EPA Requests Comment Period for RFS

Cindy Zimmerman

The Environmental Protection Agency has officially requested a comment period to start the process toward consideration of a waiver for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

EPA issued the request for comments in response to petitions from the Governors of Arkansas and North Carolina last week seeking a waiver of the volume requirements for corn ethanol under the RFS. The request was submitted for publication in the Federal Register and the EPA will decide on the waiver request “within 90 days of receiving it, in consultation with the Departments of Agriculture and Energy.”

EPA is requesting comment on any matter that might be relevant to review of the waiver request, including –

whether compliance with the RFS would severely harm the economy of Arkansas, North Carolina, other States, a region, or the United States; whether the relief requested will remedy the harm; to what extent, if any, a waiver would change demand for ethanol and affect prices of corn, other feedstocks, feed, and food; the amount of ethanol that is likely to be consumed in the U.S. during the relevant time period, based on its value to refiners for octane and other characteristics and other market conditions in the absence of the RFS volume requirements; and if a waiver were appropriate, the amount of required renewable fuel volume appropriate to waive, the date on which any waiver should commence and end, and to which compliance years it would apply.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Government

Dynamic Fuels Get EPA Renewable Gas Registration

John Davis

Dynamic Fuels, in a joint venture with Syntroleum, has garnered the EPA’s Part 79 registration for its Renewable Gasoline Blendstock 10. This Syntroleum news release says the designation allows enables Dynamic Fuels to generate 1.5 Advanced Biofuel, or D5, RINS for each gallon of its renewable gasoline blendstock when blended at 10 percent. The Dynamic Fuels’ Renewable Gasoline Blendstock can be blended directly into gasoline.

At its design basis production rate of 75 million gallons per year, Dynamic Fuels’ Geismar Plant should produce approximately 7.5 million gallons of renewable gasoline blendstock, or 11.25 million Advanced Biofuel RINS, per year. Advanced Biofuel RINS have traded for as much as $0.83 per RIN during 2012 and are currently approximately $0.46.

Dynamic Fuels also received the EPA Part 79 Registration for drop-in renewable fuels for Renewable Diesel Blendstock up to a 20 percent blend with petroleum diesel in 2009 and for Renewable Diesel for use at up to a 100 percent in 2011.

biofuels, Environment, Government

Ethanol Safety Seminar Offered by RFA

John Davis

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), along with Norfolk Southern Corp., CN Railway and Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) will co-host an Ethanol Safety Seminar on August 22nd in Decatur, IL. The free seminar will give first responders, hazmat personnel, safety teams and the general public in-depth information on proper training techniques needed to effectively respond to an ethanol-related emergency.

“Ethanol is the highest volume commodity transported by rail each year,” said David Schoendorfer, Manager of Hazardous Materials for Norfolk Southern Corp. “In the event of an incident, it is imperative that local emergency responders are prepared, and providing this training is part of our community outreach effort to ensure they are.”

“Focusing on emergency measures to take in the event of an incident involving ethanol products is an important part of preplanning,” said Scott McLeod, Sr. Dangerous Goods Officer for CN Railway.

“Safety is a primary focus for the ethanol industry as this fuel is the number one hazardous material shipped on U.S. railways,” said Matt Bruns, VP of Corn Processing for Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM). “The Ethanol Safety Seminar focuses on numerous aspects of responding to an ethanol-related incident, helping those first on the scene to easily assess the situation and react appropriately.”

To register for one of the two seminars offered between 9:00am to 2:00pm and from 5:30-10:00pm on August 22nd, click here.

Other Ethanol Safety Seminars throughout 2012 are scheduled in Defiance, OH on August 29th; Willmar, MN on September 9th; Pittsburgh, PA on September 13th; Elgin, IL on October 2nd; Bessemer, AL on October 29th; and Fort Worth, TX on November 29th.

More information on ethanol emergency responses is available at www.EthanolResponse.com.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA, safety

Group Says No to Clean Energy Victory Bonds

Joanna Schroeder

Advanced Biofuels USA is saying no to Clean Energy Victory Bonds. Green America supporters have been working to gain support of the bonds as a way to raise money to be invested in clean energy technologies. Yet according to Advanced Biofuels USA’s Bob Kozak, there are several major flaws in the proposed legislation.

Here are several problems as outlined by Kozak:

1. Because the bonds will require immediate income from the projects to pay the interest income promised to the investor, bonding is not the appropriate method for funding renewable energy research and project prototypes. These bonds could only be used for projects that have already been proven to be commercially viable and would not provide funding where it is needed most in biofuel and other renewable energy development – at the research and commercialization stages.

2. Clean Energy Victory Bonds would duplicate other available funding mechanisms via the requirement to have a return on investment that is higher than current US bond issues, the only projects that would be eligible for funding are those that are relatively low risk that would be funded by existing commercial instruments.

3. Clean energy is not defined. Besides advanced transportation biofuels not being included in the legislation, it also seems that the “dirty” elements of projects would not be factored into a life cycle analysis of the environmental impact.

Kozak counters that there is legislation that could be developed that would be effective. He suggests a $200 billion, 10 year, science-heavy “Manhattan Project” for new renewable transportation, heating and electrical production of energy sources. He also recommends a makeover of accounting and taxation laws that would properly charge for Climate Change and other environmental costs. To learn more, click here.

advanced biofuels, bioenergy, Electric Vehicles, Electricity, Energy

Chrysler Helps “Tell the Story” of Ethanol

Joanna Schroeder

Chrysler sees great value in ethanol. James Frusti, Chrysler Group manager of Fuels, Energy and Regulatory Affairs, presented the company’s ethanol strategy as part of the auto industry’s greater efforts of collaboration during the 25th Annual Ethanol Conference.

Fursti said that center stage of bringing any technology to market is the customer and the technology must provide value to the customer. “Whether it be for vehicle technology, a new energy source, or a new fuel source, to us that’s all technology,” he said. Ethanol is one of these technologies.

At Chrysler, Fursti explained that they are trying to make the internal combustion engine as efficient as possible given the challenging fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas requirements. To do this, they are looking at ethanol and biodiesel. But in order for Chrysler to invest in the development of ethanol engine technology, several things need to happen.

1)   More flex-fuel vehicles (FFVs) need to be sold.

2)   Customers need to understand the value in ethanol. When this happens they will buy FFVs so they need to be more broadly available in the retail market.

3)   Automakers need to be able to obtain greenhouse gas credits and improve their ability to comply with challenging requirements. The soon to be published 2017-2025 Fuel Economy and Greenhouse Gas Rules by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will explain how this will work and it is believed automakers will receive greenhouse gas credits for FFVs.

The next step, said Fursti, is that they need to know with certainty when there is going to be enough mid-level blends of ethanol available at the retail level for them to invest in redesigning their engines.

To succeed, there will need to be effective collaboration between the industries. There will also need to be more communication with the customer and legislators, said Frusti. Stealing a quote from UDSA Ag Secretary Vilsack, you’ve got to tell the story to the customer and you’ve got to tell the story to the legislatures.

You can view James Frusti’s presentation here and also listen to his remarks: James Frusti Tells the Ethanol Story

ACE, Audio, biofuels, Car Makers, conferences, Ethanol

Ethanol Biorefining Innovations

Joanna Schroeder

There are many biorefining innovations taking place in the ethanol industry. During the 25th Annual Ethanol Conference, three company representatives discussed the research and technologies they were implementing or studying to increase the value of the ethanol production process.

Steve McNinch with Western Plains Energy said his company is looking at how to move into the advanced biofuels category of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2). The biorenfinery, which produces ethanol from sorghum (milo), is currently installing technology to produce methane. His plant is also researching anaerobic digestion technologies that convert waste to energy. In addition, the plant is adding methane technology that will allow the plant to stop using natural gas as its electricity source and improve the ethanol’s carbon intensity score.

You can view Steve McNinch’s presentation here and also listen to his remarks: click here: Ethanol and AD Integration to
Produce Advanced Biofuel

There are several ways you can make your biorefinery more efficient whether you operate a corn ethanol plant or a milo ethanol plant.  Dough Rivers with ICM presented one way you can get from first generation corn to second generation cellulose while using the same biorefinery infrastructure. The first way to get from a dry grind plant is to start doing some things to recover more of your starch to convert more of your targeted end product. ICM has developed a Selective Milling Technology that bolts onto the current plant and increases both ethanol yield and corn oil yield. The company is also developing a fiber separation technology. From here you can start thinking about converting fiber to ethanol and collecting cellulosic RINs (Renewable Identification Number). Today ICM is testing its technologies in its pilot plant and expects to be offering the ethanol industry bolt-on cellulosic technologies soon.

You can view Doug River’s presentation here and also listen to his remarks: click here: ICM Pathway from Gen 1 Ethanol to Gen 2 Ethanol

Highwater Ethanol is one of the last ethanol facilities built in the U.S and the biorefinery is looking at moving into advanced biofuels via isobutanol (biobutanol). CEO Brian Kletscher discussed the current challenges and opportunities with isobutanol. Today ethanol plants have financial pressures, marketing challenges and a cap on first generation ethanol in the RFS2. The industry needs a solution and Highwater Ethanol believes isobutanol is one solution. That is why they signed on as an early adopter with Butamax. Isobutanol has several advantages over ethanol: attractive gasoline blending opportunities; it enables the refineries to increase the use of gasoline out of a barrel of oil up to three percent; it also has some advantages in its molecule. Now that Highwater Ethanol is on board with the technology, its next step is to pursue permitting and begin retrofitting in 2013.

You can view Brian Kletscher’s presentation here and also listen to his remarks: click here: Highwater Ethanol Review of Isobutanol

ACE, advanced biofuels, Audio, biobutanol, Cellulosic, conferences, corn, Ethanol, Waste-to-Energy

Refiners to Try Syngenta’s Bio-Engineered Ethanol Corn

John Davis

Two ethanol makers will be trying Syngenta’s Enogen® grain… corn that is bio-engineered to allow ethanol production to be more efficient, cost effective and better for the environment. This Syngenta news release says Golden Grain Energy (GGE) of Iowa and Siouxland Ethanol of Nebraska agreed to run three-month trials.

Enogen grain is the first genetically engineered output trait in corn specifically for the ethanol industry. Enogen corn expresses the alpha amylase enzyme necessary for dry grind ethanol production directly in the endosperm of the grain. This breakthrough technology eliminates the need to add liquid amylase and can lead to dramatic increases in throughput while potentially reducing costs in energy, gas and water usage.

“We’re glad to be partnering with these plants and we’re excited about the improved efficiency Enogen technology can deliver,” said David Witherspoon, head of renewable fuels with Syngenta. “We’re looking forward to working closely with each plant during the trial to demonstrate the value Enogen technology can add to their operation and their community.”

The trials are to begin next spring. If it works out, growers will be paid a premium for each bushel of Enogen corn delivered to the plants.

corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Do The Math

Joanna Schroeder

Recently the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) celebrated its 25th Annual Ethanol Conference. One of the things ACE knew 25 years ago was that they needed to work with the people who distributed fuel. Ron Lamberty, Senior Vice President and guru of market development, was one of those retailers with whom ACE worked. Twelve years later, Lamberty’s “gig” became full time.

During some remarks he gave before a question and answer session, Lamberty noted that what the industry has to do is what is right for retailers because they are the ones who eventually will make ethanol successful.

“A program that we used to do and are heading back to now is called “Do the Math”. We’d go to petroleum shows and we’d try to explain to them the octane value, the blending value and the price value of E10,” Lamberty reminisced. “Interestingly enough we’re kind of back in that same realm with E15.”

ACE has been and continues to educate mechanics and station owners about ethanol. Today ACE has plans to expand the effort. They also continue to work with the BYO program that helps station owners install pumps to sell ethanol.

Lamberty believes that E15 is going to be a good driver for the ethanol industry. “It’s going to be something that convinces petroleum marketers to spend the money on the pump because the math works for them. We have to be able to show that this is a value proposition for retailers.” And it is he says.

As oil companies sell their stations, the number of single station owners is increasing. Lamberty said these are the type of owners who like ethanol because it helps their business. They make more money and its something they can sell that they’re competitors are not selling. As a result, ACE continues to reach out to these station owners to educate them about ethanol.

In closing, Lamberty reminded everyone that ethanol is the right thing to do. “We’re going to continue to work to find more people to sell more ethanol.”

To listen to Ron Lamberty’s full remarks, click here: Do The Math

ACE, Audio, conferences, Ethanol

World Ethanol Market Projected to Reach 27.7B Gallons

Joanna Schroeder

The world ethanol market is projected to reach 27.7 billion gallons by the end of 2012 according to a new report, “Biofuels – A Global Strategic Business Report,” conducted by Global Industry Analysts. The growth, says the report, is due to skyrocketing crude prices, continued concerns over environmental pollution and the switch to biofuels. In addition, worldwide emission standards, biofuels subsidies and tax incentives have also had a positive impact on growth.

In the U.S., growth is being fostered by the goal of increasing domestic fuel production along with attention on the lowering of carbon emissions. Other aids to growth in the U.S., according to the report, is the increased purchases of flex-fuel vehicles (FFVs) and the approval and sale of E15 for vehicles produce in 2011 or newer.

Today, the U.S. and Brazil (as well as South America) dominate production with 50 percent of world sugarcane produced going into the production of ethanol. Together, South America and the U.S. produced 66.5 percent of total volume sales in 2008 with 90 percent of ethanol demand in South America coming from Brazil. Ethanol consumption in Brazil is expected to reach 7.45 billion gallons by 2015. Sales of ethanol in Canada, one of the fastest growing markets worldwide, are expected to rise by approximately 208.25 million gallons between the period 2008 to 2012. The report predicts that markets to watch are India and China.

Globally, volume consumption of ethanol is estimated to grow by about 7,597 million gallons between the period 2008 to 2012. Asia-Pacific dominates the global food & beverage end-use market with a 64.2% share estimated in the year 2008. The solvent end-use market in the United States is projected to consume over 230 million gallons of ethanol by the year 2015. In Europe, Germany and France collectively account for 35.5% of the regional ethanol market as estimated in 2008.

All the major global ethanol players are featured in the report along with all the major biodiesel players around the world. The report provides a comprehensive review of market trends, driver, issues, and challenges in the biofuels global market. It also discusses climates in key regional markets. Also provided in the report is an enumeration of recent mergers, acquisitions, and other strategic industry activities.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, International, Research

UNL Team to Use E85 in SAE Competition

Joanna Schroeder

University racing teams participating in the Formula SAE Collegiate design and performance racing series have the opportunity to develop race cars with alternative fuels. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln team has chosen to compete in the 2013 series using E85 racing fuel. Ten of the 81 teams will be competing with E85 racing fuel. The student designed Formula racing type vehicles will compete in a variety of categories including design, performance, acceleration, and endurance.

“After evaluating several fuel options we were confident that E85 would provide the high octane performance necessary to be competitive,” said Jonah Knepper, a member of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Husker Motorsports team. “We initially calibrated our competition engine on high octane gasoline. When we fine-tuned the calibration with E85 we gained a ten percent increase in power output. With additional design and tuning we think we can get another ten percent power output. That is a huge advantage in racing competition,” said Knepper.

E85 has an octane rating of 100 and as a result, Matthew Kalus, one of the team engineers said when they calibrated the 600 cc engine it increased its power output while at the same time cooling the engine. Brazilian racing teams have been using E85 racing fuel and both IndyCar and NASCAR also compete with ethanol blends.

The 2013 Formula SAE competition will be held in Lincoln next year.  Last year the University of Kansas secured first place in the Overall competition as well as the Endurance competition using E85 racing fuel. In addition, the University of Wisconsin won the top spot in the Fuel Economy category using E85. The UNL team is confident they’ll have a chance at the top spot using E85 racing fuel along with some innovative engineering.

E85, Ethanol