President Bush talked about the farm bill, higher food and energy costs, expanding domestic oil production, ethanol and other alternative energy sources during a press briefing on Tuesday morning. The president was critical of Congress blocking efforts to explore in ANWR and to expand capacity and build more refineries, as well as a “massive, bloated farm bill that would do …
Importance of Ethanol
The development of agriculture-based biofuels is critical to revitalizing rural communities, according to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer. Speaking to farm broadcasters meeting in Washington, Schafer said managing the blending of energy and agriculture is one of the top priorities for USDA. “If we over the next ten years could convert one-fourth of the four billion barrels of foreign …
New Gas Detector Can ‘See’ Ethanol
Sensor Electronics of Minneapolis has developed a new gas detector that can detect dangerous concentrations of ethanol. The detector is thought to be ideal for protecting biofuel refineries. It’s designed for applications in biofuel processing plants, pipelines, pumping stations, storage facilities, fuel dumps, distribution networks and the like. Calibration is quick, easy: The gas detector simply sniffs a whiff of …
Monsanto, Mendel Helping Develop Biofuel Grass
Seed giant Monsanto and Mendel Biotechnology are teaming up to develop a variety of grass seeds ideal for ethanol and biodiesel production. This story from the St. Louis (MO) Post-Dispatch has more: [St. Louis-area]-based Monsanto will lend its crop testing, breeding and seed production expertise to the BioEnergy Seeds & Feedstocks unit of Mendel, which is headquartered in Hayward, Calif. …
Groundbreaking on Oil from Ethanol
VeraSun Energy broke ground on a new facility last week that will tap into ethanol for oil. VeraSun’s patent-pending Oil Extraction process is designed to yield 7-8 million gallons of corn oil annually from 390,000 tons of distillers grains currently produced at VeraSun’s ethanol production facility in Aurora, S.D. The corn oil will then be made available for sale into …
Ethanol Industry Supports Farm Bill Changes
A tentative agreement reached by conference committee members on funding for a new farm bill would reduce the tax incentive for blenders to use ethanol from 51 cents a gallon to 45 cents. The president of the Renewable Fuels Association says they can support that. “We do understand that they are looking at that in order to pay for cellulosic …
Corn Growers Chairman Responds to Attacks on Ethanol
The recent criticism of ethanol doesn’t sit too well with the chairman of the National Corn Growers Association. Ken McCauley says the figures used in the article published today in the Kansas City Star, for example, were too vague. He says they didn’t properly represent real data and were spun in such a way to make ethanol a culprit… a …
Getting To Know Toni
Toni Nuernberg is the newest member of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council. She joined EPIC as the new executive director about 2 months ago, replacing Tom Slunecka after he accepted the offer to become the Vice President of Business Development for KL Process Design Group in South Dakota. We already heard from Toni during EPIC’s press conference on the …
Tiny Taste of Indy
Just being able to snag a ticket to the race means a huge Indy experience for most racing fans. But, some race-goers are lucky enough to snag tickets for the Hot Lap, taking their Indy experience one step further. The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council holds a raffle for every member racing event. For the Roadrunner Turbo Indy 300 here …
Ryan Has High Hopes for “Home” Race
Team Ethanol Driver Ryan Hunter-Reay knows that the ethanol industry started here, in the nation’s heartland. That’s why he fondly refers to the Roadrunner Turbo Indy 300 as a “home” race. He knows that the Midwest is where most of ethanol production begins. He said a high finish for today’s race at the Kansas Speedway would be a great start …