ACE Elects Board Representatives

Joanna Schroeder

aceDuring the recent American Coalition for Ethanol’s conference in Omaha, Nebraska, members elected directors to serve on their governing board. Four individuals re-elected to the ACE Board of Directors:

  • Ron Alverson, representing Dakota Ethanol, LLC, an ethanol plant in Wentworth, South Dakota, which produces 50 million gallons of ethanol per year (MGY).  Alverson currently serves as the President of the ACE Board of Directors.
  • John Christianson, on behalf of Christianson and Associates, a Wilmar, Minnesota based accounting and consulting firm.
  • Doug Punke, CEO of the Renewable Products Marketing Group (RPMG), an ethanol marketing company in Shakopee, Minnesota.
  • Brian Wilcox, from the Nebraska Public Power District, an electric utility company in Columbus, Nebraska which serves 87 out of the 93 counties in the state.

ACE members also elected two individuals to serve as new board directors.  Kenton Johnson was elected to represent Granite Falls Energy, LLC, a 62 mgy ethanol plant located near Granite Falls, Minnesota, and Mike Clemens, a farmer from Wimbledon, North Dakota, was elected to represent the North Dakota Corn Growers Association.

The full list of the ACE Broad of Directors is available here.

ACE, ACE Ethanol Conference, biofuels, Ethanol

Ethanol-Powered Boat Hits 208 MPH

John Davis

amethanolboat1For some of my fishermen friends who claim that ethanol damages their engines, I’d just like to know, How fast do you want to get to your favorite spot? An ethanol-powered speed boat could get you there at a cool 208 MPH clip. This article from LakeExpo.com says a super-powered catamaran running on ethanol made the run during a shootout race at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.

Don Onken’s American Ethanol, an ethanol-powered Mystic catamaran, reached 208 mph during a run on Saturday, Aug. 30 — it was the day’s highest speed, and it set the bar high for other racers returning to the course on Sunday.

The Shootout was held for years at Shooters 21, where the event record was set by Dave Callan and John Cosker in 2007, at 209 miles per hour. The next year, the event moved to Captain Ron’s Bar & Grill. Dave Scott and John Tomlinson set the course record of 208 there, in 2010, and Bill Tomlinson and Ken Kehoe tied it in 2011. Tomlinson and Kehoe returned in 2013 to post a formidable 224 mph new course and event record. Many thought it would be years before that was broken, but in 2014, Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani and Steve Curtis soared past Tomlinson and Kehoe, hitting 244 miles per hour in Al Adaa’am 96 Spirit of Qatar.

Ethanol, Ethanol News

A Toast to Making Ethanol from Grape Biomass

John Davis

univofadelaideRaise your glass in a toast to some researchers from Down Under, as they have figured out how to make ethanol out of some of the leftovers from wine-making. University of Adelaide researchers in Australia showed they could make about 100 gallons of ethanol by fermenting a ton of grape marc – the leftover skins, stalks and seeds from wine-making.

Global wine production leaves an estimated 13 million tonnes of grape marc waste each year. Nationally it is estimated that several hundred thousand tonnes are generated annually and it is generally disposed of at a cost to the winery.

“This is a potentially economic use for what is largely a waste product,” says Associate Professor Rachel Burton, Program Leader with the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence in Plant Cell Walls in the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine.

PhD candidate Kendall Corbin analysed the composition of grape marc from two grape varieties, cabernet sauvignon and sauvignon blanc. She also investigated pre-treatment of the grape marc with acid and enzymes.

Ms Corbin found that the majority of the carbohydrates found in grape marc could be converted directly to ethanol through fermentation with a yield of up to 270 litres per tonne of grape marc.

What was leftover from this ethanol-making process is suitable as an animal feed or fertilizer.

biomass, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Research

Ethanol Rail Opportunities & Challenges

Joanna Schroeder

hyderThis past winter was a tough one on the rail industry with lots of cold and snow. Among industries affected was the biofuel industry including ethanol transportation. During the ACE Ethanol Conference, Hasan Hyder, assistant vice president grain and grain products for Union Pacific, addressed some of these issues and discussed new opportunities.

Hyder gave a brief history of the rail industry with a focus on safety, service and supply chain efficiency. He also discussed longer-term opportunities and challenges ethanol and the rail industry face together. One great opportunity and challenge- transporting the growing amount of American made biofuels around the country.

To learn more about Union Pacific, and their commitment to the ethanol industry, listen to Hasan Hyder’s presentation: Hasan Hyder, Union Pacific

2015 ACE Annual Meeting Photos

ACE, ACE Ethanol Conference, biofuels, Ethanol

GREET Model Advances

Joanna Schroeder

When determining how much a fuel reduces greenhouse gas emissions as compared to pure gasoline, most use Argonne National Laboratory’s GREET Life-cycle model (Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation Model). In recent years, the model has seen some advancements and during the recent ACE Ethanol Conference, Dr. Jeongwoo Han, assistant energy system analyst with Argonne National Labs, discussed these changes.

HanAs he explained, GREET has been updated and used to evaluate/update the environmental impacts of ethanol. Han’s presentation discussed the recent life-cycle analysis results of ethanol with the technology advancement as well as key issues in life-cycle analysis.

To learn more about advancements in the GREET Life-cycle Model, listen to Dr. Jeongwoo Han’s presentation: Dr. Jeongwoo Han Presentation

2015 ACE Annual Meeting Photos

ACE, ACE Ethanol Conference, Audio, Carbon, Ethanol

PHG Energy to Build Waste-to-Energy Plant in TN

Joanna Schroeder

PHG Energy (PHGE) will be constructing a new biomass gasification plant that will convert more than 30 tons of composted material per day into thermal energy and biochar. Sevier Sold Waste (SSWI), located in Pigeon Forge, TN, contracted the PHG Energy. SSWI operates a garbage composting plant that processes more than 10,0000 tons per year from the Sevierville, Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. All the municipal solid waste (MSW) is processed through the plant, with 60% of it being made into compost. The carbon footprint of the facility will be reduced by over 450 tons of CO2 emissions each year, according to EPA calculators.

PHG Energy's Large Frame Gasification Unit (PRNewsFoto/PHG Energy)

PHG Energy’s Large Frame Gasification Unit (PRNewsFoto/PHG Energy)

“This new installation will help us reduce the amount of compost we need to transport by converting it into a biochar material, creating a new revenue stream for us,” said Tom Leonard, director of SSWI. “The energy from the gasification system will be used in a thermal oxidizer promoting odor control in the buildings and will allow us to defer other upgrades. This represents a significant savings from our current disposal and operating costs.”

PHGE’s gasification plants employ a thermo-chemical process that cleanly converts biomass to a combustible fuel gas. Around 90% of the biomass that is gasified in the PHGE system becomes fuel gas, and the only remaining residue is the charcoal-like biochar, that in SSWI’s case will be sold to a local industrial user as a renewable source of fuel to displace coal consumption.

The cost of the Pigeon Forge facility is $2.25 million. The project has been awarded a $250,000 Clean Energy Tennessee Grant through the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC). The project will showcase PHGE’s second installation of its Large Frame gasifier, believed to be the world’s largest downdraft unit and capable of more than 60 tons per day throughput.

“This project is important to us for several reasons,” noted PHGE President Tom Stanzione. “This is our second municipal project to receive approval this year and demonstrates the growing confidence in our technology. We have a strong research and development commitment to converting MSW to energy and reducing landfill usage, and this is another significant step in that process. It is also very important to us that we have been able to prove the commercial value of our biochar as a commodity, and that it has become a positive factor in the economic equation of our systems.”

bioenergy, biomass, Waste-to-Energy

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

  • BioEnergyBytesDF1New York State Assembly members Kevin Cahill and Barbara Lifton introduced a carbon tax bill into the Assembly this week. The bill would tax carbon emissions with the ultimate goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. This is an ambitious effort that starts a discussion at the state level on what a market-based solution to climate change should look like. The bill would implement a carbon tax that would start at $40 per metric ton of carbon dioxide and increase in $10 increments annually up to $180 per metric ton, which would entirely eliminate carbon dioxide emissions in New York State.
  • JA Solar Holdings has announced that Australia’s 70 MW Moree Solar Farm (MSF) has begun to install the batches of solar modules provided by JA Solar since June. MSF is located 10 km south of Moree, in northern New South Wales. The project is owned by Fotowatio Renewable Ventures. Project financing totaling $164 million, including a $102 million grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and $47 million of debt financing from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, was secured in August 2014, and construction of the farm broke ground in November 2014.
  • China Ming Yang Wind Power Group has announced that it entered into a framework agreement with CGN Wind Energy, one of the new energy arms of China General Nuclear Power Group and Shenzhen Energy to jointly invest in a fund management company, namely Guangdong Oriental Millennium Renewable Energy Industry Fund Management Co. Ming Yang expects to make a limited partner capital commitment of up to RMB1 billion to the Guangdong Renewable Energy Industry Fund to managed by Oriental Millennium.
Bioenergy Bytes

U of North Dakota Gets Biomass Research Funding

John Davis

My Approved PortraitsFederal funding to the tune of $250,000 is headed to the University of North Dakota for research to study biomass as a biofuel and solar energy absorption by nanoparticles. North Dakota Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp welcomed the research dollars.

“North Dakota has a rich heritage of conservation and we must continue to develop and use our natural resources responsibly,” said Heitkamp. “That also means continuing to invest in new technologies and supporting North Dakota’s renewable energy potential including wind, solar, and advanced biofuels, and these federal funds will help UND continue such critical research.”

The funding is made available through the National Science Foundation to work with their International Research Experience for Students for Technologies to Mitigate Global Climate Change.

biomass, Research, University

Company to Get Biodiesel Boost from End of License

John Davis

inventurelogoUsually, a licensing agreement opens up the door for companies to prosper in the biotech and biofuels world. But an Alabama-based biotechnology company says it is getting a boost from the end of one of its agreements. Inventure Renewables says the mutual termination of its agreement with Alchimia, Inc. for exclusive licensing rights in North and South America will open up Inventure’s patented process technologies possibilities with American agricultural processors and traditional biodiesel manufacturers.

“We’re really motivated for the rapid expansion the retention of our licensing rights will allow,” said John Brown, Inventure Renewables’ Chief Operating Officer. “The extensive corn and soybean processing facilities in the United States will be obvious partners for Inventure, as our technologies will allow them to convert waste streams into revenue streams by turning low or no value biomass into carbon-neutral biofuels, biochemical and biomaterials. The same opportunities will be present in South America, where vast amounts of soy beans and sugar cane are processed.”

Inventure Renewables is currently negotiating with several leading agricultural processors.

Biodiesel, Biotech

ARF Reacts to Hillary Clinton’s Ag, Energy Plan

Joanna Schroeder

Presidential candidate Sec. Hillary Clinton (D) made another visit to Iowa this week where she unveiled her agriculture and rural policy plan. She called for strengthening the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) so that it continues to drive the development of advanced cellulosic and other advanced biofuels. Clinton called for more consumer choice at the pump with better access to ethanol blends such as E15 and E85 as well as biodiesel. She also called for more renewable energy to be phased into the electricity sector.

Sec Hillary ClintonAmerica’s Renewable Future (ARF), who is meeting with candidates to discuss the benefits of biofuels, released the following statement in response to the plan.

“We thank Sec. Clinton for her commitment to Iowa’s farmers, consumers, and investors with her call of a strengthened RFS. We enthusiastically echo that call, especially in light of President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) disastrous Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) proposal. The EPA’s proposal is another example of conceding to the oil industry’s demands at the expense of clean, domestic renewable fuels and American jobs.

Billions of dollars were invested by famers and local investors to produce biofuels with the promise of a strong RFS. Reducing the RVO will strand capitol and punish the pioneers who invested in clean, homegrown renewable energy. The RFS has created 73,000 jobs here in Iowa and hundreds of thousands more around the country that cannot be outsourced, reduced our dependence on foreign oil, helped clean our air, and provided consumers savings at the pump.

Iowa’s rural communities and economy depend on the RFS for stability and growth and the EPA must get it back on track and focus on protecting the jobs and economic progress it has yielded.”

Agribusiness, Biodiesel, biofuels, E15, E85, Ethanol, RFS