Cellulosic ethanol is no longer a pipe dream. It’s real and it is being produced today. That was the message Tom Slunecka, Vice President of Business Development for KL Process Design Group of South Dakota, gave at the 2008 Agri-Marketing Conference in Kansas City last week. Slunecka provided a detailed overview of the state of cellulosic ethanol to agri-marketers during …
Ethanol Getting Greener
A new analysis of America’s ethanol industry shows dramatic efficiency gains in ethanol production have been made in the last five years. According to an analysis conducted by the Argonne National Laboratory, American ethanol facilities are using less energy and water than just five years ago while producing more ethanol. Water consumption is down 26.6 percent, grid electricity use down …
Kentucky Ethanol Plant Grant
The Bluegrass State will soon be using switchgrass to produce ethanol at a new cellulosic facility to be built by Alltech of Lexington. Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear visited the headquarters of Alltech this weekend for the ribbon cutting of the company’s new Nutrigenomics Center. Alltech is an international company involved in a variety of enterprises from animal nutrition and biotechnology …
DOE Awards New Biorefinery Grants
The U.S. Department of Energy awarded grants for three small-scale biorefinery projects this week in Maine, Tennessee and Kentucky. In announcing the grants, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said, “These projects will help pioneer the next generation of non-food based biofuels that will power our cars and trucks and help meet President Bush’s goal to stop greenhouse gas emissions growth by …
Ethanol Helps Prevent Higher Prices
Ethanol production is actually helping keep food and fuel prices lower than they would be, notes the Renewable Fuels Association, citing recent news reports. Without the expansion of biofuel production and use in the US, Brazil and elsewhere, world oil demand would increase and so would the price. Merrill Lynch analyst Francisco Blanch told the Wall Street Journal that world …
POET Opens Second Indiana Plant
The grand opening of POET’s 23rd ethanol production facility was a grand event in Alexandria, Indiana on Thursday. POET Biorefining – Alexandria is the company’s second plant in the state of Indiana and Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman told the crowd on hand for the official ribbon cutting that the new plant further strengthens Indiana as a national leader in the …
Economists Discuss Food and Fuel Prices
Rising food prices continue to make headlines and all too often the blame is placed on the use of corn for ethanol. In this DomesticFuel Cast, we hear from two economists who have spent their entire careers studying farm and food prices – Jim Duffield with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and John Urbanchuk with the global economic analysis firm …
Saudi Oil Minister Blasts Biofuels
Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources last week denounced ethanol as an alternative to petroleum-based motor fuels. In a speech to the International Oil Summit in Paris, Minister Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi said, “Let’s be realistic, ethanol and biofuels will not contribute to the protection of the global environment by reducing (carbon dioxide) emissions, they will not increase …
Deadline Approaching for Ethanol Video Contest
The deadline for the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council’s “Fuel the Change” sweepstakes is fast approaching and new entries have been rolling in. The final deadline for entries is April 21. The contest calls for a 30 second video about how ethanol is a part of your life and how you’re fueling American independence and a greener, cleaner future one …
Texas Report Studies Ethanol and Food Prices
A study done by Texas A&M’s Agricultural and Food Policy Center concludes that corn prices have had little to do with rising food costs. The report, “The Effects of Ethanol on Texas Food and Fuel,” also finds that relaxing the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) would not result in lower corn prices for livestock and poultry feeders. According to the study, …