Growth Energy Takes Ethanol Message to DC Metro

Cindy Zimmerman

Capitol Hill commuters will be hard pressed to miss the message that ethanol is America’s clean fuel as they travel the DC metro system this month.

Starting at the foot of the escalator with a 10’x12′ floor mat with oil-soaked boot prints and the words “No beaches have been closed due to ETHANOL spills…. America’s CLEAN fuel,” the entire Capitol South Metro stop is saturated with positive ethanol messages from top to bottom.

Growth Energy chose the closest stop to the U.S. Capitol, the offices of the House of Representatives, and the headquarters of both the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee as the focus of a month-long advertising “take over” that includes 46 posters, banners, floor graphics, pylon wraps and posters that cover the station. Christopher Thorne, public affairs director for Growth Energy, said the group launched the station domination to increase awareness among top decision-makers of the benefits of domestic ethanol as an alternative to oil.

“For the next month, every person walking through the Capitol South Metro stop will see our message that domestic ethanol is America’s fuel because it is renewable, clean, homegrown, creates U.S. jobs and strengthens our national security,” Thorne said. “As Congress debates energy and climate legislation, we want to make sure that domestic ethanol is part of the conversation. There is no question as to ethanol’s benefits – we are just seeking to turn up the volume and target our audience at a critical time.”

An estimated 423,000 visitors are expected to travel through the Metro station during the month of June. The “take-over” coincides with a six-month, $2.5 million campaign currently airing six television spots on four cable networks: Fox, MSNBC, CNN and HLN (formerly Headline News). Each of the six spots focuses on a particular message about ethanol: Independent, Clean, Renewable, Peace, Sensible and Economic.

Ethanol, Growth Energy

Emulsified Biodiesel to be Used at Port of LA

John Davis

The Port of Los Angeles could soon be using a cleaner blend of biodiesel that actually uses some water.

This post on the BrighterEnergy.org website says Alternative Petroleum Technologies has completed the commissioning of an emulsified biodiesel blending unit near Sacramento, California:

The company, which has its US headquarters in Reno, Nevada, said the new facility has a capacity to produce 14 million liters (3.7 million gallons) each year.

It will initially be used to supply emulsified biodiesel to the Port of Los Angeles, under a deal agreed back in March 2010.

But APT said once the LA program is running on a continuous basis, it will market the fuel in California’s larger cities along major state highways.

APT’s emulsified biodiesel is a blend of water, B-20 biodiesel and an additive that the company claims can cut the nitrous oxide (NOx) emissions associated with the use of biodiesel fuel.

Company officials say the emulsified biodiesel requires no modifications to old or new diesel engines.

Biodiesel

Biodiesel Catalyst Nominated for R&D Award

John Davis


A catalyst for biodiesel production has been nominated for an award that represents the most technologically significant products introduced into the marketplace over the past year.

FavStocks.com reports that Idaho National Laboratory’s supercritical/solid catalyst that turns waste fats, oils and greases into biodiesel production is up for one of R&D Magazine’s 100 Awards:

The Supercritical/Solid Catalyst (SSC) can handle waste greases with up to 100% free fatty acid (FFA) content, more than 30% water content, and high in impurities such as sulfur, phosphorous, calcium and others.

SSC mixes fat or oil feedstock with supercritical fluid solvents and alcohols at specific temperatures and pressures to completely dissolve the materials during a single supercritical phase. This approach overcomes a key barrier—the polar liquid phase in conventional biodiesel production—which requires multiple steps.

The technology is already being tested in the field. BioFuelBox, Inc. of San Jose, Calif. has a pilot plant in American Falls, Idaho that is turning the worst waste into the cleanest of B100 biodiesel.

Biodiesel, Research, Video

SD Blender Pump Program Success

Cindy Zimmerman

South Dakota has just concluded the sign up period for a blender pump program that offers gas station owners $10,000 per blender pump they install.

The program was created by legislation from State Representative Mitch Fargen with the funding coming from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Grant applications were accepted April 1 through May 28, and more than 100 applications were submitted.

ACEThe American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) praised the grant program that will greatly enhance consumer fuel choice in South Dakota. “This is an outstanding opportunity for South Dakota gas stations, and once the station owners heard about the grant program, it basically sold itself – as evidenced by the fact that the number of grant applications exceeded the goal of the program,” said Ron Lamberty, Vice President of Market Development for ACE.

The legislation passed earlier this year approved $1 million for retailers in South Dakota to install blender pumps for ethanol up to 85 percent.

ACE, blends, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Ethanol Plants Improve Efficiency

Cindy Zimmerman

Ethanol plants continue to increase in efficiency. A new University of Illinois at Chicago study of facilities that produce most of the nation’s ethanol found that the energy needed to make a gallon of the corn-based fuel decreased on average by about 30 percent within the past decade.

The study, conducted by Dr. Steffen Mueller at the Energy Resources Center at the university and funded by the Illinois Corn Marketing Board, surveyed 90 of the 150 dry mill ethanol plants operating during 2008. Results were compared to a 2001 survey conducted by BBI International on behalf of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In 2001, ethanol plants used an average of 36,000 Btu of thermal energy and 1.09 kWh of electrical energy, per gallon of ethanol. They also produced 2.64 gallons of ethanol per bushel. Ethanol plants in 2008 used an average of 25,859 Btu of thermal energy and 0.74 kWh of electricity per gallon of ethanol produced – that’s 28 and 32 percent less than 2001, respectively. Ethanol per bushel of corn, meanwhile, increased 5.3 percent to 2.78 gallons per bushel.

The findings may prove useful to state and federal energy policy makers studying the pros and cons of fuels based on their “full life-cycle” — the total energy needed to create a fuel compared to its energy output, the greenhouse gases emitted during production, the water used in production, and other factors.

“Policy makers rightfully pay attention to life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of fuels,” said Mueller. “Biofuel refineries, including corn ethanol plants, are in a rapid innovation phase.”

He said his survey shows that adoption of new technologies reduces energy production needs since many older dry mill ethanol plants installed energy efficiency retrofits during that time period.

corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News

“Wrong” to Candidate’s Ethanol, Biodiesel Bashing

John Davis

A candidate for the U.S. Senate from Iowa has responded to one of his rivals statements calling ethanol and biodiesel subsidies “bologna, bologna” by calling the statement “wrong, wrong!”

During the recent debate on Iowa Public TV for the Democratic nomination to face presumptive Republican nominee Sen. Charles Grassley, former state Sen. Tom Fiegen bashed the support for ethanol and biodiesel, blaming the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on “drilling for natural gas because all of our ethanol plants are fired by natural gas.”

Rivals former state Rep. Bob Krause and Roxanne Conlin disagreed. In fact, Krause called Fiegen’s evaluation “wrong, wrong,” and pointed out:

Ethanol has been an important thing for Iowa because we’ve been able to keep the protein of the corn and get rid of the carbohydrates of the corn. I think that if you talk to anybody, yeah it’s an infinite industry, yeah there are some substantial subsidies but if we don’t push in that direction what else are we going to have. Are we going to go out and deep drill some more and give those subsidies or subsidize with troops in Iraq ? Are we going to do that? That’s a subsidy too.

Conlin added that the real subsidies are going to the richest industries in the world, Big Oil, and [w]e’re sending all kinds of money to people who hate us, $100 million a day to Iran .

The latest Public Policy Polling poll in the Des Moines Register has Fiegen far behind both Conklin (48 percent) and Krause (31 percent), attracting just 8 percent of potential voters.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Ethanol News, News

Ethanol Industry Teams with Veterans

For another year, the Clean Fuels Development Coalition (CFDC), the Ethanol Across America education campaign, and the FlexFuel Vehicle (FFV) Club paid homage to U.S. Military Vetarans on Memorial Day. The groups teamed with Volunteers of Underage Military Service (VUMS) at the national Memorial Day parade in Washington D.C. to highlight the role of energy and national security.

According to the Ethanol Across America press release, more than 20,000 attended the parade through the nation’s capitol and honored hundreds of veterans.

“Our slogan is There is no National Security without Energy Security,” said Marine Lt. Col. (ret) William C. Holmberg, a VUM and a board member of the American Council On Renewable Energy. “Groups like CFDC, Ethanol Across America, the Flexible Fuel Vehicle Club, the Renewable Fuels Association, and ACORE work every day to increase that awareness. Marching together in the shadow of the Washington Monument, the Capitol, and the memorials helps people get the connection that much of the unrest around the globe has links to oil. Increasing our supply of domestic fuels makes our nation safer and more secure, plain and simple.”

The procession included the CFDC/Ethanol Across America FlexFuel Chevy Avalanche and the Flexible Fuel Vehicle Club’s Chevy Tahoe, the Renewable Fuels Association’s Ford E85-Electric Hybrid Escape, and several electric hybrid vehicles.

“Under any circumstances it would be an honor for us to be part of the salute to all those who have served. Our generation sees the loss of jobs, wealth, and military cost of importing more than 60% of our oil, and we have an opportunity to do something about it,” said Douglas A. Durante, Director of the Ethanol Across America program. “If reducing our dependence on oil keeps us out of one less conflict, and keeps young Americans from having to be memorialized, then we should all be working toward that goal.”

According to FlexFuel Vehicle Club President Burl Haigwood, the parade provided an opportunity to increase public awareness that we can do something about it, right now. “With nearly 8 million flex fuel vehicles on the road today, if we ran those vehicles on clean, domestic fuels like ethanol we could reduce our reliance on unstable regimes and reduce the military costs of protecting our oil interests. Consumers can utilize the flex fuel vehicles they already own and look at the flex fuel vehicle option for future purchases,” said Haigwood.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, News

Running Out of Room for Wind Farms?

John Davis

There are concerns that the best areas for wind energy farms have been taken up, and that could be slowing development of wind energy in this country.

This piece in Renewable Energy World International Magazine talks about how it’s getting too hard to find large areas of land with strong and steady winds that have a welcoming community and easy access to transmission:

‘When I talk to developers, this is their biggest issue of concern at the moment. The best spots are taken’, said Joanne Howard, vice consul (Energy) at UK Trade & Investment with the British Consulate-General in Houston, Texas.

With the prime wind sites gone – or disappearing quickly – where does the wind industry go from here?

So far developers in fast-growing markets have been able to overcome the problem by pursuing short-term innovations to improve lesser sites or capture niche markets. In some cases, they are realigning their development queue and focusing on projects in untapped countries. In short, they are rethinking their approach. As Javier Mateache, CEO of Gestamp Wind North America puts it: ‘The answer is not blowing in the wind, but in our brains and hands.’

In the US, a lack of transmission continues to be a primary restraint to the growth of onshore wind farms. The US has land aplenty with strong wind, but it remains undeveloped for lack of a way to get the power to market. Transmission lines cost roughly US$1 million per mile to build in the US. Given that prime wind sites are often far from where the wind power is needed, the price tag is hefty and the federal government has yet to resolve who will pay the bill. Wind developers shy away from proposing wind farms where no transmission yet exists and utilities don’t want to put money into building transmission unless they know a generator stands ready to use the lines. Wind industry insiders call this the transmission chicken and egg dilemma.

In addition to the issue of getting the power from the areas producing it to the areas needing it, farmers have become more savvy about the value of their fields where the wind turbines and transmission lines would be located. The fact that power lines would have to go through multiple jurisdictions is also deterring some companies some jumping in.

The article goes on to say the solution might be more, smaller wind farms closer to population areas, and more importantly, closer to the transmission infrastructure.

Wind

Canada Launching $1.6 Million Biodiesel Study

John Davis

Canadian forest products company FPInnovations has partnered with Natural Resources, Canada’s National Renewable Diesel Demonstration Initiative, to launch a $1.625 million field study to study the potential of biodiesel in off-road machinery in highway construction and forest operations.

The Journal of Commerce reports that FPInnovations and Natural Resources are splitting the costs to find the best way to overcome some of the economical and technical challenges Canada’s environment could pose for biodiesel:

The study involves three project locations and industrial activities in British Columbia: highway construction in Coquitlam, sawmill yard operation in Prince George, and forest harvest operations in Merritt.

The Prince George location is ideal for this project as it highlights the difficulties facing biodiesel users, including challenging climate conditions, and a remote location in which distribution and storage can be difficult.

The Coquitlam location is of interest for the construction sector because it will demonstrate the logistical challenges in delivering biodiesel blends to their jobsites.

The logging and sawmill operations use about 15,000 gallons of fuel each month.

Just last week, we told you how ethanol and biodiesel add $2 billion to Canada’s economy.

Biodiesel

Devil Dogs Testing Biodiesel in Hawaii

John Davis

From the halls of Montezuma… to the shores of Tripoli… they have vowed to fight our country’s battles… in the air, on land and sea. So it seems only fitting on this Memorial Day, we talk about how Marines in Hawaii could soon be fighting those battles using biodiesel.

Marine Corps Base Hawaii has launched a two-vehicle demonstration project to test B20 biodiesel in tactical vehicles:

The project team will monitor fuel quality and stability, as well as the vehicles’ operational parameters while using the renewable bio fuel blend during an eight to 12 month period…

The B20 biodiesel use for this demonstration is locally produced from used cooking oil, to include all the cooking oil collected from dining facilities here on base. Reusing the cooking oil reduces waste and saves money that would be required for its disposal. The bio fuel is then locally blended with the petroleum diesel to form B20 biodiesel.

The use of sustainable fuels will help the base meet its ambitious energy goals, in addition to goals established by the Marine Corps and Department of Defense.

Hopefully, if the demonstration project is successful, it can be applied to more vehicles that burn diesel.

Biodiesel