Corn Commentary Videos

Chuck Zimmerman

I don’t think I’ve had a chance to bring your attention to a series of video interviews I did recently at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention. They have all been featured on Corn Commentary, the blog of the National Corn Growers Association that we created for them and help manage.

In this one I interview NCGA CEO Rick Tolman and University of Missouri ag economist Dr. Ron Plain. They point out that our corn growers have produced to meet demand for both the food and the fuel needs of our corn. It’s also interesting to note that higher corn prices haven’t really impacted food prices much. In fact, it’s really things like transportation costs that have driven food prices up.

As they point out, no one is starving anywhere because of biofuel production. The fact is our corn production has a lot of opportunity to grow due to demand and new technologies and that’s good for our farmers, our economy and our country. So that’s the word on this “renewable fuel” issue!

corn, Ethanol, News, Video

POET Celebrates 20 Years

Cindy Zimmerman

POETHardly anyone knew what ethanol was 20 years ago, but that is when the company formally known as Broin started in the ethanol business.

United States Senator John Thune, South Dakota Lieutenant Governor Dennis Daugaard and other elected officials helped the company now known as POET celebrate at their corporate headquarters in Sioux Falls, S.D.

“Jeff Broin and POET were present at the creation of the American ethanol industry,” said Senator Thune. “They deserve the highest praise for their historic leadership and for building South Dakota’s economy for the past 20 years.”

POET was founded 20 years ago when the Broin family from Wanamingo, Minn. purchased an ethanol plant in Scotland, S.D. Today, its 21 ethanol plants annually produce just over 1.1 billion gallons of ethanol and 3 million tons of DDGS, making it the largest producer of ethanol in the world. With five plants under construction and one in the midst of expansion, POET will be producing 1.5 billion gallons of ethanol by the end of 2008.

Ethanol, Facilities, News

Closed Loop Plant Closing

Cindy Zimmerman

e3biofuelsAn innovative “closed loop” ethanol plant in Nebraska shut down last week as the company filed bankruptcy, according to a report in the Omaha World Herald.

E3 BioFuels opened in June as a model for using energy from biogas derived from cattle manure and cellulosic biomass to power the plant. Manure from 28,000 head of cattle in a nearby feedlot was used to make methane that fueled the plant. Distillers grain, a byproduct of ethanol production, was then fed to the cattle. As a result, almost no fossil fuels would be used and carbon emissions from the manure were minimized.

However, the plant has been plagued by mechanical problems which has kept it from reaching full capacity.

“It’s a temporary shutdown,” said E3 spokesman R. J. Wilson. “With the mechanical failures hampering us, it has made it difficult to be profitable.”

The technology for the closed-loop system is sound, Wilson said.

“It was simply a mechanical failure which was beyond our control.”

Wilson said E3 BioFuels expects to file lawsuits against construction contractors.

Ethanol, Facilities, News

Time to Buy Land for Chesapeake Biodiesel Plant

John Davis

The company that has plans to build the U.S.’s biggest biodiesel plant is running out of time to purchase the 44-acre parcel of land along the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia before the land’s owner starts considering other offers.

seenergy1.gifSmiling Earth Energy got approval from the Chesapeake City Council to build the 320-million-gallon-a-year refinery six weeks ago, but this article in the Virginian-Pilot says company officials haven’t committed to the landowner to make the purchase:

“We’re down to the ninth inning,” landowner B. David Peck said this week.

“I am fully committed to selling the agreed-upon parcel of land to SE-Energy and I expect to close on the property very quickly,” he wrote in a letter that was presented to council members before the vote. “Anyone that says otherwise is ill-informed.”

Peck remained optimistic about the deal in conversations every few weeks with a Pilot reporter, even though he said that Smiling Earth missed key payments on the land earlier this year.

He said this week that he heard Smiling Earth’s financial backers would be in touch with him.

But he also said he would be forced to consider other deal prospects soon for the land, which is off Rosemont Avenue.

“In the next week to 10 days, if things don’t materialize, I’ll explore other opportunities,” he said Thursday.

Reporters, suppliers for the project, and people from the neighborhood who have been promised $5 million in redevelopment money from Smiling Earth have been unable to reach the company in recent days.

Biodiesel

Producing Hydrogen from Biodiesel

John Davis

What’s better than producing one clean-burning, renewable energy source? How about getting TWO clean-burning, renewable energy sources from one feedstock!

leeds.gifResearchers at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom are looking at a way to get hydrogen gas from glycerin, a biodiesel by-product. This story from the Science Daily web site says it’s a green process that makes a green fuel even greener:

dupont.jpgThe novel process developed by Dr Valerie Dupont and her co-investigators in the University’s Faculty of Engineering mixes glycerol with steam at a controlled temperature and pressure, separating the waste product into hydrogen, water and carbon dioxide, with no residues. A special absorbent material filters out the carbon dioxide, which leaves a much purer product.

“Hydrogen has been identified as a key future fuel for low carbon energy systems such as power generation in fuel cells and as a transport fuel. Current production methods are expensive and unsustainable, using either increasingly scarce fossil fuel sources such as natural gas, or other less efficient methods such as water electrolysis.”

“Our process is a clean, renewable alternative to conventional methods. It produces something with high value from a low grade by-product for which there are few economical upgrading mechanisms” says Dr Dupont. “In addition, it’s a near ‘carbon-neutral’ process, since the CO2 generated is not derived from the use of fossil fuels.”

The article goes on to point out that this technology comes just as hydrogen-powered vehicles are poised to take off.

Biodiesel, Hydrogen

Iowa’s Largest Biodiesel Plant Opens

John Davis

eastforkreg.jpgRenewable Energy Group and East Fork Biodiesel held a ribbon-cutting ceremony today for their 60-million-gallon-a-year biodiesel plant in Algona, Iowa with the plant fully operational on Tuesday.

This REG press release says the ceremony was attended by lawmakers and industry representatives, such as Iowa Senators Jack Kibbie (D-Emmetsburg) and David Johnson (R-Ocheyedan) and Iowa Representative Delores Mertz (DOttosen) as well as Randy Olson, Executive Director of the Iowa Biodiesel Board; and Monte Shaw, Executive Director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association… in addition to the companies’ officials:

“Demand is growing nationally for biodiesel. With that demand has come tremendous opportunity and growth for Iowans,” said Nile Ramsbottom, President, Renewable Energy Group, Inc. “We are exceptionally proud to work with our partners at East Fork Biodiesel, LLC. to have helped play a role in creating such a strong economic boost in Kossuth County.”

“Renewable fuels are the future,” said Ken Clark, chairman of the board, East Fork Biodiesel, LLC. “This facility in Algona will help strengthen Iowa’s place as a national leader in the industry while producing clean burning, renewable biodiesel.”

The soybean oil biodiesel plant will push Iowa’s biodiesel capacity above 250 million gallons annually… with 222 million of that coming from REG.

Biodiesel

GM Disputes E85 Report

Cindy Zimmerman

GMGeneral Motors issued a statement in response to a USA Today report this week on a cost-benefit analysis of E85 ethanol, saying the report failed to take into account several positive factors.

“We believe ethanol as a renewable fuel is the best near-term alternative to oil as a transportation fuel and replacing gasoline with ethanol positively contributes to lowering greenhouse gas emissions,” said GM Chief Economist Mustafa Mohatarem in the statement. “You cannot take a snapshot in time and define a mature market.”

The analysis cited in the report was conducted by the Pardee Rand Graduate School.

When the Rand study was previewed at GM in October, the authors were told their work did not account for the significantly lower cost of second-generation ethanol that will be made from cellulosic and biomass feed stocks. Most estimates show the cost of making Gen2 ethanol at $1 or less a gallon before distribution costs.

Car Makers, E85, Ethanol, Flex Fuel Vehicles, News

Sweet Potato Fuel

Cindy Zimmerman

Sweet PotatoesResearchers at North Carolina State University are re-engineering the traditional sweet potato to make it better suited for producing ethanol.

According to a NCSU release, this industrial sweet potato doesn’t look, or taste, much like the Southern classic, but can produce twice the starch content of corn – the leading source of ethanol. More starch means more sugars that can be fermented into biofuel.

Project leader Craig Yencho, associate professor of Horticultural Science, is also working with another colleague on a way to further boost sugar — and thus ethanol — yield. By using bacteria from deep-sea thermal vents they are creating an industrial sweet potato that practically processes itself into ethanol.

“Our ultimate goal is to develop a self-processing sweet potato,” says Dr. Yencho, noting that the special genes could reduce the cost of enzymes that are used by biofuel processors to break down the starch in corn to sugars which are then converted into alcohol by fermentation.

North Carolina produces about 40 percent of the U.S. sweet potato crop and the industrial sweet potato could help diversify the state’s farm income.

Ethanol, News, Research

Major Ethanol Merger

Cindy Zimmerman

VeraSunUS BioenergyThe merger of two major ethanol producers is being seen as “a sign that ethanol-industry consolidation is gaining velocity.”

VeraSun Energy and US BioEnergy will merge into one entity under an agreement announced this week where VeraSun will pay $700 million in stock and the new company will retain the name of VeraSun.

VeraSun Chairman, CEO and President Donald L. Endres will remain CEO of the combined company, and US BioEnergy President and CEO Gordon Ommen will serve as chairman following the closing of the merger, which is expected to happen during the first quarter of 2008.

Upon completion of the merger, the combined company will have nine ethanol production facilities in operation and seven additional facilities under construction. Ommen says they “expect to reach 1.6 billion gallons of ethanol production capacity by the end of 2008, making us a global leader in ethanol production.”

Ethanol, News

Ohio is Getting Windier

John Davis

Ohio Business Development CoalitionOhio is embracing wind energy. The Ohio Business Development Coalition says wind energy is a prominent option for meeting the needs of a growing renewable energy industry. The OBDC is a nonprofit organization that recruits opportunities for capital investment in the state and it says the development of wind power is one opportunity the state is poised to take on.

Ohio manufacturing companies are well positioned to meet the needs of the developing wind energy industry within the state, according to the Ohio Business Development Coalition (OBDC). Traditional manufacturing companies are investing in the production of components for wind turbines, further demonstrating the state’s commitment to renewable energy advancements.

Advance Manufacturing Corp., located in Cleveland, Ohio, has its roots in traditional manufacturing but realizes the opportunities in renewable energy. In the last two years, it has invested $6 million to upgrade its facility and produce 22,000-pound components for gearboxes used in large electricity generating wind turbines.

There are 37 companies in Ohio associated with the wind energy industry and 34 more interested in getting involved. Large companies committed to manufacturing wind technology components include Canton-based bearings maker Timken Co. and industrial manufacturer Parker Hannifin Corp. of Mayfield Heights.

Energy, Facilities, Government, Wind