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

UNL Begins Expansion for Algae Research

Joanna Schroeder

UNL scientists will begin growing algae in bags like these later this year as part of their research into algal biofuels. George Oyler / courtesy photo.

Algae research continues to get a lot of focus. University of Nebraska-Lincoln has announced that it will expand its algae research center this year, dedicating more space in the Beadle Center greenhouse for the work. As reported by Biomass Magazine, the university received $1.9 million in federal funding for it current research in alternative energy and is anticipating additional funds.

Scientists, using natural algae strains, will begin by growing algae in bags. From there, they will move to oblong ponds. Along the way, they hope to achieve three goals as identified by Paul Black, a lipid biochemist at UNL who will be participating in the study: identify the best strains for maximum oil production; identify optimal growing conditions; and modify the algae for maximum cell density.

Currently, the research team is working with a photo bioreactor that is designed to increase cell density per unit volume from about two grams per liter to eight to 10 grams per liter, by exploring maximum light and carbon dioxide conditions, Black said. Cell density is important because their is a possibility of making it simpler to harvest the algae. “You’re in essence, fooling them,” said Black.

Another area of concentration is optimizing oil extraction. According to Black, the team has used organic solvents and is also looking at using carbon dioxide and high pressure.

Although there is no immediate timeframe for the establishment of tangible results, Black anticipates some compelling data to be forthcoming within a year.

algae, Biodiesel, Research

Has Gas Use Peaked?

Joanna Schroeder

It appears as if two things peaked in 2007…our economy and our thirst for driving. According to an article in McClatchy Newspapers, U.S. gasoline consumption peaked in 2007 and has not only not recovered, but never will – even after the recession ends. According to Steve Everly, the author of the article, there are several reasons why.

1) Federally mandated fuel economy increases.

2) The number of vehicles on the road will hit a plateau. Get this. There are 4-5 cars on the road for each person in the U.S. including children who can’t legally drive.

3) There will be enough alternative fuels to cover increased fuel needs (which up until 2007 grew each year since we discovered our love for driving using petroleum).

“We’re on a slow but inexorable path away from petroleum,” said James Williams, an analyst with WTRG Economics, an oil and gas consultancy. “This is a big deal.”

While this is good news for consumer pocketbooks, this is not such good news for oil companies who will lose billions of dollars each year from declining gas sales. According to the article, many oil companies are looking at adjusting their refinery capabilities, including the possibility of shutting some of them down. But this doesn’t mean petroleum will disappear. The Energy Information Administration predicts that by 2035, petroleum still will provide 88 percent of the fuel for cars and light trucks.

I’ll let you decide if this is good or bad news.


biofuels, Commentary, Energy

Free Biodiesel Music

Chuck Zimmerman

Emily Richards and Jason BrockIn case you can’t tell, I’m a big fan of the music of Emily Richards and Jason Brock since I first met them at a National Biodiesel Conference years ago. The photo is from one of the screens that was displaying them during their time on stage at the conference.

Emily announced that she and Jason have been working on a music project since last year’s conference. They’re using a service called CCMixster and have published the first of three albums. This first one is available for a free download right now. It’s already on my iPhone.

Emily says they wanted to create an album of music on biodiesel. They created a project called, “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Remix” or R4. They had about 50 musical contributions from the CCMixter community. The Brown album is the first of what will now be 3 albums. You can learn more about how the R4 project worked with this link.

After the final general session concluded I interviewed Emily and Jason along with CCMixster member Bob Nunnally. Jason describes the CCMixster community and how it fits in well with the biodiesel community.

You can listen to Emily’s comments about the new album project and their performance of one of the songs, Harmony, here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/nbb/nbc-10-harmony.mp3]

You can listen my interview with Emily, Jason and Bob here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/nbb/nbc-10-brown-album.mp3]

National Biodiesel Conference Photo Album

Audio, Biodiesel, Biodiesel Conference

More Thoughts On RFS-2

Chuck Zimmerman

Larry SchaferWith RFS-2 being such an important topic to anyone in the industry right now I conducted another interview on the subject with Larry Schafer, The Diamond Group. Larry moderated one of the panel discussions on the subject at the National Biodiesel Conference.

He says that the EPA has published the regulatory rules on line and there are a number of forms that will need to be completed for purposes of registration. NBB will conduct a number of webinars on the subject before July 1st which is the date set for the regulatory requirements of RFS-2. He encourages companies to get registered as soon as possible. All plants will need to be registered even if they were under the older RFS program. He says registration will take a while but there is time to get registered before the new start date. He encourages you to go to the EPA website for more information now.

I realize there are still a lot of questions about RFS-2 but as Larry says, the rules were just published last week and everyone is working hard to get up to speed on them and what they mean.

You can listen to my interview with Larry below.

National Biodiesel Conference Photo Album

Audio, Biodiesel, Biodiesel Conference

Kia’s Ray Plug-In Hybrid Debuts in Chicago

John Davis

A pretty bold concept car from Kia Motors that should be as green as it is cool looking has made its debut at this year’s Chicago Auto
Show.

The Detroit News reports that the Kia Ray Plug-in Hybrid concept was rolled out during a press conference this week and is the latest offering from the company’s global alternative fuel and powertrain research program:

The Kia Ray concept is a boldly styled four-seat compact sedan built on the Kia Forte platform that demonstrates a prospective plug-in hybrid configuration from Kia. It is designed with lightweight and recycled materials, and has hexagonal roof-top solar cells embedded in the glass roof panel to power extra lighting or climate control systems.

The Kia Ray is the fifth vehicle from the Irvine Calif.-based Kia Design Center America to be shown in the past year. The latest design from KDCA follows award-winning Kia vehicles Soul, Forte, Forte Koup and the all-new 2011 Sorento CUV.

Kia is offering an “EcoDynamics” sub-brand for its fuel-stretching and emissions-cutting technologies.

If anyone has a chance to go to this show (going on now through Feb. 21) and see this car first hand, let me know what you think.

Car Makers, Electric Vehicles

World’s First Hybrid Biomass-Solar Refinery Announced

John Davis

A Colorado company has come up with a way to harness to power of the sun to unlock the energy in biomass.

This post from the CalFinder blog says Sundrop Fuels has developed the world’s first hybrid solar-biomass refinery that uses concentrated solar power (CSP) to heat plant scraps and wood chips to create biofuel:

The use of solar power to reduce consumption of biomass at the refinery should considerably improve their product’s energy balance, i.e. energy put into production versus energy pulled out. Sundrop’s SurroundSun reactor technology is similar to relatively new Power Tower tech now used to create solar thermal electricity. In fact, Sundrop has licensed CSP technology from well-known start-up eSolar to make their prototype biorefinery a reality.

Instead of using mirrors to reflect sunlight and to heat water or molten salts in a central tower, Sundrop Fuels’ design will use that solar energy to heat biomass to very high temperatures. The solar heat “blasts organic materials with super high temperatures…tearing apart the materials at the molecular level…which creates a synthetic gas that can be formed into gasoline or diesel,” said Sundrop CEO Wayne Simmons.

Sundrop officials admit they will have to burn some biomass to hit the temps needed, but the process will get about 30 percent of the heat needed from the sun.

The company is hoping to find some investors for a demonstration project and another $100-150 million to build an 8-million-gallon-a-year plant.

biomass, Solar