Domestic Fuel

Poplar trees could get more popular if they prove to be the next big ethanol feedstock.

A team of researchers at the University of Maryland, College Park, and Bowie State University is working on ways to use the hybrid trees to make ethanol and other biofuels, since they could be grown on plantations and harvested without affecting existing woodlands. Poplar, which is also known as cottonwood or aspen, is already commonly cultivated for the production of paper and timber.

The study is funded by a $3.2 million, four-year grant from the National Science Foundation’s Plant Genome Research Project, which supports research on plants seen as having economic and agricultural importance. Using the recently completed poplar genome, the researchers are focusing on ways to improve the tree’s nitrogen processing capability, which will enhance its growth rate and feasibility for use in fuel production.

E85 infrastructure legislation that will extend grants of $100,000 up to 50% is one step closer to being a reality. According to BrighterEnergy.org, House Bill 1261 was voted through without opposition in the Indiana state Senate.

The “Agricultural Biomass Infrastructure Grant Fund” now will return to the state’s House of Representatives for consideration. The grant will extend the eligibility of governments, retailers, school corporations and state universities to tale advanatage of this funding.

State Senator Sue Errington (D-Muncie), one of the sponsors of the Bill, said: “Biomass and biofuels are going to be an important part of our future energy market. This bill gives biomass producers the tools they need to build and expand the infrastructure required to deliver these renewable energy products.”

“By opening up more grant opportunities, we can encourage further development and use of alternative energy in Indiana,” State Sen. Stutzman said. “With today’s vote, the Senate helped move our state toward greater energy independence.”

The state of Indiana currently has 129 E85 refueling locations.

Kinder Morgan is getting ethanol moving through the pipeline.

Those attending the Renewable Fuels Association 15th annual National Ethanol Conference in Orlando last month had the opportunity to see the Kinder Morgan terminal in Orlando and hear about the first pipeline in the country to provide commercial ethanol deliveries. “We now have the capability of handling 100 percent of the greater Orlando demand for ethanol by pipeline,” said Jim Lelio, Director of Business Development for Kinder Morgan Energy Partners.

Florida’s E10 market penetration has increased rapidly in just two short years, moving from virtually nothing at the end of 2007 to almost 100 percent at the end of 2009. The 104 mile Central Florida pipeline, in operation since December 2008, is the only pipeline currently moving commercial ethanol batches to supply major U.S. markets. “Our number one concern is the integrity of that pipeline and maintaining safety of it. We have had no signs of corrosion during comprehensive testing,” Lelio said. “We proved it’s possible and now we are gaining in confidence and looking at different pipelines.” That includes the Plantation Pipe Line from Louisiana to Virginia.

Last year, Kinder Morgan handled nearly 30 percent of total U.S. demand for ethanol, or about 83 million barrels, and this year that is expected to increase to 95 million. The company is the largest independent transporter of petroleum products in the nation, transporting more than 2 million barrels per day.

Listen to or download Jim Lelio’s presentation from the 2010 NEC here:

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Ethanol related issues top the list of concerns for members of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) preparing for their annual policy meeting ti be held this week in Anaheim as part of the 2010 Commodity Classic.

NCGA president Darrin Ihnen, a corn grower from South Dakota, says among those concerns are the use of indirect land use change in making regulations for low carbon fuels and increasing the allowable blend level for ethanol in gasoline to 15 percent. “The other thing that is looming is tax policy when it comes to the ethanol industry – VEET (volumetric ethanol excise tax credit) and the import tariff,” Ihnen said on a visit last week to the Missouri Corn Growers Association annual meeting. “Those will definitely bring a lot of discussion in our resolution sessions and our policy decision making.”

Corn growers are also concerned about the threat posed to animal agriculture in individual states by activist groups, which affects them on two levels. “Number one, the livestock industry is our largest user of corn,” Ihnen says. “The second thing is that we supply a lot of corn to the ethanol industry, which produces DDGs, which comes back to the livestock industry.”

Ihnen sees the animal activist threat as a unifying issue for the agriculture industry, which is sometimes divided when it comes to ethanol. “We can’t be separated when it comes to agriculture,” he said. “We need to work together.”

Listen to or download my interview with Darrin Ihnen here.

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