NBB: Strengthen #Biodiesel, Advanced Biofuel Volumes

Joanna Schroeder July 12, 2016

As the comment period came to a close on the proposed rules for the 2018 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) called for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to strengthen biodiesel and advanced biofuel volumes. The organization says EPA is significantly underestimating biodiesel’s capacity to deliver more advanced biofuel over the coming years.

“We believe the evidence clearly shows that growing biodiesel and renewable diesel volumes will help achieve this Administration’s goals for strengthening the economy, reducing carbon emissions and other costly pollution, and diversifying and strengthening fuel markets that are now dangerously dependent on petroleum,” NBB wrote to the EPA in a letter accompanying the official comments filed. “The RFS and specifically the Biomass-based Diesel program do this in a cost-effective way that benefits consumers through lower costs at the diesel pump.”

“We can build on this success over the next decade,” the comments continue. “Unfortunately, this proposal, which calls for a Biomass-based Diesel volume of 2.1 billion gallons in 2018 and 4 billion gallons of overall Advanced Biofuels next year, fails to do so by severely underestimating the capacity for growth in the biodiesel and renewable diesel sector.”

Biodiesel has made up the vast majority of Advanced Biofuel production under the RFS to date. According to the EPA, it reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 57 percent to 86 percent compared with petroleum diesel. Biodiesel and renewable diesel – a similar diesel alternative – fall under the Biomass-based Diesel category of the RFS, which is an Advanced Biofuel category intended to ensure that the policy also addresses the diesel fuel market, not just gasoline. Under the law, Advanced Biofuels must reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent compared to petroleum fuels.

The EPA proposal would establish a 2.1-billion-gallon Biomass-based Diesel requirement in 2018, up only slightly from 2 billion gallons for 2017. Citing unused capacity and data showing that Biomass-based Diesel consumption this year will significantly exceed 2.1 billion gallons, NBB is calling for at least 2.5 billion gallons for 2018.

The higher biodiesel volumes would also allow the EPA to establish higher overall Advanced Biofuels, which includes not just biodiesel and renewable diesel but other fuels such as cellulosic ethanol. NBB is calling for an Advanced Biofuel volume of 4.75 billion gallons instead the proposed 4 billion gallons.

advanced biofuels, Biodiesel, EPA, NBB, RFS

RFA, Pinnacle Hosting Webinars on Hazardous Chemicals

Joanna Schroeder July 12, 2016

Pinnacle Engineering has teamed up with the Renewable Fuels Foundation to host a six-part webinar series for the ethanol industry focused on how to comply with regulations designed to prevent or minimize the consequences of a release of hazardous chemicals. The regulations, from Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), require a comprehensive management program integrating technologies, procedures and management practices. The first webinar kicks off on Tuesday, July 19, 2016 from 11:00 am to noon CT.

The goal of the webinars are to educate industry stakeholders and provide information on how to demonstrate compliance and avoid common deficiencies, costly regulatory action and overly burdensome paperwork.

“These webinars will be helpful in further educating stakeholders on how to navigate these often complex regulations,” said Steve Schleicher, vice president of industrial services at Pinnacle Engineering. “Each session will provide general and technical information on the development of a compliant PSM/RMP program. While the PSM/RMP programs are designed to prevent or minimize a hazardous chemical release, a properly implemented program will provide operational benefits and improve employee safety. I encourage stakeholders to register for these essential webinars, and to bring their implementation questions to the experts.”

Each webinar will take place from 11:00 am to noon CT. The dates and topics of each webinar are below:

July 19: Process Safety Management (PSM) / Risk Management Plan (RMP) Overview
Aug. 2: Process Hazard Analyses
Aug. 9: Mechanical Integrity Programs
Aug. 23: Management of Change
Sept. 6: Compliance Auditing
Sept. 20: RMP In-depth Overview

Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) Director of Regulatory Affairs Kelly Davis said of the webinar series, “RFA is pleased to announce this webinar series, which will provide ethanol producers with a clear understanding of the requirements of theses complex regulations. Working safely and preventing accidents is always job number one.”

The Renewable Fuels Foundation is RFA’s education and research arm. The webinars are FREE for RFA members, $100 per webinar for non-members or $500 for all six webinars for non-members. To register, email Missy Ruff.

Click here to see the flyer. The webinars, which will all be held from 11 a.m. – noon CT, are FREE for RFA members; the fee for non-members is $100 per session or $500 for all six webinars. To reserve your spot, please contact Missy Ruff at mruff@ethanolrfa.org or 202-446-1944.

biofuels, Education, Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA, safety

.@ACEEthanol Comments to @EPA on 2017 #RFS

Joanna Schroeder July 12, 2016

Yesterday was the deadline for comments for the proposed blending volumes for 2017 under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). One set of comments was submitted by Executive Vice President of the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) Brian Jennings.

“While we appreciate that EPA is proposing to increase ethanol blending levels from 2016, we are disappointed EPA continues to rely on a dubious interpretation of the general waiver authority which is contrary to the statute and has disrupted RFS implementation for more than a year,” wrote Jennings.

ACE’s comments cover six primary concerns and recommendations for improvement.

1. EPA continues to misread the general waiver authority of the statute which is unnecessarily preventing consumers from greater access to E15 and flex fuels, the Agency needs to follow the statute.

2. EPA needs to increase the implied conventional volume to the 15 billion gallons called for under the statute for 2017 because gasoline use is expected to reach record highs in 2016-2017 and the market can fulfill this demand (without factoring the considerable stockpile of RINs that EPA is allowing obligated parties to hoard).

3. Sales volumes from retailers and fuel marketers who are able to offer E15 and flex fuels prove the so-called E10 ‘blend wall’ is a myth, as ethanol comprises between 13 and 25 percent of total gasoline sales for many stations.

4. The commercialization of cellulosic ethanol production is undermined by the way EPA is applying the general waiver authority and cellulosic waiver credits (CWCs).

5. EPA’s unwillingness to be proactive about Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) and meaningful credits for Flexible Fuel Vehicles (FFVs) makes developing new markets for E15 and flex fuels much more challenging.

6. Transportation is now the leading emitter of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the U.S. EPA has a responsibility to update its lifecycle modeling to keep up with the latest science, which will better enable the RFS to play a role in reducing GHGs.

Jennings added, “Ultimately, it is up to EPA to get the RFS back on track by enforcing the RFS the way it has stood its ground on previous efforts to ensure clean air. In the 1970s, oil companies complained that forcing them to remove lead from gas would increase prices at the pump. In the 1990s, oil companies said new underground storage tank regulations would lead to the disappearance of gas stations. In the early 2000s, refiners said reducing the sulfur content of gasoline would destroy engines. Each time the oil sector made these doomsday predictions, EPA stood its ground. Each time EPA stood its ground, the air got a bit cleaner and none of the predicted disasters occurred. Today oil companies are claiming that if EPA enforces the RFS as Congress intended, it will lead to similarly dire consequences. Today, it is up to EPA to see through oil company attacks and to get the RFS back on track.”

ACE, advanced biofuels, E15, Ethanol, RFS

.@EthanolRFA Submits #RFS Comments to @EPA

Joanna Schroeder July 11, 2016

Today is the deadline for submission of comments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the 2017-2018 proposed renewable volume obligations (RVO) under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) urged the EPA to raise the requirement for conventional renewable fuel volumes to the statutory level of 15 billion gallons per year. Signed by RFA President and CEO Bob Dinneen, he writes in the comments, “There’s no justification for lowering the requirement, which would turn the RFS into a stagnant, backward-facing policy.”

RFA is calling for higher blend levels in part because the ethanol industry is already producing well above the 15 billion gallons per year. With record levels of E10 consumption, broader availability of E15 and E85, more than 2 billion surplus renewable identification numbers and other factors make the statutory requirement easily achievable in 2017, according to RFA.

“EPA seems to be burdened by a fundamental misunderstanding of the RFS,” Dinneen said in the comments. “By adopting the narrative of the oil industry with regard to how much ethanol can be blended into gasoline, EPA has incomprehensibly and illegally curtailed the continued evolution occurring in the transportation fuels market that is delivering technology innovation, carbon reduction and consumer savings.

“The agency continues to justify reducing required volumes of conventional renewable fuel by suggesting that certain ‘marketplace realities’ preclude refiners from meeting the higher statutory volumes,” Dinneen continued. “This narrative hinges upon a belief that refiners and gasoline marketers simply cannot supply higher volumes of ethanol to consumers because of a lack of infrastructure, consumer demand, or vehicles that could safely utilize fuels containing more than 10% ethanol.

Dinneen added, “This is a false premise, and turns the RFS from a technology- and market-driving program into a stagnant, backward-facing policy that sacrifices environmental and economic benefits by allowing the oil industry to determine how much biofuel it can use based upon their infrastructure and marketplace decisions. RFA is strongly opposed to the proposal to reduce the 2017 RVO for undifferentiated renewable fuel from the statutory levels specified by the statute. We encourage EPA to finalize a rule that demonstrates fidelity to the statute and truly reflects today’s marketplace realities: ethanol is providing the consumer savings, carbon reductions, and energy security benefits envisioned by Congress.”

Read RFA’s full comments here.

biofuels, E15, E85, EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA, RFS

Manito Transit Greens Its Transportation

Joanna Schroeder July 11, 2016

Manito Transit is now transporting goods throughout the Midwest with a greener footprint. The GROWMARK subsidiary transports fuels, fertilizers, crop protection products and more via tank trucks, and has just become a member of the EPA’s SmartWay Transport Partnership program. The SMARTWAY registrants work with the EPA and adopt tools and approaches to track and reduce emissions and fuel use.

“This partnership reinforces our commitment to sustainability, energy efficiency and environmental leadership,” said Steve Kubsch, GROWMARK director of transportation operations. “It will help us continue to seek efficient ways that enhance competitiveness and reduce cost. It will also help benefit the environment and strengthen our nation’s energy security and economy.”

Manito Transit is one of around 3,000 SmartWay Transport Partners that include shipper, logistics companies, truck rail, barge, and multimodal carriers. The company will contribute to the Partnership’s savings of 170.3 million barrels of oil, $24.9 billion in fuel costs, 72.8 MMT of carbon dioxide (CO2), 1,458,000 tons of nitrogen oxides, and 59,000 tons of particulate matter. This is equivalent to eliminating annual energy use in over six million homes. The program was launched in 2004 jointly by the EPA and Charter Partners represented by industry stakeholders, environmental groups, American Trucking Associations, and Business for Social Responsibility.

Clean Energy, energy efficiency, Environment, GROWMARK, transportation

Listeners Get #Ethanol Straight Talk on Car Talk

Joanna Schroeder July 11, 2016

This past weekend, Bobby Likis Car Clinic listeners heard straight talk on #ethanol from Brian West, deputy director of fuels, engines and emissions research center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). West was on Likis’ nationally syndicated radio talk program on Saturday, July 9, 2016. West in an expert in the automotive field and has conducted research in the areas of vehicles, advanced fuels, emissions control, materials and combustion. He is currently working on fuel economy and greenhouse gas reduction benefits of high-octane fuels like ethanol.

Likis said leading up to the program, “Sensationalism and rhetoric are out regarding ethanol. Science-based fact which has no affiliation–except with the truth–is in. So tune in, and let the data speak for itself.”

West, who is a Society of Automotive Engineers Fellow and Co-Lead of the Department of Energy’s Intermediate Ethanol Blends Program among other distinctions, added that he was happy to join Bobby on Car Clinic to talk about some of our work with ethanol blends. “Informed consumers, indeed, make better decisions,” he said.

Likis invited West on Car Clinic air to provide his audience of automotive consumers and automotive technicians with verifiable facts about the power and performance of ethanol-blended fuels. The two experts’ discussion slate included how automakers are using “downspeeding” and “downsizing” to improve fuel economy and how ethanol-blended fuels enable that scenario; the rigorous testing to which the DOE subjected E15 (15% ethanol); the dramatic octane boost that ethanol provides; and the positive environmental effects of using ethanol-blended fuels.

Energy readers – don’t fret if you missed the program! You can watch the archived show by clicking here.

automotive, biofuels, Education, Ethanol

ZimmPoll Wants Thoughts on Senate #GMO Disclosure Bill

Joanna Schroeder July 11, 2016

Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “What cookout cuisine do you bring to the table?”

We’re well into grilling season and hot off an Independence Day weekend. Burgers and pasta salad were high on the list. In the Other category we got answers like my favorite – steak!

Here are the poll results:

Pasta Salad – 25%
Cheese Burgers – 25%
Other – 18.75%
Baked Beans – 12.5%
Hot dogs – 6.25%
Pork spare ribs – 6.25%
Potato salad – 6.25%

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “What do you think about Senate’s GMO Disclosure Bill?”

The Senate has passed on a bipartisan National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard that would preempt individual state laws to require labeling of foods containing genetically engineered ingredients. Now it goes to the House. What do you think about it?

ZimmPoll

CleanTech Biofuels Advances MSW Biomass Project

Joanna Schroeder July 8, 2016

In New Jersey, CleanTech Biofuels has acquired a 99 percent membership interest in 25 Van Keuren, LLC. CleanTech Biofuels is focused on producing combined heat and power and advanced biofuels and biochemicals from municipal solid waste (MSW). The two companies, in partnership, will now move forward on the building of a transfer station and materials recovery facility that includes CleanTech Biofuels’ Biomass Recovery Process, to be located near the New Jersey Sports Exposition Authority.

Once complete, this facility will be the first for CleanTech in the U.S. For the past seven years, the company’s technology has been in operation at a plant in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia.

According to CleanTech, its Biomass Recovery Process sterilizes, and separates the biomass, recyclables, and inert residuals from MSW. The technology recovers 80 to 85 percent of valuable resources in the form of sterilized organic material and recyclables from every ton of MSW that it processes. This, said CleanTech, reduces the amount of waste that must be transported for final disposal in landfills to 15 to 20 percent.

“The acquisition of 25 Van Keuren gives us the opportunity to work directly with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection towards achieving a solid waste facility permit that will allow us to demonstrate our Biomass Recovery Process technology in a traditional solid waste transfer station setting,” said Edward Hennessey, Chairman and CEO of CleanTech Biofuels. “We expect that a successful commercial demonstration of our technology in Jersey City will lead to additional opportunities in New Jersey, the Northeast and other locations across North America.”

A study by Rutgers University’s New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station suggests that more than four million tons of New Jersey biomass could be used “to make electricity or propel transportation” in the state each year. Approximately 72 percent of this biomass is produced by the state’s population in the form of MSW. New Jersey has passed policy that requires 22.5 percent of its electricity to come from renewable energy sources by the end of 2020. With this in mind, the Rutgers report finds that with appropriate technologies and infrastructure, the state’s biomass could deliver up to 654 megawatts of power or 230 million gallons of gasoline-equivalent.

advanced biofuels, biomass, Cellulosic, Waste-to-Energy

South Dakota Hosts 30-for-30 #Ethanol Event

Joanna Schroeder July 8, 2016

Ethanol pump in South Dakota offering mid-level and high-level ethanol blends including E15, E30 and E85. Photo Credit: www.sdcorn.org

Flex-fuel Vehicle (FFV) drivers in South Dakota who are looking to save money at the pump need look no further an upcoming event: 30-For-30. The South Dakota Farmers Union (SDFU) is hosting this #ethanol celebration where drivers who fill with Premium E30 (thirty percent ethanol, 70 percent gas) will receive 30 cents for each gallon of Premium E30 purchased.

The event is taking place on Thursday July 14, 2016 at the Shell Station in Mitchell, South Dakota located at 2160 Highland Way.

“Fueling up with 30 percent blend of ethanol not only saves folks money, but it supports South Dakota’s family farmers who market their corn to the state’s many ethanol plants,” said Doug Sombke, president of South Dakota Farmers Union. “Premium E30 gives drivers of all makes and models a higher octane, renewable fuel resulting in increased fuel economy without the dangers of Benzene, a carcinogenic used to increase octane levels.”

SDFU Communications Specialist Kecia Beranek added that the organization has been and will continue to be a strong advocate for the ethanol industry because she stressed, “We’re a grassroots organization who is focused on supporting family farmers and ranchers.” And it’s these farmers who are producing the feedstock to feed and fuel Americans.

blends, E15, E85, Education, Ethanol

Get to Know @GrowthEnergy New CEO Emily Skor

Joanna Schroeder July 8, 2016

Shortly after Emily Skor took the helm as the new CEO of Growth Energy, she hit the road in support of the Renewable Fuel Standard. Skor testified during the EPA hearings in Kansas City, Missouri in June as well as participated in a RFS Rally press conference. She then landed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to give the keynote speech during the Fuel Ethanol Workshop (FEW). During a bit of a breather, Skor sat down with Chuck Zimmerman during which time she shared her story and outlined some of her goals as Growth Energy’s CEO.

Prior to joining Growth Energy Skor was Vice President of Communications for the Consumer Healthcare Products Association. While there she had much success in building strategic communications plans where you harness the support of consumers, thought leaders of stakeholder groups and basically a broad coalition of voices. She said you can harness that support in a way that affects policy.

The position with Growth Energy intrigued her because as a Minnesota native she loved the idea of working for an industry that is so important to the heart of America. She sees that the ethanol industry has built a megaphone to champion issues and the cause in the marketplace. Now the conversation needs to expand beyond the corn belt and the beltway to all consumers.

Skor said there are three key focus areas for Growth Energy. One is continue to make sure the regulatory and policy environment is pro-ethanol. Another is helping build the marketplace through infrastructure. And finally to drive consumer demand for ethanol.

Learn more about Emily and her work for Growth Energy in the latest ZimmCast episode: ZimmCast with Emily Skor, Growth Energy

Subscribe to the ZimmCast podcast here.

Audio, biofuels, Ethanol, Growth Energy

Page 389 of 1,946
←
1
...
388
389
390
...
1946
→