Dow Showcasing Biodiesel Solutions at NBB Conference

John Davis

Just another reason for you to attend this year’s National Biodiesel Conference & Expo!

Dow Water & Process Solutions, a branch of Dow Chemical Company, will present its portfolio of solutions it picked up in its acquisition of Rohm and Haas to include biodiesel capabilities during next week’s conference in Grapevine, Texas. Stop by booth #1005 to talk to experts from Dow Water & Process Solutions, who will provide in-depth analysis and best practices around the following world-class and cost-effective biodiesel solutions:

§ DOW AMBERLYST™ BD20 solid catalyst FFA esterification technology offers biodiesel producers the flexibility to produce biodiesel from inexpensive low-quality feedstocks without sacrificing the purity needed in the end product.

§ DOW AMBERSEP™ BD19WET feedstock purification technology, a pretreatment step specially designed to be used together with DOW AMBERLYST™ BD20 catalyst technology, extends life time and improves the operability of the downstream process.

§ DOW AMBERLITE BD10DRY™ technology, a simple and cost-effective solution for biodiesel purification designed to maximize process yield.

§ DOW AMBERSEP BD19DRY™ adsorbent resin was developed exclusively to remove monoglycerides, sterol glucosides and soaps from the final biodiesel stream in one simplified process, eliminating poor cold temperature performance of biodiesel including failure to pass cold soak filtration testing.

More information is available here.

Biodiesel, Biodiesel Conference, NBB

Shell to Partner with Cosan to Produce Ethanol

Joanna Schroeder

Another major oil company has entered the Brazilian ethanol market – Shell. According to Brazilian newspaper Valor Econômico, Shell and Cosan S.A., Brazil’s largest producer of ethanol, signed a Memorandum of Understanding. Moving forward, the two companies hope to create several new joint ventures to the tune of $12 billion that will produce sugar-based ethanol as well as electricity and focus on retail distribution.

According to Green Car Congress, Cosan is the third largest sugar producer in the world, fifth largest ethanol producer in the world and the largest ethanol exporter in the world. Cosan owns and operates 23 ethanol plants.

In an article in the Financial Times, Mark Williams, Shell’s Director of downstream operations said, “Cosan represents the best entry to sustainable biofuels in the market – the best entry of scale…we will take the lowest-carbon, least-impact form of ethanol and leverage that into a worldwide opportunity.”

There are currently trade barriers in the form of a 54 cent tariff on Brazilian ethanol entering the U.S. marketplace, and another current barrier to “worldwide exports” was created when the country reduced is mandatory ethanol blend to 20 percent, down from 25 percent. The temporary mandate was put in place in response to a smaller sugarcane harvest than expected due to excessive rain.

This action, in conjunction with the public call for “Brazilian ethanol” from many politicians and citizens alike spurred Growth Energy‘s CEO Tom Buis to respond, “This is the perfect illustration of why it makes no sense to become dependent on any foreign source of energy – whether it’s Middle East oil or Brazilian sugarcane ethanol. Between high sugar prices and a sugarcane crop shortage, Brazil can’t meet its own ethanol needs – let alone the ethanol needs of the United States.”

“Yet time and time again we hear from critics of American ethanol that Brazilian ethanol is the solution…We can produce more than enough ethanol in this country using domestic feedstock, and we should. It makes no sense to replace our dependence on foreign oil with a dependence on foreign ethanol, especially if it forces job losses and would drive up prices if Brazil has another sugarcane crop shortage,” concluded Buis.

Ethanol, Growth Energy, International

MO Alt Fuel Tax Credit Now Defined

Missouri’s alternative fuel infrastructure tax credit is now defined easily in a website sponsored by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Retailers can take advantage of this credit in the taxable years between Jan. 1, 2009 and Jan. 1, 2012.

The Missouri tax credit is allowable on top of the income tax credit offered by the Federal Government in the amount of 50 percent up to $50,000 of the total cost of the project. Qualifying retailers can receive a state tax credit of 20 percent up to $20,000 of the total cost of the project. According to the website, DNR states that the cumulative amount of tax credits which may be filed for by eligible applicants claiming all credits authorized will not exceed the following amounts:

In taxable year 2009 – $3 million.
In taxable year 2010 – $2 million.
In taxable year 2011 – $1 million.

Desiring applicants must supply an application to MO DNR where they will review and certify eligibility. The application can be found by clicking here. A complete description of the MO alternative fuel tax credit rules can be found by going to: http://dnr.mo.gov/pubs/pub2382.pdf.

Biodiesel, E85, Equipment, Ethanol, Ethanol News, News

Obama to Slash Gov’t GHGs by 28%

Joanna Schroeder

For those of you who still have President Obama’s State of the Union speech in your mind, then you may remember his call for the government to slash greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). He has followed through. Less than a week after the pronouncement, Obama has issued an Executive Order 13514 on Federal Sustainability for the federal government to slash GHG emissions 28 percent by 2020.

According to the White House, the federal government, which includes all of our armed forces, is the largest energy user in the U.S. The 28% reduction would decrease annual electricity use by 1.5% saving between $8 – $11 billion in energy costs through 2020. Just in 2008, the federal government racked up a $24.5 billion energy bill.

“As the largest energy consumer in the United States, we have a responsibility to American citizens to reduce our energy use and become more efficient,” said Obama as quoted in an article in Recharge. “Our goal is to lower costs, reduce pollution, and shift Federal energy expenses away from oil and towards local, clean energy.”

This goal will require the government to shift to clean energy sources such as solar, wind and geothermal, which will support job growth and technology development in the clean tech sector – another major goal of the administration. This move also signals Obama’s commitment to passing a comprehensive climate change package, which is currently stalled in the Senate.

In the meantime, departments will be required to develop sustainability plans that will include current GHG emission estimates and to ensure follow-through, achievement reports will be published online for the public to view and submit reponses.

Energy, Environment, Geothermal, global warming, politics, Solar, Wind

Verenium and BP Extend Agreement

Cindy Zimmerman

Verenium and BP are extending their joint development contract for another month as they continue more long term negotiations in the partnership to develop and commercialize cellulosic ethanol.

VereniumBPThe two companies have extended the initial 18-month joint development program established in August 2008, which was scheduled today until March 1, 2010.

BP and Verenium will continue their ongoing joint development work to accelerate the development and commercialization of cellulosic ethanol, while the two parties continue to negotiate the terms of a multi-year extension of their collaboration program. Verenium will receive an additional $2.5 million from BP to co-fund various scientific and technical initiatives for the month of February.

Cellulosic, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Another Record Month for Ethanol Production

Cindy Zimmerman

November set yet another record for ethanol production in the United States.

According to the latest figures from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. ethanol production hit a record high in November 2009 of 761,000 barrels per day (b/d). That is a 93,000 barrel increase from the previous year.

Ethanol demand, as calculated by the Renewable Fuels Association, also reached an all time high at 781,000 b/d in November, up from 683,000 b/d a year ago. Ethanol demand is averaging 702,000 b/d through November.

EIA also reports fuel ethanol imports of 12 million gallons in September.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

Railroad to Run Hydrogen Locomotive in California

John Davis

A railroad will run one of its locomotives on hydrogen.

This article in the Orange County (CA) Register says the Burlington Northern Santa Fe will use the first locomotive powered by hydrogen-fuel cells:

Trains powered by hydrogen instead of diesel fuel could help solve two problems, officials said – provide an alternative to increasingly scarce fuel supplies and prevent millions of tons of carbon from being released into the environment.

The hydrogen-fuel train is a switch locomotive that moves train cars short distances and from track to track. It will initially operate in Los Angeles. The company plans to continue developing the technology, with the hope of eventually pulling entire freight trains through the region.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger calls it “the beginning steps of the technology.”

Hydrogen

E. coli to Help Brew Biodiesel

John Davis

A group of federal researchers has figured out how to better extract biodiesel from biomass using a microbe that most of us try to avoid in our food.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) has announced that researchers have engineered a strain of E. coli bacteria that can extract an advanced biodiesel directly from biomass:

“The fact that our microbes can produce a diesel fuel directly from biomass with no additional chemical modifications is exciting and important,” says Jay Keasling, the Chief Executive Officer for JBEI, and a leading scientific authority on synthetic biology. “Given that the costs of recovering biodiesel are nowhere near the costs required to distill ethanol, we believe our results can significantly contribute to the ultimate goal of producing scalable and cost effective advanced biofuels and renewable chemicals.”

E. coli is a well-studied microorganism whose natural ability to synthesize fatty acids and exceptional amenability to genetic manipulation make it an ideal target for biofuels research. The combination of E. coli with new biochemical reactions realized through synthetic biology, enabled Keasling, [Eric Steen, a member of the team from JBEI’s Fuels Synthesis Division] and their colleagues to produce structurally tailored fatty esters (biodiesel), alcohols and waxes directly from simple sugars.

“Biosynthesis of microbial fatty acids produces fatty acids bound to a carrier protein, the accumulation of which inhibits the making of additional fatty acids,” Steen says. “Normally E. coli doesn’t waste energy making excess fat, but by cleaving fatty acids from their carrier proteins, we’re able to unlock the natural regulation and make an abundance of fatty acids that can be converted into a number of valuable products. Further, we engineered our E. coli to no longer eat fatty acids or use them for energy.”

The researchers point out that using E. coli to convert biomass into biodiesel will eliminate a food source from the fuel chain.

Biodiesel, biomass, Government

Grassley Looks for Biodiesel Credit Renewal in Feb.

John Davis

One of the biggest advocates for renewal of the $1-a-gallon federal biodiesel blender’s tax incentive looks for renewal of the credit sometime next month.

Agriculture.com reports that Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley has been working with the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus to get it restored very soon:

“It would be my hope that we would have this to the president by the week we take off for town meeting recesses — president’s holiday,” he told Agriculture.com on Tuesday.

Late last year the House of Representatives passed a bill extending several tax credits, including the $1-a-gallon biodiesel credit that helps make the soybean-based fuel competitive with diesel. But the Senate, unable to reach an agreement on the federal estate tax, failed to renew the biodiesel tax credit which expired at the end of 2009.

Grassley, of Iowa, is the top ranking Republican on the Finance Committee and seems to have a good working relationship with Baucus, a conservative Democrat from Montana.

Later, Grassley’s press aide, Beth Levine, said in an e-mail message that “Senator Grassley had a long discussion with Senator Baucus about tax extenders, and in particular about the necessity of extending the biodiesel tax credit.

Fellow Iowan Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat, blames the delay on the Republicans. However, most Washington observers agree that the Senate was too busy debating the unpopular health care bill to get to the biodiesel tax credit. Harkin thinks it could get done by the end of February, but he’s not sure.

Biodiesel, Government, Legislation

DF Cast: Ethanol, Biodiesel Industries Optimistic on 2010

John Davis

The new year brings in new hope, and it’s no different for the ethanol and biodiesel industries in this country.

You couldn’t blame the folks who make biofuels in the U.S. if they just wanted to forget about 2009 … especially when you consider the fights over food versus fuel, delays of regulatory implementations that would have helped both ethanol and biodiesel, indirect land use issues, and to cap it off, the loss of the $1-a-gallon federal biodiesel blender’s tax incentive.

Renewable Fuels Association LogoBut, as I said, a new year brings new hope, and the people who represent ethanol and biodiesel in this country, are hopeful they’ll see a new Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS-2) soon, and the green fuels industries will bounce back.

In this edition of the Domestic Fuel Cast, listen in on my conversations with Tom Buis, the CEO of Growth Energy, a group representing America’s ethanol producers; the Renewable Fuels Association’s Matt Hartwig; and Joe Jobe, Chief Executive Officer of the National Biodiesel Board, as they discuss how they believe each of their respective industries moves forward in 2010.

[audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/domesticfuel/DFCast-1-29-10.mp3]
Audio, Biodiesel, biofuels, Domestic Fuel Cast, Ethanol, Ethanol News, News