FEW Scholarships Available

Cindy Zimmerman

FEW 07BBI International’s 2007 Fuel Ethanol Workshop (FEW) Scholarship program is looking for a few good people pursuing higher education leading to careers or post-graduate studies related to the ethanol industry.

Three $5000 scholarships will be awarded at the FEW this June in St. Louis, sponsored by American Stainless & Supply, a supplier of industrial PVF materials. In business for over 40 years, American Stainless supplies the ethanol industry’s procurement needs on all items from the pump to the tank.

BBI International will cover travel, lodging and registration for the scholarship winners to attend the Fuel Ethanol Workshop in St. Louis June 26-29, 2007. BBI International provides valuable expertise to the biofuels industry with three areas of service: Conference and Event Planning, Project Development, and Media. Winners will attend an award ceremony at the Fuel Ethanol Workshop in St. Louis, where they will be congratulated by representatives from American Stainless & Supply and BBI International.

The application is available on-line and the registration deadline is May 18.

conferences, Ethanol, News

Companies Bet on Biodiesel

John Davis

American companies seem to be betting that biodiesel will continue its explosive growth it has seen in recent years.

This story from Reuters says high oil prices along with the Bush Administration’s commitment to promoting the green fuel industry through monetary incentives seems to helping the industry along:

NBB logoThere are 115 biodiesel plants in the United States with a combined production capacity of 865 million gallons a year — about five days of total U.S. distillate consumption, according to industry group, the National Biodiesel Board (NBB).

But the addition of nearly 80 plants currently under construction is set to boost total U.S. output capacity to over 2 billion gallons over the next 18 to 36 months, adds NBB.

“I would say in the past three or four years, it (capacity) has grown three to four times in size,” Paul Nazzaro, who heads outreach programs at Jefferson city, Missouri-based NBB, told Reuters.

Nazzaro said output capacity grew exponentially after biodiesel producers received a $1 per gallon tax credit a few years ago. The provision is due to expire next year but his group is lobbying aggressively to get it extended, he said.

The article does point that there are still some sticking points with biodiesel such as improving the delivery system and making sure the higher percentage blends don’t gel up in cold weather. But if big oil companies such as ConocoPhillips trying to cash in on the business and tax incentives as well is any indication, this could be just the start of a major change in the domestic fuel business.

Biodiesel

Why Monsanto Supports EPIC

Chuck Zimmerman

Troy Hobbs and Tom SluneckaOne of the people I met at the Kansas Speedway this weekend was Troy Hobbs, Monsanto Corn Biofuels Strategy Lead (left). He’s pictured here with EPIC Executive Director in front of the Rahal-Letterman hospitality tent on race day.

Troy explains why Monsanto has supported EPIC since it started. He believes that it’s very important to educate the public about the benefits of ethanol because of what that means for agriculture and our country. Troy also talks about the Monsanto Processor Preferred program that’s helping corn growers obtain a premium price for their product.

Listen to my interview with Troy: Listen to MP3 Troy Hobbs Interview (4 min MP3)

I think the photo album wound up with about 350 pictures in it.

2007 Kansas Lottery Indy 300 Photo Album

Audio, EPIC, Ethanol, Indy Racing, News, Racing

Imperium “Propels” Biodiesel Sales

John Davis

ImperiumSeattle-based Imperium Renewables is making an investment in its own future by loaning money to Propel Biofuels to build its first biodiesel filling stations in Washington state.

According to this story posted on SeattlePI.com, the undisclosed loan amount will help open the first station soon and four more in the coming weeks… and that could be just the start:

Propel BiofuelsRob Elam, president of Propel Biofuels, said that the company is looking to have its biodiesel equipment installed at about 20 fueling stations in Washington, Oregon and California by the end of this year.

As part of the deal, Propel has agreed to distribute some of the Washington grown biodiesel being produced by Imperium.

As you might remember from our earlier posts, Imperium has become a major mover and shaker in the biodiesel business securing a record $214 million in investments and getting ready to open the nation’s largest biodiesel refinery… a 100 million gallon a year plant.

Biodiesel

Bush on Biofuels

Cindy Zimmerman

During a White House press briefing on Monday with European leaders, President Bush commented on his goals for renewable fuels and the current research in producing ethanol from sources other than corn in response to a foreign journalist’s question about global environmental concerns:

I have said we’ll have a mandatory fuel standard, not a voluntary fuel standard, but a mandatory fuel standard that will reduce our uses of gasoline by 20 percent over a 10-year period of time. We believe that ethanol and biodiesel, the spread of ethanol and biodiesel are — the goal of spreading ethanol and biodiesel is achievable, that’s what we believe. And we’re spending a lot of money to achieve that goal.

Now, the spread of ethanol in the United States is not going to be achievable if we rely only upon corn. There is a limit to the amount of ethanol we can produce with corn as a feedstock. So our research dollars are going to what they call cellulosic ethanol, and that means the ability to make ethanol from switchgrasses or wood chips. And we’re spending a lot of money to that end.

White HouseAnd it is a mandatory approach. And the reason why I laid it out is because, one, I do believe we can be better stewards of the environment; and, two, I know it’s in our national interest to become less dependent on foreign sources of oil. The fundamental question is, will America be able to develop the technology necessary for us to achieve the goal. I think we can. It’s in our interest to share that technology, not only with our partners who are wealthy enough to spend money on research dollars, but also with the developing world.

Now you talk about helping alleviate poverty in the developing world — wouldn’t it be wonderful if the developing world could grow crops that would enable them to power their automobiles, so they wouldn’t have to be dependent on foreign oil, either. And that’s the message I took down to South America, with Lula, and to Central America. For example, sugar cane is the most — you’re learning about ethanol here, but sugar cane is the most efficient way to make ethanol. It turns out in Central America there is a lot of land and opportunity to continue to produce cane, which means that the Central American countries could be eventually net exporters of energy. So we’ve got a lot of common ground and a lot of area to work on.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, global warming, Government, News

Another Cellulosic Breakthrough

Cindy Zimmerman

Cornell CellCornell University researchers have reportedly discovered a class of plant enzymes that potentially could allow plant materials used to make ethanol to be broken down more efficiently than is possible using current technologies.

According to Jocelyn Rose, Cornell assistant professor of plant biology, the breakthrough could make the production of cellulosic ethanol less expensive.

“The bottleneck for conversion of lignocellulose into ethanol is efficient cellulose degradation,” said Rose in a Cornell news release. “The discovery of these enzymes suggests there might be sets of new plant enzymes to improve the efficiency of cellulose degradation.”

The diagram from Cornell Theory Center shows the newly discovered class of plant enzymes with a cellulose-binding module (shown in blue), sticking to a plant cell wall. The binding module of the enzyme helps the catalytic region of the enzyme (shown in more detail in gray in the pullout part of the picture) break down the crystalline cellulose.

Cellulosic, Ethanol, News, Research

Dan Wheldon Trophy Collection

Chuck Zimmerman

Dan Wheldon Wins AgainIt was a very competitive race here in Kansas City and at the end we get to see a familiar sight. Dan Wheldon holding up the trophy.

As I’ve pointed out before, no matter who wins the race, ethanol really wins since all the cars are running on 100% ethanol this year.

For those who are wondering, Jeff Simmons placed 10th, so he’s got two consecutive top ten finishes. We’re very proud of him.

Please take a few minutes to browse through the over 300 pictures I’ve got in my online photo album. I’m going to be packing up and heading on home. It’s been a great week here in Kansas City as we’ve followed the promotion of ethanol and the relationship with the Indy Racing League.

2007 Kansas Lottery Indy 300 Photo Album

Ethanol, Indy Racing, News, Racing

Dan Wheldon Wins Again

Chuck Zimmerman

Green e FlagThe green “e” Flag got the race started once again here today. However, the race is now over.

We only had a couple caution flags so it was a pretty clean and fast race which is just over. Dan Wheldon has won once again.

I’ll be heading out to victory lane to get a picture of Dan who won the race in Homestead, FL too. He’s definitely on a roll this season.

2007 Kansas Lottery Indy 300 Photo Album

Ethanol, Indy Racing, News, Racing

Introducing Jeff Simmons

Chuck Zimmerman

Jeff SimmonsJeff Simmons has been running in the top ten for most of the race here in Kansas City so far today.

We’re nearing the end and hoping he can keep his place for a top 10 finish.

Just prior to the race all the drivers are introduced in front of the grandstand on a temporary stage.

I’ve been collecting pictures and interviews and will be getting those posted over the next week so look for a lot more information about how ethanol is involved with the IRL.

2007 Kansas Lottery Indy 300 Photo Album

Ethanol, Indy Racing, News, Racing