Lower Oil Prices Make Biodiesel Producers Struggle

John Davis

Rising oil prices were a boon to biodiesel producers this summer, as near-$150/barrel prices for crude oil made it more and more profitable to produce biodiesel from a variety of feedstocks. However, with that same barrel of oil now costing less than $50, margins have tightened up for makers of the green fuel.

This story in the Tampa (FL) Tribune highlights how biodiesel producers have had to get more innovative to keep bottom lines in the black:

[Last summer], producers said they were limited only by how much $3-a-gallon chicken fat they could truck into the plant.

[Pensacola-based] Agri-Source’s investment [to turn chicken fat into biodiesel] earned it an Industry of the Year award from the Pasco Economic Development Council. Two months later, though, Agri-Source has slashed its production by half as plummeting oil prices and its fixed cost for raw materials have turned the company’s bottom line from black to red.

“The profitability has really weakened,” said Agri-Source president Rick Higdon. “We have the ability to ride it out, but it’s no fun.”…

The key to the industry’s future will be developing new sources of raw materials, said Robert McCormick, principle engineer in the fuel performance group at the National Renewable Fuels Laboratory in Colorado.

“If you could sell B20 for a nickel or 3 cents less than petroleum diesel, you could probably sell all you could make,” McCormick said. “They haven’t been able to do that.”

Industry leaders say the $1-a-gallon federal credit they’re getting is helping for now, and the 500 million gallon mandate for biodiesel that kicks in next year will give the market a floor. But they also realize they need to make a profit to stay viable.

I’m sure some of you are reading this and saying, “See, it’s not working!” But keep in mind, it’s those 500 million gallons of petroleum diesel that biodiesel will replace next year… and more in subsequent years… that will help keep the price of petroleum down. As biodiesel refining technologies… helped by those subsidies and mandates… are made more efficient, it will cost less and less to produce biodiesel, making it less reliant on any tax dollars for support. Less expensive, more sustainable feedstocks will replace the more expensive, less sustainable ones. Survey after survey show Americans want to support domestically-produced alternative energies. Right now, the industry just needs a little leg up. Isn’t it better to help out these guys making the green fuel, than to subsidize million-dollar retreats for bankers who can’t balance their balance sheets or give money to carmakers who make cars people don’t want to buy? And if we save the planet in the process, all the better.

Biodiesel

Iowa Opens 100th Retail E85 Station

The Kum & Go #62 at 6130 NW 86th Street in Johnston, IA is the state’s 100th E85 facility to open to the public. On November 24, the station, which installed two dedicated E85 fuel dispensers, celebrated the occasion with a grand opening event hosted by the Clean Air Choice Team.

E85 sold for $1.00 per gallon during the four hour celebration. Consumers also had the chance to win several prizes including ethanol fuel gift cards. A ribbon cutting ceremony kicked off the event. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey was in attendance.

“[The event] had a good deal of interest,” said Lucy Norton, Iowa Renewable Fuels Association’s managing director. “Many attended the formal program and ribbon cutting ceremony.” According to Norton, grand opening events – such as this one – are part of an ongoing program sponsored through a partnership of the Clean Air Choice Team, which includes the IRFA, the American Lung Association, Iowa Corn Growers, General Motors Corp. and Kum & Go.

Car Makers, E85, Ethanol, Facilities

Cellulosic Ethanol Company Changes Name

Cindy Zimmerman

There is something new under the sun.

Massachusettes-based SunEthanol has changed its name to Qteros, after its Q microbe technology, which may be a key to commercializing cellulosic ethanol.

The company has raised $25 million from a diverse group of investors in a Series B round of financing. Among the investors are British Petroleum (BP) and a management group led by billionaire George Soros.

Cellulosic, Ethanol, News

Indy Defends Ethanol Choice

Cindy Zimmerman

The Brazilian ethanol industry will remain the fuel sponsor of the Indy Racing League in 2009, but the ethanol will come from the United States – at least for the first year.

That is a compromise of sorts announced by IRL after meeting with corn ethanol industry representatives.

The multi-year partnership between the IndyCar Series and APEX-Brasil — a trade promotion agency that will be the official ethanol supplier to the series beginning in 2009 – includes cooperation from UNICA (the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association) to identify those interested in supplying ethanol.

Initially, UNICA will look to partner with a U.S. company to supply the IndyCar Series with American-produced corn-based ethanol.

Corn growers are other domestic ethanol interests are unhappy with the Brazilian deal, but ultimately it came down to a decision by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) to not sponsor the racing series for the next season. EPIC is “ceasing operation,” as the IRL statement notes, in that it will no longer exist as EPIC but as part of the newly formed Growth Energy group. However, the decision to stop sponsorship was made independently of that new direction – not just because it was expensive, but also because it had essentially served it’s purpose in proving ethanol as a performance fuel.

Terry Angstadt, president of the commercial division of the Indy Racing League, said they made the deal with Brazil because “No one from any other part of the American-based ethanol community stepped forward with a substantial proposal” although several other producers reportedly offered their services as suppliers last week.

Angstadt says opportunities still exist for American ethanol companies and organizations to continue involvement in the IndyCar Series. “We look forward to working with American producers and Brazilian producers of ethanol to promote ethanol as a renewable energy source and part of the solution to lessen the United States’ reliance on Middle Eastern oil,” he said.

EPIC, Ethanol, Indy Racing

LA Looks to Become Solar City

John Davis

Los Angeles wants to become a hub of the solar energy industry.

This article from the LA Times says Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has unveiled a long-range to have solar power meet one-tenth of the city’s energy needs by 2020, an initiative that is expected to help the city’s Department of Water and Power kick the fossil fuel habit:

The plan calls for enough solar panels to produce 1,280 megawatts of power, a goal that would be reached through a combination of private and public generating facilities and the installation of solar panels on homes.

“Nobody’s contemplated that many megawatts for one city,” said Rhonda Mills, Southern California director of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies and a solar power advocate.

The announcement Monday is the latest in a series of renewable energy initiatives touted by the mayor in recent weeks, including using redevelopment funds to lure “clean” technology companies and investing city pension dollars in environmentally friendly companies.

Shifting Los Angeles to cleaner fuels could buttress both Villaraigosa’s run for reelection and any future run for governor. If he runs in 2010, Villaraigosa would likely face state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, an avid environmentalist.

“L.A. has everything it takes to make this [solar plan] work,” said Villaraigosa, standing alongside environmentalists, union leaders and City Council members. “We have the sun in abundancy. We have the space. We have the largest municipal utility in the country.”

Most of the solar power would come from private companies operating in the Mojave Desert with the balance coming from rooftop panels at businesses and private residences.

You can read the complete plan for yourself by clicking here.

Government, Solar

The “Manhattan Project” of Off-shore Wind Farms Proposed for Maine

John Davis

A massive, 5GW wind farm could be built off the coast of Maine and be fully operational in 10 years if a think tank of energy advisors get their way.

This post from earth2tech.com says the Ocean Energy Institute’s proposal to build five 9.2-square-mile offshore wind farms in the Gulf of Maine could be a boon for the local construction industry and the national energy picture:

Dubbing the plan a “Manhattan Project for Maine,” the Ocean Energy Institute says it could create some 20,000-30,000 jobs. The group on its web site also lays out a larger plan to get the U.S. off of fossil fuels, which the group calls the “Pickens Plan Plus” or the “Simmons Plan’ — use wind farms to power the grid, but add in the large amounts of offshore wind around the U.S.

The Ocean Energy Institute is run by energy investment banker and energy adviser to President George W. Bush, Matthew Simmons, and physicist George Hart. They believe off-shore wind farms offer a greater potential in wind energy that so onshore projects, and the Gulf of Maine is supposed to be one of the windiest areas in the world.

The biggest issues these days seem to be how to finance a project this big and the NIMBY – “Not In My Back Yard” – attitude too many communities currently have.

Wind

Solar, Biodiesel RV a Teaching Tool

John Davis

You might remember my story from October 8th, 2007 about Ty Adams and his biodiesel-powered RV, the bioTrekker, Adams is a man who likes to travel the country, preaching the gospel of alternative fuels. Now, he’s rolling on the roads in the SolTrekker, which also runs on biodiesel but, in addition, is outfitted with solar panels and made even more self-sustaining.

This story in The Oregonian says the Portland man is using his green RV as a teaching tool to all who will listen:

His unlikely pulpit is the 27-foot-long “SolTrekker,” a paragon of sustainability in an eye-catching custom paint job of orange, brown and white, with yellow sun rays reaching from the wheel hubs.

It’s the blood and guts of the motor home that so audaciously flip the RV stereotype.

The SolTrekker runs on biodiesel. Solar panels heat its water and power its electricity. Special gutters channel rain through filters and into holding barrels to use for cooking and cleaning.

The composting toilet doesn’t need to be pumped out.

Bamboo siding replaced the vinyl interior walls and eliminated out-gassing. Dense, soft insulation made from shredded denim jeans seals out extreme temperatures.

“I really like this idea of taking this symbol of consumerism and excess,” said Adams, a freelance writer and editor who counts among his sponsors Monaco Coach of Coburg, his former employer. “I like to take it and make it sustainable. If the RV industry can go this route, any industry can go this route.”

The article goes on to say that Adams has even bigger plans for the RV… possibly even some wind power one day.

You can read more about the SolTrekker by clicking here.

Biodiesel, Solar

USDA Researching Pennycress’ Biodiesel Potential

John Davis

Many people know pennycress as nothing more than a weed, but some folks with the U.S. Department of Agriculture are looking at its potential to become a biodiesel feedstock.

This article from the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service says scientists at the ARS’ Peoria, Illinois office are trying to make the farmers’ pest into their cash crop:

There, a team of ARS scientists led by Terry Isbell has been researching the annual winter weed’s potential to yield a bumper crop of oil-rich seed for use in making biodiesel and other products, including an organic fertilizer and natural fumigant. Historically, pennycress has been a bane to farmers. But now, with America’s quest for “homegrown” alternatives to petroleum, the plant is getting a second look.

In July, Peoria-based Biofuels Manufacturers of Illinois, LLC (BMI) entered into a two-year cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with ARS to conduct laboratory and field trials aimed at teasing out pennycress’s production characteristics as both a cultivated crop and biodiesel feedstock.

Isbell and his colleagues in the ARS New Crops and Processing Technology Research Unit at Peoria have found that a single acre of field pennycress can potentially produce 75 to 100 gallons of biodiesel.

Biodiesel, Government

Farm Foundation to Release Report on Feeding and Fueling the World

John Davis

Our friends at Farm Foundation are set to release a report next week on the challenges agriculture and the food system face in providing food, fiber and energy to a growing world over the next 30 years.

The report will come out next Thursday, Dec. 4th as part of Farm Foundation’s Food and Agriculture Policy Summit, Dec. 2-4th at the Westin Washington D.C. City Center, in the nation’s capital.

Developed with input from a diverse set of agriculture and agribusiness leaders, government agency representatives and academics, the new Farm Foundation report identifies six major challenges that may impact agriculture’s ability to provide feed, fiber and fuel to a growing world. Conference speakers will address issues within each of the six challenges.

Those conference speakers will include: former Texas Congressman Charles Stenholm; Jonathan Bryant of BASF North America; Bob Wagner of American Farmland Trust; Wallace Tyner of Purdue University; James McDonald of Bread for the World; and William Hallman, Rutgers University Food Policy Institute; Gene Griffin, Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute; and Paul Ellinger of the University of Illinois.

The summit will also feature “A Conversation with the Secretaries” on Dec. 3, when seven former U.S. Secretaries of Agriculture will spend 90 minutes discussing the challenges and opportunities facing agriculture today. Participating will be John Block, Mike Espy, Clayton Yeutter, Dan Glickman, Ann Veneman and Mike Johannes. Robert Bergland will participate through a video.

I plan to be there as well, and I’ll be blogging from the event. See you then!

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Farm Foundation, News

E85 Available in Fulton, NY

Fastrac Market on Route 481 in Fulton, NY now has E85. This is Oswego County’s first E85 fueling pump. The fuel is manufactured by Northeast Biofuels in the Town of Volney.

“Over the summer, Fastrac Markets was proud to purchase the first ethanol produced at Northeast Biofuels to blend as E10 for sale at our stations throughout upstate,” said Fastrac President Thomas Waddle. “And now, we are just as proud to sell Northeast Biofuels ethanol as part of an E85 blend at our newly expanded service station in Fulton.”

According to the Valley News, Northeast Biofuels General Manager Brian Roach said the E85 pump is another step in the continuation of the state’s biofuels industry. He also emphasized the importance of marketing ethanol through local retailers.

“Northeast Biofuels had made a commitment to do business with local supplies, and having a forward-looking retailer like Fastrac as a customer and partner will help us to do just that,” said Roach. “For Northeast Biofuels to be a success, we need to be able to market our ethanol as close to home as possible.”

There are now 32 E85 locations in the state of New York.

E85, Facilities, News