A new study from Lux Research finds innovation is still needed to make advanced biofuels competitive. The report cites six cellulosic ethanol facilities online and finds Raizen has the lowest projected minimum ethanol selling price of $2.17 per gallon. Abengoa’s $500 million Hugoton plant has the highest price of $4.55 with feedstock cost as the most critical variable. (It should …
Panelists Discuss E15 Revolution, Global Markets
Panelists discussed the “E15 Revolution” during the Growth Energy Leadership Conference held in Orlando this week. The retailer discussion focused on their efforts to help grow the consumer availability of E15 across the country. Panelists included Jim Pirolli, VP Fuels for Kum-N-Go; Mike Lorenz, Executive VP of Petroleum Supply; and Todd Garner, CEO of Protec Fuels. When discussing the changing …
Goat’s Guts Lead to Better Biofuels
New research finds that some day your gas tanks could be filled up by horses, sheep and goat’s guts. Researchers looked at how the anaerobic gut fungi, as compared to engineered fungi, were able to convert plant material into sugars that could be converted into advanced biofuels and other biobased materials. Fungi found in the guts of goats, horses and …
Tom Buis Delivers the “CEO Report”
Growth Energy Co-Chair Tom Buis delivered his “CEO Report” yesterday during the Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida. During his remarks, Buis said, “Last year was an interesting year, we increased exports, had another great corn crop and defeated every single attempt to repeal or reform the RFS.” Buis segued into how the ethanol industry stepped up to the plate to …
BioFuelNet Heads to School
BioFuelNet is heading back to school to get young men and women excited about biofuels. The organization is partnering with Talk Energy Week to participate in panel discussions at schools in eight Canadian cities. The discussions, targeted at grades 11 and 12 and reaching more than 1800 students, will include information on how to develop sustainable advanced biofuels. Each participating …
BioEnergy Bytes
A new paper from CAST looks at how to prevent invasive species from taking over marginal lands converted to grow crops for bioenergy. The paper shows that the risk of invasion can most effectively be prevented through a life-cycle approach that adopts appropriate scientific and policy tools at each step in the production process: from crop selection to field production, …
DOC Partners With NEC to Increase Ethanol Exports
Despite low crude oil prices, 2015 was still a robust export year for the ethanol industry according to Kenneth Hyatt, deputy under secretary for International Trade with the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC). The DOC partnered with the Renewable Fuels Association, the host of the 21st Annual National Ethanol Conference (#RFANEC) where delegates from several countries were on hand to …
BioEnergy Bytes
Alliance BioEnergy Plus, Inc. has announced its CTS pilot plant located at the Company’s subsidiary Ek Laboratories, is now running the complete conversion process from raw feedstock through fermentation of cellulosic sugars. This full conversion process also includes the separation of the valuable pure lignin and the recycling of catalyst and unreacted cellulose back to the front of the process. …
Ethanol Evolution Sees Industry Consolidation
This week in New Orleans, “Ethanol Evolution: The Data and Deals Driving the Future,” was a topic during the 21st Annual National Ethanol Conference (#RFANEC). The panel was moderated by Mike Jerke, CEO, Guardian Energy; and included Mark Fisler, Managing Director, Ocean Park Advisors; and John Christianson, Primary Partner, Christianson & Associates, PLLP. During the discussion, Fisler said that the …
OPIS’ Tom Kloza Discusses Energy Markets
During the 21st Annual National Ethanol Conference (#RFANEC) this week, one of the hot topics was the energy and ethanol market outlooks especially with the low oil prices the globe is currently experiencing. Tom Kloza with the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) offered attendees the outlook for ethanol, oil and natural gas markets in his presentation, “Wronger for Longer – …