With a vote on the Energy Bill expected this week in the House, a Wednesday morning rally is being planned in support of increasing the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) and Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY) will host the media event which will include representatives from the Renewable Fuels Association and the National Biodiesel Board, …
FTC Reports on Ethanol Market Concentration
A new report from the Federal Trade Commission says U.S. ethanol industry become more competitive in 2007. According to the report, “The ethanol production industry is not concentrated, and has become even more unconcentrated over the last year.” The FTC utilizes the Herfindahl-Hirschman Indices (HHIs) to determine concentration. As outlined by the FTC and the Justice Department, HHIs with values …
POET Celebrates 20 Years
Hardly anyone knew what ethanol was 20 years ago, but that is when the company formally known as Broin started in the ethanol business. United States Senator John Thune, South Dakota Lieutenant Governor Dennis Daugaard and other elected officials helped the company now known as POET celebrate at their corporate headquarters in Sioux Falls, S.D. “Jeff Broin and POET were …
Closed Loop Plant Closing
An innovative “closed loop” ethanol plant in Nebraska shut down last week as the company filed bankruptcy, according to a report in the Omaha World Herald. E3 BioFuels opened in June as a model for using energy from biogas derived from cattle manure and cellulosic biomass to power the plant. Manure from 28,000 head of cattle in a nearby feedlot …
GM Disputes E85 Report
General Motors issued a statement in response to a USA Today report this week on a cost-benefit analysis of E85 ethanol, saying the report failed to take into account several positive factors. “We believe ethanol as a renewable fuel is the best near-term alternative to oil as a transportation fuel and replacing gasoline with ethanol positively contributes to lowering greenhouse …
Sweet Potato Fuel
Researchers at North Carolina State University are re-engineering the traditional sweet potato to make it better suited for producing ethanol. According to a NCSU release, this industrial sweet potato doesn’t look, or taste, much like the Southern classic, but can produce twice the starch content of corn – the leading source of ethanol. More starch means more sugars that can …
Major Ethanol Merger
The merger of two major ethanol producers is being seen as “a sign that ethanol-industry consolidation is gaining velocity.” VeraSun Energy and US BioEnergy will merge into one entity under an agreement announced this week where VeraSun will pay $700 million in stock and the new company will retain the name of VeraSun. VeraSun Chairman, CEO and President Donald L. …
Working on an Ethanol Pipeline
Seminole Energy Services of Tulsa, Okla. is talking with Nebraska ethanol plants about a $150 million project that could move a billion gallons of ethanol a year from plants to a terminal between Grand Island and Hastings. Company representative say the pipeline could stretch 175 miles and the hub would be built ideally at an intersection of Union Pacific and …
Illinois Corn Growers Honor Ethanol Promoters
Tom Slunecka, former executive director of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) is the recipient of the Illinois Corn Growers Association’s 2007 Ethanol Innovation Award. “It is no secret ethanol production is growing at a record pace, but equally important is the significant increase in public use and acceptance of e10 and e85. Part of what is driving this …
Ethanol Statistics Interviews RFA President
Ethanol Statistics, a Netherlands-based market research and business information publisher, recently went to the expert on ethanol to do a feature about the future of the industry. Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association, is much more positive about ethanol in the United States because he knows why consumption has been lagging behind, because he knows what are and …