California Plant to Make Ethanol from Waste

Cindy Zimmerman

BlueFire Ethanol Fuels of California has been given the go-ahead to build the nation’s first commercial biowaste-to-ethanol facility in Los Angeles County.

Blue Fire EthanolThe county’s regional planning commission unanimously agreed to issue a zoning permit to BlueFire Ethanol to build a $30 million facility in Lancaster, located north of Los Angeles. The plant will be built next to a landfill and construction is scheduled to begin in the fall.

BlueFire Ethanol selected the Lancaster location because an estimated 170 tons of biowaste material, including woodchips, grass cuttings and other organic waste, already passes by the property every day. The plant is also designed to use reclaimed water and lignin, a byproduct of the production process, in order to produce its own electricity and steam.

The new facility will use BlueFire’s commercially-ready concentrated acid hydrolysis technology process which could convert the waste into as much as 3.2 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year.

Cellulosic, Ethanol, News

New Alliance for Food and Fuel

Cindy Zimmerman

Alliance For Abundant Food and EnergyA group of major players in the agribusiness sector have joined together to highlight the ability of American agriculture to meet both food and energy needs.

The Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy includes Archer Daniels Midland, DuPont, John Deere, Monsanto, and the Renewable Fuels Association.

The alliance asserts that “By growing more crops and developing more efficient ways of processing them, we can produce enough food to meet the world’s needs. The Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy understands that innovations in Agriculture can support the development of greater productivity, enabling farmers to effectively supply both the world’s growing food and energy demands.”

The companies involved have contributed towards a fund that will be used for national advertising and lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill.

Ethanol, Farming, Food prices, News

Run on Biodiesel, Keep Your Warranty

John Davis

With the rising interest in biodiesel and the increasing popularity of biodiesel-fueled vehicles (as we reported last Tuesday, July 22nd), consumers need to know how they can use the green fuel and still keep their manufacturer’s warranty.

Recently, biodiesel received ASTM approval for meeting standards for fuel use. That means that any biodiesel that meets that standard is as safe as regular diesel fuel. But some auto manufacturers and dealers are being a little hesitant in giving biodiesel a thumbs up for use. This story from the gas2.0.org web site has tips from the Northwest Biofuels Association to make sure that those car makers will honor their warranties, even if you use biodiesel:

* Whether or not a biodiesel blend is “recommended” by your automaker is separate from the question of whether the use of biodiesel affects engine warranty coverage. Make sure you know exactly what your automaker specifies.
* Because vehicle warranties only cover parts and workmanship, fuel is not covered under any vehicle warranty.
* Conversely, if consumers that use biodiesel have an engine failure unrelated to the use of biodiesel and the cause is found to be faulty parts or workmanship, then the failure would be covered by the warranty.
* If a customer brings in a vehicle that has used biodiesel and the customer is told that the warranty is voided solely because the customer is using biodiesel, this violates the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.
* A vehicle’s warranty cannot be voided solely due to the use of biodiesel.

The association included the tips with a letter written in collaboration with Oregon auto dealers and Oregonian biodiesel distributors.

Biodiesel, Car Makers

Tennessee Cellulosic Ethanol Plant Planned

Cindy Zimmerman

DuPontDaniscoDuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol and the University of Tennessee Research Foundation have announced a partnership to construct an innovative pilot-scale biorefinery and state-of-the-art research and development facility for cellulosic ethanol in Vonore, Tenn.

According to DuPont Danisco, the pilot-scale biorefinery will develop the commercial package for the partnership’s leading cellulosic ethanol technology. The project will also utilize UT’s world-class expertise in cellulosic feedstock production and co-product research, as well as its work with Tennessee farmers to develop the first dedicated cellulosic energy crop supply chain for cellulosic biorefineries utilizing switchgrass. The facility design will incorporate the flexibility to operate on two different non-food biomass feedstocks, including corn stover, cobs and fiber, and switchgrass.

Cellulosic, Ethanol, News

Ethanol Experts Available

Cindy Zimmerman

The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) has unveiled a new Renewable Fuels Experts Database to help fight public misconceptions about ethanol. EPIC is the first organization to offer such a media resource containing experts from the renewable fuels industry.

EPIC ExpertsThe database is an online tool that allows journalists to find experts by searching keywords or a category list such as alternative blended fuels, state of the industry and cellulosic ethanol. More than 65 experts are currently in the database with detailed biographies, published works and links to view recent TV, radio and print interviews with more resources added every day.

EPIC, Ethanol, News

RFS Restrictions Could Delay Cellulosic Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

Members of a House Agriculture subcommittee are expressing concerns that restrictions under the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) in the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act could be detrimental to the development of second generation ethanol using biomass.

The House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy, and Research held a hearing to review the RFS implementation and agriculture producer eligibility. Chairman Congressman Tim Holden (D-PA) said restrictions in the definition of “renewable biomass” under the RFS limit the participation of private forestland owners.

“As our economy diversifies its energy supply, it is critical we take advantage of all potential sources of renewable biomass,” Holden said. “Unfortunately, the RFS contains some restrictions that could delay and threaten meeting the aggressive targets for cellulosic ethanol in the RFS and hold us back from achieving energy independence.”

Robert Meyers EPAEnvironmental Protection Agency Deputy Assistant Administrator Robert Meyer noted that the new law does “limit the crops and crop residues used to produce renewable fuel to those grown on land cleared or cultivated at any time prior to enactment of EISA, that is either actively managed or fallow, and non-forested. EISA also requires that forest-related slash and tree thinnings used for renewable fuel production pursuant to the Act be harvested from non-federal forest lands.” This was just one of the many complexities he outlined in the challenge EPA has in implementing the RFS in a timely manner.

Meyers said EPA began working on implementation of the law immediately once it was signed by the president in December, but he was hesitant to be definite about when that might finally be accomplished, saying only that they hope the final rule to be finished “some time this fall.” Complicating the matter still further is the request for a partial waiver of the RFS submitted by Texas Governor Rick Perry, which EPA has delayed making a decision on due to the volume of comments received.

Cellulosic, Ethanol, Government, News

Postal Service Delivering on Alternatives

John Davis

Your mail could be delivered using green energy.

This story from NPR says that the U.S. Postal Service has the largest fleet of alternatively-fueled vehicles in the country… 43,000 strong. And that’s just the beginning of its green efforts:

It’s using solar cells to power some buildings. It’s using eco-friendly packaging.

It’s so hip, it even has a vice president of sustainability.

Walt O’Tormey, USPS vice president of engineering, says this independent federal agency is pushing harder than most to move away from petroleum.

“We’re exploring all the alternatives in the marketplace for us, just to get out of gas consumption,” O’Tormey says. “And we know we owe the environment … to come up with a technology that does not impact the environment.”

This summer, the Postal Service is testing the latest generation of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles with General Motors.

“We’ll test anything!” O’Tormey says. “Propane, compressed natural gas, biodiesel, electric. We have electric vehicles delivering packages in midtown Manhattan, and we have plenty of test sites, from the Grand Canyon to Alaska.”

Considering that each one-cent increase in the cost of petroleum-based fuels costs the USPS $8 million more, it’s no wonder officials want to burn anything but non-renewable sources. Maybe it will help keep down the price of a stamp.

Biodiesel, Hydrogen, Propane, Solar

MO Gov Candidates Debate Ethanol

John Davis

As we reported back on July 16th, ethanol has become a key issue in the race for Missouri’s governor office. Tonight, the two key opponents in the debate over Missouri’s ethanol mandate, one of the first in the nation, faced off in a televised debate.

Republicans Congressman Kenny Hulshof and State Treasurer Sarah Steelman tangled over each other’s positions on the green fuel… with Hulshof backing Missouri’s ethanol mandate and Steelman siding with Big Oil and calling for repeal of the mandate.

During the debate on Springfield’s KY3-TV, Hulshof defended ethanol saying the big oil companies have spent tens of millions of dollars to blame ethanol for the nation’s energy woes. He says Steelman has been misled down that path, when in fact, “the only solution we’ve been able to come up with as far as increasing our supply of energy has been domestic biofuels. Instead of looking to the Mideast for our energy needs, why aren’t we looking to the Midwest?”

Hulshof also pointed out that ethanol is being credited with keeping gas prices down by up to 40 cents a gallon. And in Missouri, where a 10 percent ethanol requirement for nearly every gallon of gas sold is in effect, we are enjoying some of the lowest prices in the country (Coincidence? I think not!).

You can here both of their comments on the KY3 web site.

While I realize that this is a Missouri debate before our August 5th primary, I think it is indicative of the debate and attacks that ethanol and biodiesel are undergoing across the country. Keep an eye on this race… it could have implications throughout the U.S.

Ethanol, News

Shrimp Goes Big with Biodiesel

John Davis

Researchers at Mississippi State University are looking at ways to turn the millions of pounds of shrimp parts not used for food into biodiesel.

This story from Biodiesel Magazine says the project is being funded by the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium (MASGC), part of a federal/state partnership that matches National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts and resources with state academic institutions:

The goal of the research project is to find a higher value for the millions of tons of shrimp and other seafood waste that gets processed each year near in the Gulf Coast areas of Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana, according to Todd French, an assistant microbiologist at MSU who is a lead on the project.

“What we’re trying to do is find pieces to the puzzle and find something that has a higher value than their byproduct currently has where a lot of times they have to pay to truck off,” French said.

Seafood-based biodiesel production would be a boon for existing shrimp processors looking to eliminate some of their disposal costs, which have been estimated at about $145,000 per producer. As a building block for fuel, the waste also would bring additional income streams from the products it’s used to create.

Mississippi State has been a very hot place for biodiesel recently. As you might remember from my post on June 16th, the school is also working on turning wastewater sludge into biodiesel (in fact some of the same researchers are working on the shrimp-to-biodiesel project). In addition, back in May, we told you about how Mississippi State was the winner of Challenge X… a four-year engineering competition with 17 university teams from across North America developing General Motors vehicles using alternative energies. That winning vehicle ran on biodiesel.

Biodiesel

CO Ranked High in Using Less Oil

Colorado is ranked high in the states becoming less dependent on oil, according to a study released by the Natural Resources Defense Council. In fact, it ranks ninth out of all fifty states; California ranks first and Mississippi ranks last. A primary reason is the addition of their alternative fuels infrastructure and promotion of such fuels.

NRDCThe study notes that Coloradans spend about 4.5 percent of their annual income on gasoline — an average of $1,835.95 a year — compared with Mississippi, the most vulnerable state in the nation, where residents spend nearly 8 percent of their annual income on gasoline.

Other reasonings noted as Colorado’s high ranking in this study was the standard that Gov. Bill Ritter called for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions as part of his Climate Action Plan. In April, the Governor asked state employees to reduce petroleum use by 25 percent.

“Citizens are looking for ways to reduce consumption, and we have alternative fuels and alternative transportation available,” said Megan Castle, director of communications for the Governor’s Energy Office.

There are currently 72 biofuels stations within the state of Colorado and 20 additional planned to open soon. Biofuel sales statewide are now at about 1 million gallons a month, Castle said.

Biodiesel, E85, Government, News