Ethanol Groups Comment on USDA Climate Program

Cindy Zimmerman

Ethanol organizations provided comments to the U.S. Department of Agriculture this week on the Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry (CSAF) program.

According to the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), USDA should “prioritize projects that will help farmers and downstream processors -like ethanol biorefineries – measure, verify, and monetize carbon sequestration and emissions reductions that result from new technologies and more efficient practices.”

RFA’s comments highlighted the fact that renewable fuels already serve as an excellent example of how agriculture can reduce emissions and significantly contribute to the fight against climate change.

“Corn-based ethanol is the perfect climate-smart commodity; it already cuts GHG emissions in half compared when directly to gasoline,” wrote RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “The transportation sector is the single largest source of GHG emissions in the U.S. Although emissions from the sector are lower than they were in the mid-2000s, they still accounted for 29% of total U.S. emissions in 2019. Therefore, for the CSAF Partnership Program to have the greatest impact, projects that involve the transportation sector, specifically including biofuels, should be eligible for support.”

American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings sees the proposed CSAF Program “as an opportunity to expand upon the recently announced $7.5 million Expanding Soil Health Through Carbon Markets Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) project, which ACE is leading with project partners South Dakota Corn Growers, Dakota Ethanol, South Dakota State University, Cultivating Conservation, and collaborator Sandia National Labs.”

ACE’s feedback underscores that the key to gaining LCFS market access based on NRCS climate-smart conservation practices is by generating better localized quantification and verification of the GHG reductions achieved by these practices. In the case of ACE’s RCPP project, Dakota Ethanol estimates if California credited its farmers for adopting NRCS approved no-till practices with the LCFS program, it would mean between $10 and $12 million a year in premiums for their ethanol. This translates to an approximated $0.39 per bushel for corn grown using climate-smart agriculture practices.

“By providing CSAF payments to farmers who adopt climate-smart practices across a diverse cross-section of the corn belt — combined with CSAF funding for a non-proprietary quantification, verification, and modeling system — CSAF participating ethanol facilities will collect the localized data required to secure access to LCFS markets that includes on-farm contributions,” Jennings detailed in the comments, adding that “USDA should establish a program of GHG and carbon reduction price reporting to provide timely, accurate, and reliable market information, facilitate more informed farmer market decisions, and promote competition in GHG and carbon sequestration credit markets.”

ACE, Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA, USDA

Growth Energy Intends to Sue EPA Over Biofuel Delays

Cindy Zimmerman

Growth Energy this week notified the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of intent to sue for failure to issue the 2022 Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) and in turn, the potentially multi-year “set” rulemaking process for renewable fuel volumes for 2023 and beyond.

The RVOs for 2022 are due by November 30th, 2021, an annual deadline set by Congress in the RFS. As of today, 28 days before that statutory deadline, EPA has not even issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to establish those obligations. Additionally, the final “set” rulemaking was due on November 1, 2021, and EPA has not issued a notice of proposed rulemaking for that, either. The notice gives EPA 60 days to issue the 2022 RVO and the set rulemakings before risking a lawsuit in federal court.

Read the notice.

EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Ethanol Report on RFA Message to COP26

Chuck Zimmerman

The 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference, better known as COP26, is now underway in Scotland and the Renewable Fuels Association wants to send a message to world leaders that ethanol is already available to help meet climate goals. A new one-page fact sheet spotlights recent research and data proving that ethanol is an immediate solution for cutting greenhouse gas emissions from transportation.

In this edition of The Ethanol Report, RFA president and CEO Geoff Cooper discusses how ethanol can serve as a zero-emissions fuel for cars and trucks while also helping to decarbonize the aviation, marine, and stationary power generation sectors. Cooper also comments on biofuels provisions in the Build Back Better spending bill, the current status of COVID relief aid for ethanol producers, and the 2022 National Ethanol Conference. 

Ethanol Report 11-1-21 (13:07)

The Ethanol Report is a podcast about the latest news and information in the ethanol industry that has been sponsored by the Renewable Fuels Association since 2008.

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Audio, biofuels, Environment, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Ethanol Report, RFA

Weekly Ethanol Production Increases Again

Cindy Zimmerman

U.S. ethanol production was up again the week ending October 22 to 1.106 million barrels per day, the second-highest volume on record and just 2,000 barrels below the all-time record. The record is 1.108 million b/d produced the week ending Dec. 1, 2017.

According to EIA data analyzed by the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), production was 17.5% above the same COVID-impacted week last year and 10.2% above the same week in 2019. The four-week average ethanol production volume increased 4.8% to 1.053 million b/d, equivalent to an annualized rate of 16.14 billion gallons (bg).

Ethanol stocks dipped 0.8% to 19.9 million barrels, 1.7% above the year-ago level but 5.6% lower than the same week in 2019. Imports of ethanol arriving into the West Coast were 36,000 b/d, or 10.58 million gallons for the week – the first imports in five weeks.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

Gevo and ADM Partner to Produce Sustainable Aviation Fuel

Cindy Zimmerman

Gevo, Inc. and ADM have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to support the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and other low carbon-footprint hydrocarbon fuels.

The MoU contemplates the production of both ethanol and isobutanol that would then be transformed into renewable low carbon-footprint hydrocarbons, including SAF, using Gevo’s processing technology and capabilities. About 900 million gallons of ethanol produced at ADM’s dry mills in Columbus, Nebraska, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as well as its Decatur, Illinois, complex, is expected to be processed utilizing this technology, resulting in approximately 500 million gallons of SAF and other renewable hydrocarbons. The isobutanol is expected to be produced at a proposed new facility in Decatur that would employ ADM’s carbon capture and sequestration capabilities.

Demand for SAF is expected to increase as the U.S. and the EU have set goals that together would support almost 4 billion gallons of annual SAF production in 2030, and more than 45 billion by 2050. The companies will determine full commercialization plans with the intent that production of SAF can begin in the 2025-2026 timeframe.

aviation biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News

GoodFuels and REG Partner for Marine Biofuels

Cindy Zimmerman

Marine biofuels provider GoodFuels is teaming up with Renewable Energy Group, Inc. for the supply and development of sustainable marine biofuel solutions for the global shipping industry.

With REG’s expertise in biofuels and GoodFuels’ pioneering strengths, both companies are playing an important role in enabling the decarbonization efforts for shipping companies. This announcement reinforces GoodFuels’ mission to become the favored green fuel supplier for all shipping segments, and ambition to scale up the production of advanced marine biofuels in the right way using sustainable feedstocks. For REG, the agreement is a clear signal of the company’s mission to enable a cleaner world and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

GoodFuels Chief Operating Officer Bart Hellings said, “At GoodFuels, we collaborate with impact-driven partners to advance sustainable shipping with our instant decarbonization solution. Our sustainable marine biofuels are in a prime position to deliver on immediate-term climate goals, and are one of the only options available on the market today. We have been closely working with REG for several years, and we foresee a great future together in accelerating the energy transition within shipping.”

Both companies will continue to expand the development and delivery of advanced biofuels for the international shipping industry.

Biodiesel, biofuels, REG

Feenstra Bills Would Study EV Costs, Biojet Fuel Options

Cindy Zimmerman

Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-IA) has introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives that would explore ways the federal government could use biofuels to reduce transportation costs while lowering carbon emissions. The Comparison of Sustainable Transportation (COST) Act and the Biojet Fuel Research Act “aim to help consumers and taxpayers save money while also bolstering demand for corn, soybeans, and biofuels,” according to Rep. Feenstra.

“Especially as fuel prices continue to skyrocket, I am eager to explore ways biofuels can be utilized to reduce costs — including ways to save tax dollars within the federal government. We should not be so quick to jump to electric vehicles when E85 flex-fuel could provide an even cheaper and cleaner option. Further, the administration has repeatedly expressed interest in sustainable aviation fuel, and I will continue working to ensure biofuels are included in those discussions.”

The COST Act directs the Comptroller General and the Secretary of Energy to compare the financial and environmental costs of replacing federal government gasoline-powered vehicles with electric vehicles or E85 capable flex-fuel vehicles. The bill then requires the Secretary of Energy to report findings to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

The Biojet Fuel Research Act directs the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to establish a working group focused on identifying research and development needs to produce biojet fuel. The working group would consist of the Bioenergy Technologies Office of the Department of Energy, the Department of Agriculture, biorefinery stakeholders, agriculture research universities, and others.

Feenstra also recently introduced the Biofuel Cell Research Act, a bill to establish a research, development, and demonstration program for a commercially viable fuel cell system that uses biofuels as the main fuel source.

aviation biofuels, Biodiesel, biofuels, corn, Electric Vehicles, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Senators Request White House Meeting to Talk Biofuels

Cindy Zimmerman

Sen. John Thune (R-SD), along with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and several Senate colleagues, are requesting a meeting with President Biden and representatives of his cabinet to discuss the Renewable Fuel Standard and promote biofuels as a key solution for America’s energy and climate agenda. The senators made a similar request in July and received no response.

“Mr. President, biofuels are a readily available energy solution that deserve full consideration—not only for helping to stem the recent increase in fuel prices, which has subsequently accelerated inflation—but to serve as a foundational source of transportation emission reductions as part of your energy and environmental agenda,” the senators wrote. “We call on your administration to utilize the full capacity of American agriculture to deliver on both fronts, and we reiterate our request to discuss these matters with you in greater detail.”

Joining Thune and Grassley in signing the letter were Sens. Roy Blunt (R-MO), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Ben Sasse (R-NE) and Roger Marshall (R-KS).

American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings thanked the senators for renewing their request to meet with President Biden and discuss the tremendous opportunity that biofuels like ethanol present to contribute to the Administration’s energy, environmental and transportation agenda. “Achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 will be more attainable if we start making progress right now with low carbon ethanol, and we join these Senators in calling on the President to give biofuels his full consideration,” said Jennings.

ACE, Biodiesel, biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFS

RFA Provides Carbon Reduction Comments to CARB

Cindy Zimmerman

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) submitted comments to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) last week stressing that the state’s path toward achieving its carbon reduction targets should be technology-neutral and include a broad array of technologies. RFA also recommended that CARB rely on “more realistic assumptions and feasible scenarios” as it develops its plan to achieve statewide carbon neutrality by 2045 or sooner.

The comments were submitted in response to a CARB workshop on September 30 where the agency laid out possible scenarios for meeting the long-term carbon reduction goals of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.

“We have learned from the success of California’s LCFS that technology-neutral and inclusive approaches driven by market-based performance standards are the most effective,” wrote RFA Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Kelly Davis. “Developing scenarios can be illustrative but should not be designed in a way to close out known and even unknown technologies that can contribute to meeting carbon neutrality goals.”

Davis also spotlighted the importance of efforts to achieve the greatest reduction of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible, and that ethanol can continue to play an important role for California.

“Ethanol blended into California gasoline at ten percent blends has delivered the single largest (35%) source of GHG reductions under the LCFS since its inception in 2011,” she wrote. “Higher blends of low carbon ethanol in the current gasoline pool represent the nearest term and most affordable path for immediate reductions of GHG emissions from the light-duty fleet.”

Read RFA’s comments here.

Carbon, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

BioUrja Group to Acquire ADM Peoria Ethanol Complex

Cindy Zimmerman

ADM is selling its Peoria ethanol production complex to BioUrja Group, an energy and agricultural commodity trading and supply group headquartered in Houston, Texas.

“The sale of our Peoria facility is an important element of the strategic review of our dry mill ethanol assets,” said ADM CEO Juan Luciano. “By reducing our ethanol capacity by 135 million gallons and redeploying the resulting capital to other strategic growth investments, we’re continuing the dynamic transformation of ADM’s business portfolio that we began a decade ago. We continue to execute on our strategic priorities, and we are excited about the opportunities ahead of us as we drive sustainable growth.”

BioUrja Group’s Chairman & CEO, Amit Bhandari, remarked that: “As a leading supplier of biofuels, we are excited to enter into the bio-ethanol production sector and become more vertically integrated. We are enthused about the growing beverage-grade and highly-distilled industrial alcohol markets, which are the focus of the Peoria plant, and are glad to absorb supplemental fuel ethanol into our existing supply capabilities. This is an opportunity for us to continue our growth in the renewables sector and participate in the global energy transition. It’s a double bottom-line deal for us because of the strong financial performance of the plant and its contributions to our ESG strategy.”

The deal is expected to close within the coming weeks.

Ethanol, Ethanol News