Domestic Fuel

Wind power out West is booming… and that’s a bit of a problem. No, not a problem because of all of the clean energy the wind is producing. But the aging infrastructure to get that power to the people who can use it is loaded to the max, and this article from UPI says it’s time for an update:

Future wind projects mean the region’s electrical grid must be expanded, which won’t be without controversy, said Brent Fenty, who heads the Oregon Natural Desert Association, which is tracking transmission proposals.

“If we do this the wrong way, there’s going to be a large price tag environmentally,” Fernandez said.

So I guess that’s the right kind of problem to have: too much green power. Now, if some upgrades that are in the works, such as the Tres Amigas Super Station in Clovis, New Mexico that aims to link major wind and solar projects with the U.S. population centers (see my post from October 14, 2009), come to fruition, all this bounty of wind power should be a blessing.

A biodiesel plant that will make the green fuel from Wisconsin wood biomass is set for commissioning next week.

This article from Biomass Magazine says the Flambeau River BioFuel LLC’s project will be commissioned using Honeywell Process Solutions’ supplies and automation equipment for what has been called the largest second-generation green diesel plant in the United States. The pilot testing is being done at the Southern Research Institute facility in Durham, N.C.:

“We need to operate [the pilot facility] for 1,000 hours to meet the requirements for a DOE loan guarantee and we need to prove the mass energy balance to make sure we have a project,” [Bob Byrne, president of Flambeau River BioFuels LLC, Park Falls, Wis.] said. “We need to know the economics are there.” An earlier proposal to collocate a cellulosic ethanol plant next to the paper mill at Park Falls was dropped because the economics proved unfavorable as the study progressed. This time, the developers are utilizing gasification and Fischer Tropsch technologies to convert woody biomass into biomass-based diesel and waxes.

The pilot facility at Southern Research Institute will be using Wisconsin wood to fuel a biomass gasifier designed by ThermoChem Recovery International Inc., Baltimore, Md. The syngas produced in the gasifier will be formed into liquids and waxes using catalysts developed by Emerging Fuels Technology, Tulsa, Okla., in a FT reactor. The $257 million plant in the engineering phase for Park Falls will produce 18 MMgy of FT liquids and waxes from 350,000 dry tons of biomass per year, according to Byrne. Depending on the pressures and temperatures of the FT reactor and the activity level of the catalyst, the plant will produce up to 10 MMgy of FT waxes and 8 MMgy FT diesel or 9 MMgy of each. The plant will also be supplying steam to the adjacent paper mill.

Company officials say the wax and steam produced pays the bills, and the biodiesel gives them operating income.

Mark your calendar for Nov. 10th, as the Farm Foundation sponsors the latest in its free forums that discuss the food, agricultural and rural policy issues facing this country.

This upcoming discussion, held from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW, Washington D.C., focuses on energy issues, in particular biofuels:

Burton English of the University of Tennessee will discuss projected impacts of proposed federal renewable portfolio standards on the economy of four states-Kansas, Colorado, North Carolina and Florida. This study was done by the Biobased Energy Analysis Group of the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Tennessee, and was funded in part by a grant from the Bipartisan Policy Center. English will also discuss methodologies and scenarios used by University of Tennessee researchers in preparing a second study that was funded by 25x’25. Results of that study are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, Nov. 11.

How greenhouse gas (GHG) policies might affect U.S. agriculture is the subject of a third study, to be discussed by Bruce McCarl of Texas A&M University, one of the report’s nine authors. This study indicates “that policies encouraging agricultural and forestry bioenergy and GHG mitigation efforts could stimulate agricultural income significantly, despite higher associated input costs.”

The program will also look at energy inputs on croplands, which include, of course, feedstocks for biofuels.

Make your reservation for the free forum by the close of business, next Friday, Nov. 6th to to Mary Thompson, Farm Foundation Director of Communication by e-mailing her at mary@farmfoundation.org.

Agribusiness giant Cargill acquired the rights to the land and grain handling assets of the incomplete Altra Nebraska ethanol facility in Carleton, Nebraska during an auction conducted by Maas Companies this week. Cargill will take possession of the assets effective November 4.

Construction on the Altra facility began in 2006 and was approximately half complete in November 2007 when work stopped after its owners were unable to secure additional financing.

The facility is located near the existing Cargill AgHorizons grain handling facility and regional Farm Service Group leader Robert Racek says the new asset will complement Cargill’s existing grain handling capabilities. “This facility is a valuable asset to the entire region, and we intend to invest further in optimizing its value for our producer customers,” said Racek. “While we will have to make additional enhancements to the facility to make it fully operational, we are determined to leverage this opportunity to offer more flexibility to area crop producers in terms of the delivery, storage, handling and marketing of their grain.”

Cargill AgHorizons’s regional Aksarben farm service group also operates grain handling facilities in Albion, Lincoln, O’Neil, and Ord, Neb., as well as Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Coming up in November, the Minnesota-based Maas Companies will be conducting an auction of 60 million gallons worth of biodiesel-producing equipment at a location in New Jersey. The Greenline Industries equipment is currently in storage and is based on the technology developed and operating in Germany.

Find out more here.

While NASCAR has been greening up its image in the past few years with solar farms, carbon offsets and even keeping its big rigs from unnecessary idling, it still is behind some other major racing leagues that have put green fuels, such as ethanol, into their tanks.

But this article from USA Today says that could be changing:

The concept might seem incongruous in a sport inherently tied to an internal combustion engine that many find synonymous with global warming, but NASCAR, despite cars with an eye-popping 5 mpg, is trying to embrace its eco-conscious side as the federal government has begun prodding the racing industry to become leaders in efficiency…

“Every company in the world is looking at hybrids, diesels and plug-in vehicles,” says Lee White, president of Toyota Racing Development. “We’d be very interested in (NASCAR) formulating a green look. It makes the sport more relevant to where the business of selling automobiles is being driven.”

Now, for you NASCAR fans who are worried you’ll have to watch electric golf carts race around the track at just faster than a brisk walk, rest easy that the whoosh of rumbling cars going by won’t be eliminated… but maybe some of the choking exhaust will.

As the folks who are making the next generation of ethanol made their pitch to Congress (see Cindy’s post from earlier), the people who are producing biodiesel from what could be the next great feedstock, algae, reminded members of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy, and Research not to forget about their truly green fuel.

Mary Rosenthal with the Algal Biomass Association told the representatives that despite some good progress for the algae biodiesel industry in recent years (not to mention the potential it holds), many of today’s federal biofuel policies simply ignore the role algae could play, limiting opportunities for funding and regulatory acceptance. She says she just wants a fair shake from the government:

Key to algae’s success in the fuels market will be ensuring:

1. Financial parity – Algae should receive the same tax incentives, subsidies and other financial benefits that other renewable fuels, particularly cellulosic biofuels, receive.
2. RFS parity – Algae is currently excluded from the majority of the Renewable Fuel Standard, due to a 16 billion gallon carve out for cellulosic biofuels. The carve out should be changed so that it is technology neutral, thus allowing algae-based and other environmentally sustainable fuels to contribute to our nation’s efforts to become energy independent.
3. Beneficial CO2 reuse recognition– Algae’s unique ability to turn CO2 into renewable fuels will allow the organism to play a significant role in abating carbon emitted by industrial sources. Consequently, algae’s beneficial reuse of CO2 should be acknowledged and accounted for in carbon capture and sequestration legislation.

Rosenthal urged Congress not to miss the opportunity of developing a truly renewable, sustainable fuel that will create jobs, reduce pollution and increase national energy independence.

New York-based biodiesel maker and distributor Innovation Fuels has been recognized as an economic champion during the the annual Syracuse Economic Champions luncheon and awards ceremony.

“We are absolutely delighted to be recognized by the local business community and the chamber here in Syracuse,” commented [Joe Dickson, Innovation Fuels’ Senior VP for Corporate Development]. “We are also very pleased to be contributing to the economy in central New York and look forward to future growth in the region.”

In part, Innovation Fuels was recognized for relocating its corporate headquarters to downtown Syracuse this past June.

Leading industries in the race to commercialize next generation biofuels told a House agriculture subcommittee hearing on Thursday that more funding and stable government policy are needed to do the job.

“The current financial crisis has prevented venture capitalists and bankers from investing in many worthwhile investments,” BP Biofuels North America president Susan Ellerbusch testified. “The industry and investors must see a secure market,” which she said, includes addressing the current 10 percent ethanol blend wall.

In addition to addressing the blend wall, Coskata president William Roe, whose company is pioneering low-cost production of ethanol from a variety of feedstocks, stressed the need for a consistent and inclusive biomass definition, as well as new or extended tax incentives. “Extend the cellulosic producer tax credit,” he suggested. “This expires in January of 2012 and consequently would provide little or no impact to even the earliest industry movers.” He also recommended flexibility in the monetization of biofuels tax credits.

Bruce Jamerson with Mascoma talked about shortcomings in the USDA loan guarantee program that should be addressed. “For example, as the project size increases, the loan guarantee amount reduces which discourages larger projects,” Jamerson said. His company found that the vast majority of commercial lenders are unwilling to work with the loan guarantee program because of its requirements.

The president of Osage Bio Energy, Craig Shealy, told the panel that existing federal loan guarantee programs are “either too restrictive or too structured around specifically technologies, excluding commercial scale biorefineries from eligibility.” He recommended revising those programs, as well as taking other policy steps, such as increasing the ethanol blend level to 15 percent and simplifying the RFS2.

Also testifying on the panel was Mary Rosenthal with the Algal Biomass Association, who called for greater recognition of the potential for algae-based fuels. “Algae should receive the same tax incentives, subsidies and other financial benefits allowed to other renewable fuels such as cellulosic ethanol,” she said.

Opening statements from all panelists are available on the House Agriculture Committee website.

As reported from the American Lung Association of Illinois, Governor Pat Quinn joined with corn growers, business leaders and representatives of the American Lung Association in Illinois to celebrate the state’s 200th E85 station at the Green Mount Motomart in Shiloh.

“It’s vitally important that we continue to bring E85 stations to all parts of Illinois,” said Governor Quinn. “E85 saves money when you fill up your tank, supports Illinois agriculture and jobs, and keeps our air clean.”

Across the country there are more than eight million flex-fuel vehicles on the road today, including more than 300,000 registered in Illinois. These vehicles emit on average 40 percent fewer greenhouse gases annually. Illinois is also one of the largest producers of ethanol in the country. In 2008 more than 500 million bushels of Illinois corn were used to make 1.4 billion gallons of biofuel.

The 200th E85 fueling facility in Illinios is located at 1790 Frank Scott Parkway East in Shiloh. For a listing of E85 facilities, go click here.

Do you feel guilty when you buy drinking water bottled in plastic? If you don’t, you should and if you do then Cereplast may have a way to ease your mind. The company’s mission is to producing bio-based sustainable plastics and today announced that it has developed a breakthrough technology to transform algae into bioplastics. Cereplast intends to launch a  new family of algae-based resins that will complement their existing line of Compostables & Hybrid resins.

Frederic Scheer, Cereplast’s Founder, Chairman and CEO said, “Based on our own efforts, as well as recent commitments by major players in the algae field, we believe that algae has the potential to become one of the most important “green” feedstocks for biofuels, as well as bioplastics. Clearly, our focus will be on bioplastics. However, for our algae-based resins to be successful, we require the production of substantial quantities of algae feedstock. We are very encouraged when we see big players entering the algae production business, including Exxon’s $600 million investment in Synthetic Genomics and BP’s $10 million investment in Martek Biosciences.”

The company calculates that their algae-based resins could replace 50 percent or more of the petroleum content used in traditional plastic resins. Currently, Cereplast is using renewable material such as starches from corn, tapioca, wheat and potatoes and Ingeo® PLA.

Scheer concluded, “Our algae research has shown promising results and we believe that in the months to come we should be able to launch this new family of algae-based resins. Algae-based resins represent an outstanding opportunity for companies across the plastic supply chain to become more environmentally sustainable and reduce the industry’s reliance on oil. We are still in the development phase, but we believe that this breakthrough technology could result in a significant new line of business in the years to come.”

The House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy, and Research will hold a hearing today to review the future of next generation biofuels.

Subcommittee chairman Tim Holden (D-PA) will preside over the hearing, which will include testimony from U.S. Department of Agriculture officials, as well as representatives from several companies involved in exploring new technologies and new feedstocks for biofuel production. Among the companies presenting testimony are BP Biofuels, Coskata, Mascoma and Osage Bio Energy.

A live video and audio feed will be available from the hearing, starting at 10 am eastern time today.

Already a world beater in ethanol use, Brazil is getting aggressive in the amount of biodiesel it will burn.

Right now, diesel users in the South American country are required to run on a 4 percent biodiesel blend. Last week, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva upped the ante to 5 percent by 2010… three years ahead of schedule. The jump in biodiesel use is expected to coincide with a rise in biodiesel production to 634 million gallons in 2010, cementing Brazil’s grip as the world’s leader in renewable energy use:

Biodiesel blends became mandatory in early 2008, quickly followed by a raise in blend levels from 2 to 3 percent in July of the same year and from 3 to 4 percent in 2009. The increase to 5 percent was originally planned for 2013. This has enabled a steady expansion of the Brazilian biodiesel market, with 43 plants operating today and production capacity currently at 3.6 billion liters (950 million gallons) per year, more than enough to supply the volume required by the 5 percent mandate.

”Our urban areas and highways will have cleaner fuel, which also creates jobs and generates income to the poor through family farming”, said minister of Mines and Energy Edison Lobão. More than 90 percent of the market has received the Social Fuel Label, a mechanism used by the federal government to ensure a joint participation by small farmers and agribusinesses in the biodiesel production chain.

The move is expected to save 62 million tons of carbon dioxide from going into the air between now and 2017.

Algae-biodiesel maker PetroSun, Inc. has released reports on the progress of three keys areas for the company: the domestic algae-to-biofuels program, algae derived co-products and alternative energy programs:

D.O.E. Integrated Biorefinery Proposal (DE-FOA-0000096)

The future implementation and operation of the commercial algae integrated biorefinery facilities by PetroSun BioFuels in the Gulf Coast Algaculture Program and the pilot scale Arid Raceway Integrated Design designed in collaboration with the University of Arizona team. The focus of the algae operation is to produce algal oil for conversion to fuel, recognizing however that a major revenue contributor to the program will be the value of the co-products, including animal feed and fertilizer.

PetroSun, Inc. is a diversified energy company with technology and operations in oil, natural gas and helium exploration, as well as algae-biodiesel.

You can’t beat free… unless you’re also getting renewable, clean-burning biodiesel. Well, the world’s first environmentally sustainable tour bus was able to get a free fillup of B100, pure biodiesel, at Innovation Fuels’ New York Harbor bioefinery:

“The Permibus” – the world’s first environmentally sustainable tour bus complete with an interior garden perpetuated by worms, live chicken farm, multidimensional composting system, solar panels and wood burning stove – visited renewable fuels company Innovation Fuels’ New York harbor bio-refinery on Passaic Street in Newark, NJ on Thursday, October 22, 2009 and received a free tanks’ worth or 60 gallons of 100% pure biodiesel. The bus, which has traveled over 11,000 miles on renewable energy, stopped at Innovation Fuels as part of a national tour dedicated to showcasing sustainable living.

The New York-based green fuel maker and distributor sells biodiesel in the U.S. and around the world. The Permibus is a traveling roadshow of education and resources to those interested in cultivating revolutionary ways of living in their communities.

Land grant universities around the Midwest are joining together to hold simultaneous state conferences to discuss biofuels and the future of renewable energy.

The 2009 Bio eConference – “Growing the Bioeconomy: Solutions for Sustainability” - will be held on December 1 through a network of co-host sites that will be “sharing content through high-speed communication systems to promote agriculturally-based sustainable solutions to global climate change and energy supply.” The conference will also be available online for a fee.

Among the universities taking part in the conference are Iowa State, Michigan State, North Dakota State, Purdue and the Universities of Minnesota, Missouri and Nebraska. The conference will run from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. EST on December 1.