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A Nebraska community college is getting nearly $2 million in federal funds to increase educational opportunities for the ethanol industry.

Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) has announced that Northeast Community College in Norfolk will receive the grant from the U.S. Department of Labor.

“This is important news for Nebraska,” Hagel said. “The growing demand for alternative sources of energy requires educated professionals in Nebraska with a strong understanding of the technical, economic and agricultural needs of the rapidly expanding ethanol industry. This grant will put Northeast Community College at the forefront in training a well-educated work force for the ethanol industry.”

Xethanol Corporation is planning to build a biomass-based pilot production facility in Florida, utilizing waste citrus peels as raw material for making ethanol.

According to a company release, the venture is located in Bartow, Florida, the heart of the state’s citrus industry. The venture is expected to establish a pilot plant to produce up to 50,000 gallons of ethanol this harvesting season. The pilot plant, which will increase to over 500,000 gallons per year (GPY), is co-located at a facility owned and operated by Peace River Citrus Products, Inc., a leading producer of orange and grapefruit juice and other citrus products.

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If only a quarter of proposed new Midwest ethanol plants come on-line, up to half of corn in Midwest states currently sent for export could be diverted to domestic ethanol production, according to a new report by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP).

“Staying Home: How Ethanol Will Change U.S. Corn Exports,” by IATP’s Mark Muller and Heather Schoonover, looks at the stunning growth planned for ethanol plants in the Midwest and their potential impact on corn exports. The paper includes data on how corn exports for individual Midwest states could be impacted by new ethanol plants, including, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

The reports recommends that in the next Farm Bill “policymakers should focus on building and diversifying opportunities for renewable fuels and energies; promoting farm practices and cropping systems that build soil health and improve water quality; and ensuring that farmers and rural communities benefit from these new opportunities.”

Read press release summary or check out the IATP site for the full report and video interview.

A prolific fungus found in eastern Russia and termites from Costa Rica are just two of the avenues being explored to get ethanol on the cellulosic superhighway.

A Business Week online article reports on some of the bio-breakthroughs that are promising more efficient ways to make ethanol.

Scientists are scouring China for strains of tall grasses and tinkering with plants’ genes to make better energy crops. They are collecting termites in Costa Rica, hoping to harness the bugs’ ability to digest cellulose. Several groups have studied a fungus discovered during World War II that ate up the Army’s cotton tents. Richard Hamilton, CEO of Thousand Oaks (Calif.)-based Ceres Inc., compares the progress to TV makers’ struggle to perfect flat-panel displays. The first few factories “will be godawful expensive, but we’re early on the learning curve. We’ve only scratched the surface of what a lot of us think is possible,” he says.


Read the whole article.

Business Week reports that the ethanol industry appears poised for another big year in 2007, as companies scramble to take advantage of continuing government subsidies and a growing political desire to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil.

But Wall Street investors who went pedal-to-the-metal during ethanol’s midyear IPO frenzy seem to be easing off the accelerator upon warnings of volatile commodity prices and a potential oversupply down the road.

Read full Business Week article.