Domestic Fuel

Members of the biofuels industries, including those growing the feedstocks to make the green fuels of ethanol and biodiesel, made their way to Washington, D.C. this week to try to stop the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from implementing rules that the biofuels folks will hurt their industry.

The biggest point of contention is the EPA’s Indirect Land Use proposal that could end up making American biodiesel ineligible to be part of the Renewable Fuels Standard… endangering the biodiesel industry and the very standard designed to lower the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. And while ethanol is getting a pass for now, those from that industry are worried how the Indirect Land Use provisions, which estimates the deforestation of rain forests in places such as South America based on how much in row crops U.S farmers grow, could eventually affect them.

Those testifying at the EPA hearing included Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen; Steve Ruh, chair of the National Corn Growers Association’s Ethanol Committee; the National Biodiesel Board’s Manning Feraci; the American Soybean Association’s Vice President Ray Gaesser, a soybean producer from Corning, Iowa; POET Vice President for science and technology Dr. Mark Stowers; and Brent Erickson, executive vice president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s Industrial and Environmental Section. About 60 people testified at this hearing.

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The state of California has given the OK to store higher blends of biodiesel in underground storage tanks.

Previously, 5 percent biodiesel… or B5… was the limit that a 25-year-old California law imposed. But Biodiesel Magazine reports that California’s Water Resources Control Board has expanded underground storage of biodiesel blends up to B20:

The three-year variance allows underground storage of blends up to B20 in double-walled tanks and piping that currently meet requirements for petroleum-based fuels. It is hoped that the Underwriters Laboratory will have approved testing protocols and the required tests completed before the end of the three year period.

“I was not happy to see it wasn’t B100,” said Joe Gershen, vice president of sales and marketing for Tellurian Biodiesel Inc. “But B anything is better than nothing.” Gershen added that B20 is probably the most commonly used blend in California, and “going from nothing to B5 to B20 is going in the right direction.” He added that the California Biodiesel Alliance, which Tellurian CEO Eric Bowen chairs, has been meeting with the water board which has increased the member’s comfort level with biodiesel. “We’re forging a new relationship with regulators in California,” Gershen said.

Just in case you missed last March’s World Biofuels Markets congress in Brussels, Belgium, now you have a chance to see and hear the presentations from the three-day event.

Green Power Conferences, which put on the international meeting, is making the entire set of presentations available… for a fee:

The complete set contains:

* Cutting edge insight from 200 of the industry’s most influential speakers
* High quality content from the multi-streamed congress
* 200 speakers, 46 sessions: “No other event gives you as complete a picture of the entire industry”
* Information from key sessions: Renewable Diesel, Btl & Synfuels, Algae Fuels, Cellulosic Ethanol, Biofuels & Forestry, Biofuels from Waste, Jatropha and many more…
* Specific Biofuels Cities sessions featuring Ecofys International, SenterNovem and ICLEI
* Recordings by keynote speakers including Sir Bob Geldof, Lord Browne and Dr Hermann Scheer MEP

More information is available through the Green Power Conferences Web site.

The next World Biofuels Markets congress will be held March 15-17, 2010, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

This year’s Farm to Fuel Summit, the fourth year for the Florida-based meeting, will kick off with a Pre-Farm to Fuel Summit meeting on Wednesday, July 29, 2009, from 2-4 pm.

Entitled, “Moving Biofuels into Production in Florida,” the meeting is sponsored by the Florida Biofuels Association, Inc. in association with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Florida Office of Energy and Climate Change, and the Florida Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development at Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando:

This Pre-Farm to Fuel Summit Meeting will discuss and explore the opportunities and obstacles the State of Florida faces in infrastructure development of biofuel facilities. The goal of this Strategic Meeting is to begin centralizing the initiatives between public and private enterprise and to develop a vision for the future, thus setting the stage for a successful road map to biofuels production. The list of industry leader panelists is included on the registration form linked below.

Registration and more information is available at the Florida Farm to Fuel Summit 2009 Web site.

Last year, the American Le Mans Series used both E10 and cellulosic E85 as a part of its fuel mix with the exception of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This year, the gasoline based cars will be fueled with 10 percent cellulosic ethanol. This is the first time an advanced biofuel has been used in the gasoline at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. The race will be held in France on June 13, 3009 and the cars will be fueled with Shell V-Power race fuel.

In addition, Shell is blending another advanced biofuel, BTL (Biomass to Liquid), into its Shell V-Power Diesel race fuel. A small amount of the biofuel is used in conjunction with the established, high-performance GTL (Gas to Liquid) component.

Daniel Poissenot, Sport Vice President from Automobile Club l’Ouest (ACO), the Le Mans governing body said, “The use of advanced biofuels in both Shell V-Power gasoline and diesel race fuels at Le Mans highlights the role of the racing series in demonstrating new technologies.”

The biofuel is produced at Iogen Energy Corporation’s demonstration plant in Ottawa, Canada where Iogen and Shell are parters. Earlier this week, Shell announced that its stations in Ottawa will be offering consumers a 10 percent cellulosic ethanol blend for the month of June. The fuel is produced from wheat straw.

“Shell is proud to be the offical fuel supplier for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. We see motorsport as a technical test bed and we are excited about demonstrating Iogen cellulosic ethanol in our Shell V-Power gasoline race fuel this year,” concluded Richard Karlsetter, Shell Global Technology Manager, Racing Fuels.

Plans for a new cellulosic ethanol research and demonstration plant to be built by the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences are being revamped for a location closer to Gainesville.

IFAS officials announced that they have modified their agreement for the plant, which originally was slated to be built at a Florida Crystals site in Okeelanta, Fla. The new plans call for a smaller facility, which will better meet the $20 million budget allocated by the Florida Legislature. In addition, a location closer to UF will help draw upon the expertise of the university’s faculty and staff to expedite next-generation ethanol technology.

The plant will now focus on new parallel processes that produce cellulosic ethanol as well as organic acid co-products in the form of plastics. The plant will also experiment with a wider variety of feedstocks, including forest products, various types of sugarcane, sugar processing byproducts and many others.

A grand opening celebration will be held tomorrow, June 11 at 11:00 a.m. to celebrate the opening of a new Navy E85 fuel pump. The dispenser will be located at the Navel Station in Everett, Washington. This is the first NEX E85 dispenser available on the west coast to not only official vehicles, but to both military and civilians who have access to military installations.

The E85 now available at Naval Station Everett supports Executive Order 13149, “Greening the Government Through Federal Fleet and Transportation Efficiency.” The purpose of the order is to ensure the Federal government exercises leadership in the reduction of petroleum consumption through improvements in fleet fuel efficiency and the use of alternative fuels.

“This is a major step forward in our goal of reducing petroleum consumption in fleet vehicles by 2% annually through 2015,” said CAPT Gregory Harshberger, Executive Officer, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Northwest.

The contract for the installation of the E85 tank was awarded on September 24, 2008 to Weston Solutions and construction started on February 26. The cost of the contract was $387,225.

“The availability of an alternative fuel supply on base clearly helps decrease NAVSTA’s “carbon footprint.” Plus, we now have an opportunity to do something for the environment every single day of the year, and not just an annual event to observe Earth Day-type programs,” said CAPT Thomas Mascolo, NAVSTA Everett Commanding Officer.

Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) has been selected by Ethanol Acquisition, LLC to manage its 105 million-gallon-per-year Hereford Texas ethanol plant under contract to be acquired through the bankruptcy of Hereford Biofuels, L.P. In April of this year, Ethanol Acquisition, who is owned by Societe Generale, acquired the Hereford ethanol plant from Panda Ethanol Inc. for a $25 million credit bid in bankruptcy court.

Dave Magill, Senior Vice President, Asset Management for CPV, stated in a company release, “We are pleased to have been selected by Ethanol Acquisition to manage their Hereford plant. Our objective is to properly maintain and preserve the facility in anticipation of a future start-up or eventual sale.”

CPV is assisting Ethanol Aquisition with closing the aquisition, and will be overseeing the plant’s transition to ‘mothball’ status and liquidating physical commodity positions.

Shell has become the first retailer to begin selling cellulosic ethanol in Ottawa, Ontario made from wheat straw. The E10 blend will be available for one month, beginning today, at all Shell stations across the city. The advanced biofuel is produced locally from non-food raw materials at Iogen Energy Corporation’s demonstration plant, using advanced conversion processes. Iogen and Shell are partners in the plant, which now produces 40,000 liters of fuel per month.

While all ethanol reduces carbon dioxide, cellulosic ethanol can reduce CO2 tailpipe emissions by up to 90 percent as compared to gasoline. Shell has been working for several years, in conjunction with Iogen, to develop and bring to market advanced biofuels.

“I am excited we are leading the pack in cellulosic ethanol production technology and, with this event, showing what is possible in the future,” said Dr. Graeme Sweeney, Shell Executive Vice President Future Fuels and CO2. “While it will be some time before general customers can buy this product at local service stations, we are working with governments to make large-scale production economic.”

Iogen’s CEO, Brian Foody noted that, “With the volumes we’re producing today, we’re confident about the future.”

We’re less than a week away from the 25th annual Fuel Ethanol Workshop and this year, they are offering people one-day passes for $225. Registrants will have the ability to go to sessions, attend the expo and participate in networking opportunity.

Don’t miss the opening session with BBI International CEO, Mike Bryan, keynote speaker General Wesley Clark, Co-Chairman of Growth Energy and Bob Dineen, President of the Renewable Fuels Association who will be delivering a state of the industry address.

To register, visit www.fuelethanolworkshop.com. The conference begins June 15 and ends June 18 is being held in Denver, Colo. at the Colorado Convention Center.

Ford Motor Company has been making news recently with its announcement that using ethanol in its “Eco-Boost” engines can increase fuel economy. The system which is known as Direct Injection Octane Boost, has the potential to increase fuel economy between five to 10 percent. The improved fuel economy is realized by injecting a quick burst of ethanol into the combustion chamber prior to a regular injection of unleaded gasoline. Ford is already working on its second generation Eco-Boost V6 engines.

It appears that the technology will debut in the U.S. market in the Lincoln MKS. This technology is one of a kind and Ford has filed documents with the Department of Energy confirming that their “Bobcat” V8 engines will be brought to market in the F-truck series range.

The technology was developed in conjunction with Ethanol Boosting Systems and capitalizes on ethanol’s higher octane rating to improve power and fuel economy. This is similar to a driver of a flex-fuel vehicle who is burning E85 getting a power boost when stepping on the accelerating.

The system uses to separate tanks, one for ethanol and one for gasoline but according to company sources the ethanol tank will only require periodic filling due to the small amount of ethanol used.

While better fuel economy is always a benefit, especially with the volatility of gas prices, there is a drawback–the car sporting the Eco-Boost technology still uses gas as its primary fuel.

After becoming one of the top three wheat exporters in 2008, Russia is now determined to play a pivotal role in the flow of worldwide agriculture markets. Russian Federation’s President Dmitry Medvedev has proposed closer coordination between global grain exporters and said, “excessive protectionism had encouraged speculation in global grain markets,” during the World Grain Forum which took place over the weekend in Saint-Petersburg. This challenge was spurred in part by the number of people globally  who are stricken with extreme starvation: 1 billion.

Russia is also the second largest oil supplier and intends to get into the biofuels game. However, Medvedev said to the more than 1,000 forum attendees that the country would only support sustainable fuels developed from non-food sources.

“The technology now exists and we think the world community has to find a compromise between the issues of energy and food security,” Medvedev said in Rueters’ article Kremlin urges grain exporters to tackle world hunger. “The growth of biofuels should not become a reason for a growing deficit of food grain.” The country plans on more than doubling its agriculture land and production over the next few years.

Syngenta Chief Operating Office Crop Protection, John Atkin was also a speaker during the World Grain Forum and during his presentation emphasized the critical role of technology in meeting current and future global food needs.

“The world must work together, Atkin said, “to accelerate technology adoption. We could already realize significant yield
potential within the next three years by comprehensively deploying existing technologies.”

Numerous biofuels representatives testified at a day-long hearing Tuesday in Washington DC on the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rulemaking for the Renewable Fuels Standard.

National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) testified that corn growers have serious concerns about assumptions in the proposed rule regarding indirect land use changes. Ethanol Committee Chairman Steve Ruh says EPA has failed to take into account modern agricultural practices and biotechnology that are increasing both corn yields and ethanol production.

“Over the past nine years, a time when ethanol production grew dramatically, for every bushel required for the increased ethanol market, 2.89 new bushels were grown on the same acres, thus requiring no additional acres be brought into production for the purpose of ethanol,” Ruh testified.

POET VP for science and technology Dr. Mark Stowers told EPA that the model for calculating indirect land use changes is “flawed and has no basis in law or science.”

Stowers urged EPA officials to visit a modern ethanol plant to “obtain real data about the industry, rather than relying on unproven models, hypotheses and assumptions.”

About 60 people testified at the hearing yesterday, split about evenly between those who supported the rule and those who wanted to see changes.

While I’ve always admired U.S. Marines for their ability to go anywhere, anytime, under any conditions – and kick some serious butt!!! – you have to admire the way they are also looking out for the environment.

This article from the San Diego News Network says Marines at nearby Camp Pendelton are adopting lots of alternative energy choices, including some hydrogen-powered vehicles and a filling station:

The base is also participating in a study with General Motors to test its prototype hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, called the Chevy Equinox, which cost a cool $1.2 million apiece. Workers are putting the finishing touches on a hydrogen fuel dispensing station next to Interstate 5, which will be the only one of its kind in San Diego County once it’s up and running, said Camp Pendleton fleet manager Jim Seaman.

Base officials decided to put the hydrogen fuel station just off Interstate 5 so that in the future, it may be opened for access by the general public, as part of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “hydrogen highway” initiative.

Other efforts by the Marines at Camp Pendelton include using wind and solar power and fueling some of their vehicles with natural gas.

Sempre fidelis and, now, sempre viridis (Always faithful and, now, always green).

The stock in a company that seemed to be wiped out by Hurricane Ike last year has taken a dramatic jump. While Texas-based renewable energy company Greenhunter Energy Inc won’t say anything about Tuesday’s 62 percent surge in price, this story in the Wall Street Journal tries to clear up some of the mystery of why Greenhunter closed at $1.86:

The company, which focuses on the renewable energy sectors of wind, hydro, solar and biofuels, saw shares rise an additional 16% to $2.15 in after-hours trading.

“Even though the company hasn’t given specific updates with discussions with the lender, which are ongoing, its possible the market is anticipating a positive resolution to those discussions that would alleviate the company’s liquidity crisis,” said Molchanov.

The jump comes after Greenhunter’s stock dropped to its lowest level… just 91 cents… last Thursday.