Project Liberty Opens Its Doors for Business

Joanna Schroeder

After years of hearing about the future of ethanol and Project LIBERTY, the first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant located in Emmetsburg, Iowa using corn stover and corn cobs is officially open for business and in production. The POET-DSM Advanced Biofuels project is a joint venture between POET and Royal DSM.

Project Liberty Grand OpeningProject LIBERTY, was formally opened in the presence of His Majesty Willem-Alexander, King of the Netherlands, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Deputy Under Secretary Michael Knotek of the Department of Energy, Governor Terry Branstad and Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds of Iowa, other dignitaries and thousands of guests.

“Some have called cellulosic ethanol a ‘fantasy fuel,’ but today it becomes a reality,” said Jeff Broin, POET Founder and Executive Chairman. “With access now to new sources for energy, Project LIBERTY can be the first step in transforming our economy, our environment and our national security.”

The cellulosic ethanol facility converts baled corn cobs, leaves, husk and stalk into renewable fuel. The plant has now officially started up, processing its first batch of biomass into cellulosic ethanol and is moving forward toward continuous operation. At full capacity, it will convert 770 tons of biomass per day to produce ethanol at a rate of 20 million gallons per year, later ramping up to 25 million gallons per year.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said during the event, “The Project LIBERTY opening demonstrates that America is ready for advanced renewable energy production. USDA invested to help bring this facility online because it is boosting America’s energy independence, cutting carbon pollution, and holds great promise for our domestic agriculture and energy industries. This facility has already created local jobs and opportunities for farmers, and it will continue to spur local investment and open the door for new technology and job growth across rural America. I congratulate the POET-DSM Advanced Biofuels team on their grand opening and for all they have done and the opportunities they will continue to create for farmers and rural communities.”
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advanced biofuels, Cellulosic, Ethanol, Renewable Energy

New Study: E15 Would Reduce Smog

Joanna Schroeder

According to a new study conducted by Life Cycle Associates, using E15 ethanol blends rather than regular gas will reduce cancer-causing pollutants and smog in Chicago’s air. The research examined and aggregated a wide range of research to assess changes in the emissions from E15 taChicago E15 logoilpipe and evaporative emissions, compared to regular gasoline. The following factors were considered for the study: ethanol blend composition; vehicle tailpipe emissions; storage and fueling with ethanol blends; changes in evaporative and exhaust emissions; human health impacts; ozone potential; and life cycle greenhouse gas emissions.

To determine how much E15 reduces the risk of cancer, the study looked at several cancer-causing pollutants found in vehicle exhaust and found that using E15 shows a projected reduction in cancer risk because the ethanol in E15 displaces carcinogens like benzene and 1,3 butadiene.

“The most significant changes from a change … to E15 include a reduction in cancer risk from vehicle exhaust and evaporative emissions, a reduction in the potential to form ozone or photochemical smog, and a reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,” the study reported.

The study found:

  • The renewable fuel in E15 displaces cancer causing emissions from gasoline, resulting in a net decrease in cancer risk of 6.6% compared to regular gas.
  • The smog forming potential from E15 is lower than in regular gas.
  • Using E15 gasoline with 15 percent ethanol results in a 1.5% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to regular gasoline which contains 10% ethanol.

Adding ethanol also displaces gasoline components with higher smog forming potential, resulting in a lower smog forming potential for E15 blends than regular gasoline, according to the paper. In addition, the study reviewed extensive research on E15’s influence on greenhouse gas emissions, finding a reduction of 1.5 percent in E15 gasoline compared to regular, E10 gasoline. However, E15 has had difficulty gaining traction in the marketplace due to infrastructure challenges.

Those discoveries have significant implications for Chicago, which suffers from poor air quality and increased risk from disease-causing pollutants, particularly on the South Side. This study shows how the availability of E15 gasoline could help to solve those problems.

The report was supported by the Department of Energy (DOE), National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), California Air Resources Board (CARB), Coordinating Research Council, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Illinois and several other institutions.

biofuels, E15, Environment, Ethanol, Research

SunShare Helps Students Learn with Free Solar

Joanna Schroeder

David Amster-Olszewski, founder of SunShare, Sally Sorte, principal of Academy 360 public charter school and Denver, Colorado Mayo Michael B. Hancock recently announced a new program to provide free solar energy to all families of children to attend the school.

Academy 360“We are grateful to SunShare for helping us bring green, sustainable solar energy to our families. Not only are we contributing to a healthy environment, but every dollar that is saved on electricity is a dollar that families can spend on healthier foods, after school programs, books for their home, and other essential family needs,” said Sorte.

Under the program announced today SunShare will provide free Community Solar energy from its Denver County Solar Garden. Groundbreaking on the Solar Garden is set for late this fall and families should begin seeing reductions in their bills by the early spring. In the coming months, SunShare employees will work with families to get them signed up so they can start receiving free solar energy as soon as the Solar Garden is online.

“I want to commend SunShare for being a good community member and creating this program for the families of Academy 360,” said Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock. “Here in Denver, our goal is to create livable communities, and that means helping to provide the opportunities residents need to inject sustainable practices into their daily lives. With Community Solar, not only can more people enjoy the benefits of clean, renewable solar energy, they’ll see a reduction in their electricity bills as well.”

Amster-Olszewski added, “Through this donation, SunShare is honoring the spirit and intent of Colorado’s landmark Community Solar law, and we could not find a better partner than Academy 360. This school and the innovative learning program is changing education for all students, just as Community Solar is changing the future of energy.”

The school is also launching a fundraising program so that eventually all families could have their entire energy bill offset by free solar energy.

Education, Renewable Energy, Solar

Texas A&M Students Help African Villages with Solar

Joanna Schroeder

Three senior Mechanical Engineering students at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Bryan Hunt, Cody Collins, and Andrew Schippers recently returned from Hanga, Tanzania where they brainstormed ideas for several renewable resource projects including the use of solar energy foTexas AM students in Africar refrigeration, lighting, Internet and improving hydroelectric power. Adjunct Professor of Mechanical Engineering Michael Cornachione is assisting the students with their projects.

“The idea behind using renewable energy is that it will provide electrical power without the community having to put any money into it once it is installed,” said Hunt. “Basically, we can install the renewable resource and walk away. In rural Africa, being able to provide someone with enough solar power to run a small light, a small fridge, or a small electric stove can make a real impact.”

Texas AM Africa ProjectBoth Hunt and Collins spent their time meeting with villagers and getting an up-close look at their energy needs. Schippers, who was not able travel, supported the team from campus by continuing to research other renewable resource and funding options.

“We realized quickly that it was going to be hard to secure funding to just go and collect data without having a specific project,” said Hunt. “Cody and I decided that we just did not want to pass up this opportunity.”

The next step for the team will be to put their ideas into action by selecting the best project to implement, creating a proposal, applying for grants, and finally, building, and testing their project. As of now, all three students are planning to return to Hanga by August 2015 to install their selected project.

“Many of the villagers do not have clean water, electricity, and cook with charcoal or wood,” said Cornachione. “The final project the students choose to build will have a direct impact on the welfare of the Hanga community by providing new energy resources and clean water in remote sections of the village. If this first project is successful, it can then be duplicated in other villages.”

International, Renewable Energy, Solar, water

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

  • BioEnergyBytesDFTesla Motors’ plan to build a new 35 GWh lithium-ion cell production facility – dubbed the Gigafactory – for electric vehicles that will bring about only a modest reduction in battery costs, and create significant overcapacity, given likely sales of less than half the targeted 500,000, according to Lux Research. Tesla and its partner, Panasonic, will contribute about 45% and 35%, respectively, of the initial $4 billion required to build the Gigafactory, proposed to go on-stream in 2017. An analysis by Lux Research projects sales of only 240,000 cars in 2020, leading to razor-thin margins to Panasonic and 57% overcapacity.
  • Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company LLC has announced that through a wholly-owned subsidiary it signed a definitive agreement to acquire a $880,000 solar portfolio with assets in Boulder, Broomfield, Denver and surrounding areas in Colorado. The Sunny Mountain Portfolio consists of rooftop and ground mount solar systems located on municipal, commercial and residential properties. Electricity produced by the Portfolio is sold under long term Power Purchase Agreements.
  • LG Electronics USA has joined forces with solar industry leader Borrego Solar Systems Inc. to expand the presence of LG’s high-efficiency solar modules in the U.S. commercial market. Under the agreement, LG will supply 24 megawatts (MW) of its popular Mono X series solar panels, led by the LG Mono X NeON modules, through 2015 to Borrego Solar, which will sell to the commercial sector as an LG preferred strategic commercial integrator in North America.
  • Vestas has received an order for 29 V100-2.0 MW turbines for a wind power project in Poland. The order was placed by EDF Energies Nouvelles (EDF EN). The wind power plant is one of the largest in the Northwestern part of Poland and will be installed in the province of Lubuskie near Rzepin. The wind turbine delivery is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2015 with commissioning expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Bioenergy Bytes

Protec Fuel Expands E15, E85 in the South

Joanna Schroeder

Protect Fuel is working with retailers in the South and Southeast to open 28 E15 and E85 stations. The announcement marks the first phase of an introduction of E15 to cities including Atlanta, Georgia and Houston, San Antonio and Dallas, Texas. Florida and Virginia will also be on the target list.

protecfuel1“Because of the success of our retailers who have offered E85 in the past, our retail customers are asking us for E15,” said Todd Garner, CEO of Protec Fuel. “With our proven expertise in the field, it’s natural for us to help meet the demand of many convenience store retailers – large and small – who want to offer products different than their competitors. Further, this can aid in helping to meet the Renewable Fuel Standard [RFS] blend wall, after market concentration of E10,” Garner said.

E15 can be used in vehicles 2001 or newer while E85 can be used in any flex fuel vehicle. Protec Fuel provides ethanol blends to retailers as well as installs ethanol stations. The company currently supplies, either directly or through distribution partners, more than 200 E85 stations.

In response to the announcement, Tom Buis, Growth Energy CEO said, “Protec has listened to their customers and retailers, and has taken the initiative to offer higher ethanol blends that improve the environment, create jobs at home, and strengthen our energy and national security. Furthermore, Protec knows that by offering a homegrown, less expensive fuel they will continue to build a customer base by providing a choice and savings at the pump.”

“Bottom line – consumer demand for homegrown, high performance, low cost fuels cannot be ignored,” added Buis. “E15 continues to spread across the nation and Protec is a leader in a larger movement that will increase E15’s footprint across our nation, finally ending Big Oil’s stranglehold on the liquid fuels marketplace.”

biofuels, E15, E85, Growth Energy

Air Force Turning Waste into Synthetic Diesel

John Davis

synthetic-diesel1It takes a lot of energy to run the world’s most powerful military, and the U.S. military is looking at more non-petroleum options for its operations. This article from my favorite scientific blog, Armed with Science, talks about a method by the Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Advanced Power Technology Office (APTO) to turn synthetic gas (syngas), which could be collected from waste sites even at the most forward of bases, into synthetic diesel.

APTO utilized a company with extensive experience in the Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) synthesis process. In this application, syngas is passed through a sealed reactor vessel over copper condenser tubes that are coated with a cobalt catalyst. Applying proper heat in the reactor causes a chemical reaction that results in synthetic diesel fuel. The fuel can be used in ground vehicles or diesel generators to create electricity for base operations.

The initial demonstration system, contained in a steel-framed skid for portabililty, produced less than one barrel of fuel per day. Further system refinements could increase the output, with the capability to improve to 10 barrels. Test results showed that the created fuel successfully operated a 20kW diesel generator.

The team created its own syngas supply through a methanol dissociation process, but APTO has other ongoing efforts to supply syngas through Waste to Energy systems that use biomass or municipal solid waste to create syngas.

Not only does this help ensure a fuel supply, but it also helps a base reduce its waste, while helping keep us less energy dependent on some parts of the world that might not be that friendly towards us.

Government, Waste-to-Energy

Methes Energies Unveils New Catalyst for Biodiesel

John Davis

Methes1Biodiesel processor manufacturer Methes Energies has unveiled a new catalyst for biodiesel production. This company news release says the Methes PP-MEC catalyst will provide a new pre-treatment process for high free fatty acid (FFA) biodiesel feedstocks, including non-food grade corn oil, and Dorf Ketal Speciality Catalysts LLC (“Dorf Ketal”) will make the new catalyst for Methes.

The PP-MEC catalyst is a major active ingredient in this new process. Working with Dorf Ketal allows Methes to count on a reliable manufacturer of specialty catalysts with an experienced management team who can provide that catalyst to Methes or its customers on a world-wide basis.

John Loewen, COO of Methes, said, “We are very pleased with our relationship with Dorf Ketal. The fact that they can manufacture our PP-MEC catalyst is great and gives us the peace of mind that we were looking for. I believe that the market potential is enormous for this new process so we wanted to make sure that we had a catalyst manufacturer that would be able to follow our growth not only in North America but around the world.”

In addition to making biodiesel processors and equipment, Methes also produces the green fuel from two plants in Ontario, Canada.

Biodiesel

AMRC Looks at Ethanol Plant Profitability Projections

Joanna Schroeder

Don Hofstrand, retired agriculture extension economist with the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center (AMRC) located at Iowa State University, has recently published projections for ethanol plant profitability over the next several years. When the ethanol boom really took off, Hofstrand noted that most farmers purchased shares in ethanol plants as a way to hedge against low corn prices. So AMRC began to look track the monthly profitability of ethanol plants.

hofstrandfigure5_E2C7BA3AB4D47“We track the monthly profitability by using the current ethanol prices, the current corn prices, distillers grains (DDGs) and natural gas. Each month we compute that and have a record going back to 2005 of how the profitability of those systems have changed over that period of time to give a indication of the current economic status of ethanol production and biodiesel production,” explained Hofstrand.

Today it appears that there is a saturated ethanol market that may cause an excess of corn supplies. However, Hofstrand said that over the past few years corn prices have been high taking a bite out of ethanol production profits. He finds there will be substantial uncertainly surrounding the ethanol selling price and net returns to the ethanol supply chain. This could be affected by rising corn production costs and where they will trend in the future is uncertain. He also finds that although energy prices may soften, interest rates are expected to strengthen, and with continued improvement in genetics, seed cost may continue to rise, but the rise may be offset by higher yields.

Ultimately, Hosftrand said that what is certain is that corn selling prices need to stay relatively strong in relation to historic levels to continue generating farm operator net returns from the marketplace.

Agribusiness, Biodiesel, biofuels, corn, Distillers Grains, Ethanol

Short Rotation Woody Crops Ideal for Energy

Joanna Schroeder

Research from the University of Tennessee Center for Renewable Carbon has found that fast growing, short rotation wood crops (SRWC) are ideal as a biomass source to produce bionergy and biofuels. The research will be featured over the next three months as the Southeastern Partnership for Integrated Biomass Supply Systems’ (IBSS) Woody Crop Whistle Stop Tour that will feature Auburn University’s tractor-trailer scale mobile biomass gasifier. During the tour, the gasifier will demonstrate how to turn biomass into electricity on a small scale. Partners include North Carolina State University, ArborGen, University of Georgia, Auburn and UT.

On Tuesday, September 30, 2014 the tour will stop in Columbus, Miss., for an IBSS/Advanced Hardwood Biofuels (AHB) Field Day. Based on two years of successful experiments in the Southeast and Pacific Northwest with fast-growing cottonwood and hybrid poplars, IBSS, AHB, GreenWood Resources, and ArborGen have partnered to establish a 70-acre hybrid poplar plantation. Mississippi State University has also been an integral partner throughout the process, assisting in research and helping with field day activities. At this stop, visitors will get a close-up view of the SRWC system and learn about new research on genetics, stand establishment, disease problems, wildlife impacts and biomass harvesting logistics.

Cottonwood Tree (Istock photo)On Friday, October 10, the tour will stop at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture East Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center in Knoxville for a half-day Woody Crops Field Day. Visitors to the event will learn first-hand about new energy crops like fast-growing hybrid poplar and their importance as a feedstock for the emerging biofuels industry. This event will coincide with the IBSS Annual Meeting, so many experts will be on hand to answer questions about bioenergy production.

Stops are also planned for September 13, 2014 at Auburn’s Ag Discovery Day and November 19 at the Alabama Joint Leadership Development Conference (JLDC). Details about each event can be found online at at the IBSS website.

The IBSS Partnership has also been involved in research to develop drop-in liquid fuels, such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel for use as a replacement for grain (corn)-based ethanol. The project produced some 1500 gallons of a “green” diesel fuel from Southeastern-produced pine and poplar biomass and technology provided in part by industrial research partners.

Tim Rials, director of the UT Center for Renewable Carbon and a biochemist, contends that the U.S. should invest in the Southeast for the production of biofuels. “Our region can produce a variety of biomass feedstocks including dedicated crops such as switchgrass and sorghum, along with dedicated woody crops and forest residues,” he said.

The goal of the IBSS partnership is to demonstrate the production of advanced biofuels from sustainable sources of lignocellulosic biomass. Initially, the partnership has focused its efforts on perennial switchgrass and short-rotation woody crops like eucalyptus and poplar. Rials said each dedicated crop has inherent performance and cost advantages for specific conversion technologies. “We are working to match the economic and environmental performance of each feedstock with a preferred conversion platform so that the ultimate product, the particular biobased fuel, will be reliable, available and affordable.”

advanced biofuels, bioenergy, biomass, Renewable Energy, Research