to date has been running trucks on 95 per cent diesel and 5 per cent biodiesel, will initially use a blend of 85 per cent biodiesel and 15 per cent rapeseed oil.

Matthew Howe, manager of McDonald’s UK supply chain, said the cost of using biodiesel was expected to be the same as the restaurant group’s diesel costs in the long term. “In the short term, we think it will cost a little bit more,” he said, adding this extra cost could amount to “a couple of pennies a litre”.

The company expects to convert an annual 6m litres of oil, comparable to the 6.1m litres of diesel used in its trucks last year.

McDonald’s will collect oil from 900 of its 1,200 UK outlets every week and have it made into biodiesel. Company officials say it will produce a 78% reduction in the company’s carbon emissions. It’s also seen as a test as whether the idea would work in the United States.

Biodiesel