EPA: Reject 2014 RFS Partial Waiver

Joanna Schroeder

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) is today urging Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy to reject the partial waiver of 2014 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The American Petroleum Institute (API) and the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM).

“Big Oil’s attempt to completely rewrite and redefine the statute pertaining to RFS waivers is just another shameless example of how far they’ll go to protect their market share and block larger volumes of renewable fuel from reaching the consumer,” wrote Bob Dinneen, RFA’s President and CEO in a letter to McCarthy. “Not only do API and AFPM blatantly contort the meaning and intent of the statute, but, as trade associations, they aren’t even entitled to file a petition for a waiver in the first place.”

Fass-Füllanlage Drum fillingAccording to RFA’s letter, the petition from API and AFPM obscures the fundamental purpose and intent of the RFS, which is to drive the production and use of renewable fuels beyond their traditional role as fuel additives.

“The need to move beyond E10 in 2014 for the purposes of RFS compliance should hardly come as a surprise to obligated parties,” wrote Dinneen, pointing out that it was clear as early as 2009 that the so-called E10 “blend wall” would occur in 2013 or 2014. “Unfortunately, many obligated parties chose to blatantly ignore the strong signals compelling them to begin preparations for higher volumes of renewable fuels and to increase investments in storage and distribution infrastructure. Now, the members of API and AFPM seek relief from their renewable fuel blending obligations, arguing that their failure to prepare for 2014 RFS requirements somehow merits reprieve. EPA should not reward such blatant disregard for resoundingly clear policy signals.”

The RFA comments conclude that the combination of increased E85 and E15 sales, carry-over Renewable Identification Number (RINs) from 2013, and likely administrative adjustments to the 2014 advanced biofuel standard will allow obligated parties to easily meet their RFS requirements without adverse economic consequences.

“EPA should act swiftly to reject the petition submitted by API and AFPM. The conditions outlined in the Clean Air Act under which EPA may grant a waiver simply do not exist,” Dinneen concluded. “The RFS is working precisely as intended—EPA is exercising its authority to adjust annual blending requirements, RINs are sending clear signals to the marketplace to expand renewable fuels infrastructure and consumption, and RIN banking and trading provisions are providing compliance flexibility to obligated parties. In short, oil refiners and importers should have no difficulty in meeting their 2014 blending requirements.”

biofuels, Ethanol, RFA, RFS, RINS

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

  • BioEnergyBytesDFJoule, a company focused on developing direct CO2-to-fuels solar conversion technology, has announced changes in its executive leadership. After four years of leading Joule’s early development as CEO, William J. Sims will step out of his management role but will remain a member of the company’s board. Noubar Afeyan, co-founder and Chairman, is assuming the role of interim-CEO while Paul Snaith, who joined the company in 2012, will be promoted to President and COO of Joule.
  • SolarCity has opened its first operations center in the San Fernando Valley to accommodate customers as far north as Santa Barbara County. The 16,800 square-foot facility is staffed by 61 full-time employees today, and SolarCity currently has 15 job openings at this location. SolarCity already has approximately The company has also begun or completed projects to provide solar power to some 60 school facilities within the Los Angeles, Glendale and Simi Valley Unified School Districts, and will be providing solar electricity to the headquarters of the Las Virgenes-Triunfo Municipal Water District within the next year.
  • Rentech, a U.S. supplier of wood pellets and nitrogen fertilizer, has scrapped plans to build a cellulosic biomass to synthetic gas facility in Adams County, Mississippi. The company has sold about 450 acres of land where it had planned to build the renewable-energy project.
  • A new commercial algae production cultivation system developed at the National Algae Association’s (NAA) Test Center in The Woodlands, Texas is ready for market. The Algae Growth Cell (G-Cell)™ was developed by AlgaeEquip, LLC, and according to NAA,the G-Cell is the world’s largest custom commercial algae production closed-loop cultivation semi-continuous system for universities and indoor and outdoor commercial algae farmers. It helps reduce the daily contamination issues and low production from open raceway ponds and reduces the high cost of using expensive clear PVC tube photobioreactors.
Bioenergy Bytes

Farmers Cooperative To Offer E15

Joanna Schroeder

Farmers Cooperative Company has announced it will be offering E15 beginning this fall at its Creston, Iowa station.

This car can use E15“The customer is of the utmost importance at Farmers Cooperative,” said Farmers Cooperative Creston Branch Manager Darin Schlapia. “With that in mind, we strive to offer the highest-quality products at an affordable price. Bringing E15 to our product line-up will give our customers another low-cost fuel choice that also benefits our rural economy.”

Farmers Cooperative will be offering E15 as a registered fuel at its station located at 304 North Osage Street in Creston, Iowa. E15, a blend of gasoline and 15 percent ethanol, can be used by all 2001 and newer passenger vehicles, which account for about 85 percent of fuel use in the United States. In order to offer E15, a retailer must register with the EPA. IRFA assisted Farmers Cooperative in the registration process to ensure they comply with all federal and state E15 regulations. In addition, IRFA will be co-sponsoring a consumer education campaign in September to introduce E15 to Creston residents.

“Thanks to Farmers Cooperative, southwest Iowa residents will now have access to the newest ethanol-blended fuel,” added IRFA Managing Director Lucy Norton. “The growth in E15 availability means more consumers can reap the benefits of this high-performance, low-cost fuel produced right here in Iowa.”

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) recently released the results of a new analysis that shows a pending shift in the fuels carried in pipelines that service Iowa will lead to E15 being the lowest-cost option for many retailers.

biofuels, E15, Ethanol, Iowa RFA

Vestas Delivers First V110-2.0 Wind Turbines to U.S.

Joanna Schroeder

Vestas is now manufacturing its first V110-2.0 MW wind turbines that will be delivered to EDP Renováveis (EDPR) for several wind energy projects in the United States. The turbines are part of a supply agreement to deliver 1,500 MW to wind power plants in the Americas and Europe. EDPR said it selected the V110-2.0 MW because of its competitive cost of energy compared with other options.

The V110-2.0 MW turbines are expected to be delivered and commissioned in 2014 and 2015. The new projects’ names and specific locations are not currently available.

Category: Installed turbines Country: USA State: New Mexico Site: Macho Springs Turbine: V100 1.8 MW No. of turbines: 28 Photographed in: November 2011 Photographer: Lars Schmidt“Vestas has successfully worked with EDPR for the past eight years to deliver many wind-power projects around the world,” said Chris Brown, President of Vestas’ sales and service division in the United States and Canada. “We look forward to supplying EDPR our new V110-2.0 MW wind turbine, which is a variant of the V100-1.8 MW that can provide over 13 per cent higher annual energy production compared with its predecessor. Our 2-MW platform has a long track record of success and reliability. The V110-2.0 MW will provide clean, reliable and low cost electricity for decades.”

Vestas’ factories in Colorado will manufacture the blades, towers and nacelles for these projects.

The projects include five-year service agreements featuring the Active Output Management (AOM) 5000 offering. AOM 5000 is an energy-based availability guarantee that ensures the turbines are operational when the wind is blowing. This service option includes the VestasOnline® surveillance system that remotely controls and monitors the turbines and predicts potential wear-and-tear issues. This allows Vestas to plan maintenance so the turbines operate with the minimum amount of lost production.

Electricity, Energy, Renewable Energy, Wind

Abengoa Completes Khi Solar One Tower

Joanna Schroeder

Abengoa together with project partners Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and the Khi Community Trust, recently welcomed representatives from the government of South Africa to celebrate the completion of the construction of the Khi Solar One tower. According to the company, this achievement marks an important milestone in the execution of this project, a significant development for CSP tower technology itself, as well as a strong positive impact on the community and the country.

A delegation, including members of the South African government, visited the 205-meter tall tower of Khi Solar One in the Northern Cape province near Upington, where the national flag was raised next to those of the project partners. Guests were given a tour through the installation and some of the suppliers’ facilities.

Abengoa Khi Solar OneKhi Solar One, a 50 MW superheated steam solar tower with two hours of thermal storage, represents an important technological advance in tower efficiency by using higher temperatures and an innovative dry cooling system says Abengoa. This advancement comes on the heels of the R&D work done by the company in its research centers and pilot plants.

Khi Solar One and KaXu Solar One, Abengoa’s 100 MW parabolic trough plant also under construction in the Northern Cape, will be the first concentrating solar power plants in operation in South Africa. The South Africa Department of Energy intends to bring 17,800 MW online from renewable sources by 2030, framing South Africa’s strategy for energy independence. The solar projects form a part of this strategy, as well as have additional environmental benefits: creating roughly 1400 local construction jobs on average per annum, peaking near 2000, and about 70 permanent operation jobs, as well as reducing the country’s carbon dioxide emissions by about 498,000 tons each year.

Electricity, International, Renewable Energy, Solar

Biodiesel Feedstock Camelina Genome Sequenced

John Davis

GenomePrairieA Canadian company has announced the release of the genome for camelina, a rising, important feedstock for biodiesel. This Genome Prairie news release says the company’s “Prairie Gold” project was started as a public-private partnership between Genome Prairie, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and the National Research Council Canada:

Camelina is a technically difficult species to sequence, and the latest in next-generation sequencing techniques were needed in order to assemble a complete and high quality genome sequence. One interesting feature is that the gene complement appears to be almost three times larger than that of Arabidopsis thaliana, the closely related species that is widely used as a model in laboratory settings. This is likely the result of two genome duplication events in a common ancestor in Camelina’s evolutionary past.

According to Reno Pontarollo, CEO of Genome Prairie, “the completion of the Camelina genome sequence marks an important milestone that will enable local businesses to be more innovative in developing Camelina-based value-added industrial bioproducts.”

The most important use of the genome sequence will be for current and future breeding applications. “When combined with a high-density genetic map, also developed as part of the project, we now have the most complete picture of the Camelina genome to-date,” said lead Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada scientist, Isobel Parkin.

Scientists say the sequence will help them develop improved varieties of camelina. You can see the sequence at www.camelinadb.ca.

Biodiesel, feedstocks

Louisiana Animal Fat-to-Diesel Plant Hits Capacity

John Davis

darlingA Louisiana plant that turns animal fats, used cooking oil and other waste grease into diesel fuel hit capacity this week in its startup phase. This article in The Advocate in Baton Rouge says the Diamond Green Diesel plant, a joint venture between Darling International Inc. and Valero Energy Corp., can now produce about 9,300 barrels per day of biodiesel and will get more reliable after a heat exchanger is changed out.

Diamond Green’s website says it expects to convert about 1.1 billion pounds of fat and restaurant grease into 137 million gallons of green diesel per year — an estimated 9,300 barrels per day.

At that rate, the company would be converting up to 11 percent of the country’s animal fat and used cooking oil into a fuel that has the same properties as petroleum diesel.

The project follows two years of planning and development after the U.S. Department of Energy said it would back a $241 million loan guarantee to help build the plant, which the agency said would create about 60 jobs.

Darling International Inc. of Irving, Texas, supplies the feedstock for the plant. The company recycles beef, poultry and pork by-products into useable ingredients such as tallow, feed-grade fats, meat and bone meal, poultry meal and hides. The company also recovers and converts used cooking oil and commercial bakery residuals into feed and fuel ingredients.

The plant, located right next to Valero’s St. Charles refinery, started operations earlier this summer.

Biodiesel, Waste-to-Energy

Illinois Congressman Thinks RFS Needs Fixing

Cindy Zimmerman

fps13-shimkusHouse Energy Committee member Congressman John Shimkus (R-IL) is leaning toward a legislative fix for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

“The reality is the 2007 bill…was not a good bill in that it said there would have this supply (of cellulosic ethanol) which never materialized,” Shimkus said during an interview at the Farm Progress Show in Decatur Tuesday. “Because of this we have this mechanism to identify what’s being put in the market, called a RIN, and there’s volatility in that RIN pricing.”

Shimkus represents both sides of the issue in his district on the Eastern side of Illinois. “I’ve got corn growers, I’ve got renewable refiners and I’ve got petroleum refiners,” he said. “We’re going to try to fix the volatility of the RINS … but the RFS is not going away.”

The congressman expects his committee will approve and the House will move something to address the volatility and the Senate will be having a hearing on the RFS next month.

Listen to Shimkus talk about the RFS here: Interview with Rep. John Shimkus

Audio, Ethanol, RFS

Ethanol is You

Joanna Schroeder

ACE13-jenningsDuring the opening session of the 26th Annual Ethanol Conference, hosted by the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE), Executive Vice President Brian Jennings gave an update on what was happening in Washington, D.C. One huge issue the ethanol industry is dealing with is the future of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Jennings noted that the success of the industry hinges on the ability to keep the RFS in tact.

Jennings also took a moment to thank the people in the audience. Why? Because he said, many ACE members have taken great steps to advance and promote the industry. “The truth is, the most important people in the industry aren’t the lobbyists like me who do work for you. The most important people in the industry are the people like you sitting in this room.”

Jennings gave examples of ethanol plants and companies that have done great jobs of telling their personal stories and he encouraged others to become more involved. Legislators need to hear these personal stories to better understand how ethanol benefits not only rural areas but the country.

Listen to Brian Jennings remarks here: Ethanol is You

Visit the ACE 26th Annual Ethanol Conference photo album.

ACE, ACE Ethanol Conference, Audio, Ethanol, RFS

Fungus & Bacteria Join Forces for Better Biofuels

Joanna Schroeder

Several University of Michigan researchers have joined together a fungus and E. coli bacteria to turn tough, waste plant material into isobutanol – a product that can be converted into biochemicals and biofuels. A paper based on this research, “Design and characterization of synthetic fungal-bacterial consortia for direct production of isobutanol from cellulosic biomass,” was published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Xiaoxia “Nina” Lin, assistant professor of chemical engineering, and leader of the research said her team used corn stalks and leaves to produce the isobutanol. Focused on creating a super team of microbial specialists, the team landed on the fungus Trichoderma reesei, an up and coming  star when its comes breaking down tough plant material into sugars. Escherichia coli, meanwhile, is relatively easy for researchers to genetically modify and the team used a strain developed by James Liao’s lab at the University of California – Los Angeles that had been engineered to convert sugars into isobutanol.

The Lin group put both microbe species into a bioreactor and served up corn stalks and leaves. Colleagues at Michigan State University had pre-treated the roughage to make it easier to digest. “If you’ve ever had puffed rice cereal, it’s somewhat analogous,” said Jeremy Minty, first author of the paper and a recent doctoral graduate in Lin’s lab.

The fungi turned the roughage into sugars that fed both microbe species with enough left over to produce isobutanol. The team managed to get 1.88 grams of isobutanol per liter of fluid in the ecosystem, the highest concentration reported to date for turning tough plant materials into biofuels. They also converted a large proportion of the energy locked in the corn stalks and leaves to isobutanol – 62 percent of the theoretical maximum.Read More

advanced biofuels, biobutanol, biochemicals, Research, Video