Blue Biofuels Makes First Cellulosic Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

Florida-based Blue Biofuels (BIOF) announced this week that a significant milestone has been made in advancing its Cellulose-to-Sugar (CTS) technology towards commercial scale with the production of its first batch of cellulosic ethanol, utilizing the cellulosic sugars created from biomass on its CTS pilot line.

Entering into the next phase, BIOF has embarked on the funding process to establish production capacity for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in collaboration with Vertimass. BIOF is evaluating prospective locations in Florida capable of accommodating both SAF and cellulosic ethanol production facilities.

Building upon existing partnerships, BIOF is also engaged in multiple discussions to expand its off-take agreements for biofuels. In addition to its established off-take arrangement with World Energy Sustainable Products, LLC, BIOF remains committed to forging new partnerships to meet the growing market demand for sustainable energy solutions.

aviation biofuels, biofuels, Cellulosic, Ethanol, Ethanol News, SAF

Defenbaugh Carries on Family Tradition

Cindy Zimmerman

Nicholas Defenbaugh, a senior at Orion Technical College and a maintenance technician at Big River Resources, was one of eight students and young professionals who attended the recent 2024 National Ethanol Conference under the Robert Sather Memorial Scholarship program.

Nicholas is carrying on a family tradition working at the plant in Burlington, Iowa which was started by his grandfather Ray Defenbaugh who passed away in 2020. “I got into the industry when I was 17 and I’ve loved it ever since,” Nicholas said.

Ray Defenbaugh, who is considered a pioneer in the ethanol industry, served on the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) board from 2005 until his death, and also served on the boards of other national and state corn, ethanol and grain organizations.

NEC24 Nicholas Defenbaugh, Big River Resources 1:11

Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, National Ethanol Conference, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

Zeakal PhotoSeed Corn Could Help Meet SAF Demand

Cindy Zimmerman

ZeaKal recently announced groundbreaking PhotoSeed™ technology in corn, designed to improve the crop’s oil and sustainability profile without compromising yield or protein.

In first year replicated field trials, PhotoSeed increased corn oil composition by an average of 23 percent. PhotoSeed enhances a plant’s photosynthetic capacity, capturing more CO2 and sunlight. This additional carbon capture increases oil production without taking away the energy necessary to maintain modern yields. Despite tremendous demand, previous efforts to boost oil content without compromising yield have eluded agribusinesses. ZeaKal now introduces the first viable solution.

ZeaKal’s PhotoSeed hybrid corn, grown in collaboration with the Wisconsin Crop Innovation Center in a glasshouse setting.

Han Chen, co-founder and CEO of ZeaKal, emphasized the imperative for accelerated innovation to meet the escalating demand for sustainable corn oil production. “This trait technology allows us to elevate the overall value of U.S. corn and creates a differentiated, value-added product that addresses industry demand,” said Chen. “U.S. farmers need innovation faster if we hope to compete in a challenging global commodity market. While we cannot change sunlight availability and geography for our growers, we can bring a latitude advantage to them through genetics.”

Corn, occupying 90 million acres in the United States and ranking among the most crucial crops globally, serves as a cornerstone for food, feed, and fuel feedstocks. The FAO forecasts a 70% surge in global demand for sustainable food and feed, and other projections indicate that renewables will constitute 43% of total energy within a decade. Together, this underscores the urgency for plant-based energy, which offers inherent benefits for aviation fuel and renewable diesel that other innovations cannot offer.

Learn more in this interview with Chen:
Zeakal CEO Han Chen interview 10:55

Audio, aviation biofuels, biofuels, corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News, renewable diesel, SAF

Nebraska Farmer Advocates for Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

Jan tenBensel at 2024 ACE DC Fly-in

When Nebraska farmer Jan tenBensel visits Capitol Hill offices, he represents a lot of voices as chairman of both the Nebraska Ethanol Board and the National Corn Growers Association Ethanol Action Team, but he believes it’s important for all ethanol advocates to make their voices heard wherever they are.

“The importance of advocacy is that everybody can do it,” said tenBensel during the recent American Coalition for Ethanol DC Fly-in. “Call your Senator or your Congressman, send letters,” he said. “But advocacy doesn’t have to be just in Washington. It can be in your hometown – talk to your retailer, your local gas station, your local co-op about adding E15, E30, E85.”

Listen to this interview with tenBensel.
Jan tenBensel, Nebraska 7:53

2024 ACE DC Fly-in Photo Album

ACE, Audio, corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News, NCGA

Groups Urge EPA to Issue E15 Emergency Waiver

Cindy Zimmerman

With ongoing challenges to America’s energy security and summer just around the corner, advocates for agriculture and renewable fuels are urging the Environmental Protection Agency to authorize the summer sale of gasoline blended with up to 15 percent ethanol before May 1.

The Renewable Fuels Association, Growth Energy, National Corn Growers Association, American Farm Bureau Federation, National Farmers Union, and National Sorghum Producers sent a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan to act swiftly on an emergency waiver for E15 sales.

“New and ongoing conflicts across the globe continue to pose risks to the United States’ transportation energy supply. In addition to the conflict in Ukraine, now extending into its third year, the recent unrest and volatility in the Middle East present additional challenges to American energy security. In particular, attacks on shipping in the Red Sea have already had a disruptive effect on the transit of fuel in the region, raising the specter of constrained supply and increased gasoline prices at home,” the groups wrote.

Last month, EPA approved the long-delayed petition from eight Midwest governors allowing summertime sales of E15, but not until 2025, leaving this summer in limbo. When asked about it at Commodity Classic on March 1, EPA Administrator Regan said, “The record speaks for itself in terms of what we did in 2022 and 2023,” Regan said in response to a reporter question. “So I will approach this year the way I have in previous years.”

EPA Office of Agriculture and Rural Affairs director Rod Snyder elaborated further to ethanol supporters in Washington DC. “If you look at both 2022 and 2023, the market impacts from the war in Ukraine as well as other various global factors were really creating supply pressures that allowed us to justify those emergency waivers for two years in a row. It is too early for me to speculate exactly what we can or should do for 2024, but I want to reassure you that we are already talking with the Department of Energy about market conditions and how they compare to the prior years,” said Snyder.

E15, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

Lawmakers Pressure Administration on Brazil Ethanol Tariff

Cindy Zimmerman

Last week, U.S. Reps. Randy Feenstra (R-IA) and Darin LaHood (R-IL) led two letters to the Biden administration – one to President Biden and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai urging greater action in developing new markets for biofuels exports, and a second to Tai and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack specifically requesting work toward a full repeal of the Brazilian tariff on American ethanol.

The National Corn Growers Association strongly supports the action. “Opening new markets and reducing barriers to existing markets for biofuels is crucial to growing demand for corn growers,” said Minnesota farmer and NCGA President Harold Wolle. “We are highly appreciative of Reps. Feenstra and LaHood for standing up for farmers, and we hope it will provide a roadmap for USTR as it works to address some high stakes trade issues like the current ethanol tariff in Brazil.”

The Chief Agricultural Negotiator for the U.S. Trade Representative, Doug McKalip, said at last month’s National Ethanol Conference that he had been in discussions with the Brazilian secretary of agriculture to get the 18% tariff on U.S. ethanol eliminated and open that market back up for the industry. “The secretary promised to me that he would go back, meet with the Brazilian CAMEX (Chamber of Foreign Trade), and put together a proposal for us on how they might change their direction.”

McKalip also said he hoped to meet with Brazilian officials again at the WTO Ministerial meeting earlier this month. “This is a serious situation…it’s not a situation that we can stand, and not a situation that we can allow to continue.”

NEC24 USTR Ambassador Doug McKalip - remarks 21:00
NEC24 USTR Ambassador Doug McKalip - press 4:36

Audio, Brazil, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Exports, NCGA, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA, Trade

EPA Committee Gives Ag Seat at the Table

Cindy Zimmerman

EPA Administrator Michael Regan recently responded to recommendations from the agency’s Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities Federal Advisory Committee (FRRCC) on how EPA can best support the agriculture sector’s climate mitigation and adaptation goals.

FRRCC consists of representatives appointed by the agency that provide independent policy advice and information on a range of environmental issues that are of importance to agriculture and rural communities and among the results of their recommendations to EPA is the recent creation of EPA’s Office of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, headed by the agency’s agricultural advisor Rod Snyder.

One of the 30 members of the FRRCC is Iowa cattle producer Bill Couser, who was selected out of more than 560 applicants. “We basically get three or four challenges every year and our job is to come together with a white paper to help EPA improve its methods of reaching out to rural America,” said Couser in a recent interview.

Couser says he was pleased to be able to host both Administrator Regan and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack together on his ranch shortly after both were appointed to the current administration. “It’s the first time in my career that I saw the heads of those two offices in the same room together. We always met with the staff,” Couser said. “We finally have a seat at the table.”

Listen to this interview with Couser from the recent American Coalition for Ethanol DC Fly-in.
Bill Couser, Iowa 5:34

ACE, EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Farm and Biofuel Groups Urge Adoption of GREET Model

Cindy Zimmerman

It has now been almost three weeks since Biden administration officials failed to meet a March 1 deadline to adopt the U.S. Department of Energy’s GREET model for the calculation of SAF tax credits (40B) under the Inflation Reduction Act, and groups representing farmers and ethanol producers who would benefit are getting impatient.

A letter was sent this week to Treasury Department Secretary Janet Yellen by 26 organizations across 13 states, including the Renewable Fuels Association, Clean Fuels Alliance America, National Corn Growers Association, and various state corn grower groups.

“We are disappointed that the administration did not fulfill its commitment to release a modified GREET model by March 1, but we appreciate the importance of getting the modeling right. At the same time, we caution against contradictory changes to GREET that would stack unwarranted penalties on agricultural feedstocks, cut rural America out of a promising green energy market, and undermine any realistic path to achieving U.S. SAF goals.”

There has been nothing more said by officials since Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told attendees at the Commodity Classic on March 1 that they were “going to take a few more weeks – and I mean weeks, not months – to make sure that the guidance is correct.” Vilsack has made several appearances in the past few weeks but has not mentioned anything further.

In this interview, South Dakota farmer Ron Alverson with Dakota Ethanol gives a good explanation of the GREET model and the importance of including climate smart agriculture (CSA) practices and making sure land use change is evaluated correctly.
Ron Alverson, South Dakota 7:58

ACE, Ag group, Audio, aviation biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, NCGA, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

EPA Releases New Emissions Standards Favoring EVs

Cindy Zimmerman

The Environmental Protection Agency released its final rule implementing new emissions standards for light and medium-duty vehicles that seeks to accelerate adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) by requiring approximately two-thirds of annual sales of new light-duty vehicles be EVs by the year 2032.

Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) President and CEO Geoff Cooper says the new standards effectively disregard the carbon benefits of ethanol and force automakers to produce more battery electric vehicles based on the false premise that they are ‘zero-emission vehicles,’ “At the same time, the regulation would strongly discourage manufacturers from pursuing other technologies—like flex fuel vehicles and engines optimized to operate on high-octane, low-carbon ethanol—that could achieve superior environmental performance at a lower cost to American consumers,” said Cooper.

“Under the language of this rule, EVs are considered zero emissions,” explained Nebraska Ethanol Board executive director Reid Wagner. “This methodology is inherently flawed, especially when considering electricity used to power an EV may come from a multitude of sources from coal-fired power plants to wind farms.”

National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) President Harold Wolle said, “We are deeply concerned and disappointed that EPA has chosen to force a one-size-fits-all solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ignore the readily available solution that biofuels like ethanol bring to the table.”

U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE) was fired up about the decision to “force EVs on automakers and the public” and spoke about the “dirty truth behind this supposedly ‘clean’ technology” on the Senate floor this week in advance of the EPA’s announcement.
Sen. Fischer 2-19-24 22:34

“President Biden should abandon this attempt to appease climate activists and allow the market to take its course. More practical, market-driven changes—like allowing the year-round sale of E15 ethanol—would help achieve environmental goals for America’s vehicle fleet,” said Fischer about the EPA standards.

Sen. Fischer spoke last week at the American Coalition for Ethanol DC Fly-in about her Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act to allow year round E15 sales.
Sen. Fischer interview 3:47

Audio, biofuels, E15, EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News

RFA Flex Fuel Hybrid EV Goes on Vacation

Cindy Zimmerman

The Renewable Fuels Association’s flex fuel plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (FFPHEV) worked hard in 2023, so just ahead of the 2024 National Ethanol Conference in California last month, RFA’s Robert White decided to take it along on a family vacation as he drove from Kansas City to San Diego.

White, who serves as RFA Senior Vice President for Industry Relations and Market Development, shared his family vacation travel log on the RFA Blog, starting off with “a full charge and a full tank of E85 fresh off of a Super Bowl victory by our Kansas City Chiefs.”

White details what happened on their first night stop and charge at a Holiday Inn Express:
I awoke to a surprise on my phone. What started off as free charging somehow changed in the middle of the night. I was notified in the middle of the night that once charging was complete the charge would be five dollars an hour if I didn’t move the vehicle! I had the only electric vehicle at this hotel and was not expecting this at all. It was still too early to sneak out to unplug the car without waking up my family. I decided that a well-rested family is probably worth more than a few five-dollar bills. But once the family finally stirred, I was on the hook for $32 in “non-movement” charges. The car was ready to go on 29 miles of charge. Wow! That means for electricity it would cost $1.10/mile. There were plenty of options for E85 in the area, and we filled for just over $2/gallon. That translates to just $.05/mile. Using E85 would save us over $1/mile.

Read White’s entire blog post here

White shared some of his experiences and the data he has developed from using the FFPHEV over the past year during the National Ethanol Conference panel on “Ethanol and Electricity: The Best of Both Worlds.”

White says when people in the industry ask him how to convince people not to buy EVs he has a simple answer. “Let them drive one. That’s how you convince the world that it’s a problem.”

Joining him on the panel were Brian West, Chief Automotive Engineer, West Energy and Environment and Tom Leone, Principal Engineer, Southwest Research Institute.

Listen to them here:
NEC24 Ethanol and Electricity panel 37:53

2024 National Ethanol Conference Preview Activities Photo Album

Audio, Electric Vehicles, Ethanol, Ethanol News, National Ethanol Conference, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA