Iowa Corn Supports New Engine Technology

Cindy Zimmerman

Iowa’s corn farmers are backing new technology to power heavy-duty engines with clean, renewable fuels.

Thanks to support from Iowa Corn, Chicago-based ClearFlame Engine Technologies recently raised $30 million in Series B funding to move from pilot to product in key markets. The new funding will help demonstrate how ClearFlame’s unique engine modification technology powers diesel engine platforms with renewable liquid fuels like ethanol in place of diesel fuel, helping to advance carbon and climate goals more immediately and cost efficiently.

“ClearFlame continues gaining momentum with technology that heavy-duty equipment users can deploy to more quickly and affordably meet critical ESG goals,” said BJ Johnson, ClearFlame Chief Executive Officer and company co-founder. “Federal Department of Energy funding moved us from concept to patent. Series A funding propelled us from patent to pilot. This latest investment round can accelerate us from pilot to proven product in multiple markets, starting with long-haul trucks.”

By maintaining over 85% of the original diesel engine design, the company’s patented technology can efficiently adapt to markets like long-haul trucking, agriculture, power generation and mining, offering the same power, durability and performance as today’s diesel engines while readily integrating into existing manufacturing, fueling, maintenance and repair ecosystems.

“Ethanol and other clean renewable fuels represent a critical part of our overall zero-carbon strategy,” said Johnson. “Our strategy puts these sustainable fuels to work powering diesel engines, the workhorses of our economy who also contribute significantly to transportation emissions. We look forward to continuing our long-standing partnerships as we move from pilot to product.”

Johnson and ClearFlame Chief Technology Officer and co-founder Julie Blumreiter dedicated their doctoral research at Stanford University to finding solutions to mitigate climate change and achieve carbon reduction goals by freeing heavy-duty diesel engines from their reliance on fossil fuels. Diesel fuel consumption accounts for approximately 26% of overall CO2 emissions from the U.S. transportation sector. While electric powertrains face significant barriers for heavy-duty applications, the technology ClearFlame developed can meet heavy-duty performance requirements while offering better lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions reduction than EV by nearly 61% using low-soot renewable fuels.

advanced biofuels, corn, Ethanol, Ethanol News

RFA Kicks Off Ad Campaign for E15

Cindy Zimmerman

With the summer driving season less than two months away and fuel prices again on the rise, the Renewable Fuels Association this week kicked off an advertising campaign and call-to-action targeting ethanol supporters across the Midwest, as well as policymakers and insiders in Washington D.C. RFA is running radio spots and print ads in D.C. and Midwest markets, as well as digital ads across multiple geographies.

“Our message to the Biden administration is simple: Unless the White House acts quickly, American drivers will lose access to the lowest-cost, lowest-carbon fuel at the pump on June 1,” said RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “ As we saw last summer, allowing year-round sales of E15 is an easy step the administration can take to immediately reduce gas prices for consumers. With OPEC announcing another round of production cuts and oil prices on the rise again, American families need relief at the pump and they want E15 as an option throughout the summer and every day of the year.”

Cooper points out that a Morning Consult poll conducted late last month found strong voter support for year-round E15 sales with 70 percent of poll respondents support increasing the availability of E15 to help lower fuel prices and support energy independence. Last year, allowing summertime sales of E15 saved American drivers $57 million at the pump between June 1 and September 15, an RFA analysis shows.

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

ACE Members Happy to be Back on the Hill

Cindy Zimmerman

Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-IA) meets with Charlie and Alex Good, Rick Schwarck, and Lisa Coffelt

This year was the 12th year that the American Coalition for Ethanol led a fly-in on Capitol Hill, but the last one was four years ago so members were very pleased to be back in person.

“Congress just opened up about a month a half ago,” said Rick Schwarck, President and CEO of Absolute Energy in St. Ansger, Iowa. “Face to face conversations are just more impactful, I believe.”

For Charlie Good and his son Alex, it was important for them to present the fuel retailer perspective in Washington D.C. right now at this critical time for E15. “I’m at about 25 percent of sales every day at E15 now,” said Good, owner of Good & Quick convenience store in Nevada, Iowa which offers ethanol blends up to E85. “We have an ethanol plant right outside of town, 80 to 90 percent of my customers are farmers, I’m from rural America. It’s huge for me.”

Listen to interviews with Schwarck and Good at the ACE Fly-in.
ACE-DC 23 Rick Schwarck, Absolute Energy (1:50)

ACE-DC 23 Charlie Good, Iowa (5:48)

Photos

2023 ACE DC Fly-in Photo Album

Find more audio from the ACE Fly-in here:
ACE Fly-in Virtual Newsroom

ACE, Audio, E15, Ethanol, Ethanol News

USDA Under Secretary Stresses Support for Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

USDA Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation Robert Bonnie spent an hour with members of the American Coalition for Ethanol last week, answering questions on various topics and stressing the administration’s support for biofuels.

“I hope you know this administration has a strong commitment to ethanol,” Bonnie began. “There’s a lot of alignment between things that can be good for climate, and that can be good for agriculture, and that can create rural jobs, and biofuels is a perfect example of that.”

Bonnie talked about some of what USDA is doing for conservation and the climate, including Climate Smart Commodities projects and incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act. “Agricultural productivity itself is a climate strategy,” he said.

Listen to Bonnie’s conversation with ACE members here:
ACE-DC 23 Robert Bonnie, USDA (53:55)

Photos

2023 ACE DC Fly-in Photo Album

Find more audio from the ACE Fly-in here:
ACE Fly-in Virtual Newsroom

ACE, Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News, USDA

Japan to Allow Access for US Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

Japan published a new biofuels policy last week that will allow the United States to capture up to 100 percent of Japan’s on-road ethanol market, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

“The new biofuels policy Japan announced today is the result of close collaboration between our two countries and it will further allow U.S. producers to meet Japan’s demand for more diverse energy sources,” said Ambassador Katherine Tai. “Ambassador Emanuel and the staff across the U.S. government deserve huge credit for working through the technical details that led to this outcome, which is just the latest sign of a strengthened partnership between our two countries.”

According to the new biofuels policy under the Sophisticated Methods of Energy Supply Structure Act, exports of U.S. ethanol could increase by over 80 million gallons annually, representing an additional $150-200 million in exports each year. We will continue working with Japan to increase its on-road ethanol demand and further align its biofuels policies with that of the United States.

Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper, U.S. Grains Council President and CEO Ryan LeGrand, and Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor issued a joint statement in response:

“The U.S. ethanol community applauds the Japanese government for joining other countries in recognizing the role ethanol can play in the global effort to address climate change at the same time it takes steps to decarbonize its transportation sector. Countries around the world are recognizing that biofuels like ethanol are a simple, inexpensive and effective solution they can deploy today to help them lower their carbon emissions and meet their climate goals. We will continue to work closely with Japan and other nations to find more ways for us to collaboratively decrease carbon emissions. The U.S. ethanol industry will engage with Japan on additional ethanol consumption efforts both within the on-road and sustainable aviation sectors as the country implements its new regulation.”

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

USDA Reports Higher Corn and Soybean Acres Expected

Cindy Zimmerman

The 2023 Prospective Plantings report finds farmers expect to plant more corn and soybeans this year than last year.

According to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), producers surveyed across the United States intend to plant 92.0 million acres of corn in 2023, up 4% from last year, and 87.5 million acres of soybeans this year, up slightly from last year.

Planted acreage intentions for corn are up or unchanged in 40 of the 48 estimating states. The largest increase is expected in North Dakota, where producers intend to plant 800,000 more acres than in 2022. If realized, the planted area of corn in Arizona and Idaho will be the largest on record. Soybean acreage increases from last year of 100,000 or more are expected in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Record high acreage is expected in Illinois, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

NASS also released the quarterly Grain Stocks report to provide estimates of on-farm and off-farm stocks as of March 1. Key findings in that report include:

Corn stocks totaled 7.40 billion bushels, down 5% from the same time last year. On-farm corn stocks were up 1% from a year ago, while off-farm stocks were down 10%.
Soybeans stored totaled 1.69 billion bushels, down 13% from March 1, 2022. On-farm soybean stocks were down slightly from a year ago, while off-farm stocks were down 21%

corn, Soybeans, USDA

ACE Fly-in Gives Lawmakers Ethanol Education

Cindy Zimmerman

Dave Sovereign (L) and Sen. Chuck Grassley

Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa is possibly the biggest supporter of ethanol in Congress, but he can always use more information to share with his colleagues who may disagree.

During the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) Fly-in this week, Golden Grains Energy chairman Dave Sovereign, who is also a farmer and a fuel retailer near Cresco, Iowa, gave the senator some hard numbers to show how higher blends of ethanol save consumers real money. “The numbers are staggering,” said Sovereign. “We’re in a community of about 4,000 people, a county of 10,000, and we showed over $200,000 in savings in fuel costs.”

Sovereign is also president of the ACE Board of Directors and was pleased with the energy of the members who went to meetings with lawmakers and their staffs on Capitol Hill this week. “We had great conversations and I think we did a lot of positive things while we were here.”

ACE-DC 23 Dave Sovereign, Golden Grain Energy (4:33)

It has been four years since the last fly-in and ACE CEO Brian Jennings said it was great to be back with members telling their stories at such a critical time for the industry. “It’s great to see so many members, whether it’s corn farmers or ethanol producers or retailers, enthusiastic about standing up and speaking out for this industry,” said Jennings. “And the timeliness of this couldn’t be better with the summer driving season coming up and certain bills that were introduced.”

Jennings says grassroots members of ACE making that connection with their members of Congress is very important. “I think this helps the Senators Grassley, Ernst and Klobuchar of the world be re-energized to fight even harder on our behalf,” he said.

ACE-DC 23 ACE CEO Brian Jennings (5:58)

Photos

2023 ACE DC Fly-in Photo Album

Find more audio from the ACE Fly-in here:
ACE Fly-in Virtual Newsroom

ACE, Audio, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Next Generation Fuels Act Introduced in House

Cindy Zimmerman

A bipartisan group of 20 lawmakers in the House Thursday introduced the Next Generation Fuels Act, legislation to phase in higher gasoline octane levels through the greater use of ethanol and companion to the bill introduced last week in the Senate.

American Coalition for Ethanol members meet with Rep. Angie Craig this week

The legislation was introduced with co-sponsors Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-01) and her Republican colleagues in the Iowa congressional delegation, Reps. Ashley Hinson (IA-02), Zach Nunn (IA-03), and Randy Feenstra (IA-04), as well as Reps. Nikki Budzinski (D-IL), Darin LaHood (R-IL), and Angie Craig (D-MN).

Additional original co-sponsors include Reps. Don Bacon (R-NE), Dan Kildee (D-MI), André Carson (D-IN), James Comer (R-KY), Mike Bost (R-IL), Mike Lawler (R-NY), Mike Flood (R-NE), Brad Finstad (R-MN), Mary Miller (R-IL), Eric Sorensen (D-IL), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH).

The Next Generation Fuels Act is supported by the National Corn Growers Association, Renewable Fuels Association, American Coalition for Ethanol, National Farmers Union, American Farm Bureau Federation, and many other farm and biofuels organizations and companies.

ACE, E15, Ethanol, Ethanol News

Senator Klobuchar Fires Up ACE Fly-in Participants

Cindy Zimmerman

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), co-sponsor of both the Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act of 2023 and the Next Generation Fuels Act in the Senate, left the American Coalition for Ethanol DC Fly-in participants fired up after a day of Capitol Hill visits.

Specifically the Retailer Choice Act would address the number one priority for ethanol right now, which is year-round sales of E15 nationwide. “There is absolutely no argument for not doing that. We were doing it, it was going fine, and then the court steps in, and then we did it for the summer – I mean, come on! It’s just a ridiculous situation.”

Listen to the senator’s remarks here:
ACE-DC 23 Sen. Amy Klobuchar (16:06)

2023 ACE DC Fly-in Photo Album

Find more audio from the ACE Fly-in here:
ACE Fly-in Virtual Newsroom

ACE, E15, Ethanol, Ethanol News

ACE DC Fly-in Kicks Off With EPA Official

Cindy Zimmerman

Environmental Protection Agency Senior Agricultural Advisor Rod Snyder was happy to be able to join the American Coalition for Ethanol to kick off the organization’s first fly-in since 2019, but he unfortunately had little to say about the most important issue on the industry’s plate – allowing sales of E15 this summer.

“While I can’t comment specifically at this time, please note that the agency is continuing to consider available options for this year and discussions are on-going,” said Snyder, who was very careful not to make any statements that might indicate what EPA may or may not do, despite the fact that time is running out.

When pressed by ACE members, Snyder said, “We’re trying to leave no stone unturned in terms of exploring what we can do. Certainly, we are very committed to working within the constraints of the law to make sure any steps we take are not challenged or overturned.”

Snyder noted that the waiver last year had never been done before and since it was announced April 12 last year by President Biden himself at an Iowa ethanol plant he does expect a level of involvement by the White House if it goes that route.

Listen to his remarks here:
ACE-DC 23 EPA Sr. Ag Advisor Rod Snyder (32:13)

Photos

2023 ACE DC Fly-in Photo Album

ACE, Audio, E15, EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News