Ethanol Plant in Keyes, CA to Restart

Joanna Schroeder

AE Biofuels has announced that it has received $3.5 million in financing from Third Eye Capital Corporation. The money will be used to restart and operate the company’s ethanol plant in Keyes, California. In November 2010, AE Advanced Fuels Keyes, Inc. (AE Keyes) received $4.5 million from the same company to repair and retrofit the ethanol facility. AE Keyes officials expect the plant to be fully operational by late April of this year.

AE Keyes took possession of the facility under a project agreement with Cilion, Inc. in 2010 and the revised project agreement extends the original lease from three to five years, with an early termination right at three years.

In other news, AE Biofuels also announced that it has signed a grain supply and services contract with J.D. Heiskell & Co. They also plan to market their wet distillers grains via A.L. Gilbert and Kinergy Marketing LLC with market their ethanol.

The plant also boasts some sustainability features. According to AE Biofuels, the Keyes plant ethanol production process has a 2.6:1 positive energy balance and near zero water discharge. In addition, the plant’s natural gas and steam powered turbine cogeneration unit generates nearly all of the operating electric needs of the plant (4.3 megawatts), thus eliminating dependence on the state’s electrical grid. The company said it also intends to introduce its patent-pending enzyme-based cellulosic ethanol technology at the Keyes facility and other California ethanol plants in 2011.

Once ethanol production commences at the Keyes facility, this will be the second ethanol plant to go back online in California this year with Pacific Ethanol bringing its Stockton ethanol plant back into production in February.

Ethanol, Ethanol News

Solar EV’s Go Off The Grid

Joanna Schroeder

With gas prices inching upward, those who have low daily distance needs can save some cash with a solar electric vehicle. Those driving the All American solar electric low speed vehicle (LSV), manufactured by Cruise Car (in other words solar golf carts) are reporting they can travel up to 10 miles per day without having to recharge their vehicles using external power sources. This means the onboard solar panels are producing enough charge to keep the LSV’s at full power throughout the day eliminating the need for remote charging stations.

“Particularly in this environment of rapidly rising gas and energy prices, being able to take a facility’s low speed transport needs totally off-the-grid represents a huge savings in not only fuel costs but also the vehicle support infrastructure – no remote charging stations, wiring, etc.,” said Ken Chester, president of Cruise Car Inc. “Our All American welded aluminum space-frame and aluminum-alloy extrusions not only eliminate rusting, a huge problem in seaside environments, but the lighter weight has yielded the additional benefit of extending the All American’s range. This off-the-grid capability is not just a valuable savings, but is also vital in instances where transportation is mission critical non-withstanding grid outages.”

These LSV’s are best suited for municipalities, military bases, college campuses, corporate parks, resorts, federal agencies, and planned communities. Today, there are 24 different models available ranging from light utility to 14 passenger transporters.

Adam Sulimirski, general manager for Cruise Car general manager noted, “Hearing from some of our customers that they have not needed to charge their All Americans since initial delivery was quite frankly very pleasant feedback for us,” “We knew that in addition to improving performance of vehicle systems and individual components – integrating more efficient motors and transmissions and more powerful solar panels – that we had also lightened the vehicles considerably.”

“The combination of all these factors has resulted in a real benefit for our users – allowing some of them to take their electric vehicles totally off the grid and reducing their transportation energy costs to zero. When you add in the 30 percent federal tax grants that are now available and our proprietary leasing program that allows tax exempt organizations to benefit from the grant, we are providing significant economies for users of low speed vehicles,” concluded Sulimirski.

Electric Vehicles

Governors Urge Change in Corn for Ethanol Reporting

Cindy Zimmerman

U.S. governors from Washington to New York to Texas are asking Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to change the way USDA reports the use of corn for ethanol production.

In a letter sent to Vilsack this week, the Governors’ Biofuels Coalition urged the change to reflect the fact that corn for ethanol usage produces livestock feed in the form of distillers grains in addition to ethanol. They argue that USDA’s current reporting methods distort the actual picture and provide ammunition for food versus fuel attacks on ethanol.

“In recent days, some pundits have even gone so far as to blame ethanol for the destabilization in Egypt,” wrote Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton in the letter representing the coalition. “Unfortunately, USDA’s monthly corn supply and demand reports provide support for this sensationalized reporting because they identify “corn demand for ethanol” without immediately noting this is gross demand, and not the net use of the starch portion of the corn kernel. This overstates the use of corn for ethanol by as much as a factor of two or more, and fails to inform the public about what is truly happening in the food and fuel supply chain.”

National Corn Growers Association President Bart Schott agrees with the governors’ assessment. “People are exaggerating the amount of corn that goes into ethanol,” Schott said. “While we are proud of the role ethanol plays in creating jobs, improving the environment and growing energy independence, we want to ensure that an accurate representation is made of the important work our growers are doing to meet all needs – for feed and food as well as for fuel.”

Read the letter here.

corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News, NCGA, USDA

Ethanol Interests Urge Defeat of VEETC Amendment

Cindy Zimmerman

Legislation that would immediately repeal the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit, or VEETC, is drawing criticism from ethanol interests.

U.S. Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) this week introduced the repeal as an amendment to the small business reauthorization bill, currently under consideration in the Senate. “The ethanol tax credit is bad economic policy, bad energy policy and bad environmental policy,” said Coburn in a release on the amendment. “I’m hopeful my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will take a stand against business-as-usual special interest giveaways and eliminate this wasteful and harmful subsidy.”

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), Growth Energy and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) are all hopeful they will not, issuing their own releases urging the defeat of the amendment unless oil subsidies are eliminated as well.

From RFA: “Given Senator Coburn’s interest in what he deems unnecessary subsidies, we would encourage him to offer an amendment that would eliminate subsidies to oil companies posting tens of billions of dollars in profit quarterly. In lieu of that, the RFA urges the Senate to ignore this frivolous amendment.”

“We urge defeat of Sen. Coburn’s amendment as it is inequitable to have a debate about tax policy for one energy source—homegrown renewable fuels –without having that same debate about tax breaks for other competitive energy sources, including oil and gas. While we welcome a debate about future energy tax policy it should go through the appropriate tax committees and not on the whims of a senator from a major oil producing state,” said Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis.

NCGA President Bart Schott said, “We are disappointed that Senator Coburn is singling out the ethanol industry in his amendment to immediately repeal the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) while tax credits to the oil and gas industries remained untouched. The American ethanol industry provides and supports 400,000 jobs here in the United States during a time of economic uncertainty. In addition, in the past year alone, ethanol added more than $50 billion to the national Gross Domestic Product and displaced the need for more than 360 million barrels of imported oil, valued at $16 billion.”

There is currently no vote scheduled on the amendment. Last December, Congress extended the tax incentive for ethanol use until the end of this year.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Government, Growth Energy, NCGA, RFA

You Love Facebook

Chuck Zimmerman

It looks like Facebook is the big dog in the social media world according to you. Our last ZimmPoll asked the question, “Which social network do you use the most.” A majority say Facebook, 64%, followed by Twitter, 16%, YouTube, 8%, Linkedin, 5%, Other, 5%, Classmates.com, 1%, Flickr, !% and MySpace, 0%. I can’t remember when I’ve checked my MySpace account either.

Our next ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “When will planting season start this year?” It’s that time now that we’re in National Ag Week with spring just around the corner! Let us know what you think and thank you for participating.

ZimmPoll is sponsored by Rhea+Kaiser, a full-service advertising/public relations agency.

ZimmPoll

Petroleum, Not Biodiesel to Blame in Heating Oil Issue

John Davis

Some recent issues with biodiesel-blended heating oil in the Northeast U.S. might be because of a bad batch of petroleum, not the biodiesel mixed with it.

This blog post from Biodiesel Magazine says that the issue came up at this week’s meeting of the Oilheat Council of New Hampshire, where some members of the group had issues with coking of burners and getting product that “looked like asphalt:”

[Robert Sculley, the council’s executive director] says initially the perception is that the problems were thought to be caused by the bio portion of the fuel, a common scenario when problems occur with biodiesel-blended fuel. However, there has been no determination as of yet as to what the problem really is.

Sculley said at the end of the meeting the question was still, “Is it the biodiesel or could it be a bad batch of petro fuel oil?” He said Advanced Fuel Solutions’ Paul Nazzaro, who also works with the National Biodiesel Board, was at the meeting. Over the next couple of weeks, fuel sampling and investigation of equipment will occur, and more definitive answers should be available soon.

We’ll post more when we get it. Stay tuned…

Biodiesel

Cobalt CEO: Biochems More Profitable than Biofuels

John Davis

The head of a company that produces biochemicals and biofuels says the chemical market, although smaller, is much more profitable than the renewable fuel market.

According to this piece from Biofuels Digest, during the recent BioPro Expo and Conference in Atlanta, Cobalt Technologies CEO Rick Wilson questioned the wisdom of focusing on biofuels when the better money is in biochemicals:

“Why make a $2 fuel when you can make a $5 chemical?” asks Cobalt CEO Rick Wilson, whose company was branded in the public eye as Cobalt Biofuels for several years, but has morphed towards “Cobalt Technologies” (its original name) and is squarely focused on the market for renewable chemicals for the time being. By any name, it’s a hot company, ranked #14 in the world in this year’s 50 Hottest Companies rankings.

“I’m not saying that any of the companies, including us, should not be pursuing fuels. The markets are huge and the molecules work. But the country has got all its priorities screwed up. Here we are chasing fuels, which is the hardest problem to solve, instead of incentivizing or supporting companies to get into business by solving some of the easier problems first, like chemicals or other bio-based products?”

“At our company, we produce n-butanol, normal butanol. That’s been produced for a long time, through the complex ABE process, using a lot of different traditional feedstocks. But the feedstocks are increasingly cost prohibitive. The usual barrier to using advanced microorganisms to produce biobutanol has been the rate of fermentation. In our process, we have dramatically overcome that, and accelerated the fermentation rate. Our fermentation time is four hours, compared to 72 hours with the ABE methods. So we have the opportunity to use low-cost feedstocks such as bagasse and wood biomass, to large-value markets where we have a significant cost advantage.”

Wilson admits the biochemical market is much smaller than biofuels, especially when you consider there’s $250 billion in jet fuel and nearly a $1 trillion in gasoline alone. But he says it’s a lot harder to turn a profit in biofuels.

biobutanol, biochemicals, biofuels

New Jersey Utility Installs Rooftop Solar Array

John Davis

New Jersey’s oldest and largest publicly owned utility has put in a 921-kilowatt rooftop solar at the power provider’s Central Division Headquarters.

With some help from Solis Partners, a leading developer and integrator of commercial solar power systems, Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) put in the U.S.-made SolarWorld flat, glass-plated crystalline panels and Solyndra thin film panels, part of a plan by PSE&G’s plan to invest $515 million on 80 megawatts of solar projects around the state between 2009 and 2013:

“With the hard work and commitment of key state legislators, the BPU and utilities such as PSE&G, New Jersey has become the sixth largest solar market in the world and a national leader in installed solar capacity — second only to California,” said Jamie Hahn, managing director of Solis Partners. “PSE&G’s Solar 4 All program has been key to that achievement. This project exemplifies PSE&G’s commitment to transforming underutilized commercial rooftops into clean renewable energy sources.”

Rooftop solar makes tremendous sense for New Jersey, which has more flat commercial rooftops per square mile than any other state, said Gary Weisman, director of sales for Solis, in remarks at the event.

“These underutilized rooftop assets are the perfect platform for deploying distributed solar generation facilities where power is most needed,” said Weisman. “Rooftop solar produces during the hours of peak demand, and provides power to the areas of the grid that need it the most — large commercial and industrial users.”

The special cylindrical panels from Solyndra are designed especially for flat rooftops, covering more rooftop area and capturing more light than traditional solar panels.

Solar, Utilities

US Oilseed Growers Protest EU Biofuel Requirement

John Davis

Oilseed growers, led by the American Soybean Association (ASA), have raised concerns with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Ron Kirk over the European Union’s (EU) Renewable Energy Directive (RED), particularly the part that is keeping American soybeans out of Europe for biofuel production.

The ASA is asking to meet with Vilsack’s and Kirk’s respective agencies to consider options for responding to the trade barriers:

ASA believes a highly coordinated effort is needed to identify and respond to the immediate, as well as longer-term, market threats resulting from RED implementation. “Trade reports indicate that, since the RED was implemented by Germany on January 1, 2011, U.S. soybean exports to that country have declined significantly, and soybean oil processed in the EU from U.S. soybeans is being re-exported out of the EU,” said ASA First Vice President Steve Wellman, a soybean producer from Syracuse, Neb. “As other Member States transpose the RED into national law, ASA anticipates the economic viability of exporting U.S. soybeans to the EU will be further eroded, and that a $1 billion market could be lost.”

In order for biofuels to qualify for EU tax credits and use mandates, the RED requires that biofuel feedstocks must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a minimum of 35 percent by 2013, and by 50 percent by 2017, compared to petroleum diesel. Based on Brazilian production and transportation data, the EU set the greenhouse gas savings default value for soy biodiesel at 31 percent, short of the 35 percent reduction required. This disqualifies soy as a feedstock for biodiesel. EU-grown rapeseed however passed with a 38 percent value. Since virtually all of the soybean oil processed from U.S. soybeans in the EU is used in biodiesel production, disqualification jeopardizes $1 billion in annual sales of soybeans to EU markets.

The ASA cites a study funded by the United Soybean Board (USB) that shows American soy biodiesel actually reduces greenhouse gas emission by up to 52 percent.

Biodiesel, biofuels, Government, International, Soybeans

Finding Homes for Biofuels Alongside the Beaten Path

John Davis

While biofuels development and production have been a bit different, some of the latest efforts to find room to grow non-food feedstocks for biofuels are being found alongside the beaten path. In this case, we’re talking about using areas, such as ditches and medians along the nation’s highways, as good spots to grow the raw materials to keep the cars and trucks running on those highways.

In an interview with the USDA, Michigan State University extension’s Dennis Pennington says those highway right-of-ways and airport grounds can be ideal places to grow biofuel feedstocks.

“I think there’s a number of options we could look at in terms of different kinds of crop.”

Pennington tells the USDA that which crops are best for these non-traditional areas depends on who the grower is and the local market. Right now, they’re looking at switch grass and three different oilseeds crops, chosen also for safety factors, such as wildlife mitigation and sight hazards.

It’s estimated that there’s 10 million acres of available land just alongside our roads that have good potential for growing biofuel feedstocks. Pennington adds that the best matches for areas where biomass for energy production should be grown would be where there is also a local biofuel from biomass production capability because of the high cost of shipping large quantities of biomass.

biofuels, Research