Domestic Fuel

I arrived in Iowa City last night to some wet and dreary conditions. But new Iowa Corn Growers President, Dean Taylor, promised that not only are Iowa corn farmers experts at growing our food, they are also experts at moving out the rain and bringing in blue skies when needed. Well, I’ll be, but Taylor was exactly right! It is a beautiful day in Iowa City for the Iowa State versus Iowa football game. The Iowa Corn Growers are a sponsor of the Cy-Hawk series and have been engaging in a fun promotion called Iowa Corn Fed Game Day, where fans are being educated on the very important role Iowa corn farmers play.

I’ve had a blast hanging out with over 900 of Iowa’s corn farmers and maybe what has been most fun, was being on the field for kickoff. Iowa won the coin toss and so Iowa State kicked off the game. So far, Iowa has dominated – the score is 28 to 0 after the first half.

Prior to the game, I spent time at the Krause Family Plaza and took pictures of the thousands of fans who signed up to for a chance to win $5,000 in food or $2,500 in free fuel. They also played a ginormous game of corn hole (see Iowa Corn Fed Game Day photo album.”), as well as a grocery store game. Players had the chance to win t-shirts, koozies and key chains and by the time the game started, thousands of people were sporting their new Iowa Corn Fed Game Day t-shirts.

During the pre-game festivities, the Iowa Corn executive board members were invited on to the field as a thank you for their support of Iowa and Iowa State athletics. They were also thanked for all they do to feed and fuel our country. Earlier in the day, Dick Gallager, Chairman of the Iowa Corn Promotion Board, noted both Iowa State’s and Iowa’s tie to agriculture. Iowa State has one of the top ag programs in the country, while Iowa’s helmets say anf, which stands for America needs farmers.

Well, let’s hope the second half goes better for ISU….

You can see pictures from game day in the Iowa Corn Fed Game Day photo album.

Recent studies show the significant efficiencies spurred by growth and development in the ethanol industry, according to the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA).

“As we see it, this is just the tip of the iceberg,” said NCGA First Vice President Bart Schott. “Ethanol has proven to be an advantageous green alternative to foreign and ecologically precarious sources of petroleum. These studies illustrate that innovations in agriculture and ethanol production will only further enhance ethanol’s desirability as an energy resource worthy of continued support.”

Some of that research was presented at the recent 2010 Corn Utilization and Technology Conference (CUTC) in Atlanta. Dr. Steffen Mueller, Principal Research Economist for the Energy Resources Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago, did two presentations at the CUTC, both related to the increasing efficiency of ethanol production that continues to improve its carbon footprint under life cycle analysis. For one, Mueller says, the more useful co-products that can result from ethanol production, the better its carbon footprint.

“With corn ethanol you also produce an animal feed product simultaneously, to which you have to assign a co-product credit, meaning you subtract the emissions to produce that feed product from the life cycle of corn ethanol,” Steffen explained in an interview. “Now, we’re also looking at other co-products. For example, a lactate which is a solvent that can substitute for petroleum-based solvents in the marketplace.”

Mueller also presented his findings from a recent study showing how ethanol plants are improving in efficiency. “We did a large survey of corn ethanol plants and assessed the energy consumption and showed that the thermal and electric energy that plants require to turn bushels of corn into corn ethanol has decreased by 30 percent over the last eight years,” he said. (read about that survey here)

Mueller says there is a lot of updated industry data coming together that shows that corn ethanol is becoming more efficient, which should help when it comes to regulations for low carbon emissions on both the national level and in states like California.

Listen to or download an interview Chuck Zimmerman did with Steffen Mueller at CUTC here: Steffen Mueller Interview

I conducted a number of interviews with presenters at the recent Corn Utilization and Technology Conference and many of them were about biofuels, especially ethanol. Here’s one I thought you’d be interested in.

The Land Use Conundrum . . . Corn, An Advanced Biofuel? That was the title of one of the sessions that was moderated by Jamey Cline, NCGA. One of his panelists was Adam Liska, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His remarks were on “Uncertainty in Indirect Land Use Change Emissions from Biofuels.” Adam has focused his work on the life cycle efficiency of producing ethanol.

Adam says that there has been increased agricultural production worldwide due to increased demand and it seems like attributing some of that to increased biofuels production makes sense. However, he says that quantifying the emissions related to agricultural production due to biofuels use is very uncertain because it’s done “as a projection into the future.” The bottom line is we don’t know what will happen in the future. He says “it’s nearly impossible.” He says that there are estimates for corn ethanol but they get smaller and smaller with more research and information. He says that they’ve started to do some research on the indirect effects of gasoline production and figure they’re roughly equivalent to that of ethanol. He also points to the impact of changes in livestock production as a result of higher grain prices and says it may have more impact than land use changes. Seems like there is a huge amount of variability in how you look at the future when it comes to biofuels production and especially corn ethanol.

You may be interested to know how grain quality affects ethanol production and DDGs. If so, then you would interested in Leland McKinney’s presentation at the Corn Utilization and Technology Conference, held recently in Atlanta. I spoke with him to learn about his research on this topic. Leland is Extension State Leader in the Dept. of Grain Science at Kansas State University.

To start with he says that getting information presented a challenge since there’s not a lot of it publicly available. So, without much data to work with he visited personally with industry representatives to find out their thoughts and put together an overview presentation on the subject. He says moisture and how it impacts grinding efficiency and water balance in an ethanol plant were mentioned as well as quality attributes like fermentable starch and test weight. When it comes to the DDGs he says mycotoxins came up frequently as a concern. The bottom line though is that research is needed on how grain quality effects the production of ethanol. Hopefully that will be done before another CUTC!

Indirect land use change and DDGs quality were two of the ethanol-related topics that were featured at the 2010 Corn Utilization and Technology Conference (CUTC) sponsored by the National Corn Growers Association and held last week in Atlanta.

Geoff Cooper with the Renewable Fuels Association took part in the event and chaired one of the technical sessions. “Five or six years ago if you had come to this conference, you would not have heard many mentions of greenhouse gases and carbon footprint and things like that, but those issues are front of mind with the industry today and those themes really permeated a lot of the sessions this year.”

Cooper says there was some discussion about an environmental group lawsuit over the Renewable Fuel Standard that claims EPA did not account for the “Global Rebound Effect.” “In essence, what the theory suggests is that by using more biofuels in the United States, we’re driving down oil consumption, which results in oil prices decreasing, and because oil prices are lower then people in other parts of the world start using more oil,” Cooper said. “So they’re suggesting that would occur as a result of the RFS 2 and that those emissions should be attributable to biofuels like ethanol.”

Of course, he points out that the goal of the RFS 2 is to reduce oil consumption. “So we find it a little questionable that now they would be suggesting that it’s a bad thing that we’re reducing our oil consumption in the U.S. as a result of that policy,” Cooper said.

The theme of the Corn Utilization and Technology Conference was “Corn: America’s Renewable Resource” and Cooper says since this year’s crop is expected to be another big one, increasing markets continues to be important. “Corn is a great crop with a lot of utility, let’s put it to work,” he said.

Listen to an interview with Geoff Cooper in the player below and see photos from the conference on Flickr.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.8MB)

The indirect land use change (ILUC) debate will take center stage at the upcoming 2010 Corn Utilization and Technology Conference (CUTC), scheduled for June 7-9 in Atlanta.

National Corn Growers Association Director of Biofuels & Business Development Jamey Cline is chairman of the plenary session “Land Use Conundrum…Corn, an Advanced Biofuel?” which will focus on the role land use criteria played in the decision that corn does not currently meet the qualifications of an advanced biofuel. The session will include both presentations and a panel discussion and will also explore how the United States will meet its greenhouse gas reduction mandates given that corn is currently the only significant source of ethanol in today’s marketplace.

Chuck Zimmerman talked with Jamey about CUTC in general and this session in particular. Listen to or download that interview in the player below:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (1.6MB)

Indirect land use change and DDGs quality are just two of the ethanol-related topics that will be featured at the 2010 Corn Utilization and Technology Conference scheduled for June 7-9 in Atlanta.

Geoff Cooper with the Renewable Fuels Association is chair of the “Maximizing DDG Quality” technical session. “We are coming off of a very late, wet harvest that presented a variety of quality challenges,” said Cooper. “It is important that both producers and processors of the grain recognize the unique quality challenges that they face and take appropriate steps to maintain and maximize quality throughout the process.”

The plenary session “Land Use Conundrum…Corn, an Advanced Biofuel?” will focus on the role land use criteria played in the decision that corn does not currently meet the qualifications of an advanced biofuel, the session will include both presentations and a panel discussion. The session will also explore how the United States will meet its greenhouse gas reduction mandates given that corn is currently the only significant source of ethanol in today’s marketplace.

CUTC is designed for anyone seeking to learn the latest developments in technologies related to corn. Registration information is available on-line.

While Cindy and thousands of people involved in ethanol production are attending the FEW in Nashville, I thought I’d share an interview I did at the recent Corn Utilization and Technology Conference. While we’re focused on ethanol as a fuel and that seems to be its primary use, some research is being done on other products ethanol can be used to produce.

Carl Lira, Michigan State University, spoke on “Reactive Distillations for Chemical Products from Ethanol.” Carl says he’s looking at methods to diversify the ethanol production platform. For example, he’s looking at new products that can be made from ethanol so that producers can diversify and react to the market in different ways. He’s trying to get them to think with more of a bio refinery philosophy. From a product standpoint, he’s using ethanol as a reagent to produce high quality chemicals. He says they’ve done some economic analysis which is available from the National Corn Growers Association and that it looks very attractive.

You can listen to my interview with Carl here: cutc-08-carl-lira.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (1.6MB)

I know that this wine cup of mine isn’t going to fuel a vehicle but it’s an example of one of the other uses of corn here at the Corn Utilization and Technology Conference in Kansas City, MO.

Getting back to fuel though, this afternoon I interviewed Rick Tolman, CEO of the NCGA and Richard Glass, VP of Research and Business Development for NCGA.

When I spoke to Rick Tolman he said that he’s always rejuvenated by the ideas, enthusiasm and energy expressed here. He says the exciting story is the productivity in corn production. Like me he also doesn’t see a food vs. fuel issue but one of food and fuel because the corn production pie is growing. But even beyond fuel we’re hearing about other types of new products being made from corn, like the cup above. Another example, he says is that the NCGA offices are being carpeted with a product made from corn.

Here’s my interview with Rick Tolman: cutc-08-rick-tolman.mp3

When I spoke to Richard Glass he said that he’s really impressed with this conference. He says there are people here representing 11 countries counting the United States and that we have 35 speakers in 10 sessions. He says this is perfect timing to have the conference because of all the things going on with ethanol and the push to relieve our dependence on petrochemicals.

Here’s my interview with Richard Glass: cutc-08-richard-glass.mp3

CUTC Photo Album

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (2.3MB)

I really enjoyed getting to talk with our USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development, Tom Dorr, this evening. He was our keynote speaker at the CUTC.

He told corn growers and all the attendees that they’re doing a great job. He also said that there are challenges ahead like the recent Grocery Manufacturers Association attack on ethanol. He says that’s making it difficult to get the facts out to the media.

He points out that we’ve been through substantive increases in demand before like back in the early ’70′s with the Russian grain robbery that led to fears about escalating food prices. He said that no good deed goes unpunished and that we’ve had the good side of the cycle and now we’re going to have to suffer through the other side. He says it’s difficult to fight a well financed opponent that’s less inclined to deal with facts as opposed to dealing with emotion.

Here’s my interview with Sec. Dorr: cutc-08-dorr.mp3

Here’s Sec. Dorr’s Keynote Address: cutc-08-dorr-keynote.mp3

You can find photos from the CUTC here:
CUTC Photo Album

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (1.9MB)

The fun and games are about to begin here at the Corn Utilization and Technology Conference. The event is being held at the Marriott in downtown Kansas City and I just got in and connected in the media room. There will be sessions tomorrow dealing with ethanol production so I should have some good stories to post.

In less than an hour we’ll kick things off with a Keynote Speech by USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development Tom Dorr. He’ll be introduced by NCGA First Vice President Bob Dickey. Afterward we’ll all head across the street for the opening reception.

On my way to the registration area I saw the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council’s mobile unit parked outside. I’m sure it’s getting ready to go on display since we do have booths and a poster session in a ballroom where the opening reception will be held.