Domestic Fuel

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced just over $23 million in federal funding for five projects focused on developing highly efficient fermentative organisms to convert biomass material to ethanol.

According to a DOE press release, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Alexander Karsner said the projects will study ways to produce cellulosic ethanol cost-effectively. “Ultimately, success in producing cost-competitive cellulosic ethanol could be a key to breaking our nation’s addiction to oil. By relying on American farmers and ingenuity for fuel, we will enhance our nation’s energy and economic security.”

The companies to receive funding for fermentation projects are:

* Cargill Incorporated – $4.4 million
* Celunol Corporation – $5.3 million
* E.I. Dupont de Nemours & Company – $3.7 million
* Mascoma Corporation – $4.9 million
* Purdue University – $5.0 million

During a renewable energy roundtable discussion at Purdue University last week, the question was posed, why are we using food for fuel?

USDA Chief Economist Dr. Keith Collins had the chance to respond to the questioner with an important point.

“I first would say that I don’t think about using food for fuel. I think about using crops for fuel. I say that because this use has been an objective of agriculture for a long, long time. Henry Ford built a car out of plastic made from soybeans a long, long time ago. We’ve been trying to utilize agricultural commodities in industrial uses for decades precisely because the productive capacity of American agriculture has been so great. It’s often overwhelmed demand and created lower prices. That’s why we have this elaborate system of price and income support programs at USDA. So it’s not a new thing to use crops for fuel.”

Dr. Collins was one of several panelists on that roundtable. In the photo from Purdue’s Ag Communications, Collins is flanked by two Purdue professors – Dr. Bernie Tao, who’s a professor in agriculture and biological engineering and holds the Indiana Soybean Alliance chair for New Uses of Soybeans, and Dr. Michael Ladisch, distinguished professor of Agriculture and Biological Engineering, and the director of the Laboratory for Renewable Resource Engineering. Both noted that important research is being done now at Purdue and other universities to find new crops that can be used for renewable energy sources.

Read the full transcript of the roundtable, which also included Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns, Purdue University President Martin Jischke, Purdue Dean of Agriculture Randy Woodson, Indiana Director of Agriculture Andy Miller, USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development Tom Dorr and Renewable Fuels Association President Bob Dinneen.

An aerial promotion campaign for ethanol in the Sunshine State took off this past weekend over the racetrack at Sebring, the theme parks in Orlando and the beaches of Fort Meyers.

The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council will be flying this banner over cities from Miami to Jacksonville in the next few weeks to get the message out that Florida Needs Ethanol.

According to EPIC, ethanol is currently blended in 46% of our nation’s fuel supply with the majority of the fuel blended with 10% ethanol. But in many major cities, such as Tampa, consumers currently do not have access to purchase even a 10 percent ethanol blend, although it can be used in any of today’s cars.

“Ethanol’s performance and environmental benefits resonate with consumers,” said Reece Nanfito, EPIC’s senior director of marketing. “It may take time, but ethanol-enriched fuels need to be a part of Florida’s energy future.”

Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Charles Bronson agrees. “As we develop cellulosic technology in Florida, I think that’s what we are going to be the most well-known for,” said Bronson. “We working with the University of Florida to find out which crops will be most beneficial to produce ethanol.”

Bronson is working to get the Florida Legislature to fund more incentives for biofuels production and research in Florida. He also sees a bright future for biodiesel production in the state. “Research I have seen on blue-green algae says that may be the very one that’s going to take over biodiesel because you can make so much diesel out of that blue green algae and we can grow a lot of that in Florida. So I think we are going to lead the nation in that.”

Listen to an interview with Commissioner Bronson from Katherine Bush with Southeast Agnet. Charles Bronson (2 min MP3)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (468.8KB)

Florida legislators are being asked to help fund biofuels research in the Sunshine State.

Dr. Jimmy Cheek, Senior Vice President for Agricultural and Natural Resources at the University of Florida, says they are working to convince the legislature to support an alternative fuel initiative that would provide funding to help build a pilot plant in Gainesville and support cellulosic ethanol research.

“Biofuels are critical to the future of Florida,” said Cheek in an interview with Southeast Agnet. “We will not probably produce ethanol from corn and sugar but we will produce it from cellulose.”

That includes agricultural products, agricultural waste, trees, urban waste and hurricane debris.

Listen to Cheek’s interview with Katherine Bush of Southeast Agnet: Dr. Jimmy Cheek (1 min MP3)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (695.9KB)

BP has chosen the University of California Berkeley, the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to join in a $500 million research program that will explore how bioscience can be used to increase energy production and reduce the impact of energy consumption on the environment.

According to a news release, the Energy Biosciences Institute will perform ground-breaking research aimed at the production of new and cleaner energy, initially focusing on renewable biofuels for road transport. The EBI will also pursue bioscience-based research in three other key areas; the conversion of heavy hydrocarbons to clean fuels, improved recovery from existing oil and gas reservoirs, and carbon sequestration.

A senior research scientist from Purdue University was among those honored to attend the President’s State of the Union address last week, thanks to her groundbreaking work in cellulosic ethanol.

According to BoilerStation.com, Nancy Ho was asked to attend the event by the White House and sat near First Lady Laura Bush.

“I will treasure this all my life,” Ho said Thursday. “And it is important for the biofuels and cellulosic ethanol industry. I think that was the message, too.”

Ho used genetic engineering to make a yeast that will change the sugars found in the plant residue into ethanol, something that normal yeast won’t do.

Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., has also recently honored Ho by naming her an energy patriot for September 2006.

The National Peanut Research Lab is looking at how farmers may be able to make their own peanut-based on-farm fuel.

Research agronomist Wilson Faircloth says they have spent the past two years field testing different peanut varieties that can be used to make biodiesel. “We are now at the point where we are beginning to build a biodiesel pilot plant at our lab in Dawson where we can show farmers how to take peanuts from the field to the fuel tank in a self-contained fuel system,” he said.

In an interview with Southeast Agnet at the recent Georiga Peanut Show in Albany, Faircloth said they are planning to complete a plant by mid-summer that will fully meet the diesel demands of the research lab. “Our diesel demands are 3-5,000 gallons per year,” he said. “So for an average farm this will be about a quarter-scale plant.” The budget for the plant is less than $25,000.

When the plant is complete, Faircloth says they plan to have a demonstration event for farmers in the area.

Listen to an interview with Faircloth by Southeast Agnet’s Lee McCoy here: Faircloth Interview (3 min MP3)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (439.5KB)

Barley is another crop that has the potential to be part of the next generation of ethanol.

North Dakota’s Farm and Ranch Guide reports that it was a topic at last week’s 2007 Dakota Grains Conference in Bismarck.

Dr. Kevin Hicks, Agricultural Research Service, new hulless varieties and processing technologies such as pearling may make barley a desired crop for ethanol plants. he Eastern Regional Research Center in Wyndmoore, Penn., is involved in a five-year project researching how barley can be used in the biofuels industry.

Some of the new barley varieties being released have “looser hulls” and Arnold believes these new varieties will be able to play a big part in ethanol if the hull can be easily separated.

Read more here.

The Energy & Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota is leading a project to demonstrate the production of hydrogen at existing and future ethanol facilities in a unique, economical way, providing a near-term path toward a hydrogen economy.

According to a center press release, the hydrogen produced could be used on-site in fuel cells to provide additional power for the plant or as fuel for hydrogen vehicles.

“Hydrogen production integrated with an ethanol facility will provide an important source of renewable energy for both stationary and transportation fuel cell applications in a hydrogen-based economy,” said Chad Wocken, EERC Research Manager. “This technology will help facilitate regional and national growth in hydrogen utilization.”

The EERC will highlight this research project as well as many other efforts in renewable fuels and energy during the North Dakota Department of Commerce Renewable Energy Day, this Friday January 19 at the State Capitol Building in Bismarck, North Dakota.

Biotech firm Dyadic International, Inc. has joined with a consortium in Europe to work on producing ethanol from sugar beet pulp and wheat bran.

According to a company release, the Florida-based company will be working on the research and development project with one of Europe’s leading producers of bioethanol, Royal Nedalco, and other partners funded by the Netherlands government.

Jan Verdoes, Ph.D., Research Director, Dyadic Nederland BV, said, “Sugar beet pulp, with its currently low value, high volume at centralized locations and abundant carbohydrate content, is an attractive feedstock for the production of bioethanol. Wheat bran, a byproduct of wheat processing, is another attractive bioethanol feedstock. However, the enzyme preparations to economically extract sugars from these materials and the yeasts required to ferment these unusual sugars for large-scale ethanol production need to be further developed. Our research projects are designed to overcome these technical problems and contribute to the development of economically viable renewable fuels for the future.”

Agribusiness giant Syngenta has entered into a research and development partnership with San Diego-based biotech firm Diversa Corporation focused on “the discovery and development of a range of novel enzymes to convert pre-treated cellulosic biomass economically to mixed sugars – a critical step in the process of biofuel production.”

The new agreement allows Diversa to independently develop and commercialize fermentation-based enzyme combinations from its proprietary platform. Syngenta will have exclusive access to enzymes from Diversa’s platform to express in plants for enhanced cost-effective production.

Read more from Syngenta.

Solix Biofuels Inc., a startup company based in Boulder, is working with Colorado State University engineers to commercialize technology that can cheaply mass produce oil derived from algae and turn it into biodiesel.

Algae are the fastest growing organisms on the planet, and can produce 100 times more oil per acre than conventional soil-tilled crops that are now being grown for biofuel use – now they just have to create the technology to harness that potential.

Solix officials plan to commercialize the technology over the next two years. After ramping up to widespread production, the company expects to eventually compete commercially with the wholesale price of crude petroleum.

Bryan Willson, director of Colorado State’s Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory, is pictured inspecting algae colonies. “This process harnesses photosynthesis to turn carbon dioxide and energy captured from the sun into an economical petroleum substitute,” he says.

Solix officials estimate that widespread construction of its photo-bioreactor system could meet the demand for the U.S. consumption of diesel fuel – about 4 million barrels a day – by growing algae on less than 0.5 percent of the U.S. land area, which is otherwise unused land adjacent to power plants and ethanol plants. The plants produce excess carbon dioxide, which is necessary to turn algae into oil. In addition to producing biodiesel, the process would prevent a large portion of the greenhouse gases produced by coal-burning power plants from being expelled directly into the atmosphere.

Lots more from Colorado State – including pictures, audio and video.

An Iowa-technology company released a report last week that is fueling debate over whether ethanol plants should be powered by coal or natural gas, or something else.

The Frontline BioEnergy study found that coal-powered ethanol plants release up to 92 percent more carbon dioxide than those powered by natural gas.

Frontline’s analysis of a plant that would produce 50 million gallons of ethanol a year show a coal-powered facility would release as much as 207,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year while a natural gas-powered plant would emit 108,000 tons.

Read more from the Associated Press.

Frontline’s mission, according to the company website, is “to lead the nation in biomass gasification solutions for energy and products.” The technology they advocate involves converting solid carbonaceous materials
directly into a synthesis gas or syngas that can be combusted like natural gas.

With further processing, syngas can be converted into ethanol and other products, providing bio-based alternatives for an array of petroleum-based chemicals. Gasification can provide advantages over conventional combustion technologies in conversion efficiencies, emissions and process flexibility.

Bigger, stronger soybeans could help meet the demand for cellulosic material to produce ethanol.

USDA Agricultural Research Service chemical engineer Justin Barone and ARS geneticist Thomas Devine believe the giant soybean plants could be “specially bred with strong cellulose, for use in briquettes and wood substitutes, or with weak cellulose better suited for cellulosic ethanol production.”

In the photo, Devine measures one of his large biomass soybean plants which grow up to seven feet in height without lodging due to their stong sapling-like stalks.

Read more from USDA-ARS.

The alliance known as 25X’25 has just completed a study that outlines the positive impact producing 25 percent of the nation’s energy supply from renewable sources by 2025 could have on rural America.

According to J. Read Smith, co-chair of the 25x’25 Project Steering Committee, “Not only would reaching the goal drastically reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources, it would also have an extremely favorable impact on rural America and the nation as a whole. This report says we could see more than $700 billion in economic activity and 5.1 million new jobs.”

The economic analysis was conducted by researchers at the University of Tennessee addressing two different scenerios:

The impacts of producing 25 percent of the nation’s electric power and motor vehicle fuels from renewable resources, utilizing findings from a new RAND report, and

A second scenario which outlines how agriculture and forestry resources could produce 25 percent of the nation’s total energy demands.

The press release from 25x’25 includes links to the full report and summary findings.

Here is an interview with J. Read Smith on the study and the goals of 25x’25: 25×25 (6 min MP3)