Domestic Fuel

Here’s an interesting commentary from the Providence (RI) Journal written by a “former rocket scientist and combustion specialist.”

Maurice Webb is his name and he explains the gasoline vs. ethanol mileage question as follows:

The fact is that higher fuel-heating values do not necessarily provide better engine performance (mileage). Engines equipped with carburetors do not perform well with ethanol because it has a higher density (more pounds per gallon) than gasoline, which means that the air-to-fuel ratio is no longer optimum.

Also, gasoline requires more air for combustion, and that means that there is more gas to be heated. The air-to-fuel ratio for complete combustion is 12 percent greater for gasoline. Complete combustion gives the maximum temperature, which also provides for maximum engine efficiency. The two fuels have almost identical maximum temperatures. So what happens to the extra heat for gasoline? It goes out the exhaust!

Webb also goes on to point out the other advantages of ethanol over gasoline, including less pollution, higher octane, and renewability. I just thought it was interesting.

There’s a saying in the ethanol world – “drink the best and burn the rest” – but a couple of Iowa State University researchers are out to turn that saying on its head.

ISU researchers Hans van Leeuwen and Jacek Koziel are working on a process to quickly and cheaply convert fuel ethanol into the purer alcohol used in cocktails – as well as in mouth washes and cough or cold remedies, according to an ISU press release.

Technically, 100 percent ethanol is drinkable – and inebriating (see previous post). That’s why the fuel is denatured, or rendered unfit for human consumption, before it leaves the plant, so you can’t pump ethanol out of the gas tank and drink it.

However, even before denaturing, the ethanol being produced for fuel is not pure enough for beverage or medicinal use. According to Van Leeuwen, the fuel produced by those plants and the alcohol produced for the beverage industry are very similar. But alcohol produced for fuel isn’t made with the same care and purity as alcohol for consumption, he said. The multiple distillations required to make food-grade alcohol raise production costs to about 50 cents per gallon more than it costs to produce fuel ethanol.

Van Leeuwen said the researchers are working to develop technologies that can purify fuel into beverage alcohol for less than an additional penny per gallon.

The project is partially supported by a $79,900 grant from the Grow Iowa Values Fund and at least “one large producer of ethanol and food-grade alcohol interested in the research project.”

GM Performance Division’s Ecotec-powered Bonneville Student Project Chevy Cobalt SS set a 172.680 mph land speed record this month at the Bonneville Salt Flats in its final run using E85 ethanol.

The car was converted to run on E85 by three female engineering student interns – 19-year-old Heather Chemistruck from Virginia Tech University, 21-year-old Lauren Zimmer from Purdue University and 21-year-old Sandra Saldivar of New Mexico State University.

Running only on E85, the Student Project Cobalt broke the previous 19-year-old record of 152.626 mph set by Doc Jeffries in 1987, and then upped that record twice using E85 combined with nitrous oxide to its final mark of 172.680 mph in the G/FCC class, according to a release on the GM website.

Mario Andretti sure was proud Sunday as his 19-year-old son Marco won his first Indy race in Sonoma, California on the Infineon Raceway.

That was race number 13 of the season, just one more to go this year on ten percent ethanol before the big switch to 100 percent next year.

Meanwhile, Team Ethanol can be proud of Sunday’s race. Number 17 car driver Jeff Simmons was running in third place at one point during the race and finished the day in seventh – tying his top Indy Car Series finish this season in Nashville.

Last race of the season coming up on September 10 at Chicagoland Speedway.

A tree that can reach 90 feet in six years and be grown as a row crop on fallow farmland could provide an additional feedstock for biofuels production.

According to a Purdue University release, researchers Clint Chapple and Rick Meilan (pictured with trees) are using genetic tools in an effort to design trees that readily and inexpensively can yield the substances needed to produce alternative transportation fuel. The scientists are focused on a compound in cell walls called lignin that contributes to plants’ structural strength, but which hinders extraction of cellulose. Cellulose is the sugar-containing component needed to make the alternative fuel ethanol.

Chapple and Meilan want to genetically modify a hybrid poplar tree so that lignin will not impede the release of cellulose for degradation into fermentable sugars, which then can be converted to ethanol. The changed lignin also may be useable either in fuel or other products, they said.

Next week, Purdue University and U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar will host an energy summit to discuss industry and policy perspectives on how our nation can significantly reduce its dependence on foreign oil.

Richard G. Lugar-Purdue Summit on Energy Security will bring more than 600 leaders to the Purdue campus in West Lafayette, Ind. to discuss national energy issues and policy. Among those joining Lugar, R-Ind. for the daylong event include Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Purdue President Martin C. Jischke and U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind.

The Aug. 29 invitation-only summit includes a panel discussion, “Implementing Strategies to Reduce Foreign Oil Dependence.” Panelists include Sue Cischke, Ford Motor Co. vice president; Carol Battershell, vice president for alternative energy for BP Inc.; and Amy Myers Jaffe, Wallace S. Wilson Fellow in Energy Studies at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy of Rice University. Brian Lamb, president and CEO of C-SPAN, will serve as panel moderator.

Truckers on the nation’s highways can now find biodiesel just by calling a toll-free hotline.

The National Biodiesel Board has announced the launch of 866-BIODIESEL where truckers and other motorists can locate biodiesel 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

According to an NBB release, the Biodiesel Hotline staff has access to mapping software linked to a database that is populated and kept up to date with retail outlets carrying biodiesel. Information including truck accessibility and blend percentage of biodiesel to petro-diesel is available from the database.

Based on a recent survey, truckers state that reduced dependence on foreign oil and support for U.S. farmers are two of the most important reasons to use biodiesel. Many truckers also state that biodiesel reduces wear and tear through increased lubricity and improves engine performance. Awareness of biodiesel among truckers is high, so the most asked question is “where can I find biodiesel?”

Retail pump locations can be found from biodiesel.org, and those that are truck accessible are currently searchable on BioTrucker.com, but often truckers do not have access to the Internet.

The number is 866-BIODIESEL.

Absolute Energy and its farmer-owners broke ground on a new facility near St. Ansgar, Iowa today.

That’s Absolute, with an “e” on the end, for ethanol. These guys are planning on making alcohol for energy, not to be confused with Absolut, the vodka.

When complete, this state-of-the-art biorefinery will produce 100 million gallons of ethanol and 320,000 tons of distillers grains annually from 35 million bushels of local corn.

The picture is from the company website of some of Absolute’s board members: Rick Schwarck, President; Steve Neely; Greg Goplerup; Chris Schwarck, VP; and Tom Edgington.

Fagen, Inc. of Granite Falls, Minnesota is overseeing the construction and incorporating a process design provided by ICM, Inc. of Colwich, Kansas.

Garst Seed Company is showing its true colors.

The company recently launched its Blue + Yellow = Green (BYG) initiative. Blue signifies Garst’s leadership in the seed corn industry, while yellow represents kernels of corn bred to enhance ethanol production. Added together, they create green — the color representing the environmental and earth-friendly renewable fuels such as ethanol, as well as the extra value these fuels can bring to agriculture

To kick off the BYG initiative, Garst is giving its customers the opportunity to win one of 11 grand prizes — fully paid, one-year leases for 11 blue Chevy 1500 Flex Fuel pickup trucks. In addition to the 11 Chevy trucks, customers can also be entered into the drawing for 110 first- place prizes of $100 ethanol certificates. Growers will have the opportunity to register for the prizes by contacting a Garst sales representative or through attendance at a Garst Seed Company field day and other events. For more information about the BYG Blue Truck promotion, growers should contact their Garst seed dealer.

As truckers increasingly demand homegrown biodiesel, a new toll-free number will help them find retail availability anywhere in the United States. Friday, at the Great American Trucking Show, the National Biodiesel Board will announce the launch of the Biodiesel Hotline. The hotline will be staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

We’ll have that number as soon as it’s announced.

I apologize for the light posting this week. I have been doing a “virtual press room” for the National Institute for Animal Agriculture ID INFO EXPO 2006 this week in Kansas City, so that has been keeping me busier than normal and out of the office. But, as you can see from the previous post, I did still manage to get in a Domestic Fuel moment.

Unlike my prolific poster husband, I just don’t have the stamina to multi-task the way he does at a meeting. I have to focus on the business at hand. So, I don’t even have a picture of me hard at work in the news room to post – or even one of me interviewing the Secretary of Agriculture. His personal photog got a pic that I might be able to get some time in the future, but I unfortunately did not get one with my own camera.

Be that as it may, here I am at 10 pm, sitting on the floor of the upper meeting room area of the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City doing my posting. Please allow me to vent – that’s what blogs are really for! I’m staying in this classy four-star hotel that has wireless access in the lobby and just about anywhere else OUTSIDE of your hotel room. So, if you don’t get a room, you have all the access you want, 24 hours a day.

However, if you pay $200 a night to stay in the place, you have to pay another $10 a day for internet access in your room! If I was in a Motel 6, I’d get it for free with my $75 room, along with a free breakfast in the morning. What is wrong with this picture?

So, that’s why I’m sitting on the floor posting right now. The first night I did pay the extra $10 for the access in my room, which is by ethernet. But last night I somehow screwed something up so I couldn’t get it to connect, which is actually saving money in the long run, but still is annoying.

OK – I’m done venting. Now I am packing up my computer and going to bed.

I had the opportunity for a 15 minute interview with Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns today in Kansas City. I was wearing many hats, so I had to ask him questions on several topics, but I did get in a question about food versus fuel when it comes to ethanol.

Basically, the short answer is – use all you want, we’ll grow more. Here is the secretary’s answer to my question. Johanns (2 min MP3)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (924.3KB)

A ground-breaking event will be held Friday in Hankinson, N.D. on August 25 for US Bio Hankinson, the biggest ethanol plant in North Dakota. (see previous post). The 100 million gallon per year ethanol plant, being constructed by US BioEnergy Corporation, will consume approximately 36 million bushels of corn and will produce 320,000 tons of distillers grain annually.

Peabody-award winning Public Radio broadcasters the Kitchen Sisters are featuring Deep Fried Fuel on NPR’s Morning Edition this Thursday, August 24. That would be tomorrow morning as this is posted, but NPR does offer podcasts of features if you miss it.

The Hidden Kitchen program “explores secret, underground, below-the-radar community cooking going on throughout America and how communities come together through food.”

Deep Fried Fuel: A Biodiesel Kitchen Vision, includes interviews with Willie Nelson, Carl Cornelius, Kinky Friedman, Peter Bell, Joe Nick Patoski and other “biodiesel visionaries” at Carl’s Corner and Houston, Texas.

Oklahoma Sustainable Energy LLC is well on its way to building a 55 million gallon a year plant in Enid, OK.

The Alva (OK) Review Telegram reports that a Monday meeting for potential investors drew “scores of area residents” interested in hearing about the plan.

The group hopes to obtain 449 investors for the project which needs a minimum of $5 million and a maximum of $14 million. Chaparral Energy LLC, an Oklahoma oil and gas company, has committed to funding two-thirds of the project, according to the article.

“We are the only ethanol plan in the United States that has partnered with gas and oil,” President Terry Detrick said. “We feel we have hit a home run when the two major players – oil and agriculture – have married.”

The picture, from the Alva article, shows Michael Entz, Vice President and Terry Detrick, President of OSE, during the investment presentation. Photo by Helen Barrett