The Environmental Protection Agency has handed out Energy Star awards to two Midwest ethanol plants… recognizing their efforts to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions that equal the amount of pollution from nearly 6,000 cars a year. The awards were presented Wednesday at the 23rd Annual International Fuel Ethanol Workshop and Expo in St. Louis.
According to an EPA press release, Macon Municipal Utilities in Macon, Missouri and Adkins Energy, LLC in Lena, Illinois were honored for using what’s called Combined Heat and Power (CHP) to reduce energy usage:
One of the award winners, Macon Municipal Utilities reduced their energy use by 25 percent. Macon Municipal Utilities installed a 10 megawatt (MW) natural gas-fired combustion turbine CHP system at its 45 million gallon-per-year ethanol plant in Northeast Missouri. The CHP system will likely reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 28,000 tons per year, which is equivalent to the annual emissions of more than 4,500 cars.
At its 40 million gallon-per-year ethanol plant in Illinois, Adkins Energy LLC, decreased their energy use by 15 percent with a 5 MW natural gas-fired combustion turbine CHP system. The CHP system reduces greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 8,700 tons per year, which is equivalent to the annual emissions of 1,400 cars.
Thanks to the Renewable Fuels Association for sponsoring coverage on Domestic Fuel of the 2007 Fuel Ethanol Workshop.
In an effort to be more friendly to the planet, Prince Charles says he is using biodiesel in a couple of his personal vehicles… and might even use the green fuel on the Royal Train.
“We identified the metabolic processes and conditions that allow a known strain of E. coli to convert glycerin into ethanol,” said chemical engineer Ramon Gonzalez. “It’s also very efficient. We estimate the operational costs to be about 40 percent less that those of producing ethanol from corn.”
Consolidated Biofuels and International Bio Fuels Corp. have announced plans to jointly open a biodiesel plant in Arkansas… one that will be among the biggest in the country.
The refinery will be built on a 65 acre lot on the Mississippi Port of Yellow Bend and will produce 150 million gallons of biodiesel and 70 million bushels of soybean oil crush annually. 
“This technology is a significant milestone in helping increase ethanol output per acre,” said Russ Sanders, Pioneer Director of Marketing. “In FOSS instruments, the Pioneer Ethanol Yield Potential Calibration provides nearly instant prediction of ethanol yield potential in corn grain and provides an estimated yield in gallons per bushel terms.”
At the 2007 Fuel Ethanol Workshop in St. Louis on Wednesday, the nation’s largest dry-mill ethanol producer announced the successful production of cellulosic ethanol from corn cobs. 
At a press conference, 
Dr. Mark Stowers, VP of Research & Development for POET, says they expect the use of corn cobs for ethanol production to result in an 11 percent increase in the amount of ethanol per bushel of corn. “And when you look at it on an acreage basis, that’s about 27 percent more ethanol per acre.”
Just a few ethanol industry pioneers were present at the first Fuel Ethanol Workshop in St. Louis some 23 years ago.
The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded three grants of $125 million each to set up Bioenergy Research Centers in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Madison, Wisconsin; and near Berkeley, California.
“These Centers will provide the transformational science needed for bioenergy breakthroughs to advance President Bush’s goal of making cellulosic ethanol cost-competitive with gasoline by 2012, and assist in reducing America’s gasoline consumption by 20 percent in ten years,” Secretary (Samuel) Bodman said. “The collaborations of academic, corporate, and national laboratory researchers represented by these centers are truly impressive and I am very encouraged by the potential they hold for advancing America’s energy security.”
Just as Imperium Renewables is set to open the nation’s biggest biodiesel refinery with a 100-million-gallon-a-year plant in Washington state, there could be a contender out there that will produce three times as much annually.