Domestic Fuel

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) has sent a letter to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee leadership refuting statements that were made in a Nov. 30th letter sent to the committee by ethanol critics.

According to RFA, the letter sent by ethanol critics misrepresented the findings of two recent papers on American biofuels and American biofuel policy — one from the National Academies of Science (NAS) and one from United Nations Committee on Food Security (CFS). Authors of the letter, including corporate livestock, food manufacturing, fossil fuel production, and other industries, are seeking a hearing on domestic biofuels and the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS).

In a follow-up letter sent this week, RFA provides additional research confirming the benefits of domestic biofuel production. Specifically, RFA took exception to assertions made that the NAS study offered definitive conclusions about the environmental impacts of ethanol or the efficacy of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS).

RFA also highlighted a finding of the NAS report that was omitted in the letter that, “using biofuels holds potential to provide net environmental benefits compared to using petroleum-based fuels…”.

RFA notes that even some participants in the NAS research work have questioned its incompleteness and lack of definitive conclusions. It has been reported by the American Association of Advancement of Science that Dr. Virginia Dale, an ecologist at the DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory believes the NAS report, “is not based on the most current information” and could be “misleading if the assumptions of the analysis are not considered.” Dr. Dale encouraged readers to “read the details with care,” a point which RFA notes was left out of the letter to the committee.

Regarding the UN CFS study, the RFA noted that no mention of the RFS or specific biofuel policies were included in the study.

RFA believes the letter and claims sent by the ethanol critics does not warrant a hearing by the Senate EPW Committee. However, if a hearing is granted, RFA encourages the committee to hear from witnesses from the biofuels industry and academia who can testify to the benefits of the biofuels industry.

The largest government purchase of biofuels for military application was announced today.

U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack jointly announced that the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) signed a contract to purchase 450,000 gallons of advanced drop-in biofuel.

The biofuel to be purchased is made from a blend of non-food waste (used cooking oil) from the Louisiana-based Dynamic Fuels, LLC, a joint-venture of Tyson Foods, Inc., and Syntroleum Corporation, and algae, produced by Solazyme. The fuel will be used in the U.S. Navy’s demonstration of a Green Strike Group in the summer of 2012 during the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC), the world’s largest international maritime exercise.

“The Navy has always led the nation in transforming the way we use energy, not because it is popular, but because it makes us better war fighters,” stated Secretary Mabus. “This unprecedented fuel purchase demonstrates the Obama Administration’s commitment to seeking energy security and energy independence by diversifying our energy supply.”

The biofuel will be mixed with aviation gas or marine diesel fuel for use in the Green Strike Group demonstration.

Read more from USDA and listen to press conference of the announcement.

Butamax Advanced Biofuels has entered into an agreement on commercialization principles with Highwater Ethanol, a leading ethanol producer based in Lamberton, Minn.

Butamax, a leading global biobutanol technology development company, is working to offer current ethanal producers proprietary biobutanol technology to permit improved biofuels growth and plant profitability.

“We are developing relationships with a group of early adopters. These facilities are among the most efficient, well managed facilities in the United States. Their knowledge and expertise are a complement to the commercialization of Butamax technology,” said Peter Matrai, COO of Butamax.

Highwater Ethanol is the first entrant to the Butamax Early Adopters Group. Their ICM-designed facility was constructed by Fagen with a nameplate capacity of 50 million gallons per year.

Biobutanol is a high performing drop-in biofuel that can be blended at higher concentrations than ethanol, without the need for infrastructure changes. At 16 percent volume, biobutanol delivers twice the renewable energy content of 10 percent ethanol blends.

Last year, Butamax announced the addition of a technology laboratory in Paulinia, Brazil to accelerate process development efforts for producing biobutanol from sugarcane. In addition, the Butamax technology demonstration facility in Hull, England is producing biobutanol to support design of commercial facilities.

The Chicago Farmers, an agriculture and agribusiness organization, will discuss, “Alternative Energy’s Impact on Farm Income,” at its December meeting, Mon., Dec. 12 at the Illini Center in Chicago.

Fred Iutzi, of the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, will provide a strategic overview and update on renewable energy trends and a status of the industry in Illinois. Corn ethanol and soy biodiesel, advanced biofuels from cellulosic biomas, biomass heat and power, and wind and solar power all will be discussed. The presentation will highlight policy and development issues for both large-and small-scale renewable energy projects and connections between Illinois and the wider national energy economy. It will be followed by a question and answer session.

Reservations are due by Fri., Dec. 9. Participants are encouraged to
register early.

By the end of 2011, POET will be producing enough corn oil as feedstock for 12 million gallons of biodiesel per year.

POET has been selling Voilà corn oil for biodiesel and feed markets since January. With its patent-pending technology expanding to a total of six plants, POET has increased its capacity.

POET Biorefining in Hudson, South Dakota, was the first to produce Voilà. Since then, the technology has been installed in five more POET plants, with more on the way in 2012. Plants that are producing corn oil today are POET Biorefining – Emmetsburg, Gowrie, Jewell and Hanlontown in Iowa. POET Biorefining – Laddonia, Mo., will be coming online next week. The six plants’s combined capacity is about 100 million pounds of corn oil per year.

“Voilà has been a very strong part of POET’s business this year, and I’m excited to see more plants getting this technology,” POET founder and CEO Jeff Broin said. “The more we can diversify into new profitable products, the more successful our plants will be.”

Voilà is just another item on POET’s growing list of products created at its plants. In addition to ethanol, POET produced quality products for animal feed including Dakota Gold distillers dried grains. POET also captures carbon dioxide at seven of its plants for sale to beverage producers, and the company last year unveiled Inviz, a zein product used to replace petroleum-based films and coatings.

See more on Voilà from POET in the following video:

General Motors is working to offer assurances and incentives to owners of Chevy Volts in the wake of concerns about the potential of damaged batteries in the electric cars catching fire, and may ultimately have to take the car of the future back to the drawing board.

Earlier this week, GM announced initiatives for customer satisfaction and battery safety research to ensure ongoing confidence in the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported last week that electrical fires that occurred up to three weeks after lithium-ion battery packs were damaged in crash testing on some of the vehicles.

GM has established a program offering free GM vehicle loan to any Volt owner and vowed to work closely with NHTSA, suppliers, dealers and manufacturing teams to initiate any necessary changes in the vehicles as soon as possible.

An Associated Press report today quoted General Motors CEO Dan Akerson as taking that even further, saying they would buy the cars back from owners who are worried about the issue, and that the company is ready to do a total recall of the more than 6,000 Volts on the road and repair them once the cause of the three post-crash fires in tested vehicles is determined.

National Corn Growers Association president Garry Niemeyer, a farmer from Illinois, penned an editorial this week in an effort to let those still complaining about the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) know that the game is over. Read that commentary below.

Back in August, the Green Scissors Project identified ways the federal government could shave $380 billion from the federal budget over five years. But their $380 billion in proposed cuts included a major error that accounts for more that 10 percent of their suggested cuts – $38.8 billion that they argued the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit would otherwise cost between 2012 and 2016. They conveniently ignored the important fact that there will be no VEETC between those years. VEETC expires about a month from now, and corn growers and the ethanol industry have long agreed to let it expire and have since stopped fighting for its renewal.

It’s kind of like when one football team leaves the field and the other team scores a game-winning victory four plays later. Frankly, we left this game last quarter because there are other, smarter ways to support ethanol, especially in today’s deficit-prone political world. That was part of the reason we and the industry asked for a one-year extension in 2010 – to have time to seek alternatives. We won the game and left the field … not the guys who will pound their chests and claim victory in a few weeks.
Read the rest of this post…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced a new pilot program of insurance for camelina beginning with the 2012 crop year.

According to a release from USDA, “Camelina is an oilseed crop with the potential to create new renewable energy markets in the United States, generate rural jobs here at home, and decrease America’s dependence on foreign oil. The new pilot program will be available in selected counties in Montana and North Dakota for the 2012 crop year, with a sales closing date of February 1, 2012.”

Camelina, an oilseed, is a rotation crop for wheat that can be established on marginally productive land. It is an annual, short season plant. Biofuel from camelina is an ideal jet fuel substitute. USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have long-term studies underway to examine ways to use camelina as a bioenergy crop for producing jet fuel for the military and the aviation industry. In addition, earlier this year USDA announced two Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) project areas devoted to developing camelina as biofuel in several states, including Montana. USDA is also part of several partnerships to develop oilseeds and native and perennial grasses as a biofuels.

Find out details of the program from USDA.

Former Genencor head Bob Mayer has been appointed chief executive officer and chairman of the board of directors for Cobalt Technologies, a leading developer of next generation bio n-butanol.

Mayer, who has more than 30 years of experience in the chemicals and biotech sectors, will lead Cobalt as it focuses on developing commercial facilities globally. For the past 30 years, Mayer has honed his biotech expertise holding executive leadership positions at multi-national companies. Most recently he was the CEO of Genencor International, Inc., a leading global industrial enzyme company wholly owned by Danisco A/S.

Cobalt’s bio n-butanol technology converts biomass and non-food waste sugars into bio n-butanol at a cost that is 40-60 percent lower than current petrochemical technology. N-butanol is currently sold into a multi-billion dollar market and Cobalt’s low-cost process enables the use of n-butanol as a chemical feedstock for conversion into a wide variety of chemicals and fuels, greatly expanding the addressable market.