ACE Conference 2026

Export Exchange Furthers USGC Mission

Cindy Zimmerman

The chairman of the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) is optimistic about the growth of export markets for grains and ethanol co-products such as distllers grains (DDGS).

“In the 2017-18 marketing year, the U.S. set a new record for exports of feed grains and co-products for the second year in a row,” said USGC chair Jim Stitzlein, manager of market development for Consolidated Grain and Barge Co, in his welcome address to Export Exchange 2018 in Minneapolis Tuesday.

Stitzlein says the biennial Export Exchange is an excellent opportunity for U.S. grain suppliers to meet with interested buyers and do real business, which furthers the mission of USGC to develop new markets for agricultural products.

Listen to Stitzlein’s welcome and an interview with him from Export Exchange:

Export Exchange 18 welcome from USGC chair Jim Stitzlein

ExEx18 interview with USGC chair Jim Stitzlein, Consolidated Grain and Barge

Export Exchange 2018 Photo Album

Audio, corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Export Exchange, Exports, Grains, RFA, USGC

National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center Celebrates 15 Years

Cindy Zimmerman

NCERC at SIUE receives ethanol industry Award of Excellence in 2015

The National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center (NCERC) at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville (SIUE) is celebrating 15 years of biofuels research this month.

The Illinois Corn Growers Association was instrumental in fostering development of the Center in 2003 and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) has worked closely with NCERC since its inception and continues partnering on various projects.

NCERC Executive Director John Caupert says they are committed to assisting in finding new homes, for new bushels of corn, with new market opportunities. “NCERC was an early leader in transforming corn into dozens of renewable compounds, including biofuels, biochemicals, biomaterials and bioproducts,” said Caupert. “The NCERC has directly contributed to the growth of the ethanol industry, helping grow ethanol production in the United States from 2.8 billion gallons annually to the nearly 16 billion gallons of production today,”

Caupert adds that NCERC has assisted in advancements in fuel ethanol production, moving more than 65 products and technologies into the commercial marketplace that are now being utilized in every commercial corn ethanol plant operating today. The center received the ethanol industry Award of Excellence at the 2015 Fuel Ethanol Workshop.

corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News, NCGA

Export Exchange 2018 is Underway

Cindy Zimmerman

More than 200 international buyers and end-users of coarse grains and co-products from some 35 countries are in Minneapolis this week for Export Exchange 2018.

The biennial educational and trade forum, co-sponsored by the U.S. Grains Council, Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), and Growth Energy, offers attendees an unparalleled opportunity to meet and build relationships with domestic suppliers of corn, distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), sorghum, barley and other commodities.

In addition to networking opportunities, USGC CEO Tom Sleight says Exchange attendees will be briefed on the global supply and demand situation, food safety regulations, agribusiness, the current U.S. policy environment and more. “We’re in a really strong, competitive situation right now for feed grains and that’s really fueling us,” said Sleight.

This is the fifth Export Exchange conference since 2010 and RFA chief economist Scott Richman says it is a very important event for increasing exports of the ethanol co-product DDGS. “These are a lot of our customers in some of the key destinations for exports of distillers grains for the U.S. ethanol industry,” said Richman.

Listen to or download interviews with both Sleight and Richman below:

Export Exchange 18 interview with Tom Sleight, USGC

Export Exchange 18 interview with Scott Richman, RFA

Export Exchange 2018 Photo Album

Audio, Distillers Grains, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Export Exchange, Exports, Growth Energy, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA, USGC

Targray Opens Fargo Biodiesel Terminal

Cindy Zimmerman

Targray has opened its Fargo Biodiesel Terminal, a 24/7 fuel distribution center serving wholesale fuel buyers throughout the Fargo-Moorhead metro area.

“The Fargo terminal is an important addition to our national biodiesel distribution network.” explained Targray Biofuels Trader, Samy Cozma. “It provides a reliable local biodiesel solution for businesses operating in Fargo-Moorhead, one of the country’s fastest-growing metropolitan areas.” Cozma added that the new terminal would also help address the increased demand for bio-based diesel in Northwest Minnesota, stemming from the state’s recently amended biodiesel mandate.

On May 1st, 2018, Minnesota began requiring that all diesel fuel sold in the state contain at least twenty percent Biodiesel (B20). The minimum content for the remainder of the year is five percent (B5). The state’s move to increase the use of biodiesel, a cleaner-burning alternative to petroleum-based diesel, has received strong support from local clean air advocates, including the American Lung Association’s Upper Midwest Chapter.

Biodiesel

Cumberland Farms Joins Prime the Pump to Offer E15

Cindy Zimmerman

Growth Energy and Prime the Pump have announced Cumberland Farms is the newest E15 retail partner to join the Prime the Pump program. The Massachusetts-based convenience store chain will begin offering E15 at more than 120 of its stores in the Northeast United States. The sites are spread across Reformulated Gasoline (RFG) markets, which will allow Cumberland Farms to sell E15 year-round.

“At Cumberland Farms we strive to be the clear choice for our customers’ everyday needs and that means being on the frontlines of innovation,” said Cumberland Farms David Masuret, Senior Vice President Petroleum Supply and Operations. “As E15’s growth continued to accelerate it became an obvious choice for us to make it available to our customers. We’re proud to partner with Prime the Pump to expand our fuel offering and give our customers more choice – whether in-store or at the pump.”

“We are ecstatic to be expanding our E15 family with Cumberland Farms,” said Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor. “Cumberland Farms will spread E15 access to new territory and will be giving more American drivers a cleaner-burning, engine-smart choice at the pump which will be available uninterrupted year-round.”

Cumberland Farms joins the ranks of Casey’s, Kwik Trip, Sheetz, Kum & Go, Minnoco, RaceTrac, Thorntons, Protec Fuel, QuikTrip, Family Express, Holiday, Murphy USA, Rutter’s, and Cenex in offering E15 – a fuel made with 15 percent ethanol and approved for cars 2001 and newer – to their customers. American drivers have responded to the growing availability of E15 and have already logged more than 5 billion miles on the fuel.ether in-store or at the pump.”

E15, Ethanol, Growth Energy, Retailers

Ace Ethanol Begins D3MAX Plant Construction

Cindy Zimmerman

Construction of the first D3MAX facility at the Ace Ethanol facility in Stanley, Wisconsin has started, the companies announced this week. Ace Ethanol will be the first ethanol plant to integrate the patented D3MAX technology with its existing corn dry mill.

Earlier this year, Ace Ethanol received approval from its board of directors and members to proceed with the design and construction of the corn kernel fiber-to-ethanol plant and now they have started construction of the D3MAX facility.

“The team at D3MAX along with the Ace Ethanol team, is extremely excited to start building the first commercial-scale facility,” says, Mark Yancey, chief technology officer at D3MAX. The integrated facility will also employ membrane-based ethanol recovery technology supplied by Whitefox Technologies, resulting in significant energy savings for the integrated facility. Fagen Inc. is the contractor who was selected to build the new D3MAX facility.

According to Yancey, the D3MAX process is the only corn kernel fiber-to-ethanol process that will not require an independent engineer to validate the cellulosic ethanol production every 500,000 gallons of cellulosic ethanol produced. With the D3MAX process, cellulosic ethanol gallons can be measured directly avoiding the cost of re-certification required by EPA for co-processing and in-situ corn kernel fiber processes. Currently, all other corn kernel fiber technologies require costly re-certification every 500,000 gallons.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, technology

RFA Welcomes New Director of Government Affairs

Cindy Zimmerman

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) officially welcomed Connor Hamburg to its staff this week as the Director of Government Affairs to focus on legislative and regulatory issues impacting the renewable fuel industry and rural America.

“I am excited to join the RFA and look forward to advocating on behalf of the ethanol industry,” said Hamburg. “Ethanol producers—and the farmers who supply them—face many important policy and regulatory challenges today, and I am eager to work with Congress, the Administration, and other stakeholders to expand the role of domestically produced renewable fuels in our nation’s energy future.”

Hamburg comes to RFA from the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) where he was Manager of Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs. He got his start in the capitol as an intern for former Vice President Joe Biden and has previously worked for members of Congress from New York, Delaware and Illinois. Hamburg is originally from Smyrna, Del., where members of his family have been growing corn, soybeans, and wheat for generations.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

NBB Urges EPA to End Demand Destruction for Biodiesel

Cindy Zimmerman

The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to “fully account for small refinery exemptions in the annual Renewable Fuel Standard rules and end the demand destruction for biodiesel.”

In a letter sent to EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler, NBB requests that EPA set the RFS biomass-based diesel volumes for 2020 at 2.8 billion gallons, consistent with the industry’s demonstrated ability to produce fuel.

“EPA must end the demand destruction for biodiesel – not as part of a deal to change the RFS rules; rather, as an integral part of the agency’s duty to ensure that the RFS volumes it sets are met,” NBB Vice President of Federal Affairs Kurt Kovarik writes.

Kovarik says the EPA RFS Small Refinery Exemptions dashboard shows that between 2015 and 2017, demand destruction for biomass-based diesel totals more than 300 million gallons. “Independent analysis further substantiates the demand destruction for biodiesel and renewable diesel,” he adds.

Biodiesel, EPA, NBB, RFS

The Truth About E15 and Smog

Cindy Zimmerman

The Trump Administration announcement last week that it will begin rulemaking to allow sales of 15% ethanol year-round generated quite a bit of mainstream media attention. Unfortunately, much of it suggested that the current restriction on summertime E15 sales stems from concerns that the fuel blend could result in “more pollution” and emissions that worsen smog.

“In reality, E15 is less volatile than today’s standard E10 gasoline and research has shown that E15 can reduce emissions that contribute to smog formation,” wrote Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Geoff Cooper in a blog post to set the record straight.

As the ethanol content in gasoline increases, major exhaust pollutants that contribute to ozone formation generally decrease. A 2018 scientific literature review found all studies show slight benefits or no difference when comparing E15 and E10 tailpipe and permeation emissions. The review concluded that “…organics emitted from the tailpipe will have a lower ozone forming potential with E15 in comparison to E10 for both California-specific fuels and other test fuels in the US and China.”

“The real reason retailers in conventional gasoline areas have been unable to sell E15 in the summertime is quite simple: bureaucratic red tape and outdated regulations,” said Cooper. “EPA developed regulations governing the volatility limits for E10 gasoline nearly 30 years ago. At that time, the Agency did not contemplate that blends containing more than 10% ethanol may one day be prevalent in the marketplace; thus, EPA did not include the same volatility limits for E15 or other higher blends that it provided for E10.”

Read the entire post here.

E15, Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

Manito Transit acquires Baucom Truck Service

Manito Transit is continuing its expansion effort with the acquisition of Baucom Truck Service, a trucking company based in Camp Point, Illinois.

General Manager Jim Bobitt says the acquisition will improve capacity in southern Illinois and southeastern Missouri. “We’re here to support our FS member network and service is definitely a priority,” said Bobitt. “We’re not trying to grow for the sake of growth. We’re growing where it does support our members.”

Baucom has 27 drivers (a combination of company drivers and owner/operators) that haul propane and anhydrous ammonia, adding to the current Manito Transit fleet of nearly 150 trucks serving customers in 13 states. The company distributes fuel oil, bio diesel, soybean oil, ethanol, chemicals, lubricants, grain and fertilizer for farm, commercial, and industrial use.

Learn more in this interview with Bobitt. Interview with Jim Bobitt, Manito Transit

AgWired Energy, Audio, FS System, GROWMARK, transportation, Trucks