Grassley Talks Tough on EPA Refinery Waivers

Cindy Zimmerman

Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa wants EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to stop issuing “small refinery hardship exemptions” or step down from the job.

“I’ve supported Pruitt but if he pushes changes to RFS that permanently cut ethanol by billions of gallons he will have broken Trump promise & he should step down & let someone else do the job of implementing Trump agenda,” Grassley tweeted, after telling reporters on his weekly ag call, “I’m done playing around with this.”

Grassley was one of the four senators who met with President Trump last week to try and finally resolve differences over the RFS between corn ethanol and oil interests. In the call with reporters, EPA should make sure blend levels match statutory level of 15 billion gallons set by Congress or it will undo the benefits of allowing year-round E15. Grassley also said the EPA is “going to try” to make the summer vapor pressure waiver applicable this year.

Audio: Sen. Grassley ag call comments on RFS waivers

EPA Administrator Pruitt will appear before the Senate Appropriations Committee this morning 9:30 am Eastern to discuss the agency’s 2019 budget request.

Audio, biofuels, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Educational Opportunities for Ethanol Plant Employees

Carrie Muehling

Ethanol plant employees will have the opportunity to further their education this summer with two courses from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension Partnership.

The Process Control Essential Short Course is a two-day offering held June 25-26 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln intended for plant operators, maintenance personnel and engineers of any experience level. The Process Safety Boot Camp is a three-day course offered August 7-9 at Novozymes Inc. in Blair, Nebraska. With a focus on OSHA PSM regulations and EPA Prevention Program requirements, it is for new and experienced front-line engineers responsible for design, maintenance, manufacturing or supervision as managers and engineers involved in regulatory compliance.

Some tuition reimbursements are available. For more information on either course, contact Matthew Jorgensen at 308-293-5884 or mjorgensen@unl.edu. Information and registration for the Process Control Essentials Short Course can be found at http://nemep.unl.edu/pce-2018, and for the Process Safety Boot Camp at http://nemep.unl.edu/psbc-2018.

Education, Ethanol

Volvo Ocean Race Stays Sustainable Course with Biodiesel

Cindy Zimmerman

Sustainable, local biodiesel is fueling the festivities as the Volvo Ocean Race ports in Rhode Island for its only North American stopover through May 20. A blend of 20 percent biodiesel (B20) is being used in vessels, generators and diesel-powered land vehicles throughout the 13-day event.

The biodiesel for the event is supplied by Newport Biodiesel, a local biodiesel producer, and delivered by T.H. Malloy, a local oil heat dealer. Newport Biodiesel has used recycled cooking grease from restaurant “galleys” throughout New England to produce biodiesel for more than a decade. The partnership with the Volvo Ocean Race has shown great results in the previous stopover, making the event one of the most sustainable in the world.

“During the 2015 stopover, we saved more than 12,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere and we hope to reach a similar or greater amount this year,” said Dr. Robert Morton, Chairman of the Board for Newport Biodiesel. “Biodiesel is an excellent, low carbon alternative to petroleum diesel and a great fit for environmentally-conscience boaters.”

National Biodiesel Board NBB CEO Donnell Rehagen says marine vessels is a growing market for biodiesel. “Biodiesel not only provides similar performance characteristics to diesel but also reduces engine wear and is non-toxic, low carbon and biodegradable, making it less polluting to the ocean and the air. The sponsorship helps showcase biodiesel to the global nautical community.”

Compatible with all diesel engines without modification, biodiesel blends can be used in many types of marine vessels, including inland and ocean-going commercial ships, research vessels, the U.S. Coast Guard Fleet and recreational vessels.

Biodiesel

GROWMARK Talks Farm Bill Priorities

The House version of the farm bill is expected to come to the floor this week, and GROWMARK is among those weighing in with policymakers about priorities for the legislation. The cooperative is particularly looking for support of the Conservation Title, among others.

“Important to conservation is to make sure that we have program funding to put conservation practices on the land. As an ag retailer, we’re very interested in working hand in glove with farmer as a partner in the watershed,” said Chuck Spencer, GROWMARK’s executive director for government relations, during an interview last week.

Spencer explained that GROWMARK would like to work in partnership with the USDA NRCS as a technical service provider to help farmers develop nutrient management plans, noting language for that already exists in the current House version. Spencer also named the Commodity Title as a priority, along with crop insurance and infrastructure policies.

In this interview, Spencer also discusses how sustainability in agriculture has become an important issue when talking with lawmakers on both the state and federal levels: Interview with Chuck Spencer, GROWMARK

AgWired Animal, AgWired Energy, AgWired Precision, farm bill, GROWMARK, Sustainability

Renewable Energy Group Expands Ralston Plant

Carrie Muehling

Biodiesel producer Renewable Energy Group (REG) has more than doubled the plant capacity at its Ralston, Iowa, facility.

“We congratulate REG on this expansion of its flagship biodiesel plant in Ralston,” said Grant Kimberley, executive director of the Iowa Biodiesel Board. “We are fortunate that REG has its headquarters here in Iowa, and continues to invest heavily in biodiesel infrastructure, benefiting the state’s economy. This $32 million dollar expansion will be a boon to the Ralston community and beyond.”

The Ralston plant was one of the first in the nation, originally constructed in 2002. Its capacity is now 30 million gallons annually.

Biodiesel, REG

New ND Petro Serve Offers Higher Ethanol Blends

Cindy Zimmerman

The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) joined Petro Serve USA to celebrate the grand opening of its new facility in Valley City, North Dakota on Friday and congratulate them for providing higher ethanol blends to more consumers.

“Petro Serve has been offering ethanol blends to their customers for a long time now, and they keep adding more stations like this one because it works — they’ve found success providing drivers with access to low cost, high octane ethanol fuel blends,” said (ACE) Senior Vice President Ron Lamberty, who spoke at the grand opening.

Petro Serve’s new facility offers E15, E30 and E85 at 16 fueling points and is Petro Serve’s 20th station to offer E15 in North Dakota, its second location in Valley City.

“We like to give our customers the ability to make their own choice at the gas pump,” Petro Serve CEO Kent Satrang said. “When competitors do not offer fuel choice, customers buy their ethanol from us to save money.”

Among the dignitaries helping Petro Serve celebrate the new facility were former Governor Jack Dalrymple; City Mayor Dave Carlsrud; National Corn Growers Association president Kevin Skunes; North Dakota Ethanol Council chairman Jeff Zueger; and Dale Ihry of the North Dakota Corn Utilization Council.

ACE, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Retailers

HERO BX Opens Research Lab

Cindy Zimmerman

Lake Erie Biofuels dba HERO BX recently cut the ribbon at their new research and development laboratory at Knowledge Park on the campus of Penn State Behrend.

“This marks the culmination of an idea that began years ago,” said HERO BX Founder & CEO Samuel P. “Pat” Black, III, “where the work inside these four walls will serve as a catalyst for change.”

The HERO BX laboratory is intended to advance the company’s efforts to diversify and develop biodiesel products for new markets while utilizing the skills of Penn State Behrend students for research. “The HERO BX lab will create new opportunities for Penn State Behrend students to collaborate with an industrial research partner – in this case, developing cleaner, domestically-produced, renewable fuel sources,” added Penn State Chancellor Ralph Ford.

One of the first initiatives is to realize a way to reduce the sulfur content of raw materials, or feedstocks, used in biodiesel production to diminish the fuel’s pollutants even further. Subsequent studies will focus on increasing the efficiency of biodiesel in cold temperature applications such as the airline industry.

Biodiesel, Research

USDA Predicts Higher Corn for Ethanol Use

Cindy Zimmerman

USDA released its May World Agricultural Supply Demand Estimates (WASDE) report last week with an initial assessment of U.S. and world crop supply and demand prospects and U.S. prices for 2018/19. For corn, the report projects lower production with both lower acreage and yields forecast as compared with the previous year.

The corn crop is projected at 14 billion bushels, with a yield projection of 174 bushels per acre. Total corn use is projected to decline slightly in 2018/19, with lower projected domestic use and exports. Growth in the projected demand for corn for use in ethanol and non-ethanol food, seed and industrial uses partly offset declines in the aforementioned areas. Corn used to produce ethanol is up 50 million bushels mostly reflecting expectations of gasoline consumption growth.

The report pegs ending corn stocks at lower levels for 2018/19 with 1.68 billion bushels, down 500 million bushels. The 2018/19 season-average corn price received by farmers is projected to be between $3.30 to $4.30 per bushel with the mid-range projected 40 cents higher than the previous year.

corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News, USDA

CUTC Extends Poster Submission Deadline

chuck zimmerman

The Corn Utilization & Technology Conference (CUTC) just announced that the deadline for posters to be submitted has been extended to Friday, May 18, 2018. There are a number of categories that you can submit a poster to including:

The professional category for both general and mycotoxin posters
General session student posters
Mycotoxin student posters

The Poster session is a great way to showcase your research to your peers and industry stakeholders.

For students who are interested, there is a contest with cash awards in both the general and mycotoxin poster sessions. Judging criteria and submission guidelines can be found here: http://www.corntechconf.org/guidelines.htmlJudging Criteria.

The CUTC runs June 4-6, 2018, at the Sheraton Westport Chalet Hotel, St. Louis, MO. Poster presenters must be registered as conference attendees.

I will be there once again and just in case you don’t know, the conference hashtag is #corntech18. You can register here.

AgWired Animal, AgWired Energy, AgWired Precision, corn, CUTC, NCGA, technology

RINs for Exports Would Mean More Demand Destruction

Cindy Zimmerman

A proposal to allow exported renewable fuel volumes to count toward RFS compliance would lead to further demand destruction for U.S. ethanol producers and corn growers, according to Renewable Fuels Association Executive Vice President Geoff Cooper, who explains why in a blog post this week.

In addition, Cooper says allowing exports to qualify for the RFS would likely offset any benefit that would come from an RVP waiver allowing year-round sales of E15.

Cooper gives a detailed example using 2017 data that 14.86 billion conventional ethanol (D6) RINs were generated, 492 million gallons (mg) of denatured fuel ethanol were exported, and U.S. ethanol consumption totaled 14.395 bg. The difference between the 15-bg RFS requirement and actual ethanol consumption creates a “gap” of roughly 600 mg, on which the price for RINs.

If denatured ethanol exports were allowed to count toward RFS compliance, the RFS “gap” in this example would have been erased entirely in 2017, as all 15.1 billion D6 RINs (14.86 billion RINs from conventional ethanol and 245 million from renewable diesel) would have remained available for compliance. RIN prices would have plummeted in this case, likely to 10 cents or less.

The entire analysis is very detailed and should be required reading for anyone in the industry to explain why the RFS regulations were correctly written in a way that disallows exports from counting toward RFS compliance – and why it should stay that way.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Exports, RFA, RFS, RINS