Domestic Fuel

We hear a lot about co-products with ethanol production like the DDGS but what about in cellulosic ethanol production? Well, Danielle Julie Carrier, Arkansas State University is doing work on that subject.

I was very interested to hear that there are some possibilities. She’s working with switchgrass and they’ve found that if you wash the feedstock prior to the pre-treatment for ethanol production that you get a water mix with flavonoids which help reduce bad cholesterol. Co-products like this have potential and may help make the production of cellulosic ethanol more attractive.

You can listen to my interview with Julie here: ff-bio-08-carrier.mp3

You can also download the interview using this link (mp3).

Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album

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During our last session of the day here at the Farm Foundation, Transition To A Bio Economy Conference, our speakers talked about some feedstock and co-product issues of ethanol production. First up was Abhishek Goel, North Dakota State University. He did work on using dry peas to supplement corn in an ethanol plant. The idea was to reduce supply risk and increase profitability.

He says that in North Dakota corn supply is variable and since the state is the biggest producer of dry peas it seemed like a natural place to start. The work was done in 2007 and although prices have certainly changed he believes there are opportunities to supplement corn with other feedstock options.

You can listen to my interview with him here: ff-bio-08-goel.mp3

You can also download the interview using this link (mp3).

Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album

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On the subject of locating a biorefinery we had another presentation on the subject here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference. This one was by David Perkis, Purdue University.

He says the purpose of his work is to answer questions that local decision makers have such as, Where to locate plants?, What do we have to prepare for?, What can we do to entice a plant to our area? and Do we have a chance? He says that factors in having an optimal location for an ethanol plant is access to sufficient corn stover and transportation distances.

You can listen to my interview with David here: ff-bio-08-perkis.mp3

You can also download the interview using this link (mp3).

Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album

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Besides those out working in the industry we also heard from some university students today at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference. Lance Andrew Stewart is a grad student at the University of Tennessee. He did a very technical presentation on locating ethanol plants.

His work focused on the location determinants that attract potential plants in certain areas. He says that factors include, access to feedstocks like corn and locating away from an existing plant. He also made a point of saying that although plants can be very helpful to a rural community they must have enough infrastructure to support one.

You can listen to my interview with Lance here: ff-bio-08-stewart.mp3

You can also download the interview using this link (mp3).

Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album

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We had USDA Rural Development represented here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference by Tony Crooks. He works with their rural business cooperatives program and has done a lot of work with communities in the area of ethanol and biodiesel.

The challenge he says we have today in rural communities is the large capital outlay to get a biorefinery started so USDA is looking at creative ways to help them. He highly suggests that a community have a community development plan so they can better decide if a plant would be in their best interest. Ways that USDA Rural Development can help is with grants and guaranteed loans. He says they’re looking for communities who need financial assistance, especially in the second generation cellulosic area.

You can listen to my interview with Tony here: ff-bio-08-crooks.mp3

You can also download the interview using this link (mp3).

Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album

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The luncheon speaker at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference focused on managing risk. Paul Willems works for BP Energy Biosciences Institute. He says it’s a collaboration between the University of California, Berkely, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the University of Illinois and BP.

Paul says that their mission is to apply modern biology towards energy problems. The Institute was started in November of 2007 and is currently almost 70 percent staffed. They’ve already committed funding to about 50 projects and programs. Some examples of these programs include feedstock research and the discovery of new enzymes.

One of Paul’s key messages was not to get carried away with problems since solutions will take a while to achieve.

You can listen to my interview with Paul here: ff-bio-08-willems.mp3

You can also download the interview using this link (mp3).

Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album

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Two key words in a presentation at the Transition To A Bio Economy Conference were flexibility and diversification. These are important to managing risk, especially in R&D for renewable fuels.

Our presenter was Gordon Rausser, University of California, Berkeley, who was here with his assistant Maya Papineau. I interviewed them both together after the presentation. Gordon says that we should be looking at R&D risk as a portfolio of opportunities. He says we should be managing the overall risk by recognizing the inter-relationships among the technologies and their ultimate commercialization. He also says that stand alone analysis will miss much of the opportunities that will arise.

When it comes to flexibility he suggests giving yourself options so that you can take advantage of new opportunities as they arise. He says that current ethanol plants are vulnerable going forward since they don’t have the flexibility to move to different feedstocks.

Maya talked about probably breakthroughs in renewable energy technology. She says that it’s important for how you use public and private R&D resources to maximize the investment.

You can listen to my interview with Gordon and Maya here: ff-bio-08-rausser.mp3

You can also download the interview using this link (mp3).

Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album

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The second session here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference was on risk and uncertainty.

Jim Larson, University of Tennessee, talked about farmers risk in growing switchgrass as a biomass feedstock for fuel production. He says that this is a commodity that will come into play looking forward. His research shows that it’s risky for farmers because it’s difficult to establish and takes several years to get to full yield. He thinks that farmers will need incentives from biomass processors to get started.

Harvesting this crop is also risky since you have to deal with large amounts of material that’s subject to weather and storage concerns. Some ways to help with risk would be contracting and price guarantees.

You can listen to my interview with Jim here: ff-bio-08-larson.mp3

You can also download the interview using this link (mp3).

I’m also uploading pictures to a photo album which you can feel free to use if you’d like: Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album

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One of our speakers here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference brought the discussion down to the farm level. John Miranowski, Iowa State University, spoke about the impact of biofuels on the rural economy and the farm structure.

He says that their numbers indicate that increasing biofuels production will have a positive impact on rural communities and farm structure up to a point but that it could have some negative impacts. One thing is certain, he sees an uncertain future for biofuels.

However, even with the uncertainty, he thinks the industry will make a go of it because of an increased demand for fuel. As far as where we’re going, he sees a bigger role for corn and corn stover fuels given the RFS and that this is one area where we have an ability to increase productivity while decreasing environmental impact concerns.

You can listen to my interview with John here: ff-bio-08-miranowski.mp3

You can also download the interview using this link (mp3).

I’m also uploading pictures to a photo album which you can feel free to use if you’d like: Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album

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Like the first speaker on our program today here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference, our second speaker, David Zilberman, University of California, Berkeley, says we need to increase agricultural productivity.

His talk was on the distributional effects of biofeuls and he had two conclusions. The first one is that biofuels make some people better off and some people worse off. Drivers are better off since they’re getting their fuel for about 15 cents less than if it didn’t have biofuels in it but consumers of food are worse off since the price of food is higher. He says that’s worse in developing countries where they’re seeing food prices 20 to 40 percent higher. This situation he says is causing political instability which will become an obstacle to the development of biofuels.

His second conclusion is that we have to increase productivity. He says that if we don’t we’re in real trouble. In order to increase agricultural productivity he says we must use biotechnology in all crops.

You can listen to my interview with David here: ff-bio-08-zilberman.mp3

You can also download the interview using this link (mp3).

I’m also uploading pictures to a photo album which you can feel free to use if you’d like: Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album

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The first speaker here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference is Michael Wetzstein, University of Georgia. His talk deals with two issues. One is on price volatility and the other is on food and fuel.

Michael says that gas price volatility can be avoided with fuel diversification by blending renewable fuels with fossil fuels. That’s what his research shows. He also suggests that we could relax gas taxes and reduce the tariff on the importation of Brazilian ethanol.

Another part of his research is on food and fuel and to answer the question of “Is there a direct link between the volatility of ethanol production and the volatility of corn prices. His research has found that there is a link but not a persistent or long lasting one. In fact, in the long run he says there is no direct link.

The bottom line he says is to produce more food.

You can listen to my interview with Michael here: ff-bio-08-wetzstein.mp3

You can also download the interview using this link (mp3).

I’m also uploading pictures to a photo album which you can feel free to use if you’d like: Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (1.4MB)

The Farm Foundation conference, “Transition To A Bio Economy, Risk, Infrastructure and Industry Evolution” is underway here in Berkeley, CA. Getting us started was Farm Foundation Vice President, Steve Halbrook.

This conference, which is focusing on biofuels, is part of a series, of which this is part 3.

The Transition to a Bioeconomy series is designed to assess the impacts of the evolving bioeconomy on agriculture, the food system, and rural regions. The third conference in the series, to be Oct. 15-16 in St. Louis, will address environmental and economic development impacts. The first conference in the series examined the integration of agricultural and energy systems. The last conference in the series, slated for early 2009, will focus on the implications of a global bioeconomy.

Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album

“Policy Risks and Consequences for the Biofuels Industry” will be one of the topics addressed during a Farm Foundation conference entitled “Transition to a Bioeconomy: Risks, Infrastructure and Industry Evolution” June 24-25 in Berkeley, California.

Seth Meyer with the University of Missouri’s Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) will talk about some of the findings in a new report that presents 500 different scenarios based on possible weather, production and other market influences.

Meyer says they found that the two main important factors in any scenario are the price of oil and feedstock production.

“We did this in January and yet we’ve seen oil prices exceed most people’s expectations and that changes the dynamics of which policies are important,” Meyer said. “And then you add to that an unexpected change in (corn) yields and it changes which policies are important yet again.”

Generally speaking, if oil prices are high and production is normal, the Renewable Fuels Standard for corn ethanol is less important. “When we start getting a short crop, those mandates all of the sudden become very binding. It’s a very complicated question,” said Meyer.

When it comes to the blender’s credit, Meyer says that again depends on the situation. “If oil prices would moderate, the mandates would be driving production.”

Listen to an interview with Meyer here:
seth-meyer-pre.mp3

Domestic Fuel will provide coverage of the Transition to a Bioeconomy conference that will include an overview of the industry, how biofuels are impacting other segments of the market, and the bioeconomy’s impacts at the farm level. Other sessions will address risks of the bioeconomy; legal, transportation and public policy infrastructure issues; and the challenges and opportunities of the next decade in research, education, business and finance.

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Next week I’ll be attending Farm Foundation’s program titled, “Transition to a Bio Economy: Risk, Infrastructure and Industry Evolution.” They’ve been advertising here on Domestic Fuel and if you haven’t made your reservation then there is certainly still time.

You may not be familiar with Farm Foundation or this series of programs they’ve been hosting on the subject of a Bio Economy. To learn more myself, I spoke with Foundation Vice President, Steve Halbrook, pictured. He says that Farm Foundation is a non profit organization that works in agricultural and rural policy issues. They bring together industry, government and academic leaders to focus on the challenges facing our food system and rural communities.

Steve says this event will have a special focus on biofuels since it affects all facets of ag and rural areas, especially ethanol in the mid west. He says that leaders from several government agencies, including USDA, approached them hoping that the Foundation could help them better understand this issue.

You can listen to my interview with Steve here: steve-halbrook.mp3

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