Due to the current market volatility, VeraSun Energy will delay the startup of its 110 million-gallon-per-year ethanol production facility in Hankinson, N.D. This is the third VeraSun facility that has delayed startup operations this month due to market conditions, the other two being Welcome, Minn., and Hartley, Iowa. Construction on the Hankinson facility will be completed by the end of …
Ethanol Investing Decline
The issue of investment and financing for ethanol plants and bio refineries in general was addressed today by Chris Groobey, Baker & McKenzie, LLP. He works on project financing with investors and lenders and mostly in renewable fuels. He painted a pretty bleak picture. In fact, he says the New York investment community is not interested in biofuels right now. …
Trucking Corn For Ethanol
When it comes to infrastructure needs for a bio economy our rural road system is a key component. To speak about it here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference we heard from Frank Dooley, Purdue University. He sees a big increase in grain production, primarily in the midwest. With that comes a growing demand for transportation. He thinks …
Transporting Biofuels By Rail
During our discussion on the infrastructure needs of a Transition To A Bio Economy, we heard from Paul Hammes, Union Pacific Railroad. Of course his focus was on rail infrastructure and as it relates to biofuels. Specifically, he spoke to the different pieces of that supply chain like rail cars, the rail network and unload/load capacity. He says that the …
EPIC’s Year of Opportunity
The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council has places to go if you ask the organization’s newly elected board president. Greg Kissek with Prairie Horizon Agri Energy says EPIC has come a long way, but there’s still much to accomplish. Greg says he’s “looking forward to this year of opportunity” with EPIC. Chuck spoke with Greg at EPIC’s first annual meeting. …
The Cost of Biomass
Sarah Brechbill, Purdue University, got to put her masters degree project on the stage today here at the Farm Foundation’s Transition To A Bio Economy conference. She looked at the cost to get biomass to a plant and specifically looked at switchgrass and corn stover. She says that there’s really no one answer to what’s best for everyone. However, she …
Cellulosic Ethanol Co-Products
We hear a lot about co-products with ethanol production like the DDGS but what about in cellulosic ethanol production? Well, Danielle Julie Carrier, Arkansas State University is doing work on that subject. I was very interested to hear that there are some possibilities. She’s working with switchgrass and they’ve found that if you wash the feedstock prior to the pre-treatment …
Making Ethanol From Dry Peas
During our last session of the day here at the Farm Foundation, Transition To A Bio Economy Conference, our speakers talked about some feedstock and co-product issues of ethanol production. First up was Abhishek Goel, North Dakota State University. He did work on using dry peas to supplement corn in an ethanol plant. The idea was to reduce supply risk …
Ethanol Plant Site Selection
Besides those out working in the industry we also heard from some university students today at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference. Lance Andrew Stewart is a grad student at the University of Tennessee. He did a very technical presentation on locating ethanol plants. His work focused on the location determinants that attract potential plants in certain areas. He …