Fagens Receive First RFA Membership Award

Cindy Zimmerman

2010 National Ethanol Conference Photo Album

Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) chairman Chris Standlee introduced a new award at the opening session of the 15th annual National Ethanol Conference to recognize individuals who have dedicated their time, energy, resources and ideas to making the ethanol industry and RFA what it is today. The first recipients of the award were Ron and Diane Fagen of Fagen, Inc.

“Member involvement fuels the engine of success,” said Standlee. “Given RFA’s nearly three decades of history there are many people to recognize who helped to build the industry.”

Standlee noted the Fagens’ commitment and leadership to the industry that has helped the industry become “the most energy efficient ethanol industry in the world.”

Fagen is the largest, most respected green energy design-builder in the nation. As President & CEO of the family-owned business, Ron Fagen has been involved in industrial construction since 1974.

I did a brief interview with Ron after he received the award about what Fagen Inc. is up to these days and his outlook on the industry, as well as his feelings about being the first recipient of the RFA Membership Award.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

State of Ethanol Industry is Strong

Cindy Zimmerman

Compared to last year, Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen faced a much happier crowd for the opening session of the 15th Annual National Ethanol Conference.

“A year ago, at this event, we met amidst the worst economic climate since the Depression. Commodity markets were in upheaval, investment dollars had evaporated, gasoline demand was falling, production costs were rising, plants were closing and the very foundation of our industry and our economy was shaking,” said Dinneen. “At that time, I summoned Winston Churchill to admonish you, ‘When you‟re going through hell, keep on going!'”

Dinneen was happy to report that the industry did persevere and survive, “And now, I can say, with confidence and conviction, that the state of the U.S. ethanol industry is strong,” he said.

Among the accomplishments for the industry, Dinneen noted 15% growth, reopening 14 plants that had been previously idled, starting up 8 new plants, and adding1.5 billion gallons of capacity. The ethanol industry contributed $53.3 billion to the economy, along with 400,000 jobs and reducing oil imports by 364 million barrels.

There is an online photo album started from the event for your viewing pleasure: 2010 National Ethanol Conference Photo Album

Read the text of Dinneen’s speech here – listen to or download it in the player below – see the video in the previous post:

Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA, Uncategorized

Live Speech from NEC

Melissa Sandfort

We’re broadcasting the opening general session live from National Ethanol Conference. Afterward we’ll be posting a recording of it your you to view at your leisure.

*Post update*

Below is the recorded video of the opening general session which includes comments from Renewable Fuels Association chairman Chris Standlee, President and CEO Bob Dinneen and part of the first session on the RFS2.

Watch live streaming video from zimmcomm at livestream.com

2010 National Ethanol Conference Photo Album

Ethanol, Ethanol News, National Ethanol Conference

VW Picks Drivers for Biodiesel-fueled Races

John Davis

Twenty-five drivers, including 16 new ones, have been chosen for the third season of Volkswagen’s 2010 Jetta TDI® Cup, an SCCA Pro Racing-sanctioned event that features young drivers (16 to 26 years old) driving practically identical VWs running on a 5 percent biodiesel blend.

This VW press release says the racing begins in April:

“Our third year for the Jetta TDI Cup is already shaping up to be the best one yet,” said Clark Campbell, Motorsport Manager, Volkswagen of America, Inc. “We were given the extremely difficult task of selecting only 25 drivers from a such diverse group of individuals who, honestly, all deserve the chance to compete. With 16 new drivers and 9 more returning from previous seasons, the field is undoubtedly set for top-notch competition and racing excitement.”

Drivers will race in ten Jetta TDI Cup events spanning seven road courses in the United States and Mexico in identical, factory-prepared and maintained Jetta TDIs running on clean diesel fuel. The series Champion will win $100,000 toward career development support from Volkswagen, while every driver who competes in the series will earn a Pro Racing license from SCCA at the finish of the season.

You can see the complete list of drivers and the race schedule here.

Biodiesel

Renewable Petroleum Co. to Produce Biodiesel in Fla.

John Davis

While most of the renewable energy news coming out of Florida this week is about ethanol with the National Ethanol Conference going on in Orlando, a California renewable petroleum company has announced it will be making biodiesel in the Sunshine State.

Biomass Magazine reports that LS9 will retrofit an existing fermentation facility in Okeechobee to make its UltraClean Diesel and chemicals on a demonstration scale with commercial scale production to follow:

“The beauty of this facility is that it’s scalable,” said Jon Ballesteros, spokesperson for LS9. “It already has the large, commercial-scale equipment.” Using LS9’s proprietary one-step fermentation process, the demonstration facility will be producing 50,000 to 100,000 gallons of renewable transportation fuel by the end of the year, according to the company. After testing and demonstrations are complete, scale up can begin.

The demonstration plant will initially run on sugar cane syrup provided by local suppliers, Ballesteros said, but will also be utilized in testing other feedstocks such as wood chips and agricultural waste. “We will test and optimize the use of sugars derived from cellulosic biomass,” he said.

Ballesteros declined to release a cost estimate for the project. “But the facility has much of the equipment we need, so the retrofit will not require extensive capital outlays,” he said. The six-month construction process will create 30 to 50 jobs, along with 15 to 20 once operational, according to LS9. Purchase agreements for the biodiesel are still being discussed with a number of interested parties, he added.

The company goes on to say the new facility will demonstrate LS9’s one-step manufacturing process is ready and capable of bringing low-cost, low-carbon fuels to market … good for the company and biofuels in this country.

Biodiesel

Climate Change at Ethanol Conference

Cindy Zimmerman

The mood is definitely a little brighter at this year’s National Ethanol Conference compared to last year. You can tell that the industry is in a better place and the climate has changed with plants reopening and the economy turning back around.

The theme of the conference is “Climate of Opportunity” and the program officially opened this evening with the welcome reception, sponsored by Fagen, Inc., which followed the annual golf tournament. The opening general session will kick off at 8:00 am Eastern time on Tuesday morning and we will be live streaming the state of the industry address by Bob Dinneen, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association.

We will also be hearing from Paul Machiele with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency about the new RFS2 rule, debate indirect land use change, view the international landscape for ethanol and get the perspective of the automotive industry from Tom Stephens of General Motors.

The Flickr photo album is started here – 2010 National Ethanol Conference photos

Join us for continuing coverage of the conference this week on Domestic Fuel.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, National Ethanol Conference, RFA

Two New Ethanol Plants on Horizon

Joanna Schroeder

Bionol Clearfield, LLC, a 110 MMgy ethanol plant based in Clearfield, Pa is officially in production according to general manager Roger Schmidt. Performance testing began on February 8th and today, the plant is running at 100 percent. This is the first ethanol plant in the state and will use corn to produce the ethanol. According to Schmidt, the plant’s advantage is that it is located close to several New York blending terminals which will help ethanol to break into that marketplace.

Ethanol Producer Magazine also announced that North Carolina’s first ethanol plant, Clean Burn Fuels, is nearing completion. The biorefinery will will produce 60 MMgy of corn-based ethanol and 175,000 tons of dried distillers grains per year. In the article, Doug Archer the general manager, anticipates that the plant’s first grind is less than eight weeks away.

Both of these plants will come online at a time when the market is turning more favorable for ethanol. On February 3, 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced is expanded rules for the Renewable Fuels Standard. Of special note, is that corn-based ethanol, when compared to conventional gasoline, lowers greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 20 percent. In addition, all new corn-based ethanol plants are now considered compliant with the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 that states that all conventional biofuels much reduce GHG emissions by at least 20 percent.

Company Announcement, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Ethanol Still Being Penalized By EPA

Chuck Zimmerman

USGC International Marketing ConferenceThe U.S. Grains Council is holding its 7th Annual International Marketing Conference and 50th Annual Membership Meeting in Mexico. One of the main purposes of this meeting is for the organization to create a new working plan for the development of U.S. grain exports and a bright spot for corn growers has been the growth in the export of DDGS.

I’m attending the meeting and had a chance to visit with National Corn Growers Association CEO, Rick Tolman, seen here addressing one of the conference meetings. NCGA is a founding member of the U.S. Grains Council.

Rick, who worked for USGC for many years, says that NCGA considers the Grains Council their international trade partner. The two organizations have a very strong working relationship. He says one of the things he’s really happy to hear discussed here at this meeting is how well exports of DDGS have been due to the efforts of the Grains Council. That’s good news for corn growers for whom the production of ethanol is so important right now. He says that the Grains Council is looking at other value added products they can promote for export too.

Since Rick is here instead of attending the National Ethanol Conference which gets underway today I asked him what’s going on in the ethanol industry from a corn growers perspective. He says there is a whole list of challenges and opportunities for ethanol. He says that with the final rule making on the RFS-2 it has improved the regulations but also created some challenges. It has given more optimism for growth of the business he says but the EPA is still giving a big penalty to ethanol for indirect land use change. He says it’s “tying an anvil around the ankle of the industry and trying to move forward and compete.” NCGA will continue to work with EPA to remove the unfair part of the new rules.

By the way, Cindy is attending the National Ethanol Conference so you’ll be seeing her coverage here on Domestic Fuel once the meeting gets going. The opening general session will be tomorrow morning.

You can listen to my interview with Rick here:

Audio, corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Indirect Land Use, NCGA

Mansfield Oil Expands Ethanol Marketing

Mansfield Oil Company will be joining forces with Permeate Refining, an advanced biofuel producer that processes waste by-products. According to PRWEB.com this three year partnership is in conjunction with C&N Companies to market ethanol.

“This is our first relationship with an advanced biofuel plant that produces fuel ethanol from non-food feedstock, which also meets the new categories defined in the RFS2 guidelines. We believe a growing number of plants will be developed that can produce increasing quantities of biofuels from the widely distributed range of non-food feedstock. These facilities will be required to meet advanced biofuels and low carbon fuel standards. We are excited about Permeate’s current production capabilities, as well as their plans to expand their technology to plants nationwide that leverage local access to a wide range of feedstock,” said Douglas Haugh, EVP of Mansfield Oil.

Randy Less, General Manager for Permeate Refining is pleased to be working with C&N and is secure tthat the group can find the the best customers their products.

Jon Bjornstad, who founded C&N added, “I’m excited about the technology approach proven by Permeate’s current production and believe that their success is a testament to the progress being made today by the ethanol industry to produce greater volumes of the advanced biofuels required under RFS2.”

Cellulosic, Distribution, Ethanol, News

You’re Ugly But “We” Love You Big Oil

Joanna Schroeder

My Week of Oil is coming to a close (but will never end) and California has made another interesting move. The California Energy Commission has a new Commissioner – Anthony Eggert. Two highlights of his career include his time serving as the Science and Technology Adviser to Mary Nichols at the California Air Resources Board. Prior to that, he did his Ph.D under Daniel Sperling at the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies. Sperling is a huge proponent of hydrogen and opponent of ethanol.

Wowzers. Things could get even uglier in California.

While we wait for the fall-out of yet another Big Oil enthusiast securing a high-level energy position, I want to reiterate my disgust over the state’s earlier move in turning down the $11 million in stimulus funds for 55 E85 pumps in Southern California. The reason according to an article in The San Diego Union Tribune, “But the regional agency in Los Angeles that would have received the money for the project voted last week to reject it, in part because its members don’t believe that ethanol is a worthy alternative to gasoline.”

Really? Then why did you bother wasting your time in passing and enacting the Low Carbon Fuels Standard? The only options to reduce carbon dioxide are propane, natural gas and biofuels and natural gas is fossil-fuel based and propane is virtually only available for fleets. Biofuels are the only immediate option today to reduce CO2 emissions.

The state of California is like a person cheating on his diet – they are advocating a clean energy diet, but eating copious amounts ‘fossil fuels’ mainly sugar and carbs. With this type of thinking, and other states unfortunately looking up to California, our country will never achieve a sustainable and secure energy program, and this my friends, is a very scary position in which to be.

Energy, Opinion