ACE Conference Focus on Low Carbon Ethanol

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The 34th annual American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) conference coming up later this month in Minneapolis will showcase the low carbon benefits of corn ethanol and the benefits of clean fuel policies at the state and federal levels to increase ethanol demand.

The conference covers all things carbon from the status of clean fuel policies, and insight for ethanol producers when developing a carbon strategy and measuring project value, including diversification and carbon sequestration projects, to how ethanol producers can calculate their carbon intensity score.

The first day of presentations includes a general session moderated by John Christianson of Christianson PLLP, who served on the Minnesota Governor’s Council on Biofuels, that will cover developments in key states and national efforts to advance clean fuel policy and low carbon fuel standards with Brendan Jordan, Vice President of Transportation and Fuels with Great Plains Institute, and Jonathon Lehman, a principal with Cultivating Conservation consulting service and ACE Lobbyist.

Other carbon-focused sessions include – Insights on Carbon: Navigating Verification and Measuring Project Value – Christianson PLLP; Destination Biocampus – Fluid Quip Technologies; Developing a Carbon Strategy – P&E Solutions LLC, Bioleap Inc. and Whitefox; Efficient Operational Strategies for Feed Diversification and Lower CI Score for Ethanol Biorefineries – ICM Inc.; Calculating Your Carbon Intensity – Ron Alverson with Dakota Ethanol; Accelerating Demand for Ethanol – ClearFlame Engine Technologies; and From Net-Zero to Net-Negative Carbon: Accelerating Ethanol’s Advantage – Summit Carbon Solutions.

The conference is August 18-20 in Minneapolis and more information is available at ethanol.org/events/conference.

ACE, ACE Ethanol Conference, carbon capture, Ethanol, Ethanol News

NBB Launches Ad Campaign on Renewable Fuel Standard

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The National Biodiesel Board has launched a new radio advertising campaign calling on President Biden to maintain his commitment to the Renewable Fuel Standard. The ads will air on more than 200 radio stations in Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin on the Brownfield Ag News Network.

“As a candidate last August, Joe Biden called the Renewable Fuel Standard ‘our bond with our farmers and our commitment to a thriving rural economy.’ But now, there are reports he’s considering handouts to oil refiners — at the expense of biodiesel producers and soybean farmers,” the ad states. “Contact your member of Congress. Let them know, it’s time for President Biden to make good on his promise and to support Midwest farmers and biodiesel producers.”

Kurt Kovarik, NBB’s Vice President for Federal Affairs, added, “The Renewable Fuel Standard is a vital policy for the biodiesel industry and for soybean producers. Instability in the program creates economic uncertainty for the communities where biodiesel production generates jobs and economic growth. As members of Congress return to their states and districts this summer, we want them to hear that message and encourage President Biden to maintain his commitment to the RFS program and to rural communities.”

Listen to the ad here:
NBB RFS Radio Ad :30

Meanwhile, Reuters is reporting today that the American Bakers Association is urging the EPA to reduce biodiesel blending requirements because food companies fear a shortage of canola and soybean oil before the end of the year.

Biodiesel, biofuels, canola, EPA, NBB, RFS

POET Brings Second Purified Alcohol Facility Online

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POET recently announced POET Bioprocessing – Alexandria began production of purified alcohol after breaking ground in late 2020. The facility will produce purified alcohol which will include grain neutral spirits (GNS) and USP-grade alcohol, the second POET purified alcohol production facility. POET Bioprocessing – Leipsic began production in March.

Purified alcohol is a fundamental ingredient in thousands of well-known products ranging from foods and beverages, personal care products, cleaning supplies, hand sanitizers and industrial applications.

POET’s all-natural purified alcohol is made from renewable resources grown on the surface of the Earth and can replace petroleum-based synthetic products found in a variety of consumer goods. It meets the highest standards for purity including the FDA’s Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) label standards and will meet the Global Food Safety Initiative’s Safe Quality Food (SQF) Program standards and kosher guidelines.

“We’re proud to bring to market a renewable product made from surface-of-the-earth materials,” said Darin Cartwright, POET’s Vice President overseeing purified alcohol sales and marketing. “POET’s purified alcohols not only exceed the highest quality standards, they also can replace fossil fuel-based synthetic ingredients in many products, making us the obvious choice for customers who value environmental responsibility.”

The expansion of purified alcohol production further extends the reach of one of the world’s largest bioethanol and bioproducts companies, bringing even more green consumer products to the market.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, POET

NCERC Seeks to Expand Corn as Industrial Feedstock

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The National Corn to Ethanol Research Center (NCERC) recently submitted two grant proposals to the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) FY21 Bioenergy Technologies (BETO) Multi-Topic Funding Opportunity Announcement that would expand the use of corn as an industrial feedstock, according to the National Corn Growers Association.

The first proposal included NCERC as a Co-PI and was led by Marquis Energy. The purpose of this collaboration is to scale up a conversion method that utilizes corn as a feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel. The work being done at the intermediate scale will be performed at NCERC and brings together additional research centers, including the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and US Navy NAWCWD China Lake, to see through a solution that brings significant opportunity for expanding and repurposing the 16 billion-gallon-per-year corn-to-ethanol infrastructure.

The National Corn Growers Association has a vested interest in discovering new uses for corn and has provided a letter of support for this initiative. From renewable plastics to novel chemicals and other energy and liquid fuel applications, corn is competitively positioned as the commercial feedstock of choice thanks to corn’s sustainability, abundance, and affordability. In fact, according to USDA ERS Feed Outlook data, ending stocks for 2020/2021 are around 1,552 million bushels.

The second proposal led by NCERC, “Scaling up a Low-Cost Low Energy Cellulosic Sugar Production,” contributed to the validation of a low-cost, energy-efficient conversion method for cellulosic materials- and waste-to-biofuel. The funding of this proposal would bring significant value to companies who are pursuing the conversion of a variety of bio-based feedstocks to a sugar stream which can then be converted to countless biotechnologies, such as biofuels, biochemicals, biomaterials, and bioproducts.

corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News, feedstocks

Lawmakers Call for Biofuels Support

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A group of Republican Senators is requesting a meeting with President Biden to discuss the Renewable Fuel Standard and promote biofuels as a key solution for America’s energy and climate agenda. The letter was led by Senators Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall of Kansas.

“We seek an audience to discuss the tremendous opportunity that biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel present to bolster affordable American energy, underpin a strong agricultural economy, and immediately lower transportation emissions using the existing consumer vehicle fleet and fueling infrastructure,” wrote the senators. “Unfortunately, the promise of homegrown biofuels and our agriculture sector appear to be woefully underrepresented in your administration’s energy, environmental, and transportation agenda.”

On the House side, Democrat Cindy Axne of Iowa is sounding the alarm about the lack of biofuels investments in the bipartisan infrastructure bill agreed to by the White House and members of the Senate.

“While I commend the White House and Senators for continuing to work toward creating bipartisan infrastructure legislation that can tackle issues ranging from aging bridges and roads to expanding access to high-speed internet, it’s unacceptable to see that this agreement still does not include investments in a bipartisan, homegrown clean energy source: biofuels,” said Axne in a statement.

Rep. Axne is a Co-Chair of the House Biofuels Caucus, and a lead sponsor of legislation to expand investments in biofuel infrastructure, upgrade the EPA’s authority on E15 sales, update the modeling for biofuel and biodiesel emissions, and extend the biodiesel tax credit.

Biodiesel, biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Ethanol Report RFA 40th Anniversary Feature – Bob Reynolds

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The Renewable Fuels Association was born in 1981 and RFA is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year by spotlighting some of the pioneers in the ethanol industry who were there at the beginning, like Bob Reynolds.

Bob Reynolds founded Downstream Alternatives shortly after joining New Energy Co. of Indiana as it was opening a new plant outside South Bend. As a consultant for RFA in the early years, Reynolds literally wrote the book on fuel with Changes in Gasoline, a manual to help mechanics and others understand the evolution of liquid fuel for the internal combustion engine, now in its fourth edition.

Listen to Reynolds’ thoughts on the growth of the ethanol industry in this edition of The Ethanol Report.

Ethanol Report 7-29-21 (14:49)

The Ethanol Report is a podcast about the latest news and information in the ethanol industry that has been sponsored by the Renewable Fuels Association since 2008.

Choose an option to subscribe

Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Ethanol Report, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

Low Carbon Ethanol Could Power Sustainability

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Former USDA Under Secretary and previous Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey was part of the inaugural Tech Hub LIVE conference in Des Moines last week. Much of the focus at the event was incentivizing sustainability for farmers, and an increasing demand for ethanol as a low carbon fuel could provide some incentive.

“I believe we will gravitate towards more of a supply chain kind of market,” Northey said. “I think those early adopters are well positioned for if an ethanol plant says ‘I want to buy low carbon corn because I’m going to produce low carbon ethanol’…then they’re set up to do that.”

In this interview, Northey talks about ag technology and the future, as well as the condition of the corn crop in Iowa.

Tech Hub Live interview with Bill Northey (6:12)

AgWired Precision, Audio, corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Ethanol Producers Pledge to Hit Net Zero by 2050

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Renewable Fuels Association members from across the country sent a letter to President Joe Biden this week pledging to achieve a net-zero carbon footprint, on average, by 2050 or sooner.

Ethanol is already cutting greenhouse gas emissions by half compared to gasoline, the letter says, but “we can—and must—do more” to decarbonize transportation fuels and combat climate change in the decades ahead. The letter comes after RFA’s board of directors met last week in St. Louis and adopted a resolution outlining their carbon performance goals for 2030 and 2050.

“Today’s grain-based ethanol is already a low-carbon fuel that is helping to clean up our nation’s transportation fuels,” RFA members wrote, highlighting a recent analysis from the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory that shows today’s typical corn ethanol reduces GHG emissions by 52 percent when directly compared to gasoline. “But with smart policy measures, ethanol can do even more. It can serve as an affordable zero-emissions fuel for light-duty cars and trucks, while also helping to decarbonize medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, aviation, marine, and stationary power generation.”

To support the achievement of its goals, RFA encouraged the development of a national Clean Fuel Standard, support for carbon capture, utilization and sequestration, and increased adoption of flex-fuel vehicles.

The letter was signed by ethanol producers from California, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Click here for the RFA “Net Zero by 2050” explainer.

carbon capture, Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

REG Teams With Manchester United

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Manchester United Football Club and Renewable Energy Group, Inc. have teamed up for a shared mission to tackle climate change and create a cleaner world.

The Club and Renewable Energy Group will work together to raise awareness of the company’s biofuel products and encourage positive environmental change among Manchester United’s global fanbase and beyond.

Manchester United was among the first football clubs in the world to launch a carbon reduction programme in 2008 and since then has reduced annual emissions from its operations by 2,700 tonnes. The Club will be seeking to build on this record through its new partnership with Renewable Energy Group.

advance biofuels, Biodiesel, biofuels, Environment, REG

Governors Urge Expanded Use of High Octane Ethanol

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Governors’ Biofuels Coalition leaders Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem are asking the Biden Administration to expand the use of higher-octane ethanol to meet climate and public health goals.

The governors’ letter focuses on the timeliness of the expanded use of ethanol now: “As the Office of Management and Budget continues to review the Safe Affordable Fuel Efficient Vehicles (SAFE) rule, there is a great opportunity to meet the Administration’s goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality while providing continued growth of the nation’s biofuels industry.”

The governors pointed out that a higher-octane requirement in the SAFE rule will allow “… automakers to increase engine efficiency and achieve the objectives of the proposed SAFE rule. The use of low carbon fuels such as ethanol will ensure … octane does not come from carcinogenic aromatics that release fine particulate emissions associated with respiratory diseases that affect all Americans, especially vulnerable populations and those living in urban areas.”

Read more.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Octane