Domestic Fuel

The National Corn Growers Association participated in a two-day workshop in Washington, D.C. last week aimed at setting initiatives to reduce the nation’s dependence on imported oil by increasing the usage of renewable fuels like ethanol in the transportation sector, according to an NCGA release.

The workshop was hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and the Office of Biomass Program as part of the department’s effort to achieve the goals set forth in the Bush administration’s Biofuels Initiative.

The initiative focused heavily on how to make cellulosic ethanol cost competitive by 2012 and to reduce the nation’s dependence on oil imports by 75 percent by 2025. The initiative aims to achieve a volumetric goal of 60 billion gallons of biofuels (or 30 percent of 2004 gasoline consumption equivalent) by 2030.

The agenda included discussions on collaborative planning efforts and breakout sessions, including wet and dry mill corn processing, agricultural residues, infrastructure needs and identification of barriers to biofuel expansion by 2012 in order for the United States to meet the 30×30 biofuels goal.

A three-day conference in Tifton, Georgia next week will cover everything anyone would ever want to know about bioenergy – from research and production to marketing and legislation. The Georgia Bioenergy Conference is “not just about grain and beans,” as it focuses heavily on the use of alternative feed-stocks such as wood byproducts, grasses, and byproducts from peanut, cotton, and municipal wastes to generate energy.

The dates are August 1-3. More info is available on the website.

Xethanol Corporation has announced plans to construct a 50 million gallon per year cellulosic ethanol plant in Augusta, Georgia which would begin producing ethanol by mid-2007.

According to a company release, the plant will be constructed on the site of a Pfizer pharmaceutical manufacturing complex that Xethanol will be closing on within 30 days.

Christopher d’Arnaud-Taylor, Chairman and CEO of Xethanol, says the plant “is being designed to run on a variety of feedstocks and we are already securing the necessary feedstock streams from the forest products industry to run at capacity when we begin production by mid-2007.”

USDA’s Agricultural Research Service says switching to switchgrass would make sense to make ethanol. A report in this month’s ARS magazine says “this deep-rooted carbon-storing perennial has great biofuel production potential.”

This native perennial has been shown to store more soil carbon than the major U.S. farm crops. They found that switchgrass stores most of its carbon deep underground….The reason for this depth advantage lies in the fact that switchgrass has an extensive root system—with some roots as long as 8 feet—so much of the plant’s carbon is in its roots and the belowground crown tissue just above them.

DuPont research scientists outlined the company's biofuels strategy at the third annual World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing held in Toronto. According to a release, DuPont biofuels research manager William Provine said the three-part strategy entails: (1) improving existing ethanol production through differentiated agricultural seed products and crop protection chemicals; (2) developing and supplying new technologies to allow conversion of cellulose to biofuels; and (3) developing and supplying next generation biofuels with improved performance.

The logo is very cool and the company is “established to deploy the commercially ready, patented, and proven Arkenol Technology Process for the profitable conversion of cellulosic (“Green Waste”) waste materials to ethanol,” according to the Blue Fire website. The Irvine, CA-based corporation announced its management team this week, “led by Arnold R. Klann the founder of Arkenol and its cellulose conversion technology that has now been licensed on an exclusive and perpetual basis to BlueFire,” according to a MarketWire release.

Lots of interesting stuff on the website about this technology, as well as tribute to a Higher Power, for the inspiration and passion of the company’s founders. Amen. That’s pretty cool.

The U.S. Department of Energy has released an ambitious new research agenda for the development of cellulosic ethanol as an alternative to gasoline. According to a DOE release, the 200-page scientific “roadmap” cites recent advances in biotechnology that have made cost-effective production of ethanol from cellulose, or inedible plant fiber, an attainable goal. The report outlines a detailed research plan for developing new technologies to transform cellulosic ethanol—a renewable, cleaner-burning, and carbon-neutral alternative to gasoline—into an economically viable transportation fuel.

Nuclear Solutions of Washington DC, “an emerging innovative technology development company,” is behind a company called Fuel Frontiers, Inc. which proposes to use commercially available and proprietary technologies to transform low-value, end-of-life carbonaceous waste materials such as waste coal, used tires, wood wastes, biomass, discarded corn stalks and other agricultural by-products, into high-value, environmentally friendly, clean-burning ethanol. They plan to base the proposed ethanol synthesis plant in Dover Township, N.J., once all the requisite hoops are jumped through. Several press releases about the company and project can be found here on the NASDAQ site for Nuclear Solutions.

Looking at the headline you would think Governor Rod Blagojevich is against new ethanol research. Not so. According to the AP story, he is against the government wasting money, building a new center when they can just upgrade the current National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center in Edwardsville instead. The new center is proposed to research cellulosic ethanol, however, so the current center might have to change it’s name. The three-year-old research center at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville was built in part with $14 million in federal money. According to the article, revamping the center could cost as little as $8 million and be accomplished in six months.
Wow – what a concept! The government not wasting money.

Testimony of former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday has gotten quite a bit of news coverage, especially his comments about ethanol. In his written remarks to the committee, Greenspan said “Corn ethanol, though valuable, can play only a limited role, because its ability to displace gasoline is modest at best. But cellulosic ethanol, should it fulfill its promise, would help to wean us of our petroleum dependence, as could clean coal and nuclear power.” Google News Search lists over 300 articles related to Greenspan’s remarks mentioning ethanol.

New research and commercial production methods to meet increased demand for biofuels will be one focus of the third annual World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing, to be held July 11-14, 2006 at the Toronto Westin Harbour Castle Hotel, according to a press release from the Biotechnology Industry Organization, or BIO. Sessions include: An International Perspective on Biofuels and Cellulosic Ethanol, 21st Century Biology for Biofuels Production, Building Infrastructure for the Biodiesel Industry, The Potential of Energy Crops and Biofuels: Perspectives from the Oil Industry. Registration information is available at bio.org.

Iogen officials say they want to build a $300 million plant to make ethanol from barley straw in Idaho, but they are waiting on loan guarantees from the U.S. Department of Energy that would cover any losses investors might have if the project failed. The Ottawa Sun reports the company would like to start building in the fall of 2007. The plant and a straw assembly facility would employ up to 200 people. Iogen has already contracted with 320 farmers to provide 400,000 tonnes of barley straw a year. An announcement on the loan guarantees is expected in early October.

A Florida-based company is working to make ethanol from pineapples. Biomass Resources Corporation of Boca Raton reportedly has “achieved initial success at extracting Ethanol from pineapple fruit and pineapple plant waste,” according to a news release. Initially, the company is focusing on the pineapple industry for its production, and has established a 5,000 sq. ft. R&D and production facility outside of Cali, Colombia, in South America, in the heart of the pineapple industry. According to the company website, they can derive several valuable by-products from pineapple separation technology besides cellulose for ethanol, including bromelain, xylitol, lignin and protein-laden plant waste.
I just wonder if pineapple ethanol would make a good pina colada.

Cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel hit the spot for a company known as Amelot.

According to their website, “Amelot Holdings Inc. is a Natural Resources and Energy Company including Oil, Gas Alternative and Bio-Energy projects.” A press release this week from Kerry Associates says they have entered into joint negotiations with a cellulose ethanol technology company on behalf of Amelot.

An earlier press release from Amelot announced that they have ordered bio-diesel processing equipment to start production at its first facility, to be located in New Hampshire. Amelot expects to produce over 1 million gallons in 2006. “We are extremely excited that this initial purchase has been formalized. This investment will enable us to create a division within the holding company dedicated to the development of alternative fuels and bio-diesel production. Having already established a solid infrastructure allows us to be generating substantial revenue and profits from this facility within the next 90 days,” commented Aziz Hirji, President of Amelot Holdings, Inc.

A company called Genesis in New Zealand is studying the use of a shrubby willow to produce ethanol. Genesis CEO Dr. Stephen Hall was at BIO 2006 in Chicago where Chuck met him. He gave us a call last week to do an interview over the phone about this plant and its potential as an ethanol source. Hall says salix could be a good alternative to using corn or sugarcane because of the amount of biomass it can produce and that it can grow very rapidly on marginal land. “We’re getting yields of 11 to 16 tons of dry matter per hectare per annum,” he says. In addition, Hall says salix can also produce lignin, “which can be used as a raw material for plastics or other polymers.”
I did some checking on salix and found out that is the genus name for willow and there’s a bunch of them. The one that is termed “shrubby” is the Common Osier (Salix viminalis), according to Wikipedia. That’s what I think Dr. Hall is talking about. He can correct me if I’m wrong.
Listen to Chuck’s interview with Dr. Hall here: Stephen Hall (8:00 MP3)

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