New Ethanol Fact Book is Out

Cindy Zimmerman

The sixth edition of the Ethanol Fact Book highlights benefits of the U.S. ethanol program, underscoring 30 years of bipartisan support in Congress.

ethanol-across-americaPublished by the Clean Fuels Development Coalition and distributed through the Ethanol Across America campaign, the latest edition of the Ethanol Fact Book outlines how producing fuel ethanol in the United States generates jobs and wealth by processing domestic resources into clean burning transportation fuels.

The publication addresses issues regarding the ethanol tax incentive, energy security and oil import reductions, economic impacts and benefits to the U.S. Treasury, greenhouse gas reduction and environmental benefits, and advancements in cellulose conversion technologies. In addition, developments in flexible fuel vehicle production and high level blends are addressed.

U.S. Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) Co-Chair of the Ethanol Across America campaign said, “As Congress continues its work on an energy bill it is essential that it will continue to support and enhance our nation’s use of renewable fuels. Ethanol supports our efforts to create jobs, stimulate the economy, reduce the use of oil, and improve the environment. Through the Ethanol Across America education program, we are getting the facts out and believe when people understand the wide range of benefits ethanol provides they will continue to support it. The Clean Fuels Development Coalition has done a tremendous job in educating the public about this issue through this fact book.”

Ethanol, Ethanol News

METRO Helps NY

John Davis

Recently, I told you about how New York loves biodiesel, using the green fuel to run many of the city’s parks and recreation department vehicles and heat the agency’s buildings. One company that’s helping parks and rec keep their buildings warm with biodiesel is Brooklyn-based METRO Fuel Oil Corp.

“Our initiative is to help New York become a cleaner, greener city,” says Jason Abrams, a marketing communications specialist with METRO. He says besides the city’s parks and rec department, they provide the biofuels, biodiesel and bioheat in fleets, buildings and homes.

Abrams points out that diesel fuel burners don’t need any kind of conversion to run biodiesel. In fact, it can even help a motor or boiler run better, and of course, cleaner … even to the point of actually cleaning a burner.

“I remember one [superintendent] I was talking to telling me that he could actually see the metal, where before he was using such dirty oil, he could just see the black of crude oil.”

METRO has been around since 1942, using petroleum to replace the even dirtier fuel, coal. He sees the company continuing the tradition of finding a better, cleaner burning fuel by now distributing biodiesel. Right now, they get that biodiesel through a pipeline from the Midwest. But soon, they’ll have their own refinery scheduled to open in 2011 that will use a variety of feedstocks, including soy oil, canola oil and even waste grease. And even the grease collection will be something that gives back to the community. They’ve teamed up with The Doe Fund, Inc., operator of New York City’s largest socially-conscious collector of used cooking oil, to get waste grease picked up and delivered to METRO’s soon-to-be-completed refinery.

“[Doe] employs formerly homeless people to pick up the grease from restaurants across the city,” giving needed jobs to those who desperately need them.

Abrams says when they go to trade shows they give out green apples to reinforce their message of “Greening the Big Apple.”

Listen to more of my conversation with Jason in the player below.

Jason Abrams METRO interview
Biodiesel

ASTM Voting on Biodiesel Standards at KC Meeting

John Davis

Biodiesel could be divided into two different grades, if some backers of a new grading system at the ASTM meeting this week in Kansas City, Mo.

Biodiesel Magazine reports there are several ballots up for a vote that would have biodiesel graded as No.1 and No.2, much like regular diesel … a proposal backed by the National Biodiesel Board’s technical director Steve Howell:

“The specs we currently have work just fine for 99 percent of the people. The philosophy is like with No.1 and No.2 diesel—No.2 works fine for about everybody, but if for some reason it doesn’t work for you, try premium diesel fuel.”

Not everyone, however, agrees that a No.1/No.2 biodiesel spec would be good for the industry. One source told Biodiesel Magazine that this approach could drive down the price of most biodiesel, what would be No.2, while placing a premium on No.1. It could also discourage use of feedstock with less than desirable cloud point and other properties.

Howell said as diesel fuel and engines change, the biodiesel specification will have to adapt.

The article goes on to say that a new test method allowing the Cognis QTA system to be used for analysis of multiple biodiesel properties is also being considered. NBB officials say, if adopted, it would be the first time an American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS) test method would be adopted into an ASTM method. The benefit would be that it allow suppliers and users to simply put a drop of fuel on the analyzer and get instant analysis for several properties, making the process cheaper and quicker.

Biodiesel, NBB

ZeaChem Claims Successful Ethanol Conversion

Cindy Zimmerman

ZeachemBiomass refinery developer ZeaChem today announced the successful production of ethanol at a capacity that can be scaled to commercial production.

According to a news release, ZeaChem’s results have been confirmed by third party vendors and the company will now demonstrate the integration of its biorefining processes at its 250,000 gallon per year Boardman, Oregon biorefinery, announced earlier this month. The company plans begin cellulosic ethanol production at the plant next year.

Using off-the-shelf catalysts and standard equipment in an innovative way, ZeaChem produced ethanol from ethyl acetate through a process called hydrogenation –a common industrial practice that is readily scaled to commercial levels.

“Through the successful production of ethanol, we’ve completed ZeaChem’s C2 carbon chain suite of products, which includes acetic acid, ethyl acetate, and ethanol,” said Jim Imbler, president and CEO of ZeaChem. “The next step is to integrate these known processes to achieve the ultimate target of commercial production of economical and sustainable biofuels and bio-based chemicals.”

ZeaChem’s technology uses a bacteria found in termite guts in an anaerobic fermentation process that produces no CO2 emissions.

biomass, Cellulosic, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Book Review – The Economics of Food

Joanna Schroeder

It wasn’t too long ago that the ethanol industry experienced the perfect storm…high energy prices, high corn prices and low ethanol prices. Also during this time food prices rose. Why? While the reality was that high energy prices were a major factor (oil was more than $15o per barrel at its peak), ethanol was blamed over and over again as the major culprit. Today, research papers are still being published saying that ethanol was not the main offender; yet the debate is still active. So this week, I read the book, “The Economics of Food,” by Patrick Westhoff. To disclose Westhoff’s background, he grew up on an Iowa farm, has a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from Iowa State University and currently co-directs the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri.

Westhoff acknowledges very quickly that ethanol did have a role in rising food costs.”Biofuels played an important role in the rise and fall of food prices between 2005-2009, but other factors were also at play. Anything that affects the amount of food produced or consumed in the world will have some impact on food prices.” After explaining what some of those other factors are, he writes, “Thus, a first rule of thumb: Increasing biofuel production raises the price of food.” (Author’s italics.)

Westhoff presents both sides of the “food and fuel” debate in his book and says that in certain arguments, both sides are right (the proponents and opponents). He then stresses that biofuels did not play as large of a role in rising food prices as detractors claim, but he also said that biofuels played a larger role in food prices that biofuels supporters acknowledge. After he lays out the true impact of biofuels and food prices, he then lays out some possible scenarios for the future.Read More

book reviews, corn, food and fuel

EPAC’s 20th Annual Conference Kicks Off

Ethanol Producers and Consumers (EPAC), an educational outreach non-profit organization who supports the production and use of biofuels as a renwable alternative fuel, kicked off their 20th annual conference today in Missoula, MT. “The Biofuel Journey” conference held a number of sessions focusing on ethanol, biodiesel and small grains.

“Twenty years! Who would have thought it?” noted Chairman of the EPAC board, Shirley Ball in her welcome. “Thanks for being here in 2010 to help us celebrate!”

Montana’s Director of Agriculture Ron De Yong presented opening remarks this morning followed by a video greeting from Senator Max Baucus, Senator Jon Tester and Representative Dennis Rehberg. The session that followed, The Journey Begins. . . “The OFEC (Old Fogie Ethanol Coalition) Perspective” included presentations from Shirley Ball, Larry Johnson of LLJ Consulting and Business Development, Dave Hallberg of PRIME BioSolutions, Patsy Reimche of EPAC, and Todd Sneller of the Nebraska Ethanol Board.

Sessions following included speakers on the topics of: Early Years – Early Support – The Industry Grows, Air Quality, Biodiesel, and Small Grains.

The EPAC conference concludes tomorrow with presentations on: Cellulosic Ethanol, DDG’s, Beyond the Blend Wall: E85, Green Jobs and more.

blends, E85, Ethanol, Ethanol News, News

23rd Ethanol Conference Just Around the Corner

Joanna Schroeder

It’s hard to believe that the 23rd Ethanol Conference and Trade Show is just around the corner. This year’s event will be held in Kansas City on August 3-5th and there is a lot of excitement surrounding the conference. To get an update on what attendees will be able to learn during the event, I sat down with Brian Jennings, the Executive Vice President for the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE).

Jennings told me that they are really going to focus on a lot of the key issues that are so critical to the industry today. He also mentioned that they would also be talking about some of the things they’re doing on blender pumps.

However, on the policy side, Jennings explained that the ethanol tax credit, VETC, is set to expire at the end of this year as is the ethanol tariff if Congress fails to act. There will be sessions dedicated to discussing the benefits of both pieces of policy and they hope to have several current or aspiring legislators on hand to give an update on where they are at.

“There is bi-partisan legislation today in both houses of Congress that would extend both for five years,” said Jennings. “And that’s what we’re working to support and we’re doing that in conjunction with both groups.” Jennings continued to explain that Congress is going to have an opportunity to tackle that in a couple of different ways. In the Senate, Jennings believes, we’ll see this as an energy bill, likely to work its way through in July.

The conference will also feature break-out sessions dedicated to answering some key questions for ethanol producers such as the tailoring rule coming out from the EPA on greenhouse gases as well as learn about some new programs for ethanol producers that were passed as part of the Farm Bill.

They will also spend some time discussing the implications of the gulf spill. “We’re not going to attack the oil companies by doing so, but I think it’s critically important for people to get a good grasp of what the costs associated with our addiction to oil are,” said Jennings. He continued by saying these costs go beyond what consumers pay at the pump and stressed that we do have alternatives to oil today.

Registration is currently open and you can register online here. In addition, you can get more in-depth information about the conference by listening to my full interview with Brian. Brian Jennings Interview

ACE, Audio, Ethanol

Need For Research On Grain Quality and Ethanol Production

Chuck Zimmerman

Leland McKinneyYou may be interested to know how grain quality affects ethanol production and DDGs. If so, then you would interested in Leland McKinney’s presentation at the Corn Utilization and Technology Conference, held recently in Atlanta. I spoke with him to learn about his research on this topic. Leland is Extension State Leader in the Dept. of Grain Science at Kansas State University.

To start with he says that getting information presented a challenge since there’s not a lot of it publicly available. So, without much data to work with he visited personally with industry representatives to find out their thoughts and put together an overview presentation on the subject. He says moisture and how it impacts grinding efficiency and water balance in an ethanol plant were mentioned as well as quality attributes like fermentable starch and test weight. When it comes to the DDGs he says mycotoxins came up frequently as a concern. The bottom line though is that research is needed on how grain quality effects the production of ethanol. Hopefully that will be done before another CUTC!

Leland McKinney Interview
Audio, corn, CUTC, Distillers Grains, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Corn Growers Say Now is Time for Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

NCGANo time like Independence Day to renew the call for renewables to increase our energy independence.

This week, with Congress preparing for an Independence Day recess prior to debate on a new energy bill, the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) is stepping up its campaign to ensure that corn-based ethanol is part of the formula that brings our country to energy security and independence. That includes a new television ad stressing the importance of ethanol that starts airing today on local news programs in Washington and on major cable channels such as Fox, CNN and MSNBC.

“It’s now clear that events both here at home and abroad demand a different solution to our energy needs,” the ad states. “One that protects our national security, safeguards our environment and promotes economic growth. One answer grows in our own backyard. Turning American corn into America’s energy. It’s renewable, efficient, abundant and safe. And it creates American jobs. We feed the world; we can fuel it, too. Ethanol. Now is the time.”

Watch the ad below and read more about the NCGA campaign here.

corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News, NCGA

Senators Call for Increasing Ethanol Blend Rate

Cindy Zimmerman

Midwestern senators are calling on the Obama administration to stop delaying testing that would allow an increase in the blend rate of ethanol in gasoline to 15 percent.

amy klobucharIn a letter to President Obama, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and six other senators expressed concern that the Department of Energy (DOE) has not yet completed testing higher blends of ethanol gasoline, which would allow the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue a waiver for gasoline with blends of ethanol higher than 10 percent.

“In the wake of the worst oil spill in our nation’s history, we believe our government should operate with a great sense of urgency to utilize more homegrown biofuels,” the senators wrote in the letter. “We urge you to use all available means to ensure that the DOE’s testing is completed as soon as possible so that both consumers and our biofuels industry are not further harmed by this delay.”

In addition to Klobuchar, the letter was signed by Democratic senators from Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska, Illinois and Indiana.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Government