Are You Ready For Some Ethanol?

Cindy Zimmerman

EThe ethanol industry has kicked off a new promotion with tailgate parties and pump promotions centered around pro football games this fall.

According to Reece Nanfito, Ethanol Promotion and Information Council’s senior director of marketing, promotions for the fuel are planned to take place prior to professional football match-ups around the country.

“At the tailgating parties, we have tents and banners and in many cases we’ll have the IndyCar Series simulator car there. And as people walk into the stadium and celebrate before they go to the big game we will be promoting the benefits of ethanol and handing out brochures and information.”

The first tailgate parties were held on Sunday October 1 in Houston and Washington DC, and October 2 in Philadelphia. Nanfito says the pump promotions are taking place at various retailers in some of the cities prior to the games as well.

Ethanol tailgate parties are scheduled for football games in New York, Indianapolis and Philadelphia on Sunday, October 8; Dallas, Pittsburgh, New York, Washington DC and Baltimore on Sunday, October 15; Houston, Kansas City and Buffalo on Sunday, October 22; Dallas on Monday, October 23; Buffalo and Philadelphia on Sunday, October 29; and Washington DC, Baltimore and Pittsburgh on Sunday, November 5.

Pump promotions are scheduled to be held on Friday, October 6 in Philadelphia; October 13 and 14 in Dallas; October 20 and 21 in Houston; and November 4 in Washington DC.

EPIC, Ethanol, Promotion

Food and Fuel “Synergy”

Cindy Zimmerman

FAO An international partnership to promote the use of ”green” fuels called the Global Bioenergy Partnership recently opened its secretariat at the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations headquarters in Rome.

According to a press release announcing the new partnership, FAO has always actively promoted biofuels as a means of reducing poverty while producing clean, low-cost energy. Given the right technologies, an abundant energy supply could be tapped by converting biomass such as crop residues, grass, straw and brushwood into fuel, while crops like sugar cane, corn and soybeans are already being used to produce ethanol or bio-diesel.

Interestingly, the FAO is promoting the concept that biomass fuels can actually fight against hunger, contrary to recent reports that ethanol production is going to lead to global food shortages and the “food vs fuel” fight. Granted, they are careful to say that it needs to be “done in a sustainable manner” but the point is they acknowledge that it COULD be done.

FAO Senior Energy Coordinator Dr. Gustavo Best says, “Bioenergy opens new opportunities for development in rural areas, new agri-industries, new jobs, new infrastructure and therefore promotes economic development in rural areas.”

He says while we have to be careful that the promotion of bioenergy does not affect food production negatively, but “perhaps it comes to create synergy with food production.”

He suggests the use of crops like sorghum, which could be used to produce both food and fuel, especially with the development with new varieties.

Listen to Dr. Best’s comments here: Listen To MP3 FAO Energy (1 min MP3)

Audio, Energy, Ethanol, International

Corny Idea Could Catch Fire

Cindy Zimmerman

Mizzou The University of Missouri-Columbia is testing a mixture of corn cobs and coal in the University’s Power Plant, which could reduce emissions, lower fuel costs and create additional income for farmers. The power plant, which burns up to 170,000 tons of coal each year, is conducting the first of several tests of a blended fuel in which up to 10 percent of the mixture is made of corn cobs.

According to a university release, because corn cobs are a by-product of Missouri’s expanding corn industry, their use is ideal. Corn cobs are clean burning and have a higher heating value, or more energy to release, than most other biomass fuels, such as grass. The heating value of corn cobs is about 75 percent of the heating value of coal.

Energy, Research

More Ethanol For OK

Cindy Zimmerman

US Bioenergy South Dakota-based US BioEnergy US BioEnergy Corporation is considering Guymon, Oklahoma as the location for a 100 million gallon per year ethanol plant.

According to a company release, US BioEnergy’s site location criteria include access to an abundant supply of corn, access to multiple modes of transportation for corn, ethanol and distillers grains, availability of a sufficient amount of water that is of suitable quality, availability of natural gas and other necessary utilities and infrastructure, and access to a qualified labor force.

Oklahoma currently has no ethanol plants in operation. Another plant is in the works for Enid, OK (see previous post).

Ethanol

Husky Makes Ethanol From Wheat

Cindy Zimmerman

Husky Most ethanol in the US is made from corn while in Brazil its sugar cane – but wheat is the feedstock of choice for our neighbors to the north.

Husky Energy’s Lloydminster ethanol plant opened recently in Saskatchewan and is now in the process of churning out 130 million litres of ethanol a year – about 34 million gallons American – using about 350,000 tonnes of wheat.

Husky’s facility is the largest plant of its kind in Western Canada. The company also has a plant in Minnedosa, Manitoba, which has been producing ethanol from prairie grains since 1981, is currently being expanded from 10 to 130 million litres of ethanol per year. The new facility will become fully operational in mid-2007.

Ethanol

Testing Ethanol in the Engines at Indy

Cindy Zimmerman

Indy Ethanol Here’s a screen shot from the home page of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway heralding the ethanol fuel test drive Monday on the track. According to an Indy release, drivers Jeff Simmons of Rahal Letterman Racing and Tony Kanaan of Andretti Green Racing drove Dallara/Honda/Firestone cars powered by ethanol and the 3.5-liter engine, the first time that package was tested at Indy.

Indy LogoSimmons, who drives the No. 17 Ethanol-sponsored car co-owned by 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal and late-night talk show legend Dave Letterman, said changes in the performance of the car, with the new fuel and engine combination, are noticeable.

“There’s a difference, and it’s all been positive so far,” Simmons said. “It’s great to be one of the guys to have the chance to run the new motor next year with the 100 percent ethanol.

Pictures and lots more information are on-line at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway site.

EPIC, Ethanol, Indy Racing, Racing

Ethanol on the Cob

Cindy Zimmerman

ADM Archer Daniels Midland Company will participate in the Citigroup “Ethanol on the Cob” Biofuels Conference on October 3. ADM Executive Vice President, John Rice, and Group Vice President and Controller, Steven Mills, will be presenting.

The ADM presentation will be Web cast live. The link to the Web cast: http://www.admworld.com/webcast will be made available at 2:25 p.m. Central Daylight Time on October 3, 2006. This presentation can be accessed for replay on the ADM Web site until October 13, 2006.

Ethanol

Emperor of Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

Ron Fagen Fagen Here’s a nice column from Pioneer Press on Ron Fagen, founder of Fagen, Inc, one of the largest ethanol design/build firms in the country.

According to the piece, Brian Jennings, executive director of the American Coalition for Ethanol in Sioux Falls, S.D., says Fagen’s company is building seven of every 10 ethanol plants in the country. “Ron and his company are central to the U.S. ethanol industry,” says Jennings.

Fagen is an unabashed cheerleader for ethanol. “I think it’s the best thing that’s happened to the farmer since the combine,” is a favorite phrase of his.

Ethanol’s been a very good thing for Fagen Inc., too. The company expects to record sales of at least $750 million for the fiscal year ended Saturday, up from $420 million in 2005. Ron Fagen projects sales of around $1 billion for fiscal 2007. He says the company has enough backlog to stay busy until 2010.

Fagen Inc. has built 46 ethanol factories. Another 27 are under construction, and nine more are slated to begin rising by the end of the year.

But Fagen’s bet on ethanol doesn’t end there. Ron Fagen is a cofounder and 25 percent owner of US BioEnergy, an ethanol manufacturer that has its main offices in Inver Grove Heights. Two months ago, US BioEnergy disclosed plans to raise up to $300 million in an initial public offering. Fagen also has equity stakes in all the ethanol plants his company has built since 2001.

Ethanol

Taking the Gas Out of Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

ISU Research Iowa State University researchers are working to cut the use of natural gas from the production of ethanol, which would make it less expensive to make since natural gas is the second largest expense in the ethanol process behind the corn.

ISU Mechanical Engineering professor Ted Heindel, says they’re working with Frontline BioEnergy of Ames, Iowa to develop “fluidized bed gassifiers” that are used to gasify biomaterial into a gas that can be burned in the place of natural gas.

Common waste materials like corn stalks, corn stover, distillers dried grains or switchgrass could be turned into burnable gas.

Pictured is Ted Heindel with ISU’s X-ray flow visualization facility that will be used to observe and measure the action inside a fluidized bed where biomass can be converted into flammable gases. Photo by Bob Elbert

Read more about this story here.

Ethanol, Production, Research

Putting Ethanol in the Pipeline

Cindy Zimmerman

Harkin Funny Car Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, pictured here squeezing into an ethanol-powered funny car, is calling for a study into distributing ethanol by pipeline.

Harkin and Senator Dick Lugar (R-IN) introduced legislation on Friday to direct the U.S. Department of Energy to study “the feasibility of transporting ethanol by pipeline from the Midwest to the East and West coasts, where demand is growing.”

According to a Harkin press release, given the increasing ethanol demand, there may be economic benefits to transporting ethanol through dedicated pipelines. However, such a dedicated system could take a decade or more to build.

“With the ethanol production and demand both on the rise, we need an accurate and fair analysis of the potential to distribute ethanol around the country by pipeline,” said Harkin. “We continue to hear comments that it can’t but done efficiently, but it is happening right now in Brazil. The goal of this bill is to examine the issue and get all the facts on the table.”

Distribution, Ethanol, Government, Racing