Domestic Fuel

The Sustainable Biofuels Awards were presented this week at the World Biofuels Markets 2012 Congress in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

The awards include biofuels leadership, technology, adoption, bioethanol, biodiesel, feedstock innovation, innovation in aviation, biopower generation and bio-based chemicals and are determined based on judging by an elite panel of independent industry experts, with final voting by individuals in the general biofuels industry.

2012 Sustainable Biofuels Awards Winners:

Biofuels Leadership Award – Novozymes
Sustainable Biofuels Technology Award – LS9
Biofuels Adoption Award – City of Stockholm
Sustainable Bioethanol Award – Abengoa
Sustainable Biodiesel Award – Vale
Sustainable Feedstock Innovation – DuPont Cellulosic Ethanol
Innovation in Aviation – Boeing
Sustainable Biopower Generation Facility – Envergent Technologies
Leader in Bio-based Chemical Industry – Kiverdi

As work on the Transportation Bill progressed in the Senate Tuesday, two amendments that would have extended tax incentives for renewable energy sources were defeated.

An amendment offered by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) failed on a tie vote of 49-49, since 60 votes were needed for passage. The amendment would have extended a variety of incentives, including the Cellulosic Biofuels Producer Tax Credit (PTC) the Accelerated Depreciation Allowance for Cellulosic Biofuel Plant Property, and the Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Tax Credit available to blender pumps and other ethanol fueling infrastructure, the Production Tax Credit (PTC) for wind and grants in lieu of tax credits to eligible solar projects, all of which are due to expire at the end of this year.

“Unfortunately the Senate missed an opportunity to put to bed the pressing need to extend expiring tax incentives for cellulosic biofuels and other sources of domestically produced clean energy,” said Advanced Ethanol Council Executive Director Brooke Coleman. “Echoing the 49 U.S. Senators who voted for the Stabenow amendment today, we cannot afford to miss any more opportunities to get this done.”

The measure would have also extended the $1 per gallon biodiesel tax incentive, which expired at the end of last year, through the end of this year. Another amendment offered by Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) that would have extended the biodiesel tax credit was also defeated. “We thank Sen. Stabenow and Sen. Roberts for including biodiesel in their amendments, and we urge Congress to break this partisan gridlock and find a way to enact policies like the biodiesel tax credit that have strong bipartisan support,” said Anne Steckel, vice president of federal affairs for the National Biodiesel Board.

While the extension amendments failed to pass, an amendment to repeal most of the same tax incentives by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) was also defeated in the Senate. DeMint’s amendment would have repealed tax credits for the wind, plug-in vehicles, and renewable fuels, but would have also addressed some taxes for fossil fuels. It failed by a much more resounding vote of 72-26.

Mendel Biotechnology, Inc. and BP Biofuels will be conducting demonstration field trials of a newly developed energy specific variety of miscanthus.

The two companies have signed a four-year agreement to test Mendel’s PowerCane™ Miscanthus and evaluate its performance as feedstock for biofuel production at BP Biofuels’ demonstration plant at Jennings, Louisiana. A total of 100 acres of PowerCane™ Miscanthus will be planted in early 2012 near BP’s Jennings facility and the first biomass harvest from these fields is expected in 2013.

“PowerCane™ Miscanthus varieties are the first miscanthus products specifically developed for biomass production that can be planted as a seed,” said Mendel Bioenergy Seeds president Don Panter. “The PowerCane™ Miscanthus system will be significantly more economical and efficient for growers, and will allow the industry to scale up more quickly to meet renewable energy goals.”

According to the company, PowerCane™ Miscanthus represents a new chapter in biomass production. While the current publicly available miscanthus varieties have outstanding agronomic and biomass performance characteristics, they must be planted as a rhizome or live plug, which requires additional investment and equipment for growers.

BP Biofuels currently operates a biofuels demonstration facility in Jennings, La that is used to test new cellulosic technologies in the biofuels production process. BP is also constructing a 20,000 acre energy grass farm in Florida that will supply a 36 million gallon a year conversion facility. Construction on the facility is expected to begin later this year.

DuPont Cellulosic Ethanol (DDCE) is hoping to start construction on a 27.5 million gallon cellulosic plant later this year, according to DDCE Global Business Director Steve Mirshak.

At a recent Pioneer Hi-Bred media event, Mirshak talked about DDCE’s purchase last year of land in Nevada, Iowa, adjacent to the Lincolnway Energy conventional ethanol plant. “We have some very positive synergies with Lincolnway,” Mirshak said. “We’re looking at utility sharing and also rail siting sharing. They’re a great neighbor and it’s been a great relationsip.”

Mirshak says the feedstock for the plant will be corn stover and they have already been working with growers in the region on harvesting that product from their fields. “In 2011, we worked with about 50 growers within a 30 mile radius of the Nevada plant,” he said. “We harvested about 7500 acres. Our goal is to collect about two tons of stover per acre.” The stover will be baled in large rectangular bales and stored in various sites to be fed to the plant as needed.

He expects corn growers will find that this market and use of stover will fit nicely into their residue management program. “We see it as a win-win situation,” Mirshak added. “We’re going to generate more ethanol in America’s quest for energy independence, help develop the rural economy, as well as help farmers improve their yields and grow more food.”

DDCE anticipates the need for about 320 cellulosic ethanol plants by 2022 to meet the federal mandate. “The most important issue is the stability of the Renewable Fuel Standard mandate. That is driving the massive investment in technical research into cellulosic ethanol and the future investment in building new plants,” Milshak said. “So our number one priority is to maintain the RFS.”

He adds that the cellulosic producer tax credit is also important as companies invest in the first plants and learn to operate more efficiently.

You can listen to an interview with Steve Mirshak here:Interview with Steve Mirshak

The White House today released a one-year progress report on the “Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future,” the Administration’s all-of-the-above approach to American energy.

Among the highlights noted in the report is that the plan has resulted in a doubling of renewable energy generation from wind, solar, and geothermal sources since 2008. According to the report, “Since 2009, DOI has approved 29 onshore renewable energy projects—about 6,600 megawatts—including: 16 solar projects, 5 wind farms, and 8 geothermal facilities. These projects include the first solar projects ever permitted on public lands.”

In the area of developing advanced alternative fuels, the report notes that in 2010, “President Obama set a goal of breaking ground on at least four commercial scale cellulosic or advanced biorefineries by 2013. That goal has been accomplished, one year ahead of schedule. Together, these projects, and associated demonstration and pilot projectswill produce a combined total of nearly 100 million gallons per year of advanced biofuels capacity.”

In addition, EPA’s continued implementation of the National Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) has supported a growing domestic renewable fuels industry. Last year, industry reported production of approximately 14 billion gallons of renewable fuels, about 8% of total U.S. highway vehicle fuel. In fact, U.S. biofuel production is at its highest level, as average monthly production increased more than 40 percent between 2008 and 2011. EPA worked with stakeholders in evaluating new fuel technologies and feedstocks to support expanded opportunity for these fuels to be an important part of the domestic transportation fuel market. To help support deployment of advanced fuel infrastructure, in 2011, the Department of Agriculture provided over $4 million in grants to fund 265 flex fuel dispensers in 30 states.

The report also made note of progress in the development of aviation biofuels, more alternative fueled vehicles in the federal fleet and the launch of the National Clean Fleets Partnership, an initiative to help large, private sector companies improve the efficiency of their fleets and reduce the country’s dependence on oil.

Read the report here.

An agricultural economist says hog producers are now able to compete with ethanol producers for corn.

“This is an amazing difference from just five years ago,” said Purdue agricultural economist Dr. Chris Hurt. “The hog industry was largely set up with $2-2.50 corn going into 2006. After that we saw major increases in those corn prices.” Dr. Hurt spoke to swine veterinarians on the topic of “Global Feed Economics in a Biofuel World” during seminar in Denver on Friday.

Hog producers initially absorbed those higher costs by reducing margins, which meant big losses and ultimately resulted in reduced supplies. “You reduce the supply enough, you bring those hog prices up. That’s where we are today. Hog producers can pay $6-7 for corn with the prices they’re getting for hogs,” he said. “That up to $7 is higher than ethanol plants can pay for corn and still cover all their costs.”

Dr. Hurt is certain that the days of $2 corn are over, but he does expect prices to moderate around $5-5.50 a bushel. While he does believe that livestock producers have adjusted over the past five years to living in a “biofuel world,” he’s hesitant to say there is “equilibrium” between ethanol and livestock production. “Obviously, equilibrium is the ‘golden state’ where everybody is covering their costs but often times we’re in dis-equilibrium,” he said. “I think as we look back on this era, we’re going to say that ultimately the renewable fuels program was a very, very aggressive program. Had corn farmers had ten years to build that up, it would have caused a lot less trauma for other sectors, like our livestock sector.”

Listen to an interview with Dr. Hurt here: Dr. Chris Hurt

The president of one of the world’s largest ethanol plant engineering and construction firms is pleased with the progress made by the industry in the last 30 years, but frustrated by the barriers to higher ethanol blends.

At the recent National Ethanol Conference, where ICM, Inc. founder Dave Vander Griend was honored with the Renewable Fuels Association 2012 Membership Award, he talked about how ethanol could replace some of the additives currently found in gasoline – called aromatics – which are used to help boost octane in gas. “We’re looking just to go from 10% ethanol to 15% ethanol with a clean, non-toxic product,” he explained. “The petroleum industry can go from 10 to 40% aromatic additions to their gasoline anytime they choose.”

He noted that Henry Ford’s Model T engine was originally designed to run on either gasoline or ethanol. “Actually, the first FFV was a Model T,” said Vander Griend. “That wasn’t something that set well with Rockefeller – he wanted everything to be gasoline, but at that time there was no octane additive to put into the gas so it wasn’t very good and cars would ping and knock. Taking that fuel they made then, if they would have added 20-30% ethanol, both parties would have won.” Instead, they got rid of ethanol through prohibition and used lead to increase octane. The creation of the EPA got the lead out of gasoline, which led to MTBE being used as a replacement until that was determined to be carcinogenic.

Vander Griend believes that ethanol could reduce tailpipe emissions by up to 50% with just a 30% blend. “Ethanol can replace aromatics on a 1-to-1 (basis) and actually give them more octane than they had from the aromatics,” he said.

Listen to interview with Dave Vander Griend here: Dave Vander Griend Interview

2012 National Ethanol Conference Photo Album

Biofuels organizations are strongly urging lawmakers to approve an amendment to the Transportation Bill (S.1813) offered by Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) that would extend tax incentives for biodiesel and cellulosic ethanol.

“We applaud Sen. Stabenow for introducing this amendment and we urge all senators to support it,” said Anne Steckel, vice president of federal affairs at the National Biodiesel Board. “This is about creating good-paying jobs and building up a U.S. energy industry that will help end our dangerous vulnerability to the kinds of oil price spikes we’re seeing now.” The $1 per gallon biodiesel tax incentive expired at the end of 2011.

Advanced Ethanol Council Executive Director Brooke Coleman wrote a letter last week to Senate leadership urging support for the amendment that would extend the Cellulosic Biofuels Producer Tax Credit (PTC) and the Accelerated Depreciation Allowance for Cellulosic Biofuel Plant Property through 2013. “Several billion dollars have been invested in the development of advanced biofuels with the expectation that Congress will stay the course with regard to its commitment to the industry,” Coleman wrote. “The PTC and accelerated depreciation allowance provide investment certainty in a high‐risk marketplace largely supply‐ and price‐controlled by OPEC.”

The Renewable Fuels Association, Growth Energy and the American Soybean Association are other organizations that are urging Senators to pass the amendment. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS), Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, has also proposed an amendment that includes extension of the biodiesel tax credit along with other energy related provisions. Work on the Transportation Bill is scheduled to continue in the Senate on Tuesday. Сайт знакомств

Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) introduced an amendment to the Transportation Bill (S.1813) Thursday that would extend tax incentives for domestically produced energy sources, including biodiesel, ethanol, cellulosic biofuels, electric vehicles, wind energy and solar.

The measure would re-instate and extend the $1 per gallon biodiesel tax incentive, which expired at the end of last year, and the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit, which expired in 2010.

The amendment also includes extending tax credits for companies that install charging stations for electric vehicles and alternative fuel dispensers, like ethanol blender and E85 pumps. It would extend the $1.01/gallon production tax credit for cellulosic biofuel production through 2014, for grants in lieu of tax credits to eligible solar projects, and the Production Tax Credit for wind energy. “We cannot allow a tax increase on American businesses that are creating clean energy jobs in America,” said Senator Stabenow.

The amendment is one of 30 the Senate is considering before a vote on the final legislation takes place, possibly next week. Several of those were considered Thursday, most were rejected, and the remaining amendments are scheduled to be taken up on Tuesday.

Stabenow, who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, spoke to members of the agriculture community gathered in Washington DC Wednesday night for National Ag Day festivities. During a brief interview, she was asked if she thought maintaining the Renewable Fuel Standard was more important to agriculture than a new Farm Bill. “I think they’re both important. The farm bill covers everything from support for production agriculture, risk management, crop insurance, nutrition in schools,” she said. “Obviously energy is important to that as well. We need both.”

Listen to Senator Stabenow comment here: Senator Debbie Stabenow

2012 National Agriculture Day Activities Photo Album Знакомства

The debate over ethanol, greenhouse gases and land use continues – and that was the topic of a panel discussion at the recent 17th annual National Ethanol Conference.

The panel, moderated by Renewable Fuels Association VP of Research and Analysis Geoff Cooper, consisted of Thomas Darlington with Air Improvement Resource, Inc.; Dr. David Zilberman with the University of California-Berkeley; and Dr. Wally Tyner with Purdue University. The three experts addressed the latest developments in GHG analysis, and the impact of regulations like the Renewable Fuel Standard and California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard on the future of the ethanol industry.

“The new thing is that we now have real world data,” Dr. Tyner said. He presented actual data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture showing that in the last six years the world has added 105 million of crop land – mostly corn, soybeans, rice, rapeseed and wheat. “So, markets work – that’s basically the bottom line,” said Tyner.

The question is, how much of that can be attributed to biofuels? “Our estimate is that of that 105 million acres, 5.9 million is due to U.S. soybean and corn ethanol,” he said – or about 5.6%. “So, yes we’ve had a lot of land use change, and some of it’s been due to biofuels, but the lion’s share of it’s due to a lot of other things,” such as growing global population and increased income in countries such as India and China.

Tyner also presented some new estimates of carbon footprint, or land use versus biofuels production capacity for various feedstocks. “Our current estimate for corn is .18 hectares per thousand gallons of ethanol,” said Tyner. “That’s about a fifth of what the original Searchinger estimate was.” A hectare is approximately 2.5 acres.

The really good news Tyner’s research found was that using corn stover for cellulosic biofuels production showed zero land use change. “So in terms of greenhouse gasses, global warming, all of that, it’s golden,” he said, adding that miscanthus also shows great promise with .06 hectares per thousand gallons, but switchgrass did not show up much better than corn at .15.

Tyner is the first to admit that all of this can change and every economic is uncertain, so the debate over land use change could continue “forever.”

Listen to or download an interview with Dr. Tyner here: Dr. Wally Tyner

2012 National Ethanol Conference Photo Album

The Nebraska Ethanol Board 2012 Emerging Issues Forum will be held next month in Omaha.

The forum will address current issues that are facing those involved in the ethanol industry at every level, including meeting the RFS2, RIN management and compliance, production diversity, commodities outlook and corn ethanol’s carbon footprint. Speakers on the topics are leaders in ethanol production, marketing, co-products, transportation, engineering, financing and environmental issues.

The two-day event will be held April 19-20 at the Magnolia Hotel in Omaha. Details and registration information are available on-line from the Nebraska Ethanol Board.

Cobalt Technologies has announced a milestone in the commercial conversion of biomass to sugars with the successful demonstration of its biomass pretreatment process.

The company, which is developing next generation n-butanol, made the achievement in cooperation with ANDRITZ, a globally leading supplier of technologies, equipment and plants for the pulp and paper industry.

Cobalt conducted the testing in the ANDRITZ pulp and paper mill demonstration facility in Springfield, OH, which is specifically designed to validate new processes before commercial-scale implementation. Cobalt’s dilute acid hydrolysis pretreatment process, which extracts sugars from ligno-cellulosic biomass, was validated on woody biomass, bagasse and agricultural residues.

Cobalt tested its pre-treatment process on both a batch and continuous basis and reports that these runs, while processing up to 20 bone-dry tons of biomass per day, successfully extracted sugars from the biomass without the use of enzymes to produce the desired liquid hydrolysate – a liquid-based sugar that is then converted into n-butanol.

“The hydrolysates produced at ANDRITZ’s demonstration facility have been fermented successfully at our facility in Mountain View, California without the need of any conditioning to remove inhibitory compounds,” Bob Mayer, CEO of Cobalt Technologies. “By proving we can meet, and in some areas, exceed our commercial targets and cost metrics at this scale, we are now well positioned to leverage this critical milestone to support our on-going commercialization efforts.”

This milestone also marks the first phase of Cobalt’s partnership with specialty chemical company, Rhodia in Brazil to develop bio n-butanol refineries throughout Latin America utilizing bagasse as a feedstock.

During a speech at a truck manufacturing plant in Mount Holly, North Carolina this week, President Obama outlined specifics for an energy plan that includes alternative-fueled vehicles and fueling stations.

“We’ve got to develop every source of American energy — not just oil and gas, but wind power and solar power, nuclear power, biofuels,” Obama said, noting that he has directed “every department, every agency in the federal government, to make sure that by 2015, 100 percent of the vehicles we buy run on alternative fuels — 100 percent.”

But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how much natural gas, or flex-fuel or electric vehicles you have if there’s no place to charge them up or fill them up. So that’s why I’m announcing today a program that will put our communities on the cutting edge of what clean energy can do.

To cities and towns all across the country, what we’re going to say is, if you make a commitment to buy more advanced vehicles for your community — whether they run on electricity or biofuels or natural gas — we’ll help you cut through the red tape and build fueling stations nearby. And we’ll offer tax breaks to families that buy these cars, companies that buy alternative fuel trucks like the ones that are made right here at Mount Holly. So we’re going to give communities across the country more of an incentive to make the shift to more energy-efficient cars.

Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis says ethanol producers embrace the president’s “all of the above” energy policy that focuses on giving consumers greater choice for motor fuel. “With ethanol trading at a buck a gallon less than gasoline, it only makes sense to speed more biofuels like ethanol to the marketplace to help reduce prices at the pump,” said Buis. “We know that there are a lot of developing alternative fuels out there that can help replace foreign oil – someday. But today, ethanol is the only commercially-viable alternative to foreign oil that we have, and we ought to be embracing policies that give consumers greater access, not less.”

Automakers will need higher octane fuels to meet the coming increases in fuel economy and reductions in emissions called for by 2025 and ethanol is positioned to help fill that need.

According to a new study by auto engineering firm Ricardo, Inc., the increase in average fleet fuel economy to 54.5 mile per by 2025 will have to be met in large part by engines and vehicles popular today, which is about double the average of 2010. Ricardo notes, “[t]he vast majority of vehicles sold through 2025 in the United States will use gasoline-fueled, spark-ignited internal combustion engines as the primary form of propulsion.”

Specifically, Ricardo reports that nearly 3 out of every 4 vehicles will require a gasoline-type, higher octane fuel to operate a growing list of engine technology options. “Future powertrain solutions will have a natural thirst for higher octane fuels,” Ricardo concludes. Octane is the standard measure of the anti-knock properties (i.e., engine performance) of a motor fuel. Most fuels today, including E10 ethanol blends, have an octane rating of at least 87.

Speaking at the 17th annual National Ethanol Conference, Ricardo project director Rod Beazley said the meeting should be called the “National Octane Conference” because “ethanol has sort of a bad rap with the autos and it might need to re-market itself.”

Beaszley says he doesn’t agree with the timing of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). “If I was king for the day, you’d be getting the 36 billion gallons by 2017,” he said. “That would be the challenge – how to accelerate it by five years.”

He called for an alliance with auto makers who have a tremendous challenge ahead of them to increase fuel economy. “I think there’s a huge opportunity for the renewable fuels industry to grow and to have a very strong partnership with the autos,” he said. “There’s never been a better time for the industry than now.”

Listen to or download Beazley from NEC here: Ricardo Inc. Project Manager Ron Beazley

2012 National Ethanol Conference Photo Album

It was the main topic of the president’s press conference today and Congress will be holding hearings on it this week. From the president to the people at the pump, everyone is talking about higher gasoline prices these days, but ethanol is actually helping to keep them lower than they could be.

In a new RFA Issue Brief, the Renewable Fuels Association has analyzed the data to provide background information on the downward pressure exerted by domestic ethanol production on gasoline prices.

This “Ethanol Report” features an interview with Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) Vice President for Research and Analysis Geoff Cooper on just how ethanol does it. From ethanol’s lower cost at the wholesale level to how it reduces oil demand and prices and provides a cost-effective source of octane, Cooper says “there’s no argument that ethanol is playing a significant role in holding gasoline prices lower than they would be otherwise.”

Listen to or download the Ethanol Report here: Ethanol Report on Ethanol's Role in Gas Prices

Subscribe to the Ethanol Report here.