NEC 2027

Cellulosic Ethanol Demo Plant Marks Milestone

Cindy Zimmerman

CoskataBiofuel tech company Coskata marked two years of successful operations at a cellulosic ethanol semi-commercial facility in Madison, Pennsylvania this month.

According to company officials, the facility has completed over 15,000 run hours of operation and successfully converted wood biomass and municipal solid waste into fuel-grade ethanol.

“The data and operating experience cultivated at this pre-commercial scale facility has conclusively demonstrated that the Coskata technology is ready for commercial production today,” said Coskata President and Chief Executive Officer Bill Roe. “With an industry leading yield of more than 100 gallons of ethanol coming from a dry ton of wood biomass, we look forward to working with industry partners to rapidly deploy this leading conversion technology and help the country meet the Renewable Fuels Standard.”

The technology at the Pennsylvania facility will be used at the company’s first commercial-scale facility in Alabama, for which Coskata recently received a conditional loan guarantee from USDA.

advanced biofuels, Cellulosic, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Joule Wins Wall Street Journal Award

Cindy Zimmerman

Joule Unlimited Technologies has received the 2011 Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award in the Energy category and was also named the Silver award winner across all of the competition’s 16 categories, from more than 600 entries around the globe.

joule“We are honored to be the Wall Street Journal’s choice for the most innovative energy company, and to be recognized even beyond our industry as one of the world’s top innovators overall,” said Bill Sims, President and CEO of Joule.

“We started with a big idea – the direct conversion of sunlight to fuel without raw material feedstocks – and four years later we’ve proven the process, optimized the technology, built a strong patent portfolio and laid the groundwork for commercial production to begin in 2013. We will bring much-needed scalability and infrastructure-readiness to the renewable fuels space, with a platform that can yield multiple products, including valuable, fungible diesel fuel vs. a blendstock like biodiesel. We appreciate this recognition of our company’s efforts to successfully innovate outside of today’s common ‘biofuel’ definition,” said Sims.

As stated in the Journal’s report by Kenny Tang, one of the independent judges and founder & CEO of Oxbridge Weather Capital, “In bypassing the limitations of expensive processes in conventional biofuel production, Joule’s technology has the exciting potential to significantly transform the economics of the biofuel industry. If translated into wider use, it is a potential game changer—it could become a cost-effective replacement to petroleum on a much wider scale than previously possible, especially with its non-reliance on biomass.”

Using sunlight and waste CO2 from industrial emitters or pipelines, Joule anticipates commercial production of up to 15,000 gallons of diesel and 25,000 gallons of ethanol per acre annually, at stable costs as low as $20/bble and $0.60/gallon respectively, including subsidies. The company has been conducting pilot operations and expects to begin construction of its first demonstration-scale plant this quarter.

Biodiesel, biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Solar

Chicago Vertical Farm Gets Grant for Renewable Energy System

Cindy Zimmerman

An innovative sustainable food production project in the Windy City has received a grant for a renewable energy system that uses waste materials.

The project called “The Plant” was recently awarded a total of $1.5 million in grant funds from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) to support a comprehensive renewable energy system that will accept up to 12,000 tons of food scraps annually. Most of the material will be spent grain from an onsite craft brewery, New Chicago Brewing Company, and from other breweries around Chicago – material that is currently sent to landfills.

By installing an anaerobic digester and combined heat and power system, The Plant will create about 380 kilowatts of electricity and 2.1 million BTU of heat – enough to meet the full energy needs of the 93,500 square-foot facility. The digester will allow The Plant to become independent of the grid and produce power and heat at between one-quarter and one-third of current utility costs to its tenants. In addition to the craft brewery, The Plant has plans for a bakery and aquaponics growing systems.

The total project costs are approximately $3 million and will be completed by June 2013.

Waste-to-Energy

Senate Amendment Attempts to End Blender Pump Funding

Cindy Zimmerman

McCain in Independence MissouriEthanol interests were quick to oppose an amendment offered by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) today that would prohibit the U.S. Department of Agriculture from funding Flex Fuel pump installations.

“The McCain amendment would smother the only initiative we have to provide consumers the power to choose their fuel, and it gives OPEC the green light to tighten its grip on our economy at the worst possible time,” said Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis. “Flex Fuel pumps inject competition in the marketplace. Congress should stand up for consumer choice and move our country’s energy policy forward, by investing in ethanol infrastructure and next generation biofuels.”

A statement from the Renewable Fuels Association called the McCain amendment “a jobs bill for OPEC nations.”

“By specifically singling out the ethanol molecule for exclusion, this amendment is seeking to kill new technologies using algae, wood waste, garbage and other feedstocks that would produce ethanol in their infancy. America needs jobs and domestic ethanol production is a proven method to create those opportunities. We already know what we get by outsourcing our energy future.”

Sen. McCain offered the same amendment during the ethanol tax debate in June when it was defeated by a vote of 41-59. This amendment was part of the 2012 agriculture appropriations bill, but appeared by the end of the day it would not come up for a vote.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Government, Growth Energy, RFA

Senators to Address Algae Biomass Summit

Cindy Zimmerman

amy klobucharU.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Al Franken (D-MN) will address the 2011 Algae Biomass Summit October 25-27 in Minneapolis, according to the Algal Biomass Organization (ABO).

al frankenSenator Franken will help kickoff the conference on October 25, while Senator Klobuchar will address the conference via a video lunchtime keynote on October 26, focusing on home grown energy and job creation.

“That Senators Klobuchar and Franken both chose to participate in the conference reflects the importance of algae-based fuels and co-products not only for the state of Minnesota, but also the rest of the country,” said Mary Rosenthal, Executive Director of ABO.

Other speakers at the conference include Harrison Dillon, President of Solazyme, Judy Canales, USDA Administrator for Rural Business and Cooperative Programs; and Cynthia “C.J.” Warner, CEO of Sapphire Energy.

The 5th annual Algae Biomass Summit will feature presentations and poster sessions from more than 200 experts from around the world, with exhibits by more than 60 companies and organizations. The event is expected to attract more than 800 participants, with 20 countries already represented among the registrants to date.

advanced biofuels, algae, Biodiesel, biofuels, conferences

Plug In Day Celebrates Electric Vehicles

Cindy Zimmerman

Sunday was National Plug-in Day and among many events around the country was a parade of electric vehicles (EV) with over 200 EV drivers taking part in Santa Monica, California.

The day was organized by Plug-in America and included EV events in over 20 simultaneous venues from Honolulu to New York with displays and demonstrations of plug-in vehicles by Nissan, GM, Mitsubishi, Toyota, SMART, Tesla, Ford, Coda and others.

“Only a few years ago, major automakers were literally crushing electric cars. Today, virtually every auto company in the world is selling or developing a plug-in car, and consumers are snapping up each and every one, stimulating our economy while helping the environment,” said Plug In America co-founder Paul Scott.

Among the event’s promoters was Nissan, which encouraged the 7200 Leaf owners nationwide to take part. “One year ago, the Nissan Leaf was just gaining public awareness. Today, thousands of drivers have chosen to go all-electric, with many more to come,” said Brian Carolin with Nissan North America.

Plug In Day will be followed up this Friday with the opening of the critically acclaimed documentary Revenge of the Electric Car in Los Angeles and New York. Filmmaker and electric-car advocate Chris Paine directs the movie, which follows executives including Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn in his industry-leading pursuit of zero-emission leadership.

Watch the movie trailer below:

Car Makers, Electric Vehicles, Video

Ethanol Leader Responds to Perry Energy Plan

Cindy Zimmerman

Texas Governor and Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry donned a hard hat at a Pennsylvania steel plant on Friday to announce his “Energizing American Jobs and Security” plan that he says will create over a million jobs and “reduce dependence on hostile foreign oil.”

“We are standing atop the next American economic boom – energy – and the quickest way to give our economy a shot in the arm is to deploy American ingenuity to tap American energy. But we can only do that if environmental bureaucrats are told to stand down,” said Perry.

“I believe in an “all of the above” energy plan that encourages the development of all our conventional and renewable sources,” he said, calling for the elimination of all “subsidies and mandates that punish consumers and skew the energy marketplace, leveling the playing field for all energy industries.”

The Perry plan would expand energy exploration offshore and on federal and private lands across the country by executive order and basically eliminate the EPA. However, while it touts an “all of the above” approach, some ethanol leaders believe it would promote oil above alternatives.

Iowa RFA“The Perry plan would leave America dependent on that single fuel – petroleum – with OPEC in charge of its price,” said Iowa Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO of Golden Grain Energy Walt Wendland. “The Perry plan would leave intact the federal petroleum mandate. The Perry plan would leave in place the fuel distribution monopoly of oil companies.”

Wendland continued. “But the most indefensible part of the Perry plan is that it would lock in tax subsidies for petroleum while eliminating them for all other competing fuels. That might make sense in Texas, but it’s a stupid policy for America. Governor Perry has said he doesn’t want the government to pick winner and losers. But the Perry energy plan does just that – and foreign oil is the winner.”

The Perry plan would “phase out direct subsidies and tax credits that distort the energy marketplace” but “preserve tax incentives for research and development.” IRFA notes that the tax credits for ethanol and biodiesel are set to expire at the end of the year while petroleum tax subsidies are in the tax code permanently with no scheduled expiration dates and some have existed since 1913.

Energy, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Oil, politics

Sad News From Today’s Indy Car Race

Chuck Zimmerman

It was with great sadness that I tuned in to today’s Indy Car race and saw the 13th lap multi car wreck and learned that Dan Wheldon was killed. Wow. I’ve had the opportunity to get to know a number of these Indy Car racers over the years. You can say all you want about the wisdom of driving a “car” at 220 MPH but they are still people. This brought back memories of Paul Dana in 2006. I liked Dan and certainly took a number of photos of him in the winner’s circle. He was the winner of this year’s Indy 500.

Today’s race was cancelled after this happened. Then the drivers all rode 3 abreast for five laps to honor Dan. This is just a photo of my tv while they were circling the track.

Here’s a photo of Dan in the winner’s circle in at the 2007 Kansas Lottery Indy 300.

At the time I was working with our sponsor known at that time as the Ethanol Promotion & Information Council (now Growth Energy). Dan won the first race of that season in Homestead, FL. I asked him about racing on ethanol in his post race press conference.

Here’s what he said: Dan Wheldon Ethanol Comment

My prayers go out to Dan and his family. It is a shock when something like this happens. I also hope all the other drivers involved in the accident are okay.

Audio, EPIC, Ethanol, Growth Energy, Indy Racing

Biodiesel Fuels Soybean Oil Production

Cindy Zimmerman

Corn stocks and use for ethanol seem to get all the attention when the USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates are released each month, but soybean oil use for biodiesel attracting some notice lately.

World Agricultural Outlook Board Chairman Gerry Bange says soybean oil use for biodiesel is up 44% over last year at 3.6 billion pounds. “The EPA has indicated its intention to enforce the billion gallon standard and what we’re seeing is a substantial increase in the amount of soybean oil being used to produce methyl ester, which is another way of saying biodiesel,” he told USDA Radio.

This is resulting in a tightening of ending stocks for soybean oil and higher prices. “What it’s leading to is a continuation of a fairly strong price at 55 cents per pound, compared to 53.2 cents per pound in 2010-11,” he said.

Biodiesel, Soybeans, USDA

Ethanol Supporting Former Brazilian President Honored for Hunger Efforts

Cindy Zimmerman

WFPA strong supporter of ethanol was honored this week for his efforts to fight hunger and poverty in Brazil.

WFPFormer Brazilian President Lula da Silva was recognized with the 2011 World Food Prize for his Zero Hunger strategy, which resulted in Brazil reducing by half its proportion of hungry people (with 93 percent of children and 82 percent of adults eating three meals a day) and also reduced the percentage of Brazilians living in extreme poverty, from 12 percent in 2003 down to 4.8 percent in 2009.

At the same time he was fighting hunger, President Lula was supporting a strong biofuels policy in Brazil, making the case before the United Nations in 2008 that it was possible for a country to produce ethanol and biodiesel to “reduce dependency on fossil fuels and at the same time create jobs, regenerate degraded land and expand food production.”

Brazil is currently the second largest producer of ethanol in the world, behind the United States, and uses sugarcane as a feedstock.

Biodiesel, Brazil, Ethanol, Ethanol News, International