“The industry is at a point where the next evolution is here. You know it’s at the next phase.” Toni Nuernberg, the new Executive Director of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council says the ethanol industry is facing significant changes and challenges. That’s why, she says, both EPIC members and non-members attended the organization’s first annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska …
Improving Ethanol Plant Efficiency
Improving the efficiency of ethanol plants is critical for a number of reasons, but especially in light of high corn prices that are cutting into margins for producers. POET has been working on improving the efficiency of their plants for years now according to President and CEO Jeff Broin (pictured here on the left with Nathan Schock, director of public …
Ethanol and Dan Wheldon Win in Iowa
This year’s Iowa Corn Indy 250 is over and as usual, ethanol won. Actually, Dan Wheldon, Target Chip Ganassi Racing won the race. He’s seen here holding up the trophy which is a replica gas pump. The Team Ethanol car ran as high as 3rd place but according to driver, Ryan Hunter-Reay, they lost a gamble on fuel strategy. He …
Ethanol Starts The Iowa Indy
The Iowa Corn Indy 250 is underway here at Iowa Speedway and the weather is perfect. Team Ethanol started at position 17 but driver Ryan Hunter-Reay made a bold move and jumped to 7th almost immediately and has been holding there by mid race. I’ll post more at the end of the race which, depending on cautions, won’t be long. …
Ryan is the One
The qualifying session for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 got rained out last night so unfortunately that means the drivers will start according to their points standing. That was a blow to Team Ethanol. The car was performing very well and would likely have had a much better starting position. Ryan Hunter-Reay, who spoke at the EPIC member reception last …
Ethanol Car Pits During Practice
The Ethanol Car wound up practice in the top 10 with a combined (2 sessions) lap speed of 183.114. Ryan Hunter-Reay, the driver got in 166 practice laps and is ready to go for tomorrow’s race. To get a sense of what it’s like in the pits, at least in practice, I shot some video during this morning’s session. Iowa …
Iowa Speedway Pace Car Ride
After today’s ethanol press conference the media were treated to rides out on the track in the Iowa Speedway Pace Car. Our driver was Davey Hamilton. For most of us it was our first time and even though we only went about 95 mph, the curves were tough to deal with. As hard as I was pressing up against the …
Driving Agricultural Productivity
Monsanto was represented at this morning’s ethanol press conference at the Iowa Speedway by Troy Hobbs, Corn Biofuels Strategy Lead. He started his comments explaining that the company’s mission is to drive productivity in the agricultural sector. He spoke to how quickly they’ve been able to increase the per acre yield in corn with their research on seed and traits. …
Iowa Corn Growers Optimistic
Just a few minutes ago I got interviewed by one of the journalists here and he asked what I had heard from corn growers who are at the track. I told him they’re very proud to be growing the fuel that’s being used in the IndyCars out here and that they’ll recover from the flooding problems they’ve been having. Representing …
Using All The Corn And Making Ethanol
One of the speakers at the ethanol industry press conference here at Iowa Speedway this morning was Mike Sobestski, Vice President/COO, LifeLine Foods. Besides talking about the company he also explained how they use various parts of a corn kernel to make food and fuel. An interesting point he made was that the part they use to make ethanol is …