Domestic Fuel

Outside of location, location, location (for real estate, at least), the three most important words in business might be timing, timing, timing. You get both when you attend the National Biodiesel Conference and Expo, Feb. 7-10 in the Dallas-Forth Worth area (actually Grapevine’s Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center).

The NBB points to location, in the 30 biodiesel plants that make Texas home … and timing, as the EPA is expected to implement the new Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS-2) just before the conference and Congress soon could renew the $1-a-gallon biodiesel tax incentive:

Soon to be finalized, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS-2) will set new minimums for biodiesel use. The National Biodiesel Board (NBB), which hosts the seventh annual conference beginning February 7th, has invited regulators to Grapevine to explain the complex compliance issues of the new program to stakeholders from across the country.

Jobe said the opportunity to learn about the new RFS is the most important reason biodiesel stakeholders will not want to miss this year’s conference and expo at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, but stressed there will be much more to see and do.

Don’t forget, you can still bring a friend for free to the conference. The NBB is offering a “buy one, get one free” registration when both people are registered at the conference hotel. Get more information here.

An energy source made from biomass that’s touted as “magic coal from the steam cooker” will make its debut at the Energy from Biomass and Waste conference January 26-27, 2010 at the Royal Horticultural Halls & Conference Centre in London, England.

This press release says “Green Coal,” invented the German company the G+R Technology Group, will be produced at the first industrial production plant for biocoal:

It took nature millions of years – by means of simple chemical processings mankind is in the meantime capable to solve the issue within just a few hours: biowastes, crop residues and organic wastes result in highly efficient combustibles, at the same time offering a profitable benefit to the environment. Compared to brown or black coal, the “Green Coal” Gco(c) is completely CO2-neutral and will contribute to a considerable reduction of CO2 emissions.

Fossile energy sources such as gas, oil and coal are finite, expensive, make us dependent and strongly impact the environment. Renewable energies therefore presently face a boom, also in the UK. The green active coal might be a genuine alternative to solar cells, wind turbines and others. The Green Coal Gco(c) production process was for the first time described in 1913 by the German chemist and Nobel laureate Friedrich Berguis. Recently it was rediscovered by the Max-Planck-Institute and is currently considered as alternative hope for the future when it comes to climate. The production process – the so-called Hydrothermal Carbonisation (HTC) in technical terms – is simple in principle and reminds you of cooking: all kinds of organic biomass are put into a kind of steam cooker, water is added as kind of converter and finally the mixture is heated. After a couple of hours the Green Coal Gco(c) emerges.

G+R Tech also says the Green Coal method could be applied to all organic residues and biowastes, even animal wastes and sewage sludges.

If anyone has a chance to see this technology next week in England, let me know if this is what it seems to be on the surface.

I recently wrote about the potential of energy crops for biofuels, but there are many more opportunities including the biofuels value of planting winter crops or double crops. Last week during the AG CONNECT Expo, I spoke with Dr. Tom Richard, associate professor with Pennsylvania State University, who discussed the opportunities for biofuels and agriculture through the planting and harvesting of winter crops and double crops.

For many decades farmers have been encouraged to plant cover crops as an effort to reduce soil erosion, capture nutrients and improve soil quality. These cover crops are left on the ground and not marketed. The only difference with a double crop, explained Richard, is that it is marketed and becomes a second crop for the year.

“What we’re finding now with the biofuels industry is there’s potential to use what we’ve thought of as cover crops as double crops and actually market the material,” said Richard. “The above ground biomass could be a winter grain like winter rye, winter wheat or winter barley or could be an oil seed like winter canola or could be summer crop.”

Richard also explained that by going to a double crop or a winter crop, you will increase the net energy of the biofuel produced. The reason for this is that you are taking advantage of the sunlight and nutrients for a wider, longer growing season and a farmer can actually increase the productivity of that single piece of land by around 20 percent.

There are also advantages of planting winter or double crops from an environmental perspective. Most notably the roots are taking up nutrients and preventing erosion during the time of year that gets a lot of rain in many places throughout the country. The plants are also adding organic matter to the soil.

I asked Richard what the country needs to do to encourage farmers to begin growing these double or winter crops and he noted that subsidy programs are not enough. “We think a combination of some environmental subsidies plus a market for that second feedstock, that energy crop, will combine to make it a very attractive option.”

Listen to my interview with Tom below.

AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (1.9MB)

One of the biggest challenges for our country lies in the issue of how to create effective public policies that will grow the biofuels industry and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Dr. Antonio Bento, associate professor in the Applied Economics and Management Program at Cornell University, has been researching exactly how to do this and he shared his results during the AG CONNECT Expo last week.

First we must take a step back to take two steps forward. There are several policies in place that mandate the production of biofuels with the Energy Independence & Security Act having one of the greatest impacts. This act requires 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022 with 15 billion coming from corn-ethanol. Bento noted that the country is well on its way to meeting this goal yet surprisingly, “While a lot of public press has blamed the increasing food prices due to these mandates, we find very little effect. Indeed, we find the bulk of the increase in food prices comes from the fluctuation in crude oil prices and our dependence on foreign oil, and less on the land we are devoting for the production of biofuels.”

Speaking of land, Bento also notes that biofuels are disproportionately being blamed for indirect land use effects. This has to do with the fact his framework, unlike a lot of the other models out there, is really accounting for the dynamics. “In other words, we really account for the fact that overtime yields will improve, we account for the fact there’s multiple land use that could adjust and we account for the fact there will be technology progress in the industry,” said Bento.
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (2.9MB)

Motorists in Sioux Falls, SD now have more fuel choices at the pump with the installation of four new ethanol blender pumps at a Kings Mart gas station in the city.

Through a joint effort between the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) and the South Dakota Corn Utilization Council (SDCUC), the station now offers a variety of fuel blends including unleaded gasoline and E10, and E30 and E85 for Flexible Fuel Vehicles (FFVs).

“This is the first location in Sioux Falls to offer a blend of 30 percent ethanol for FFV owners,” said Ron Lamberty with ACE. “The important investments made by the owners of King’s Mart, and the South Dakota Corn Utilization Council with the assistance of ACE and the “Blend Your Own Ethanol” campaign, have provided consumers with another ethanol fueling option in Sioux Falls.”

The BYO Ethanol campaign was launched last year as a partnership between ACE, the Renewable Fuels Association, the National Corn Growers Association and leading corn-producing states such as South Dakota. The campaign works to show gas station owners the benefits of blending ethanol and using blender pumps to provide choices for motorists.

The Sioux Falls blender pump location joins 40 other locations across South Dakota and around 150 nationwide. ACE offers an on-line map of blender pump sites.

Homegrown biofuels production could power a robust local economy and improve the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay by significantly reducing pollution runoff to the Bay’s local waterways.

That’s the primary finding in a report released today by the Chesapeake Bay Commission and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

“This report clearly highlights the real and quantifiable benefits a next-generation biofuels industry presents to the Bay region, and outlines very near-term policy decisions each state could – and should – take to enhance an already growing economic opportunity for the region and get it right so that the industry can grow in a way that is environmentally sustainable,” said Maryland Delegate and project advisory panel chairman Jim Hubbard.

The report found that producing next-generation ethanol and other biofuels from growing plants in the Chesapeake Bay watershed such as switchgrass, barley and rye, and fast-growing trees like willow and poplar could create 18,000 jobs and 500 million gallons of fuel.

This morning Novozymes held is annual 2009 4th quarter sales call and earning report and overall it was favorable. While 2009 began with a rocky start for Novozymes and the majority of the ethanol industry, with effective management the company was able to finish off the year on a positive note.

Steen Riisgaard, President and CEO, noted, “After a shaky start to 2009, I’m very pleased with the way we managed our business throughout the year. We were able to deliver on our earnings guidance communicated at the beginning of the year by responding rapidly to the challenging market conditions. Looking at 2010, we expect a positive development but with continued low visibility. And even with the current market conditions, we see very favorable long-term trends for Novozymes and remain confident of our ability to deliver on our long-term targets.”

Overall, in 2009 the company’s sales were up by 4 percent with an increase in 7 percent just during the 4th quarter as compared to 2008. Some of this can be attributed the company’s commitment to developing more effective enzymes for biofuels production, with enzyme sales to the biofuel industry up 7 percent and Novozymes maintained a market share of more than 60 percent throughout 2009. In addition, its partnership with leading technology companies who are currently producing first generation biofuels and are developing second and third generation biofuels have had a positive impact.

For 2010, Novozymes expects both of its enzyme business and biobusiness to grow between 2-6 percent.

To access the full earnings report, click here.

This week we’re back to climate change, and the author James Hoggan, lays out the “crusade to deny global warming in “Climate Cover-Up.” For those of you familiar with the online green space, you may have come across the blog DeSmogBlog, which is co-founded by Hoggan. This site is dedicated to “out” those companies, experts and scientists who are (or were) trying to deny global climate change and manipulate the public. It also calls out the supporting characters to the deceit – the mainstream media.

Like companies who have been outed in their campaigns against ethanol, Hoggan outs companies like ExxonMobil who had campaigns against the existence of global climate change. Climate changed seemed to gain worldwide consensus in 2006/07 in part due to the success of Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth“. (For Gore fans, he just released his follow-up “Our Choice” last winter.)

Hoggan writes, “…no one seemed to be confused about climate change in 1988. The great scientific bodies of the world were concerned, and the foremost political leaders were engaged. So what happened then and now?” Well, that’s exactly what Hoggan lays out for the reader:  a big fat smear campaign against the earth.
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Instead of making ethanol from sugar, SunOpta of Canada is working on making a sugar substitute from ethanol.

SunOpta subsidiary SunOpta BioProcess Inc. (SBI) has been awarded $5.5 million (Canadian) in funding from Sustainable Development Technology Canada to develop an integrated cellulosic ethanol plant and co-located xylitol production facility in the Greater Toronto area.

The fabrication of valuable co-products is expected to allow biofuel producers to increase their profitability and competitiveness. SBI and its partners have developed an integrated process that will produce both food grade xylitol — a healthy sugar substitute — and fuel grade cellulosic ethanol, therefore increasing the economic and environmental sustainability of cellulosic ethanol production. Using wood chips as feedstock, the technology is projected to decrease process water consumption by up to 75% compared to producing corn ethanol while retaining all of the life-cycle carbon benefits inherent to cellulosic ethanol.

POET Biorefining – Preston has cut its water use by 13 percent thanks to a recently installed water recovery system.

The new system allows the plant to recycle an additional 19 million gallons of waste water per year from the filtering system at the plant, bringing its total water use per gallon of ethanol down to 2.6 gallons. POET plants on average use about 3 gallons of water for each gallon of ethanol.

“Water is a precious natural resource and must be managed responsibly,” POET CEO Jeff Broin said. “Despite the fact that our water use has declined more than 80 percent since we started producing ethanol, POET is constantly looking for ways to use even less water in our production process. The Preston plant is the latest example of that.”

Ethanol plant engineering firm ICM, Inc. of Colwich, Kansas will be bringing Sunoco’s new ethanol plant in upstate New York up to new standards.

Sunoco bought the idled plant near Syracuse last summer with plans to supply ethanol for blending in the company’s retail gasoline network.

ICM president Dave Vander Griend is excited about the challenge. “ICM got its start by taking struggling plants designed by other companies and retrofitting them for efficient and profitable operation,” said Vander Griend. ICM has served as designer and process engineering firm for more than 100 dry-mill ethanol plants nationwide.

In the growing field of biomass conversion to fuel there’s a plant that Mississippi State University thinks will help farmers and all Americans. It’s Giant Miscanthus and you can follow it on Twitter @GiantMiscanthus. They’ve actually licensed the product which is Freedom Giant Miscanthus that’s being marketed by Sunbelt Biofuels LLC. On the show floor at AG CONNECT Expo last week to talk about it were John Holmes (l) and Sunbelt’s Chairman Phil Jennings (r).

Phil says they’re taking the product commercial for MSU. He says they’ve been in the turf grass business for years and this new product caught their attention. He says they’re off to a great start and expect to see a lot of acres signed up in the next couple years as the demand for cellulosic ethanol production increases. John says Freedom is a play on words to denote the ability to become independent of foreign produced oil. Phil says “We know of no other plant that is a perennial, that is renewable as fast as it is that can give us the masses of biomass that we’re looking for.” He says Freedom provides four times the yield per acre of switchgrass.

You can listen to my interview with Phil and John below:

AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (2.4MB)

With a record corn crop under their belts despite challenging weather conditions in 2009, corn growers are continuing to develop the production and use of ethanol for America’s energy future.

National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) Ethanol Committee chairman Jon Holzfaster, a grower from Nebraska, says they are focused on increasing the domestic market and overcoming the blend wall in 2010.

“We will increase the market for ethanol and overcome the blend wall if we achieve a blend up to E-15,” said Holzfaster. “The EPA made some favorable moves last year. They are taking a closer look at E-15 right now, but I am excited about what we might see in the future in terms of a move from an E-10 to a higher blend.”

Holzfaster is also excited about moving ethanol into other racing venues. “NASCAR is excited about a future partnership with the ethanol industry to not only help promote the fact that they are becoming more environmentally friendly, but also to help the ethanol industry promote their product,” said Holzfaster.

With the nation’s corn growers producing record and near-record crops, Holzfaster says growing the domestic ethanol market will remain a top priority for NCGA.

Joule Biotechnologies announced today that they have signed a lease agreement to build its first pilot plant to be located in Leander, Texas. The plant will be the testing ground to further develop and test its transformative system for the production of renewable solar fuels and is expected to be online within the first half of 2010. The site was selected due to its high solar insolation and logistically convenient location.

The first test product will be ethanol which will be produced, in part with its SolarConverter™ system. This system incorporates product-specific organisms to produce solar fuels and chemicals via the same process. So far, the company has successfully achieved the production of both ethanol and diesel at lab scale, with the former already reaching productivity rates exceeding 6,000 gallons/acre/year. At full-scale production, via future commercial sites, the company estimates the potential to deliver 25,000 gallons/acre/year of ethanol and 15,000 gallons/acre/year of diesel at highly competitive market pricing.

Bill Sims, President and CEO of Joule Biotechnolgoies stated in a news release, “We are excited to take the next step with pilot-scale development of our renewable solar fuels, following our progress in the lab and also in outdoor testing. Our combined advances in genome engineering, bioprocessing and systems engineering have enabled a first-of-its-kind platform for the production of direct solar fuels, including ethanol and diesel. Now we have the opportunity to test and optimize our processes on a larger scale, driving towards our productivity targets while also demonstrating the ease with which our system can scale up.”

According to the company, their process will achieve high net energy balance without the use of fresh water, crops or the depletion of arable land. The company’s secret is their Helioculture™ technology, which leverages abundant solar energy and genome-engineered organisms to convert waste CO₂ directly into multiple solar fuels and chemicals. The continuous production process requires no biomass intermediates, removing resource limitations and costly processing from the equation.

Abengoa Bioenergy and Mid-Kansas Electric Company are planning to develop the nation’s first commercial-scale hybrid cellulosic ethanol and power plant in Kansas.

Announced this week, Abengoa Bioenergy Hybrid of Kansas will be “a sustainable solution that will diversify electric generation in Kansas and help power the state’s growing demand for energy using Abengoa Bioenergy’s state-of-the-art, integrated bio-refinery technology and Mid-Kansas’ service capabilities.”

“As an international energy company, we believe this project is an important part of our continual growth in bioenergy,” said Javier Salgado Leirado, president and CEO of Abengoa Bioenergy. “Advancing this project required the perfect match of agricultural resources, technology, and a utility partner—all present in our partnership with Mid-Kansas. The agreement terms allow us to move forward with the project and bring significant investment to Kansas.”

The facility will be constructed at a cost of $550 million and have the capability to generate electricity and produce cellulosic ethanol. The cellulosic ethanol facility will produce 15 million gallons of ethanol per year and use corn stover, wheat straw and switchgrass as fuel inputs. The plant will use 2,500 tons of biomass daily to produce ethanol and electricity. Start-up operations are expected in 2012.