Vehicle Manufacturers Increase #Biodiesel Support

Joanna Schroeder

NBB's Biodiesel ChevyFrom coast-to-coast B20 is now formally supported by nearly all vehicle manufacturers. Today more than 78 percent of the diesel vehicles coming off production lines are approved for use with B20, as noted during the annual Biodiesel Showcase that took place yesterday during the 13th Annual National Biodiesel Conference.

Some big examples of support include General Motors (GM), Hino and PACCAR along with Ford and Fiat Chrysler. Among U.S. heavy-duty truck segments, which account for more than 87 percent of actual diesel fuel usage, every major engine manufacturer supports B20 in their new engines except for Daimler’s Detroit Diesel, which remains at B5.

Many users are realizing that B20 biodiesel blends offer them a cost-effective and seamless option to help meet increasingly aggressive greenhouse gas and carbon reduction goals. Energy continues to warrant focus on the worldwide stage as a primary way to reduce the effects of climate change and during this week’s conference, biodiesel role in this efforts were highlighted. The Biodiesel Showcase was one of the best visuals of the benefits of biodiesel and a demonstration that consumer choices for biodiesel play a strong role in influencing vehicle manufacturers to continue to increase their support of biodiesel.

Following are three brief videos about vehicles that are approved for the use of B20. You can get the scoop on PACCAR’s “bright yellow truck” by clicking here.

2016 National Biodiesel Conference Photo Album

Dr. Aydin Sunol, University of Florida

Adrian Ratza, Hino

Mike Sico, Ferman Chevrolet

advanced biofuels, automotive, Biodiesel, National Biodiesel Conference, NBB, Video

#NBB16 Biodiesel Lifetime Achievement Award

Cindy Zimmerman

nbb-16-livergoodMike Livergood is retiring this year from ADM after nearly four decades with the company and for his many years of service to the industry, he received the Eye on Biodiesel Lifetime Achievement award this year at the National Biodiesel Conference in Tampa.

Livergood has been at the forefront of helping develop the biodiesel industry, even before it was commercialized in this country. His work to keep the industry unified through the National Biodiesel Board has been essential to growth and success.

In his acceptance speech, Livergood talked about how ADM become involved with the National Biodiesel Board back in 1999. “By 2011, we were running eleven biodiesel facilities on three continents with total capacity of nearly three-quarters of a billion gallons a year,” he said. “Biodiesel was truly the savior of the soybean crushing industry.”

Listen here: Mike Livergood, Lifetime Achievement Award

2016 National Biodiesel Conference Photo Album

Audio, Biodiesel, National Biodiesel Conference, Soybeans

Trestle Energy Receives CARB Pathway Approval

Joanna Schroeder

California-based Trestle Energy has received its pathway approval for the production of ethanol from California Air Resources Board (CARB) under the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). Back in 2014, the company received approval by British Columbia.

Trestle Energy logo“We are pleased California has joined BC in approving our fuel pathways,” said James Rhodes, co-founder and president of Trestle Energy. “These pathways demonstrate the ability of American agriculture, industry, and ingenuity to both grow the economy and protect the environment. They also demonstrate the ability of ambitious environmental policies to stimulate innovation and drive down carbon emissions. We look forward to expanding our network of partners to ramp up deliveries for California consumers. We are excited to begin working with Oregon regulators in the coming year.”

According to the company, it’s goal is to apply the ethanol technology under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). EPA approval under the RFS would allow American ethanol producers to compete with foreign sugarcane ethanol imports, creating jobs and climate benefits here at home, says Rhodes, who also noted it would also enable American industries to start delivering on the climate commitments adopted last month in the Paris Agreement (COP21).

biofuels, Ethanol

Eye on Biodiesel Award Goes to…PACCAR

Joanna Schroeder

PACCAR was honored with this year’s Eye on Biodiesel “Initiative Award” for their commitment to #biodiesel blends. Giving remarks during the Biodiesel Showcase, Jason Johnson, director of aftermarket for PACCAR, announced that the new PACCAR MX-11 engine and all model years of its MX-13 engine, both legacy models and new equipment, are now approved for use with B20. More than 100,000 trucks, both new and old, join the biodiesel ranks and each year and these vehicles drive more than 12 billion miles. With this announcement, Johnson said there are now nearly 1 million Peterbilt and Kenworth medium and heavy duty trucks approved for use up to #B20 biodiesel blends.

PACCARAddressing an engaged and excited crowd, NBB CEO Joe Jobe said, “PACCAR’s support underlines that biodiesel is the single best carbon mitigation strategy out there; with widespread support across all diesel applications, we are perfectly positioned to deliver even more cleaner burning biodiesel into the marketplace. The U.S. biodiesel industry has invested over twenty years of research and development activity to provide the highest quality biodiesel fuel for the marketplace, and today we recognize PACCAR for taking the initiative to endorse B20 biodiesel blends for use in your equipment.”

Landon Sproull, PACCAR assistant vice president, said in a statement following the award announcement, “PACCAR is pleased to earn the Eye on Biodiesel Award while we are expanding PACCAR’s engine line of B20 compatible engines. Our new B20 compatible PACCAR MX-11 engine is available in Peterbilt and Kenworth trucks beginning in January 2016, joining our highly successful MX-13 engine. PACCAR designs and builds the most durable, fuel-efficient and highest quality heavy-duty truck engines in the world, and PACCAR engines perform well using a variety of fuel sources.”

“Increasing our support level from B5 to B20 biodiesel blends provides more choice and value to PACCAR’s customers,” Sproull added.

To learn more about PACCAR’s commitment to biodiesel and to learn more about the “bright yellow truck,” watch my video with Jason Johnson.

2016 National Biodiesel Conference & Expo Photo Album

advanced biofuels, Audio, Biodiesel, National Biodiesel Conference, NBB

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

  • BioEnergyBytesDF1EDF Renewable Energy has signed an agreement to supply Salesforce with 24 MW of wind energy from its Salt Fork Wind Project in Texas. The Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA) advances Salesforce’s commitment to power 100 percent of its global operations with renewable energy. The Project, located in the Texas Panhandle in Donley and Gray Counties, east of Amarillo, has begun construction of its total 174 MW capacity and is expected to achieve commercial operation by the end of 2016.
  • Regulators and utilities across the country are grappling with the valuation of distributed energy resources (DERs) such as solar, energy storage, and energy efficiency, as costs continue to fall and penetration increases. According to a new report from GTM Research, “Unlocking the Value of DER 2016: Technology Strategies, Opportunities and Markets,” despite DER growth, few states are developing the policies, technology ecosystem and data infrastructure required to enable the location-based valuation systems that will underlie the development of distribution integrated resource planning and DER procurement processes for grid services.
  • Renovate America, the leading provider of residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing in the U.S., has announced it was named in the 2015 Global Cleantech 100, produced by Cleantech Group.
  • Powerhive, an energy solutions provider for emerging markets announced today that the company has closed a $20M Series A financing round, which will support Powerhive’s expansion into new markets in Africa and the Asia-­Pacific, as well as continued growth in Kenya where the company has operated rural microgrids since 2012.
Bioenergy Bytes

ExxonMobil, REG to Study Biodiesel from Cellulose

John Davis

REGBig oil is partnering up with a giant in biodiesel production to explore the potential of biodiesel made from cellulosic sugars. This news release from Renewable Energy Group (REG) says the green fuel company is partnering with ExxonMobil to make the biodiesel by fermenting renewable cellulosic sugars from sources such as agricultural waste.

REG has developed a patented technology that uses microbes to convert sugars to biodiesel in a one-step fermentation process similar to ethanol manufacturing. The ExxonMobil and REG Life Sciences research will focus on using sugars from non-food sources.

“This research is just one way ExxonMobil is working to identify potential breakthrough technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase energy supplies and realize other environmental benefits,” said Vijay Swarup, vice president of research and development at ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company. “The science is extremely complex, but we hope to identify new affordable and reliable supplies of energy for the world that do not have a major impact on food supplies.”

”REG has a long history of innovation in the production of advanced biofuels from lower carbon, waste feedstocks,” said Eric Bowen, REG Vice President and head of REG Life Sciences. “We look forward to this collaboration with ExxonMobil to advance our proprietary cellulosic sugar fermentation technology and capitalize on the combined power of cellulosic sugars and microbial fermentation to revolutionize the production of ultra-low carbon, cleaner burning advanced biofuels.”

Through the research, the two companies will be addressing the challenge of how to ferment real-world renewable cellulosic sugars, which contain multiple types of sugars, including glucose and xylose, but also impurities that can inhibit fermentation.

“As we research renewable energy supplies, we are exploring future energy options with a reduced environmental impact,” Swarup said. “Our first challenge is to determine technical feasibility and potential environmental benefits during the initial research. If the results are positive, we can then take the next step and explore the potential to expand our efforts and explore scalability.”

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Biodiesel, Cellulosic, REG

Researchers Release Hydrogen from Tough Biomass

John Davis

dengResearchers from Georgia Tech have figured out how to release hydrogen from even the toughest sources of biomass. This article from Chemistry World says Yulin Deng and his team at the university developed a low-temperature electrolytic technology that can crack even molecules like lignin and cellulose, eliminating the need to use fossil fuels to release clean-burning hydrogen.

The process takes place in an electrolysis cell containing a membrane that protons can pass through, sandwiched between an anode and a cathode. Water containing both powdered biomass and polyoxometalate (POM), a metal oxide catalyst, is added to the anode side of the cell. By heating the solution or exposing it to sunlight, POM molecules can grab hydrogen atoms from the biomass, becoming H-POM. Applying a voltage across the electrodes causes the H-POM molecules to dump an electron onto the positively charged anode, and a proton into the electrolyte solution. The electrons flow around a circuit to the cathode side of the cell, while the free floating protons diffuse though the membrane and combine with these electrons at the cathode, forming hydrogen atoms. The atoms then react to form stable hydrogen gas, which can be collected.

Experts in deriving hydrogen from biomass have praised the new approach. ‘This process provides an open door to using smaller quantities of biomass and different biomass varieties for renewable hydrogen production,’ comments Chris Zygarlicke, at the University of North Dakota, US. And David King from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, US, says, ‘this is really interesting work … the claimed Faradaic efficiency for the process is extremely high.’

Deng and his team are currently working to make the method even more efficient. ‘Our goal is to collect 100% of the hydrogen atoms from biomass. We’re also looking for an industrial collaborator to scale up the technique.’

biomass, Hydrogen

Biodiesel Warming Up For Another Big Year

Cindy Zimmerman

nbb16-jobe-speechAt the opening General Session of the 2016 National Biodiesel Conference & Expo in Tampa Tuesday, there was a theme of the underdog winning the game – and a promise that biodiesel is in the game to win.

“Last year the biodiesel industry demonstrated more than ever that no matter how beat up we are, no matter how outgunned we are, we don’t back down,” said National Biodiesel Board CEO Joe Jobe. “We came together like never before. We stayed true to our principles in the face of deceitful attacks and we achieved the success necessary to put us back on track.”

Though optimistic, Jobe also noted significant challenges still remain. “While our fight is not over, we have a different future. 2016 is going to be our strongest year yet,” he said. “The strategy of disinformation is now being deployed to attack renewable energy and climate change science. Our opponents will continue to use outrageous and desperate tactics as they continue to undermine and work to repeal the only carbon reduction policy currently available in the transportation sector.”

Jobe had a baseball theme to his speech and used many quotes from Yogi Berra, also known as “Yogisms” – and noted that the 5’7″ Yankee was often underestimated. “I bring up Yogi not just because I admire him as a player, a person, a humorist, and a fellow Missouri boy, but because I wanted to illustrate how the biodiesel industry has been underestimated, overshadowed, and underrated,” said Jobe. “And 2016 is the year that we change that.”

Listen to Jobe’s speech here: NBB CEO Joe Jobe Speech

Jobe also offered an illustration of just how amazing biodiesel really is – watch below:


2016 National Biodiesel Conference Photo Album

Audio, Biodiesel, National Biodiesel Conference, Video

Don Scott #NBB16: Biodiesel Provides Food AND Fuel

Joanna Schroeder

Don Scott NBBThe myth that biofuels is a choice between food versus fuel is still perpetuated regardless of scientific data showing otherwise. The true fact about biofuels, including biodiesel, is that they produce food AND fuel. #Biodiesel’s role in both providing food and fuel, as well as in reducing carbon, were the topics of a presentation by Don Scott with the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) during the 2016 National Biodiesel Conference in Tampa, Florida.

Scott began his presentation by stating three things:

  • Biodiesel complements the fuel supply.
  • Solar energy is abundant and efficient.
  • Mitigating climate change does not cost. It pays.

Biodiesel, said Scott, produces protein as a byproduct, an essential source of nutrition for humans. However, protein is expensive. But because biodiesel production only uses the oils (fat), protein is produced at a lower cost than average protein sources on the market.

Based on this fact, Scott had a motto, per se, during his presentation: “When we grow protein to feed the world, we naturally get more carbs, fat, and other fiber byproducts than we can eat.” Therefore, he said, it makes sense to use this excess fat to displace petroleum, and biodiesel is the best example of nature’s design for food and fuel. And an added bonus, while today biodiesel represents about 20 percent of the renewable fuel market, it provides 40 percent of the carbon reductions as a result of using these renewable fuels.

Learn more about biodiesel’s benefits by Listening to my interview with Don Scott: Don Scott Talks Food, Fuel and Carbon

2016 National Biodiesel Conference Photo Album

advanced biofuels, Audio, Biodiesel, food and fuel, National Biodiesel Conference, NBB

Growing Beyond the RFS to Drive Demand for Ethanol

Joanna Schroeder

After years of uncertainty, the final volumes for the amount of corn ethanol were announced late last year, and corn ethanol is essentially at its limit under the RFS, according to Doug Durante, Clean Fuels Development Coalition (CFDC) executive director.

Doug_Durante_CFDCDurante gave a recap of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) and what it means for the ethanol industry during a Nebraska Ethanol Board meeting Jan. 21 in Lincoln. He discussed the regulatory roadblocks that, if eliminated, would open the market for higher ethanol blends.

“The RFS helped kick start the significant volumes of ethanol production we see today, but we cannot rely on the RFS to ensure a continued market,” Durante said. “The industry needs to grow beyond the RFS and create new, consumer-driven demand that capitalizes on the health benefits of ethanol’s clean octane and the ability to meet low-carbon fuel standards.”

Durante suggested that ethanol advocates find additional pathways to create market demand that allows the industry to move beyond the RFS volume obligations. He noted that eliminating the following burdens on ethanol would help create more opportunities for ethanol:

  • Removing unnecessary seasonal Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) restrictions
  • Raising the minimum octane for fuel
  • Enforcing limitations on levels of toxic aromatics in gasoline
  • Correcting the flawed EPA MOVES model and lifecycle analysis
  • Reinstating meaningful flex fuel vehicle (FFV) credits for vehicle manufacturers
  • Streamlining the certification of higher ethanol blends up to E30

“Given the restrictions and possible expiration of the RFS, the transition to more open and free ethanol markets must begin now,” explained Durante. “Ethanol production and utilization has only scratched the surface of its potential.”

biofuels, Ethanol, RFS