During a visit to a Massachusetts renewable energy company on Friday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack highlighted USDA’s continuing efforts to invest in research and development projects that will help reduce America’s reliance on foreign oil. Vilsack toured Agrivida, a company that is developing technologies to reduce the cost of converting biofuel feedstocks into sugar, focusing on sorghum, corn stover, and …
AE Biofuels Re-Starts California Ethanol Plant
The AE Biofuels ethanol plant in central California is back in production. Subsidiary AE Advanced Fuels Keyes has restarted operations at the 55 million gallon per year ethanol production facility located in Keyes, California and hired about 50 full time employees. The company announced in March it was restarting the plant, which has been closed since 2009. The original $130 …
Iowa Corn Indy 250 Promotion
The Iowa Corn Growers got competitive with Indy today at the Iowa Speedway. In the photo Indy car driver Ryan Hunter-Reay competes on pedal tractors with Dick Gallagher, Iowa Corn Promotion Board Chairman. Waving the green flag to start is Shannon Textor, Iowa Corn Growers Market Development Director. Today was a promotional event that included Indy Car drivers, Iowa corn …
Ethanol Supporters in DC
Growth Energy today welcomed ethanol supporters from Missouri, Minnesota and North Dakota to Washington, D.C. for a series of meetings with members of Congress to raise awareness about ethanol and its role in keeping gas prices down, strengthening our nation’s energy security and creating jobs in rural communities. The Missouri delegation includes Greg Krissek and Monique Garcia from ICM and …
Record Corn Crop Forecast as Ethanol Exports Grow
Despite flooding of farm land and delayed planting in many areas, USDA is forecasting a record corn crop for this year. The World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate for May represents USDA’s initial assessment of U.S. and world crop supply and demand prospects. The report projects corn production for 2011/12 “at a record 13.5 billion bushels, up 1.1 billion from …
Florida Farm to Fuel Summit Postponed
Florida’s annual Farm to Fuel Summit has been postponed. Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam sent out an announcement today saying that a bill passed during the recently concluded Florida legislative session prompted the decision. The Florida legislature approved the transfer of the State Energy Office from the Executive Office of the Governor to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer …
Ethanol Potential in Giant Sweet Potatoes
At the International Biomass Conference and Expo last week, Dr. Janice Ryan-Bohac attracted a lot of attention carrying around a sweet potato the size of a newborn baby. Ryan-Bohac is president of CAREnergy, Carolina Advanced Renewable Energy, located in South Carolina and dedicated to the development of dedicated energy crops for the southeast, such as the eTuber™ sweet potato and …
RFA Report Highlights Ethanol Feed Production
The livestock feed generated as a by-product of ethanol production is enough to make 50 billion quarter-pound hamburgers each year, according to a new report from the Renewable Fuels Association. According to the report, America’s ethanol producers supplied nearly 35 million metric tons (mmt) of livestock feed in the 2009/2010 marketing year, which is greater than the total amount of …
ICM Spotlights Biomass Gasification at Conference
The announcement by ICM last week on the commercial deployment of its biomass gasification system came just prior to the 4th International Biomass Conference and Expo in St. Louis last week, which gave the company much to talk about with attendees. The technology has the capacity to covert 150 tons of biomass per day to a syngas that can then …
New Corn Oil Extraction Technology Increases Yield
Inedible corn oil is an emerging co-product for the ethanol industry. Today, about 1/3 of all ethanol plants in production are producing some type of inedible corn oil. However, many current technologies on the market don’t deliver high yields. This may change with the announcement from Ashland Hercules Water Technologies who has released a patent-pending corn oil extraction aid, PTV …