Ethanol Opportunities and Pitfalls

Chuck Zimmerman

Arlan SudermanArlan Suderman is a market analyst for Farm Futures magazine. He was on the program at the BASF “Science Behind Plant Health” symposium at Commodity Classic in Tamp, FL yesterday.

Arlan’s spoke about the ethanol wave and addressed the opportunities and the pitfalls that he sees coming. He shares a lot of information about how people are investing in the industry and how the boom is affecting grower decisions.

Listen to Arlan’s presentation here (12 min): Listen to MP3 file Arlan Suderman Presentation (12 min mp3)

Audio, Ethanol, News

Ready for the Show

Cindy Zimmerman

EPIC Booth The 2007 Commodity Classic is underway in Tampa, Florida and biofuels are most definitely in the spotlight. From the policy making meetings for corn, soybean and wheat growers, to the informational sessions, to the trade show the influence of the energy business in agriculture dominates.

The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) has a brand spanking new booth set up in the trade show area which thousands of farmers from around the country will be visiting starting Thursday afternoon through Saturday.

EPIC, Ethanol, News

‘Tis the Season for Biodiesel Incentives

John Davis

State legislatures across the country are considering bills to promote the production and use of alternative fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. In a story in the Beatrice (NE) Daily Sun, the National Biodiesel Board says 35 states have a total of 135 biodiesel-related bills pending… including one in Nebraska that would pay producers 30 cents for every gallon of biodiesel sold in the state.

State Sen. Cap Dierks State Sen. Cap Dierks’s bill (LB626) could end up shelling out $20 million each year… if Nebraska gets moving on its biodiesel industry. Unlike its commitment to ethanol, the state is not producing much ethanol… yet. There’s a 50-million-gallon-a-year plant being built near Beatrice.

By the way, the NBB says there about 10 states with production incentive legislation like the one proposed by Dierks.

Biodiesel

Kinder Morgan Makes Major Biodiesel Investment

John Davis

Kinder Morgan logo Houston-based energy company Kinder Morgan says it will spend $100 million to expand its biodiesel terminals in Houston, New Orleans, and New York City. According to a press release posted on the Kinder Morgan web site, Green Earth Fuels will build biodiesel production facilities at several Kinder Morgan terminals and already has underway an 86 million gallon facility in Houston expected to open this summer.

“Expanding our facilities to store and transfer biodiesel will benefit producers and help meet the country’s growing demand for additional energy resources,” said KMP Terminals President Jeff Armstrong. Upon completion, these expansions are expected to be immediately accretive to distribution available to KMP unitholders.

The facilities will be integrated into the petroleum infrastructure already in those areas.

KMP is already a major player in the ethanol market handling about 1.5 billion gallons of ethanol… or about 30% of U.S. market… each year.

Biodiesel

Energy Department Awards Cellulosic Grants

Cindy Zimmerman

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded cellulosic ethanol grants to help with the construction of cellulosic ethanol biorefineries.

DOE Grants The Renewable Fuels Association released the full list of grant recipients.

Abengoa Bioenergy Biomass of Kansas, LLC of Chesterfield, Missouri, up to $76 million for a
proposed plant in Kansas to use 700 tons per day of corn stover, wheat straw, milo stubble, switchgrass, and other feedstocks.

ALICO, Inc. of LaBelle, Florida, up to $33 million for a proposed plant to 770 tons per day of yard, wood, and vegetative wastes and eventually energycane.

BlueFire Ethanol, Inc. of Irvine, California, up to $40 million for a proposed plant in Southern California to use 700 tons per day of sorted green waste and wood waste from landfills.

Broin Companies of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, up to $80 million for a plant in Iowa to use 700 tons per day of agricultural residues including wheat straw, barley straw, corn stover, switchgrass, and rice straw as feedstocks.

Iogen Biorefinery Partners, LLC, of Arlington, Virginia, up to $80 million for a proposed plant in Shelley, Idaho, near Idaho Falls tol use 700 tons per day of agricultural residues including wheat straw, barley straw, corn stover, switchgrass, and rice straw as feedstocks.

Range Fuels (formerly Kergy Inc.) of Broomfield, Colorado, up to $76 million for a proposed plant in Soperton (Treutlen County), Georgia to use 1,200 tons per day of wood residues and wood based energy crops.

Cellulosic, Ethanol, Government, News

UN Panel Recommends Increased Biofuels Use

Cindy Zimmerman

UN FoundationThe United Nations Foundation has released a report outlining a “roadmap for reducing risks from climate change.”

Among the report’s recommendations are “mproving efficiency in the transportation sector through measures such as vehicle efficiency standards, fuel taxes, and registration fees/rebates that favor purchase of efficient and alternative fuel vehicles” and “expanding the use of biofuels through energy portfolio standards and incentives to growers and consumers.”

The final report of the Scientific Expert Group on Climate Change and Sustainable Development was prepared as input for the upcoming meeting of the UN’s Commission on Sustainable Development.

Biodiesel, Energy, Ethanol, Flex Fuel Vehicles, global warming, Government, News

Broin Receives Energy Department Grant

Cindy Zimmerman

Broin CompaniesThe U.S. Department of Energy has announced the awarding of grants to fund six cellulosic ethanol projects nationwide.

Among them is Broin Companies’ $200 million expansion of a conventional corn dry mill facility in Emmetsburg, Iowa into a bio-refinery that will include production of cellulosic ethanol from corn cobs, according to a Broin release.

Energy Secretary Samual Bodman made the announcement this morning, stating that “Broin will play a critical role in helping to bring cellulosic ethanol to market, and teaching us how we can produce it in a more cost effective manner.”

Jeff Broin, CEO of Broin Companies was with Bodman in Washington when the announcement was made. “Our goal is to bring cellulosic ethanol to commercial viability by the end of the decade in order to reduce global warming, revitalize the rural economy and lessen our country’s dependency on foreign oil,” said Broin. “This partnership with the Department of Energy, along with the collaboration of companies like DuPont and Novozymes and the farmers around Emmetsburg, Iowa, will allow us to achieve significant progress toward these goals.”

Known as Project LIBERTY, the expansion will utilize an existing infrastructure with projected costs for the increased capabilities at just over $200 million dollars. The expansion will take approximately 30 months and is slated to begin as soon as the terms of the agreement with the DOE are finalized.

Project LIBERTY, which stands for Launch of an Integrated Bio-refinery with Eco-sustainable and Renewable Technologies in Y2009, will provide deliverables that include 11 percent more ethanol from a bushel of corn and 27 percent more ethanol from an acre of corn, while consuming 24 percent less water and using 83 percent fewer fossil fuels than what is needed to operate a corn to ethanol plant.

Energy, Ethanol, Government, News

Arkansas Legislature Moves Forward on Alt Fuels Incentives

John Davis

The Arkansas State Legislature’s Senate Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development today approved a measure that will provide $20 million in incentives for alternative fuel development. The Pine Bluff (AR) Commercial reports in this story (about halfway down) that House Speaker Benny Petrus’ bill would split the money with $16 million going to companies to develop the fuels and $4 million for weatherization and research:

Arkansas House Speaker Benny Petrus “I think it’s a step in the right direction,” Petrus said after the vote. “It shows Arkansas is serious about doing this.”

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Legislation

New Biodiesel Plant in the Works in Missouri

John Davis

Westminster College Fulton, Missouri… home of Westminster College, which is home of Winston Churchill’s famous “Iron Curtain” speech… could soon be home to Missouri’s newest biodiesel plant. The city’s council has approved a plan to have a 10-million-gallon-a-year refinery on a parcel of land owned by the city.

The Fulton (MO) Sun reports local businessman Boyd Ware will serve as the facility’s chief investor and general manager:

Ware said the Fulton facility would be able to convert a variety of “feed stocks” – including soybean, peanut and canola oils – into biodiesel. He said animal fats such as cooking grease are another feed stock option, and often can be obtained as waste for little or no cost.

“There’s a market for these that has not been tapped into or utilized,” Ware said.

There are three other biodiesel plants in Missouri with another five in the works.

Biodiesel

Filling Up on Aquanol

John Davis

Mark and Jason
An Idaho inventor/entrepeneur has come up with an engine that runs on aquanol… a mix of 65% ethanol and 35% water. In addition, a diesel engine modified by Mark Cherry, with Automotive Resources, Inc. of Sandpoint, Idaho can run on a 50-50 mix of diesel and water.

Mark Cherry, Automotive Resources, Inc Cherry says it is a precision-timed catalytic glow plug, which he calls a “Smart Plug,” with several international patents pending that makes the unusual mix of fuel and water possible. In fact, he says the engines have more torque and horsepower, they run cooler, have lower emissions, and of course, ethanol and biodiesel are easier to produce and easier on the environment.

Cherry says the vehicles do require a bigger tank to carry the water. “But the lower cost of the fuel per gallon and the better efficiency makes up for the larger tank.”

Aquanol van in SD Cherry recently hit the road with his water and ethanol and diesel powered vehicles and stopped in South Dakota to show off his new technology. He says most people were excited about his invention. “Comments like ‘Wow!’ or ‘This does better than my truck!’ ” Cherry says people were also impressed with the acceleration and the actually pleasant aroma from the exhaust. And he adds, despite some bitterly cold temperatures when he was in South Dakota, there was no danger of the water-ethanol mixture freezing since it has a slush point of 100 degrees below zero.

Cherry says retrofitting current vehicles right now would cost between $2000 and $3000… but he says those costs would go down. “In large volume, that could be cut in half.”

He says all he needs now are some industrial partners to help make it more feasible for the masses.

You can check out the whole interview here: Listen to MP3 Interview with
Mark Cherry. (10 min MP3)

Biodiesel, Ethanol, News