VeraSun Plant Opens Early

Cindy Zimmerman

VeraSun VeraSun Energy Corporation, the nation’s second largest ethanol producer,
has announced the early startup of its 110-million gallon facility located in Charles City, Iowa.

According to a company release, construction on VeraSun’s third ethanol production plant began in March 2006 and was completed nearly three months ahead of schedule.

The plant will annually process 39 million bushels of corn and produce 350,000 tons of distillers grains for livestock feed in addition to 110 million gallons of ethanol. Full production at the facility is scheduled to be reached within 30-45 days.

Ethanol, Facilities, News

BC Buses Switch to Biodiesel

John Davis

Victoria busCity buses in Victoria, British Columbia are now running on 5% biodiesel. The Victoria Times Colonist reports the move will save green in two ways… in the environment and the city budget:

No mechanical modifications are required to the fleet, said transit senior vice-president Ron Drolet.

“You can do it without any capital outlay. You get a supply that will certify the product’s quality and, bang, it happens.”

The change is expected to save about $650,000 a year for the city and will greatly reduce the amount of sulphur oxides and sulphates.

Biodiesel

Hydrogen Bus Debuts in CT

John Davis

Hartford busA new, hydrogen-powered bus has hit the streets of Hartford, Connecticut as a test of the technology that emits nothing but water vapor.

The Hartford (CT) Courant reports the 30-passenger bus will be checked for fuel economy, maintenance costs and reliability and compared to three other fuel cell buses in California:

The Greater Hartford Transit District signed a contract with UTC Power, a unit of Hartford-based United Technologies Corp., to build the bus last year.

Vicki Shotland, executive director of the transit district, said UTC Power will also provide two years of program support, including the use of Connecticut’s only hydrogen refueling station at UTC’s headquarters.

“The people who live and work in Hartford and the people who visit the city are not only going to enjoy riding this quiet bus, but also will like the fact it emits nothing but water vapor, making for cleaner air for all of us to breathe,” said Jan van Dokkum, president of UTC Power.

A $2.9 million federal grant helped fund the bus’s development.

Hydrogen

Andersons Marathon Ethanol Grants

Cindy Zimmerman

The Andersons Marathon Ethanol project in Greenville, Ohio is getting about $650,000 in state money to move the plant toward completion.

AndersonsAccording to state officials, the plant will receive a $100,000 grant to help cover the costs of buying machinery and equipment. Additionally, the state is providing Darke County with a $500,000 roadwork grant to facilitate the project.

MarathonThe Andersons Marathon Ethanol LLC, a 50/50 joint venture between Marathon Oil Corporation and The Andersons, Inc. and Marathon Petroleum Company LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Marathon Oil Corporation.

The plant will produce 110 million gallons of ethanol and 350,000 tons of distillers dried grain per year and is expected to be in production in the first quarter of 2008.

Ethanol, Facilities, News

Chavez Criticizes Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

Chavez-CastroThe president of oil-rich Venezuela is campaigning against President Bush’s plan to increase ethanol use in the United States, with the help of his close friend, Cuban President Fidel Castro.

According to NewsMax, Hugo Chavez pledged to undermine a U.S.-Brazil ethanol agreement in a speech made on Tuesday.

“We are working on an alternative proposal,” he said without elaborating. “Just as we overthrew the Free Trade Area of the Americas, we will now overthrow” the ethanol plan.

The Miami Herald notes that Chavez’ attitude is a sudden about face. Until just a few weeks ago, the leftist Chávez was pressing ahead with a five-year project to sow almost 700,000 acres with sugar cane to produce ethanol. With the technical support of Brazil and Cuba, 15 new sugar mills were planned to produce 30,000 barrels of ethanol a day.

However, Chavez says he has no conflict with Brazil, one of the Latin American countries with which he pledges to “share” Venezuela’s enormous oil reserves, or with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Bloomberg reports, “We’ll never fight with Brazil on this, we’ll never fight with Lula,” Chavez said. “The world press says, `It’s `Fidel and Chavez against Bush and Lula.’ No, it’s not like that. It’s Fidel and Chavez against the U.S. empire.”

Castro launched his own attack against the Bush ethanol plan in recently published editorials, saying that “more than three billion people in the world [are] condemned to premature death from hunger and thirst” as a result of Bush’s “sinister idea of converting food into fuel.”

OrtegaMeanwhile, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega is also criticizing the Bush ethanol “fantasy campaign.” Press TV reports Ortega said that he fully agrees with Cuban President Fidel Castro that large-scale production of ethanol as a fuel would affect food production for humankind.

Ethanol, Government, International, News

WI’s First Commercial Biodiesel

John Davis

Wisconsin’s first commercial biodiesel plant has started producing the renewable fuel… and a second refinery will open in about a week.

According to this story in the Wisconsin State Journal, the Sanimax plant in DeForest began testing the production of beef tallow-based biodiesel:

SanimaxThe first batch of biodiesel is expected to be ready in one week. Plant manager Russ Read said the production time will be cut to 12 hours once the testing phase is done. “We’ll be going at a slow speed and making sure all the pumps and level sensors work.”

Read said the plant, with a capacity of 20 million gallons per year, will be fully operational by the end of June.

Another 10-million-gallon-a-year biodiesel plant run by Midwest Biofuel that uses soybeans as its raw material is expected to start production near Clinton in Southeast Wisconsin by the end of this week or the beginning of next week.

Biodiesel

EPA Chief on Ethanol Plant Emissions

Cindy Zimmerman

The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency says a proposed rule change regarding ethanol plant emissions is a matter of consistency, not favoritism.

EPA JohnsonWhen asked about the expected rule change during a press conference announcing the administration’s new Renewable Fuels Standard, administrator Stephen L. Johnson responded, “If you are using corn to produce alcohol for human consumption, you are under one air standard. If you are producing alcohol to be used as a fuel, there’s a different standard,” he said. “That doesn’t make sense. There should be a level playing field, a consistent approach, that is health protective and environmentally protective. And that’s what we are in the rule-making process of doing right now.”

A St. Louis Post-Dispatch story this week headlined that the new rule “would allow plants to pollute more.” Shorter versions of the lengthy article, which gave the EPA reasons for the proposed change, included only the first few paragraphs, indicating that the rule change is politically motivated and would lead to more air pollution.

Ethanol, Facilities, Government, News

RFA Pleased With RFS

Cindy Zimmerman

RFAIt comes as no surprise that the Renewable Fuels Association is very pleased with the Bush Administration’s Renewable Fuels Standard announced today.

In a press release, RFA Chairman Ron Miller of Aventine Renewable Energy called the RFS “a watershed piece of legislation for the U.S. ethanol industry.”

“It has provided our industry a solid foundation from which to grow and the results speak for themselves. Today’s ethanol industry is supporting 160,000 new jobs, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and lessening our reliance on imported oil. The EPA and Administrator Johnson are to be commended for their efforts to get this program fully implemented.”

Ethanol, News

RFS Program Announced

Cindy Zimmerman

In step with the Bush Administration’s call to increase the supply of alternative and renewable fuels nationwide, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today established the nation’s first comprehensive Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program, according to an EPA news release.

US Depts At a press conference today, EPA Administrator Johnson, joined by Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator Nicole Nason, discussed the RFS program, increasing the use of alternative fuels and modernizing CAFÉ standards for cars.

“The Renewable Fuel Standard offers the American people a hat trick – it protects the environment, strengthens our energy security, and supports America’s farmers,” said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. “Today, we’re taking an important first step toward meeting President Bush’s “20 in 10” goal of jumping off the treadmill of foreign oil dependency.”

“Increasing the use of renewable and alternative fuels to power our nation’s vehicles will help meet the President’s Twenty in Ten goal of reducing gasoline usage by 20 percent in ten years,” Secretary Bodman said. “The Administration’s sustained commitment to technology investment will bring a variety of alternative fuel sources to market and further reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign sources of energy.”

“While we must look at increasing the availability of renewable and alternative fuels, we must also continue to improve the fuel efficiency of our passenger cars and light trucks,” said Nicole R. Nason, Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “As a part of the President’s “20 in 10” energy security plan, we need Congress to give the Secretary of Transportation the authority to reform the current passenger car fuel economy standard.”

The RFS program will promote the use of fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel, which are largely produced from American crops. The program will create new markets for farm products, increase energy security, and promote the development of advanced technologies that will help make renewable fuel cost-competitive with conventional gasoline. In particular, the RFS program establishes special incentives for producing and using fuels produced from cellulosic biomass, such as switchgrass and woodchips.

Listen to the entire interview press conference. Listen to MP3 File RFS Press Conference (27:00 min MP3)

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Government, News

Biodiesel on “Pimp My Ride”

John Davis

65 Impala on Pimp My Ride
The hit MTV show “Pimp My Ride” will feature a 1965 Chevy Impala coverted to run on biodiesel for its Earth Day show on April 22nd. According to this story posted on CNET News, as part of the show, the converted Impala goes up against a Lamborghini in a quarter-mile drag race. And the Impala wins!

imperium.gif“You don’t have to sacrifice the fun aspects of a car. All you have to do is change your fuel,” said Martin Tobias, CEO of Imperium Renewables, a biodiesel refiner that developed the Pimp My Ride biodiesel experiment with MTV. “It completely blew away the Lamborghini. It was only two-thirds down the track when the Impala crossed the finish line.”

The man behind the conversion is Jonathon Goodwin, a biodiesel conversion specialist and founder of alternative energy start-up SAE Energy. He’s also converted about 60 Hummers which increases the SUV’s mileage from 10 miles a gallon to nearly 24!

Biodiesel