Biodiesel Board Chairman Re-elected

Cindy Zimmerman November 22, 2006

For a third year, the biodiesel industry has chosen farmer-leader Darryl Brinkmann to lead the National Biodiesel Board.

A soybean grower from Carlyle, Ill., Brinkmann has the charge of leading the organization as chairman during yet another year of intense growth and change for the alternative fuel.

Brinkmann has served as a board member for the nonprofit trade association since 1998.

Based in Jefferson City, Mo., the board is dedicated to coordinating the biodiesel industry and educating the public about the fuel. Its membership is comprised of state, national, and international feedstock and processor organizations; biodiesel suppliers; fuel marketers and distributors; and technology providers.

Read more from the NBB.

Biodiesel

Case IH Supports Biodiesel

Cindy Zimmerman November 22, 2006

Case IH is the latest equipment manufacturer to announce support for B20, a blend of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent diesel.

The company has announced that customers can use B20 in most Case IH engines and B5 (5 percent biodiesel) in all Case IH engines. In addition, Case IH uses biodiesel blends as the factory fill in most cases.

“One hundred percent factory fill of a biodiesel blend is a logical next step in the process of embracing biodiesel,” said Randy Baker, president of Case IH North America. “Adding to demand for soybeans while producing the crop is the type of strategy our customers like to pursue,” Baker said. “It’s good environmental stewardship and good business.”

Read more from Case IH and from the National Biodiesel Board.

Biodiesel

Giant Soybean Plants Could Provide Cellulose For Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman November 22, 2006

Bigger, stronger soybeans could help meet the demand for cellulosic material to produce ethanol.

USDA Agricultural Research Service chemical engineer Justin Barone and ARS geneticist Thomas Devine believe the giant soybean plants could be “specially bred with strong cellulose, for use in briquettes and wood substitutes, or with weak cellulose better suited for cellulosic ethanol production.”

In the photo, Devine measures one of his large biomass soybean plants which grow up to seven feet in height without lodging due to their stong sapling-like stalks.

Brazil Opens First Ethanol-Biodiesel Plant

Cindy Zimmerman November 22, 2006

Reuters reports on a first for Brazil’s biofuels industry:

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva showcased Brazil’s prowess in the alternative fuels industry on Tuesday when he inaugurated Barralcool, the first integrated biofuels plant that will produce cane-based ethanol and biodiesel from oilseeds.

Brazil, with its huge agricultural potential, has for decades had the world’s most advanced biofuels market. After the oil crisis in the early 1970s, it launched the ProAlcool ethanol programme to lighten dependence on crude imports.

Southridge in the Southeast

Cindy Zimmerman November 21, 2006

Southridge Ethanol has popped up recently as a company with “a mission to become the ethanol producer of choice in the southeastern region of the United States,” according to the company website.

Just in the past month, the company has announced it’s intent to acquire ethanol plant equipment from South Louisiana Ethanol; that the Quitman County Mississippi Economic Development Committee has agreed to subsidize half of the costs incurred in building a new railroad spur for the plant; that they would be featured in the December issue of Ethanol Producer Magazine; that they met with the Quitman County Economic Development Board; and that they signed an agreement with Agri Systems for consulting and engineering.

Southridge has also gotten some negative attention for a stock push by market traders like Stock Market Alerts, who have sent out paid releases and emails promoting the company’s stock as a hot investment opportunity.

Ethanol, News

Southeast Missouri Ethanol Plant Moves Ahead

Cindy Zimmerman November 21, 2006

Ethanex Energy Inc. has received regulatory approval under a waiver to begin construction on its ethanol production plant to be located in Cape Girardeau.

According to a company release, Ethanex at SEMO will be a state of the art 132 million gallons per year fuel-grade ethanol plant. The facility will include patented fractionation technology that reduces energy consumption by 25%, increases the value of co-products and increases the throughput capacity by 20%. This next generation technology contributes to a 25% lower production cost per gallon than standard ethanol facilities.

Read the Kansas City Star article here.

Ethanol, News

Sky Could be the Limit for Corn Yields

Cindy Zimmerman November 21, 2006

Over the past decade, corn yields have been increasing an average of 3.4 bushels per acre per year. That is double the average of the previous decade and all indications are that will continue, which is good news for the corn ethanol industry.

Pioneer Hi-Bred International senior marketing manager Joe Foresman says regarding corn yields, “With the genetic advancements that have been made over the last ten years in the industry, literally the sky is the limit.” The latest forecast for corn yields in 2006 is 151.2 bushels/acre, up 3.3 from last year despite drought in many areas of the country.

Also good for the industry is the development of new hybrid varieties of corn that are highly fermentable – a desirable trait for ethanol production. Pioneer currently has 135 hybrids that are considered highly fermentable, including 17 of the 20 top selling varieties, but Foresman says they are also very aware of the needs on the livestock side of the corn business, since the ethanol production process creates about 17 pounds of distillers grains for every bushel of corn.

“We’re looking that we can help improve the value at the plant and also at the feedlot,” said Foresman.

Pioneer, which is a DuPont company, is also actively involved with DuPont on the development of cellulosic ethanol and biobutanol.

Listen to my interview with Joe Foresman at this year’s National Association of Farm Broadcasting annual meeting: Pioneer (6 min MP3)

Audio, Ethanol, News

EPA Investigates Blended Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman November 21, 2006

Most cars are manufacturer-approved to run on up to ten percent ethanol blended with gasoline. Flex fuel vehicles can run on up to 85 percent. But the Environmental Protection Agency is looking into whether 20 or 30 percent ethanol-blended gasoline meets Clear Air Act standards.

At issue, according to this story in the Aberdeen (SD) News, is that so-called blender pumps “are marked for use by flex fuel vehicles only. However, they operate the same way as regular gasoline pumps, so customers with non-flex fuel vehicles are able to put higher blends of ethanol than are deemed acceptable into their vehicles.”

There are very few stations in the country offering multiple ethanol blends at a pump and the EPA question has already caused them to be shut down in South Dakota until the issue is resolved.

Ethanol, News

Study Finds Biotech Will Meet Food and Fuel Demands

Cindy Zimmerman November 20, 2006

A National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy study suggests that biotechnology plays a vital role in meeting the increased demand for corn production for food, feed and fuel.

According to the study, U.S. farmers gained an additional 8.3 billion pounds of yield last year due to biotech crops, including an extra 7.6 billion pounds of corn production, a 29 percent increase over 2004.

Since the commercialization of plant biotechnology in the late 1990s, corn production has benefited by an extra 39 billion pounds of yield, equivalent to 1.9 billion gallons of ethanol production. These continued yield increases will be a key factor in meeting future demand as corn prices hit 10-year highs and corn used for ethanol production is predicted to jump 34 percent in 2007.

Further, the report indicates biotech crops helped farmers increase their income by $2 billion last year, while reducing the amount of pesticides used 69.7 million pounds on the 123 million acres planted to the biotech-enhanced crops. In addition to herbicide-resistant and insect-resistant corn, the report evaluated the impact of herbicide-resistant soybean, herbicide-resistant and insect-resistant cotton, herbicide-resistant canola and virus-resistant squash and papaya.

Read the executive summary of the study here.

Link to press release.

Biodiesel, Biotech, Ethanol, News

Ethanol Plant Converting to Biomass

Cindy Zimmerman November 20, 2006

Broin Companies of South Dakota plans to build a cellulose-to-ethanol production facility in the state of Iowa with a completion date expected in 2009.

The announcement came during a joint press conference Monday at the Iowa Capitol in Des Moines with Jeff Broin, CEO of Broin Companies, Iowa Governor Thomas Vilsack, and Iowa Governor-Elect Chet Culver.

Voyager Ethanol, located in Emmetsburg, Iowa, will be converted from a 50 million gallon per year (MGPY) conventional corn dry mill facility into a 125 million gallon per year commercial scale bio-refinery designed to utilize advanced corn fractionation and lignocellulosic conversion technologies to produce ethanol from corn fiber and corn stover. Broin Companies has applied for matching grant funds through the U.S. Department of Energy to assist with the project.

Known as Project LIBERTY, the expansion will utilize an existing infrastructure with projected costs for the project at just over $200 million dollars. Pilot research for this project has been conducted and the expansion is slated to begin in February with a commercial production timeline set approximately 30 months later. Project LIBERTY, which stands for Launch of an Integrated Bio-refinery with Eco-sustainable and Renewable Technologies in Y2009, will create commercialization results that include 11 percent more ethanol from a bushel of corn and 27 percent more ethanol from an acre of corn while using 83 percent less energy needed to operate a corn to ethanol plant.