Domestic Fuel

A new biofuel mix will be making its debut in the American Le Mans Series this weekend – isobutanol and ethanol.

The “Global Leader of Green Racing” announced earlier this week that Dyson Racing, with cooperation from partners BP and Mazda, will campaign its Mazda-powered Lola B09/86 LMP2 coupe on isobutanol for the full 2010 season. Chris Dyson, Guy Smith and Andy Meyrick will drive Dyson Racing’s Lola-Mazda coupe with isobutanol power at the season-opening 58th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida on Saturday, March 20.

The isobutanol fuel component is of particular interest to BP and its development partner DuPont who, through their Butamax™ Advanced Biofuels joint venture, are developing commercial facilities to manufacture isobutanol for mainstream use.

A Hawaiian biofuels firm recently announced an agreement to build a commercial scale biorefinery facility in Tennessee for the production of renewable jet or diesel fuel out of wood.

Under the agreement between ClearFuels Technology of Aiea, Hawaii and Hughes Hardwood International of Collinwood, Tennessee, 1000 tons of wood product per day will be converted into approximately 16 million gallons of synthetic jet or diesel fuel and 4 million gallons of naphtha per year, as well as approximately 8 megawatts of excess renewable power. The project is currently expected to be operational by early 2014.

ClearFuels has begun project development of multiple commercial scale biomass-energy facilities in the southeastern United States, Hawaii and internationally to be located at sugar mills, wood mills and other biomass processing facilities.

Over 100 fleet managers, city, state and county government representatives, fuel producers and distributors and fuel retailers gathered together Wednesday in Dothan, Alabama to become informed leaders for the state’s emerging biofuels marketplace.

“We are gathered here today to bring you more awareness of the five alternative fuels of propane, compressed natural gas, E85, biodiesel and electric vehicles,” said Mark Bentley of Alabama Clean Fuels Coalition.

Speakers during the event included Dothan Mayor Mike Schmitz; Kathy Hornsby of Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs; Larry Fillmer, Executive Director of Auburn’s Natural Resources Management & Development Institute; Michelle Kautz, Market Development Manager from Growth Energy speaking on E85 and ethanol blender pumps, and Rob Dascal of Renewable Energy Group (REG) speaking on biodiesel. REG currently produces over 25% of America’s biodiesel.

Retailing biofuels in Alabama was discussed by Hayden Powers, Municipal Sales Manager for the McPherson Oil Company and the municipal use of alternative fuels was explored by David Lindon, Director of Hoover Fleet Management. The City of Hoover has been nationally & internationally recognized for its use of alternative fuels. Over 85% of Hoover’s vehicles are powered by alternative fuels. Clean Energy (the Boone Pickens Company) was represented by Mason Ecker. Clean Energy is the largest provider of Natural Gas in North America with a broad customer base in the refuse, transit, port, shuttle, taxi, regional trucking, airport and municipal fleet markets.

Other topics included propane, electric vehicles and funding opportunities for alternative fuels.

A one-day conference is scheduled to provide information to Pennsylvania biodiesel producers on what should be expected when the state’s B2 mandate goes into effect.

Biodiesel Magazine reports the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and the National Biodiesel Board are holding the April 20 event, called the Pennsylvania Biofuel Development Conference:

The mandate is based on trigger points, so when instate production—not installed capacity but actual production volumes—reaches 100 MMgy, the Pennsylvania biodiesel standard will move from B2 to B5. Keystone Biofuels’ Ben Wootten, also president of the Pennsylvania Biodiesel Producers Group, said installed biodiesel production capacity in Pennsylvania is currently 114 MMgy.

The B2 mandate is for on-road diesel fuel only, but Wootten, who just accepted the position of regulatory chair for the National Biodiesel Board, said Bioheat legislation was just recently proposed, Senate Bill 1282, which would seek a B5 mandate for all heating oil sold in Pennsylvania beginning May 2011.

The event will feature sessions focusing on statewide biodiesel distribution systems, best practices to ensure fuel quality, testing methods and more. To register and for more information, contact Michael Radar at (717) 787-9089.

A team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have figured out how to get the the sugar molecules trapped inside inedible plant biomass, a key step in the creation of cellulosic biofuels.

This press release from the school says the process, featured in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, converts up to three-quarters of the sugars locked up in raw corn stover into simple, fermentable sugars … an attractive alternative to the enzyme-based approaches currently favored by biofuels researchers:

“Our chemical process is extremely efficient,” says Ron Raines, a UW-Madison professor of biochemistry and chemistry. “It also has marked advantages over the existing processes-both chemical or enzymatic-for producing sugars from biomass.”

Raines’ chemical approach, which he developed with graduate student Joe Binder, a doctoral candidate in the chemistry department, on the other hand, relies on a mixture of an ionic liquid and dilute acid-both of which can slip past lignin-to dissolve the long chains of sugars in biomass and break them up into individual molecules of glucose and xylose.

The article goes on to say that the researchers were able to get about the same amount of sugar out of the biomass as the more-expensive enzymes usually used. This could significantly cut the cost of cellulosic ethanol, helping move that industry forward.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that Fiscal Year 2009 funding is once again available again for three USDA Farm Bill programs to promote increased production of biomass and bioenergy.

Applications for the Biorefinery Assistance Program, which uses loan guarantees to develop, construct, and retrofit commercial-scale biorefineries, must be received by June 1, 2010. Applications are also being accepted for remaining FY 2009 funding under the Repowering Assistance Program, which provides for payments to biorefineries in existence when the Farm Bill was passed to replace the use of fossil fuels in their operations with renewable energy from biomass. Biorefineries interested in obtaining funding must apply by June 15, 2010.

Finally, those biomass producers eligible under the Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels may also apply to receive payment from remaining FY 2009 funds. Applications must be received by May 30, 2010. Under this program, payments are made to eligible producers in rural areas to support and ensure an expanding production of advanced biofuels. Payments are based on the amount of biofuels a recipient produces from renewable biomass, other than corn kernel starch. Eligible examples include biofuels derived from cellulose, crop residue, animal, food and yard waste material, biogas (landfill and sewage waste treatment gas), vegetable oil and animal fat.

At the recent Commodity Classic, Secretary Vilsack noted that the administration is focused on expanding the biofuels industry. “We’re going to make sure that it is a national industry, not just focused in one particular area, one particular region, or one particular feed stock. There are enormous opportunities here in all parts of the country. Enormous opportunities for farmers and ranchers, enormous opportunities for rural America. And, there needs to be a concerted effort in growing and expanding this industry,” Vilsack told the crowd of more than 4,000 meeting in Anaheim, Calif. “That’s part of the strategy of USDA. So, we’re putting resources behind this, and we’re using our rural development resources to help build these refineries. We’re using our energy title of the farm bill to promote payments to farmers for feed stocks, to help build refineries, to retrofit existing refineries, to put people to work in rural communities.”

Listen to or download Vilsack’s speech from Commodity Classic here:

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The CEO of one of the world’s biggest petroleum companies says his company will soon produce more natural gas than oil and is investing more than ever in biofuels.

And this article from the Wall Street Journal says that Peter Voser of Royal Dutch Shell says he expects in the next 40 years, 40 percent of the world’s cars will be electric:

Mr. Voser sat down with The Wall Street Journal’s Alan Murray and Kimberley Strassel to talk about the future of climate-change legislation, the company’s push beyond oil, the prospects for electric vehicles and more…

MR. VOSER: We are focusing a lot on biofuels at this stage.
Read the rest of this post…

The National Research Council (NRC) is currently conducting an ongoing study on the impacts of expanded biofuel production. NRC, which is part of the National Academy of Sciences, hosted a workshop last week to receive feedback from people on both sides of the debate. The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) represented the ethanol industry and Geoff Cooper, RFA’s Vice President of Research and Analysis, was on hand for the meeting.

Prior to the event, however, Cooper prepared some responses in advance of the meeting. There were six questions proposed by NRC that RFA responded to four in detail. Specifically, the questions asked and responded to were:

• 1. What are the costs and disruptive effects on the economy and environment of meeting the RFS mandate by 2022?
• 2. In your view, what are the potential beneficial impacts of the RFS mandate in addition to improving energy security and reducing greenhouse gas emissions?
• 3. Which groups would gain or lose most from meeting the RFS mandate?
• 4. What are the most important barriers to meeting the RFS mandate?

In response to the first two questions, Cooper wrote, “We believe the positive economic and environmental effects associated with meeting long-term RFS2 requirements far outweigh any potential negative consequences. Further, some “disruptive” effects are in fact positive for the U.S. economy and environment. The disruption of crude oil markets that would result from meeting RFS requirements is one example.”

In response to the second question above, Cooper wrote, “We believe it is important that committee members have a full understanding of all of the beneficial impacts that would result from meeting RFS2 requirements so that likely benefits can be properly weighed against potential risks.”

Benefits highlighted by RFA for the committee include increased energy security, reduced dependence on foreign oil, reduced GHG emissions, increase in green jobs, increase in farm income and decrease of gas prices at the pump. Cooper also noted that the barriers to success of the RFS include blend wall limits, infrastructure and logistics, and access to capital, to name a few.

You can read the full response from RFA by clicking here.

The Global Renewable Fuels Alliance (GRFA) has come out today calling a recent OPEC report “self serving.” The report, co-written by the former Secretary General of the OPEC oil cartel, criticized biofuels while according to GRFA, ignoring the overwhelming evidence on the devastating impact of crude oil on the environment and on our economies. The report will be released during the International Energy Forum’s meeting in Cancun, Mexico this month.

“This report would be laughable if the risks associated with our dangerous reliance on oil were not so serious,” said Bliss Baker, spokesperson for the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance. “OPEC has dedicated its history to keeping oil prices artificially high and combating any threat to the shocking wealth of its members. It was only a matter of time until it attacked biofuels.”

GRFA notes that biofuels represent a competitive threat to crude oil but also acknowledge that the implementation of renewable fuels standards by governments around the world have the practical effect of lowering prices at the pump.  A trend, not surprisingly, that OPEC has no interest in seeing continue. For example, according to a report from Merrill Lynch commodity strategist, “retail gasoline prices would be $21/bbl higher, on average, without the incremental biofuel supply.”

Countries around the world are expanding their biofuels production to meet increased energy needs at the same time as addressing growing greenhouse gas emission concerns that lead to global climate change. In 2009, global biofuels production exceeded 80 billion litres.

According to Baker, the report ignores the horrific impact on economies due to high crude oil prices, especially those in developing nations as well as fails to address the positive impact biofuels production has on fuel supplies and prices. “In an era of ever increasing oil prices, biofuels production is more important than ever,” added Baker. “Our industry is calling on the OPEC oil cartel to embrace biofuels and the competition that it brings to the global fuels markets instead of stifling competition and keeping prices high.”

Baker concluded, “I can only conclude that this self-serving piece of research is an attempt to slow down biofuels production. Perhaps OPEC finally sees biofuels as competition. If that’s the case I suspect we can see similar future so-called reports on biofuels from OPEC.”

“I’m not troubled by getting it right as long as we get it right. And I think we’re headed in the right direction. I’m anticipating we’ll see some increase in the blend rate,” said Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack during a press conference at Commodity Classic when asked about EPA’s delaying the decision to increase the blend rate to E15.

However, prior to addressing the status of the E15 Waiver, Vilsack began by noting that biofuels are a good way to bring prosperity and economic vitality to all regions across the country. Rural America is disappearing and farmers have been one of the hardest hit groups during this financial crises. He explained that its not just growing the crops that help farmers but also the jobs it creates for residents of rural communities who work in the ethanol plants and other companies that are tied to biofuels production.

Circling back to E15, approving a higher blend is essential to reaching the country’s goal of producing 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022. Per the mandates as set by the EPA as part of the Renewable Fuels Standard, nearly 10 percent of all fuel will be blended with E10 in 2010. Without higher blends, including E85, there is no where for the fuel to go.

Yet earlier this week, the EPA announced that it was delaying any decision on increasing the blend level to E15 until the end of the summer. Vilsack commented that the purpose of the delay is due to ongoing testing by the Department of Energy to determine what engines can use the higher blend without ill effects. It has already been established that newer vehicles, and all flex-fuel vehicles can use the higher blend safely, “Which suggests to me that we’re going to see an increase in the blend rate,” said Vilsack. He then noted that it will be important to use rural development resources to make sure the distribution systems create the opportunities for people to use higher blends.

You can see photos from Commodity Classic here.

You can listen to Vilsack’s comments on biofuels here.

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