AGCO is one of the companies working on a prototype biomass harvest/transport system. At POET’s Project LIBERTY Field Day they demonstrated a pulled behind baler system to harvest corn cobs and stover. Dean Morrell, Product Marketing Manager for Hay and Forage Harvesting, was on site and talked with me about their system. He says it’s a one pass system which …
CASE IH Developing Biomass Harvesting System
One of the companies exhibiting their developmental corn cob harvest/collection equipment at the POET Project LIBERTY Field Day was Case IH. Representing them again this year was Sam Acker, pictured sitting in their booth during the speeches. I first met him last year and got an update on what’s new from the company this year. Sam says they’re demonstrating an …
DF Cast: Turning Garbage into Ethanol
It’s like the scene in Back to the Future II, where the crazy old professor stuffs garbage into his flux capacitor in the back of the DeLorean and flies off to the future (or is that the past?). California-based BlueFire Ethanol Fuels has developed a process called Concentrated Acid Hydrolysis Technology that expands the amount of feedstocks that can be …
John Deere Developing Corn Cob Harvest Options
There were 16 different equipment manufacturers involved with POET’s Project LIBERTY Field Day. One of them was John Deere, represented by Dean Acheson, Manager, Solutions Development. Dean says that what they’re working on is completely customer based. He says they don’t want to be slowed down during harvest and they want to keep up a high level of productivity. The …
Project LIBERTY Receives Significant Support From IOWA
Corn growers heard from Iowa Lt. Governor Patty Judge at POET’s Project LIBERTY Field Day. She said, “We are seeing for ourselves that cellulosic ethanol is here, that it is viable and that it will transform renewable fuel as we know it today”. It was a cold, breezy day and she talked General Wesley Clark out of his jacket. She …
Work Is Not Done To Develop Ethanol Industry
One of the stars on hand to address the crowd at POET’s Project LIBERTY Field Day was former four-star General Wesley Clark. He spoke about the important role they would play in providing more homegrown fuel for the nation. “We are involved in something that is historic,” Clark said. “We are going to significantly reduce our dependence on foreign energy …
Project LIBERTY Field Day Underway
POET CEO Jeff Broin, seen here being interviewed in the field this morning, is glad for sunshine. At last year’s Project LIBERTY Field Day we had a wet one. We watched several different equipment manufacturers display their latest products to handle collecting the corn cobs for use in cellulosic ethanol production. I’ve got video clips of them in action which …
Growth Energy Promotes Blender Pumps at NACS
Growth Energy was at the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) show in Las Vegas last week promoting the benefits of mid-level ethanol blends and blender pumps to retailers. I spent a few minutes with Phil Lampert, the Vice President of Market Development with Growth Energy. There were between 25,000-30,000 participants ranging from retailers, equipment manufacturers, jobbers and distributors, very …
Switchgrass Varieties From Ceres
We’ve certainly heard a lot about switchgrass as a biomass option for the production of ethanol. How many of you have seen it growing? That’s it behind Cory Christensen, Director of Product Managment, Ceres, who was conducting Sunbelt Ag Expo presentations in the field. He says it’s a first season stand of their Blade energy crop. It was developed specifically …
Promoting BYO Ethanol to Retailers
Representatives from the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) teamed up at the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) Show in Las Vegas last week to promote the BYO Ethanol blender pump program. Robert White (left) with RFA says blender pumps that can offer a variety of ethanol blends, from E10 to E85 and several …