2017 in Pictures

2017 in Pictures

January 3, 2018

2017 is just a memory now, so we compiled some of our favorite photos from the 50 events we attended this year so you can relive it!

This album includes some of our favorite shots of the year, our favorite people, and some of the many inductees into the Golden Mic Club. There’s only 200 out of more than 10,500 put into over 60 Flickr photo albums this year, so it is only a small sample, but it took hours to go through them all!

To watch as a slide show, just click the button in the upper right above the title photo that with an arrow in it. Enjoy!

ZimmComm 2017 Year in Pictures

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RFA Hires VP for External Affairs

Cindy Zimmerman January 3, 2018

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) started the new year off this week with Jessica Bennett as vice president of external affairs to primarily focus on building stakeholder support through policy and messaging.

Bennett was most recently director of renewable fuels for the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), where she also previously served as director of public policy handling ethanol issues. Prior to her time at NCGA, she worked at Bunge North America as director of government relations and was responsible for representing the company’s interests on issues related to agriculture at the federal level. She has previously worked as the federal affairs representative for various trade associations representing agriculture and small businesses over the past several years, and served as a staff person in the offices of two members of Congress from Arkansas.

In addition to helping on policy and messaging, Bennett will provide strategic counsel on RFA’s internal and external communications, build stronger relationships with industry stakeholders and partners, and assist with legislative and regulatory efforts as needed.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

Iowa Breaks Ethanol Production Record

Cindy Zimmerman January 2, 2018

Iowa ethanol producers topped last year’s record, producing 4.2 billion gallons in 2017.

“Iowa continues to lead the country and the world in ethanol production and efficiency,” said Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) Executive Director Monte Shaw. “Several plant expansions just finished or will finish during the 1st quarter of 2018, so production could jump again next year. That makes expanding export markets abroad and breaking down unnecessary barriers to E15 here at home top priorities.”

Iowa has 43 ethanol plants and 2017 saw several plant expansions, as well as increased demand for exports and more stations selling higher blends like E15.

Shaw says their top state policy priority for 2018 is securing funding for the Iowa Renewable Fuels Infrastructure Program (RFIP) to ensure more retailers have the equipment necessary to offer higher blends of ethanol now and in the future. On the federal level, they will be continuing to work toward getting the same regulatory treatment for E15 so it can be sold year round in all markets.

Ethanol, Ethanol News

Ethanol Report on 2017

Cindy Zimmerman December 27, 2017

All in all, 2017 was a pretty good year for the ethanol industry with a new advocate in the White House and record production.

Among the highlights of the year, increased exports despite Brazil taking a protectionist stance against ethanol imports, EPA releasing new RVO numbers on time, and ethanol champions rally to protect the RFS and win.

In this edition of The Ethanol Report podcast, Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen talks about all that and more.

Listen to it here: Ethanol Report 12-27-17

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Ethanol, Ethanol News, Ethanol Report, RFA

Iowa Biofuels Plants Help Fuel Monarch Butterflies

Cindy Zimmerman December 27, 2017

Monte Shaw, Kevin Reynolds, and Eric Hakmiller at Lincolnway Energy’s Monarch Fueling Station

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) has launched the Monarch Fueling Station Project to help ethanol and biodiesel producers across the state establish monarch butterfly habitats on green spaces surrounding their plants.

“Because of their migratory patterns, monarchs need small patches of habitat throughout the state,” said IRFA Executive Director Monte Shaw. “Iowa’s ethanol and biodiesel plants are scattered across Iowa and also tend to have a lot of green space on their properties – making them excellent partners for this effort.”

Kevin Reynolds, who has over 30 years of experience in environmental conservation, will serve as the project’s Habitat Establishment Coordinator and assist biofuels producers in the best practices to convert grassy areas into monarch fueling stations that contain vital milkweed plants and other wildflowers that support the monarch population.

Lincolnway Energy in Nevada is the first IRFA member to establish a monarch fueling station. In recent weeks, the first steps were taken on a two-acre plot to prepare the fueling station for seeding in the spring. “It’s exciting to be the first ethanol plant in Iowa to launch a project like this,” said Eric Hakmiller, CEO of Lincolnway Energy. “Pollinators like the monarch butterfly are an important part of Iowa’s agriculture landscape. Anything we can do to protect their population is worth our time and effort.”

As part of the project, IRFA has joined the Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium, an organization that is implementing a statewide strategy to protect the monarch butterfly in Iowa.

Biodiesel, Environment, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Iowa RFA

ZimmComm Wishes You All A Merry Christmas

December 25, 2017

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EPA Proposes Grain Sorghum Oil for Biofuels

Cindy Zimmerman December 22, 2017

EPA has opened up the opportunity for grain sorghum oil to be used for making advanced biofuels and biomass-based diesel under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program.

EPA has released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with biofuels that are produced from grain sorghum oil extracted at dry-mill ethanol plants and found no significant upstream agricultural GHG emissions. As such, biodiesel produced from distillers sorghum would meet the life-cycle GHG emissions reduction threshold required under the RFS.

Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor says this will allow ethanol producers who use grain sorghum as a feedstock to have an additional market for one of their key co-products. “We look forward to filing comments and working with the EPA to finalize this important rule.

The comment period will begin once the rule is published in the Federal Register.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Growth Energy, sorghum

Ethanol Report on RFS2 10th Anniversary

Cindy Zimmerman December 21, 2017

Ten years ago this month, just days before Christmas, President George W. Bush signed into law the Energy Independence and Security Act which greatly expanded the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to include up to 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022.

The expansion became known as RFS2, like the sequel to a big movie that had just been released two years before. But unlike most movie sequels, the RFS2 has proven to be even better than the original and a success by any measure, according to a new analysis by the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), “The RFS2: Then and Now.”

In this edition of The Ethanol Report podcast, we flashback to the promises of President Bush at the signing, and RFA CEO Bob Dinneen talks about how the 2007 Christmas gift has kept on giving for a decade.

Listen to it here: Ethanol Report 12-21-17

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Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Ethanol Report, RFA, RFS

Green Plains to Expand Use of Enogen® Corn

Cindy Zimmerman December 21, 2017

Syngenta and Green Plains Inc. have announced a partnership to expand the use of Enogen® corn enzyme technology across the company’s entire 1.5 billion gallon production platform.

“We have been using Enogen corn at a number of our locations for the past several years and have noted significant benefits, including enhanced yield and reduced energy costs,” said Green Plains President and CEO Todd Becker. “Combining our focus to buy more corn directly from farmers and purchasing alpha amylase locally, in the form of high-quality grain for all of our plants, we believe Enogen will create value for our shareholders, growers and the communities where we do business.”

Green Plains is one of the largest owners of ethanol production assets in the world, purchasing more than 500 million bushels of corn each year. Using Enogen corn as a portion of the feedstock enables alpha amylase to be delivered directly in the grain, eliminating the need to add a liquid form of the enzyme and significantly reducing the viscosity of the corn mash.

“Enogen is rapidly gaining popularity because of the value it delivers to ethanol producers and the opportunity it provides corn growers to be enzyme suppliers for their local ethanol plants,” said Jeff Oestmann, head, Bio-fuels Operations – Enogen at Syngenta. “Enogen corn enzyme technology creates increased profit potential for ethanol producers and corn growers while adding significant incremental value at the local level for communities that rely on their ethanol plant’s success.”

Enogen corn enzyme technology is an in-seed innovation available exclusively from Syngenta and features the first biotech corn output trait designed specifically to enhance ethanol production.