No-till, Biodiesel Helping Farmers’ Bottom Lines

John Davis

Farmers are facing the same $3-plus-a-gallon fuel costs everyone else is today. According to this story in the Peoria (IL) Journal Star, Patrick Kirchhofer, manager of the Peoria County Farm Bureau says farmers can save by leaving residue on their fields, not plowing them. A University of Illinois study says a 1,000-acre farm that might normally spend $29,500 in fuel could save as much as $13,000 by using no-till.

And farmers are saving money by using homegrown biodiesel in their equipment:

Higher gas prices are also encouraging the use of biofuels by farmers, said Kirchhofer. “While higher gas prices aren’t good for either farmers or motorists, it does encourage the development of alternatives to imported oil,” he said.

One of those alternatives, biodiesel – a blend of vegetable oil and diesel fuel – is a favorite among farmers, said John Papenhause, an energy specialist with Agland FS in Pekin. “I’d say 80 to 90 percent of the farmers around here use some blend of biodiesel,” he said.

Biodiesel

Truly Flexible Fuel Engines

John Davis

Transonic CombustionVenture capitalists are dumping an unspecified amount of money into a company called Transonic Combustion… a company working on engine compnents that would be able to run on any type of fuel – biodiesel, ethanol, gasoline, vegetable oils – just about anything.

Check out this story from the tech news blog section of C/Net.com:

The somewhat secretive company has come up with a highly efficient combustion system for conventional engines that increases gas mileage. It also allows cars to run on different fuels, which could help goose sales of things like biodiesel. There are other techniques for allowing engines to run on a variety of fuels, but they aren’t widespread. Transonic has built single-cylinder prototypes and will now try to build a four cylinder engine. It hopes to demonstrate the technology to the auto industry more fully in 2008.

Biodiesel, Ethanol

The Greening of Indy

Cindy Zimmerman

e-podcast When the green flag drops this weekend, over 300 million people across the globe will be watching and listening live as the ladies and gentlemen start their engines for the greenest Indy 500 in history.

This month, the “Greening of Racing” has really been in the spotlight, with major events at the National Press Club and the Chicago Board of Trade. This edition of “Fill Up, Feel Good” features comments from CBOT Chairman Charlie Carey, USDA Undersecretary Tom Dorr, EPIC Executive Director Tom Slunecka, IndyCar Series President Terry Angstadt, race car team owner Bobby Rahal, and IndyCar drivers Jeff Simmons and Tony Kanaan.

The “Fill up, Feel Good” podcast is available to download by subscription (see our sidebar link)
or you can listen to it by clicking here (7:30 MP3 File): [audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3?http://www.zimmcomm.biz/epic/epic-podcast-5-22-07.mp3]

The Fill Up, Feel Good theme music is “Tribute to Joe Satriani” by Alan Renkl, thanks to the Podsafe Music Network.

“Fill up, Feel Good” is sponsored by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

Audio, EPIC, Ethanol, Fill Up Feel Good, Indy Racing, News, Racing

New York Opens E85 Station

Cindy Zimmerman

Flex-fuel vehicle drivers in the Empire State now have at least one place to fill up with 85 percent ethanol.

NEVCThe National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition (NEVC) reports that Campus Mobil, located near the State University of New York Albany campus, held a grand opening for the first public E85 pump this week.

KNC Holdings, the company which operates Campus Mobil, has a second E85 station opening soon in Warrensburg, New York.

KNC president Christian King, who is selling the fuel for $0.54 below the cost of unleaded gasoline, anticipates having an even greater per gallon savings due to constantly rising costs of traditional gasoline. “Today is the first step for New York consumers to do their part in helping to reduce our dependence on foreign oil by purchasing E85,” said King.

According to NEVC, this station development effort, combined with the estimated six new ethanol plants being planned in New York’s upstate region, is moving the Empire State toward the road to true energy independence, improving air quality in the balance.

E85, Ethanol, Flex Fuel Vehicles, News

Invitation to Ethanol Summit

Cindy Zimmerman

EPICThe Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) is extending an open invitation to the Ethanol Summit at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this Thursday, May 24 from 9:30 to 11:00 am.

The purpose of the summit is to provide information to the media and the general public about the benefits of ethanol and its use as the official fuel in this year’s 91st Running of the Indianapolis 500.

A variety of ethanol industry leaders will be on hand to speak about a wide range of ethanol issues, from performance, environmental and economic benefits, to E85 initiatives, growing consumer demand and the renaissance of rural America.

Speakers will include: USDA Undersecretary for Rural Development Thomas Dorr, Team Ethanol car driver Jeff Simmons, explorer Will Steger, EPIC executive director Tom Slunecka, IndyCar Series president Terry Angstadt, Jim Gentry with Gas America, and Dave Vander Griend of ICM, Inc.

The Ethanol Summit will take place in the North Pavilion in the infield of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The gates at the speedway open at 9:00 a.m., and no gate admission is needed.

EPIC, Ethanol, Indy Racing, News

Goodyear has Good Idea

John Davis

VersaFuelThe alternative fuel industry is getting a new product to help it move its products.

According to a release on the Goodyear web site, the tire giant is producing a hose that will carry a greater variety of biodiesel and ethanol products:

Goodyear Flexwing VersaFuel transfer hose meets the needs of expanding alternative fuel markets and conventional fuel markets.

Unveiled today at the annual NAHAD hose distributor convention, VersaFuel is used in tank truck and plant operations to transfer diesel, gasoline, oil, biodiesel and ethanol blends, as well as petroleum-based products with up to 60 percent aromatic content.

It gives Goodyear Authorized Distributors the flexibility to service existing and new fuel markets with one product, according to Keith Collett, marketing manager for Goodyear’s industrial hose business. “VersaFuel helps simplify product selection, lower distributor inventory costs, and meet the needs of emerging fuel markets,” he said.

Company officials say the new VersaFuel hose solves the problem of the biofuels rotting away the rubber. Plus, its helix wire design keeps the hose from collapsing, making it good in vacuum situations. And they say it dissipates static build-up making it safer to deal with. It even works well in temps from -30 to 180 degrees Fahrenheit.

Biodiesel, Ethanol

Biodiesel Boat Back in Race

John Davis

Earthrace“The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated” is a famous Mark Twain quote, but it might apply to The Earthrace, a biodiesel boat trying to set a ’round-the-world record.

Back on April 29th, I reported on a C/Net story that quoted the captain as saying breaking the record would be impossible. A few days ago, we received this comment from David Perez, doing his best Monty Python basically saying “I’m not dead YET!”:

Hello World,

Just wanted to let everyone know that the world record attempt is absolutely, positively not abandoned. We have an official restart/finish line in San Diego, CA and are currently en route to Salalah, Oman doing good time.

Please visit our website for updates on the race and thanks for your continued support … we here at Earthrace believe failure is not an option and with your help, we are determined to fight our way to a victorious end !

Cheers,
David Perez
Earthrace Ground Crew
Race Leg Sponsorship

This story on C/Net.com seems to confirm Perez’s claim:

The group set sail from Barbados on March 10 with a goal of getting around the world in less than 75 days. Unfortunately, a series of snags in Central America slowed it down. Engine problems grounded it in Palau last month. The record became impossible to achieve.

Captain Peter Bethune, however, isn’t giving up. Instead, he’s re-starting the voyage, and taking San Diego as its starting and finishing point.

There could be questions, however, if the world record folks will accept the new start date and finish location.

You can follow their progress at Earthrace.net.

Biodiesel

Fill’er Up… with Aluminum!

John Davis

Not since Dr. Emmet Brown dropped garbage into the flux capacitor (Back to the Future) has raw material to fuel made such a fast transformation as what’s reported in this Reuters story on CNN.com.

It looks like researchers are trying make it possible to add aluminum and gallium to a fuel tank of water to produce hydrogen:

Jerry Woodall, PurdueIn the experiment conducted at Purdue University in Indiana, “The hydrogen is generated on demand, so you only produce as much as you need when you need it,” said Jerry Woodall, an engineering professor at Purdue who invented the system.

Woodall said in a statement the hydrogen would not have to be stored or transported, taking care of two stumbling blocks to generating hydrogen.

For now, the Purdue scientists think the system could be used for smaller engines like lawn mowers and chain saws. But they think it would work for cars and trucks as well, either as a replacement for gasoline or as a means of powering hydrogen fuel cells.

Hydrogen fuel costs about the same as $3-a-gallon gasoline, but of course, it burns much cleaner with the exhaust being water. And you don’t even have to stretch a wire across main street and produce 1.21 jigawatts to get it going!

Hydrogen

Biofuel Producers Wary of Bush’s Goals

John Davis

Pres. George W. BushProducers of ethanol and biodiesel aren’t sure they can meet President Bush’s goal of 35 billion gallons of renewable or alternative fuels produced a year by 2017. Currently, just under a billion gallons a year of biodiesel and about six billion gallons of ethanol is produced. The American Agriculturalist web site says the debate came during an industry event last week in Houston:

A Bush administration official Friday defended the viability of the president’s goals, but the discussion at the Houston event underscores the magnitude of the challenge facing the U.S. as it struggles to feed its growing energy needs in an increasingly carbon-limited world.

“I’ve yet to meet anyone who thinks more than half could be from ethanol and biodiesel,” Pearce Hammond, an analyst at Simmons & Co. International, says of the targets. He says total production of ethanol and biodiesel could reach 17.5 million gallons by 2017. Hammond says there could be other solutions to the conundrum, such as coal-to-liquids technology or the use of natural gas as a transportation fuel.

But Hammond, who emceed some of the sessions Friday, also warned that U.S. gasoline demand is forecast to grow by some 35 million gallons a day over the next decade.

“It just touches on how big the challenge is to penetrate and change the fueling habits,” he says.

Speaking with reporters after a luncheon address, Paul Dickerson, an Energy Department official, says the administration’s goal is realistic. He pointed to other fuels under development, as well as to leading-edge technologies being funded chiefly by private-venture capital.

“We’re more bullish on the output than some of the folks here,” says Dickerson, the chief operating officer for the department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

Conference attendees say the biggest obstacle will be enough feedstocks to make all this fuel possible.

Biodiesel, Ethanol

Alltech Founder Interview

Chuck Zimmerman

Dr. Pearse LyonsI’m attending the 2007 Alltech International Feed Industry Symposium and covering it primarily on Domestic Fuel sister site, AgWired. I thought you might enjoy hearing an interview I conducted with Dr. Pearse Lyons, founder of Alltech. This is a company that produces animal feed additives. The theme of their Symposium is “The New Energy Crisis: Food, Feed, or Fuel?” Right away I was intrigued to see what his take would be on the price of corn and the mandate for ethanol production.

He says that it’s ironic that back in 1980 when he founded his company they were involved in brewing and making alcohol. From there though the company branched out into the animal feed additives arena. Now he feels like things are coming full circle since the challenge in producing ethanol is how to make the process more efficient while developing processes using new biomass products instead of corn. He sees a really bright future for Alltech as a leader in this business.

I also like his comments about our government and the decisions that are driving the development of ethanol production. As he says, it doesn’t matter where you stand on certain issues, the government isn’t stupid. The mandate to increase production of biofuels like ethanol is forcing companies like his to increase the pace at which they’re developing products and processes to meet the mandate. It’s not only good for business but it means we’ll become less reliant on dwindling supplies of oil and other traditional energy sources much faster. That’s also good for our environment and our country.

You can listen to my interview with Dr. Pearse Lyons here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/alltech/alltech-symposium-07-lyons.mp3]

If you’re interested I’m putting all my photos at the Alltech Symposium in the Alltech 2007 International Feed Industry Symposium Photo Album.

Agribusiness, Audio, Ethanol, News