DOE Calls for Bioeconomy Vision Input

Joanna Schroeder June 24, 2016

Photo Credit: Joanna Schroeder

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is calling for input to achieve its Bioeconomy vision set forth in its “Growing the Billion-ton Bioeconomy” report. The DOE is seeking ideas from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies and other stakeholders that would enable the country to meet the goals of the report. In particular, they are looking for input about specific aspects in the development of large-scale supply systems and technologies that will supply up to a billion dry tons of biomass feedstocks for multiple uses. The goal of this Request for Information (RFI) is to develop the components of processing and handling (unit operations) of biomass and demonstrate the viability of Advanced Feedstock Supply Systems (AFSS) on-scale in the future.

The RFI categories include:

Preprocessing technologies
Quality management
Strategies for mobilizing a billion tons of biomass resources

The DOE says existing feedstock supply systems are not adequate to reliably provide high-quality feedstock at the increasing volumes demanded over the next few decades; therefore, new logistics and processing technologies and systems are needed to address these challenges to support a growing biomass-derived industry and bioeconomy. DOE cites that adaptation of current systems and the development of new technologies and approaches are needed to overcome the barriers associated with the collection/harvest, storage, preprocessing, and transportation of increasing volumes of biomass annually. Higher biomass demands at greater quality require more innovative approaches to supply feedstock from across the U.S.

Click here to view the full RFI. Responses must be received no later than 5 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on June 30, 2016.

advanced biofuels, bioenergy, biomass, biomaterials, bioproducts

BIOX Purchases Methes Energies #Biodiesel Plant

Joanna Schroeder June 24, 2016

BIOX Corporation has announced the purchase of Methes Energies 50 million per year biodiesel facility located in Sombra Ontario for U.S. $4.5 million. BIOX says the facility has not achieved nameplate production due to working capital and market challenges and today is not in production. The company plans to invest C$5 million over the next 12 months on upgrades that will improve the biodiesel plant’s efficiency, and allow the use of multiple feedstocks with a focus on lower carbon intensity feedstocks such as animal fats and recycled cooking oils.

“The Sombra acquisition represents a 75% increase in our production capacity and fits our strategy to control and distribute more gallons, leveraging our existing Sales and Marketing capabilities. We believe the Ontario market will play an increasingly important role in our distribution network. The implementation of the Greener Diesel program in Ontario, with its increasing blend rates and move toward lower carbon intensity fuels in 2017, made Sombra an attractive asset,” said Alan Rickard, BIOX CEO.

In April, Ontario implemented a Greener Diesel program based on biofuel percentage and carbon intensity. It also increases the use of biofuel from 3 percent to 4 percent in 2017. The regulation requires the use of an estimated 240 million litres of biobased diesel on an average greenhouse gas adjusted volume basis in 2017.

“We are already seeing with the increase in the Ontario mandate for 2016 that distribution of biodiesel from our Hamilton facility is shifting quickly from dependence on the U.S. market to fulfilling the demand in Ontario,” continued Rickard. “We expect this shift in distribution away from the U.S market to continue as the Ontario Greener Diesel mandate increases for 2017.”

BIOX currently supplies biodiesel to Shell Canada Limited through an inter-terminal pipeline that feeds directly to the Shell distribution terminal in Hamilton located adjacent to BIOX’s Hamilton facility.

advanced biofuels, Biodiesel

Jack Rogers @Novozymes Discusses #Ethanol Markets

Joanna Schroeder June 23, 2016

Just what are the current market conditions affecting the ethanol industry today? To answer this question, Chuck Zimmerman needed to go no further than the Novozymes booth during this year’s Fuel Ethanol Workshop where he had a conversation with Jack Rogers about current industry challenges. Rogers is the global marketing manager in charge of Novozymes bioenzymes portfolio. He noted that one of the challenges the ethanol industry is facing today includes a big dip in commodity prices so oil, corn and ethanol prices have come down dramatically.

“We also see the supply demand balance. It’s very delicate at this point so margins for the producers are certainly compressed. As we look toward the near term outlook, margins are going to be tight. There will be a big emphasis on efficiency for the plants,” explained Rogers.

Like a great company should, Novozymes is responding to the market changes with keeping their customers’ needs top of mind. One way Novozymes is doing business during this time of lower commodity prices is working the different channels whether it be governmental or straight talk with the consumer.

“Novozymes is certainly very active and dedicated in promoting the good messages we have with ethanol,” Rogers said. “So one of the key things we do want to do with ethanol is make sure that consumers understand the benefits. And when they do, we can actually grow the market. We’ve got a great product and the more we can grow the market the more room we can create for everyone and what we’re doing here.”

Novozymes is continually innovating the ethanol market. Rogers noted that going back to the aforementioned conditions, producers really have to find new ways to optimize using technologies and tools that weren’t before available. “What we’ve done is broaden our product portfolio to make sure we have products that are finetuned to whatever process conditions, to whatever performance and cost targets that our customers have.”

Learn more about how Novozymes is helping their customers stay profitable during all market conditions by listening to Chuck’s interview with Jack Rogers here: Interview with Jack Rogers, Novozymes

You can find photos from the 2016 FEW here: 2016 FEW Photo Album

Coverage of the Fuel Ethanol Conference is sponsored by

Audio, biofuels, enzymes, Ethanol, FEW, Novozymes

#FEW16 Panel Focuses on Unlocking Marketplace Access

Joanna Schroeder June 23, 2016

A conversation took place during the FEW Ethanol Workshop this week that focused on how to get greater market access for ethanol blended fuels. The panel, “Exploring Strategies to Unlock Greater Marketplace Access for Conventional and Advanced Biofuels,” featured ethanol experts on the frontlines of increasing ethanol infrastructure across the country. These are the men (and shout out to the women out there) who are working with fuel retailers and others to assist them in offering their customers more options at the pump.

The panel was moderated by Tom Bryan, president of BBI International & Editor in Chief of Ethanol Producer Magazine. The panelists included:

Dave VanderGriend, CEO, ICM Inc.
Robert White, Vice President of Industry Relations, Renewable Fuels Association
Mike O’Brien, Vice President of Market Development, Growth Energy

Listen to the full panel discussion here: Exploring Strategies to Unlock Greater Marketplace Access

You can find photos from the 2016 FEW here: 2016 FEW Photo Album

Coverage of the Fuel Ethanol Conference is sponsored by

Audio, biofuels, E15, E85, Equipment, Ethanol, FEW, Growth Energy, RFA

USGC Works with Korea on #Ethanol Fuel

Joanna Schroeder June 23, 2016

Koreans are learning about the potential for #ethanol use as a fuel. A U.S. delegation that included the U.S. Grains Council (USGC), Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), Growth Energy and USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, held a workshop in Seoul, Korea to give an outlook on global ethanol supply and demand. The group also shared information about past experiences with ethanol policy. The workshop served as a forum for discussion about opportunities of using ethanol in their fuel supply.

Today Korea only uses ethanol for industrial, not fuel, purposes, and the audience at the event had little background with blending. The country consumes about 3 billion gallons of gasoline per year, more than any market in Asia other than China, India and Japan.

“With more than 60 representatives from Korea’s energy industry in attendance, we laid the groundwork to create a favorable atmosphere for the introduction of bioethanol in Korea in the future,” said USGC Director in Korea Haksoo Kim, who participated in the conference. “While this workshop was just step one, the engaged questions and interested audience suggest we are making a difference.”

Following the workshop, the group held meetings with Korea’s energy association, K-Petro, and the largest non-fuel ethanol company in Korea, Changhae Ethanol, to discuss experiences and technologies from the U.S. fuel ethanol industry.

“Based on the feedback we received from this activity, we believe that the energy industry in Korea wants to cooperate with us to learn more about fuel ethanol and possibly develop Korea’s fuel ethanol industry in the future,” Kim said. “To build on our success from this workshop, we will work on developing a follow-up program for late this year or early next year.”

biofuels, Education, Ethanol, Growth Energy, International, RFA, USGC

.@BIO says @EPA Sending the Wrong Signal

Joanna Schroeder June 23, 2016

@EPA is sending the wrong signal for advanced biofuels according to the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). The #biotech organization has released a new analysis that finds investment patterns clearly demonstrate the EPA is sending a sustained market signal that disincentivizes advanced biofuels, causing a $22.4 billion shortfall in necessary investment.

Figure 2: Annual and Cumulative Number of Second-Generation Biofuel Deals by Type. Data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance; Ocean Park Advisors; United Nations Environment
Programme.

“EPA recognizes that its delays in rulemaking [under the Renewable Fuel Standard/RFS] from 2013 to 2015 undercut investment in advanced biofuels. The agency fails to recognize, however, that its methodology – including in the newly proposed 2017 rule – also undercuts investment in advanced biofuels,” said Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO’s Industrial & Environmental Section. “Data on investment in the biofuel sector bears out that EPA’s methodology has forced producers to consolidate investment in conventional biofuel production capacity and distribution infrastructure, while sacrificing investment in advanced.”

Erickson continued, “Following yet another year of policy instability, BIO now estimates that EPA’s rulemaking delays, unwarranted expansion of its waiver authorities, and methodology for setting annual RVOs has caused a $22.4 billion shortfall in investment in advanced biofuels. EPA is sending a sustained market signal that disincentivizes and discourages advanced biofuel producers, who have reached a stage where investment in proven technologies and processes could rapidly expand availability of cleaner, low-carbon transportation fuels.”

He added that this trend can change course if the EPA modifies in 2017 proposed rule to increase renewable fuel volumes and to “obviate competition among biofuel developers”. This action, said Erickson, would ensure the U.S. transportation fuel market is open to every gallon of renewable fuel that can be produced.”

advanced biofuels, BIO, EPA, RFS

#FEW16 Panel Focuses on Realizing Ethanol Potential

Joanna Schroeder June 23, 2016

Some of the biofuel industry’s top leaders took to the stage at the Fuel Ethanol Workshop (FEW) this week to discuss opportunities for the biofuels industry to help it achieve its true potential in the light of the Renewable Fuel Standard and the EPA’s apparent dragging of the feet in getting renewable fuel volumes to mandated levels and higher. One element of the discussion was continuing to build out infrastructure for mid-level and higher level blends of ethanol such as E15 and E85, an effort that would break through the so-called blend wall.

The panel discussion, “Pathways to Fully Realizing the Bold Promise of the Broader Biofuels Industry,” was moderated by Tim Portz, executive editor of Ethanol Producer Magazine. Panelists included:

Brian Jennings, Executive Vice President, American Coalition for Ethanol
Geoff Cooper, Senior Vice President, Renewable Fuels Association
Anne Steckel, Vice President of Federal Affairs, National Biodiesel Board
Brooke Coleman, Executive Director, Advanced Biofuels Business Council

Listen to the full panel discussion here: Pathways to Fully Realizing the Bold Promise of the Broader Biofuels Industry

You can find photos from the 2016 FEW here: 2016 FEW Photo Album

Coverage of the Fuel Ethanol Conference is sponsored by

ACE, advanced biofuels, Audio, Biodiesel, Ethanol, FEW, NBB, RFA

.@Novozymes Helps #Ethanol Producers Unlock Potential

Joanna Schroeder June 22, 2016

A common theme that will never go away is how to make more with less. One way ethanol plants can identify ways to save resources as well as money is through better data management and analysis. During this year’s Fuel Ethanol Workshop (FEW), Novozymes’ Technical Services Manager, Laurie Duval educated ethanol producers on just this topic in her presentation, “Unlocking the potential of your plant data for profitability.” Duval manages a team of field scientists that are in the plants implementing Novozymes’ products and helping customers troubleshoot their problems. She also works with data analytics and digital customer engagement tools.

Duval explained in an interview with Energy’s Chuck Zimmerman during FEW that many of the plants are just collecting their data and storing it for review later. But if they can find ways to better bring their data to the forefront and analyze it regularity, then they can start to look for trends earlier and maybe catch some problems before they occur and before they cost them lots of money. Data analytics could even create some trends where ethanol plants are actually able to optimize around parameters that can help them make more ethanol or more products. “And that’s really the goal of getting better with data in the plants,” Duval noted.

Novozymes is working with data solutions companies throughout the industry together with their customers, trying to find, on a case-by-case basis, the best way to work with those individual plants and the systems they have to help them improve their profitability.

Interested ethanol facilities can contact Laurie Duval directly or their technical scientist.

To learn more about using data to increase profitability, listen to Chuck’s interview with Laurie Duval here: Interview with Laurie Duval, Novozymes

You can find photos from the 2016 FEW here: 2016 FEW Photo Album

Coverage of the Fuel Ethanol Conference is sponsored by

Audio, biofuels, Ethanol, FEW, Novozymes

#Ethanol Industry: Don’t Legislate Changes to the #RFS

Joanna Schroeder June 22, 2016

Several ethanol industry leaders testified today during the Energy and Power Subcommittee’s hearing on the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The EPA recently released its proposed rules for 2017 and 2018 and while the biofuel industry wants to see higher blending volumes, Big Oil wants to see lower blending volumes, says the ethanol industry, because the energy program’s continued implementation would mean further loss of market share.

According to the ethanol industry, the RFS has been an unmitigated success and repealing or dramatically reforming the program will reverse the gains already made under the program such as the reduction of dependence on foreign sources of oil and the reductions in carbon emissions. Modifying the RFS backward would also, says the ethanol industry, devastate investment in next generation biofuel technologies and halt progress.

According to the Renewable Fuels Association, (RFA), in 2015, 14.8 billion gallons of ethanol was produced, supporting 85,967 direct jobs, while net petroleum import dependence fell to just 25 percent, and would have been 32 percent without the addition of domestically produced ethanol. In addition, RFA says the use of ethanol in gasoline in 2015 reduced greenhouse gas emissions from transportation by 41.2 million metric tons — equivalent to removing 8.7 million cars from the road for an entire year.

Dinneen said during his testimony, “The incumbent industry has already lost 10 percent of the market. If the RFS is implemented consistent with the statute, the market will make the final push to see cellulosic ethanol and other advanced biofuels to fruition, resulting in the loss of 30 percent of the market. It is important to note that Congress did an excellent job of crafting the RFS, building in a great deal of administrative and market flexibility to deal with issues as they arise,” Dinneen told the subcommittee. “You wrote a good law in 2005. Don’t be bullied by the hyperbole and scare mongering by the incumbent industry that fundamentally disagrees with the need for alternative, low carbon options for consumers.…[T]here is nothing wrong with the RFS that cannot be fixed with what is right with the RFS, and there is no need to legislate changes to a program that is working well today.”

New Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor, who keynoted the opening day of the Fuel Ethanol Workshop (FEW) yesterday, also submitted testimony for the official record. “…We urge the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to keep the RFS moving forward, and this committee to work towards fixing the actual issues standing in the way of full implementation. However, the regulatory hurdles and market barriers to entry that impact the E15 marketplace are not being discussed at today’s hearing. E15 is a less expensive, high performance fuel, but unlike E10, it cannot be sold during the summer driving season due to a 26 year-old legislative oversight in the Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) statutory restrictions. Legislation has been offered in the House of Representatives to fix this problem (H.R. 1736) and this committee should spend time considering how to address this issue…“

biofuels, E15, E85, Ethanol, Growth Energy, RFA, RFS

.@Novozymes Fanø Excited about Bioenergy University

Joanna Schroeder June 22, 2016

Earlier this year, Tina Sejersgård Fanø assumed the role of executive vice president for Novozymes Agricultural and Bioenergy division. Part of this division, she said, is their biofuel business and that biofuels are a big and very interesting business for them. This is Fanø’s first time at the Fuel Ethanol Workshop (FEW) and Chuck Zimmerman was able to speak with her about Novozymes’ approach in the current market.

The company has clients across the globe and Fanø said the largest number are based in the U.S. “We know that the market for ethanol producers is very competitive, and what we want to secure is that we can do whatever we can to help producers increase their market in advancing their business.”

This said, they work closely with their clients to get to know their business. Novozymes offers educational opportunities such as Bioenergy University so the company can better advise them on such things as how they can improve their business margins, increase ethanol yields, reduce the use of chemicals and more. Ultimately, says Fanø, they work on creating solutions that are specific for their customer’s needs.

“It’s all about helping our customers succeed,” stressed Fanø. “I’m especially thrilled with our Bioenergy University because it helps our clients get better at what they do, and try to put more education behind that small piece of the whole puzzle we are helping with.”

To learn more about Novozyme’s biofuel business, listen to Chuck’s interview with Tina Sejersgård Fanø here: Interview with Tina Sejersgård Fanø, Novozymes

You can find photos from the 2016 FEW here: 2016 FEW Photo Album

Coverage of the Fuel Ethanol Conference is sponsored by

Audio, biofuels, Ethanol, FEW, Novozymes

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