RFA E-15 Ad

Ethanol Industry Comments on WASDE Report

Cindy Zimmerman

The USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate (WASDE) released this morning that shows corn ending stocks unchanged despite a 50 million bushel increase in corn use for ethanol also shows a gain in global grain stocks.

According to the report, global coarse grain supplies for 2010/11 are projected 6.3 million tons higher this month with a 1.8-million-ton increase in beginning stocks and a 4.5-million-ton increase in production.

Renewable Fuels Association LogoRenewable Fuels Association (RFA) VP of Research and Analysis Geoff Cooper says the report should ease some of the tension in the world corn market. “While stocks are still relatively tight, today’s report shows that the corn supply picture is not quite as bad as some were expecting. Corn stocks—both in the U.S. and globally—are a little more robust than the market was anticipating,” commented Cooper.

RFA CEO and President Bob Dinneen notes that global corn production is looking stronger than many were expecting. “In particular, production in South America and Africa has been robust. Farmers in countries like Uganda are responding to higher world prices by increasing production through the use of better technology and improved farming practices. Higher prices are allowing farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and other regions to participate in the world market and likely many of them are earning a profit on their crops for the first time in years,” he said.

Growth EnergyGrowth Energy CEO Tom Buis says the strong production in South America and elsewhere around the globe are disproving fears of food shortages. “Fear in the market that the carryout number would go down didn’t come to fruition,” said Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis. “Now there is still a lot of volatility in the market, based on rumors of increasing sales to China, excessive speculation and profiteering in the commodities market,” said Buis. “But this newest USDA report proves what we’ve been saying all along, which is that the productivity of American farmers and farmers worldwide will meet the challenge to provide more than enough corn to meet demand. American farmers are expected to produce the largest crop ever this year.”

Domestically, USDA left the estimate for the 2010-11 U.S. corn carry-out unchanged at 675 million bushels. The trade was expecting carry-out to be lowered to 595 million bushels (to reflect lower-than-expected March 1 stocks number). Some analysts were expecting a drop to as low as 515 million bushels.

corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Growth Energy, RFA

Protec Fuel and Indore Open 14th Atlanta E85 Station

Cindy Zimmerman

Indore Oil Company has joined forces with Protec Fuel in opening their fourteenth E85 fueling location for flex fuel vehicle (FFV) owners in the Atlanta area. The E85 station is located at the Chevron Food Mart in Duluth.

Indore Oil partnered with Protec Fuel to offer E85 through the group’s turnkey E85 infrastructure program. “We at Indore Oil Company are energized on the prospect of working with Protec to bring E85 to this Chevron,” said Mihir Patel, General Manager of Indore Oil Company. “Our relationship with Protec and our customers continue to grow as we bring more alternative fueling options throughout the Atlanta market together.”

“Protec Fuel is pleased to now supply fourteen Indore Oil stations with E85,” noted Protec Fuel’s managing member, Todd Garner. “Mihir and his team are proactive entrepreneurs. We look forward to working with them more in the future in assisting Atlanta drivers in finding convenient locations to fuel their vehicles with E85.”

E85, Ethanol, Ethanol News

USDA Raises Corn Use for Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

USDA’s latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate released this morning shows an increase in corn use for ethanol.

USDA WAOBU.S. corn ending stocks are unchanged this month as a projected increase in corn use for ethanol is offset by a reduction in expected feed and residual use. Corn used to produce ethanol is raised 50 million bushels as strong blender incentives and positive ethanol producer margins continue to encourage expansion in ethanol production and use. Rising gasoline prices have pulled ethanol prices higher helping to offset increases in corn feedstock costs for ethanol producers.

corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News, USDA

NBB Protests EU Extension of Tariffs on US Biodiesel

John Davis

European Union members have voted to extend current tariffs on U.S. biodiesel, and that violates the group’s own laws, according to the National Biodiesel Board.

This Reuters article posted on ForexPros.com says EU officials accuse U.S. exporters of smuggling biodiesel through Canada to avoid tariffs imposed since 2009:

“We think this would be a bad decision that runs directly counter to current EU law,” said Manning Feraci, vice president of federal affairs at the U.S. National Biodiesel Board, the country’s leading biodiesel industry group.

“We’re waiting to get final confirmation of the decision and will go from there.”

The fight over EU biodiesel duties, which sliced U.S. exports to less than a third of their 1.5 million tonne level when they launched in 2009, highlights the global race for a share of the world’s booming renewable energy market.

EU firms accuse U.S. producers of being involved in a “splash and dash” scheme, whereby they may import cheap biodiesel from countries such as Brazil and add less than 5 percent of U.S. diesel. The producers then qualify for a subsidy from Washington before exporting it to Europe.

The extension would start in May and last until 2014.

Biodiesel, International, NBB

Senate Hearing Focuses on Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

In the face of increasing unrest in the Middle East and higher gas prices, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources met this morning to review Department of Energy (DOE) biofuel programs and biofuel infrastructure issues.

In testimony before the committee, Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen stressed the importance of expanding the marketing for ethanol-blended fuels to meet the goals of federal Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS).

“At a minimum, federal policies should maintain and extend existing tax incentives for higher level ethanol blends to allow for continued growth, expand tax incentives for refueling infrastructure, and create new consumer-based tax incentives to encourage the purchase of FFVs,” Dinneen testified.

Read Dinneen’s testimony here.

Bill Brady, CEO of Mascoma Corporation and Chairman of the recently formed Advanced Ethanol Council, also testified before the committee on the need to make significant strides in the commercialization of advanced and cellulosic ethanol.

“The technologies are ready. Putting in place a consistent, long-term federal policy for advanced and cellulosic biofuels including significant focus on higher-blend ethanol infrastructure and FFVs is critical to continued development in the United States and its ability to continue to keep pace with clean energy investments of other countries,” Brady testified, urging Congress to maintain DOE’s authority and funding to provide renewable energy loan guarantees. “To cross the valley and start construction of projects in 2011, this loan guarantee authority represents the best available tool for many projects,” he said.

Read Brady’s opening statement here.

advanced biofuels, Cellulosic, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Government, RFA

Petroleum, not Biodiesel, Confirmed as Problem with Bioheat

John Davis

As I reported to you back on March 17th, it looks like a bad batch of petroleum, not the biodiesel, was the real culprit with some recent problems with bioheat (a mix of biodiesel and home heating oil) in the Northeastern United States.

This blog post from Biodiesel Magazine says testing has confirmed the petroleum’s role:

Paul Nazzaro, petroleum liaison to the National Biodiesel Board, shared with Biodiesel Magazine an excerpt from a detailed report prepared by members of the Bioheat Technical Steering Committee as it pertains to the New Hampshire fuel quality concerns expressed by regional fuel dealers. He said a more comprehensive report will be provided to industry leaders within the week.

“At a recent meeting of fuel dealers in New Hampshire, requests for fuel samples and burner nozzles or combustion parts with carbonaceous deposits were made, and several of these were obtained and sent to independent labs for analysis,” the excerpt stated. “The data generated indicate poor quality base heating oil is the likely root cause of the burner issues in New Hampshire, and that the presence of biodiesel as Bioheat was not likely a contributing factor to the problems. Base fuel instability is the likely cause. Fuel sampled from a delivery truck clearly indicates this. Equipment problems are ruled out. Problems occurred with all domestic burners and with all appliance types. Biodiesel is ruled out. There were no indicators of off-spec biodiesel, and problems occurred regardless of fossil-renewable carbon content.”

Nice to see that biodiesel was cleared. Now lets see if the retractions accusing the green fuel of the wrongdoing come as quickly as the charges against it.

Biodiesel, NBB

Energy Use Down, But Biofuels, Wind, Solar & Hydro Up

John Davis

A new report from the feds says, due to the recession, overall energy consumption in the U.S. dropped in 2009. However, renewable energy … biodiesel, ethanol, wind, solar and hydro power … use during that same period actually increased.

This report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows that overall energy consumption in 2009 dropped by 4.8 percent, the second year in a row that consumption dropped and just the third time since 1949 that energy consumption has declined for two or more consecutive years. But clean energy sources fared much better during that same time:

Consumption of all major fuels declined between 2008 and 2009, except for renewables. Coal dropped the most, falling 12 percent, while petroleum consumption fell nearly 5 percent, and natural gas consumption fell 2 percent. Even nuclear fuel consumption fell by nearly 1 percent…

Against this backdrop, it is noteworthy that renewable energy consumption increased by 5.4 percent in 2009 to 7.8 quadrillion Btus (Figure 1.2). This follows a 9.6-percent increase between 2007 and 2008. These two increases, coupled with the consecutive year decreases in total energy consumption, boosted renewable energy’s share of total consumption from 6.6 percent in 2007 to 8.2 percent in 2009. This is renewable energy’s greatest share of the U.S. energy pie since 1984 when there were near record levels of hydropower.

Wind energy grew 32 percent and has more than doubled since 2007, standing at 0.7 quadrillion Btus in 2009. While the gain in 2009 was strong, capacity additions and output might have been greater still except for the collapse of natural gas prices, which made lower capital cost natural gas-fired capacity more attractive than wind. Solar energy followed a pattern similar to that of wind energy for similar reasons. Consumption in 2009 jumped by 10 percent from 2008, about 60 percent of the rate of increase for the prior year. Biomass also grew just 1 percent between 2008 and 2009, when there was a 14 percent gain in biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel) consumption and an 8 percent decrease n wood and derived fuels consumption.

Hydropower consumption grew 6.3 percent in 2009…

The report goes on to say that wind went from a “relatively minor renewable energy source” to making up nearly 10 percent of total renewable energy consumption. In addition, biodiesel and ethanol got good boosts from various financial incentives and mandates.

Biodiesel, biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Government, Hydro, News, Solar, Wind

Manitoba’s Largest Wind Farm Goes Online

Joanna Schroeder

Manitoba, Canada is now the proud province of a new wind farm. The 138 megawatt (MW) St. Joseph Wind project has been completed by the Pattern Energy Group LP (Pattern) and should generate enough power to meet the electricity needs of 50,000 homes in the Manitoba area. Pattern and Manitoba Hydro have entered into a 27-year power purchase agreement for the sale of energy produced by the project. To celebrate the accomplishment, the Manitoba Minister of Innovation, Energy and Mines, David Chomiak spoke during an opening ceremony.

“This wind farm is one of the largest in the country and will produce enough energy to power 50,000 homes,” said Minister Chomiak. “It showcases our province’s dedication to creating renewable energy and continuing to build Manitoba Hydro. This project has also provided a solid boost to the local economy creating new opportunities and jobs.”

Over the life of the wind farm, Pattern will pay an estimated $38 million to landholders and an additional $44 million in local municipal taxes with two-thirds of the tax revenue dedicated to education and one-third committed to host communities. This is a significant revenue boast for the area.

Mike Garland, Pattern’s CEO said, “The St. Joseph wind project created 350 jobs during its construction, 75 percent of which came from Manitoba, with another 20 percent from other Canadian provinces, in addition to the permanent crew of 10 workers we hired to operate and maintain the project. The success of this project is due to the support and commitment of all those involved, including the Province of Manitoba, Mortenson Canada, local landowners and the great community of St. Joseph. By working together to harness the steady winds of St. Joseph, we have created jobs, revenue, and a significant source of clean and renewable energy for Manitobans.”

“We commend the excellent and timely work of Mortenson Canada, which completed the construction of this world-class wind project in just under a year – an extraordinary timeline for a project of this size and scope, especially considering the harsh winter conditions,” added Garland.

Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger set the first group of turbines in motion back in January and today’s event marked the milestone of the project becoming fully operational.

Electricity, Wind

Learn How to Improve Ethanol Plant Margins

Joanna Schroeder

Gas prices may be on the rise resulting in a great market for ethanol, but ethanol plant margins are still tight. You can learn hands-on strategies to improve your ethanol plant margins by attending the fifth Process Optimization Seminar in Houston, Texas on April 27-29th. The seminar is sponsored by several leading ethanol industry companies including Phibro Ethanol Performance Group, Fermentis, Novozymes, and Fremont Industries.

Steve Rust, the Marketing Director for Fremont Industries, has been involved in these seminars since their inception four years ago. While Rust explains they have been wildly successful, after receiving feedback from the participants, the team decided to move away from the Midwest and head to Houston where plant managers, general managers and operations managers can get an even more hands on experience. The group will be visiting a refinery as well as visiting SGS labs.

Listen to my interview with Steve Rust here: Steve Rust Discusses Process Optimization

Rust said past seminars have been a series of 100/200 level classes designed for operations managers to understand why they do what they do. Following the seminars, attendees approached the instructors asking for more in-depth sessions. As a result, this seminar will focus less on operations and more on the financial aspects on how to manage plant operations but with a focus on high-level managers. The sessions will focus more on the expertise of the sponsor companies and how they can aid the plant in becoming more profitable.

Fremont Industries has an expertise in water treatment and today has over 40 ethanol plants that they work with. Rust said that where water treatment technologies can really benefit a plant is in keeping costs down because the plant is running at peak efficiency. Rust said there are exchangers and pre-treatment equipment that can help keep a plant’s costs down and these will be discussed during the event.

I asked Rust why this this event is so unique and so important for the industry. “What we really try to do is respect the time away from the plant because we know plants are busy,” said Rust. He said that they moved the event to Houston because they knew that they wanted to give the attendees some extra value and things like the tours coupled with the seminar sessions would give them tools they could take back to the plant, implement immediately, and see their profits increase.

Registration is limited and the early bird registration deadline is April 15th. Visit the Process Optimization Seminar website for more information and for online registration.

Audio, biofuels, Education, Ethanol

POET Launches Corn Oil Product Called Voila

Joanna Schroeder

POET has announced it is now selling corn oil extracted from its ethanol plants for use by the biodiesel industry to produce biodiesel. Known as Voilà, the company’s patent-pending technology was debuted at its plant located in Hudson, South Dakota. POET plans to add the technology to its other plants over the course of the year. Eventually, POET believes its plant will produce 500 million pounds per year – enough corn oil to produce 60 million gallons of biodiesel per year.

The company says its corn oil is different than other corn-ethanol plants’ corn oil due to the low-energy BPX fermentation process (cold cook) they use. This process eliminates heat from the process and when the corn oil is captured at the back-end of the process, it is a higher quality product with a lower amount of free fatty acids.

“The corn kernel is an amazing thing,” said POET CEO Jeff Broin. “As we continue research into more and more co-products, our ability to displace foreign oil continues to grow. By selling Voilà to biodiesel producers, we’re providing the feedstock for even more renewable fuel production.”

Scott Weishaar, POET Vice President of Commercial Development added, “Not only is it high-quality corn oil, it is a consistent product, which is important to biodiesel producers. Our customers have been very pleased with Voilà.”

In addition to producing biodiesel, corn oil can also be used as a component in feed production. In the future, POET plans on introducing a new branded distillers product that incorporates its corn oil as an ingredient.

 

Biodiesel, corn, Distillers Grains, POET