Ethanol Talk at Pork Expo

Cindy Zimmerman

Ethanol production as it relates to high feed costs was a major topic of discussion at the World Pork Expo in Des Moines last week, but pork producers understand that there are other factors impacting their input costs.

World Pork Expo 2008 Bryan Black“This is not specifically an ethanol problem,” said National Pork Producers Council president Bryan Black. “The world demand for grain, the total energy price crisis and shortages of grain across the world have led to this situation and we are not pointing the finger at any one particular one.”

The NPPC has created a brand new task force to look at new feed alternatives to help them deal with the rising cost of corn and soybean meal, which have been the primary source of feed for hogs.

World Pork Expo 2008 Chuck ConnerDuring a speech to pork producers at the expo, Deputy Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner admitted that ethanol is a factor in the higher prices. “Ethanol is a new demand factor in the corn market, to the tune of about a third of our production going forward,” Conner said. “Fortunately, we did produce 13 billion bushels of corn and so despite large quantities going to ethanol, we actually did feed more corn to livestock than in previous years, so we managed to grow that market for both feed and ethanol.”

“We do recognize that there is some hurt out there in the livestock sector and with 70 percent of the cost of pork production going to feed, we know that you are first in line to get clipped,” said Conner. That is why USDA is buying pork for food assistance programs, which is helping the pork industry while at the same time helping the needy.

Conner said that USDA is also opening up some Conservation Reserve Program acreage to haying and grazing, which is primarily a direct benefit for cattle producers but it indirectly benefits hog farmers by increasing the amount of feed available to the livestock industry.

Ethanol, Farming, News

Promoting Biodiesel at CMA Music Fest

Chuck Zimmerman

Joe Jobe and Chuck LeavellOver on our sister AgWired site we’ve had coverage of New Holland activities at the CMA Music Fest. One of those is the annual Michael Peterson/New Holland Celebrity Tractor Race. It provides a great opportunity to promote renewable fuels to the country music loving public.

Joe Jobe, CEO of the National Biodiesel Board (left) and Chuck Leavell, keyboardist for the Rolling Stones (right) were two of the competitors out here at the Race today. In this post you can watch Joe give it all he had this year, which was good but just a tad short. I’m betting he’ll be back though. He really commends Michael Peterson for being such an advocate for renewable fuels like biodiesel (the tractor was running on B20) and also New Holland for their support. He says that this country music audience is a great one to expose to the message.

Listen to my interview with Joe: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/new-holland/cma-08-joe-jobe.mp3]

Watch Joe ride:


2008 CMA Music Festival Photo Album

Audio, Biodiesel, New Holland, Promotion, Video

Biosource Boosts Biofuel Production

John Davis

Nova Biosource Fuels is building up its biofuels. The energy company has announced that it has commissioned its second 20 million gallon per year train. It’s biodiesel refinery in Seneca, Illinois has also produced more than 3 million gallons of ASTM 6751 standard biodiesel fuel.

“Our progress at the Seneca refinery continues to solidify our proven process technology that enables the use of high free fatty acid (FFA) feedstocks, which tend to cost less than feedstocks with lower FFA levels,” said Kenneth T. Hern, Chairman and CEO of Nova. “Two of the three trains have operated at nameplate capacity and have exceeded our performance objectives for yield, throughput, and quality. The refinery has successfully demonstrated conversion of feedstocks with free fatty acid levels above 10 percent. To date, we’ve produced more than 3 million gallons, and we expect to begin starting up the refinery’s final 20 MGY train in June. Our B100 quality continues to be excellent.”

“We are commissioning the Seneca refinery one train at a time, spaced at 45 to 60 day intervals to smoothly integrate equipment shakedown, staff training, logistical support, markets and overall refinery operations while ramping up production at a methodical and structured pace,” said Mr. Hern. “We could not be more pleased with the progress on the first two trains and are looking forward with great anticipation to the startup of the final one.”

Nova says it is committed to building and operating a number of Nova-owned biodiesel refineries. The company is aiming to position its production to reach between 180 to 220 million gallons of biodiesel fuel on an annual basis.

Biodiesel, Distribution, Energy, Production

SunEthanol Gets New CEO

John Davis

Biofuels expert William Frey is the new CEO of SunEthanol. Frey will lead SunEthanol’s commercialization of fuel that is created from plant waste and fast growing grasses.

SunEthanol announced today that it has hired biofuels leader William Frey, Ph.D., as the cellulosic ethanol company’s new chief executive officer.

Previously, Dr. Frey led the efforts to commercialize advanced biofuels and new cellulosic process technologies being developed by DuPont. Frey was one of the first business development leaders who established the DuPont Bio-Based Materials business in the late 1990’s, now known as DuPont Applied BioSciences. He personally led the team that developed DuPont Biofuels as a business unit in 2002, and has broad partnership experience with industry leaders such as BP, British Sugar, Tate & Lyle and Genencor, a division of Dansico, as well as significant experience in working with global government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Energy. Dr. Frey had been with DuPont for 28 years prior to accepting the position as CEO of SunEthanol.

SunEthanol says its mission is to help the nation power automobiles without relying on fossil fuels.

Energy, Ethanol, News, Production

IEA: Solar and Wind Part of Plan to Halve CO2 Emissions

John Davis

A report out from the International Energy Agency (IEA) says the world will need to spend $45 trillion if it wants to cut in half the amount of carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. And part of that money will need to be spent on solar and wind power.

In this story posted on Bloomberg.com, Nobuo Tanaka, the IEA’s executive director, says the U.S. and leading economic nations will need to go through a “Global Energy Revolution”:

“A global energy technology revolution is both necessary and achievable, but it will be a tough challenge,” Tanaka said in the statement. “The world faces the daunting combination of surging energy demand, rising greenhouse gas emissions and tightening resources.”

The world needs to build 32 new nuclear power plants and 17,500 wind-power turbines each year to halve emissions by 2050, according to the Paris-based energy adviser. G-8 environment ministers last month pledged to achieve such a reduction. By contrast France, Europe’s biggest nuclear power, has 58 reactors.

The agency said that increased use of nuclear power, the development of renewable energy sources, such as solar power, and carbon capture and storage are vital to reducing emissions. Carbon capture is a technology in which carbon dioxide emissions are caught in the air and stored underground.

So, if environmental reasons aren’t enough to get you on board with clean energy, consider this: non-renewable petroleum jumped more than $11 a barrel today… closing at a record $139+! And its expected to climb to $150 a barrel by July 4th. Happy Independence Day, huh?

Solar, Wind

Biofuels Revenues Expected to Nearly Double by 2012

John Davis

While some other sectors of the U.S. economy are struggling right now, the future looks pretty bright for making money producing biodiesel and ethanol.

Wisconsin Ag Connection reports that an analysis from Frost & Sullivan titled “North American Biofuels Market: Investment Analysis,” shows that market earned revenues of nearly $10 billion last year will grow to $18.52 billion in 2012:

“Regulatory support coupled with the need to address the geopolitical risk posed by relying on the turbulent Middle East and Venezuela is driving the growth of the North American biofuels market,” notes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Shrikanth S. “Furthermore, there is a strong venture capital investment climate in the next-generation biofuels, which are expected to be more efficient, using algae, waste, straw, wood, and other forest-based inputs that can be found in abundance in the United States.”

The expanded Renewable Fuel Standard, Volumetric ‘Blender’ Tax Credit, Small Agri-biodiesel Producer Tax Credit, and Alternative Fuel Refueling Infrastructure Tax Credit provide the necessary regulatory support for the North American biofuels industry.

The article goes on to say that the U.S. is importing $1 billion a day from foreign countries… many times from countries not very friendly to the U.S., like Venezuela and Iran. Biofuels will help relieve some of that pressure, producing more than 15 billion gallons annually, up from today’s approximate 9 billion gallons a year.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News

Turning Weeds Into Biodiesel

John Davis

As the prices of better-known biodiesel feedstocks, such as soybeans, remain high, more refiners are looking for additional sources for the green fuel. The latest feedstock might be some of the weeds you’re battling in your garden this year.

This story from the Albany (NY) Times Union says Innovation Fuels Inc., already producing 40 million gallons of biodiesel at its New York Harbor location from nonedible animal fats and used vegetable oils, is looking to what many people are NOT trying to grow as a source for two other plants at Fulton and Hampton, NY:

Innovation Fuels also is looking at other plant sources — mustard seeds, pennycress and camelina — that could produce the oils for biodiesel, said chief executive John Fox.

“They grow in northern regions, and grow in the shoulder months,” he said in a phone interview Thursday. The plants could be interplanted with corn and soybeans, and harvested with the same equipment. “You can do two plantings a year.”

In the past, the plants have been considered annoyances. “There’s a lot of research on how to eradicate them, but very little on how to cultivate them,” Fox said.

He said the weeds being explored as oil sources can yield 80 to 100 gallons of biodiesel per acre, compared to 40 gallons per acre for soybeans.

Recently, Innovation Fuels set up $15.5 million in financing, possibly for the new biodiesel plants.

Biodiesel

FAO Agrees to Biofuels Study

Cindy Zimmerman

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization High Level Conference on Food Security focused on solutions to fight global hunger and increase agricultural development this week, rather than place restrictions on biofuels production.

The final declaration adopted by 180 countries calls for further study on the issue, an approach which world biofuels producers called “thoughtful.”

FAOIn a statement, leaders from the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association (CRFA), the European Bioethanol Fuel Association (eBio), and the Renewable Fuels Association said they the proposal to undertake further study of biofuels in agriculture. “We are confident it will underscore the valuable contribution biofuels can make to ease the energy and agriculture challenges confronting all nations,” they said.

Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer also welcomed the declaration’s recognition of the important issues related to the challenges and opportunities of biofuels. “The United States is firmly committed to the sustainable production and use of biofuels, both domestically and globally,” he said in a statement.

During a press conference with reporters from Rome, Schafer said that during his time there, he has “become more confident that our ethanol policy of energy security, of better environmental factors, and a reduction in the cost of petroleum use in our country is the right policy direction. And I certainly am going to urge continuing along the way we’re going.”

The real focus of the summit was on getting countries to come up with more money to meet urgent humanitarian needs for food and to help countries achieve continuing food security through investment in agriculture and research. Schafer said the United States will continue to provide the majority of food aid globally, projecting to spend nearly $5 billion on programs to combat hunger over the next two years. By contrast, oil-rich countries like Venezuela and Kuwait have only pledged to spend $100 million a year.

Ethanol, Food prices, Government, International, News, RFA

Lobos Riding on Biodiesel

John Davis

Students at the University of New Mexico are going to be able to get to class using the green fuel biodiesel.

This story in the university’s newspaper, UNM Today, says the school in Albuquerque is running four of its shuttle buses in the Parking and Transportation Services (PATS) Department on biodiesel:

“Biodiesel was an obvious choice” says Alexander A. Aller, Manager, Public Transit Operations. “Right now, all of our large shuttles are alternatively fueled with either biodiesel or compressed natural gas. Although we have a small fleet, we are pleased to contribute to efforts that reduce carbon dioxide emissions, dependence on foreign oil, and the pace of global warming.”

What has been the reception given to the new vehicles as they hit the routes in and around campus?

“Generally, very favorable,” Aller said. “We could have continued maintaining our existing fleet, but older vehicles are far less reliable and more expensive to operate and maintain. Plus, the publicized overall environmental footprint associated with biodiesel is notably smaller than fossil fuel.”

UNM plans to use the buses for the next 10-15 years.

Biodiesel

Georgia Gets First Solar Cell Builder

John Davis

Atlanta-based Suniva, Inc. has announced it will build its first solar cell facility at Norcross… a first for the state of Georgia as well.

This story posted on Chattanoogan.com says the company will use technological advances developed at the Georgia Institute of Technology to make high-efficiency solar cells:

“This new solar cell facility is a perfect example of the way Georgia’s investment in research and development pays dividends by producing innovative technologies that help companies grow,” said Gov. Perdue. “Suniva’s production commitment and highly-qualified workforce will expand our clean energy success as the nation’s renewable energy corridor into the solar arena.”

Suniva’s new Gwinnett County facility will manufacture high-efficiency, low-cost solar cells. Production capacity of the first line will be 32 megawatts. The company plans additional lines that will scale to more than 100 MW over the next two years, potentially adding more jobs to its workforce.

“As the solar industry looks to bring down costs and compete with conventional power, Suniva has built the team and the technology to execute on our vision of low-cost, high-efficiency solar energy,” said John Baumstark, CEO of Suniva. “We are pleased to be moving into our next phase of growth close to home, and we are interested in working with state and local government to create an ecosystem of clean energy companies in the Atlanta metro area.”

The new plant is expected to employ 100 people in the first year.

Solar