Corn growers are urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to keep its agreement on a court-enforced timeline for establishing the Renewable Volume Obligation numbers for 2014 and 2015 for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). “Congress created the Renewable Fuel Standard to help reduce our dependence on foreign oil and to provide cleaner domestic fuel choices for consumers and the EPA …
Va Tech Scientists Turning Corn Husks into Hydrogen
Scientists at Virginia Tech have found a way to get hydrogen from corn husks. This article from Yahoo says the husks and stalks are not only a plentiful feedstock for the potential car fuel, but they’re cheap, too. “We have demonstrated the most important step toward a hydrogen economy — producing distributed and affordable green hydrogen from local biomass resources,” …
Ethanol-Gas Price Difference Back to Normal
Ethanol and gas have settled back into a more normal price differential after three months of being nearly the same once gas prices started to plummet late last year. Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen notes that “wholesale ethanol prices traded near parity with—or even above—gasoline prices intermittently in November, December, and January,” but since the end of …
Methes Biodiesel Maker to Refine Corn OIl
A Canadian company has bought a Methes Energies International Ltd. biodiesel processor and will make the gaining plant the first facility in the world to use Methes’ pre-treatment system to process corn oil from a local ethanol plant. This Methes news release says the Denami 600 biodiesel processor and a PP-MEC pre-treatment system will be installed in Havelock, Ontario, Canada, …
Ethanol Supporters Counter Funding Request
Ethanol and agriculture industry groups sent their own letter to House Appropriations leadership in response to a group of lawmakers calling for the elimination of funding for blender pumps or corn ethanol export promotion. The letter signed by the Renewable Fuels Association, American Coalition for Ethanol, National Farmers Union, National Corn Growers Association, and Growth Energy calls on the subcommittee …
Appropriations Request Targets Corn Ethanol
A group of Congressional representatives wrote to the House Appropriations leadership this week specifically asking that any funding to help install blender pumps or promote corn ethanol exports be eliminated from the USDA budget. In response to the letter, Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis said “the request is neither helpful nor logical,” and also “unnecessary since there is already a …
Biofuels Leaders Defend RFS
Holding a press conference in advance of the American Petroleum Institute continuing its call to repeal the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), representatives of the ethanol and advanced biofuels industry and corn growers defended the law and the fuel. Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis said the oil industry is making the same old arguments about ethanol that are simply not true, …
New USDA Report Shows Ethanol Increasing Efficiency
The amount of corn necessary to make a gallon of ethanol is less than previously believed according to a new U.S. Department of Agriculture report. In today’s monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Report (WASDE), corn use for ethanol production was projected 50 million bushels lower based on the new Grain Crushings and Co-Products Production report recently released by the …
Syngenta Ups Ethanol Output, Growers’ Profits
Agribusiness company Syngenta is working with ethanol producers to have a variety of corn that produces more ethanol at the refinery and makes more profit for the feedstock growers. The company says that growers of its Enogen variety of corn, specifically engineered to increase ethanol production, will receive some more incentives to grow the grain. According to Chris Tingle, head …
Biofuels and Ag Groups Protest Anti-RFS Bill
U.S. Senators Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) today introduced legislation that would abolish the corn ethanol mandate in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), with Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) as a co-sponsor. The move was immediately criticized by both ethanol and agricultural organizations. “Senators Feinstein and Toomey continue to operate under the misguided assumption that the RFS is driving …