Ethanol Report on Custom RFA Motorcycle

Cindy Zimmerman

A custom motorcycle that runs on E85 stole the spotlight at the 2018 Fuel Ethanol Workshop in Omaha this week.

The Renewable Fuels Association teamed up with master motorcycle designer Paul Teutul, Jr. to create the patriotic-themed bike that was revealed to the world on the Discovery channel series American Chopper June 11 and Paul Jr. spent time at the trade show meeting and greeting attendees.

In this edition of The Ethanol Report, we hear from Paul Jr. and RFA vice president of industry relations Robert White about the custom bike and how it is part of a larger campaign to educate bikers, boaters and others who have reservations about using ethanol in small engines.

Ethanol Report on Custom RFA Ethanol Motorcycle

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RFA Custom E85 Chopper photos

2018 Fuel Ethanol Workshop Photos

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Enogen Corn is a Win Win Win

Cindy Zimmerman

Enogen® is a win for corn growers, ethanol plants and rural communities, and its footprint just keeps growing.

Syngenta now has agreements with more than 30 ethanol plants with a combined production capacity of approximately 3 billion gallons. As new plants come on board, Syngenta expects ethanol produced with Enogen® corn enzyme technology to be approximately 2.5 billion gallons this year alone.

“Across a growing number of ethanol plants, Enogen corn is helping to fuel enzyme innovation,” said Jeff Oestmann, Bio-fuels Operations head, Enogen at Syngenta.

Oestmann says Enogen was generating a lot of interest at the Fuel Ethanol Conference in Omaha this week. “We’re getting a lot of people here talking to us about the value of Enogen and what it does for their plants,” he said.
“The end game is to increase their margins, and that’s what we’re doing here.”

And speaking of winning, Syngenta is sponsoring NASCAR® racing at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa this weekend for the sixth year in a row. This year’s featured event is the Iowa 250 presented by Enogen, a 250-lap NASCAR Xfinity Series race, on Sunday, June 17.

Learn more about Enogen’s growth in this interview from FEW – Interview with Jeff Oestmann, Enogen

2018 Fuel Ethanol Workshop Photos

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Coverage of the Fuel Ethanol Conference is sponsored by Syngenta Enogen

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Senate Agriculture Committee Passes Farm Bill

By a vote of 20 to 1, the Senate Agriculture Committee passed the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 Wednesday

“The Senate Agriculture Committee’s bipartisan Farm Bill process is a reminder of how things should work in Washington – listening to the folks back home, working through issues with the other side of the aisle, then writing a good bill,” said Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). “Today marks another important step in the road to getting an on-time Farm Bill enacted into law. We urge our colleagues to support this bill.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was the sole dissenting vote, continuing his long-time crusade for payment limitations.

“Setting sound, enforceable limits to farm safety net payments is a straightforward way to exercise fiscal responsibility and close loopholes that exploit the intent of farm programs that allow some non-farmers to game the system and take resources away from real, working farmers,” said Grassley in a statement after the vote. “I’ve been an advocate for making these reforms for more than a decade, so you can imagine my disappointment that they weren’t included in the committee’s legislation. I intend to offer an amendment on the Senate floor to include commonsense payment limits in the 2018 Farm Bill.”

Grassley was the first to make his comments during the mark-up. Here are his remarks.
Sen. Grassley comments on Senate farm bill

Grassley also opposed including the Hemp Farming Act of 2018 sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in the farm bill. The legislation to remove federal roadblocks to industrial hemp was included. “By securing my hemp provision in the Farm Bill, we are building upon the successes of the hemp pilot programs and encouraging the great potential of this versatile crop,” said McConnell.

Listen to McConnell’s comments here:
Sen. McConnell comments on hemp legislation in farm bill

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Pruitt Visits South Dakota Farmers

Cindy Zimmerman

Farmers and ethanol producers in South Dakota held a good old fashioned tractor rally in Sioux Falls as EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt met with farmers in Reliance about 200 miles west. A crowd of about 250 carried signs as speakers called on the administrator to cease granting waivers to refiners causing demand destruction for both corn and ethanol.

“Corn prices right now are at breakeven or below and we’ve lost 1.5 billion gallons of ethanol to exemptions that EPA has granted to refiners,” said South Dakota Corn Growers president Troy Knecht. “That equals about 570 million bushels of corn.”

An economic analysis from the Renewable Fuels Association estimates the 2016 and 2017 RFS requirements have actually been reduced by at least 1.63 billion gallons so far and the minimum economic impact of these lost gallons is approximately $5.3 billion.

American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings says they just want Administrator Pruitt to do his job. “He needs to uphold the RFS as the law of the land and stop the secret waivers and he needs to make good on the president’s promise to allow E15 use year round,” said Jennings.

He just hopes that this is more than just a publicity stunt for Pruitt. “The last thing farmers need is for Administrator Pruitt to come out to farm country and pander to us, only to go back to Washington to continue doing favors for oil refiners,” Jennings said.

Click on the audio files below for Knecht’s remarks at the rally and interview with Jennings.

Remarks by Troy Knecht, SD Corn president

Interview with American Coalition for Ethanol CEO Brian Jennings
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Making Chemicals From Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

Ron Cascone (right) is wearing a corn hat he won in the trade show door prize drawings, pictured with (also Golden Mic Club member) Ken Skunes, who conducted the drawing.

Participants in the 2018 Corn Utilization & Technology Conference in St. Louis were largely interested in expanding the market for ethanol, and not necessarily in conventional ways.

“We’re hoping to provide alternatives to the sale of ethanol into the fuels market,” said Ron Cascone, principal with Nexant, Inc. “The theme of what I’m doing here is to show that there are options for converting ethanol to chemicals and materials that compete with the petroleum based materials.”

Cascone said his company can offer corn growers knowledge of the chemical industry and the energy industry, recognizing that corn has always been food and feed, but now has grown into an important fuel and chemical raw material resource. He said the analysis of operations and markets his company has been able to provide to the petrochemical industry can also be applied to the bio-based industry, which is largely led by ethanol production.

Cascone chaired a panel on making chemicals from ethanol during this year’s conference, discussing early chemicals made including ethylene for polyethylene, ethylene oxide, and ethylene glycol, and butadiene. Other options discussed included multiple optional routes to butadiene, acetic acid, and various esters.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Ron here: Interview with Ron Cascone, Nexant

Listen to the panel discussion here: 2018 Corn Utilization & Technology Conference - Industry Panel

2018 Corn Utilization & Technology Conference Photo Album

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RFA’s Custom Ethanol Motorcycle a Hit at #FEW18

Cindy Zimmerman

The slick, custom-made motorcycle that runs on 85% ethanol was a big hit at the Fuel Ethanol Workshop Tuesday and so was its creator Paul Teutul Jr., who spent two hours at the Renewable Fuels Association trade show booth taking photos with FEW attendees.

Teutul is the owner and master-designer of Paul Jr. Designs and one of the stars of Discovery’s American Chopper, which revealed the new bike during Monday night’s episode. In the process of designing the motorcycle for RFA, he became an ethanol advocate. “There seems to be a misnomer about ethanol and motorcycles. It is almost like people that ride motorcycles think ethanol messes up their bikes, and the research that I have done tells me that is just not true,” Teutul Jr. said.

The partnership with Teutul evolved from the RFA’s new Fuel Your Knowledge campaign aimed at educating bikers, boaters, and other small engine users about ethanol. RFA wants bikers to know that only ethanol blends up to E10 are approved by every motorcycle manufacturer, and the custom motorcycle simply demonstrates the functionality and compatibility of ethanol.

Chuck Zimmerman caught up with Paul Jr. at the RFA booth yesterday to learn all about the making of the ethanol bike and what he learned in the process. Interview with Paul Teutul Jr. at FEW18

2018 Fuel Ethanol Workshop Photos

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Coverage of the Fuel Ethanol Conference is sponsored by Syngenta Enogen

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Pruitt Visits with Kansas Corn and Ethanol Producers

Cindy Zimmerman

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt got an earful from Kansas corn and ethanol producers during a visit yesterday to East Kansas Agri-Energy (EKAE) in Garnett.

After touring the plant Tuesday morning, Pruitt sat down with a roomful of farmers and ethanol supporters who told him they were “mad as hell” about EPA efforts they believe undermine the RFS law. The EPA administrator told the standing-room-only crowd that as regulators, EPA is not supposed to pick winners and losers. (Click for release from KS Corn)

According to a press release from EKAE, Pruitt defending his granting of “small refinery exemptions” but did says that EPA could reallocate the RINs lost from those waivers. He also said EPA is working hard behind the scenes to perform the legal work necessary to hopefully move ahead with a nationwide RVP waiver to allow year-round sales of E15.

Pruitt said he had “a candid and productive dialogue with Kansas corn and grain sorghum farmers on the Renewable Fuel Standard.”

After visiting EKAE, Pruitt toured a farm and formally announced that EPA has approved the registration submitted by Butamax Advanced Biofuels, LLC — a manufacturer of bio-isobutanol, as an approved fuel additive.

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Driving Ethanol Podcast from FEW18

Cindy Zimmerman

The past two years have been among the most challenging for the ethanol industry, and Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor has been at the front lines of the battles which are continuing stronger than ever.

In this edition of the Driving Ethanol podcast, Skor reflects on her two years at the helm of the industry organization and talks about what is going on today, particularly as it relates to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and his granting of waivers to refineries. She outlines five major answers that Pruitt should provide to the industry during his travels this week meeting with farmers and ethanol producers in Kansas, South Dakota, and Nebraska.

Growth Energy Driving Ethanol Podcast 6-13-18

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Ethanol Industry Awards Presented

Cindy Zimmerman

Ethanol industry excellence was honored at the 2018 Fuel Ethanol Workshop during Tuesday’s general session.

Kristy Moore of KMoore Consulting received this year’s High Octane Award, which recognizes a person whose commitment and passion have benefited the ethanol industry. Moore was honored for her more than two decades of service in the industry, which includes working for Archer Daniels Midland and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA). “I am humbled to join the ranks of Tom Buis and Geoff Cooper by receiving this award,” she said.

Dr. Graeme Walker received the Award of Excellence in recognition of his more than 40 years of work in the areas of yeast and fermentation. The Scotsman dressed in traditional kilt was also celebrating his birthday as he received the award. “You might be asking yourself why is a Scotsman up here accepting this award? In fact, Scotland doesn’t have a particularly active ethanol industry but we have been making ethanol for over 500 years,” Graeme said. “The problem is we bottle it!”

In addition to these long time industry awards, some new awards were instituted this year at the workshop.

Pacific Ethanol, Chippewa Valley Ethanol Co. (CVEC), Homeland Energy Solutions, and Al-Corn Clean Fuel were recognized for excellence with the first Ethanol Producer Awards from Ethanol Producer Magazine and BBI International.

Pacific Ethanol Magic Valley Inc., in Burley, Idaho received the new “Good Neighbor Award” for its active participation in community service programs.

“Board of the Year” went to CVEC, which produces beverage and industrial alcohol as well as ethanol and has also invested in Guardian Energy, which owns ethanol plants across the country.

Homeland Energy Solutions of Lawler, Iowa, won “Project of the Year” for its $42.7 million, 35 million gallon per year expansion completed last November.

Al-Corn Clean Fuel in Claremont, Minn., won “Collaboration of the Year,” for its work with engineering firm Karges-Faulconbridge Inc., on its 70-million gallon expansion of its ethanol plant.

Listen to the opening of the FEW general session and awards presented. FEW18 Opening session and awards
2018 Fuel Ethanol Workshop Photos

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Plenty for Ethanol Industry Panel to Discuss

Cindy Zimmerman

A panel discussion on “Surveying the Health of Renewable Fuels Policy under the Trump Administration” gave participants plenty to talk about during the opening session of the Fuel Ethanol Workshop on Tuesday in Omaha.

The panel included Geoff Cooper, executive vice president of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA); American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings; and John Fuher, vice president of government affairs for Growth Energy.

As EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt was at the same time visiting the East Kansas Agri-Energy ethanol plant, he was brought up numerous times during the panel regarding the agency granting of small refinery exemptions under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). “Frankly, he needs to get his ass chewed by ethanol advocates and farmers,” Jennings said of Pruitt.

Listen to the discussion here. FEW18 Industry Panel

2018 Fuel Ethanol Workshop Photos

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Coverage of the Fuel Ethanol Conference is sponsored by Syngenta Enogen

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