ACE Conference 2026

Turning Plant Matter into Fuel

Joanna Schroeder

Charles Wyman, a University of California Riverside professor in the Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department, recently edited a book, “Aqueous Pretreatment of Aqueous Biomass BookPlant Biomass for Biological and Chemical Conversion to Fuels,” that provides in-depth information on aqueous processing of cellulosic biomass into fuel.

The just-published book focuses on aqueous pretreatment of cellulosic biomass to promote sugar release for biological, catalytic, or thermochemical conversion into fuels and chemicals. Introductory chapters provide the rationale for converting biomass to fuels; its importance to national security, balance of trade, and the environment; and insights into biological and catalytic processing to fuels. Also included are in-depth information on the chemistry and biology of cellulosic biomass, leading pretreatments to facilitate its biological and chemical conversion to sugars, and methods important to assess the effectiveness of biomass conversion technologies.

In recent decades, interest in converting cellulosic biomass to fuels has closely tracked the price of petroleum: support jumps when petroleum prices are high and wanes when prices drop.

“That creates a big challenge,” Wyman said. “The volatility of oil prices and associated enthusiasm for alternatives results in a very unstable environment in which to build a business.”

Yet, cellulosic biomass conversion has unique and powerful benefits. It has the potential to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions and imported petroleum dependence and is widely available and inexpensive. For example, cellulosic biomass costing $60 per dry ton has about the same cost per energy content as petroleum at about $20 per barrel.Read More

advanced biofuels, biomass, Cellulosic

DoD Biofuels Program Weathers Senate Storm

John Davis

us-capitol-fiscal-cliff-voteSomebody in Washington must be looking out for biofuels. On the heels of the full U.S. Senate passing the the Farm Bill and its provisions friendly to biofuels (including $38 million for the Biomass Crop Assistance Program, about $160 million for the Biorefinery, Renewable Chemical, and Biobased Product Manufacturing Assistance program, and possibly up to $88 million for the Rural Energy for American Program), the Senate Armed Services Committee has stopped attempts that would have curtailed the military’s biofuels program.

The move gained the praise of the Advanced Biofuels Association’s president Michael McAdams:

“The Advanced Biofuels Association applauds the Senate Armed Services Committee for their leadership in supporting the Department of Defense initiatives in advanced biofuels. The Senate continues to recognize the mission value of investments in biofuels that meet multiple national security objectives, and contribute to growing jobs in American agriculture and technology.”

Of course, both of these bills are still to pass both the full House and Senate and the inevitable joint committees to hash out the differences. Both of these might have been wins for biofuels, but the war’s not over. Stay tuned.

biofuels, farm bill, Government

ICM’s 2.0 Tech to Add More Value to Ethanol Plants

John Davis

Kurt Dieker head shotRecently, we told you about ICM, Inc.’s Generation 1.5 Integrated Fiber to Cellulosic Ethanol Technology that will help produce cellulosic ethanol at existing grain ethanol plants. Now the company has announced its Generation 2.0 technology that will allow ethanol plants to also produce cellulosic ethanol from the stover from those same corn fields where the grain comes from.

“ICM sees that as a co-location facility, next to Generation 1 facilities,” explained Kurt Dieker, ICM’s Director of Product Development during an interview with Joanna. He said they’ll see a differentiated feedstock going in, so the process won’t be that much different than their 1.5 technology, with corn stover and other cellulosic crops being turned into fuel. And the 1.5 technology would serve as a cheaper proving ground before stepping up to the more expensive 2.0 technology. And since the 2.0 can be located in existing ethanol plants, farmers can have one stop to bring their corn and stover to make the two generations of ethanol. “Our mission is to add value to sustainable agriculture through renewable fuels and chemicals. Not only can the plants make more money, but also the farmer make more money per acre.”

Another benefit of ICM’s Generation 2.0 technology is using the existing infrastructure, such as power and water, which can make up to 30 percent of the costs of building a plant, and using a first generation plant’s steam, making the second generation plant cheaper.

Kurt said they’ll be doing the first integrated run of the Generation 2.0 technology in the third quarter of this year, and the market will drive the future.

“The bigger thing for us is to continue to add value for our customers, continue to invest into the industry as a whole, and to give overall producers options for the future and a positive outlook.”

Listen to Joanna’s interview with Kurt here: Kurt Dieker, ICM

Audio, Cellulosic, Ethanol, News, RINS

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

  • BioEnergyBytesDFGenscape is sponsoring the first New York Energy Week, a cross-sector energy event series launched to stimulate industry investment and innovative energy solutions. The event will take place in New York City June 24-28, 2013. Genscape energy experts will be sharing their insights during a number of headline events throughout the week including the Oil and Gas breakfast panel and the Energy Data Jam at Google headquarters.
  • Green EnviroTech Holdings Corp. has appointed Kim Johnson as VP
    of Marketing. Johnson has more than 30 years of experience in the energy industry. Prior to joining the company, she was the President of eBarton LLC.
  • NuMat Technologies, a materials technology company that captured top honors at cleantech business competitions across the country, has announced it closed a $2 million seed round, bringing the nanotech startup’s total funding to $2.4 million. The GOOSE Society of Texas, an angel network, led the round, which included participation from Owl Investment Group.
  • Renewable Energy Systems Americas Inc. has been selected as the balance of plant constructor for phase two of the Lower Snake River wind farm. The 267 megawatt wind farm is located near Dayton, Washington, northeast of Walla Walla, and will utilize 116 Siemens Energy wind turbines with a capacity of 2.3 megawatts.
  • Real Goods Solar, Inc. has announced that Jirka Rysavy resigned from his position as a director and chairman of the board of the company. Rysavy has served as the chairman of the company’s board of directors since its inception. Until recently, Gaiam was the largest shareholder of the company.
Bioenergy Bytes

Sioux Indian Tribes Adopt Wind Energy

Joanna Schroeder

Leaders from six Sioux Indian Tribes along with former U.S. President Bill Clinton have announced a new wind power initiative for South Dakota. The project is being assisted by Arent Fox a team including former Senator Byron Dorgan, co-chair of the Government Relations practice, and Communications, Technology & Mobile partner Jonathan E. Canis and associate G. David Carter. The project is supported by the Clinton Global Initiative.

Crow-Lake-Wind-Farm-S-Dakota“Having served as Chairman of the US Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, I understand the strong desire of the Indian Tribes to build ‘Indian owned’ wind power projects to create new jobs and affordable power for their Tribes,” said Senator Dorgan. “This project is a unique opportunity for the Sioux Tribes in South Dakota to chart their own destiny. They live on lands that are rich with wind resources and they can use those resources to build a large wind energy project that can both help the Tribes and produce clean, renewable power for our country for decades to come.”

Dorgan continued, “Together with my colleagues at Arent Fox, I have been honored to work with elected leaders of the Tribes to plan this project and I am especially proud of the recognition given it today by President Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative.”

Through the project, the Tribes stand to infuse up to $3 billion directly into the South Dakota economy, an amount roughly equal to the impact of the entire manufacturing sector in South Dakota in a given year. The planned project could generate 1-2 gigawatts of power annually. Measured conservatively, that’s more than enough power to electrify the homes in Denver, Colorado for the next 20 years, the typical useful lifespan of the wind turbines.

The majority of the project’s funding will come through the sale of bonds by a Multi-Tribal Power Authority, which are expected to be made available to investors in about two years, following a critical planning and preparation stage. For this reason, the Tribes have partnered with the crowdfunding platform Rally.org to seek funding and raise general awareness for the project.

The Tribes participating in the project include Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, and Yankton Sioux Tribe.

Alternative energy, Electricity, Energy, Wind

Atlanta Biodieseler Celebrates One Year

John Davis

CleanenergybiofuelsA Georgia-based biodiesel maker is celebrating its first year in business for its retail station. Atlanta’s Clean Energy Biofuels, which touts its biodiesel as the only in the country that is made using 100 percent solar power, threw a party for the one-year anniversary of the opening of their retail biodiesel station by hosting Atlanta Green Drinks, a monthly networking gathering for people interested in sustainability, green business, environmental and social causes, architecture and design, organics, renewable energy:

Over the past year we have had the pleasure of providing fuel to a wide range of drivers, from local residents to landscape companies to cross country travelers – Woody Harrelson and New Belgium Brewing Company’s Tour de Fat, just to name a few. Everyone who provides grease or purchases our fuel has been key to our success this year. By using the fuel from our retail station, you are helping prevent carbon dioxide from being emitted into the air, making a real difference in the environment.

Our biodiesel is the only biodiesel in the country produced using 100% solar energy. It is also completely locally sourced, meaning that every cent is pumped right back into the Georgia economy. Our biodiesel also meets the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International Standard, which ensures quality and consistency that rivals conventional diesel.

The company also touts their turning of old grease into biodiesel as a way to lift a “burden on our landfills and sewers into the greenest transportation fuel available.”

Check out the pictures from the event on Clean Energy Biofuels’ Flickr page.

Biodiesel, Solar

SiNode Systems Wins 2013 Clean Energy Challenge

Joanna Schroeder

SiNode Systems has won the top prize in the 2013 U.S Department of Energy National Clean Energy Business Plan Competition. The company was also a finalist in Clean Energy Trust’s 2012 Clean Energy Challenge and earned a sport at the national competition after SiNode Systemswinning the 2013 Rice Business Plan Competition.

“SiNode’s game-changing battery technology will change the way we use cell phones, computers and even electric cars,” said Amy Francetic, CEO of Clean Energy Trust. “We are enormously gratified that we could help advance such a dynamic and creative company since its initial formation through the 2012 Challenge.”

SiNode, a cleantech startup from Northwestern University, is commercializing an anode for lithium-ion batteries that allows the battery to charge more quickly and hold a charge 10 times longer than current technology.  SiNode’s anode could greatly enhance battery life for electric vehicles and smartphones. The startup won first prize and more than $800,000 at the 2013 Rice Business Plan Competition.

“These wins validate the Midwest’s clean energy ecosystem and demonstrate its ability to launch viable businesses with homegrown technology from our world-class research institutions,” Francetic said. “We are thrilled to have a Clean Energy Trust company win the national title two years in a row.”

Clean Energy, Electric Vehicles

Hybrids, EVs Causing States to Ponder New Road Taxes

Joanna Schroeder

According to an article on Fox News, several states, with the latest being North Carolina, are looking at how to tax hybrid and electric vehicle (EV) owners. The states are trying to recoup road funding, earned via taxes at the pump.

Politicians are taking the stance that all drivers, no matter what they drive, are responsible for helping to maintain the roads they use as well as build new ones. Whereas hybrid and Nissan_LeafEV drivers along with other alternative fuel vehicles say this is the wrong approach to promoting U.S. energy independence with sustainable infrastructure funding.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), gas taxes comprise nearly 40 percent of all state highway revenues and more than 90 percent at the federal level. However, the Institute on Taxation on Economic Policy says revenues are not keeping up with rising construction costs, falling 41 percent in real value at the federal level since they were last increased 18 years ago. State are facing the same problems.

Some say the solution is to overhaul the gas tax system to miles traveled but this approach has not been well received.Read More

Alternative energy, Electric Vehicles

CRFA: Gov’t Inflating Renewable Diesel Numbers

John Davis

CRFA1The Canadian government says imports are flooding its renewable diesel mandate, but a group that works for renewable diesel and biodiesel says those numbers are being overblown in an attempt to hurt that mandate. This article in The Western Producer says the government believes the country’s renewable fuel content will consist of 90 percent imports, buoyed by imported soybean and canola biodiesel from the U.S. and hydrogenation-derived renewable diesel (HDRD) from overseas. But the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association says those numbers are a bogus attempt to water down and are intended to water down the two percent renewable diesel mandate:

“We’re seeing Canadian-based canola being shipped into the United States for upgrading and then sent back into Canada. They are describing that as an import,” said CRFA president Scott Thurlow.


Once Archer Daniels Midland’s Lloydminster canola biodiesel plant starts in September the flow of imported canola biodiesel from the U.S. will slow. 


The ADM plant will be capable of producing 265 million litres of the alternative fuel annually, bringing Canada’s total biodiesel capacity up to 450 million litres. 


The existing federal mandate requires about 600 million litres of renewable diesel per year.


The CRFA also questions the charge that HDRD is going to be such a large chunk of renewable diesel in the eastern part of the country. While the association acknowledges the high quality of the imported fuel, Thurlow makes the case that it will be not cost-effective to use that imported fuel.

“Its disadvantage is that it is ruinously expensive,” he said.


“More and more biodiesel is pushing the HDRD out of the marketplace and that’s being done almost entirely because of price.”


Biodiesel, Government, International

U.S. Firms Sign Climate Declaration

Joanna Schroeder

Twenty-two American investment firms with nearly $240 billion in assets under management have signed a Climate Declaration, calling on U.S policymakers to seize the American economic opportunity of addressing climate change. The move was timed with the start of the Global Investor Forum on Climate Change that took place this week in Hong Kong. The declaration asserts. “Tackling climate change is one of America’s greatest economic opportunities of the 21st century … There must be a coordinated effort to combat climate change—with America taking the lead here at home.”

Jack Ehnes, chief executive officer of CalSTRS, one of the organizations who signed the Climate Declaration said, “As the global economy moves toward a low-carbon future, governments that act aggressively to enact strong, long-term climate and energy policies will reap the biggest rewards. In order to tackle the global climate crisis, we must realize the strength of our combined efforts. That is why CalSTRS signed the Climate Declaration. U.S. policy leaders need to step up on this issue and embrace climate change policies as an economic opportunity.”

Investors have been an important force in supporting policy changes related to clean energy and efficiency. Last year, investors managing $800 billion in assets called on Congress to renew the Production Tax Credit for renewable energy, which was ultimately extended for another year. Investors have also been outspoken proponents of state Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPSs) that more than two-dozen states have enacted to boost sourcing of wind, solar and other renewable energy. RPSs have catalyzed billions of dollars of investment, thousands of new projects and hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs, including 30,000 new jobs in 2012 alone.

“Being smarter when it comes to climate change is the right thing to do for all of our families, and it also will translate into economic and investment opportunities,” said Oregon State Treasurer Ted Wheeler, who has previously called for better disclosure of climate-related opportunities and risks and who also signed the declaration. “I am proud to stand with Oregon’s largest employers and premier ski destinations to recognize that a cleaner future will also be a more profitable one.”

Read More

Alternative energy, Climate Change, Environment, Video