EPA Extends RFS2 Comment Period

Cindy Zimmerman

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to extend the public comment period for the proposed rule on the Renewable Fuel Standard for an additional 60 days until September 25, 2009. A public notice dated Tuesday was posted on scribd.com and may be published in the Federal Register this week. However, no notice has yet been posted on the EPA website and the agency has not sent out a news release about the action.

EPASenator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) expressed concerns about the extension during his weekly telephone press conference with agricultural reporters. “There’s no doubt that the issue that EPA is dealing with is very complex, so I suppose we ought to have some appreciation for the extra time they’re taking,” Grassley said. “However, the delays threaten the viability of the biodiesel industry which needs the rule to set the level that must be used in 2010 for the RFS. It’s important that the rule gets finished to provide market certainty because biodiesel is not very good shape.”

The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) also expressed concern about the extension, which will mean a delay in implementation of the rule. In a statement, NBB officials said, “It is important to note that RFS-2 was supposed to be in place at the beginning of this year, and extension of the comment period could further delay the implementation of the program, This will provide additional hardship to the U.S. biodiesel industry.”

The ethanol industry has not yet released any official comment on the notice of extension.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Government

Free Webinar: Maximizing Ethanol Plant Yield

Joanna Schroeder

nzlogoMiss the Fuel Ethanol Workshop this year? Well don’t fret. You can still tap into all the information that was discussed during the conference. Novozymes is hosting a FREE webinar called, “The quest for maximizing ethanol plant yield” featuring Mitchell Marine, Associate Scientist with Novozymes.

The webinar will discuss:

  • – What is yield?
  • – Carbon balance model
  • – Practical model – with real figures
  • – Final thoughts

This 1-hour webinar will be held on Wednesday, July 8th at 1 pm Eastern Time. You can view the invitation and register by clicking here.

Ethanol, Webinar

SRS to Build Alberta Biodiesel Plant

John Davis

srsengineeringBiodiesel plant-building company SRS Engineering Corporation will put up a 10 million-gallon-a-year biodiesel plant in Alberta, Canada for ReNvision Biofuels Inc.

This article from RenewableEnergyWorld.com says it will use a variety of local feedstocks, including animal fats, canola and camelina. In addition, the refinery will come just as Canada implements a biodiesel mandate:

The federal government of Canada recently mandated that the renewable fuel content for diesel and heating oil should be at least 2% by the year 2012 creating demand for 500 million liters/year (132 million gallons).

To promote mandates and to help with costs associated with technologies and market integration, the Alberta provincial government has set aside CAN $239 million [US $207.4 million] in funding. This funding has helped companies like ReNvision get started.

SRS Engineering will get a small stake in ReNvision for building the plant.

Biodiesel

AT&T Launches 8,000 Vehicle CNG Fleet

John Davis

attFollowing up on its promise of putting 15,000 alternative-fuel vehicles on the road in the next decade (see my post from March 16, 2009), communications mega-giant AT&T has announced today that it is converting 8,000 vehicles in the company’s fleet to compressed natural gas over the next five years.

This story from the Dallas Business Journal says the move is part of the bigger $565 million plan to run in greener vehicles:

The telecommunications carrier is joining forces with another Dallas company, BAF Technologies, to do the conversions to compressed natural gas. BAF will switch 600 AT&T vans this year, including 70 that will operate in the Metroplex, AT&T says in a news release.

AT&T officials say the balance of the planned 15,000 green vehicle fleet will be passenger cars with other models that use fuel more efficiently.

Miscellaneous, Propane

First Commercial Biodiesel Shipment Through a Pipeline

John Davis

kindermorganAfter a successful test earlier this year (see my post from February 4, 2009), Kinder Morgan today made the first commercial shipment of biodiesel through a pipeline in the U.S. through the Southeastern United States’ Plantation duct.

This Reuters story has details:

Kinder sent a 15,000-barrel batch of B5 — fuel that was 5 percent biodiesel and 95 percent diesel — from Collins, Mississippi, to Athens, Georgia, and Roanoke, Virginia. The product passed quality tests.

The volume of further shipments will be “driven by customers,” Kinder spokeswoman Emily Mir Thompson said by telephone.

Demand for the fuel has risen as federal mandates call for increasing levels of biofuels like biodiesel to be blended into petroleum fuels over time.

Kinder said it was optimistic it would be able to ship biodiesel on Plantation’s lateral Tennessee line serving both Chattanooga and Knoxville.

Company officials say they will be sending biodiesel only through the parts of the pipeline that move only gasoline and diesel while they work out issues of possible “trailback” of biodiesel into subsequent jet fuel batches.

Biodiesel

Blender Pump Promotion in Manning, IA

manning_ia_pumpA ethanol blender pump fuel promotion was held last week at 1201 6th Street in Manning, IA that sold the domestically made fuel at a substantial discount. E20 sold for 20 cents off regular pricing, E30 was sold for 30 cents off, E50 sold for 50 cents off, and E85 sold for 85 cents off or $1.05.

“I thought the event was very successful, it was fun to see the community get involved in an ethanol promotion event. I think it’s important to give consumers what they are looking for: more choices at the pump that will positively affect their pocket book but also support our local farmers,” said Sara Courter, Market Development Coordinator for Growth Energy.

manning_ia_pump2“We were very happy to assist in making the Aspinwall Co-Op Pump Promotion and Grand Opening in Manning a huge success. Growth Energy is dedicated to expanding the market and educating consumers and this is another great example of that. By giving consumers more choices at the pump with clean, green homegrown ethanol, we’re not only helping decrease our dependence on foreign oil, but also boosting our local economy,” noted Nicole Oliver, Communications specialist for Growth Energy.

Sponsors of the event included IA Corn Growers Association, IA Renewable Fuels Association, Growth Energy, Aspinwall Cooperative, Manning Motors, CENEX and POET. The station also offered free bratt burgers, hamburgers, and t-shirts during the promotion.

blends, E85, Ethanol, Growth Energy, POET

Plenty of Corn for Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

Many are surprised by theUSDA’s planted acreage report out this morning that estimates the second largest corn crop since 1946 at 87.0 million acres, up 1 percent from last year.

USDA grains analyst Jerry Norton says the number was much higher than the trade was expecting. “It’s a big number,” Norton says, especially considering the planting delays in Illinois and Indiana due to wet weather. But, that caused higher prices through May and into early June, “So, even though it was getting late to plant corn it was a strong incentive to plant for producers who could still get it into the ground.”

The condition of the crop is also doing better than expected with 72% nationwide rated good to excellent, even though progress is running behind normal in some areas.

In another report from USDA, corn stocks as of June 1, 2009 totaled 4.27 billion bushels, up 6 percent from June 1, 2008. All this adds up to plenty of corn available this year for food, feed and fuel.

corn, Ethanol, USDA

Wind Energy Refines Oil

John Davis

valero1A story about one of the world’s biggest oil refiners turning to wind power to run some of its petroleum operations might seem like a bit of a contradiction, IF you don’t subscribe to the idea that we need to tap into ALL energy resources.

But I think Valero gets it, and this article from the 24/7 Wall St. Web site says the company’s installation of 33 wind turbines near a Texas refinery explains the thought process:

The rising cost of energy is creating strange bedfellows. The wind energy being used by Valero is relatively cheap compared with alternatives. At the same time, it offers proof of the efficacy of a critical counter to the use of fossil fuels and provides the government with more fodder for its argument that an investment in new forms of energy can produce inexpensive and plentiful options that do not involve the production of oil and gas and the pollution by-products that go with their use.

To me, that’s a true energy company… not just an oil company.

Wind

Pilot Project to Get Hydrogen, Nanofibers from Landfills

John Davis

catalyxA new process is working on turning landfill gas into hydrogen AND nanofibers.

Catalyx Nanotech, Inc., says the pilot project has started at a closed southern California landfill.

“Our advantage is that we are able to produce nanofibers at greater than 99% purity, as well as 100% green hydrogen in a one-step process,” says Yinan Jin, Catalyx Nanotech Chief Research Scientist. “Purification of nanomaterials from typical carbon batches is an extremely expensive undertaking for commercial applications. Catalyx Nanotech is eliminating the extra work and, consequently, the expense of separating nanofibers from byproducts, such as amorphous carbon, soot, etc., that make nanomaterials so costly today. We expect to commoditize nano-scale graphite materials at prices comparable to high quality synthetic graphite used in electrodes and refractory applications. After some preliminary test runs, we will also integrate a small fuel cell to demonstrate how the electrochemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen can produce electrical energy, as opposed to the
direct combustion of hydrogen and oxygen to produce thermal energy. This in situ generation of green electricity with a zero-carbon footprint is just one possible use of the hydrogen.”

Company officials say one of the biggest assets of the process is that it will make hydrogen more affordable and available… key if the country wants to move forward in a hydrogen-based economy.

You can read more at the Catalyx Nanotech Web site.

Hydrogen

Climate Bill Gives Biodiesel RFS Break

John Davis

uscapitolA couple of issues might be coming to a head with one bill. As I told you back on May 22, biodiesel producers are none too pleased about an EPA proposal that would, in effect, exempt soy-based biodiesel from the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS)… putting biodiesel in danger of not being able to meet that standard, possibly undermining confidence in the green fuel.

But, as Biodiesel Magazine reports, with the passage of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009… aka the Climate Bill… in the U.S. House, soy-based biodiesel might be back in:

Among the provisions of a deal struck among the House leadership, biodiesel gets grandfathered in to the1 billion carve-out for biomass-based diesel without a greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction target, similar to the grandfather provision for ethanol. Biodiesel production from all plants in production or under construction in December, 2007, when the 2007 Energy Bill was enacted, is grandfathered into the RFS at 1 billion gallons or the EPA-set volume, whichever is higher.

The bill’s language also delays the use of international indirect land use change impacts in determining a fuel’s GHG emission profile for the RFS for several years while an independent scientific assessment is done. Six months after enactment, the bill says the USDA and EPA would jointly institute a three-year National Academy of Sciences study to determine whether or not it is scientifically valid to incorporate indirect international emissions. Upon completion, the Secretary of Agriculture and the EPA administrator would jointly determine whether to include indirect emissions in the GHG reduction targets for the RFS program, subject to public notice and comment. Congress would have one year to act on the joint USDA/EPA determination. The earliest an international indirect land use assessment for GHG emissions could be incorporated would be six years from enactment.

Now we’ll have to keep an eye on what happens in the Senate.

Biodiesel, Government, Indirect Land Use