Enogen corn enzyme technology from Syngenta has been selected as the winner of Agri Marketing magazine’s prestigious Product of the Year award for 2014. Enogen is the industry’s first and only biotech output trait designed specifically to enhance ethanol production.- H&S Bakery has unveiled its fleet of propane autogas-fueled vehicles. The conversion funds came in part form Maryland Clean Cities Coalition grant from the Maryland Energy Administration. Over the next two years, H&S aims to operate about 10 percent of their current 600-vehicle fleet with propane autogas. The company has also installed a private refueling station that includes an 18,000-gallon underground propane tank.
- China WindPower Group Limited has announced that two new PV power plants have commenced power generation on 23 December at Nedong County, Tibet and Indiana, USA. The Nedong County, Tibet project has an installed capacity of 20 MW and the project in Indiana has an installed capacity of 11.1MW. It is the largest distributed PV power plant in the state.
- Infocast has announced the annual Wind Power Finance and Investment Summit will return February 10-12, 2015 at the luxurious Rancho Bernardo Inn, in San Diego, CA. The Summit wil explore the latest issues and challenges and opportunities within the industry. Speakers from Duke Energy Renewables, EDF Renewable Energy, First Wind, Bank of Merrill Lynch, Capital Dynamics, Energy Capital Partners, California ISO, ERCOT, along with many more, will be on-hand to discuss a variety of topics and relay the latest insights for 2015.
Christmas Trees to Power More than Spirit of Holidays
Now that Christmas is done, it’s that time of year to think about what to do with that natural tree that brightened your holiday (although in our house, we like to keep it up as close to the Epiphany as possible). Once you’ve decided that your tree needs to vacate your living room, it can still live on in the form of biomass for renewable energy. This piece from the Mission Local website says that in San Francisco, those green tannenbaums can now be green power.
At the biomass plant, the Christmas trees rise like phoenixes — or at least steam does, when their chips burn inside boilers. The steam-powered turbines generate electricity that is sold to PG&E. Then “it powers your laptop computer,” said Recology spokesperson Robert Reed.
Overall, San Francisco’s Christmas tree chips produce about 20 megawatts of power, or enough energy to serve 20,000 houses for a month, according to Chris Trott at the Tracy Biomass Plant. The plant has paid Recology for the chips for the past two Christmases, but only enough to cover the cost of transporting them to Tracy.
The rest of the year, Tracy Biomass uses peach pits, walnut shells and tree trimmings to power the plant.
Officials add that turning the trees into biomass fuel also reduces Christmas tree-related fires, as well as keeping the material out of landfills.
DF Cast: Bundling Biomass for a Cellulosic Future
As cellulosic ethanol plants are opening up across the country, those facilities need a way to get the feedstocks, while farmers need a way to get that biomass to those new refineries. That’s where Pacific Ag comes in.
In this edition of the Domestic Fuel Cast, we talk to CEO Bill Levy and Steve Van Mouwerik, Vice President of Operations for Pacific Ag, as they talk about how their custom field residue business, which started in 1999 for baling crop residues for animal feeding operations, is a good fit for the emerging cellulosic industry, as Pacific Ag is demonstrating at Abengoa’s cellulosic ethanol biorefinery in Kansas that went online this past October and is expected to produce 25 million gallons of advanced ethanol per year.
Hear more about it here: Domestic Fuel Cast - Bundling Biomass for a Cellulosic Future
Green Biologics Buys Central MN Ethanol Co-op
A Los Angeles-based industrial biotechnology and renewable chemicals company has bought a Midwestern ethanol producer with plans to convert the operation to producing renewable normal butanol (n-butanol) and acetone. This news release from Green Biologics Inc. says the company closed the deal to buy Central MN Ethanol Co-op (“CMEC”), which includes a the 21 MGPY ethanol plant.
“We are extremely pleased with the successful closing and look forward to the leadership role that Green Biologics will play in bringing renewable chemicals to commercial reality,” said CMEC CEO Dana Persson. “The OPA team did an outstanding job on all facets of this transaction including expanding the list of bidders to include renewable chemical companies such as GBL.”
Since 2012, OPA has worked with CMEC’s Board of Directors and Company Management to assess its strategic alternatives, including acting as financial advisor to CMEC on the sale of its minority stakes in Guardian Energy, KAAPA Ethanol and Bushmills Ethanol.
Mark Fisler, Ocean Park Managing Director, commented, “This sale marks the 17th successful biofuels transaction for Ocean Park Advisors, which further solidifies the firm’s position as a leader in biofuels investment banking. This pioneering deal demonstrates that it is possible to retrofit and reposition a first generation ethanol plant as a renewable chemical plant.”
The plant will start producing renewable n-butanol and acetone in 2016.
Biodiesel Giant REG Adds Harding to Board
Biodiesel giant Renewable Energy Group has added an international business veteran to its board of directors. This company news release says Peter J. M. Harding was elected to the post.
Harding has served in leadership roles for international businesses involved in commodities trading and asset management. Most recently, he was the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Westway Group, Inc. (“Westway”), a liquid storage and liquid animal feed business, from May 2009 until his retirement in June 2010.
“Peter Harding has had a distinguished career where he gained expertise in the different industries that are part of the REG supply chain,” said Jeff Stroburg, Chairman of the Board. “His diverse skillset and business know-how will be a great asset to our board and our company.”
Harding has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of New Orleans College Prep since 2008 and was appointed Chairman of the Board in July 2013. From 2003 until joining Westway, Mr. Harding served in various roles at ED&F Man, including as member of their Executive Committee, Board of Directors and Managing Director of their Molasses & Palm Oil Trading, Feed Products, Third Party Storage, and Biofuels Division. He also served as Chief Executive Officer of Westway Holdings Corporation from 1997 to 2006. Concurrent with his service as Chief Executive Officer, he served as President of Westway Terminal Company, Inc. from 2001 to 2004. From 1995 to 1997, Mr. Harding also served as Chief Executive Officer of ED&F Man’s North American Cocoa Processing Group and prior to that as Chief Executive Officer of Savannah Cocoa, Inc. from 1992 to 1995. Mr. Harding served as Vice President of Sales & Marketing of Refined Sugars, Inc. from 1985 to 1989. Additionally, Mr. Harding owned and managed an asset management firm and commodity fund during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. Mr. Harding attended the Harvard Business School program for Management Development in 1985.
Harding’s term will expire in 2017.
PacificAg Can Help Ethanol Plants Go Cellulosic
The largest and most experienced biomass harvest company in the country wants to help ethanol plants develop or expand operations into the production of cellulosic ethanol by saving time and money on supply chain development. PacificAg, which is already supplying biomass for plants in Iowa and Kansas, enables cellulosic biorefineries the ability to source cost-competitive biomass for biofuel and biochemical production.
PacificAg started in the residue management business nearly 20 years ago harvesting forage crops for feed in Oregon and CEO Bill Levy says they have expanded to meet the needs of the growing biofuels industry in the Midwest.
“We can save an ethanol plant the time and money in developing a supply chain,” says Levy. “It’s a very specific supply chain with very specific challenges and I think we have a lot of experience overcoming these challenges and developing these supply chains quicker than anybody else.”
Biomass products include corn stover, wheat straw and milo stover products because of their abundance and supply. “What we’ve found in the Midwest is that not all growers are accustomed to removing this supply,” says Levy, stressing that a major component of their suite of services includes a balanced residue management program.
There are two critical elements an ethanol plant must consider when ramping up cellulosic ethanol production: year round biomass supply and sustainability around biomass residue harvest.
Harrison Pettit, a company partner who works with ethanol plants to help them get their biomass programs off the ground, notes that market needs for advanced biofuels industry are long-term and year round. “Ethanol plants are built to operate for more than 30 years.”
How does a grower know if he or she should participate in a biomass residue harvest program? Pettit says the first question to ask is, Are you within 100 miles of a cellulosic ethanol facility? “If you are a corn grower, wheat grower or milo grower, then you really ought to give us a call,” says Pettit. “If you really want to learn about how a residue management program can benefit your ground and benefit your bank account, then we want to talk.”
Learn more about PacificAg and the services they offer for both farmers and ethanol plants in these interviews with Levy and Pettit.
Interview with PacificAg CEO Bill Levy
Interview with PacificAg partner Harrison Pettit
Greenbelt Resources Recognized for Biofuels System
A company that turns locally available feedstocks into biofuels, as well as fertilizer, animal feed and filtered water, is being recognized for its green efforts. Greenbelt Resources picked up the “Best Biofuels and Biochemicals Solution” in The New Economy magazine’s annual 2014 Clean Tech Awards.
Greenbelt Resources’ small scale systems, can be more energy efficient than traditional large-scale plants due to its patent-pending energy saving membrane-based dehydration module. Where deployed, these systems reduce waste outflow, reduce transport of the F’s, minimize environmental impact, produce overall cost savings and foster local job retention.
“Our unique modular local-scale technology turns industry assumptions upside-down and proves the practicality of cost-effective local resource utilization,” says Floyd Butterfield, chief technology officer of Greenbelt Resources. “Recognition by The New Economy proves that global business leaders share our vision of a distributed energy source future.”
“We envision future off-grid installations to be capable of converting locally grown crops into fuel for both transportation and home appliances, fertilizer, animal feed, distilled water, heat, electricity, and connectivity,” emphasizes Darren Eng, CEO of Greenbelt Resources. “For example, a community in Africa could utilize the system to convert local feedstock into fuel for vehicles and heating stoves, distribute excess electricity to a local grid providing children light at night for their studies, and provide families with clean drinking water.”
The award will be presented at the London Stock Exchange in March of 2015.
Season Greetings from ETA Florence
Season greetings from our friends at ETA Florence, your partner in renewable energies.
China Approves Imports of Biotech Corn
Syngenta announced today that it has received approval for the Agrisure Viptera® trait (event MIR162) from China’s regulatory authorities, formally granting import approval. The approval covers corn grain and processing byproducts, such as dried distillers grains (DDGs), for food and feed use.
The Agrisure Viptera® trait is a key component of Syngenta’s insect control solutions, offering growers protection against the broadest spectrum of above-ground corn pests and enabling significant crop yield gains. Agrisure Viptera® has been approved for cultivation in the USA since 2010 and has also been approved for cultivation in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Syngenta originally submitted the import approval dossier to the Chinese authorities in March 2010. In addition to China, Agrisure Viptera® has been approved for import into Australia/New Zealand, Belarus, the European Union, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Mexico, Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan and Vietnam.