Domestic Fuel

The use of anaerobic digesters for livestock operations in the Southwest is the focus of the Renewable Energy Education Field Day webinar planned for later this month.

The webinar will be presented on Wednesday October 26 and will examine technical, environmental and financial factors to consider when installing an anaerobic digester on a livestock operation and specifically the use of digesters with dry manure and the unique environmental issues and climatic conditions of the Southwest.

The virtual Field Day is free of charge and targeted to dairy and beef producers in New Mexico, Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Representatives of environmental and agricultural organizations working with livestock producers, as well as staff from state and federal agencies, are also encouraged to participate.

The webinar’s origination site will be the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum, Las Cruces, N.M., where anyone interested in the area is invited to attend live. Five viewing sites have been set up across the Southwest at Lamar Community College, Lamar, Colo.; Otero County Extension Office, Rocky Ford, Colo.; Arizona State University, Polytechnic Campus, Mesa, Ariz.; the U.S. EPA Region 9 Office, San Francisco, Calif.; and the Texas A&M’s AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Amarillo, Texas. Additional sites may be added.

Farm Foundation, NFP is organizing this webinar in collaboration with USDA Rural Development, USDA’s Office of Energy Policy and New Uses, and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. There is no charge to participate in this webinar, but registration is required by going to the FarmFoundation.org website. This is the second Renewable Energy Education Field Day presented by Farm Foundation, NFP and USDA agencies. Biomass was the subject of the first Field Day in November 2010.

Biofuels Digest’s debut of “The 30 Hottest Companies in Renewable Chemicals and Materials” saw the top spot go to Genomatica. This honor, however, is not the first for the company. They also received the EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award for its strategy and progress in producing industrial biochemicals. The “biochemical” market is a multi-billion dollar industry and they offer better economics and a smaller ecological footprint than traditional chemicals.

“The momentum in the renewable chemicals and materials space inspired us to run the first ‘hottest’ companies competition in Biofuels Digest history,” said Biofuels Digest founder and editor Jim Lane. “The Biofuels Digest community recognized the slew of meaningful technology, production and commercialization milestones Genomatica has achieved over the past year, and the solid leadership they provide for the industry.”

So what was it about Genomatica that helped them rise to the top spot? In 2011, they had already reached demonstration-scale production in partnership with Tate & Lyle. In addition, the company has signed a strategic memorandum of understanding for sustainable chemicals in Asia with Mitsubishi Chemical. As if that isn’t enough, they have also established a partnership with Gruppo M&G for biomass-to-chemicals in Europe and signed a joint development agreement with Waste Management to convert syngas to high-value chemicals.

“The readers and panelists of Biofuels Digest represent the forefront of our industry, so we are gratified by their recognition,” said Genomatica CEO Christophe Schilling. “The hard work, passion and perseverance of every employee and partner got us to this place, so it’s nice to take a moment and feel good about what we have accomplished so far this year.”

I sometimes wonder what in the world California is thinking. I just wrote about Feinstein’s attack on biofuels in the state, yet today the state’s biofuels industry scored a victory when the California Energy Commission (CEC) announced the approval of more than $29 million for advanced biofuels projects. The CEC completed the first two years of its program funding cycle by awarding $29,675,072 to seven different projects through its Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program (AB 118).

“This is a major milestone for our program because it means we have awarded all $175 million from the first two years of the AB 118 program, plus another $14 million from the 2010-11 funding cycle,” said Energy Commission Vice Chair James Boyd. “We have awarded more than 82 grants, public agency agreements and program support contracts totaling $189.4 million in AB 118 funding, leveraging more than $425 million in private match funding and creating or retaining about 5,600 jobs.”

The CEC estimates that the awards will infuse more than $44.5 million into the state’s biofuels industry and they estimate that the monies will create or retain 616 construction, engineering and management jobs over the next three years. The projects range from reducing petroleum consumption and greenhouse gas emissions to providing jobs through the advancement of biofuel technology to the installation of alternative fuel infrastructure aimed at fleets.

Awardees include:

• Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District ($3,000,000 – Match Share $2,663,175) – AC Transit will construct a new hydrogen bus fueling station in Oakland.
• Biostar Systems ($3,372,314 – Match Share $3,372,314)  – BioStar Systems is partnering with Sonoma County Water Agency and Sonoma County Transit to produce 148,000 cubic feet per day of pipeline quality biomethane from dairy waste and food processor waste to support the Sonoma County Transit natural gas fleet.
• South Coast Air Quality Management District ($2,600,000 – Match share $6,000,000) – The South Coast Air Quality Management District and their numerous partners will install and upgrade 11 compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling stations throughout Southern California.
• USA Waste of California ($489,040 – Match Share $1,051,021)  – USA Waste will upgrade a liquefied natural gas (LNG) station in the City of Corona (Riverside County) to add storage tanks, vaporizers and dispensers that will also add compressed natural gas (CNG) to their current LNG dispensing capabilities.
• CR&R, Inc. ($4,520,501 – Match Share $18,166,460)  – CR&R estimates that this project planned for the City of Perris in Riverside County will produce 120,000 million BTUs of pipeline quality biomethane from nonrecyclable municipal waste using a two-stage anaerobic digestion process.
• Pixley Biogas ($4,672,798 – Match Share $4,910,925)  – Pixley Biogas intends to build an anaerobic digestion facility in the community of Pixley (Tulare County) that will process more than 36 million gallons of manure from three nearby dairies and produce biogas to be used at the adjacent Calgren Renewable Fuels ethanol biorefinery.
• High Mountain Fuels ($11,020,419 – Match share $11,020,419) – High Mountain Fuels intends to convert renewable landfill biomethane to liquefied natural gas for use as transportation fuel at the Simi Valley landfill facility in Ventura County.

The country’s first zero-waste biochemical refinery is now up and running in Missoula, Montana. The facility is owned and operated by Blue Marble Biomaterials and uses a combination of clean technologies to produce specialty biochemicals that can be used in the food, cosmetics and personal care markets. Each year the biorefinery will produce 72 tons of biochemicals, and its only “waste” is purified water and pellet fuel for wood boilers.

“This biorefinery is an excellent example of how the U.S. can ensure global leadership in advanced manufacturing: we have developed cutting edge technology which combine the fields of biology, chemistry, and industrial manufacturing to produce petroleum replacing chemicals,” said Blue Marble CEO Kelly Ogilvie. “These products will reinvigorate the meaning of Made in America: more lean, more clean and sourced from our abundant renewable natural resources.”

Last week, President Obama announced intentions to invest $500 million in U.S.-based advanced manufacturing technologies via an Advanced Manufacturing Program. The Blue Marble co-founders, Ogilvie and James Stephens, served on the council that worked with the president in forming the program.

The system uses a range of plant feedstocks to produce the biochemicals. The facility uses a photo-bioreactor containing algae to purify wastewater and waste gas from the fermentation system. In addition, the solid waste generated during the production process is pelletized for use in wood-burning furnaces and stoves. In the future, the company intends to power its facility with the waste gas and pellets created during the process in onsite gasifiers.

“Natural systems are the inspiration for our processes. Just as in nature, we see waste as nutritional; in this case, wastewater, waste gas and waste solids are industrial nutrients for both our system and the surrounding economy,” added Stephens. “We believe this principal is key to reducing not only environmental impact but also operational cost.”

Homeland Biogas Energy (HB Energy) has announced they have signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Achor Anaerobic LLC to use their “achorlytic” enzyme and digestion-inoculating technology to increase the productivity of its anaerobic digestion projects. HB Energy is a division of Homeland Renewable Energy (HRE), a company focused on producing energy from agricultural waste and they will also work with Achor to license the technology to third parties.

“With the benefit of Achor’s technology and our project design, construction and operating skills, we are well placed to develop our pipeline of new large-scale AD plants, serving our customers in livestock farming and food processing,” said Rupert Fraser, Chief Executive Officer of HRE. “Achor’s technology will enable us to build larger scale anaerobic digestion plants with more competitive economics, so that we can produce truly renewable energy while removing waste problems for farmers and food companies.”

The enzymes increase biogas production from digestible materials including animal and food wastes. The two companies are currently in the process of testing the enzyme at HB Energy’s facility in Wisconsin and preliminary indications are that the improvements are significant. HB Energy uses the ag waste to produce energy including biogas or electricity. To date, they have more than 15 large scale development projects in the works ranging from 3 MW to 20 MW.

Chris Barry, cofounder of Achor and originator of the achorlytic approach to accelerating and enhancing anaerobic digestion, added “Achor Anaerobic is delighted to be working in partnership with HB Energy. The business, engineering and planning base provided by HB Energy provides the perfect platform for the exploitation and expansion of our technology. We aim to make HB Energy the most advanced and profitable AD company in the US and beyond through enabling them to get the very best from the feedstocks available. We will work with them on innovative design and development that will be ‘game-changing’ in the field of anaerobic digestion and bioenergy.”

All energy of the bio variety – biomass, biogas, biodiesel and biofuels – were represented at the 4th International Biomass Conference and Expo on Monday during a panel featuring executives of seven different industry organizations.

Moderator Tom Bryan, Vice President of BBI International, asked the panel was what the top priorities for their organizations are this year.

“Just getting parity for algae,” said Algal Biomass Organization Executive Director Mary Rosenthal. She says they are also working on educating lawmakers about algae and keeping the funding they currently have for development from departments of energy, agriculture and defense.

Charlie Niebling with the Biomass Thermal Energy Council said they would like to see thermal incorporated into a true federal Clean Energy Standard. “We still face real challenges in just making sure people understand the role that thermal plays in addressing energy challenges in our country,” he said.

Biomass Power Association CEO Robert Cleaves says they support the development of a federal Clean Energy Standard as well and they want to retain the USDA Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP). “BCAP for existing facilities may be the only game in town as a bridge to somewhere,” he said.

Inclusion and parity are also important for biogas, as well as working on a fundamental change in waste management. “Discontinuing policies that simply take all this organic matter, put it in a hole in the ground and create environmental issues. Instead we need to create policies to divert that to higher, better and multiple uses.” said Norma McDonald of the American Biogas Council.

For members of the Renewable Fuels Association, president Bob Dinneen says what is most important is education and certainty. “We’re looking at a situation where our tax incentive expires the end of this year,” Dinneen said. “What we’re trying to do is get to some reform of the existing incentive that reflects the fact that the industry has indeed grown, that will allow the industry to continue to grow and evolve, but do so in response to fiscal realities in Washington DC now.”

“The biodiesel industry is an example of what can happen when you have total policy failures in Washington DC,” said Joe Jobe with the National Biodiesel Board, referring to the non-renewal of the biodiesel tax for a year that caused many plants to shut down. Jobe says the industry is going strong again and plants are re-opening but they would like to see the tax credit extended again at the end of this year. “We just need a little more time to get a little more mature.”

Finally, Advanced Biofuels Association president Michael McAdams stressed the importance of keeping the Renewable Fuels Standard in place. “The RFS2 is the single most important public policy in the United States for first, second and third generations biofuels,” he said.

Listen the panel talk about priorities here: Biomass Conference Panel

More and more companies are moving to powering their manufacturing facilities and company headquarters with renewable energy. This week the EPA announced its Top 20 On-Site Generation List. This is a list of the organizations that are using the most on-site green power to energize their operations. The list is part of the Green Power Partnership. The winner was Kimberly Clark Organization who generates 7 percent of its electricity from biomass. Several cities in California made the top 20 including San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose. Also on the list: Wal-Mart and the U.S. Air Force.

Also on the list at number 18 was Zotos, a hair care brand. According to the EPA’s site, nearly 60 percent of the company’s electricity is generated from on-site wind energy. The reason Zotos stands out is while most companies purchase renewable power from electricity companies, they actually generated their power from wind turbines located right on their campus. According to the American Wind Energy Association, the Zotos Wind Project is considered one of the top on-site wind projects currently being undertaken by a manufacturing company in the United States.

“It was a  sizable investment to purchase the wind turbines, but it was a small price to pay when compared to the major benefits it creates for the community of Geneva, NY, and our environment,” says Anthony Perdigao, Zotos Chief Sustainability Officer.

With approximately 6.5 million kWh of electricity produced annually, the Zotos wind turbines will provide more than 50 percent of organization’s energy requirements and are expected to reduce overall CO2 emissions by 50 percent in 2011. Zotos’ energy goal is to utilize 100 percent renewable energy by 2012.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has named Washington D.C. as the leading EPA Green Power Community. Combined, government, businesses, institutions, and residents in the nation’s capital are collectively purchasing nearly 756 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power each year. This is enough to meet 8 percent of the city’s total electricity use. All voluntary, this feat catapulted the city into the number one spot in the country on EPA’s rankings.

District leaders kicked off a District Green Power Challenge today during the District’s EPA Green Power Recognition Ceremony that was held at Phelps Career High School in northeast DC to encourage more residents and businesses to switch to green power. The first goal of the challenge is to increase citywide green power purchases by 33 percent by August 31 of this year in hopes of keeping their #1 ranking. This increase would also mean that the city’s electricity users are purchasing 10 percent from green power or 1 Billion kWh each year.

“This is a huge honor for Washington, D.C. and we are proud to be recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,” said Mayor Vincent Gray. “The purchase of green power by our citizens and businesses is cleaning our air and supporting growth of the clean energy economy. When we clean the air, we improve the health of our residents, and particularly our children. We are sending a message to other communities across the country that supporting clean power is a sound business decision and the right thing to do. I’m proud that the District of Columbia government is leading the way, purchasing 50 percent of our electricity through the Washington Gas Energy Services, Inc. wind power program.”

There are currently 36 Green Power Communities across the country. To be given the designation, a city, town or village must have government, business and residents that commit to purchasing green power in amounts that meet or exceed EPA’s Green Power Community purchase requirements. Qualifying energy sources include wind, solar, geothermal, biogas, biomass, and low-impact hydro-electric power.

“The District of Columbia is setting an excellent example for the nation by harnessing clean energy,” said Elizabeth Craig, Acting Director of EPA’s Office of Atmospheric Programs. “We hope the city will continue to increase its use of green power and that other communities will follow suit.”

According to a new report, “Making Integrated Food-Energy Systems (IFES) Work for People and Climate – An Overview,” the simultaneous production of food and fuel by farmers can help to reduce poverty in countries such as Africa, Asia and Latin America. This according to FAO who published the report this week.

“Farming systems that combine food and energy crops present numerous benefits to poor rural communities,” said Alexander Müller, FAO Assistant Director-General for Natural Resources. “For example, poor farmers can use leftovers from rice crops to produce bioenergy, or in an agroforestry system can use debris of trees used to grow crops like fruits, coconuts or coffee beans for cooking.”

Müller noted that other types of food and energy systems use byproducts from livestock or biogas production and with this type of integrated systems, farmers can save money – they don’t have to buy expensive fossil fuel or chemical fertilizers. Rather, than can use the slurry from biogas production, a more sustainable, less costly alternative.

“They can then use the savings to buy necessary inputs to increase agricultural productivity, such as seeds adapted to changing climatic conditions — an important factor given that a significant increase in food production in the next decades will have to be carried out under conditions of climate change. All this increases their resilience, hence their capacity to adapt to climate change,” said Müller.

IFES are also beneficial to women as they can eliminate the need to leave their crops to go in search of firewood. In addition, the report concludes that IFES farming can help to mitigate climate change, especially emissions stemming from land use change, because there is less chance land will need to be converted.

In conclusion, Olivier Dubois, an FAO energy expert said, “Promoting the advantages of IFES and improving the policy and institutional environment for such systems should become a priority. FAO is well placed to coordinate these efforts by providing knowledge and technical support for IFES implementation.”

In what could end up being a great test of biodiesel in cold weather (and there’s still plenty of detractors who swear against the green fuel in cold climates) Swedish auto maker Volvo will be testing biogas, and eventually biodiesel, in an airport snow sweeper in the Scandanavian country.

This company press release says that, in partnership with Schmidt and Swedavia, Volvo will have two nine-liter engines running on the alternative fuels in the sweeper:

The state-owned company Swedavia aims to make all of its 14 airports in Sweden carbon-neutral in terms of upkeep and maintenance. Daily operations involve the deployment of an extensive fleet of machinery comprising Volvo products featuring customized equipment, including snow removal machines that keep the runways clear of snow.

The test vehicle’s cab unit is the front section of an A25E articulated hauler from Volvo Construction Equipment, equipped with a nine-liter diesel engine converted to gas. In the rear section a similar engine from Volvo Penta is used to power a roller brush and a snow-blower unit that expels the remaining snow at a speed of 130 m/s. While the Volvo Group already has trucks and buses that are powered by biogas, this is the first time that Volvo CE and Volvo Penta are showcasing a product equipped with biogas-powered engines.

If there’s any place that would know snow, it would be Sweden! I’m still trying to get some video or a picture of this snow sweeper in action. I’ll update this post when I find it.

Waste Management flipped the switch this week on Southwestern Ontario’s first-ever private landfill-gas-to-energy (LFGTE) facility. Located at Waste Management’s Petrolia Landfill, the facility will use methane gas – created from the natural decomposition of waste – to power up to 2,500 homes in the surrounding area. The gas is collected through wells that are strategically placed throughout the site, which powers four large engines and generates approximately 3.2 megawatts of power. The resulting electricity will be provided to homes using Bluewater Power’s distribution system. A second LFGTE facility is planned for the company’s Twin Creeks Landfill in Watford, Ontario.

This LFGTE facility is only the third private facility in Canada but it is the first in Southwestern Ontario. Waste Management has an initiative to power two million homes by 2020 with waste-based energy.

A little closer to home, Ameresco, Inc., along with San Antonio Water System (SAWS) hosted a grand opening of their new biogas facility located at the Dos Rios Water Recycling Center. According to Ameresco, this project is the first of its kind in the U.S. designed to capture biogas generated during the sewage treatment process and selling it through a commercial gas pipeline.

“SAWS is constantly improving its operations to become more sustainable, and this project is a sound investment for our environment and our community,” said Robert R. Puente, SAWS President/CEO. “By reusing biogas instead of burning it off, we are helping protect the city’s air quality and developing a renewable energy resource.”

During the sewage treatment process, biosolids generate methane gas. Rather than burn off the gas using flares, the company will now treat and transfer at least 900,000 cubic feet of gas to a nearby commercial gas pipeline. From there, Ameresco will sell the methane on the open market. In return, SAWS ratepayers will receive a royalty payment on the sale of the gas estimated yearly to be $200,000.

“At Ameresco, we are driven to help our customers find renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions to achieve their goals,” said Michael T. Bakas, Ameresco’s senior vice president of renewable energy. “Whether those goals are a sustainable environment, reducing costs or reusing a resource, our energy engineers, project managers and plant specialists can make these goals a reality. Ameresco is proud to be a part of this team and groundbreaking project.”

The third annual Ethanol Technology & Research Workshop is on the horizon. Sponsored by Biofuels Journal and the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE), The workshop is being held in St. Joseph, Missouri on October 27-28th and includes a tour of the of the LifeLine Foods corn fractionation ethanol production plant. The focus of this year’s session are commercial technologies that are helping to put producers on ahead of the efficiency and profitability curve.

Presentations will focus on how to improve an ethanol plant’s bottom line with the newest technologies available. For example, presenters will discuss turning thin stillage into biogas to displace natural gas, advanced dryer technologies and fractionation technologies. Other topics will include some of the latest advances in advanced biofuels and cellulosic ethanol research.

Speakers include Steve Shivvers, Tri-Phase; John McDowell, EISENMANN; Doug Rivers, ICM; Dr. Henry Daniell, University of Central Florida; a panel on advanced biofuels hosted by John Caupert with the National Corn to Ethanol Research Center; and Ron Lamberty with ACE will give an update on the State of the Industry as we head into the end of the year; among others. The keynote speech “How the Ethanol Industry Impacts the U.S. Economy,” will be given by John Urbanchuck, Technical Director for Entrix Inc.

Registration is still open. Click here to learn more about the workshop and to register.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland toured the POET Biorefining plant in Marion, Ohio today and talked ethanol with industry stakeholders.

Vilsack and Strickland took part in a roundtable discussion with representatives from POET, the Ohio Corn Growers Association, Ohio Ethanol Producers Association and the Ohio Department of Agriculture as well as the federal Farm Service Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service.

During the visit, Vilsack voiced support for increasing the ethanol blend level to 15 percent. “We are working at USDA to develop a roadmap for how to build that [ethanol] nationwide industry,” he said. “We understand it starts with allowing the capacity we have today to maximize its input. That means increasing the blend rate to 15 percent. I have been advocating for that, will continue to advocate for that, and I believe it will happen. Obviously I wish it had had happened now, but I believe it will happen sometime this fall.” Vilsack also stressed the need for increasing blender pumps and getting more flex fuel vehicles on the road.

Yesterday, Vilsack toured Quasar Energy Group in Wooster, Ohio to observe new technologies being utilized to generate larger supplies of biogas derived from cellulosic biomass. USDA, along with the State of Ohio, provided funding to support the development of the new facility.

The funding was used to install an anaerobic digester that processes 25,000 wet tons per year of organic biomass including food wastes from local food producers, crop residuals, grass and manure from livestock operations of the Ohio State University-Agricultural Technical Institute (ATI). Based on its electric generation capacity, this bio-digester can supply roughly one-third of the electricity needs of the Ohio Agricultural Research & Development Center (OARDC) campus.

Two federal agencies are teaming up to capture the methane U.S. farms produce and turn that greenhouse gas into fuel.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Agriculture have a new interagency agreement that will promote the biogas as a renewable energy source, while cutting those gas emissions from livestock operations. This EPA press release says the agreement is an expansion of the AgStar program:

“We want to seize every opportunity to confront climate change and move into the clean economy of the future. This is a smart way to transform what would be a harmful greenhouse pollutant into a source of renewable energy — and make a profit for American farmers,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “We have the technology and the expertise, all we need now is to act. The AgStar program brings real benefits to our air and creates new opportunities for our farming community.”

“The farms and ranches that dot our countryside can contribute greatly to addressing America’s long-term energy challenges and the partnership we are announcing today will not only help generate renewable energy, but provide new income opportunities for farmers and ranchers,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

The EPA and USDA believe the $3.9 million their collaboration will provide over the next five years will help farms overcome obstacles preventing them from recovering and using biogas. Right now, there are about 150 on-farm manure digesters across the country that turn methane into biogas. Estimates are that 8,000 farms could put in digesters and recover the equivalent of the greenhouse gases of 6.5 million passenger vehicles a year while producing 1,500 megawatts of energy.

Virgina-based Greenhouse Gas Services, a company that invests in and develops projects that reduce greenhouse gases, announced today that it has acquired Toronto-based StormFisher Ltd. StormFisher operates projects in North America focusing on turning food or agricultural byproducts into natural gas and electricity. As part of the deal, StormFisher investor Denham Capital is now an investor in Greenhouse Gas Services which is a GE AES venture.

Mauricio Vargas, CEO of Greenhouse Gas Services said of the transaction, “Adding the StormFisher team and its pipeline of shovel-ready biogas projects expands Greenhouse Gas Services’ business line and complements our carbon platform. As carbon and renewable energy policies continue to evolve, we see tremendous opportunity and growth for us in North America.”

The company anticipates breaking ground this year on its first biogas project, a 2.8-megawatt facility in London, Ontario that will convert more than 100,000 tonnes of organic materials from agri-food producers into renewable energy through anaerobic digestion. The electricity produced will be sold to the Ontario Power Authority.

“This deal brings together StormFisher’s project development expertise and pipeline of new opportunities with the carbon credit specialization of Greenhouse Gas Services,” said Bas van Berkel, President of StormFisher. “It represents the combination of two very entrepreneurial firms with the backing of multi-billion dollar companies.”

In addition to the project in Ontario, the company is currently developing other biogas facilities in Wisconsin and California, which are expected to be operational by the end of 2011.