Biofuel, Biotech Companies Sequence Jatropha Genome

John Davis

A company that breeds better seeds for biofuels has teamed up with a biotech company to sequence the jatropha genome … a plant touted as the possible future of biofuels feedstocks.

Officials at SG Biofuels have announced that they and Life Technologies Corporation have completed sequencing the Jatropha curcas genome to 100x coverage, using the SOLiD™ 4.0 System by Life Technologies:

The sequence significantly accelerates the identification of key traits for the oilseed-producing crop and advances its development as a high yielding, low-cost source for next generation biofuel.

Working in strategic alliance with Life Technologies, SG Biofuels will use the sequence to generate a high quality Jatropha reference genome. The genome will be compared to sequences generated from SG Biofuels’ germplasm library of more than 6,000 unique Jatropha genotypes – the largest and most diverse collection of Jatropha germplasm in the world – to identify molecular markers and trait genes to accelerate development of elite cultivars with vastly superior yields and profitability. This work will also advance the introduction of transgenic plants with further improved traits.

“The value of a Jatropha reference genome is enhanced significantly by having a diverse collection of plant material for comparison,” said Kirk Haney, President and Chief Executive Officer of SG Biofuels. “The sequence adds a powerful new tool to our development platform, allowing us to rapidly unlock the true potential of Jatropha as the most profitable and sustainable biofuel feedstock.”

“Working with SG Biofuels to sequence the Jatropha genome is an important part of our broader synthetic biology strategy to provide technologies for the development of next generation renewable energy,” said Wendy Jozsi, Director of Synthetic Biology at Life Technologies. “There is significant opportunity to use advanced molecular techniques in the optimization of plant-based biofuels, especially Jatropha, for increased yields and a faster development cycle, ultimately leading to new sources of energy.”

The non-edible jatropha is native to Central America and grown on marginal lands, providing a fuel source that does not compete with the food supply or the land to grow that food supply.

biofuels, Biotech

KL Energy & Petrobras Partner on Bagasse Project

Joanna Schroeder

KL Energy Corporation and Brazil-based Petrobras have announced a new joint development agreement to optimize KL Energy’s cellulosic ethanol process technology for the conversion of sugarcane bagasse feedstock to ethanol. As a component of this partnership, Petrobras will invest $11 million to adapt KL Energy’s demonstration facility to use bagasse. The money will also be dedicated to validating the company’s optimized process.

In addition, the technology will be integrated into one of Petrobras’ Brazilian sugarcane mills and is scheduled to go online sometime in 2013. Once the plant is operational, it will produce approximately 15 million liters per year.

Miguel Rossetto, CEO of Petrobras Biocombustivel, said, “Petrobras views cellulosic ethanol as a very promising technology to substantially increase the ethanol output by some 40% without increasing the planted area output and further improve the carbon footprint of its sugarcane mills. This agreement with KLE will considerably accelerate this development effort and we are optimistic about the commercial potential of the optimized technology platform.”

The initial agreement is for the two companies to work together for 18 months and provides a mutually exclusive agreement to jointly develop cellulosic ethanol from bagasse. The agreement also gives Petrobras the option of securing a technology license for the use of KL Energy’s technology within the Petrobras Group.

“Brazil is the global leader in the production of affordable biofuels and biomass, and we believe that bagasse is a perfect feedstock for our process. KLE plans to be at the forefront of the emerging cellulosic ethanol market in Brazil,” said Peter Gross, President and CEO of KL Energy Corporation. “We are very excited about this opportunity and we can think of no better partner for this endeavor than Petrobras, a company globally recognized for its technological competence, social and environmental responsibility and its investments in clean energies.”

This partnership marks yet another American company to partner with a Brazlian-based company with the intention of developing biofuels.

Brazil, Cellulosic, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Analysis Credits Ethanol With Lower Gas Prices

Cindy Zimmerman

Gas prices have hit an eight-month low and an analysis in the Washington Post today gives part of the credit to ethanol.

The main reason they say gas prices have declined is weak demand due to the economy and continued high unemployment. That comes from an American Petroleum Institute (API) news release last week, which reported gasoline demand for July, as measured by deliveries, was down .03 percent compared to the same time last year. “With unemployment high and July regular gasoline prices more than 20 cents a gallon above those a year ago, consumers likely have been shopping and vacationing less and trimmed their gasoline purchases accordingly,” said API Chief Economist John Felmy.

But, the Washington Post article notes that fuel efficiency improvements and more ethanol have also helped to moderate gas prices. “A steady increase in the biofuels component of U.S. motor fuel is another reason; the four week average for ethanol production ending Aug. 13 was 854,000 barrels a day, up nearly 18 percent from a year ago and now more than 9 percent of the volume of motor fuel, according to the Renewable Fuels Association.”

Gasoline prices have dropped a little more this month, according to the American Automobile Association, which reports this week that average retail price for regular gasoline is less than $2.71 a gallon, now just eight cents higher than a year ago.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Oil, RFA

Process Optimization Seminar Sold Out

Cindy Zimmerman

The third Process Optimization Seminar, coming up September 1-2 in Kansas City, is sold out.

The interactive seminar focused on increasing ethanol plant process efficiency and profitability is sponsored Fremont Industries, Fermentis, Novozymes and Phibro Ethanol Performance Group. They have already held two successful workshops in Minneapolis last year and Indianapolis earlier this year and they will be announcing more in the near future.

I talked with Tom Slunecka (pictured far left) of Phibro at the recent American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) conference about the seminars and why they are so popular with ethanol plant operators and managers. “There just can’t be enough education, there’s always things changing and new technologies available,” Slunecka said. “We keep the class sizes very small so about 60 people are invited each time.” Each of the four companies present a hands-on demonstration based education, such as Phibro’s section on antibiotics where they use microscopes to learn how to identify different microbes that might be present in an ethanol plant.

The big reason why the workshops are so popular, Slunecka says, is because ethanol plant margins are razor thin. “So if you can squeeze out a percent, or even a half a percent more alcohol from your same inputs, it will dramatically change your plant,” he said. “We’re talking about hundreds and hundreds of thousands of added revenue that a plant may be missing out on.”

Listen to my interview with Tom here: Tom Slunecka Interview

ACE, Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Lack of Biodiesel Incentive Closes Another Plant

John Davis

Just in case you forgot (fat chance of that!), the federal $1-a-gallon biodiesel tax incentive has not been renewed after expiring at the end of 2009. And an estimated 23,000 biodiesel workers (and counting) have been laid off nationwide. The latest victims are workers at a biodiesel plant once touted as the largest in New England.

This Times Argus article says the Swanton, Vermont Biocardel biodiesel refinery has been shuttered because of the lack of the credit … and most likely won’t be coming back:

The state’s economic development authority is now in the process of trying to recover more than a half-million dollars it provided to the facility in low-interest loans, according to officials. State tax credits were also awarded to the company that built the plant, Biocardel, a subsidiary of a Canadian company, although the credits were never used.

The expiration of a federal tax credit for the production of biofuels at the end of 2009 has hammered the industry nationally and the Biocardel facility in Vermont is one casualty. The company does not have plans to reopen the facility.

Jo Bradley of the Vermont Economic Development Authority said that the plant has closed.

“We are trying to negotiate some kind of settlement for the balance of our loan,” she said. “When the federal credits were not renewed it was a blow to the industry as a whole. It made it much more difficult for them to survive.”

Stephen Daigle, who was the general manager of the Vermont plant, said Friday it was frustrating to see the plant just get to the verge of ramping up production last December after nearly two years of preparing and research and development, only to have the tax credits expire and Congress fail to restore them in the months since.

“People tried to help us as much as possible,” Daigle said. “It’s sad because I think Vermont as a green state would have supported it very well.”

The plant was to produce eight million gallons of biodiesel a year.

Biodiesel, Government, Legislation

Sapphire VP: Feds Inadequate in Algae-Biofuels Funding

John Davis

While there’s been lots of talk lately about some of the private investment in algae-biofuels operations, one company official says the feds aren’t doing their part to support the green fuels.

Just recently, Sapphire Energy benefited from $105 million in Department of Energy and Agriculture grants … the largest federal government award for algae ever given. But the Voice of San Diego reports that Tim Zenk, Sapphire’s vice president of corporate affairs, says these grants were really not the rule:

Zenk says recent awards to San Diego researchers are the exception, with government investment in alternative fuels falling woefully short.

“The government’s investment is very inadequate. They need to do a lot more,” says Zenk. “Private investment is another story. Venture capital firms and very large family wealth trusts like you have seen investing in Sapphire Energy are making significant investments and making this technology a reality today.”

[Stephen Mayfield, director of the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology research consortium and a co-founder of Sapphire Energy], who has studied the molecular genetics of green algae for about 25 years, concurs that biofuel research has been historically underfunded. Part of the problem is that algae biofuel is tough to classify. Is it a plant, regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture? Is it a fuel, regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy? If algae could be used to fuel military vehicles, would it fall under the U.S. Department of Defense’s jurisdiction?

Mayfield goes on to say that biofuels are just part of the bigger picture of solar, wind, algae and even corn to replace petroleum.

algae, biofuels, Government

Largest Global Cellulosic Biomass Harvest Underway

Joanna Schroeder

The largest global cellulosic biomass harvest in history is underway and already the world is watching. Last week, Project Liberty kicked off their one-year biomass harvest pilot program as an effort to ensure all the correct logistics are in place in time for Project Liberty to go online in early 2012.

During the event, I caught up with Scott Weishaar, who runs POET’s biomass division. He and his team have been working for years on commercializing cellulsoic ethanol using light corn stover and corn cobs and this pilot program represents that last major hurdle for success.

As part of this program, POET Biomass will have a biomass storage building completed in time for harvest that will house up to 23,000 tons of biomass bales at any given time.

Along with progress comes concerns and Weishaar is very cognizant that people have concerns over what impact the removal of biomass will be on the soil. “We know there are concerns. So we want to make sure we understand all the aspects that are associated with that – soil erosion, nutrients, compaction, and storage characteristics,” said Weishaar.

All of these elements are being studied in conjunction with several partners including Idaho National Laboratory, Iowa State University and USDA’s Biomass Program and the goal is to have all major questions answered prior to the cellulosic ethanol plant going online.

“We are working around the logistics surrounding the collection, storage, and handling of the biomass so we’re ready to supply the feedstock in 2012,” said Weishaar.

As the world watches, there are still many who doubt commercial cellulosic ethanol will ever succeed. To that, Weishaar says the “proof is in the pudding” and they are ready to meet the country’s challenges of producing 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022 and reducing its dependence on foreign oil.”

Listen to the interview with Scott Weishaar here: Scott Weishaar Talks Biomass

Audio, biomass, Cellulosic, corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News, POET

Researcher ID’s Genes to Make Ethanol More Economical

Joanna Schroeder

The University of Illinois (U of I) has recently announced that one of their metabolic engineers has taken a major step in helping biofuels production become more efficient and economical. Yong-Su Jin, an assistant professor of microbial genomics as well as a faculty member in the U of I’s Institute for Genomic Biology, has developed a strain of yeast with increased alcohol tolerance. Yeast is used during the biofuel fermentation process to convert sugars from biomass into biofuels.

“At a certain concentration, the biofuels that are being created become toxic to the yeast used in making them. Our goal was to find a gene or genes that reduce this toxic effect,” said Jin.

Jin worked with Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the microbe most often used in making ethanol, to identify four genes (MSN2, DOG1, HAL1, and INO1) that improve tolerance to ethanol and iso-butanol when they are overexpressed.

“We expect these genes will serve as key components of a genetic toolbox for breeding yeast with high ethanol tolerance for efficient ethanol fermentation,” explained Jin.

According to a news release, researchers assessed the overexpressed genes’ contribution to the components that have limited biofuel production by testing them in the presence of high concentrations of glucose (10%), ethanol (5%), and iso-butanol (1%). These were then compared with the performance of a control strain of S. cerevisiae.

The results showed that overexpression of any of the four genes remarkably increased ethanol tolerance. However, the strain in which INO1 was overexpressed elicited the highest ethanol yield and productivity—with increases of more than 70 percent for ethanol volume and more than 340 percent for ethanol tolerance when compared to the control strain.

“Identification of these genes should enable us to produce transportation fuels from biomass more economically and efficiently. It’s a first step in understanding the cellular reaction that currently limits the production process,” Jin concluded.

Ethanol, Ethanol News

Chicago School Districts to Make Wind Power & Money

John Davis

Three school districts in the Chicago area plan not only to make all the power they need at a new wind farm, but they’ll also net an extra $3 million in the process.

UPI reports that the Keeneyville School District 20, Carpentersville’s Community Unit School District 300 and Prospect Heights School District 23 will be getting all of their energy from a wind farm they plan to build in rural Stark County 140 miles southwest of Chicago. And they’ll have enough extra energy to sell:

The districts’ school boards formed the School Wind Consortium, which is issuing bonds, seeking investors and applying for federal grants to raise $50 million.

All three districts have laid off staff and cut programs but still face budget shortfalls.

The consortium says it hopes to build and begin to operate the wind farm by fall of next year and expects it to bring in $3 million annually for about 30 years.

In 2007, Illinois passed legislation that allowed school districts, community colleges and towns to own and operate their own wind farms, but it’s not practical for too many locations to do so.

Wind

Commission In Calif. Considers Funds for Biodiesel Plant

John Davis

Commissioners in Santa Rosa County, California are considering whether to use the county’s name to help back bonds for a proposed biodiesel plant.

Biofuels Digest reports the chairman of the commission wants more information before signing off on the Integrated Energy Partners’ proposed biodiesel facility:

The facility intends to run year-round using camelina and other crops including cotton seed to produce 3 million gallons of biodiesel, 353,000 gallons of cellulosic ethanol, 9 million gallons of kerosene, and propane amounting to 437,000 gallons along with 47.8 MWh of electrical energy annually.

There are also plans to use municipal and other waste products as feedstocks for fuels.

Biodiesel, Cellulosic, Ethanol, Ethanol News, News