Monsanto Invests in Sugarcane for Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

Monsanto is moving into the sugarcane seed business.

MonsantoThe company has announced that “in the face of long-term changes driving greater global demand for food and biofuel sources” they are investing in sugarcane “to diversify its existing core crop portfolio and to leverage its experience in bringing innovations to the agricultural marketplace through breeding and biotechnology.”

Monsanto will be acquiring Aly Participacoes Ltda., which operates the sugarcane breeding and technology companies, CanaVialis S.A. and Alellyx S.A., both of which are based in Brazil.

Carl Casale, executive vice president of global strategy and operations for Monsanto, says this will allow them to combine breeding expertise. “Our goal with this approach is to increase yields in sugarcane while reducing the amount of resources needed for this crop’s cultivation, just as we’re doing now for corn, soybeans and cotton,” Casale said. “We view this as a significant opportunity over the longer term to supplement our ongoing commitment to corn as an ethanol feedstock, diversify our crop technology portfolio and provide innovations to such a vital crop as sugarcane.”

Casale says they hope to bring new trait technologies for sugarcane to market by 2016.

Ethanol, Farming, News

Ethanol Industry Urged to Vote

Cindy Zimmerman

RFA PodcastIn this “Ethanol Report” podcast, Matt Hartwig of the Renewable Fuels Association talks about why it is important for the industry to be involved in the political process and why every needs to get out and vote. No endorsements from the RFA on who to vote for, by the way, just vote because elections on both the state and national level are important for the ethanol industry.

You can listen to “The Ethanol Report” on-line here:
[audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/rfa/ethanol-report-20.mp3]

Or you can subscribe to this podcast by following this link.

Audio, Ethanol, News, RFA

Indiana Ethanol Plant Starts Up

Cindy Zimmerman

CardinalThe sun may be going down on one major ethanol producer, but a nice little 100 million gallon per year plant is just taking off in Indiana.

Cardinal
Cardinal Ethanol in Randolf County, Indiana officially started grinding corn on Saturday in a very low key event, according to the Muncie StarPress.com.

Indiana Congressman Mike Pence, local politicians, members of the press and a small group of Cardinal Ethanol officials were on hand for Saturday’s start-up, which involved the click of a computer mouse. The first drops of ethanol from the first corn that hit the grinder on Saturday should make their appearance on Election Day as the fermentation process takes about 60 hours.

Ethanol, News

VeraSun Files Bankruptcy

Cindy Zimmerman

It was no surprise that VeraSun, one of the nation’s largest ethanol producers, filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 on Friday. The move has been expected as the company’s position continued to worsen after taking a fall on pricey forward corn contracts. The company was put on the market in September and Morgan Stanley was hired as an adviser.

VeraSunAccording to the company, “The filing was precipitated by a series of events that led to a contraction in VeraSun’s liquidity, impairing its ability to operate its business and invest in production facilities. The Company suffered significant losses in the third quarter of 2008 from a dramatic spike in its corn costs, reflecting in part costs attributable to its corn procurement and hedging arrangements, and historically unfavorable margins. Beginning in the third quarter, worsening capital market conditions and a tightening of trade credit resulted in severe constraints on the Company’s liquidity position.”

VeraSun officials say they will maintain operations at their 16 production facilities in eight states.

Ethanol, News

Using Ike’s Biomass to Produce Power

John Davis

There is some actual good that will come out of the devastation of Hurricane Ike.

This story from Greentech Media says Biofuels Power Corp. has announced plans to build a 4-megawatt power plant the will produce electricity from the woodchips and other debris from the storm:

The Woodlands, Texas-based company, traded over the counter using the symbol “BFLS,” on Friday signed a preliminary agreement with a wood-waste storage operator, DSMC, and with a consulting firm, Texoga Technologies Corp., that will retrofit abandoned oil wells for carbon-dioxide storage.

Biofuels Power and DSMC will each hold a 30 percent equity stake in the project, while Texoga will get 10 percent. Other undisclosed investors will own the remaining 30 percent. Texoga spun off Biofuels Power in 2007.

The pilot project will make use of wood chips and refuse left behind by the powerful Hurricane Ike, which swept through the Gulf Coast in September. A lot of the material will be coming from Galveston, Texas, which was particularly hard hit by the hurricane, said Robert Wilson, a spokesman for Biofuels Power.

DSMC, based in Humble, Texas, has handled a bulk of waste disposal from the hurricane cleanup effort.

While the debris from Hurricane Ike eventually will be burned up, the article did point out the the Gulf Coast has plenty of hurricanes every year, so at least potentially, there would be plenty of feedstock.

biomass

Trading Used Cooking Oil for Biodiesel

John Davis

The folks in El Paso, Texas now have a way to get rid of their old, used cooking grease and fill up their gas tanks.

This story from KVIA-TV in El Paso says it’s a new pilot program offered by the city to turn the grease into biodiesel:

The service is free and available to residents who pay a solid waste disposal fee to the city. Officials advise residents to never wash cooking fats, oil or grease down the drain, as they can cause the sewer line to back up into homes or in the storm drains, which flow to the city’s wastewater treatment plants.

Residents can dispose of up to 15 gallons of used cooking oil per person, per visit to a Citizen Collection Site.

The City of El Paso has partnered with Global Alternative Fuel, LLC, to start the pilot program. Used cooking oils from businesses, including restaurants, will not be accepted.

You can find a drop off point by clicking here.

Biodiesel, E85, Government, Indy Racing

Symposium to Look at Biodiesel Feedstocks

John Davis

A symposium for biodiesel feedstocks is slated for November 21st in St. Louis, Mo. The Center for Evergreen Energy at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center will host the event, designed to address some of the current challenges in biofuel feedstock research and production:

Biodiesel producers, marketers and feedstock producers will hear from presenters including Monsanto, NASA, Enterprise-Rent-a-Car Institute and the National Biodiesel Board as well as scientists from the Center for Evergreen Energy and Danforth. Participants will address feedstock production, oil content, and innovation. For the purpose of the symposium, feedstock is separated into three categories: algae; near-term feedstock; and long-term feedstock. At the end of the day, each group will provide policy recommendations that will help fulfill future biodiesel goals.

“Increased availability of diversified feedstocks used in biodiesel is vital to the future growth of the biodiesel industry,” said J. Alan Weber, feedstock consultant to NBB. “This symposium grew out of a need to explore alternatives and educate the biodiesel industry on the short and long-term future of feedstocks.”

Biodiesel, conferences

Corn Growers Research Non-Fuel Ethanol Use

Cindy Zimmerman

Ethanol production can yield some non-fuel uses that have yet to be realized.

NCGAThe National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) has been researching efforts that produce ethyl lactate from reactive distillation. Ethyl lactate is a general all-purpose solvent as well as a common ingredient in pharmaceutical preparations, food additives and fragrances, and it is typically derived from petrochemicals. The reactive distillation process provides a cost-effective way to produce it from ethanol.

NCGA Vice President for Research and Business Development Richard Glass says they have worked with a team from Michigan State University, including chemical engineering professors Carl Lira and Dennis Miller.

Among the benefits is that reactive distillation can cut the cost of ethyl lactate production in half and provide a significant non-fuel revenue stream for ethanol plants. “If all you produce from a biorefinery is ethanol, that is fine for a nascent industry but, in essence, all you have is a one-trick pony,” Glass said. “My dream is the integrated biorefinery where the only limits are your imagination and the ability to make the system utilize all components of the production output.”

Glass said that at a typical ethanol plant producing 25 million gallons a year, diverting one million gallons to make chemicals like ethyl lactate each year could bring in the same amount of revenue as the remaining 24 million gallons of ethanol produced for fuel. NCGA is currently seeking companies interested in purchasing a license for this ethyl lactate technology, which can be retrofitted into a dry-grind ethanol plant.

corn, Ethanol, News, Research

First Solar Reaches for the Sky

John Davis

An Arizona-based maker solar panels has really taken off, as it has signed a long-term agreement to provide solar panels and its profits have doubled.

This story from Forbes says First Solar Inc. has seen its stocks surge as its solar business takes off:

First Solar also said Wednesday it is entering the U.S. residential market through a five-year contract with SolarCity Corp.

First Solar, which produces cadmium telluride-based solar panels, will supply 100 megawatts of modules to SolarCity, a Foster City, Calif.-based residential solar installer, beginning in the first quarter of 2009. First Solar will also make a $25 million equity investment in SolarCity, which is part of a $30 million round of financing that will fund SolarCity’s continued U.S. expansion.

Analysts say that First Solar is on track in its strategy to expand its U.S. utility presence.

Solar

New York Looks to Regulate Wind Energy

John Davis

Wind energy is a popular alternative energy source… so popular that New York’s Attorney General wants to make sure it’s done legally.

This story from WRGB-TV in Albany, NY has details:

Cuomo announced Thursday a new Wind Industry Ethics Code to ensure that development of alternative energy continues in New York properly and legally.

“Wind power is an exciting industry for the state that will be a cornerstone of our energy future,” Cuomo said in a statement Thursday. “But it is important to make sure that this alternative energy sector develops in a way that maintains the public’s confidence, and that is what this new code of conduct does.”

Two companies have already signed on to the ethics code: Noble Environmental Power, based in Essex, Connecticut, and First Wind, based in Newton, Mass.

The attorney general has previously investigated whether wind-farm companies improperly sought land-use agreements with citizens and public officials, and whether those companies have tried to sway lawmakers into backing wind farm development with improper benefits.

The Wind Industry Ethics Code prohibits conflicts of interest between municipal officials and wind companies, and establishes new public disclosure requirements.

Wind