ACE Conference 2026

New Study – More Ethanol Commitment Needed to Meet RFS2

Joanna Schroeder

In a new study from Air Improvement Resource, Inc. (AIR) commissioned by the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), the requirements of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) can be met with ethanol if more infrastructure is put into place. In addition, more flex-fuel vehicles (FFVs) are needed. The report concludes that if “blender pumps” are made available at nearly one-third of the approximately 162,000 gas stations in the U.S., and if automakers honor and expand their commitment to produce FFVs, the majority of RFS2 requirements can be met with ethanol alone.

“Achieving the goals of the RFS2 and giving Americans more control over their energy future can be done with smart policies and targeted investment that expand ethanol refueling infrastructure and use,” said RFA President and CEO Bob Dinneen. “In a climate of fiscal concerns, this report demonstrates that we can meaningfully expand the ethanol market, reduce our reliance on imported oil, and create jobs without breaking the bank. Addressing the infrastructure needs of America’s renewable fuels policy cannot be based on a wish list. It must be grounded in sound research and analysis that identifies policy needs and the needs of the marketplace. This report clearly highlights part of the path forward.”

The AIR study examines 27 future scenarios regarding available ethanol volumes, FFV availability, ethanol use in non-FFVs, and the availability and location of blender pumps and/or E85 pumps. Based on the results of the scenarios, certain conclusions were drawn about the role ethanol can play in meeting the RFS2, which requires the use of 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2022.

However, there are concerns growing that RFS2 goals will not be met, in part due to several anti-ethanol amendments in the Continuing Resolution that were passed by the House several weeks ago designed to “balance the federal budget”. The amendments inhibit the EPA from rolling out E15 and also disallow government funds to be used to install blender pumps and ethanol infrastructure such as ethanol pipelines.

According to RFA, expanding the use of ethanol will take a multi-pronged approach. Recently the EPA approved the used of E15 for conventional cars and light duty trucks model year 2001 or newer could help to grow the market for ethanol to 20 billion gallons over the next several years. However, RFA notes that even if E15 is ultimately approved for use in all conventional vehicles, meeting long-term RFS2 requirements will require the use of mid-level blends of ethanol higher than E15 (so fuel blends that contain more than 15 percent ethanol, 85 percent gasoline). Read More

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Research, RFA

Propane Ford E-Series Vans Recieves CARB Approval

Joanna Schroeder

ROUSH CleanTech’s propane Ford E-Series passenger and cargo vans have been granted California Air Resources Board (CARB) certification status. With the strictest emission standards in the country, all vehicles have to have CARB approval before they can be sold and operated on California roads. Once CARB gives its stamp of approval, many other states follow suit.

“This is truly exciting news for the ROUSH CleanTech team and our customers,” said Joe Thompson, president of ROUSH CleanTech. “CARB certification is that final nod of approval needed to launch a full line of clean burning propane-autogas-powered passenger and cargo vans to fleet managers in California and other states, who have been eagerly awaiting the availability of our cost-effective alternative fuel solution.”

With CARB approval ROUSH can now sell Ford E-150, E-250 and E-350 vans with propane technology. As such, Prime Time Shuttle, a ground transportation company that serves Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), will be incorporating the newly certified vans into their fleet. The company has 15 vans ready to go and will add another 35-40 over the next several months with its full fleet of 175 vans replaced with propane autogas technology within two years.

“We like what we see at ROUSH CleanTech,” said Rattan Joea, president of Prime Time Shuttle. “We’ve wanted to add the autogas E-series vans for quite some time, but needed CARB certification to seal the deal. We can’t wait to show our customers our commitment to a healthier environment with a reliable fleet of alternative fueled vans and shuttles, engineered with racing legend Jack Roush’s dedication to superior automotive products.”

The vans have already received air quality and emission approvals from the Environmental Protection Agency. Recently, the van was recognized with the “Propane Hero” award given to SuperShuttle for formidable performance as an alternative fuel vehicle at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

Propane

Vilsack: US Farms Producing Enough for Food & Biofuels

John Davis

The man in charge at the USDA says American farmers are producing enough to provide the food AND fuel, in particular ethanol and biodiesel, this country needs.

During the recent Commodity Classic, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack took on the food vs. fuel debate head-on.

“It is irritating to me that we have to read about this all the time, because what it is basically is saying is that the folks advancing this argument either do not understand or do not accept the notion that our farmers are as productive and smart and innovative and creative enough to meet the needs of food and fuel and feed and export.”

And Vilsack took the blame for food price increases off the American farmers and biofuels industry and put it on a more likely culprit.

“I think OPEC has more to do with food price increases than farmers,” pointing out that even if you doubled the price of commodities, farmers, with their paltry 20 cents of every food dollar share, wouldn’t see much of an increase in their pocketbooks.

Vilsack said that those who are trying to stop the opportunity for the nation to be more energy secure, while creating good-paying jobs in the biofuels industry, don’t understand what is at stake.

“First and foremost, it is about national security. We import 60 percent of our oil. Sixty percent of the resources we spend on energy are traveling somewhere overseas probably to countries we don’t agree with or don’t like us. It makes far more sense to me to continue to provide opportunities for investment here in the United States.”

Listen to more of Vilsack’s comments on biofuels at Commodity Classic here: Vilsack on Biofuels at Commodity Classic

Audio, Biodiesel, biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, food and fuel, Government, News, USDA

Biodiesel Helps Make Livestock Feed More Affordable

John Davis

While there have been some in the livestock industry that have had some real heartburn with biofuels, a new report shows that biodiesel has actually made animal feed more affordable.

The National Biodiesel Board has released a new study that shows how soybean oil and meal economics favor the livestock industry, potentially saving farmers and ranchers $4.8 billion from 2005 through 2009:

The basic rule of thumb is when demand for soybean oil increases, the price of the other soybean component (soybean meal) decreases, says the U.S. Department of Agriculture funded study by CENTREC Consulting Group, LLC. Increasing demand for soybean oil benefits livestock feeders through lower meal prices.

Illinois farmer and former economics and statistics professor Pat Dumoulin has seen biodiesel’s benefits from every side of the equation. She and her family raise corn and soybeans as well as run a 2,100 sow operation.

“No matter whether you are feeding pigs or people, biodiesel is helping meet the world’s growing demand for protein,” Dumoulin said. “With these economics, we would all win if the trucks that brought our soybean meal ran on America’s advanced biofuel, biodiesel.”

The NBB says this new study complements a January 2010 United Soybean Board report that showed how much biodiesel supports the soybean industry.

Biodiesel, livestock feed, NBB

Coalition Urges Congress To Axe Ethanol Tax

Joanna Schroeder

The fight over the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) continues. Earlier this week, a coalition of “usual suspects” made up of 90 business associations, taxpayer advocates, hunger and development organizations, agricultural groups, free-market groups, religious organizations, environmental groups, ‘budget hawks’, and public interest groups sent a letter to the Congressional leadership asking them to axe the tax. In addition, they asked them to continue to hold their ground on the anti-ethanol amendments that were included in their version of the Continuing Resolution.

In the letter, the coalition says…

“In particular, Congress has the opportunity to end the $6 billion a year subsidy to gasoline refiners who blend corn ethanol into gasoline. At a time of spiraling deficits, we do not believe Congress should continue subsidizing gasoline refiners for something that they are already required to do by the Renewable Fuels Standard.

Experts like the Congressional Budget Office and the Government Accountability Office have concluded that the subsidy is unnecessary, and leading economists agree that ending it would have little impact on ethanol production, prices or jobs.

We urge you to let VEETC expire and resist calls for spending on infrastructure for conventional biofuels.”

Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy responded to the letter saying, “It is efforts like these that perpetuate our addiction to foreign oil. If American consumers had a choice, most would choose the fuel that creates U.S. jobs, reduces harmful emissions and strengthens our national security. Growth energy has proposed reforming ethanol policies in our fueling freedom plan which would redirect the current tax credits toward the build out of infrastructure to deliver access to higher level blends of ethanol.”

The organization believes that with greater access to the market, the ethanol industry can do much more for our economy and environment. “Once the infrastructure is in place, ethanol will be able to compete without government assistance, creating an opportunity where ethanol will continue to create jobs, strengthen our economy and displace foreign oil. But, as we have said before, this investment won’t happen overnight. The one year extension of the ethanol tax incentive gives Congress the opportunity to consider longer term solutions this year,” added Public Affairs Director, Chris Thorne.

Ethanol, Growth Energy, Legislation

Chemists Engineer Bacteria for Biofuels

Joanna Schroeder

Several chemists at the University of California, Berkeley have engineered bacteria for biofuels. More specifically, they have created bacteria that will churn out a gasoline-like biofuel at about 10 times the rate of competing microbes. The researchers believe this breakthrough could soon provide “green” gas. The research was published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology and authored by Assistant Professor of Chemistry at UC Berkeley Michelle C.Y. Chang along with graduate student Brooks B. Bond-Watts and recent grad Robert J. Bellerose.

The research was based on the bacteria Clostridium, where some of the species produce n-butanol, a drop-in fuel many companies are currently pursuing as a replacement for gas and diesel. Many researchers have genetically altered the bacteria to boost its ability to produce n-butanol while others have taken other routes such as plucking enzymes from the bacteria and inserted them into other microbes including E. coli. The results have only provided limited n-butanol production.

Chang and her colleagues emulated the same enzyme pathway into E. coli, but replaced two of the five enzymes with look-alikes from other organisms. This avoided one of the problems other researchers have had: n-butanol being converted back into its chemical precursors by the same enzymes that produce it.

The result was a new genetically altered E. coli strain that produced nearly five grams of n-buranol per liter, about the same as the native Clostridium and one-third the production of the best genetically altered Clostridium, but about 10 times better than current industrial microbe systems.

“We are in a host that is easier to work with, and we have a chance to make it even better,” Chang said. “We are reaching yields where, if we could make two to three times more, we could probably start to think about designing an industrial process around it. We were excited to break through the multi-gram barrier, which was challenging.”

According to an article from UC Berkeley, Chang is optimistic that by improving enzyme activity at a few other bottlenecks in the n-butanol synthesis pathway, in addition to optimizing the host microbe for production of n-butanol, she can boost production two to three times, enough to justify considering scaling up to an industrial process.

Biotech, Ethanol, Research

GAO: Difference Between Policy & Practice on Alt. Fuels

John Davis

A new report from the Government Accountability Office shows there seems to be a disconnect between what the U.S. government’s policy is regarding using alternatively fueled vehicles and what the actual practices are.

This article from the Pittsburgh Business Times
says the GAO has found that decision makers are faced with “confusing and, at times, contradicting mandates” that end up prompting fleet managers to pick vehicles that work for the largest number of guidelines, instead of those that actually cut down on petroleum use and greenhouse gases:

Three federal laws and two executive orders set goals for buying alternative fuel and electric vehicles, and reducing oil consumption. More than 20 federal agencies play some role in implementing these goals.

The federal fleet has more than 600,000 vehicles, guzzles more than 963,000 gallons of oil daily and, during fiscal year 2009, spent about $1.9 billion on new vehicles.

The GAO focused on four specific conflicts:

Conflict 1: Increase the use of alternative fuels vs. the unavailability of alternative fuels.
“Agencies are required to increase alternative fuel use, although most alternative fuels are not yet widely available. Thus, agencies have been purchasing primarily flex-fueled AFVs, those that can operate on E85—a blend of up to 85 percent ethanol and petroleum—or petroleum. However, since E85 was only available at 1 percent of U.S. fueling stations in 2009, agencies are requesting waivers from the requirement to use alternative fuels. According to DOE, in 2010, approximately 55 percent of flex-fueled AFVs received a waiver. Further, some fleet operators indicated they use petroleum without a waiver when alternative fuels are available because it is either more convenient, less expensive, or both.”

Read More

Government

Volvo Unveils 3-Mode Hybrid

Joanna Schroeder

Volvo has introduce the first three-mode hybrid in the world during the 81st Geneva International Motor Show this week. During a media preview, the hybrid diesel V60 sedan was unveiled. It’s a plug-in electric vehicle concept car that the company hopes to have on European roads by 2012. The driver chooses the preferred driving mode via three buttons on the instrument panel: Pure, Hybrid and Power. The interaction between diesel and electric power is handled via a control system.

According to Volvo, the car boasts 150 miles per gallon (mpg) in the hybrid mode when using its 2.4 liter diesel engine and 70 horsepower electric motor coupled to the rear drive. The diesel hybrid has two separate drivetrains that can operate on their own or together. In the front is a 2.4-liter five cylinder turbodiesel with a 215 horsepower and a 324 pound-feet of tourque. In the back, a 70-horsepower electric motor with a 12-kWh lithium-ion battery pack controls the Electric Rear Axle Drive (ERAD).

By simply pressing a button, you can tell the car how you want to drive:

  • * An electric car with a range of up to 32 miles.
  • * A high-efficiency hybrid with carbon dioxide emissions averaging just 49 g/km.
  • * A dynamic and engaging car with a combined output of 215 + 70 horsepower, 440 + 200 Nm of torque and acceleration from 0 to 62 mph of just 6.9 seconds.

“The second-generation hybrid is the perfect choice for the uncompromising buyer who wants a superbly carbon dioxide-lean car packed with driving pleasure. To get drivers to think green, we have offered both, in one traditional genuine sports wagon” says Stefan Jacoby, President and CEO of Volvo Cars.

Jacoby added, “The technology is still undergoing development and testing, however, the car already points very clearly to what our customers can expect when the plug-in hybrid enters showrooms next year. What we’ve done is to spice it up with spearhead technology that allows the driver to choose: zero emissions, high-efficiency hybrid or full-on performance. Just select the mode that suits best.”

Volvo did not indicate if the car could run using a biodiesel blend but did indicate that the car was still undergoing development.

Biodiesel, Car Makers, Electric Vehicles

Ron Miller Wins RFA 2011 Membership Award

Joanna Schroeder

“To many of you, Ron Miller requires no introduction. He has been ethanol long before ethanol was cool,” began Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) Chairman Chuck Woodside during his introduction of Ron Miller who won the 2011 RFA Membership Award during the National Ethanol Conference that recently took place in Phoenix, Arizona.

Miller has been the Chairman of RFA three times and helped establish and served on the Technical Committee for 10 years. He is only the second person to receive the Membership Award.

Ron Miller began his ethanol career in 1981, fresh out of the oil industry. One of his first steps, along with two other companies, was to form RFA. Today, he owns a consulting firm called Prisma Advisors and specializes in working with advanced biofuels companies.

Miller notes that while the industry has gone from producing a 100 million gallons per year or so back in the early ’80s to now 10 percent of the total U.S. gasoline gallons, the same problems the country had then, are still the same problems the country has today: energy, economy and environment.

“We’ve grown a lot but the problems are still the same. It might be a little different in the way they’re looked at, but the challenges of trying to grow the industry are still there,” said Miller.

While Miller said the past 30 years have been a wild ride, he’s loved every minute of it and he’s looking forward to the years ahead which he believes will be the best yet.

Listen to or download the interview with Ron Miller here: Ron Miller Interview

Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, National Ethanol Conference, RFA

Jeff Lautt Named President of POET

Joanna Schroeder

Jeff Lautt has been named President of POET. He has been with the company since 2005 and prior to this promotion, served as Executive Vice President of Corporate Operations. Jeff Broin, the founder of POET, will remain as CEO and Chairman of the Board.

“Over his six-year career at POET, Jeff Lautt has continually taken on more and more of the daily operations of the company,” POET CEO Jeff Broin said. “I have full confidence that he will excel in this new role and help take POET to new heights.”

The change in leadership will allow Broin to focus his time and energy on long-term strategy for the company and well as the industry. “With more of the day-to-day operations in Jeff Lautt’s hands, I can invest more of my time in planning the future of POET and work on issues critical to the ethanol industry,” Broin said. “Many of the challenges POET faces are shared by the entire ethanol industry. As co-chairman of Growth Energy, I also look forward to working with others in the industry to face those challenges head-on.”

In his prior role, Lautt was responsible for all operational business units within POET. Of his new role, Lautt commented, “Under the leadership of Jeff Broin, POET has grown into a very successful company. Working with Jeff and the dedicated team at POET, I look forward to playing an even bigger role in future accomplishments.”

Company Announcement, Ethanol, POET