Domestic Fuel

September is officially Renewable Fuels Month in Nebraska now after a proclamation signing by the governor today at Husker Harvest Days.

Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman joined state soybean board chair Lisa Lunz, NASCAR Nationwide driver Kenny Wallace and Alan Tiemann, chairman of the Nebraska Corn Board, in making the declaration. “Nebraska’s renewable fuels sector contributes to local communities by providing good paying jobs for thousands of Nebraskans,” said Gov. Heineman. “Renewable fuels are a critical component of becoming energy independent and by providing an alternative to imported oil. We are fortunate to have a strong biofuels industry with thousands of Nebraskans working to fuel America.”

The proclamation was coordinated through the Nebraska Corn Board and Nebraska Soybean Board, who hosted the event at Husker Harvest Days to recognize the contributions of Nebraska farmers and agribusinesses to the nation’s renewable fuel supply.

Representatives of the U.S. livestock and poultry industries testified before a House agriculture subcommittee today that changes in ethanol policy are necessary to ensure the availability of corn for animal feed, but the ethanol industry disagrees.

According to the Renewable Fuels Association, America’s ethanol producers are on pace to produce nearly 40 million metric tons of livestock feed in 2011 – a volume greater than all the corn used on cattle feedlots all across the country. “When a bushel of corn enters an ethanol plant, fully one third of that bushel gets returned to the livestock feed market in the form of distillers grains,” said RFA’s Matt Hartwig, who adds that the industry wants to work with livestock producers to increase efficiency and usage of distillers grains.

The hearing by the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry on Wednesday included no representatives from the corn or ethanol industries and raised the food versus fuel flag again, but Hartwig encourages lawmakers to look beyond the price of corn as the cause of higher food prices. “A pound of pork chops retails for around $3.50 and in that pound, there is roughly 30 cents worth of corn at today’s prices,” Hartwig says. “So there are other factors after that pig leaves the farm that influence the prices consumers pay at the retail level” like higher energy prices, labor and manufacturing.

Listen to Hartwig’s comments in this edition of “The Ethanol Report”: Ethanol Report on Feed Availability

I’ve spent the last few weeks speaking with people in the biorefining industry in an effort to learn more about safety issues and best practices. The result is a series on Biorefinery Plant Safety and part one focuses on chemical safety. Chemicals are a necessary component of producing ethanol or biodiesel. On the ethanol side, some plants use chlorine dioxide or sulfuric acid in various aspects of the process – both in fermentation (to kill infections) and as a cleaning agent. On the biodiesel side, methanol is a commonly used.

Many things can happen when working with chemicals – slips, burns, fires, and explosions- and the biofuels industry has not been immune from any of these issues. While no one would tell me exactly what has caused some recent fires or explosions, I believe understanding cause and effect of mishandling chemicals/or properly handling chemicals, should reduce chemical accidents.

To learn more, I spoke with Scott Berger, with the Center for Chemical Process Safety, formed by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Their goal is to improve guidelines and improve practices to prevent major chemical accidents such as fires, explosions and toxic gas release. Formed in 1985, they have published more than 100 guidelines with the work being done by their 140 plus members in the chemical, refining, biorefining, and other similar manufacturing businesses.

Berger noted that it doesn’t matter which chemical you decide to use in your facility, every material has a hazard. “If you don’t respect that hazard, don’t identify that hazard, don’t manage the hazard properly, then you can have a problem.”

What is the right way to communicate chemical safety? Berger said the first thing is that management has to recognize that they’re dealing with hazardous materials and then they have to commit that they are going to manage those hazards. He said because without that recognition and that commitment, nothing will happen. From there they need to implement a management system for managing the hazardous materials and the hazardous process.

Listen to my interview with Scott Berger here: Ethanol Safety Series Part I: How to Properly Handle Chemicals in a Biorefinery
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Renewable energy is one of the fastest growing sectors of energy in the U.S. Last year wind energy was only second to natural gas in terms of providing new electric generation. Bill White with David Gardiner & Associates told me during an interview that it won’t be long before wind energy surpasses all other forms of energy for new electric energy installed.

White said that policies are very important to help create jobs, lower electricity costs and increase dependence on domestic sources of energy. Several policies to pay attention to include the federal production tax credit, which is set to expire at the end of 2012. He stressed that it is important for Congress to extend the tax credit.

“Leaving it to the last minute will create a lot of uncertainty in the market and make investors a little less comfortable,” said White. “It would really have a negative effect on the boom in the industry that’s going on despite the recession.”

Listen to my interview with Bill White here: How to Accelerate Wind Energy Development

Another key policy is the investment tax credit that was enacted in 2009 as part of the Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This gives developers the option to take a 30 percent investment tax credit for a new facility in lieu of the tax credit. To be eligible, construction must begin by the end of 2011.

One of the biggest barriers to developing wind energy, says White is the ability to move the power from where it is most cost effective to produce to where people use a lot of electricity. FERC recently issued a series of orders that takes important steps in the way companies share and plan new transmission projects.

White concluded that the wind industry has been very successful and he believes it will be more successful in the future. “If we’re really able to build the infrastructure under this new FERC order, than we’ll really see this industry take off.”

You can learn more about the wind industry at the upcoming Wind & Transmission Leadership Summit in Blue Sky, Montana September 26-28.

Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “Which is more important to rural America: GPS Service or Broadband Internet?” A majority of 66% said Broadband Internet with 34% choosing GPS Service. So perhaps most of you place more importance on being able to use the internet for whatever reason than having the ability to use your GPS device, which would include location based services on your mobile phone? Interesting. What do you think?

Our new ZimmPoll is now live. We’re asking the question, “What is best for ag to add jobs to the economy?” Jobs is a political key word right now and the economy sure needs a boost. Let us know what you think and thank you.

ZimmPoll is sponsored by Rhea+Kaiser, a full-service advertising/public relations agency.

It seems like it won’t be long before aircraft flying with biofuels is an everyday occurrence. The latest test flights were conducted by Embraer and GE flying a EMBRAER 170 jet from the Company’s Gavião Peixoto facilities. The purpose of the tests were to benchmark the operational characteristics of the airplane and its GE CF34-8 engines when flying with a HEFA fuel – a biofuel blend comprised of hydro-processed esters and fatty acids.

The 50 percent HEFA biojet fuel blend, derived from camelina, has received recent approval by ASTM. As a result, Embraer said they are stepping up their efforts to develop a broader range of sustainable biofuels for aviation. To date, the tests of the biojet blend have been successful and future tests are planned.

“We have a strong and longstanding commitment to developing efficient and environmentally responsible products,” said Mauro Kern, Embraer Executive Vice President of Engineering and Technology. “This series of tests, and their very positive results, gives us a lot of new information to continue our sustainability program as it relates to future products. Supporting the development and deployment of sustainable aviation biofuels is one of the industry’s top priorities, and we are firmly engaged in that effort.”

Next steps for the two partners include testing other feedstocks and production pathways for production of the biofuels.

“This could encompass a broad range of pursuits, from testing of additional fuel production pathways and feedstocks, to potentially increasing HEFA blend levels,” added Laurent Rouaud, Chief Marketing Office, GE Aviation. “These flights have also demonstrated that the aircraft and engine manufacturers are also interested in limiting net carbon emissions from their ongoing product development activities, and in working with producers to establish early production demand for the benefit of the entire aviation enterprise.”

The biofuel industry was invited to tour OriginOil’s algae technology during the recent Algae World Australia conference. The end-to-end algae production project is located in North Queensland, Australia. Riggs Eckelberry, company CEO, spoke during the conference and joined the visitors touring the facility, which is operated by their partner MBD Energy on the James Cook University campus (JCU) in Townsville.

“We were incredibly impressed with the professionalism that the joint MBD and JCU team showed in putting on this site visit,” said Eckelberry. “Next-generation algae production has been integrated into an end-to-end system for the first time, and we’re proud to be part of this effort.”

The tour also included the Tarong Power Station, near Brisbane, where visited were able to check out a new industrial demonstration site that MBD is building to capture flue-gas CO2 produced by the coal-fired power plant. MBD plans to use the large-scale OriginOil Single Step Extraction systems to harvest algae at the one hectare site.

The U.S.-based University that uses the most solar energy in its mix is Arizona State University (ASU), which exceeds 10 megawatts (MW) of solar-energy capacity. The solar energy produced is enough to power 2,500 average sized homes. This is according to Ameresco Southwest, Inc.

“Surpassing 10 megawatts of solar energy capacity is a tremendous accomplishment for ASU and our partners,” said ASU President Michael Crow. “Over the years we have made several major commitments to sustainability, such as establishing the first school devoted to sustainability, raising awareness of how to live sustainable lives and finding ways to harness natural resources, like our abundance of sunshine. By doing these things, we are making a brighter future for ourselves and the place in which we live.”

When looking at ASU’s total energy use, the solar energy generates about 20 percent of their needs. The first solar energy product took place in October 2004 with a 34-kW installation at one of its parking structures on the Tempe campus. The university reached the 10 MW milestone after installing a 700 panel, 168-kilowatt (kW) ground-mounted photovoltaic installation on Tempe campus. Another solar installation is located at ASU’s West campus.

David Brixen, ASU’s associate vice president of Facilities Development and Management added, “Ten megawatts is a pinnacle for ASU and represents years of dedication to working toward our campus sustainability goals. To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest solar installation at a single university in the United States.”

With the latest USDA forecast showing tighter grain supplies, the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry is holding a hearing Wednesday on the concerns of livestock and poultry producers about feed availability and ethanol is likely to be a target for blame.

In advance of the hearing, officials with Growth Energy have sent a letter to the committee leadership urging them to remember that the ethanol industry produces animal feed in the form of distillers grains (DDGs). “More than one-third of all grain used in the production of ethanol is returned as a nutritious distillers’ grain, which is 25 percent cheaper than corn and can displace a greater amount of corn in feed rations, ultimately saving livestock producers’ input costs,” wrote Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis and president Jim Nussle in the letter to sub committee chairman Rep. Thomas Rooney (R-FL) and ranking member Dennis Cardoza (D-CA).

Growth Energy noted that there are many factors that are contributing to tighter grain supplies and higher prices, but stressed that the productivity of American agriculture is capable of meeting all demands for feed, food and fuel. “Consider this, despite the worst weather conditions in recent history, from cold spring rains to searing summer droughts followed by early autumn floods, our nation’s farmers are expected to deliver a near-record harvest of corn,” they wrote. Corn production this year is now forecast to be 12.5 billion bushels, just slightly more than last year and the third largest crop on record.

Scheduled to testify at the hearing on Wednesday at 1:30 eastern are representatives from the beef, dairy, pork, and poultry industries.

Biofuels Digest editor Jim Lane is looking for photos depicting “A Day in the Life of Biofuels” for an upcoming photo essay and he’s paying $1000 for the best photo he gets.

“It has to relate to biofuels in some way – as a consumer, researcher, policymaker, producer, journalist, feedstock grower, industry supplier, student, enthusiast, carmaker, mechanic, and so on,” Lane says. “Could be a grower riding a combine, a hand working in the field, an employee at a producing biorefinery, end users users filling a vehicle – a marketing team brainstorming, a policymaker speaking – anything you can think of relating to biofuels – the more visually creative, the better. Could be about you, your business, your colleagues, your town, your car, your farm, your research project, your product – your call. Documentary, serious, downbeat, upbeat, sad, funny – up to you.”

Lane says all photos submitted with a caption will be published in Biofuels Digest with a credit. Multiple photo submissions are welcome, but additional photos will be published on a space-available basis and Lane says photos “are subject to acceptance by the Digest on the basis of reasonable taste.”

Find out more here.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has lowered its estimate of both corn production and ethanol usage of corn for this year.

The latest crop forecast for corn was cut three percent in the August report, due to excessive summer heat that lowered average yields by almost five bushels an acre. The estimate for corn production this year is now 12.5 billion bushels, down 3 percent from the August forecast but would still be the third largest corn crop in history. Yields are expected to average just over 148 bushels/acre, the lowest yield in six years.

With tighter supplies and higher prices, the USDA supply/demand outlook now projects corn usage to be 400 million bushels lower. “Corn use for ethanol is projected 100 million bushels lower with higher expected corn prices and continued weakening in the outlook for U.S. gasoline consumption as forecast by the Energy Information Administration,” according to the report. “The season-average farm price is projected 30 cents per bushel higher on both ends of the range to a record $6.50 to $7.50 per bushel.”

Flex-fuel vehicle owners in Madison, Alabama now have more choices in filling up with E85, thanks to MAPCO Express and Protec Fuel.

This is the first location for the multi-state MAPCO Express to offer 85 percent ethanol blended fuel. The company partnered with florida-based Protec Fuel to convert the station and equipment and provide the E85 fuel for the company’s new greener-burning fuel option.

“MAPCO has taken a big step in offering E85 to its customers at this Madison location,” said Steve Walk with Protec Fuel. “This launch should lead to more MAPCO biofuel pumps throughout its southeastern U.S. territory.”

According to Mark Bentley, Executive Director of the Alabama Clean Fuels Coalition, there are now 16 E85 pumps in Alabama. “We congratulate and commend MAPCO and the people of Madison for making E85 available to the public,” he said.

Madison, Alabama is north of Birmingham and just east of Decatur and the MAPCO Express E85 pump is located on Highway 72 West.

President Obama reaffirmed the importance of domestically produced fuels in his address to Congress on jobs Thursday night.

“If we provide the right incentives, the right support — and if we make sure our trading partners play by the rules — we can be the ones to build everything from fuel-efficient cars to advanced biofuels to semiconductors that we sell all around the world,” the president said. “That’s how America can be number one again.”

The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) was pleased to hear the president utter the words “advanced biofuels” in connection with jobs. “As the only commercial scale Advanced biofuel that’s produced nationwide today, biodiesel is proof that strong domestic energy policy and incentives can create good paying American Jobs,” said NBB VP of Federal Affairs Anne Steckel. “Even in this economy, our industry is experiencing a boom. We’re on pace to produce more biodiesel than ever before. We strongly encourage Congress to follow through with a green jobs package that includes the biodiesel tax incentive that gets people back to work.”

Obama outlined his $450 billion jobs plan including tax cuts, tax credits, infrastructure investments and other measures in his speech Thursday night to Congress, urging lawmakers to pass it immediately to put Americans back to work.

Vancouver-based Linnaeus Plant Sciences has been awarded $1.2 million in support from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) to further advance production of green alternatives to petroleum oils.

SDTC support will help Linnaeus advance production of camelina and safflower-based oils as renewable feedstock that can substitute for petroleum in a variety of high-value, non-fuel applications including polymers, lubricants, surfactants and other valuable industrial materials.

Linnaeus Plant Sciences has developed an integrated process to produce a variety of value-added, renewable, industrial feedstocks from camelina and safflower, for use in various industrial applications.

As President Obama prepares to address the nation with a proposed $400 billion jobs plan, the Renewable Fuels Association is reminding him that American ethanol fuels 400,000 jobs right now and could do even more with more support.

In an open letter to the president running today in Politico, RFA president Bob Dinneen says the “American ethanol industry is a job-creating engine fueled by innovation.”

“With a commitment in tonight’s speech to support the goals of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS), encourage the use of E15 and other ethanol fuels, and invest in modernizing our fuel infrastructure, you could embolden current ethanol production and ignite investment in next generation advanced and cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels which would require the construction of new biorefineries, often located outside the traditional Corn Belt. In addition, you would spark further economic growth in rural communities in the Heartland where economic development is most difficult,” Dinneen writes to President Obama.

See the full ad here.