Domestic Fuel

Cellulosic ethanol pioneers like Jeff Broin of POET are confident about the future of next generation fuels, even if the country fails to reach the Renewable Fuel Standard mandate of 100 million gallons of production next year.

“To be honest with you, that number was picked out of thin air, so the chance that we do or don’t make it is certainly a risk,” Broin said during an interview at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting annual meeting last week. “The industry is moving ahead as quickly as it can. But I think we will gain on that number in the future and I am very, very bullish about the future of cellulosic ethanol.”

POET is one of several companies on the front lines of developing cellulosic ethanol technology and feedstocks and Broin says the government has been helpful in getting some grants out to build initial plants. “Once we have the first couple plants, I believe the investment will come very quickly,” Broin said.

Broin remains bullish on corn ethanol as well as cellulosic, especially since the primary feedstock for POET’s pilot plant is corn cobs and stover. “We have plenty of grain this year, we’re going to have too much grain in the future, so we need to look at what we are going to do to turn that grain into energy and food.”

Listen to my interview with Jeff Broin from NAFB here.

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The 4th Annual Cellulosic Feedstock Summit is being held this week in Washington, DC once again. All the craziness in the nation’s capitol a year ago around election day made them move the summit to Florida last year, but they’re back in the traditional location for the meeting this year.

The focus of the meeting this year is a series of development briefings from key companies in the cellulosic biofuels arena on four main topics – activities, feedstocks, technology and financing. Companies providing briefings include Iogen, Coskata, Novozymes, Qteros, Dupont Danisco, and more.

Remember that old wives tale told to children that babies come from storks? Here is the addendum to the tale…and everything else comes from oil. When President Bush delivered his now famous quote, “We’re addicted to oil,” I don’t think he quite realized how prolific that was. He obviously meant in the form of gasoline/energy use but petroleum by-products are used to make plastics, fertilizer, pharmaceuticals (like you lotion and makeup) and even your clothes, and author Amanda Little takes you on this journey in her new book, “Power Trip“.

Little traveled the country for two years, starting her journey on the “Cajun Express,” an offshore rig located miles from the coast of Louisiana, and ending her trip back in Louisiana, spending time with Hurricane Katrina victims as they move into their near zero emission homes as part of the Make It Right program. In the middle, she spent a good bit of time visiting companies developing alternative energy sources.

The end of her journey is spent with the leaders of tomorrow, but these are not your typical Generation Xers or a group of kids who feel “entitled” to everything. These are the people who are refining the new environmental justice movement. These are children who are growing up in areas that have shouldered most of the hidden costs of our country’s fossil-fuel based lifestyle, and they’re making change door-to-door, not via the power of Capital Hill lobbyists.
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The Renewable Fuels Association wants former Vice President Al Gore to know that he was right the first time about ethanol and other biofuels. RFA CEO Bob Dinneen has written a letter to Gore challenging the chapter about ethanol in his new book “Our Choice.”

“Given your attention to science and the facts, I am disappointed by the treatment of ethanol and other biofuels in your new book, Our Choice,” Dinneen wrote. “Many of your characterizations of today’s American ethanol industry are out of date or simply wrong. With 10.5 billion gallons produced and sold this year, ethanol is a major factor in America’s motor fuel supply and is helping eliminate the need for increasing environmentally damaging sources of crude oil.”

Listen to or download Dinneen’s comments about Gore’s book and what he hopes to accomplish with this letter to the former Vice President.

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Cellulosic ethanol producer BlueFire Ethanol Fuels, Inc. has cleared the first hurdle in its quest to get a $56 million government loan guarantee for its Lancaster, California ethanol plant.

As you might remember from my Domestic Fuel Cast earlier this month, BlueFire uses a process called Concentrated Acid Hydrolysis Technology that can turn many feedstocks into ethanol, including garbage. I had the chance to talk to Arnold Klann, CEO of BlueFire Ethanol about this latest bid to get some federal loans and the operation he hopes that money will start.

“Lancaster is a prototype. Our business model is to be able to take the waste that’s generated by society … and divert the cellulosic fraction of that waste treatment and convert it into ethanol.”

He says the Lancaster facility is designed for communities of about 100,000-150,000 people. This opens up the possibility that this type of plant could be exported to some developing countries that have agricultural residues and garbage that could be turned into fuels for those local communities. In fact, BlueFire is working with a couple of economic develpment groups in Africa to see if this technology could be used there.

You can hear my entire conversation with Klann here: AKanninterview-edit.mp3
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The state of South Dakota will be adding more infrastructure to fuel their nearly 3,400 government vehicles. According to Ethanol Producer Magazine, ethanol infrastructure will be added to three Department of Transportation campuses in Rapid City, Pierre and Sioux Falls.

This infrastructure will allow DOT to increase their E85 use from 32,640 gallons per year to approximately 250,000 gallons per year. Also available will be mid-level blends of ethanol for the flexible fuel vehicles. For the first six months of operation, the tanks will dispense E85. For the next six months, the tanks will dispense a midlevel blend, likely E30. South Dakota’s Fleet and Travel Office will monitor the use of ethanol-blended fuels and their performance. At the end of the year, the most efficient blend of ethanol will be the fuel routinely distributed at the DOT regional yards.

The state of South Dakota has 96 E85 and blender pump fueling facilities in the state. The three new facilities will be the first privately accessed stations.

Representatives of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) were in Kansas City last week for the National Association of Farm Broadcasting annual Trade Talk event, which meant they did dozens of interviews about the importance of ethanol to agriculture and the rural economy.

In this edition of “The Ethanol Report,” we hear from RFA president and CEO Bob Dinneen about some of the topics they discussed with reporters, including when the EPA decision on increasing the ethanol blend level might be made, how the industry is faring, and the great productivity of the American farmer.

You can subscribe to this twice monthly podcast by following this link.

Listen to or download the podcast here:

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Oil-rich Texas is beginning to look like an alternative fuel paradise. Drivers in Texas will soon have more opportunities … thanks to new infrastructure … to run their electric vehicles.

Reliant Energy and Nissan Motor Company have announced that the two companies will work together to establish infrastructure, policies and services to support electric vehicle owners across Texas. The
Dallas Environmental Policy Examiner reports the move comes as the state has put into effect a new law that requires Texas government agencies to use alternative fuels in half of the state fleet of 27,000 vehicles 80 percent of the time:

“We can now see a clear path to having thousands – even hundreds of thousands – of zero-emission vehicles on Texas roads in the next several years”, said Jason Few, President of Reliant Energy. “By adding a robust charging network and services dedicated to electric vehicles, we will be able to offer a viable alternative to fossil-fuel powered transportation”.

“House Bill 432 addresses the fact that our state is a leader in the research and production of alternative fuels, but we lack the infrastructure to get drivers who would use it to fuel their vehicles”, Governor Perry said at a ceremonial bill signing in Dallas in August. “Since our state already spends money on a fleet, this bill requires it to include vehicles that use alternative fuel. That will drive the creation of a basic distribution infrastructure and take advantage of the fuels we produce in Texas, including natural gas coming from the Barnett Shale”.

This alternative energy kick seems to be a trend for Texas. As you might remember from my post on March 16, 2009, Dallas-based AT&T is putting 15,000 alternatively-fueled vehicles on the road… a $565 million venture aimed at helping the environment and saving the company gasoline costs. Part of AT&T’s plan includes building up to 40 new compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations.

A couple of events this week could bring the hope of wind farms off the coasts of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia … better known as the Delmarva … closer to reality.

The Ocean City (MD) Dispatch reports that on Monday, Bluewater Wind, which already has an offshore wind farm project well underway in Delaware and a conceptual plan for a second one off the coast of Maryland, was taken over by NRG Energy Inc., a major player in energy production and distribution in the region. Then, on Tuesday, the governors of Maryland, Delaware and Virginia signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) to form a tri-state partnership for the deployment of offshore wind energy in the mid-Atlantic coastal region:

Viewed individually, each event represents a gentle nudge in the direction of future wind farms off the mid-Atlantic coast. Together, however, they represent a significant move toward the development of the alternative energy source in the three states that comprise Delmarva. First and foremost, the MOU agreed upon by Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, Delaware Governor Jack Markell and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine on Tuesday creates a formal partnership that could pull together the region’s significant offshore wind resources.

Blazer explained the MOU essentially opens the door for the three states to partner and pool its collective resources on things like economic development, research and development and job training, for example. O’Malley agreed the MOU represents a significant step in the collaborative effort to develop offshore wind resources off the coast of the three states.

The article goes on to point out that Bluewater Wind already has a 25-year, 200-megawatt power purchase agreement with Delmarva Power and Light that has already been approved by the Delaware Public Service Commission as well as other state agencies. Maryland and Virginia are a bit further behind in their wind energy developments, but the new memorandum of understanding between the three states is expected to push their efforts forward as well.

Oil from algae and the biomass from the green microbes could be the future for advanced biofuels… that word from a top U.S. Department of Energy official.

Biomass Magazine reports that Valerie Reed of the U.S. DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy said at the Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy held this week in Honolulu, Hawaii the her agency will develop advanced biofuels faster than cellulosic ethanol:

“We learned a lot over the past 20 years, and we believe we can apply that to a faster deployment phase,” Reed said, adding that biomass-based liquid transportation fuels are going to be the only adequate displacements for jet fuel. “This is now becoming a priority fuel we need to consider, and that’s why we’re moving into the advanced biofuels arena,” she said.

Reed highlighted the high productivity of algae and it’s massive presence in the ocean, pointing out that if each algal cell were lined end to end there would be enough algae to reach the moon and back 15 billion times. She also pointed out that a troublesome algal bloom near the Olympic Stadium in China yielded more than 3 million tons of biomass in a three-month period. “Their nightmare is our opportunity,” she said. “If we can harness that type of productivity, and do so in a sustainable fashion, we can look at this in a different scenario.”

The article goes on to say that a DOE study from a few years ago shows the U.S. has 1.3 billion tons of sustainably available biomass. And Reed believes about 60 billion tons of cellulosic ethanol could be produced from that … about one-third of what is anticipated that will be needed for transportation. She says that doesn’t even count for what algae could produce, possibly 100 percent of U.S. fuel needs.

Reed admits there are some barriers, but that’s where research would come in and help overcome those obstacles.

Two new biodiesel plants are slated for opening in a Southern California town just outside of Los Angeles.

Canada-based Sunx Energy and San Diego-based Dynasty Energy will open 3.5 million-gallons-per-year and 15-million-gallons-per-year facilities, respectively, in Adelanto. The Victorville (CA) Daily Press says city officials see the two plants as paving the way for more green industries:

“It’s always good to have green industries coming to town because it encourages other green industries to come into town,” Adelanto City Manager Jim Hart said.

The plants will likely require about 5 to 50 employees each, but Hart said the companies will likely bring in some of their own workers.

No word on when either of the plants will be operational.

Thousand of Americans and ethanol industry groups may have to wait longer for a response from EPA on whether they will allow an increase in the blend of ethanol in gasoline from 10 to 15 percent (E10 to E15). On March 6, petitions were filed by industry groups and supporters of industry groups, that will allow for the increased blend. EPA has 270 days, or until December 1, to grant or deny the request. Rumors have recently circulated that EPA will not meet this deadline.

This week, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson told Reuters that the agency still has has work to do and may have to do this past the December 1 deadline. EPA must review tests on how E15 will affect engines and evaluate emissions.

“We are concerned about any delay in acting on the Growth Energy Green Jobs waiver to raise the blend wall from 10 to 15%,” said Growth Energy spokesman Chris Thorne. “Every day that EPA delays the decision is another day of preventing our nation from reducing our dependence on foreign oil, creating jobs here in America and delaying the development of next generation feedstocks like cellulose. The lack of a decision creates uncertainty, and without certainty of a market, investment in cellulose ethanol production is put on hold. Our nation has been held hostage to foreign oil for too long. It is time to move forward,” he continued. “We could wait forever for more tests, which will only prove what we have known for a long time – it is time to raise the blend wall,” Thorne added.

“We do believe the data will ultimately support the waiver. We also think EPA can act now to approve E12, based on existing authority and tolerances,” said Bob Dineen of the Renewable Fuels Association through a Twitter chat.

The future of algae-biodiesel could come in catfish ponds that have lost their fish. That’s the topic of discussion for the National Algae Association Mid-South Chapter’s workshop next week.

Experts in open pond production of algae will talk about the challenges and opportunities their industry faces in making biofuels and biomass for animal feedstocks, bioplastics, fertilizers, and other bioproducts, Nov. 18-19 at the Holiday Inn Express-Downtown Memphis, TN:

“This workshop is designed to bring the top experts in open pond production together with catfish pond owners, investors and entrepreneurs to learn from each other and fast-track algae open pond production for energy, animal feedstock, organic fertilizer and many other products,” says Tamra Fakhoorian, president of the NAA Mid-South Chapter.

Pete Moss, president of Frazier, Barnes and Associates, LLC observes, “Open pond production of algae holds great promise for the widespread production of renewable energy and fuels. However industry and project risks that have accompanied renewable alternatives in the past will certainly be present in the development of algal production. Managing and minimizing this risk will be the key to the success of this industry. This workshop will be instrumental in addressing these risks.”

For more information and registration, click here.

Ethanol and biodiesel producers in Canada will ask their government early next year to increase the amount of the green fuels produced and added to fossil fuels… even as there are doubts the industry can meet current mandates and production incentives.

Reuters reports that the industry has not decided what those levels should be:

Canada has given annual incentives for up to seven years to 24 biofuel producers, including Husky and Suncor, from a C$1.5-billion ($1.4 billion) program. The government considers biofuel attractive because it reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

Canada’s current biofuel supply will fall short when the first federal government mandate of 5 percent renewable content in gasoline takes effect in September 2010 and a 2 percent federal mandate for renewable content in diesel takes effect in 2011.

Quaiattini admits that Canada will need to import about 40 million to 80 million gallons of ethanol in 2010 and 2011 just to meet current mandates. And some of that ethanol will need to come from the U.S.

The man who founded and served as the CEO of one of Denver’s first biodiesel firms is out.

This article from the Denver Business Journal says Blue Sun Energy Inc.’s Jeff Probst, resigned from the company at the end of October… but offers few details about the split:

Probst, who couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday, also left the director position but remains a part owner of Blue Sun, [company spokesman Steve Bond] said.

Bue Sun was founded in 2001. Probst had been Blue Sun’s CEO and president the past six years, according to the company.

The company expects to fill the CEO position but the board hasn’t met about the subject yet.

The company seems to have kind words about Probst’s time … of course, he still is one of the owners. But does anyone have any info about what happened? Sure would like to know.