More BQ-9000 Accredited Producers

Cindy Zimmerman

cargill Two more prodcers became BQ-9000 this week, according to the National Biodiesel Board.

Although new to biodiesel production in the United States, Cargill took measures while constructing its biodiesel facilities so that it could help ensure it meets the industry standard for quality. Cargill’s Iowa Falls, Iowa, location has produced biodiesel since May. The company reports 37.5 million gallons of capacity. griffin

Griffin Industries of Kentucky, an early producer of biodiesel beginning in the late 1990s, has also achieved BQ-9000 accreditation. “Our ability to further validate the consistent quality of Griffin’s BioG-3000® premium biodiesel is a critical step to maintaining and building consumer confidence,” said Tom Griffin, Senior Vice President for Griffin Industries.

BQ-9000 is a voluntary fuel quality assurance program that includes procedures for fuel storage, handling and management aimed at ensuring biodiesel fuel quality throughout the distribution system. To date, 11 companies are BQ-9000 accredited, with another seven undergoing the process.

Biodiesel

Growing OK Biofuels

Cindy Zimmerman

Grow OK Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry is holding a conference on biofuels next month in Norman, Okla. The Oklahoma Governor’s Conference on Biofuels features an impressive array of experts in the area of domestic fuels including state and federal government officials, oil and renewable industry representatives, university researchers and stakeholders from areas such as the military, transportation, agriculture and marketing. The event is scheduled for October 3 and 4 at the University of Oklahoma.

Registration for this comprehensive conference is only $20.

Biodiesel, Energy, Ethanol, Government

Flex Wars

Cindy Zimmerman

Full Flex Logo Geez, guys, can’t we all just get along?Flex Tek

Flex-Tek and Full Flex, competing E85 conversion kits, are having a little war on Domestic Fuel. (see previous post comments) For the sake of transparency, readers should be aware that Full Flex asked their satisfied customers to comment on the post about the interview I did with them.

Here’s the way I see it, folks. Hopefully, you are both selling good products that will help us reduce our dependence on foreign oil. There should be a big enough market out there for both of you – and maybe even others. So, be nice to each other. Competition is good for the market.

Ethanol, Flex Fuel Vehicles

Pipeline Quality Manure Methane

Cindy Zimmerman

Intrepid Technology and Resources, Inc., an Idaho-based renewable alternate energy company, is turning dairy cow manure into natural gas. (see previous post)

Thanks to a partnership with Utah State University, ITR is the first company to produce pipeline-quality methane from cow manure. ITR is expanding its operations, and will now produce natural gas from 100 percent of the manure from 6,500 cows. Previously, the company was only utilizing about 30 percent of their clients’ waste. All of the gas will be put into a pipeline and sold to Intermountain Gas Company, according to ITR Vice President Brad Frazee.

The expansion will include an additional eight digester tanks and will produce enough gas to provide gas energy to 5,000 homes and any dairy with 2,000 or more cows could produce enough gas to make such a project viable.

Read the entire story here.

Energy, Research

More Than Enough Corn

Cindy Zimmerman

NASS Despite a dry summer in many parts of the country, there’s still plenty of corn to go around.

USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service September crop report calls for an 11.114 billion bushel corn crop for the current marketing year, which would be the second-largest crop on record.

The forecast is one percent higher than last month report and up just a tick from 2005’s 11.112 billion bushel crop. 2004 was the record at 11.8 billion bushels.

National Corn Growers Association President Gerald Tumbleson says, “With last year’s carry over and this year’s projected second-largest crop on record, it is clear that corn producers will produce more than enough corn to supply all markets this year.”

Agribusiness

Florida Living Green, Going Yellow

Cindy Zimmerman

GM E85 has arrived in the Sunshine State.

Florida’s first E85 pump opened in Tallahassee Wednesday, with Governor Jeb Bush doing the honors of filling the first tank full.

General Motors Corporation, in partnership with Inland Food Stores and the State of Florida, facilitated the launch. According to a company release, they have plans for at least 16 other fueling sites in the greater Tallahassee area.

“Securing a diverse and reliable supply of energy will reduce Florida’s dependence on imported oil and ensure that a balanced mix of fuel sources and technologies are available for years to come,” said Governor Bush. “The tremendous potential of ethanol to become a major source of transportation fuel for Florida ‘s energy future will be spurred with greater public access to ethanol fueling stations.”

Commenting on today’s announcement, Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Bronson added, “We congratulate General Motors and Inland Food Stores in the formation of this partnership to bring renewable biofuel to consumers at more retail locations. We’re pleased that the efforts of today’s partnership will help provide more Florida consumers with domestically grown and produced fuel choices like E85.”

Ethanol, Flex Fuel Vehicles

Locally-Owned Plants Better For Local Economies

Cindy Zimmerman

NCGA A study released today by the National Corn Growers Association says that ethanol plants owned by local farmers provide more economic benefits for communities than those owned by absentee investors.

The study, “Economic Impacts on the Farm Community of Cooperative Ownership of Ethanol Production,” concludes that, “Since a farmer-owned cooperative ethanol plant is literally a member of the community, the full contribution to the local economy is likely to be as much as 56 percent larger than the impact of an absentee-owned corporate plant.”

Two main reasons are given for that conclusion:

1. The share of expenditures for operations of a farmer-owned plant derived in the local community is likely to be larger than that of an absentee-owned plant. For example, virtually all accounting, administrative and marketing functions will be provided locally, while these functions may be centralized off site for an absentee-owned plant.

2. Farmer-owners of a cooperative or limited liability corporation (LLC) ethanol plant will participate in the profits through dividends. Dividends paid to farmer-owners represent additional income that is spent and invested largely in the local community, according to the study.

John Urbanchuk of LECG, LLC, conducted the analysis. The entire report can be viewed in pdf format here.

Ethanol

New KS Ethanol Company Hires CEO From USDA

Cindy Zimmerman

Everton Energy, a new biofuel company headquartered in Kansas, has announced the appointment of Bert Farrish as the company’s first Chief Executive Officer.

According to a news release, Farrish joins Everton from the United States Department of Agriculture, where he served as Deputy Administrator for Commodity Operations for the Farm Service Agency. In this role, Farrish was directly responsible for the administration of the United States bio-diesel and ethanol bio-energy program.

“Our vision is to build a fully integrated energy production and marketing company, using the latest technological developments in bio-energy,” said Farrish. “We are in a unique position to take a leadership stake in the rapidly growing biofuel industry, and we expect to be producing ethanol within just three years. By 2010, Everton will be one of the leading producers and suppliers in the United States.”
Everton

Everton is partnering with Kansas-based ICM to design and construct a 100 million gallon ethanol production facility in Concordia, Kansas starting in early 2007. Everton also plans to announce details regarding the location and development of a second facility in the near future.

Ethanol

200 Million for Cilion

Cindy Zimmerman

Cilion Officials with California-based Cilion announced this week they have raised over $200 million in capital financing to build multiple ethanol plants.

Cilion was formed in June (see previous post) with a partnership between Western Milling and venture capital firm Khosla Ventures

According to a press release, Cilion will operate modular, standardized 55 million gallons per year ethanol plants using India-based Praj technology. Using a variety of innovations, these plants will be greener and less expensive than standard corn-to-ethanol plants, therefore substantially reducing the consumption of traditional energy sources in ethanol production.

Ethanol

Agressive Expansion

Cindy Zimmerman

Petrobras According to this AP report out of Rio de Janeiro, “Brazil is aggressively expanding its sugarcane plantations and expects to more than double its annual exports of alcohol fuel, or ethanol, by 2010.” That’s according to Brazil’s Minister of Mines and Energy speaking at the Rio Oil and Gas Expo and Conference on Monday.

Brazil is the world’s second-biggest producer of ethanol after the United States and is the biggest exporter. Brazil also has the world’s largest fleet of ethanol-powered cars _ seven out of every 10 new cars sold in Brazil are “flex fuel” vehicles that can run on gasoline, ethanol or any combination of the two.

Brazil’s state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, said it expected to sign a long-term contract to export ethanol to Venezuela.

Ethanol, International