Stimulus Bucks to Fund Algae Biofuels Research

John Davis

PNNL1Money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act … aka the Stimulus Bill … will go to fund research on algae-based biofuels.

This press release from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory says the lab will get about $14.2 million for its role in two biofuels research consortia:

[Energy Secretary Steven] Chu funded the consortia with nearly $80 million of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds with the goal of bringing new biofuels to the market and developing a cleaner and more sustainable transportation sector, as well as reducing dependence on foreign oil sources …

PNNL will co-lead one consortium with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and then play a large role in a second consortium led by the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.

For more than 10 years, PNNL has advanced the science and technology for converting biomass into liquid transportation fuels, bioproducts and bioenergy. Its key focuses have been catalysis, environmental biotechnology and analysis. Biomass is biological material that comes from plants, wood, waste and other materials and can be converted into fuels and other products.

“We’ll be calling upon our entire suite of disciplines and capabilities in our support to these consortia,” said John Holladay, PNNL biomass manager. “We are positioned to address the entire spectrum of scientific challenges associated with developing a sustainable biofuels transportation sector – from fundamental research to applied processes.”

The press release goes on to say that the lab has several capabilities … proteomics, gasification and catalysis research… critical to biomass fuel conversion.

algae, biofuels, Government

Brazil Opens First Ethanol Powered Power Plant

brazilAccording to Reuters, Brazil has opened the world’s first ethanol powered power plant. Petrobas and General Electric (GE) designed the project in hopes that this will help with demand for ethanol. The plant switches between between running on natural gas or ethanol instantaneously.

“We have great expectations to show the viability and economy of generating electricity from…an alternative feedstock to fossil fuels,” Maria das Gracas Foster, head of Petrobras’ natural gas division, said.

John Ingham, Latin America products director for GE, said tests showed switching the plant to ethanol reduced carbon dioxide emissions without lowering energy output. “A plant like that consumes a lot of ethanol, so it has to be in a place that makes sense (such as) places that have no access to gas, like Japan, some islands, or places that depend heavily on diesel like the Amazon region,” he said. GE is looking to do the same thing in Japan.

Brazil is expected to produce a record 27.8 billion liters of ethanol in the 2009-2010 season. It began its biofuels program 30 years ago and now mandates a minimum 20 percent of ethanol in gasoline.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, News

Midwest Ethanol Pipeline Plans Unveiled

poetAs first reported on Indystar.com, plans were unveiled for an 1,800-mile long ethanol pipeline that will run across the midwest to carry the fuel in the east. The project of POET Ethanol Products and Magellan Midstream Partners estimate that 3.6 million gallons of ethanol a year will be carried by the pipeline from South Dakota to New Jersey.

Bruce Heine, director of government and media affairs for Magellan said, “When we get the loan guarantee, we expect land acquisition and other steps to take about two years, and then construction about two more years.” The project is estimated at $4 billion and will take at least four years to complete.

The part of the pipeline that would cross Indiana would require the acquisition of some property but would largely use the existing route of the Buckeye petroleum pipeline. It would loop around the north side of the Indianapolis metro area. It would angle northeast across Hendricks County, touch the northwest corner of Marion County, angle northeast through Carmel and Hamilton County and then northeast to Jay County into Ohio.

E85, Ethanol, Ethanol News, News

Miscanthus Rhizome Root Harvester & Planter Unveiled

Joanna Schroeder

While researchers continue work on miscanthus’s viability to produce cellulosic ethanol, and growers now have a way to plant and harvest the feedstock more efficiently. After years of collaboration and research, a miscanthus rhizome regeneration harvester and planter system has been developed. The unveiling took place during the Bioenergy Feedstocks Symposium held at the University of Illinois (U of I). Typically, miscanthus is a labor-intensive crop requiring multiple machines, and costly manual selection and grading – but not any longer.

itcsjs10_609xThe new machine is the result of a three-year collaboration between U of I, Tomax Ltd and Bermuda King USA. According to a news release from U of I, this machinery can lower the cost of miscanthus rhizome production by up to 40 percent and create opportunities for miscanthus to be used more widely as a high-yield bioenergy crop.

Gavin Maxwell, Tomax Ltd Senior Bioenergy Consultant, said, “Bioenergy feedstock processors require security for supply and unless we dealt with regeneration and planting issues for miscanthus, we simply couldn’t make progress. The collaboration team had a very clear objective when beginning the design process of the harvester and planter. Our goal was to remove manual labor, integrate the digging and grading process, increase soil separation and improve both quality and volume to substantially reduce the cost of vegetative rootstock propagation.”

In recent U.S. trials, the machine has demonstrated a 200 percent increase in rhizome collection over manual systems. this allows, says the research team, the opportunity for regional nurseries to more efficiently expand to meet the demand for both solid and liquid fuel conversion. The harvester and planter package will be available beginning this year and will be available for expanded grower crops in time for the 2011 season.

bioenergy, biofuels, Cellulosic, Equipment, feedstocks

Solar Whale Boat to Clean Up Waterways

Joanna Schroeder

Entrepreneurs around the world have devised some clever ways to address global warming and here is another another one: a solar whale boat. Known as the Physalia, this 100 percent self sufficient energy amphibious garden is shaped like a whale and designed to clean up polluted waterways throughout Europe. Physalia  means water bubble in Greek and according to Vincent Callebaut Architectures, who concepted the ecosystem, “It is a poetic invitation to travel, a sensory experience for the transdisciplinary research, geopolitical debates, popular pedagogy.”

physalia_pl27m

This carbon-zero emission boat is designed using renewable energy including a roof that contains a double pneumatic membrane chiselled with smooth photovoltaic solar cells. Under its hull, hydro-turbines transfer water into hydro-electricity powering the navigation system.

The surface is comprised of aluminum covering the multi-hull steel structure and is covered by a TiO2 layer of anatase shape that reacts to ultraviolet rays reducing water pollution. So, in essence this boat is both self cleaning and also absorbs chemical and carboned waste left by other boats. Lastly, with a planted roof and hydraulic network, the boat can purify the water.

Click here for a conceptual presentation of the Physalia.

Energy, Environment, Solar

REpower Supplying Wind Turbines for Minnesota Project

Joanna Schroeder

REpower_logoDenver-based REpower Systems AG announced that National Wind LLC has awarded them with a contract to supply 20 MM92 wind turbines for the Lake Country Wind Energy project in Minnesota. The turbines have a rated power of 2.05 megawatts (MW) and a hub height of 100 meters. While this is the first phase of the project, ultimately once all phases are complete, the wind energy program will wabi_logoprovide an estimated 340 MW of wind energy annually.

This is the first Minnesota project for REpower and the first collaboration with National Wind. Per Hornung Pedersen, CEO of REpower, stated in a press statement, “The US market is gradually starting to recover. This order and the other signed contracts in the last few months show that our North American business is slowly picking up again.”

According to Windustry, a Minnesota-based non profit aiding communities in developing community wind projects, Minnesota is one of the fastest growing wind energy states, in part due to good local policy and support.

“We strongly value our new relationship with REpower and look forward to building upon it,” said NationalWindLogo_0Jack Levi, co-chair of National Wind. “Securing wind turbines is a significant project milestone for Lake Country Wind Energy. Not only is REpower’s turbine technology an ideal fit for the project’s wind regime, it also advances Lake Country’s first phase toward a late 2010 construction. It is exciting to bring Meeker and Kandiyohi Counties’ first utility-scale community-owned wind project closer to reality.”

Company Announcement, Energy, Wind

Growth Energy Lays Out Agenda

Cindy Zimmerman

Growth EnergyDomestic, renewable ethanol can be a major contributor to job creation as well as cutting greenhouse gas emissions and reducing dependence on foreign oil, Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis told a summit of agricultural legislative leaders meeting in Orlando this week.

“We are poised to create as many as 136,000 jobs in the United States with one regulatory move – EPA agreeing to raise the blend wall to 15 percent, as we’ve petitioned them to do. We could create many more with the construction of ethanol pipelines and blender pumps, to distribute this renewable, low-carbon fuel to the consumer,” Buis told the 2010 Legislative Agricultural Chairs Conference.

“When Congress passed the 2007 Energy and Independence Security Act, it decided that this nation must begin to take it domestic, renewable energy sources seriously. So Congress expanded the Renewable Fuel Standard, which mandates new levels of green, domestic fuels. But if states begin to erect regulatory obstacles that block the intent of Congress, such as the flawed Low Carbon Fuel Standard adopted by the California Air Resources Board, we will not be able to meet this objective,” Buis said.

“Growth Energy supports a national low-carbon fuel standard – if it is done right. Last year Growth Energy rolled out a proposal for a national low carbon fuel standard based on accepted science – not controversial theory – because ethanol is ultimately the only widely-available low-carbon fuel alternative to gasoline refined from foreign oil,” Buis said.

Earlier this month, Growth Energy and the Renewable Fuels Association jointly filed a legal challenge in U.S. District Court to California’s flawed Low Carbon Fuel Standard. The federal litigation charges that the California Air Resources Board ignores the intent of Congress by barring domestic ethanol from the California fuel market.

Ethanol, Government, Growth Energy

Virginia Forms Offshore Wind Coalition

John Davis

Offshorewindmills2A group of developers, manufacturers, utilities, localities, businesses and environmental groups has created a coalition to promote offshore wind energy in Virginia.

North American Windpower reports that the Virginia Offshore Wind (VOW) coalition wants to make the Hampton Roads area a hub of manufacturing and supply for future offshore wind farms on the East Coast:

“The market opportunity for Virginia to become the East Coast hub for offshore wind manufacturing and logistics is approximately $80 billion and represents more than 10,000 new jobs for our state,” says Josh Prueher, president of Earl Industries and vice chairman of VOW. “We must act now to capture it.”

Last summer, [William D. Sessoms Jr., mayor of Virginia Beach, Va.] created the Mayor’s Alternative Energy Task Force to study new green energy sources for Virginia Beach, Hampton Roads and the state. Wind energy was identified as one likely source of alternative energy.

VOW is working closely with Virginia legislators to place the state in a position of leadership within the industry. The coalition is working on state legislation that will make Virginia competitive with other states pursuing offshore wind.

You can read more about VOW here.

Wind

Iowa State Gets $8 Mil for Advanced Biofuels Research

John Davis

ISUresearcher1Iowa State University will get $8 million of a $78 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to research and develop advanced biofuels.

This press release from the school says two teams will share the funds:

Victor Lin – professor of chemistry, director of the Institute for Physical Research and Technology’s Center for Catalysis at Iowa State and chief technologist and founder of Catilin Inc. – will lead a team embarking on a $5.3 million study of biodiesel production from algae.

And Robert C. Brown – an Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering, the Gary and Donna Hoover Chair in Mechanical Engineering and the Iowa Farm Bureau director of the Bioeconomy Institute – will lead a $2.7 million study of the thermochemical and catalytic conversion of biomass to fuels.

“These grants to Iowa State University researchers demonstrate the breadth and strength of our programs in advanced biofuels,” said Sharron Quisenberry, Iowa State’s vice president for research and economic development. “We have researchers who can help this national effort to develop clean, sustainable and cost-effective sources of energy. These grants are two more examples of how Iowa State translates discoveries into viable technologies and products that strengthen the economies of Iowa and the world.”

These Iowa State research projects are paid for by stimulus bucks … the same money that is funding the $44 million to the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Mo. I told you about last week and the $34 million (plus $8.4 million in non-federal, cost-share funding) that is going to the National Advanced Biofuels Consortium led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash.

Biodiesel, Government, Research

Loss of Biodiesel Incentive Costs Farmers, Consumers

John Davis

USCapitolBiodiesel producers aren’t the only ones who are being hit by the loss of the federal $1-a-gallon tax incentive.

This story from Agriculture Online says farmers and consumers are also being hurt:

Ohio Soybean Association president Jeff Wuebker estimates that failure to renew the tax credit, which expired at the end of 2009, will cost him about $12.50 an acre on his soybean crop. That’s the number he comes up with when he multiplies a 50-bushel yield by the 25-cents-a-bushel estimated increase in soybean value from its use as a feedstock for biodiesel fuel.

“If we don’t have something to use this additional oil we have, it could get worse than 25 cents,” said Wuebker, who farms 1,300 crops acres and farrows 1,800 sows with his brother, Alan. Their diversified western Ohio farm also sells wheat, alfalfa hay, straw and feeds about 60 dairy steers.

The loss of the tax credit could also lead to higher fuel costs for all of us, another 25¢ to 35¢ a gallon, according to one Department of Energy estimate, [another Ohio farmer, Rob Joslin, who recently became president of the American Soybean Association] said.

As Joslin puts it, with the Senate not renewing the credit late last year, “we’ve disrupted the supply chain. We’ve set a whole series of dominoes in place that are detrimental to our industry and our country.”

We’ll keep an eye on what the Senate does when it comes back in session. Lot of people hanging in the balance. Let’s hope someone gets the message.

Biodiesel, Government, Legislation, Soybeans