Mobilize the Earth – Earth Day 2012

Joanna Schroeder

Earth Day snuck up on me this year which is surprising considering all that people can talk about is the hot weather in the Midwest caused by “global warming”. Think what you will about that statement, Earth Day is April 22nd coined “Mobilize the Earth,” and because I can’t come up with new ideas (it must be the unusual heat) I’m going to review four environmental books and one movie leading up to the big day.

Inevitably, I’m going to get both applauded and ostracized for what I’m about to do – two of the books will be pro climate change and two of the books will be anti-climate change. Someday I may be drowning off the coast of Iowa and I will go under screaming and flapping my arms that you can’t learn and move forward if you don’t educate yourself about an issue as a whole – and that means all sides of the issue should be heard.

My review of books and movies is not an endorsement of the author’s beliefs – the point of the review is to let you know what the author thinks to determine if it’s a book you want to read in your lounge chair on the beach of Council Bluffs this summer.  And without further ado…My 2012 La Nina Reading List:

  • Climate Wars by Gwynne Dyer
  • Roosters of Apocalypse by Rael Jean Issac
  • Eaarth by Bill McKibben
  • Climategate by Brian Sussman
  • Carbon Nation

Well I’m off to the scuba shop to buy gear for my qwest to find the Hollywood sign….

book reviews, Energy, Opinion

Propane Industry Celebrates 100 Years

Joanna Schroeder

The propane industry is about to celebrate its 100th anniversary and as part of industry events, there is a Propane Centennial Celebration and Propane Clean Air Rally & Autogas Parade beginning on April 14, 2012. The rally and parade will kick off at 12:00 noon on April 14th in Centennial Olympic Park and will include a Blue Bird school bus and a Ford pickup truck both featuring the ROUSH CleanTech liquid propane autogas fuel system. There will also be vans, taxis, forklifts, lawn movers and more, all powered by propane autogas.

Propane was discovered in 1910, yet it wasn’t until 1912 that propane was first used in a commercial application. Shortly thereafter, in 1913, propane was used to fuel a vehicle. Thus, 2012 marks propane’s 100th birthday and according to ROUSH CleanTech, now fuels more than 17 million vehicles.

“Propane has seen many changes along its 100-year journey to what we call propane autogas today, both in application and acceptance by fleet managers, lawmakers and automobile industry leaders like ROUSH,” said Joe Thompson, president of ROUSH CleanTech. “This domestically produced, abundant fuel offers so many economical and environmental benefits to vehicle operators, and we’re pleased to celebrate its birthday and its bright future.”

The parade will kick off the 2012 National Propane Gas Association (NPGA) Southeastern Convention & International Propane Expo beginning on April 14th at the Georgia World Congress Center. On April 15, one lucky person will win a propane autogas fuel system installed in a 2012 F-250 donated by ROUSH CleanTech and raffled at 4:00 PM EST in booth 309.

Thompson added, “Propane is as American as baseball and apple pie, and that’s something to celebrate. This is a major milestone in American history as we look toward the next 100 years of propane achievement.”

Propane

Early Planting Fuels Corn Production Speculation

Cindy Zimmerman

Corn planting is running well above normal across the country, fueling speculation that this year’s crop could be huge.

The crop progress report this week shows that seven percent of the nation’s corn crop is now planted – more than double normal for this time of year. Progress in some Midwestern states has already hit double digits. Missouri has 23% of the crop planted compared to the five-year average of 8% and Illinois is at 17% where just 3% is normal. Huge gains were seen from the previous week in states like Tennessee, which jumped from 15 to 46% planted in a week, while Kentucky went from 5 to 32%. Normally, only 10 of the 18 top corn states have corn in the ground by this time of year but right now only North Dakota and Wisconsin have nothing to report.

Doing the math on the USDA Prospective Planting report predicting almost 96 million acres of corn this year and using only the five year average corn yield of 154.3 bushels per acre, there is the potential for a 14.8 billion bushel crop.

“Certainly if we have a trend yield, we’ll see record production and we should see substantial rebuilding of stocks,” said USDA chief economist Joe Glauber. “We were calculating with even 94 million acres we would see almost a doubling of stock yields.” That, he says, should moderate corn prices considerably which would provide some relief for both livestock and ethanol producers. The newest World Agricultural Supply Demand Estimate projects season-average corn prices at $6.00 to $6.40 per bushel.

The report also notes that corn to produce ethanol in 2011/12 is unchanged again this month at 5 billion bushels, while the latest monthly data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) indicates that average daily ethanol disappearance fell to a 23-month low in January pushing ethanol stocks to a new record high. Weekly EIA ethanol production data suggest average daily ethanol production during February and March has continued to fall hitting its lowest level since early last fall.

corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Farming, USDA

Ethanol Co-Product Gains Foothold in Oil Country

Cindy Zimmerman

The livestock feed that is a co-product of ethanol production is gaining a foothold in the country that is synonymous with oil, thanks to the efforts of the U.S. Grains Council (USGC).

Saudi Arabia has always been the oil capitol of the world, but when Venezuela took the number one spot last year, the Saudis began to focus on diversifying into new revenue streams, like agriculture, and started to satisfy feed demand for dairy and livestock with the ethanol co-product distiller’s dried grains (DDGS).

Saudi Arabian group tours U.S. ethanol plant to see DDGs being made

The USGC launched the effort to expand market access for DDGS into Saudi Arabia through such activities as taking officials on tours of ethanol plants in the United States so they could see how the product was made. It was difficult at first to overcome the Saudis’ mistrust of ethanol as competition for petroleum, not to mention the fact that it is alcohol, which is prohibited in that country. But the Council ultimately succeeded in getting DDGS on the Saudi’s “feed ingredient subsidy list” which allows financial support for importers to aid them in bringing foreign feed ingredients to the market in order to reduce water consumption.

To gain placement on the list, the Council addressed various obstacles through an aggressive marketing campaign focused on stimulating demand and improving market access and is now introducing programming to educate traders and nutritionists about the tremendous benefits of DDGS. With 16,000 tons of U.S. DDGS already entering the Saudi market, the Council anticipates the demand to grow along as increased emphasis is placed on expanding the agricultural sector.

Distillers Grains, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Exports, International, USGC

First Sorghum Renewables Summit This Month

Cindy Zimmerman

The Sorghum Checkoff is hosting the first ever Sorghum Renewables Summit April 19-20 in Denver.

SorghumThe summit will bring together the industry’s leading researchers and companies for an event focused on agronomics, composition, technology, corporate governance and more related to using sorghum as a feedstock for renewable fuels.

National Sorghum Producers chairman Terry Swanson, a grower from Colorado, says about one third of the sorghum crop is now used to make ethanol. “Biofuels are very important to us,” said Swanson. “We are helping with the security of our country.”

The event will include a number of speakers and panels as well as a tour of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado on April 19.

Get more information about the 2012 Sorghum Renewables Summit on the Sorghum Checkoff website.

biofuels, biomass, Ethanol, Ethanol News, sorghum

Biofuels Groups Support RFS in Federal Lawsuit

Cindy Zimmerman

Ethanol and advanced biofuels groups are mobilizing to fight a court challenge by the petroleum industry over the Renewable Fuel Standard.

Six biofuel trade associations have filed a motion in the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to intervene in support of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) 2012 final rule being challenged by the American Petroleum Institute (API). The filing was made on Friday, April 6.

Specifically, the groups are standing with EPA in its implementation of the requirements under the RFS, including the cellulosic biofuels volumes. The trade associations seeking intervenor status are the Advanced Biofuels Association (ABFA), the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE), the Advanced Ethanol Council (AEC), the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), Growth Energy, and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA).

In their joint filing, the groups noted that their “members have investments in equipment, research and development, to supply the necessary renewable fuel.” API’s challenge would reduce the standards set by Congress and EPA and deprive members of the benefit of the investments made in reliance on Congress’ policy choices.
The case is D.C. Circuit case no. 12-1139, American Petroleum Institute v. United States Environmental Protection Agency.

ACE, advanced biofuels, AEC, biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Growth Energy, RFA

679 Renewable Energy Initiatives Supported in 2010

Joanna Schroeder

There were 679 renewable energy initiatives supported by 23 federal agencies and their 130 subagencies in fiscal year 2010. This according to a study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on renewable energy. The leading agencies in renewable energy support included the Department of Defense (DOD), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Department of the Interior. Combined, 60 percent of the projects were supported by these four departments.

Of all the alternative energy sources reviewed, the majority of the supported projects were in bioenergy, solar and wind. There was a mix between projects awarded to public and private sector companies, with private companies winning the majority of awards. In addition, the study found that many projects contained the development of technology that used multiple sources of energy.

Two thousand and ten proved to be some of the highest amount of funds invested in renewable energy, in part due to the allocations of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. However, with those funds spent and not anticipated to be renewed, the study concluded that future levels of funds for renewable energy projects was uncertain.

For the most part, awards were given to projects in four categories: supporting research and development; using renewable energy in vehicle fleets and facilities; providing incentive for commercialization and deployment; and regulation, permitting and ensuring compliance. The study found that within these four key roles, different agencies took the lead in development.  Research and development was led by DOE, DOD and USDA; fleets and facilities was led by DOD and the General Services Administration; commercialization and deployment was led by Treasury and USDA; and regulation, permititng and compliance was led by Interior and EPA.

While the report was robust, there is no corresponding list of the projects cited nor any recommendations. You can view the entire report here.

advanced biofuels, Solar, Wind

Algae.Tec’s Biofuels Projects Full Speed Ahead

Joanna Schroeder

Algae.Tec has announced that its two biofuels projects are full speed ahead. The company, founded in 2007 has offices in Atlanta, Georgia and Perth, Western Australia, and its company is focused on developing algae to biofuels technology using an enclosed algae growth and harvesting system. One project is underway in Australia- Shoalhaven One- and one in Sri Lanka.

Shoalhaven One is making good progress despite major rain and flooding. The cement platform structure along with the associated plumbing is complete. The next step is to install the containerized bioreactor technology. The company’s technical director, Earl McConchie, is arriving in Australia this week to oversee the final phase of the project.

A different use of the algae technology is underway at the Holcim cement plant in Sri Lanka. Bioreactors, currently being fitted at the Algae Development & Manufacturing Centre in Atlanta, GA will head to Sri Lanka in May whereupon installation will begin. This site will use the algae to capture carbon created during the production of cement and then produce advanced biofuels.

“In Nowra, the Algae.Tec facility will take a carbon feed from the Manildra Group operations, and in Sri Lanka the facility will take a feed from the subsidiary of industrial giant Holcim, the world’s largest cement and building materials company,” explained Roger Stroud, Executive Chariman for Algae.Tec.

Stroud said that the company is focused on producing global-scale biojet fuel from algae. Algae.Tec has biofuels MOUs with the European airline Lufthansa, and a 50/50 equity joint venture with Chinese company the Kerui Group for roll-out in China.

advanced biofuels, algae

Sweetwater Energy & BioGasol Partner for Bioproducts

Joanna Schroeder

Rochester, New York based Sweetwater Energy and BioGasol ApS, a Danish biotechnology company, have entered into a strategic partnership to improve sugar extraction from biomass. Sweetwater is a cellulosic sugar manufacturer and will use BioGasol’s pretreatment technology, Carbofrac, as part of an overall technological solution to increase the amount of sugar extracted from plant-based feedstocks.

“We’re very excited about this partnership,” said Arunas Chesonis, Chair and CEO of Sweetwater Energy. “The combination of BioGasol’s pretreatment technology merges so well with the advances we’ve made in hydrolysis and inhibitor reduction that the relationship almost seemed inevitable.”

Sweetwater produces low-cost sugars and then sells these sugars to refineries. The refineries then use the sugars to produce biofuels, biochemicals and bioplastics. Dr. Sarad Parekh, along with his team, developed a way to dramatically increase the efficiency of the extraction and fermentability of extracted sugars from a variety of biomass. Ultimately, this technology is able to produce cost-effective sugars that bioenergy companies can then profitably convert to next generation bioproducts.

Anders Weber, CEO of BioGasol added, “Our two companies have remarkably similar philosophies in that we both believe smaller, decentralized pretreatment and hydrolysis facilities are the key at this stage to making cellulosic biofuels and biochemicals work. Sweetwater has the business model and technology that fits perfectly with BioGasol’s high yield and flexible pretreatment equipment. We couldn’t be more enthusiastic about this partnership.”

advanced biofuels, biofuels, biomaterials, biomethane

Enrollment for Operators’ School Opens

Joanna Schroeder

Lallemand Ethanol Technology has opened its enrollment for its annual Operators’ School, a three-day program for ethanol lab, plant and management personnel to learn all about alcohol production.  The classes will be held May 22-24, 2012 in Omaha, Nebraska at the Scott Conference Center. In addition to learning the basic about ethanol production, students will also hear about the latest troubleshooting techniques and technologies used in the industry.

Topics that will be covered include raw materials, to distillation, to co-products. There will be hands-on demonstrations and all classes will be taught by industry scientists and academics who will be joined by Ethanol Technology Institute experts.

You can learn more about The Operators’ School here or register by clicking here.

Ethanol