Domestic Fuel

Here is the first of the blog updates from the Cross Country E85 trip. The update was written by Bradley Westrum and emailed to us by Alex Lundgren, who decided to go home when they arrived in Des Moines Tuesday. The rest of the crew, which includes students Ashley Heflin and Tami Davis and teacher/chaparone Jim Richardson, are continuing on their journey to Los Angeles.

March-06-06 Starting our day off waking up around 7, we met in Jim’s room at 8, where we left to go to eat breakfast at a diner on the corner a block away from our hotel. Getting our food faster than expected, we had time to attempt to go fill the Avalanche with E85 before Senator Grassley arrived at the hotel. Unfortunately our attempt to find E85 failed, when we could not find the gas station that sells the fuel. With the driving time consumed trying to find E85- our time was running short, so we decided to head back to the hotel to meet Sen. Grassley. Sen. Grassley arrived with his staff a few minutes after we got back to the hotel parking lot. When Sen. Grassley pulled into the parking lot, he got out and jumped in the Avalanche and Jim got in the car with his staff. Sen. Grassley rode with the students, and directed them the easiest way to the Capital. Upon arrival we went through security, and pulled right up to the steps of the Capital building, then were interviewed by WHO radio, and our picture was taken numerous times in front of the car with the Capitol in the back ground. After complaining enough about not being able to find the station that E85 is available, Bob Dinneen who is the President of the Renewable Fuels Association rode with use to the station, filled up the Avalanche, and paid for it. Mr. Dinneen pointed out that the Pentagon which was just behind the station that we filled up at, faced the area where on 9-11 the terrorist drove the plane into the outer wall. After navigating our way under the instruction of Mr. Dinneen back to the Capitol, we dropped him off, and headed on our way. Just so all you know, navigating Washington D.C. is a daunting task, especially with 5, farm raised Iowans at the helm. Although we found out that Mr. Dinneen who has lived in D.C for more than 30 years can slip up and make a wrong turn. After collecting our things and checking out of our hotel, we started on our way with a full tank of E-85. When leaving D.C we were flagged down by a woman driving a 2001 Pontiac Montana. She waved at us, we rolled down our window, and she asked, “Where can I get that,” of course referring to the huge Ethanol signs and decals on the side of our Avalanche. So we explained to her that she will need to update, and get herself a new Chevrolet. The second fill stop on the trip was in Morgantown, West Virginia. We decided to bypass the town, hopefully cutting out an opportunity to get lost. We went the long way around the town and then back tracked. The map that we followed, lead us down a small, dilapidated dirt road, in hick town. Seeing that there probably wasn’t a gas station that offered E-85 we flagged down what we will call a close relative to Jed Clampet… (Beverly Hillbillies)… We asked him if there was a gas station that has 85% Ethanol, and he proceeded to answer use with, “WHO?” So seeing that this wasn’t going to make much progress we thanked him and turned back towards Morgantown. After finding the right road, we were lucky that there was a person working at this stop. We stopped at Delaney Oil Company, were we dealt with a pioneer in renewable recourses, and a real gem of a guy named Michael L. Kelly. After this stop, we were able to calculate and crunch the first numbers of the trip. We found that this vehicle will bring use no problems when we stretch the stops out when we continue to the west coast. More coverage tomorrow when we continue on the second day of the trip, when we continue through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. “Piddidle!!!”

“See the USA in your Flex Fuel Chevrolet…

Illinois is using pigs, the Japanese are using cows – both are trying to get fuel from manure. The University of Illinois is designing “a pilot plant for a large commercial livestock farm that will convert swine manure to crude oil,” according to this press release from the university’s College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences or ACES.

The pilot plant is based on research led by Yuanhui Zhang, an agricultural and biological engineer at the U of I. Zhang and colleagues developed a system using thermochemical conversion (TCC) to transform organic compounds (like swine manure) in a heated and pressurized enclosure to produce oil and gas. “The process we developed is different from most conventional TCC processes,” said Zhang. “There is no need for the addition of a catalyst, and our process does not require pre-drying of the manure.” Involved in the project are the Illinois Pork Producers Association, Worldwide BioEnergy (which is supposedly based here in Jefferson City, MO but I can’t find a website for them), Innoventor Engineering Inc., and BioCrude LLC (can’t find them either).
In Tokyo, according to this AP story, scientists are using cow manure to create gasoline. Sakae Shibusawa, an agriculture engineering professor at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, said his team has successfully extracted .042 ounces of gasoline from every 3.5 ounces of cow dung by applying high pressure and heat. “The new technology will be a boon for livestock breeders” to reduce the burden of disposing of large amounts of waste, Shibusawa said. Meanwhile, according to the article, “another group of researchers has successfully extracted an aromatic ingredient of vanilla from cattle dung.” I found this story from a link on humor columnist Dave Barry’s blog – and as he would say, I am not making this up.
I’m sure he would appreciate the graphic montage I put together to accompany this post.

On Saturday I was travelling back from last week’s Commodity Classic so I didn’t get to attend the press conference held in Miami for the Indy Racing League and our sponsor, EPIC. However, we bloggers have our ways of getting information. You can find out what the things on the table in this picture are by reading below. So here’s what happened:

On Saturday March 4, the Indy Racing League and EPIC (Ethanol Promotion and Information Council) held a joint news conference at the Homestead Miami Speedway in Homestead Florida. The focus was the IndyCar Series fuel partnership, which kicks off this year. In 2006, the IndyCar Series racing vehicles will use a blend of 10% ethanol and 90% methanol (as opposed to 100% methanol that was used last year). In 2007, the IndyCar Series switches to 100% ethanol.

EPIC representatives Steve Rust and Tom Slunecka (pictured) talked to reporters from the racing media as well as local Miami radio and TV stations and newspapers.

In case you’ve wondered if you can drive across the U. S. on E85 fuel only the answer is “you can.” Some college students are doing just that as I write. I just spoke with Jim Richardson, Iowa Central Community College, and they’ll wind up in Des Moines tonight after starting out in Washington, DC yesterday morning. He said they had just done a few laps around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway!

I invited Jim to have the students send in daily reports to DomesticFuel that we can use here. I think it would be interesting to see their perspective on the trip and renewable fuels like ethanol. He thinks that after they get in tonight they can send us a report.

Here’s some more information about the trip they’re on:

Beginning on Monday, March 6, 2006, students from the Iowa Central Community College (ICCC) will begin a cross-country trip in a 2005 Chevrolet Avalanche with E85 FlexFuel capability, demonstrating the possibility of coast-to-coast travel solely on E85, a mostly renewable fuel containing 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

“This is a great demonstration of the increased awareness and availability of renewable fuels such as E85,” said Jim Richardson, lead coordinator and professor at Iowa Central Community College. “With automakers like General Motors producing an abundance of flexible-fuel vehicles, we can help boost our country’s agriculture industry, save the environment, and reduce our dependence on petroleum.”

The students are Tami Davis, Ashley Heflin, Alex Lundgren and Bradley Westrum – posing in the picture with RFA president Bob Dineen, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Senator Conrad Burns of Montana.

The latest “Fill Up, Feel Good” podcast from the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council was recorded last week at the 2006 Commodity Classic in Anaheim, CA. EPIC executive director Tom Slunecka talked with Chuck Zimmerman about the organization’s role in helping the ethanol industry serve the needs of major markets looking for alternatives to MTBE. EPIC also sent out an audio news release addressing this same issue. Slunecka’s message to corn growers and other ethanol industry players is that they need to be very focused in these major markets now on reaching out to consumer influencers, such as mechanics, gas stations and car retailers.
“I don’t think we’ve had a more critical point in time where we need the support of the ethanol industry. These are very large markets; when we look at the east coast market and Dallas for example, we are talking millions and millions of consumers and it simply takes a volume of materials to communicate to those folks.”
The “Fill up, Feel Good” podcast is available to download by subscription (see our sidebar link) or you can listen to it by clicking here. (8:56 MP3 File)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (3.8MB)

I’m sure that Tom was just standing around his booth (EPIC) at Commodity Classic and looks up and lo and behold, there’s the U. S. Secretary of Agriculture stopping by for a visit. I hope he took a spin in the ethanol car simulator.

Ag Secretary Mike Johanns (second from right) visits with EPIC Executive Director Tom Slunecka (fourth from right) at the 2006 Commodity Classic in Anaheim, Calif., held March 2-4.

Our U. S. Secretary of Agriculture not only mentioned renewable fuels in his speech last week at Commodity Classic but he made sure he met with all the folks there working for the various organizations involved with the industry.

Ag Secretary Mike Johanns (dark suit, center) poses with staff and leaders from various groups promoting renewable fuels, including EPIC, during the March 2-4 Commodity Classic.

While exhibiting at last week’s Commodity Classic in Anaheim EPIC got to put a new team ethanol sponsor decal on the car (simulator).

Illinois Corn Marketing Board Chairman Bryan Fogerson (left) proudly applies an ICMB sponsor decal to the Team Ethanol Indy Car simulator with assistance from EPIC Executive Director Tom Slunecka (right). ICMB is a 2006 Team Ethanol Indy Car sponsor.

Our sponsor here at DomesticFuel is the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC). They were in Anaheim this past week exhibiting at the Commodity Classic and had some very distinguished visitors like Tom Dorr, USDA Undersecretary for Rural Development. I just got the pictures and wanted to share. There’s more to come.

(L to R) USDA Undersecretary for Rural Development Tom Dorr, EPIC Executive Director Tom Slunecka and EPIC board member Greg Krissek.

Minnesota Governor, Tim Pawlenty, spoke to a crowd here at Commodity Classic in Anaheim on Friday. I think some of the folks here would like to see him run for President. He gave a great talk about how his state has led the way in the development of renewable fuels and challenged other states to follow their lead in what he called the “Energy Revolution.”

I know there’s a lot of you who have never heard him talk. I think you’ll enjoy taking a few minutes to listen to him.

You can listen to Governor Pawlenty’s speech here: Governor Pawlenty Speech (21:21 MP3 File)

AgWired coverage of Commodity Classic is being made posssible by our good friends at New Holland.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (12.2MB)

The Ethanol Promotion & Information Council wants you to experience fuel performance at 220 miles per hour. As they say, “There’s nothing Mickey Mouse about that.” Here at their booth at Commodity Classic in Anaheim, CA, they’ve got an IndyCar racing simulator. So strap yourself in and hold on. You can hear what this baby sounds like here: Simulator Sound (1:29 MP3 File)

To better see what it’s like to be in the simulator you can watch a short video clip of it here: IndyCar Simulator (:31 wmv file)

AgWired coverage of Commodity Classic is being made posssible by our good friends at New Holland.

The President of the American Soybean Association is Bob Metz, from South Dakota. Bob is very happy with the way things are going with the whole renewable fuels initiative in the U. S. and especially with biodiesel. I don’t think you’ll find a bigger supporter out there.

Besides the impact biodiesel development has on the soybean business Bob also thinks all growers should become members of ASA so that their voice will be heard as policy decisions are made here as part of the grassroots effort that takes place at Commodity Classic, the combined annual meeting of the National Corn Growers Association and ASA.

You can listen to my interview with Bob here: Metz Interview (3:30 MP3 File)

AgWired coverage of Commodity Classic is being made posssible by our good friends at New Holland.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (1.6MB)

Hello from Commodity Classic, the combined annual meeting of the National Corn Growers Association and the American Soybean Association. The first press conference here at Commodity Classic is always with the leadership of NCGA and ASA. To get us started I interviewed NCGA President, Gerald Tumbleson.

Gerald talks about the success his state has had with their ethanol mandate in Minnesota and the issues facing corn growers that will be discussed here. You can listen to my interview with Gerald here: Tumbleson Interview (4:05 MP3 File)

AgWired coverage of Commodity Classic is being made posssible by our good friends at New Holland.

Now this is a cool car! This Saab concept car, which runs on 100 percent ethanol, was unveiled this week at the Geneva Auto Show. According to an MSNBC story, “The 400-hp, twin-turbo, BioPower V6 engine is fueled entirely by ethanol,” Saab said in a statement touting the environmental benefits of reduced emissions of carbon dioxide, a gas that many scientists tie to global warming. The Aero X has a cockpit and aerodynamic design based on Saab’s aviation roots. While there is no promise from Saab that this car will ever make it beyond the concept stage Kjell Bergstrom, executive director of Saab Automobile Powertrain says some of the Aero X technology, especially turbocharging, could find its way in future models. “Turbocharging and bioethanol make excellent partners,” Bergstrom said. Saab stated that turbocharging with ethanol “allows the use of a higher compression ratio — giving more engine power — than is possible with gasoline because of the risk of harmful ‘knocking’ or pre-detonation.” Bergstrom also touted another advantage with ethanol: “If there is no bioethanol available, the customer can still use gasoline at any time.”
More info on this nifty little vehicle can be found by going to the Saab link above or here.

An Environmental Protection Agency proposal would treat ethanol plants the same as corn milling plants for grain when it comes to Clean Air Act standards. According to the EPA announcement, ethanol is produced at corn milling facilities for use as fuel or human consumption. While the processes are similar, these facilities are currently treated differently under Clean Air Act permitting programs. EPA’s proposal would provide equal treatment for corn milling facilities, regardless of whether they produce ethanol for fuel or human consumption. The proposal would establish the same emissions limits under the PSD program – 250 tons per year – regardless of whether the ethanol end product is used for fuel or human consumption
Seems reasonable to me, if they are essentially creating the same product just for different uses – and the idea is to help generate more ethanol production. The proposal led to headlines like this: “EPA proposes allowing ethanol plants to emit more pollution” which is true, but makes it sound kind of sensational unless you read the actual article on the proposal which explains it very well.