Harnessing the Wind Without a Breeze

John Davis

One of the knocks against wind energy is that you don’t have power if you don’t have wind. Well, an energy company in the Upper Midwest might have the solution.

This story from the Minneapolis (MN) Star-Tribune says Xcel Energy Inc. has teamed up with the state of Minnesota and a Virginia-based technology firm to test the first battery in the country capable of storing wind energy:

The breakthrough technology, which is the size of two semitrailer trucks stacked atop each other, was built in Japan and shipped to Luverne, Minn., where it will store electricity generated by the nearby Minwind Energy wind turbines. S&C Electric Co. expects the equipment will be completely installed by April.

The battery consists of a score of 50-kilowatt modules. When it is fully charged, the massive sodium-sulfur battery — which weighs about 80 tons — can store 7.2 megawatt-hours of electricity. That’s enough to power 500 homes for about seven hours. It will cost more than $5.4 million to buy and install the battery and analyze its performance.

The technology could help allay critics of wind energy, who lament that no electricity is produced when there’s no wind. If successful, the battery will store wind energy and release its power onto the electrical grid when the air is still.

“Energy storage is key to expanding the use of renewable energy,” Xcel Chairman and CEO Dick Kelly said. “This technology has the potential to reduce the impact caused by the variability and limited predictability of wind-energy generation.”

Xcel, has invested $3.6 million in the project and hopes that the battery will become key to its wind energy operations.

Wind

Colorado Firm Building Algae-Biodiesel Plant

John Davis

A Fort Collins, Colorado biofuel company will build an algae-biodiesel plant on an Indian reservation in southern Colorado.

Solix Biofuels has announced it has raised $10.5 million in funding with another $5 million commitment from investors to build the facility on 10 acres on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation. This story on Colorado.com has details:

The plant will be jointly developed by Solix and Southern Ute Alternative Energy LLC.

“We’re able to use the resources available, lots of sun, lots of land that has no other real use because it’s desert and the available saline water and the CO2 from the industrial plant,” said Bryan Willson, co-founder and chief technology officer for Solix.

A large research and development effort will remain in Fort Collins.

The Durango facility will be a significant advancement for Solix, according to the company, providing the capabilities to produce thousands of gallons of algae-based biofuel at a rate per acre higher than current projects.

Currently, algae grown in Solix photo-bioreactors create five times the amount of fuel per acre of land per year than agriculture-based fuel such as corn-based ethanol and soy- or canola-based biodiesel, according to the company.

Company officials say the facility won’t be on a largescale right away but is hoped to set the stage for a much bigger operation in the future.

Biodiesel

Big Sky Professor Discovers Biodiesel-Producing Fungus

John Davis

A trip to a Patagonian forest (that’s in South America) has produced the latest development in the biodiesel game.

Dr. Gary Strobel from Montana State University has found the endophytic fungus, Gliocladium roseum — a hydrocarbon-producing fungus he found growing in a tree in Patagonia — has been shown to produce many of the same hydrocarbons found in diesel. This story from Biodiesel Magazine says Strobel calls his discovery myco-diesel:

Strobel, a professor in the plant sciences and plant pathology department at Montana State University, explained that many organisms produce the shortest chain hydrocarbon, methane, and a number of organisms make longer-chain hydrocarbons that become increasing wax-like as the carbon chains get longer. However, in an extensive search of the literature, no other organism has been identified that produces as many short-chain hydrocarbons as Gliocladium roseum.

“How long it will take to make it practical to use is anybody’s guess,” Strobel said. “My son is doing the genetic profile and genetic sequencing. Perhaps these genes could be moved into other organisms like yeast or E coli that grow faster.” His son, Scott Strobel, is chair of Yale University’s Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry.

Strobel has published a paper on the subject due out in the November issue of Microbiology. He’s headed next to the rain forests of Borneo and then to Patagonia again to find more specimens to test.

You can read more about Strobel and his work on his Montana State web site: plantsciences.montana.edu/facultyorstaff/faculty/strobel/.

Biodiesel

MO Agribusiness Summit Focuses on Biofuels

The 2008 Missouri Agribusiness Summit was held today in Columbia, MO and featured a wide array of speakers presenting on biofuels.

Leading off the event was a welcome by Troy Norton of Williams-Keepers. Presentations on cellulosic ethanol, the Farm Bill, Federal and State legislation, and ethanol and biodiesel markets followed.

“There are several challenges that we have to overcome after this election,” stated Missouri Rep. Brian Munzlinger, Chairman of the Special Committee on Agribusiness. “There is uncertainty in agriculture at this time with the new Governor, DNR and the Department of Agriculture.”

Jenna Higgins Rose from the National Biodiesel Board said, “The National Biodiesel Board’s Future Vision is to increase the demand for commercially produced biodiesel within the United States through education, communication, and quality assurance programs.” She added that the goal of NBB is to have 1.85 billion gallons of B100 sales, mostly as blends by 2015.

Sponsoring the summit were: Bryan Cave, LLP; MO Agricultural and Small Business Development Authority; MO Corn Growers Assn.; MO Soybean Assn.; and Williams-Keepers, LLC.

Biodiesel, Cellulosic, E85, Ethanol, News

Report Indicates Little Land Use Impact for Ethanol Production

Cindy Zimmerman

RFAThe amount of agricultural land required to produce 15 billion gallons of grain ethanol in the United States by 2015, as required by the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA), is likely to be less than 1 percent of total world cropland, according to a new report released today by the Renewable Fuels Association.

According to the report, “Understanding Land Use Change and U.S. Ethanol Expansion,” gains in agricultural productivity, coupled with the contribution of feed produced as an ethanol co-product, are expected to significantly mitigate the need for conversion of non-agricultural lands to support expanded U.S. biofuels production.

Moreover, there is no empirical evidence demonstrating land conversion abroad is a result of U.S. biofuels production. “Unfortunately, the current state of land use change science is far from conclusive and no consensus exists on how best to analyze the potential indirect land use impacts of expanding biofuels production,” continued the report.

The report analyzes historical cropland and crop utilization trends, explores the complex and multifaceted nature of land use changes, and discusses the uncertainty of current land use change modeling approaches.

Ethanol, News, RFA

Consumers Support Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

Biofuels top the list as the most acceptable avenue to long term energy security in the nation, according to a national consumer survey commissioned by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC).

EPIC Fueling LogoEPIC Executive Director Toni Nuernberg said they interviewed over 1,000 consumers nationwide for the survey. “About 73 percent of them responded that they want to see domestically produced biofuels such as ethanol to replace oil,” she said.

In addition, 62 percent of the consumers surveyed cited conservation as a solution to long-term energy independence, 58 percent favored increased domestic drilling, 55 percent support mandated manufacturing of environmentally friendly vehicles and 24 percent cited drilling in environmentally friendly areas as an option.

EPIC’s national poll also reveals consumer support for biofuels such as ethanol keeps growing. Nearly 62 percent of respondents have a favorable view of ethanol. And Nuernberg says consumers are very interested in flex-fuel vehicles (FFVs) that can run on either pure gasoline or any blend of gas and up to 85 percent ethanol.

“What was somewhat surprising to us is that they also expressed some interest in purchasing a hybrid flex-fuel vehicle,” said Nuernberg. “Over 64 percent of respondents said they would consider purchasing such a vehicle and it was even a higher acceptance than FFV without the hybrid feature.” Nuernberg says the main reason cited for the purchase of a hybrid FFV was the environmental benefits of ethanol.

View survey results here.

EPIC, Ethanol, News

Cal Company Produces Sugarcane Biodiesel

John Davis

A California biotechnology company has opened a biodiesel plant that makes the green fuel from sugarcane.

This story from Cleantech.com says Emeryville, Calif.-based Amyris Biotechnologies opened the first of its two pilot plants in its home state with plans to open four commercial-sized plants in Brazil in the next couple of years:

The 2.4 million gallon-capacity pilot plant in Emeryville is only expected to produce enough fuel for testing, experimenting and securing certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and fleet operators. Melo said he expects EPA certification within 30 days.

A second, larger pilot plant is scheduled to open in the spring in Campinas, Brazil. Melo didn’t want to share specifics of the pilot facilities but said each cost less than $10 million and is smaller than 10,000 square feet.

Unlike traditional biodiesel from lipids and fatty acids, Amyris uses synthetic biology to reprogram microbes, or “bugs,” to function as living factories for the environmentally-friendly production of high-value chemicals.

Company officials say the fuel they produce closely resembles conventional gas, diesel and jet fuel.

Biodiesel

‘No Thanks’ to $1 Million Biodiesel Grant

John Davis

It’s not very often that you hear about a biodiesel firm turning down $1 million in the form of a government grant, but a green fuel maker in Pennsylvania seems to have some practical reasons for saying “thanks, but no thanks” to the money.

This story from the Binghamton (NY) Press & Sun-Bulletin says Alternative Fuels Inc. turned down the $1 million Pennsylvania grant to start an algae biodiesel fuel plant but will still produce biodiesel in the state:

Late last month, [Richard Smith, the business’s principal] told the DEP he would not be using the grant and to make it available to someone else, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Charles Young said. The DEP asked for the request in writing and has not heard back from Smith.

Smith did not receive any money from the grant because he had not begun producing biodiesel at the required level, Young said. The company was expected to produce more than 25,000 gallons of algae-based fuel a day.

Smith had problems producing algae-based fuel and instead began using waste oil, generating enough biodiesel to receive a relatively small $480 grant from Pennsylvania, Young said.

Under a program initiated last summer, Smith also is eligible to receive 75 cents a gallon from Pennsylvania, or up to $1.9 million a year, if he produces at least 25,000 gallons of biodiesel a month, Young said.

The article goes on to say that Alternative Fuels does plan to take advantage of that conventional biodiesel credit.

Biodiesel

Pipeline to Move Ethanol Across Florida

John Davis

The new Central Florida Pipeline will soon get its first customer as Houston-based Kinder Morgan Energy Partners starts shipping ethanol through the 106-mile pipe from the Port of Tampa to its terminal near Orlando ­International Airport.

This story in the Orlando Business Journal says this will take 40 fuel trucks a day off the road:

Although the pipeline was already in place, reaching the point where Kinder Morgan was able to begin shipping ethanol was no easy undertaking.

The company spent $30 million on improvements to its facilities in Tampa and Orlando, such as storage tanks, truck racks and rail off-load facilities. Now, the Tampa terminal can store up to 240,000 barrels of ethanol; the Orlando terminal, 45,000 barrels.

The company spent another $10 million on improvements to the existing pipeline itself to ensure it could be used for ethanol, which is much more corrosive than gasoline.

Kinder Morgan’s Tampa terminal receives ethanol transported by rail, barges and other vessels, said spokeswoman Emily Mir Thompson.

The move is seen as setting a precedent for pipeline ethanol distribution.

Ethanol, News

South Dakota’s Blender Pump Program

Debuting in early May of this year, the South Dakota ethanol blender pump program has grown to 34 stations across the state. According to the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC), 45 stations have filed applications to receive grants to install these blender pumps which give flexible fuel vehicle owners the choice of filling up with E20, E30, E40 or E85.

“Higher blends of ethanol are the ultimate goal. South Dakota consumers can now reap the benefits of higher blends by being able to access blender pumps across the state,” said Reid Jensen, president of the South Dakota Corn Utilization Council. “South Dakota was first to raise the bar and offer the next generation of fuel to consumers. This is only the starting point. Flex-fuel drivers are discovering that mid-level blends are a better option for them, offering better fuel efficiency, lower emissions and lessening our dependence on foreign oil.”

A state-wide consumer radio and print campaign began on November 5, 2008 to educate consumers about mid-level blends, blender pumps and blender pumps locations.

blends, corn, E85, Ethanol, Facilities, Flex Fuel Vehicles, News