Domestic Fuel

The new year has brought some bad news for the biodiesel industry. As expected, the $1-per-gallon federal tax incentive expired at the end of December 2009. And, as expected, some biodiesel makers have had to idle their plants after losing the tax credit.

One of the biggest to “idle in the new year” is the 180-million gallon Renewable Biofuels plant in Port Neches, Texas, just a year after it had opened. The Houston Chronicle reports says it’s a trend that we could see more of:

The entire biodiesel industry is in a similar holding pattern, though it’s unclear how many companies idled plants Thursday. Producers still hope the credit will be renewed and applied retroactively when Congress reconvenes later this month.

All of the company’s nine plants — including one in Seabrook on Galveston Bay — “are expected to be negatively affected” by the loss of the credit, he said in an e-mailed statement without elaborating.

The article goes on to say that 23,000 jobs in the biodiesel industry could be lost, coming on the heels of a 29,000-job loss in 2009. But there is a bright spot as some of those jobs could come back on line if Congress re-authorizes the tax credit.

A Tennessee state audit found that the state agencies missed their goal of reducing their use of petroleum products by 20 percent. Legislation enacted in 2007 gave state agencies, universities and community colleges until January 1, 2010 to meet this goal.

“The 20 percent reduction was a challenging goal,” said Alan Jones, manager of the environmental policy office at TDOT. The problem, he noted, is that there aren’t enough E85 and biodiesel stations to serve all the state vehicles. According to TDOT, there are just 33 pumps across the state selling B20 and only 27 pumps provide E85.

About 9 million cars on the roads today are flexible fuel vehicles and nearly 139,000 located in the state of Tennessee. “A lot of those vehicle owners continue to use 100 percent unleaded and in fact, surveys have shown that a lot of those vehicle owners don’t even realize they can use E85,” he said.

With much of the United States experiencing record cold and snow right now, this decorative yet practical German-engineered ethanol fireplace could be just the ticket for a little extra warmth from room to room.

According to the Google English translation of the Conmoto Online Shop that offers the product, “ROLL FIRE balances its stainless steel tank at the ball rolls out confidently. Its glass panels mounted on both sides provide full insight. Held by magnets, the glass is removed for filling the tank with bioethanol summarily.”

The price is a mere 2.490,00 EUR – or about $3,570.00.

A by-product of ethanol production in the United States is feeding water buffalo in Egypt.

In fact, corn growers on a recent U.S. Grains Council mission found that DDGS (dried distiller’s grains with solubles) have become quite popular as livestock rations in that part of the world. “We found several farms that have incorporated distillers grains into their rations and are making good use of them,” said Missouri corn grower and mission participant Jim Stuever.

USGC director for Egypt Dr. Hussein Soliman says they introduced DDGS to producers in 2006. “We introduced 6,000 metric tons in 2006 to start, now we’ve reached 80,000 metric tons, and in two years that will be 200,000 metric tons,” he said.

The corn grower mission met with Dr. Saad Alhayani, who owns and operates a very new open water buffalo feedlot and dairy near Cairo and is also chairman of the Egyptian Buffalo Producer’s Association. “We started two years ago putting five percent and now sometimes we put 25 percent (DDGS) in our diet and it brings very good results,” Alhayani said.

Watch a video clip of Dr. Alhayani’s water buffalo operation here:

USGC Corn Mission In Egypt Photo Album