There is a significant amount of attention being paid to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) but one area that hasn’t been talked about much is the role of sugarcane ethanol in the RFS. To learn more, I spoke with Leticia Phillips the representative for North America with UNICA – the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association. She said that under the RFS, …
Greenbelt’s Distillation Module Exceeds Benchmarks
Greenbelt Resources Corporation has announced successful performance testing results from its automated distillation module. The module, available separately or as part of a complete sustainable energy production system, efficiently generated hydrous ethanol, distilled water and fertilizer from beer stock of 4 percent ethanol at a rate of 70,000 gpy (gallons per year) – or 10 gallons per hour. The test …
Feedstock Flexibility Program Final Rule Published
The Farm Service Agency has made the final Feedstock Flexibility Program (FFP) public and was published in the Federal Register on Monday, July 29, 2013. Congress created the FFP in the 2008 Farm Bill, allowing for the purchase of excess sugar to produce bioenergy in order to avoid forfeiture of sugar pledged as collateral by processors when securing short-term commodity …
Crude Oil Rise Fuels Biodiesel Feedstocks Rise
The recent rise in crude oil prices are fueling a rise in some of the feedstocks for biodiesel. Bloomberg reports that palm oil and soybean oil prices rose this week as petroleum prices also climbed: “One of the reasons that is pushing demand for palm oil is biodiesel,” said Sim Han Qiang, an analyst at Phillip Futures Pte. in Singapore. …
Double-Cropped Feedstocks Tested for Biodiesel
A college in the Minneapolis, Minn., suburbs is testing whether double-cropped camelina could be a good alternative for biodiesel feedstocks. Minnesota Farm Guide reports Anoka-Ramsey Community College’s Cambridge Campus has a 24-acre double-crop plot of camelina and soybeans to see if the non-food camelina will produce enough oil in the double-crop environment. “This is a true energy crop that isn’t …
Carbo Analytics Recieves DOE Grant
Carbo Analytics, developers of sugar analysis systems, has received a Department of Energy (DOE) grant for the development of a biofuels sugar analysis system. The company was awarded a $150,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for FY 2013. Their application “Simple and Rapid Determination of Total Accessible C5 and C6 Content of Biomass Samples” was one of 79 that …
Genera: Feedstocks, Start Early & Think Big
When it comes to biomass feedstocks for biofuels, you need to think ahead. “Start early and think big,” was the advice Bob Randle, VP Sales and Marketing for Genera Energy gave attendees of the recent Fuel Ethanol Workshop (FEW) in St. Louis, Mo. “Because there’s a lot of moving parts in providing 250,000 to 700,000 tons of material annually, on …
POET-DSM Cellulosic Ethanol Plant Ready in ’14
The POET-DSM Advanced Biofuels’ first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant is on track to start in 2014. The announcement for the plant was made at the recent Fuel Ethanol Workshop (FEW) in St. Louis, Mo., where Wade Roby from POET took part in a panel discussion. Steve Hartig, General Manager for POET-DSM, talked with Joanna and said Project LIBERTY, currently under …
PacificAg Created Through Merger
Sister companies Pacific Ag Solutions and Pacific PowerStock have merged to become PacificAg. According to the company, the merger creates the largest agricultural residue and hay harvesting business in the U.S. with operations in seven states and the largest fleet of biomass harvesting equipment in the country. “We have always served two important markets: demand for forage crops for livestock …
GlobalData: BioEthanol Car Fuel of Future
According to a new report by @GlobalDataEnergy, #bioethanol is the car fuel of the future. The report, “#Cellulosic Ethanol – Global Production, Major Trends, Regulations, and Key Country Analysis to 2020,” finds that #ethanol is the most widely acclaimed alternative or additive for gasoline used for running vehicles. In addition, the U.S. ranked number one in biofuel production using natural …