Eco-Car Fueled by Cellulosic Ethanol Sets Record

Joanna Schroeder

Cellulosic ethanol has achieved a victory. The Dynamo, a concept car created by a student team called the Roadrunners, and fueled by ethanol made from straw, won the Urban Concepts class of the 2011 Shell eco-marathon in Europe. In tandem to the win, the car set a new miles per gallon record of 1,197 (509 km/1) when adjusted for energy equivalence with gasoline. The cellulosic ethanol was provide by Inbicon and was produced at their the Inbicon Biomass Refinery in Kalundborg, Denmark.

“The Roadrunners team from the Technical University of Denmark designed, built, tuned, tested, and drove the Dynamo to victory over all 35 European teams competing. And they also beat North America and Asia’s winning mileage,” said Christian Morgen, Inbicon manager of international marketing. “Since they use only a liter at a time, I don’t believe there’s any danger of depriving Danish retail customers of our eco-friendly fuel.”

The winning team was overseen by Jesper Schramm, a DTU associate professor. Six out of the last seven years his team has taken the trophy for energy efficiency in one of two main categories. A car is designated as an urban concept car, if with minor modifications, it could actually operate on city streets. This year is team used a 50cc 4-stroke Yamaha moped engine because the higher compression rate is able to take advantage of the higher octane level of ethanol fuel. To hone-in on an aerodynamic car, the team used wind-tunnel testing. Amazingly, the Dynamo ran 28% farther than its closest competitor.

More than 3,000 students and 187 teams from 27 countries took part in the eco-marathon held at the EuroSpeedway in Lausitz, Germany. Professor Schramm hopes that the experience and knowledge that has come from this project will launch their careers in a multitude of industries including automotive design and engineering.

Inbicon has coined its fuel “The New Ethanol” and has been producing it for use since 2009. Using Kalundborg as a guide, Inbicon plans on rolling out its biomass-based cellulosic ethanol worldwide.

Photos: Dynamo races to eco-victory at German speedway & Winning Roadrunners team, Technical Institute of Denmark. *Photo Credits Kasper Duncan Gram

biofuels, biomass, Cellulosic, Ethanol, International

New Propane Ford Van Released

Joanna Schroeder

ARS/Rescue Rooter has deployed 21 new propane autogas cargo and cutaway vans in the Los Angeles and Houston areas in an effort to be more “green.” The conversions were executed by ROUSH CleanTech on Ford E-Series vans that have been emission approved in the state of California by the California Air Resources Board as well as nationally by the Environmental Protection Agency.

“After researching several fuel options, we decided that ROUSH CleanTech propane autogas systems offered the best solution for us,” said Mike Baessler, fleet director of ARS/Rescue Rooter. “We believe this investment will provide longevity to our fleet, in addition to reduced operating costs allowing us to pass the savings on to our customers.”

According to ROUSH, the propane autogas vans will require less maintenance costs while extending the life of the engines. The company also says that using propane offers a 30-40 percent reduction in fuel costs when compared to gasoline, reduces greenhouse gas emissions between 17-24 percent, nitrogen oxide emissions by 20 percent and carbon monoxide by up to 60 percent.

“Propane autogas powered vehicles help reduce our country’s dependence on foreign oil because 90 percent of U.S. propane supplies are domestic,” said Todd Mouw, vice president of sales and marketing at ROUSH CleanTech. “We’re proud to develop new technologies that use alternative fuel sources to help fleet operators, such as ARS/Rescue Rooter, meet their goals of reducing both the operating costs and carbon footprint of their fleet.”

At this time, ARS/Rescue Rooter plans to purchase 22 more propane autogas vehicles by the end of this year and an additional 100 by the end of 2012.

Propane

Former Iowa First Lady Runs for Congress on Energy Issues

Cindy Zimmerman

Wind energy and biofuels are part of the campaign for Congress launched this week by former Iowa first lady Christie Vilsack.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do, from supporting biofuels and wind power, to bringing broadband internet to our rural communities,” Vilsack says in her campaign YouTube video. Her website, ChristieVilsackForIowa.com, features a rural wind farm in the mast head. “We have more wind turbines in this district than anyplace in the country outside of Texas,” Vilsack says under Christie’s Plan on the website. “Why can’t some of their 8,000 component parts be made right here in Northwest and North Central Iowa?”

Vilsack officially announced her bid to represent Iowa’s newly formed 4th district yesterday with her husband Tom, current U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and former Iowa governor, at her side.

Government, Wind

Nebraska Ethanol Workers Earn More

Cindy Zimmerman

It pays well to be an ethanol plant worker in Nebraska.

The Nebraska Ethanol Board reports that wage growth in that state’s ethanol sector outpaced all industry wage growth in the past decade, increasing by more than 58%.

According to the Nebraska Department of Labor, average pay in the ethanol sector has increased from $35,479 in 2000 to $56,158 in 2010. Meanwhile, the statewide average pay for all industries in Nebraska was $37,319 in 2010. “A vibrant rural economy is vital for the economic success of Nebraska,” said Nebraska Commissioner of Labor Catherine Lang. “The ethanol industry provides high skill, high wage jobs for citizens across Nebraska.”

“Ethanol is vital to Nebraska’s economy,” said Nebraska Ethanol Board Administrator Todd Sneller. “The ethanol industry has created thousands of jobs while saving drivers money and burning more cleanly than gasoline.”

Sneller notes that a Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) study found that Nebraska’s ethanol industry has directly created over 1,300 jobs, saved drivers $200 million through lower fuel prices, and created $3.5 billion in total economic output. State and local governments have collected over $30 million in new tax revenues created by the ethanol industry.

Ethanol, Ethanol News

Diversifying The Ethanol Industry With Biodiesel

Joanna Schroeder

An ethanol plant that stops looking for ways to diversify its business and improve its profits is an ethanol plant that will drown faster in bad weather. A new option for the ethanol industry to diversify is to add a biodiesel plant to the end of its corn oil extraction technology. This idea lends itself one step closer to a true biorefinery.

So what is the value proposition of doing this? Profits, as Mark Fashian, president of Ethanol Analytical Solutions (EAS) and Biodiesel Analytical Solutions (BAS) explained to me during a Skype interview following the Fuel Ethanol Workshop recently held in Indianapolis, Indiana. For example, Fashian said a 100 million gallon per year ethanol plant will sell 100 million RINS. By adding a 3 million gallon biodiesel plant you’ll make your plant more valuable because each of these gallons is worth 1.5 RINS, or an additional 4.5 million in total.

With demand for biodiesel increasing and the need for more gallons (the biodiesel industry is still ramping up after the one year loss of the $1 per gallon tax credit in 2009), Fashian said this is the perfect storm for the ethanol industry.

You can listen to my full interview with Mark Fashian here: Diversifying the Ethanol Industry with Biodiesel

He also noted that one drawback to using corn oil for biodiesel is that it has a high acidic content, around 27.5 percent, and because of this it is hard to convert. Most plants use a two-step process to achieve this.

“It’s a lot of redo a batch, do a batch again because we didn’t get it just right, and that’s not what the ethanol industry is looking for,” said Fashian. “They’re looking for the silver bullet where you can take that corn oil right from the extractor and put it right in to another process to make biodiesel without having to mess with a second or third run to get the biodiesel to make ASTM grade. And that’s exactly what the McGyan process does. It’s patented for the corn oil process and with their everlasting catalyst you just pump the sample in with either ethanol or methanol and out the other end comes beautiful biodiesel.”

If a plant doesn’t have extraction technology, when all expenses are factored in, the return on investment (ROI) is less than one year, and this includes the lab. I should note that Fashian is also a director of Mcgyan and both EAS/BAS represent the technology. So their team would not only work with the ethanol plant on the biodiesel installation, but also help them update the lab for all the extra tests required for biodiesel and the proper equipment to achieve specs. For those plants who already have extraction technology, the ROI is less than 2 years.

It takes between 12-18 months to get the Mcgyan technology up and running and its already designed to be a perfect fit for an ethanol plant. Oh, and if you decide to sell your corn oil on the market rather than produce biodiesel, you can still produce biodiesel with other feedstocks.

Audio, Biodiesel, biofuels, Ethanol

DOE Awards $2.85M to GeoTek Energy

Joanna Schroeder

The Department of Energy is funding several geothermal projects in the United States including a project by GeoTek Energy to design its Gravity Head Energy System (GHES). The company received $450,000 with the potential for an additional $2.4 million to validate the design and for further development of the technology.

Geothermal energy uses heat from the earth to produce steam or hot water. This “energy” is then used to drive a turbine to generate electricity. Unlike some renewable energy sources, geothermal power is produced all the time making it easier for a utility to predict output and manage load requirements.

The GHES uses the force of gravity to eliminate pumps and motors typically needed in binary geothermal energy production. Once validated, the technology allows geothermal providers to sell as much as 35 percent more electricity over the current technology on the market. This will not only increase energy output, but profits as well.

“GeoTek was one of only eight projects nationwide recently approved for a total of $11 million funding by the Geothermal Technologies Program to advance geothermal power technology,” said Kenneth Fryrear, GeoTek’s chief operating officer. The company plans to supplement the government funds with private capital.

Electricity, Energy, Geothermal

Building Better Fuels Ad Debuts

Joanna Schroeder

Following a visit to the Beltway to conduct its member meeting and meet with politicians, the Advanced BioFuels Association (ABFA) has launched its first online advertisement to promote the successful uses of advanced biofuels. The ad is a first in a series. Michael McAdams, ABFA president said, “As Washington confronts our nation’s energy and economic challenges, we must demonstrate that advanced biofuels are real and successfully being put to the test today, all across the country. Advanced biofuels are today’s reality, not scientific hyperbole.”

The first ad is called, “Building Better Fuels Today and Tomorrow,” and opens with the statement, “There are those who speculate America’s day has passed…”

“This is an important opportunity for us to provide real world examples of advanced biofuels delivering ready to use fuels for cars on the road today as well as commercial airliners and our national defense structure,” McAdams added. “No waiting for the day when costly changes are made on car assembly lines or gas stations.”

advanced biofuels, Education, Video

LS9 & HCL Cleantech Awarded $9M from DOE

Joanna Schroeder

The Department of Energy has awarded $9 million dollars to LS9 and its partner HCL Cleantech to improve and demonstrate an integrated process to convert biomass feedstocks into fermentable sugars and then into diesel and other biofuel and biochemical products. As part of the DOE grant, the two companies are combining their proprietary technologies to produce drop-in advanced biofuels and other valuable bio-based chemicals mainly from wood waste and other agriculture waste.

“We are very pleased with this award and look forward to working with our grant partner, HCL Cleantech, to deliver a successful integrated project,” said Ed Dineen, LS9 President and CEO. “Demonstrating compatibility and integration of LS9’s broad technology platform with next generation biomass based sugar technologies is a key strategic objective for the Company.”

advanced biofuels, biochemicals

DFCast: Biofuels Take Flight

Joanna Schroeder

In the past few months, biofuels have taken to the skies with a multitude of successful flights conducted by both the military and the commercial airline industry. This news has been even more welcome with the achievements taking place during the aftermath of the Rand report predicting that aviation biofuels would not play a role in the next few decades. But where biofuels really took flight was during the Paris airshow, which kicked off with the transatlantic flight from North America to Paris using a 50/50 biofuel blend derived from camelina.

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack attended the Paris Air Show and told the audience that “extraordinary progress has been made in the last 12 months.” He continued by saying, “I think we’re nearing a tipping point” in terms of building momentum toward use of biofuel on commercial flights. I think [biofuel powering airline flights is] not long-term. In the short term you’ll see the benefits.”

To further spur the development of biojet fuels, the European Commission launched the Biofuels Flightpath, a roadmap to achieve the goal of using 2 million tonnes of aviation biofuels per year by 2020. Prior to this announcement, back in the U.S., Sustainable Aviation Fuels Northwest released a comprehensive report to speed up the commercialization and use of aviation biofuels in the Northwest. In addition, ASTM officially approved renewable jet fuel standards.

The region has been a leader in the U.S. in the movement to more sustainable airport practices as well as in the movement to adopt renewable fuels. Lawrence J. Krauter, CEO of the Spokane International Airport, one of dozens of entities participating in the Sustainable Aviation Fuels Northwest initiative, noted, “The course is clear that aviation biofuels are key to the future of sustainable air travel. We can no longer base our future on imported petroleum, especially if the United States wants to remain an aviation leader. The SAFN study proves domestic biofuels are feasible and offers an economic opportunity for us to remain competitive as an industry and move toward a sustainable, domestic fuel supply.”

Learn more about the flight of biofuels here: Domestic Fuel Cast

You can also subscribe to the DomesticFuel Cast here.

Audio, biofuels, biojet fuel, Domestic Fuel Cast

REG Files for IPO

Joanna Schroeder

The largest biodiesel company in the U.S., Renewable Energy Group, has filed its registration statement for an initial public offering. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined. UBS Securities LLC and Piper Jaffray & Co will be acting as joint book-running managers for the IPO. In addition, Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated and Canaccord Genuity, Inc. will be acting as co-managers.

Although not yet effective, a registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective, these securities may not be sold, nor may offers to buy be accepted. REG says the offering is only being made by means of a prospectus.

A copy of the prospectus relating to these securities may be obtained, when available, from: UBS Securities LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, 299 Park Ave, New York, NY 10171, (888) 827-7275 or by contacting Piper Jaffray & Co., Attention: Prospectus Department, 800, Nicollet Mall, Suite 800, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402, (800) 747-3924 or via email at prospectus@pjc.com.

Biodiesel, biofuels