DuPont Turns Corn Into Oil

John Davis

No, it’s not corn oil… it’s propanediol, a corn-sugar based product that replaces petroleum in many uses.

DOE - Samuel BodmanU.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman today in Loudon, Tennessee joined officials from DuPont Tate & Lyle in a joint venture to open a $100 million Bio-PDO(TM) facility… the world’s first of its kind. Check out this release posted on PR Newswire:
DuPont Tate & Lyle logo
Bio-PDO(TM) is a versatile, biodegradable and high-performance ingredient that can be used in cosmetics, liquid detergents and industrial applications such as anti-freeze and many other applications that currently use glycols. It also can be used as a monomer to produce unsaturated polyester resins as well as other specialty polymers such as DuPont(TM) Sorona(R) and the latest renewably sourced polymer, DuPont(TM) Cerenol(TM). In addition, renewably sourced Hytrel(R) thermoplastic elastomers and a new line of renewable DuPont automotive finishes are two new product lines scheduled to launch later this year. The first commercial product was sold in November 2006, and demand for new uses of Bio-PDO(TM) continues to grow with nearly a dozen product applications.

The plant will use a special fermentation process developed jointly by DuPont and Tate & Lyle to produce Bio-PDO using corn sugar instead of petroleum-based feedstocks.

PDO ProcessThere are two products that come out of Bio-PDO: Zemea(TM) and Susterra(TM) propanediol. Zemea is used for personal cleaning products and liquid detergents due to its high purity and low irritation. Susterra is used in de-icing fluids, anti-freeze and heat transfer fluids because of its low toxicity and biodegradability.

You can see more about this interesting new product at the Dupont Tate & Lyle web site (www.duponttateandlyle.com).

Miscellaneous

Ethanol Merger in the Works

Cindy Zimmerman

Countryside Farmer-owned Dakota Ethanol of South Dakota is merging with Countryside Renewable Energy of Iowa.

Under the proposed merger announced this week, Dakota Ethanol owners Lake Area Corn Processors would exchange 100 percent of its ownership for a combination of cash and equity shares in Countryside.

dakotaAccording to a press release, Dakota Ethanol board member Brian Woldt said the company has been successful in the eight years it has been operating.

“But we also know that our members are always looking to move forward,” Woldt said. “We have entered into this process with Countryside to become part of a larger ethanol production organization which we believe will help us to improve profitability, our competitive position and our long-term prospects.”

Ethanol, Facilities, News

E85 for East Tennessee

Cindy Zimmerman

pilotPilot Corporation has opened the first fuel pump in East Tennessee to sell 85 percent ethanol (E85).

pilot openHelping with the grand opening was Alan Jones, manager of Tennessee Department of Transportation’s Environmental Policy Office, who is pictured fueling up a state vehicle with E85 at the Walker Springs Road Pilot location just off of I-40 in Knoxville.

“Pilot is proud to take this first step in bringing E85 fuel to Knoxville and East Tennessee,” said Jimmy Haslam, CEO of Pilot Corporation. “As it is feasible, we will continue to install E85 pumps at other locations in Knoxville and elsewhere. E85 is an important breakthrough alternative fuel source. It’s American made and can help U.S. farmers since ethyl alcohol comes from crops. As production increases, E85 will help ensure that our country has the proper supply of energy in light of continually increasing world-wide demand for gasoline.”

Haslam said that Pilot is grateful to Tenn. Gov. Phil Bredesen and the State of Tennessee for providing funding for alternative fuel resources such as E85. He said that this kind of support will allow fuel distributors like Pilot Corporation to continue to install E85 pumps.

E85, Ethanol, Flex Fuel Vehicles, News

Blogging POET

Cindy Zimmerman

POET POET is composing a “Rhapsody in Green.”

That’s the clever title of POET’s new blog site, created and maintained by POET Director of Public Relations Nathan Schock. It’s a very nice looking and well done blog.

Nathan says the purpose of the site is to “give you an inside look at the largest dry-mill ethanol producer in the country. An inside look at the company that is developing the next generation of biofuels: cellulosic ethanol.”

Most of all, we intend to introduce you to the people inside POET. They are a talented group of individuals who are constantly innovating in the ethanol industry. As we build plants, speak at conferences, develop technology and produce ethanol, we’ll talk about it here.

Check it out. We’ve also put a link to Rhapsody in the side bar.

Ethanol, News

Interest PERC’d in Propane

Chuck Zimmerman

PERCHere’s a heads up about a short trip I’m taking next week courtesy of the Propane Education & Research Council. I’ll be attending Propane Days, which is sponsored in part by PERC. Propane Days is put on by the National Propane Gas Association to educate policymakers on the benefits of propane. I’ll be there for a couple of days to chronicle and write about PERC’s involvement.

Propane DaysWhile I’m there I’ll be conducting interviews, taking pictures and talking with PERC staff and members about what they do. It’s going to be a learning experience which we’ll do together.

Propane Exceptional EnergyOne of the topics I’m sure you’ll be interested in is the Roush F-150 liquid propane injection truck. One thing is for sure. We’ll learn why they call it “exceptional energy.” Look for some reports starting on Wednesday.

Propane

FFA Making Biodiesel

Chuck Zimmerman

Josh Lo and Dick RichieThis week I’m attending the CMA Music Festival in Nashville, TN to do some work with New Holland and Michael Peterson. The activities culminate for us with the 2nd annual Michael Peterson/New Holland Tractor Race. You can learn more about it on Agwired. While here though I ran into a story I thought you might be interested in.

Pictured here are Joshua Lo (left) and his grandfather, Dick Richie. Josh is a member of the Westmoreland FFA Chapter. Together they’ve helped create a biodiesel business that’s making their chapter money. This is a creative way to support their efforts.

Basically they produce biodiesel and sell it locally. Dick says they can’t make it fast enough to satisfy demand. He says the chapter just bought a van out of the proceeds from their business venture. The chapter has one machine right now which Josh says they can make at least 200 gallons of biodiesel a week as long as they can get a steady supply of good grease to make the fuel with.

I interviewed them outside the New Holland booth here at the CMA Music Festival. Josh’s FFA chapter is helping man the booth and will receive a nice check from New Holland for their efforts.

Biodiesel, Video

Hot Rod on Ethanol

John Davis

Eggum Hot RodA race car running on ethanol is winning races and setting some records on the drag racing circuit. Stephanie Eggums, the lady behind the wheel of Eggums Racing’s NHRA SC car posted news of her wins on the news section of her MySpace page:

Next was the NDRA MIR event May 19 – 20th, where we had to finish the finals from Atco and the weather forecast was calling for rain both days. After two rounds of qualifying on Saturday, I was in the #1 spot with an 8.06 and facing Jamie Farrer for the Atco final.
Launching with our best 60′ of the season, a 1.30, as well as running our first 7 second pass (7.99 @ 183mph), we took the win and reset the NDRA Pro4 ET & MPH records!

Recently, Cindy e-mailed her to ask about her use of ethanol in her drag racer. Here’s Eggums’ response:

Stephanie EggumCindy,

We started using Ethanol (E98) back in 2005. My car had been burned down while I was racing for a different team (idiot tuner / crew chief who also didn’t put a fire suppression system in my car). After the fire I went back on my own, hired a new crew chief (Jeromie Hicks) and my new engine tuner was and still is Harry Hruska, owner of Precision Turbo.

At the time of the fire the car was running on Methanol and Harry suggested just using Ethanol. We found a place not too far from my home in Elgin, IL to purchase a drum (Pearl City Elevator).
We raced the car in 2005 for the remainder of the season, finishing 2nd in points and a fastest ET of 8.41 @ 178. We made plenty of power and ran all nine races on a single motor, which was pretty unheardof for anyone to do that in any class.

For the 2006 season, we decided to continue running the E98 and after running the entire season, again we finished 2nd in points, but also became the first FWD Honda in the world to run a 7 second pass. We reset the ET & MPH Records for the NHRA Hot Rod class and were the only car to run a 7 second pass in 2006 in Hot Rod. Again, we only used one motor all season long.

Mind you, it’s a combination of an excellent engine tuner, a well built motor and a competant crew chief that sets the car up right so we don’t break parts. All along that was our goal, to run fast, consistant and not break parts. We couldn’t afford to, since the last two years of racing Pro has been paid out of pocket, no sponsors.

So the Ethanol proved to make plenty of power for us, required less maintenance in comparison to Methanol and wasn’t as brutal on the motor.

We were looking forward to this year and starting off winning, however two motors and two months of racing determined the drum of E98 we purchased in February was contaminated. Not only that but it started off as E95, Not E98 and we were not told of the change.
With the new drum of E98 we recently got, we should be back on track for this coming race at Atco, June 9 – 10th.

Check out Eggums on the NHRA web site or on her MySpace page.

Ethanol

Incoming British PM Pushes Biodiesel

John Davis

Gordon BrownThe man expected to replace British Prime Minister Tony Blair has called for more tax incentives for the production of biodiesel. According to this story on the Scotsman.com, to make his point, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown made a recent trip on Europe’s first biodiesel-powered train with Sir Richard Branson, the chairman of Virgin:

The pair travelled on a diesel Virgin Voyager from London to Chester which has been adapted to run on 20 per cent biodiesel for a six-month trial.

Mr Brown, the Chancellor and prime minister-in-waiting, cut biodiesel tax from 54.68p to 7.69p a litre (or about $1 a quart!) for the experiment. He said if it was successful, other train operators would hopefully follow suit, and he would “look at what could be done in the future” over tax rates.

Although the trial fuel produces the same carbon dioxide from trains as diesel, its emissions are 14 per cent less because it is made from plants which absorb the gas.

It’s an interesting experiment, but I did notice one comment on the post that seemed pretty skeptical that the average driver would see such a dramatic, nearly $4-a-gallon tax break.

Biodiesel, International

Brew Your Own Biodiesel for $.85 a Gallon

John Davis

No, its not some ad in the back of a kids magazine. There’s plenty of people across the country who are brewing up their own biodiesel… not just the big plants you normally hear about.

EZBiodieselThis story on YourHub.com talks about how many people are using (usually) free old cooking oil from restaurants. But the article points out you can’t just throw ingredients together and have biodiesel. They recommend using a home kit from retailers such as EZBiodiesel.com:

In order to make quality Biodiesel, properly designed equipment and instruction is required. And an innovative Colorado based company, Summit Enterprises LLC, owned by Guy Purcella, offers just such a line of equipment called their EZBiodiesel processors. Summit Enterprises LLC designs & manufactures the processors in Grand Junction, CO & markets them worldwide. Processor sizes range from 20 gallons up to 5000 gallons.

The prices range from about $2,000 for a small, 20-gallon-per-batch model… and up to about $120,000 for a big 5,000-gallon model. I would think that those costs would cut into any savings… but maybe in the long run you could end up ahead. In fact, if my simple math is right, assume you could use the smallest, cheapest model to produce 20 gallons every three days (based on EZBiodiesel’s estimates of production time). If regular diesel costs about $2.85 a gallon, and the ingredients to make biodiesel cost 85 cents a gallon (assuming the old restaurant oil is free), you would be $2 a gallon ahead. Once you figure in the $2,000 for the kit, you’d have to make 1,000 gallons to start breaking even. If you drive a lot, you could probably use the 1,000 gallons in the 150 days it took to make it. Maybe after six months the kit would pay for itself. Maybe. Maybe someone should check my math.

Either way, it might be worth a click on the EZBiodiesel.com web site

Biodiesel

Clean Diesel Signs Another Patent Deal

John Davis

Clean DieselInnovator of clean energy technology, Clean Diesel has inked another deal to share its patents with another company to make the technology more widely available.

Clean Diesel has agreed to a non-exclusive license agreement with Connecticut-based Combustion Components Associates. CCA is a provider of air pollution control technologies for the power generation and transportation industries. The announcement came in a recent press release:

The license covers the Clean Diesel patented ARIS® technologies for control of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions using selective catalytic reduction (SCR) and related patents. The license gives CCA access to these patents in North America and Europe for vehicular and other applications. Under the terms of the agreement, Clean Diesel will receive upfront fees and per-unit royalties. The agreement licenses CCA to work with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), Tier One and exhaust system suppliers, targeting those who will combine CCA proprietary technologies with ARIS. The suite of licensed patents includes Clean Diesel’s innovation of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) in combination with SCR to minimize engine emissions while simultaneously improving fuel efficiency.

This agreement comes on the heels of a similar agreement with German auto parts maker Bosch (see my post and interview from June 2nd). Check ’em out on the web at www.cdti.com.

Miscellaneous