Domestic Fuel

The grand opening event for Missouri Ethanol is just finishing up with public tours. I don’t think they could have asked for better weather. I heard the attendence pegged at 585 but I think it was more than that. It was a big crowd on hand.

The stage was filled with dignitaries who all got up together for the ribbon cutting to kick off the official opening of the plant. Production is slated to begin by tomorrow.

The National Corn Growers Association, the Ohio Corn Growers Association and the Renewable Fuels Association are bringing an ethanol-powered, high-performance race car to Capitol Hill this week to promote ethanol.

Mark Thomas, five-time International Hot Rod Association Funny Car champion, and his Ohio Corn Growers-sponsored race car will be on the corner of Delaware Avenue and C Street NE on Wednesday, September 27.

Learn more about Mark and his passion for ethanol as a farmer and a driver by listening to the Domestic Fuel interview with him on our previous post.

While ADM has jumped headfirst into the ethanol pool, major competitor Cargill is only testing the waters. Here’s an AP story from over the weekend about Cargill’s more cautious approach to the biofuels boom.

Training on how to finance biofuels projects is the goal of Infocast’s Ethanol & Biodiesel Project Finance: The Tutorial, coming up November 1-3 in Chicago.

Here’s the pitch from the organizers:

Biofuels are red-hot, and getting hotter by the day! But developers and financiers must understand how to best take advantage of the national Renewable Fuels Standard and other incentives, as well as how to mitigate feedstock and technical risks, in order to structure projects to optimize revenue streams while minimizing risk exposure.

I was very pleasantly surprised to see the price of gas in Columbia, MO yesterday.

Since I drive a flex fuel minivan I filled up with E85.

Tomorrow I’ll be attending the grand opening of Missouri Ethanol in Laddonia, MO. I’ll be taking some pictures and doing some interviews and will ask about our gas prices and what role ethanol is playing in them currently.

Prairie Horizon Agri-Energy, LLC is celebrating the grand opening of its 40 million gallon per year ethanol biorefinery near Phillipsburg, KS.

Prairie Horizon Agri-Energy President Monte Abell says, “This project is the result of the commitment of a visionary board and the support of the community. They had a clear recognition of our need for renewable fuels and an economic boost. Although we are an ‘LLC,’ many of the 300 owners are farmers from Kansas and elsewhere in the Midwest.”

As the biodiesel industry continues to grow, the National Biodiesel Board is mapping the progress.

Currently, there are 86 plants producing biodiesel throughout the nation. That’s up from 65 plants in April. NBB estimates there are another 65 plants under construction.

Keep up with the biodiesel growth by checking out the maps on the NBB website.
Existing plants map
Plants under construction or expansion

MGP Ingredients Inc. and Bunge North America are considering jointly building an ethanol plant in the Atchison, KS area, according to a Kansas City Business Journal report.

In a filing Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Atchison-based MGP Ingredients said the companies have made no decisions to proceed beyond the investigatory stage.

In other Bunge news this week, the St. Louis-based agribusiness corporation announced it is teaming up with Memphis-based Biodiesel Investment Group, LLC to build Illinois’ largest biodiesel plant in Danville.

Plans are for the joint venture, Biofuels Company of America, LLC to build the 45-million gallon per year biodiesel plant adjacent to Bunge’s soybean processing facility in Danville, Ill. Work on the site is already under way with plans for the plant to be operational in the first quarter of 2008.

We really try to stay away from politics here on Domestic Fuel but sometimes you just have to say something. Actually this picture which I found on GOP and the City kind of says it all for me.

What kind of a lunatic would come into our country and proceed to call our President “the devil?” This chunky little dictator I guess. I don’t care if you like President Bush or not Mr. Hugo. Don’t come into our country and make your outlandish statements and expect that it’s going to have a positive impact on your image. As the news outlets all over the country are reminding people over and over, Citgo is owned by the Venezuelen government and we do have fuel choices.

You can find more stories about this here, here and here.

Aberdeen Energy and Glacial Lakes Energy broke ground Thursday on a state-of-the-art 100 million gallon ethanol biorefinery near Mina, South Dakota. To produce the 100 million gallons of ethanol and 288,000 tons of distillers grains annually, Aberdeen Energy will consume 36 million bushels of corn.

Equity for the new facility was raised entirely from South Dakotans during a three-day equity drive in August.

Fagen, Inc., the Granite Falls, Minnesota design-build contractor, is overseeing the construction and incorporating a process design provided by ICM, Inc. of Colwich, Kansas. The biorefinery is expected to begin operations in 2008.

For every student that rides an 02 Diesel bus in Spearfish, SD, the Arbor Day Foundation will plant one tree in Custer State Park which was devastated by a forest fire.

At a celebration this week marking the start of the Spearfish school system using buses powered by the O2 Diesel blend of ethanol and biodiesel (see previous post), Kevin Sander, Director of Corporate Partnerships with the National Arbor Day Foundation said, “The National Arbor Day Foundation is excited to collaborate with O2Diesel. The company’s efforts to provide cleaner fuel options for vehicles is right in line with the Foundation’s environmental mission. The trees planted through this partnership will also help absorb CO2 emissions, resulting in cleaner, healthier air.”

Pictured are West Elementary School students planting a tree at the ceremony Wednesday.

Nationally-syndicated radio show host Don Imus will soon be extolling the virtues of ethanol on “Imus in the Morning,” according to officials with the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC).

Imus was named one of Time Magazine’s 25 Most Influential in America in 1997 and his morning radio program remains one of the nation’s mostly popular, especially on the East Coast where it originates.

EPIC Senior Director of Marketing Reece Nanfito says they heard Imus was talking about ethanol on his show and how he used flex-fuel vehicles on his ranch in New Mexico, and “we decided that this would be a great way to reach people with a positive message about ethanol.”

Known for his edgy and sometimes controversial style, Imus is also very environmentally-conscious, which is why he chooses to use ethanol in his vehicles, according to Nanfito.

“Imus in the Morning” will feature 60-second “live read” commercial spots for ethanol on October 3 and 4. The spots will promote ethanol as a fuel that is “good for your car, good for your country and better for the environment.”

According to Wikipedia, “Imus in the Morning” is carried by about 90 radio stations across the United States. Arbitron analysis puts the program among the most listened to radio talk shows in the United States with about 3.5 million radio listeners per week.

The Saskatchewan Research Council has reportedly modified a 7110 Deutz tractor to operate on 100% hydrated ethanol.

According to a news release, “SRC has been conducting research and development in the area of natural gas vehicles since 1985 and continues to explore the feasibility of using hydrogen and ethanol as alternative fuels,” Saskatchewan Research Council Minister Eric Cline said.

The release goes on to say that SRC’s unveiling of the ethanol-fuelled tractor is timely. Saskatchewan Industry and Resources is expected to announce an increased mandate of 7.5% ethanol in gasoline in the near future.

The research council converted the 20-year-old former diesel tractor to use ethanol by putting in a new fuel tank and spark injector.

Students in Spearfish, SD will be breathing easier this school year now that Spearfish Public Schools in South Dakota and Dakota Trailways have announced that all district school buses will now be running on O2 Diesel™, a new, cleaner-burning fuel blend of ethanol-diesel.

The first of these newly converted buses was unveiled at a news conference at West Elementary School in Spearfish on Wednesday, according to a press release.

“Using O2Diesel fuel affords many benefits to my community as well as for my business operation, “ said Mel Ladson, President of Dakota Trailways. “It improves the air quality in and around the buses. Using ethanol creates manufacturing jobs, supports the local farmer, and the agricultural economy.”

The introduction of this cost-effective, ethanol-diesel fuel in school buses is part of the O2Diesel CityHome™ Program, a national air quality initiative that enables municipal transit systems and school bus operators to make the switch to O2Diesel™ fuel without straining their budgets.

The new program has several pilot programs in the Midwest through the joint efforts of O2Diesel and the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

Boise, Idaho Mayor David Bieter has issued a directive to use biodiesel fuel in city vehicles as often as possible, with the goal of reducing petroleum consumption and cutting smog-causing emissions.

According to a press release from the Mayor’s office, the announcement was made Monday during a ceremony to mark Idaho Renewable Fuels Awareness Days during the month of September and the opening of the first public biodiesel pump in the Boise area.

“Biodiesel is gaining popularity because it’s good for the environment and can be used in almost any diesel vehicle built in the past 10 years,” Mayor Bieter said. “By moving to biodiesel as much as possible, our city fleet will be cutting petroleum use in those vehicles by 10 to 20 percent – one to two gallons with every fill-up. We hope businesses and the public will follow that fine example.”

The ceremony on Monday was held at the Main Street Stinker Store (stinker??). A total of 11 Stinker Stores in the Treasure Valley area will now offer biodiesel. The stations upgraded their pumps after receiving a $124,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and the Idaho Department of Water Resources. Find the full list of Treasure Valley biodiesel pumps in this story from KTVB.