Whole New World of Corn

Cindy Zimmerman

Everything you ever wanted to know about corn is contained in the latest edition of the World of Corn from the National Corn Growers Association.

This year’s publication, available online now, highlights the wide variety of roles that farmers must play, from environmentalist to technology geek, in order to ensure that both their farm and their industry as a whole continue to meet growing demand in a sustainable manner. A special edition of the World of Corn featuring statistics in metric measurements will soon follow.

“Corn fuels nations around the world; as a food ingredient, a feedstock, a fuel, a fiber, an ingredient in building materials and pharmaceuticals, and beyond,” NCGA President Bart Schott and Chief Executive Officer Rick Tolman note in the introduction. “It is possibly the most versatile crop in the world, and demand is at an all-time high. Most importantly, we are fortunate to have enough corn for all needs and all customers around the globe.”

World of Corn Online

corn, NCGA

Speculation, Not Ethanol, Driving Corn Prices

Cindy Zimmerman

Renewable Fuels AssociationErratic behavior on the futures market for corn over the past few weeks is evidence that paper bushels, not ethanol, are driving corn prices, according to Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen.

“Corn futures prices have tumbled by $1/bushel just since March 3, as huge index and hedge funds and other large speculators are pulling out of the market as fast as they jumped into it last fall,” wrote Dinneen in a post on the RFA E-xchange blog this week. “While biofuel opponents have garishly attempted to blame ethanol for the recent run-up in corn prices, the speculative gyrations in the marketplace over the past several months underscore once again that the market is being driven by the whims of non-commercial investors who will never see a kernel of the corn they bet on from their Wall Street offices – so-called paper bushels.”

Dinneen says the big drop in price has been attributed to Japan. “The theory is that Japan, the world’s largest importer of U.S. corn, will dramatically cut back its shipments because major ports were damaged and demand has essentially frozen amidst the turmoil resulting from the earthquake and tsunami. But is it logical that the situation in Japan would curtail corn demand enough to knock $1 off of corn prices (about 14%) in a week’s time, especially when other demand underpinnings haven’t changed?”

The point is this: the market is extremely (and unnecessarily) jittery and volatile because any event that has even the slightest potential implications for corn use often triggers massive over-reaction by speculators. And they move like a flock of sheep; if the bellwether finds a hole in the woven wire, the rest of the flock is sure to quickly follow for fear of getting left behind.

Read more here.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

2 POET Plants Reach 1/2 Billion Gallon Milestone

Joanna Schroeder

Two POET ethanol plants have each produced 1/2 billion gallons of ethanol. POET Biorefining – Big Stone produced its 500 millionth gallon of ethanol since going online in 2002 and back in December, POET Biorefining – Chancellor reached the same milestone. These are the only two POET plants to achieve this feat to date.

“For years, POET Biorefining – Big Stone and Poet Biorefining – Chancellor, and the team members working there, have been models of efficiency and stability for the ethanol industry,” POET CEO Jeff Broin said. “I remember when these plants produced their first gallons of ethanol, and I am proud to see them now surpassing half a billion gallons.”

Blaine Gomer, the General Manager of POET Biorefining – Big Stone noted, “The entire team at POET Biorefining – Big Stone has worked hard to reach 500 million gallons of ethanol. We have 15 original startup team members still working at the plant. All can still remember the plant startup and first gallons produced in June of ‘02. There have been many challenges and achievements along the way. Today, we celebrate a half-a-billion gallons of clean, green, and renewable ethanol produced.”

According to researchers at the Argonne National Laboratory, one gallon of ethanol reduces CO2 emissions by 6.41 pounds. Therefore, the half a billion gallons of ethanol produced over the lifespan of POET Biorefining – Big Stone have reduced carbon emissions by 1.6 million tons and the same amount has been reduced by POET Biorefining- Chancellor.

“This was achieved by a great team effort of POET Chancellor staff, the POET organization and local producers supplying good quality corn. We are proud of the fact that we are stimulating the economy for agriculture and producing clean renewable fuel for the environment and America,” add Rick Serie, general manager of POET Biorefining – Chancellor.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, POET

EPA Names DC Leading Green Power City

Joanna Schroeder

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has named Washington D.C. as the leading EPA Green Power Community. Combined, government, businesses, institutions, and residents in the nation’s capital are collectively purchasing nearly 756 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power each year. This is enough to meet 8 percent of the city’s total electricity use. All voluntary, this feat catapulted the city into the number one spot in the country on EPA’s rankings.

District leaders kicked off a District Green Power Challenge today during the District’s EPA Green Power Recognition Ceremony that was held at Phelps Career High School in northeast DC to encourage more residents and businesses to switch to green power. The first goal of the challenge is to increase citywide green power purchases by 33 percent by August 31 of this year in hopes of keeping their #1 ranking. This increase would also mean that the city’s electricity users are purchasing 10 percent from green power or 1 Billion kWh each year.

“This is a huge honor for Washington, D.C. and we are proud to be recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,” said Mayor Vincent Gray. “The purchase of green power by our citizens and businesses is cleaning our air and supporting growth of the clean energy economy. When we clean the air, we improve the health of our residents, and particularly our children. We are sending a message to other communities across the country that supporting clean power is a sound business decision and the right thing to do. I’m proud that the District of Columbia government is leading the way, purchasing 50 percent of our electricity through the Washington Gas Energy Services, Inc. wind power program.”

There are currently 36 Green Power Communities across the country. To be given the designation, a city, town or village must have government, business and residents that commit to purchasing green power in amounts that meet or exceed EPA’s Green Power Community purchase requirements. Qualifying energy sources include wind, solar, geothermal, biogas, biomass, and low-impact hydro-electric power.

“The District of Columbia is setting an excellent example for the nation by harnessing clean energy,” said Elizabeth Craig, Acting Director of EPA’s Office of Atmospheric Programs. “We hope the city will continue to increase its use of green power and that other communities will follow suit.”

biogas, biomass, Electricity, Energy, Environment, Geothermal, Hydro, Solar, Wind

Energy Security Issue Brief Released

Joanna Schroeder

A new issue brief was released on Energy Security as part of a series from The Ethanol Across America education campaign. The focal point of the report is to illustrate the negative impacts of continued dependence on imported oil.

U.S. Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) who recently released an amendment that would strip several anti-ethanol amendments out of the House approved Continuing Resolution, is co-chairman of the Ethanol Across America Campaign. He said of the Energy Security issue brief, “As a founding member of the Governors’ Ethanol Coalition in 1991 and a longtime member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, I have long recognized the role homegrown renewable fuels such as ethanol can play in reducing America’s dependence on imported oil. At a time of increasing unrest in the Middle East and rapidly increasing oil prices, it becomes ever more important to continue the development and technological advancement of renewable fuels. Nebraska’s fields and farms will continue to help meet demand for food, feed and fuel. This American productivity allows our farmers to be part of the solution in our nation’s energy needs while keeping our fuel dollars at home.”

Among the key points raised in the brief are the following:

  • 1. In 2010, the U.S. spent $28 billion per month on foreign oil—a massive transfer of wealth during a period of economic hardship.
  • 2. In January of 2011—traditionally one of the lowest demand months of the year, we spent more than $35 billion on imported oil.
  • 3. Reliance on foreign oil has cost us more than $7 trillion over the past 30 years.
  • 4. America spends $137 Billion annually defending Persian Gulf oil, adding more than $1 per gallon to gas prices.
  • 5. Oil imports undermine energy security by delaying investment in the development of alternatives.

“Recent events in North Africa have made clear that oil prices are extremely volatile,” said Todd Sneller, Administrator of the Nebraska Ethanol Board (NEB) who is hosting an Emerging Issues Forum in Omaha Nebraska on April 7-8, 2011. “Oil topping $100 per barrel proves once again that we can’t afford an energy economy that is increasingly more dependent on imports.”

Sneller added that nationally, gasoline prices have climbed more than 29 cents per gallon since the uprising in Libya began in the middle of February, costing Americans an extra $108 million per day to buy the same amount of fuel. In Lincoln, Nebraska, gasoline prices spiked even more sharply, increasing 35 cents per gallon during the past two weeks, and in California and parts of the East Coast, per gallon prices have topped $4.

 

Ethanol, Ethanol News

USDA to Measure Biodiesel, Ethanol Co-Product Usage

John Davis

The USDA wants to know how livestock producers are using co-products from biodiesel and ethanol production.

This story from Ethanol Producer Magazine says the National Agriculture Statistics Service will be taking comments until March 28, 2011 with plans to release the results by next January:

NASS expects to contact 70,000 various livestock and poultry operations in early January to gain information related to their distillers co-products use during 2011. The survey will attempt to determine the rate of use of distillers co-products and various aspects contributing to their decision to use the feed, including nutrient values, product consistency, product form, product testing, inclusion rates, economics, shelf life, storage and transportation. The survey has been named the Distiller’s By-Products Survey in order to encompass all by-products, but Olbert said that focus could be narrowed to concentrate only on distillers grains. “That’s another reason why we need some input from the public and from stakeholders on what kinds of information they need from a survey,” he added.

You can submit comments to the USDA through email to ombofficer@nass.usda.gov. Reference docket number 0535-0247 in the subject line of the email.

Biodiesel, Distillers Grains, Ethanol, Ethanol News, News

Happy National Biodiesel Day!

John Davis

Since today is the anniversary of the the birth of the first proponent of biodiesel, it is also National Biodiesel Day.

It was on March 18, 1858 Rudolf Diesel was born. As a proponent of using peanut oil in his diesel engine invention, Herr Diesel also became the first backer of biodiesel, thus today being recognized as National Biodiesel Day. This from the National Biodiesel Board:

The first compression ignition engine that Rudolph Diesel displayed at the 1900 World’s Fair ran on peanut oil and he designed it with a variety of fuels in mind. In a 1912 speech Diesel said, “the use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today, but such oils may become, in the course of time, as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the present time.”

“The biodiesel industry has grown to be as diverse as the diesel engine itself,” said Don Scott, Director of Sustainability for the National Biodiesel Board. “From the raw materials used to make it, to the engines it is burned in, biodiesel is one of the most diverse alternative fuels on the planet.”

Biodiesel is a cleaner burning, advanced biofuel made from readily available renewable resources such as soybean oil, canola oil, cottonseed oil, peanut oil, animal fat and even used cooking oil. The engines biodiesel is used in include semi-trucks, tractors, heavy construction equipment, boats, school buses, city transit buses, military equipment, diesel pickup trucks, passenger vehicles, home heating burners, electrical generators and almost every other diesel engine in the marketplace.

Biodiesel, NBB

Book Review – The Green Miracle

Joanna Schroeder

This week I read the book called “The Green Miracle,” by Clayton McNeff who is one of the creators of the Mcgyan Process. It’s the story of how in less than four years, with the inkling of an idea from a college student, a new multi-feedstock production technology was created to produce biodiesel.

In 2006, McNeff was contacted by one of his former undergraduate college professors, Arlin Gyberg, at Augsburg College located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on behalf of one of his chemistry students, Brian Krohn. Krohn, a sophomore at the time, and now Rhodes Scholar, was going to conduct a 10-week summer research project on biodiesel. Krohn wanted to pursue producing biodiesel using a catalyst after his research uncovered some relatively unknown papers relating to the subject. As McNeff explains, a catalyst is something that speeds up a reaction and does not get consumed in a chemical reaction.

At the time, current biodiesel production was done by a chemical process called “based catalyzed transesterification.” In this process, oil and alcohol are chemically combined to produce esters (biodiesel) in a batch process where the reactants are put in a large tank, heated an stirred vigorously.

Krohn wanted to try using zirconia particles to catalyze the biodiesel reaction and although his experiments didn’t work, he sent along some papers to McNeff and that got his mind working in overtime – to the point where he called a meeting during which he suggested they try the very experiment that led to the Mcgyan Process discovery. The name came about after the research team that created it – Clayton McNeff, Arlin Gyberg and Dr. Ben Yan.

So how is this process different? It’s a continuous process where you combine an alcohol like ethanol and an oil like corn oil and run it through a reactor filled with a metal oxide catalyst. Then you add heat and pressure to the reactor and in a few seconds contact time the reaction is complete and you have biodiesel. This is all done without chemicals or water. And the Mcgyan Process has yet to meet an oil feedstock it couldn’t covert to ASTM standard biodiesel.

If you can shorten a less than four year story even more, after thousands of experiments to understand the chemistry of what they had, the team built a pilot scale facility and from there, a commercial scale 3 million gallon plant called Ever Cat Fuels (Ever Catalyst). In the middle of all of this, McNeff published papers about the findings, raised money, visited Washington, D.C., applied for DOE Loan Guarantees (which are nearly impossible to get for cutting edge, first-time technologies) and did all of this during the worst recession that this country has seen in 80 years.

While McNeff talks about how he believes this discovery and the consequent journey was “meant to be” it was not without its hardships. That’s in part what led he and his family to donate 5 cents from every gallon of biodiesel produced from Ever Cat Fuels to go to build a new science building at Augsburg College – the place where it all began.

I would be remiss to say that there are hundreds, if not thousands of researchers and entrepreneurs out there looking for the next breakthrough. It’s easy to get frustrated. The next time you do. Take a moment to read The Green Miracle. It won’t take long to inspire you and along the way, you’ll be reassured that America does in fact possess the willpower and the ingenuity to bring solutions to market to address our energy crisis today.

You can hear the story of The Green Miracle in Clayton McNeff’s own words in an excerpt of my interview with him: The Green Miracle

Biodiesel, book reviews

Largest PV Solar Power Plant Operating in Colorado

Joanna Schroeder

The largest photovoltaic solar power plant (PV) in the state of Colorado is now operating. The 19-megawatt (mW) Greater Sandhill solar power plant began generating power on December 22, 2010 and is now complete. It will generate enough power to meet the electricity needs of approximately 5,000 homes. The Xcel Energy and SunPower Corp. project was completed in nine months.

“Xcel Energy is pleased to provide solar energy from Greater Sandhill to our customers and eagerly anticipates adding more solar power in the San Luis Valley in the near future. This shows Xcel Energy’s commitment to working in the Valley to bring clean renewable energy to Xcel Energy customers throughout the state,” said Tom Imbler, vice president, commercial operations for Xcel Energy. “Our partnership with SunPower is vital in reaching our renewable energy goals at a reasonable cost to our customers.”

According to Excel, the plant uses SunPower Tracker systems, which generate up to 25 percent more energy than conventional systems and require the use of less land. The system works by tilting toward the sun as it moves across the sky, increasing energy capture and providing more power on hot summer days when utilities need it most.

“SunPower’s high-efficiency solar PV technology is competitively-priced for power plant applications, fast to install, and reliably delivers clean power, particularly during peak demand hours,” said Howard Wenger, president of SunPower’s utility and power plants business group. “We congratulate Xcel Energy for providing leadership in the promotion of large scale solar power development, and for demonstrating how renewable technologies are part of the solution to ensure the health of our economy and our environment.”

SunPower is also currently building the San Luis Valley Solar Ranch, a 30-megawatt photovoltaic solar power plant located on 216 acres of private, former agricultural land in Alamosa County. The project is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2011. Iberdrola Renewables developed, owns and will operate the San Luis Valley Solar Ranch but has contracted with SunPower to provide the technology and construct the project. The company will sell the electricity under a long term contract to Xcel Energy, for distribution on the region’s utility grid.

Electricity, Energy, Solar

Cheers For Green Beer

Joanna Schroeder

I’m sure there are people drinking green beer all over the world today but green beer is not just for St. Paddy’s Day. What, you ask? The U.S. Tax and Trade Bureau has recently approved Novozyme’s Ondea Pro, an enzyme originally introduced to the European market, to help make beer production more “green” aka sustainable. In fact, Danish brewer Harboe developed the first commercial beer using the enzyme entitled ‘Clim8 Beer’ just a few months prior to COP15. Nice timing, eh?

Now for those green beer drinkers in the States, raise your glasses and cheer for your greener beer.

“Ondea Pro enables brewers to create great-tasting beer while optimizing raw material utilization and reducing their carbon footprint – all with one simple process. It’s a real game-changer for the brewing industry,” says Soren Lund, Novozymes’ Marketing Manager for Brewing in the U.S. “With the long-term trend toward industrialization of the brewing process and ever-rising raw material prices, brewers are seeking effective solutions that do not jeopardize the consumer’s experience,” he says.

The resulting beer can be sold as a standalone product or it can be blended with traditional beer made with malt. Ondea Pro can also be blended into a different raw material mix of malt and barley in the beginning of the production process. Novozymes explains that malting barley requires soaking the grain in water to allow it to germinate. Next, the grain is then dried using both water and energy. Their enzyme allows you to avoid this step, thus reducing CO2 emissions (and water and energy requirements). Novozymes has also found that compared to the conventional brewing process, a 7 percent reduction in the amount of barley required to produce climate-friendly beer, thereby improving land utilization for society and decreasing operating costs for brewers.

”When we combined the fact that sustainable brewing is now a possibility in the U.S. with St. Patrick’s Day and our corporate brand icon of a green clover, it was an obvious choice for us to invite stakeholders to try some freshly-brewed green beer at our site today in North Carolina,” said Lund.

Bummer I don’t live in North Carolina because Novozymes is serving up some green beer brewed with Ondea Pro by Aviator Brewery of Fuquay Varina, NC during an event at their North American headquarters in Franklinton, NC today. In addition, the attendees will be also be served other food and beverages including crackers, bread and wine made ‘greener’ with the help of enzymes to present some of the many possibilities – and the different tastes of technology.

Ethanol, Miscellaneous