What Were Biggest Ag Stories of 2014?

Jamie Johansen December 30, 2014

Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “What type of gadget is on your wish or to-give list?”

Did you find your favorite gadget under the tree this year? Our results were pretty evenly spread out. I was excited to see many were wanting to utilize drone technology. But the GoPro video camera exceeded all other gadgets. I think that might be what I use my Christmas money on.

Here are the poll results:

Smart Phone – 12%
Tablet – 9%
Hybrid Laptop – 0%
Wearable Tech – 9%
Mobile Power Supply – 5%
Cordless Power Tools – 9%
Drone – 12%
Camera – 9%
GoPro Video Camera – 26%
Bluetooth Speakers/headphones – 3%
Other – 6%

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, What do you think were the biggest ag stories of 2014?

No matter the segment of agriculture you are involved in, their has been at least one ag story throughout the year that has caught your attention. Let us know which topped your list as the biggest ag story of the year. As we review stories from 2014 I can’t help but wonder what 2015 will bring.

ZimmPoll

Sorghum for Cellulosic Ethanol Update

John Davis December 30, 2014

While corn stover might be the big talk recently in the cellulosic ethanol game, sorghum could emerge as an alternative to the feedstock for the advanced green fuel. During the recent American Seed Trade Association CSS 2014 and Seed Expo in Chicago, Leah Guffey caught up with Scott Staggenborg of Chromatin , a sorghum genetics company, and they talked about using sorghum for cellulosic ethanol.

“People forget that many of sorghum’s original uses were for animal feed, so biomass yield is important and digestability is important,” said Staggenborg. “So if you think about cellulosic ethanol production, it’s just really a big, steel or concrete digester, rather than a four-legged digester.”

He went on to say that with the 40,000 varieties of sorghum availability, his company is taking advantage of traditional breeding and modern molecular methods to get the most out of sorghum, especially for cellulosic biofuels. One of the breeds he points to as having great potential for biofuels is sweet sorghum, which he compares to an annual sugarcane, except sorghum has to re-established each year from seed.

“It’s high biomass, and it has high juice yields, as well as high sugar yields,” Staggenborg explained. “Those three combined result in high sugar yields per acre, and that’s the goal of our breeding program, as well as altering the composition of the sugar itself.”

He added that the Renewable Fuels Standard is a big driver in making sure there is a market for sorghum-based, or any other feedstock-based, cellulosic biofuel.

“The RFS establishes a market, establishes a need, sort of primes the pump for the demand, until it becomes something that widely available, although it’s already widely accepted, and allows a fledgling industry to move forward.”

You can hear all of Leah’s interview with Scott here: Scott Staggenborg, Chromatin

Agribusiness, Audio, Cellulosic, Ethanol, feedstocks, sorghum

Ethanol Report 2014 Year in Review

Cindy Zimmerman December 29, 2014

Every year is interesting for the ethanol industry and 2014 was no exception.

Some of the highlights included record production and sales, healthy exports, and the commercial reality of cellulosic ethanol. The low point of the year was definitely the inability of the federal government to set volume obligations for 2014 under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), leaving the industry in somewhat of a limbo.

In this Ethanol Report, Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) president and CEO Bob Dinneen takes a look back at some of the good news and bad news for the ethanol industry in 2014 and wishes us all a very happy new year.

Ethanol Report on 2014 Year in Review

Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Ethanol Report, RFA

MPM Technologies Signs Waste to Energy Deal

Joanna Schroeder December 29, 2014

MPM Technologies, a subsidiary Carbon Cycle Power (CCP) has signed a lease agreement with an affiliate of Spokane Valley manufacturer Wheeler Industries, Inc., to house the demonstration unit of CCP’s waste-to-value solution. The patent-pending photon-induced, electric-arc gasification technology can process biomass or municipal solid waste to produce heat and power.

“After reviewing several viable options, the one that made the most fiscal sense was to manufacture and demonstrate in the same location,” said Brian Burrow, interim CFO for CCI/MPM. “We’re literally building the unit on one side of the street and deploying the demo on the other side of the street. It really is an ideal scenario.”

Carbon Cycle Investments acquired a controlling interest in MPM following a stock purchase agreement in April 2013. The company already has an agreement with Wheeler Industries as the manufacturer of the reaction chamber of its gasification technology. Manufacturing will begin immediately.

biomass, Electricity, Waste-to-Energy

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder December 29, 2014

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.

Bioenergy Bytes

Christmas Trees to Power More than Spirit of Holidays

John Davis December 29, 2014

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.

biomass

DF Cast: Bundling Biomass for a Cellulosic Future

John Davis December 29, 2014

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

Agribusiness, Audio, biomass, Cellulosic, Domestic Fuel Cast, Ethanol, Ethanol News, feedstocks

Merry Christmas from the ZimmComm Team

Jamie Johansen December 25, 2014

ZimmComm

Green Biologics Buys Central MN Ethanol Co-op

John Davis December 24, 2014

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.

Ethanol, Ethanol News

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