ACE Conference 2026

Big Investment for Corn-Oil Biodiesel

John Davis

greenshiftGreenShift Corporation has announced it has received a $38 million investment to produce 20 million gallons per year of biodiesel from corn oil, squeezed from the corn used in ethanol plants.

This release posted on MarketWatch.com says GreenShift use the money to build twelve corn oil extraction facilities and to expand the capacity of GreenShift’s NextDiesel biodiesel refinery in Adrian, Michigan to 20 million gallons per year:

GreenShift’s biodiesel production model is based on the integration of its patent-pending corn oil extraction technologies into corn ethanol production facilities to extract crude corn oil from distillers grain, a co-product of ethanol production. GreenShift installs its extraction technologies at its expense and then purchases the extracted oil for a price that is indexed at a discount to the price of diesel fuel. This hedges GreenShift’s biodiesel production margins and provides important benefits to participating ethanol clients, such as:
— increased revenue and earnings;
— decreased commodity and financial risk;
— decreased utility consumption and carbon emissions; and,
— enhanced biofuel yield from corn.

GreenShift’s extraction technologies are currently in use at four corn ethanol plants in Michigan, Indiana, New York and Wisconsin, and GreenShift has executed contracts to deploy its extraction technologies at a number of additional U.S. ethanol plants.

“Our view is that the established corn ethanol infrastructure is the most practical pathway in North America to cost-effectively increase the production and use of carbon-neutral biofuels at globally-meaningful scales,” said Kevin Kreisler, GreenShift’s Chief Executive Officer. “To continue to accomplish this in a competitive and environmentally-superior way, existing corn ethanol facilities must evolve to achieve improved production efficiencies. We intend to contribute to that evolution. We look forward to the completion of this investment and delivering the financial and environmental benefits of our patent-pending corn oil extraction technologies to our ethanol clients at an accelerated pace.”

Usually, ethanol producers turn each bushel of corn into 2.75 gallons of ethanol. This process will expand the biofuel content of a bushel of corn to nearly three gallons.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News

Freightliner Introduces First Hybrid-Electric Class A Motorhome

John Davis

winnebagoadventurerhybrid2Looking to make a cleaner world and give better mileage to its customers, Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation (FCCC) has introduced the first hybrid-electric Class A motorhome chassis in the industry.

This company press release says the innovative ecoFRED™ chassis shows significant improvements in fuel economy compared with traditional gas pullers:

Fulfilling the tagline “Driven by You,” the ecoFRED prototype was engineered to address environmental and fuel-savings priorities identified by FCCC’s motorhome customers. ecoFRED also is in line with Daimler AG’s (Daimler) “Shaping Future Transportation” global initiative focused on reducing pollutants and fuel consumption.

Equipped with the Eaton® hybrid-electric system, ecoFRED features all the attributes FCCC customers have come to expect from the FRED™ motorhome chassis.

ecoFRED, so named because of its increased fuel economy and ecological/ environmental benefits, has the additional benefits of significantly less brake wear due to regenerative braking, leading to lower replacement costs. It also boasts better acceleration and increased towing capacity, and operates similar to driving an automatic transmission.

The release goes on to point out that the RV was built in collaboration with Winnebago:

Bob Olson, Winnebago Industries chairman, CEO and president added, “Winnebago Industries has a rich tradition of creating innovative fuel-efficient motorhomes, and we’re pleased to have partnered with Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation on developing the ecoFRED chassis concept used in our Winnebago Adventurer Hybrid concept vehicle.”

Miscellaneous

Biodiesel Board Congratulates Vilsack Nomination

John Davis

vilsackThe National Biodiesel Board continues to like what it sees when it comes to the incoming Obama Administration.

The primary advocacy group for the green fuel sent out congratulations to former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack who was nominated to serve President-elect Obama as the next U.S. Secretary of Agriculture:

Following the announcement, Joe Jobe, the CEO of the National Biodiesel Board (NBB), released the following statement:

“Governor Vilsack is an excellent choice to head the Department of Agriculture (USDA). His executive experience as governor along with his unwavering support of biofuels reflects the President-elect’s commitment to biodiesel, an issue he had highlighted as a priority during his campaign.

“There is no question Secretary-designate Vilsack will face many challenges in the future, but I am confident in his ability to promote the economic, environmental and energy benefits of biofuels and ensure that policy at the USDA will benefit both agriculture producers as well as the biodiesel industry.”

Vilsack’s nomination… and approval by the NBB… comes on the heels of four other NBB-pleasing nominations earlier this week: Dr. Steven Chu, who has been tapped to serve as the U.S. Secretary of Energy; Carol Browner, who was named to the new position of White House Coordinator of Energy and Climate Policy(commonly called the Energy Czar); Lisa Jackson, who will head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); and Nancy Sutley to serve the President-elect as the lead White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Biodiesel, Cellulosic, Government, Indy Racing

Energy Crisis to Energy Security

Cindy Zimmerman

Ethanol plays a role in a new book about current energy issues.

Energy Crisis to Energy Security book“From Energy Crisis to Energy Security” is a collection of essays edited by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and Clifford D. May for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which is “a nonpartisan policy institute dedicated exclusively to promoting pluralism, defending democratic values, and fighting the ideologies that threaten democracy,” according to their website.

The book includes a foreword by R. James Woolsey and other contributors include Robert McFarlane, Robert Zubrin, and Rick Tolman, among others.

Energy, Ethanol

Plant Shut Off Could Be Key to Cellulosic Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

Keeping on a mechanism in plants that naturally shuts down cellulose production could play a key role in enhancing biomass production for plant-based biofuels.

Purdue cellulose researchPurdue University researcher Nicholas Carpita says they have discovered that small-interfering RNAs (siRNAs) play a normal role in plant development by shutting off genes involved in primary cell wall growth in order to begin development of thicker, secondary cell walls.

“If we can learn to interfere with the down-regulation of cellulose synthesis, then plants may be able to produce more cellulose, which is key to biofuels production,” Carpita said.

A Purdue team made the discovery in barley after introducing a virus as a way to “silence” specific genes and study their functions. The researchers noticed that the virus had more effect then anticipated.

Carpita said this let researchers see that the siRNAs – among other things – regulate and shut down primary cell wall development to begin secondary wall growth. “These secondary stages result in characteristics such as tough rinds of corn stalks, vascular elements to conduct water and fibers for strength,” he said.

The researchers said that delaying or preventing the shutdown of both primary and secondary cellulose production might enhance total plant biomass.

Carpita’s research team reported its findings in the December 15 early online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Cellulosic, Ethanol, News, Research

Ethanol Industry Provides Green Jobs Input

Cindy Zimmerman

At the request of the Obama administration transition team, the Renewable Fuels Association last week submitted discussion ideas for an economic stimulus package partially designed to create green jobs and spur the green economy.

RFAAccording to a statement from RFA, “Some have misconstrued this communication as a request for federal assistance or a bailout. To the contrary, the RFA recognizes that by stimulating increased production, innovation, and investment in new technologies and cellulosic feedstocks, a revitalized renewable fuels industry can help bail out the flagging US economy and lessen America’s dependence on foreign oil.”

RFA says the ethanol industry has helped support the creation of more than 238,000 “green” jobs last year alone as well as helping to revive struggling rural economies.

Organization representatives say they will continue to have discussions with the Obama team on how ethanol fits into a green stimulus package. “America’s ethanol producers share the vision of President-elect Obama of a domestic industry that is innovating to include ethanol production from a wide array of materials including switchgrass, wood chips, and municipal solid waste. That vision can only become a reality if today’s ethanol technologies and producers are successful.”

Ethanol, Government, politics, RFA

Hydrogen Could Be Built for Warehouses

John Davis

Hydrogen-powered cars might be having a little trouble taking off in the U.S., but the clean power source might be built for the one area that might have heavier traffic this time of year than the highways: warehouses.

This story from SeekingAlpha.com says hydrogen fuel cell maker Plug Power has sold 220 fuel cells to Franklin Park, Ill.-based Central Grocers, Inc. which will be using them in their forklifts at a new distribution center in Joliet, Ill:

Using fuel cells powered by hydrogen delivered from an Air Products (APD) fueling system will save Central Grocers the cost of batteries and the system to recharge them, Plug Power said in a news release.

Using fuel cells also cuts down refueling time to about two minutes once or twice a day, versus batteries that need four to six recharges a day and can take hours to complete, Air Products said.

Fuel cell companies like Hydrogenics Corp. and Oorja Protonics are also targeting the forklift market. Fremont, Calif.-based Oorja’s fuel cells for forklifts have a twist – they use methanol, rather than pure hydrogen, as a fuel, a choice that the company says eases the cost and complications of refueling.

The article goes on to point out that warehouses are a natural for hydrogen power, as they can keep their fueling and charging stations nearby. Plus, they burn incredibly clean with water as the only “exhaust.”

Hydrogen

Green Jobs Fuel US Employment Future

John Davis

Nothing like high fuels prices this past summer to really jumpstart the domestic job market in the U.S… at least in the alternative energy sector.

This article from the Examiner.com offers a pretty interesting look at how biofuels, wind and solar are growing jobs in this country that seem to be safe from being outsourced somewhere overseas:

Maritza Schäfer is the Communications Director for the green jobs advocacy organization Green for All (www.greenforall.org) and points out that the excitement of a new green economy is that the majority of green jobs are local jobs.

“Much of the work we have to do to green our economy involves transforming the places that we live and work and the way we get around,” Schäfer says. “These jobs are difficult or impossible to offshore. For instance, you can’t pick up a house, send it to China to have solar panels installed, and have it shipped back. In addition, one of the major sources of manufacturing jobs — a sector that has been extensively off-shored — are components parts for wind towers and turbines. Because of their size and related high transportation costs, they are most cost-effectively produced as near as possible to wind-farm sites. Cities and communities should begin thinking now about ways their green strategies can also create local jobs.”

“Solar is the main industry that will propel green jobs in America, and wind is probably second,” [President of Borrego Solar Systems Mike Hall] says. “Solar traditionally provides more jobs per watt of energy than any other form of energy currently available. The industry requires a greater number of staff in all areas, from general construction and installation, to advertising to business development and more. Because the industry is growing at a tremendous rate, the demand for labor across all professions is increasing exponentially.”

The article is a pretty good read for anyone who might be looking for a job… or could be looking for a career change. Check it out!

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News, Solar, Wind

Montana Biodiesel to Fuel Japanese Airliner

John Davis

Last week, I told you about how Continental Airlines will be the first commercial airliner to use algae-biodiesel to fuel a flight shortly after the New Year.

Now, according to this story from the CBS television affiliates in Montana, a Japanese airline will test one of their commercial jets with biodiesel made from camelina in Montana:

Scott Johnson, manager of Sustainable Oils of Bozeman, says Japan Airlines will stage a one-hour flight using a jet fuel made from his company’s camelina on January 30, in Tokyo.

Camelina companies have so far struggled to reach their ambitions of converting millions of acres of the region’s farmland to the crop. Competition with high wheat prices has made it hard to attract farmers.

Sustainable Oils is a collaboration partnership between Targeted Growth of Seattle and Green Earth Fuels of Houston.

Biodiesel

Obama’s Ag and Interior Choices are Pro-Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

Tom VilsackAccording to media reports, President-elect Obama will announce former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack as his choice for secretary of agriculture at a press conference scheduled for Wednesday. Obama also plans to announce his nomination of Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar as interior secretary at the same news conference.

Vilsack served two terms as governor of Iowa from from 1998 until 2006 and was a short-lived opponent of Obama’s in the presidential race. As governor, Vilsack was a strong supporter of ethanol and other biofuels as a way to help rural economies. The last Secretary of Agriculture from Iowa was Henry Wallace who served under Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933 to 1941. Wallace was a plant geneticist who founded what is now Pioneer Hi-Bred.

Ken SalazarAs interior secretary, Salazar will head a department that oversees oil and gas drilling on public lands and manages the nation’s parks and wildlife refuges and will play a key role setting the new administration’s environmental, energy and land-use policies.

Salazar has also has been a strong supporter of biofuels, this year co-sponsoring the Open Fuel Standard Act, legislation would require that half of all new automobiles starting in 2012 be flex-fuel vehicles warranted to operate on gasoline, ethanol, and methanol, or be warranted to operate on biodiesel. Colorado Governor Bill Ritter will have to appoint a replacement to complete Salazar’s term in the Senate through 2010. Among the contenders is Salazar’s brother, John, who serves in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Government, News, politics