Dairy Distillery and Milk Producers Partner for Biofuels

Cindy Zimmerman

The Michigan Milk Producers Association (MMPA) and Ontario-based Dairy Distillery recently announced a joint initiative to transform a dairy byproduct into what they say will be “the world’s lowest carbon-intensity ethanol.”

Dairy Distillery developed technology to transform a lactose-rich dairy byproduct, called milk permeate into vodka, aptly named Vodkow. This high value use of milk permeate caught the attention of MMPA whose Constantine, MI facility produces 14,000 tonnes a year that’s being used for animal feed. Looking to create more value for its dairy farmer members, MMPA partnered with Dairy Distillery to build a plant to process its milk permeate into 2.2 million gallons of ethanol. When blended with transportation fuel, the permeate ethanol will offset 14,500 tonnes of carbon a year. This offset will reduce the carbon footprint of the milk processed at Constantine by 5%.

“I’ve been inspired by MMPA dairy farmers and their commitment to sustainability. Using a milk byproduct to reduce the carbon footprint of dairy is an innovation that will make a significant contribution to MMPA’s net zero carbon emissions goal.” explains Dairy Distillery CEO Omid McDonald.

The $41 million ethanol plant, which is scheduled to start production in early 2025, received $2.5 million in funding from the Michigan Strategic Fund. The project includes the construction of a new, state-of-the-art wastewater treatment system that will produce natural gas to power the ethanol plant’s distillation system, further lowering the carbon footprint of the milk permeate ethanol.

dairy, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Argentina and Indonesia Biodiesel Duties Extended

Cindy Zimmerman

The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) last week announced its findings after its five-year (“sunset”) review of antidumping and countervailing duty orders on biodiesel from Argentina and Indonesia and determined that revocation of them “would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury within a reasonably foreseeable time.”

As a result, the existing orders on imports of this product from Argentina and Indonesia will remain in place. Clean Fuels Alliance America welcomed the final determination regarding the orders the U.S. Department of Commerce first finalized in 2018.

“Clean Fuels’ Fair Trade Coalition fought hard to protect domestic biodiesel producers from the potential resumption of unfair trade practices,” stated Kurt Kovarik, Vice President of Federal Affairs with Clean Fuels. “Our members have made significant investments to meet growing demand for better, cleaner fuels. We appreciate Commerce and the International Trade Commission carefully reviewing the information provided by the Fair Trade Coalition and preserving trade remedies that have been vitally important to our biodiesel industry.”

According to the law, the Commerce department initiated the required five-year review in March 2022 and Clean Fuels’ Fair Trade Coalition fully engaged in the process and filed substantive responses during the review.

Biodiesel, Clean Fuels Alliance, Trade

Ethanol Blends Well With Summer

Cindy Zimmerman

As summer gets underway, the Renewable Fuels Association is once again sponsoring the Ethanol Days of Summer fuel giveaway contest, and encouraging both motorists and boaters to get educated on ethanol and save money at the pump.

RFA Vice President of Industry Relations Robert White says the popularity of the fuel giveaway contest has grown as the availability of higher ethanol blends has grown. “More than 5,700 stations are now selling E85 across more than 3,000 cities, and more than 2,900 stations in 31 states offer E15,” said White.

Drivers are invited to report retail fuel station prices for higher blends of ethanol like E15 and E85 either through E85prices.com, or on Twitter by tagging @EthanolRFA and including the hashtags #ethanol #E15 #E85 and #fuelprices. Contestants will be entered into a random weekly drawing for a $250 pre-paid credit card to be used for fuel purchases. Each week, RFA will award $250 in free fuel from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

RFA is also continuing its outreach this year to boaters with education on using E10 blends in marine engines. White authored a blog post on the topic to encourage boat owners to get the facts. “We don’t want anyone using more than E10 but it comes down to routine maintenance and following the directions and advice of the engine manufacturers, boat manufacturers and fuel manufacturers,” White said, noting that he includes information direct from Mercury-Marine.

White says RFA has teamed up with two fishing champions this year to carry the message of ethanol in tournaments where they compete. Dylan Faulconer, a crappie angler from Kansas who fishes in tournaments throughout the Midwest, and Ryan Armstrong, an active participant in Major League Fishing, a league that travels the countryside chasing the biggest bass.

Learn more about ethanol in the summertime in this interview:
Interview with Robert White, RFA (7:58)

Audio, E15, E85, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

Ethanol Report on New RFA Team Members

Cindy Zimmerman

The Renewable Fuels Association recently created two new positions in the organization with the future of ethanol in mind and hired a couple of talented young experienced individuals to round out a team ready for the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Tad Hepner is the organization’s new Vice President of Strategy and Innovation and Justin Schultz is RFA’s new Director of Environment, Health & Safety. Both have unique backgrounds in the ethanol industry that are especially suited to their new roles.

A South Dakota native, Hepner started his ethanol career with POET and moved on to work for Clariant, a multinational company which, among other projects, has a cellulosic ethanol plant in Romania. He will be focused on building demand and new markets for ethanol and other bio-products.

“We’ve seen increased focus on things like renewable diesel, as well as SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel),” said Hepner. “There’s a couple of processes out there that can use ethanol as a biochemical intermediate for the production of these materials.” He adds that plants also produce distillers’ corn oil as a byproduct, which can also be used.

Schultz started in the ethanol industry at Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy in 2009 and has managed regulatory, safety, and compliance issues for the Council Bluffs, Iowa, biorefinery.

Schultz says safety is personal for him and he wants to be sure ethanol producers understand the purpose of safety regulations. “Safety is absolutely one of the most important things that we can do in this industry,” said Schultz. “So, my role at RFA is to explain to plants why we’re doing this and why it’s important.”

Learn more about these two new RFA staff members who are looking forward to helping the ethanol industry grow in this latest edition of “The Ethanol Report.”
Ethanol Report 5-24-23 22:13

The Ethanol Report is a podcast about the latest news and information in the ethanol industry that has been sponsored by the Renewable Fuels Association since 2008.

Choose an option to subscribe

Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Ethanol Report, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

Yield10 Bioscience and Marathon Partner to Use Camelina for Renewable Fuels

Cindy Zimmerman

Yield10 Bioscience recently announced an agreement with Marathon Petroleum Corp. for a potential investment and offtake agreement for low-carbon intensity Camelina feedstock oil to use in renewable fuels production.

“Yield10 continues to execute on our commercialization plan to supply low-carbon intensity Camelina feedstock oil to the growing North American biofuel market through a network of supply chain alliances,” said Oliver Peoples, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Yield10 Bioscience. “We look forward to working closely with Marathon’s team to finalize a definitive investment and offtake agreement as the basis for a strategic alliance in biofuels over the long term.”

biofuels, feedstocks

Summit Agricultural Group Enters SAF Race

Cindy Zimmerman

Summit Agricultural Group this week announced the creation of Summit Next Gen, a sustainable aviation fuel production platform to provide a scalable supply of low-carbon jet fuel. Summit Next Gen will utilize Honeywell’s Ethanol to Jet processing technology to convert ethanol into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which “creates an additional market for low-carbon ethanol producers and advances the sustainability goals of the difficult to decarbonize aviation industry.”

Growing low-carbon markets, recent state-level programs, and incentives created under the Inflation Reduction Act that are broadly supported by the biofuels, energy, and aviation industries catalyzed the creation of Summit Next Gen to meet growing demand for SAF. Sustainable aviation fuel is nearly identical to petroleum-based jet fuel sources and is currently approved at blend rates up to 50% by ASTM International providing a “drop in fuel” solution.

“The creation of Summit Next Gen and our partnership with a technology leader like Honeywell UOP sets a new standard for the agriculture, ethanol, and aviation industries,” said Bruce Rastetter, CEO of Summit Agricultural Group. “The agriculture and ethanol industries have a long history of continuous improvement producing more with less, and this has enabled forward-thinking ethanol producers to be favorably positioned for the present challenge of helping aviation reduce its carbon footprint.”

aviation biofuels, Carbon, carbon capture, SAF

EIA to Add Ethanol Export Data to Weekly Report

Cindy Zimmerman

Starting with the Weekly Petroleum Status Report released on June 1, 2023, with data for the week ending May 26, 2023, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) will begin showing Fuel Ethanol and Motor Gasoline Blending Component exports estimates separate from Other Oils exports estimates.

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) welcomed the announcement after advocating over the past decade for the inclusion of ethanol export estimates in EIA’s weekly report to provide market participants with a more complete picture of current supply/demand conditions.

“This is a critically important improvement to EIA’s Weekly Petroleum Status Report. A major data gap is finally being filled,” said RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “For years, the exclusion of ethanol export data in EIA’s weekly report created uncertainty and put ethanol buyers and sellers at a disadvantage in a competitive marketplace. Historically, ethanol export estimates have lagged other ethanol supply and demand data by 6-8 weeks, leaving market participants in the dark regarding overall ethanol consumption conditions. At long last, EIA is adding the missing puzzle piece to provide the market with a complete picture.”

RFA began pressing EIA to add ethanol export data to the weekly report in 2011, as rising export volumes began to represent a significant component of ethanol’s supply and demand balance. Most recently, RFA’s Chief Economist Scott Richman sent a letter to EIA Administrator Joseph DeCarolis again urging the agency to add weekly ethanol export data. After sustained engagement and communications between RFA, EIA, and other stakeholders over the years, EIA has now secured approval to add ethanol exports to its weekly regime.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Exports, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

RFA Welcomes Tad Hepner as VP of Strategy and Innovation

Cindy Zimmerman

The Renewable Fuels Association welcomes Tad Hepner as Vice President of Strategy and Innovation to lead the development and implementation of a wide range of initiatives focused on building demand and new markets for ethanol and other bio-products made by the association’s member companies.

Prior to joining RFA, Hepner led North American biofuels and derivatives business development efforts for Clariant, a Swiss multinational specialty chemical organization with technology applications in catalyst, second generation cellulosic biofuels, and new conversion biotechnologies. Hepner also held various positions at POET, ranging from scientific research to technology and business development. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from the University of South Dakota and an MBA in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from the University of Sioux Falls.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

U.S. Exports of Ethanol and DDGS Up in March

Cindy Zimmerman

According to the latest Renewable Fuels Association trade analysis, U.S. ethanol exports in March increased by 27% to a ten-month high of 132.3 million gallons (mg). Canada was the top destination for the 24th consecutive month with 43% share of March exports at 56.6 mg, a 34% bump over February, representing the largest monthly volume of U.S. ethanol exports to a single country to date.

Other major global customers in March included India (22.8 mg, up from zero to a 13-month high), the European Union (12.8 mg, +104%), the United Kingdom (8.7 mg, -11%), Peru (7.9 mg, +89% to an 11-month high), and Mexico (5.9 mg, +9%). Notably, exports considerably curbed to South Korea (5.2 mg, -50%), the Philippines (2.2 mg, -62%), and Jamaica (2.1 mg, -67%), while Brazil again remained essentially absent from the market with a 16% tariff on U.S. ethanol in place. Year-to-date U.S. ethanol exports total 354.1 mg, lagging 10% behind last year at this time and marking the smallest first-quarter exports since 2016.

March U.S. exports of dried distillers grains (DDGS) were 17% higher at 898,086 metric tons (mt) and Mexico remained the number one destination for the ninth consecutive month, with imports tallying 209,812 mt, a 23% leap over February volumes and a ten-month high.

Mexico, South Korea (127,685, +7%), and Turkey (103,346 mt, +153%) together captured half of our global market in March. Indonesia (68,832 mt, +43%), Vietnam (53,259 mt, up a tick), and Canada (48,360 mt, +4%) imported sizeable volumes as well. Year-to-date DDGS exports total 2.43 million mt, coming in 16% below last year at this time and representing the smallest first-quarter exports since 2019.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Exports, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA, Trade

K-State and Scoular Partner for Crush Facility

Cindy Zimmerman

A partnership between Kansas State University and Scoular will provide Kansas farmers with a canola and soybean crush facility to help create a renewable fuel market for oilseed on the Great Plains.

Scoular plans to renovate a grain processing facility near Goodland that it purchased in 2021 to crush canola and soybean seeds for use as renewable fuel feedstock. The recommissioned facility will add 40 new jobs to the Goodland area and provide access to the renewable fuels market. Scoular will also help with transportation flow by intaking and exporting product through its already-established process for loading and unloading railcars and trucks. The Goodland facility will be upgraded to improve dumping speeds and boost traffic circulation. Through these efforts, the company will be directly helping farmers.

Read more from K-State.

biofuels, canola, Soybeans