Ethanol. Right. Now.

A thank you to veterans, and a hope for energy security through homegrown fuels

A sincere thank you from the American Coalition for Ethanol to all veterans -- past, present, and future -- for your service and sacrifice.  Let us remember these heroes this Veterans Day and every day.

Our hope is that through the spirit and ingenuity of America's farmers and entrepreneurs, this nation can stand more self-sufficient in the face of its energy needs.  Clean, renewable, homegrown fuels like ethanol mean a future of greater energy security for all.

Leading ethanol companies are making cellulosic ethanol happen today

Three leading companies spoke at the ACE Ethanol Conference during a panel discussion on cellulosic ethanol.  Range Fuels was represented by Bill Schafer, Senior Vice President of Business Development and Government Affairs.

Range Fuels was formed in July 2006 by Khosla Ventures and broke ground in November 2007 at its cellulosic ethanol facility in Soperton, Georgia.  This month, the company expects to be 50 percent done with construction. Construction is expected to be complete during the first quarter of next year, and they will be producing cellulosic ethanol at a commercial scale in 2010.

The Soperton facility is permitted to up to 100 million gallons of ethanol per year.  Range Fuels' technology converts the biomass into syntehsis gas, and in phase two the gas is cleaned up and converted into ethanol.  They also have a module for the co-generation of power, which Schafer noted has a pretty dramatic impact on your lifecycle GHG emissions.

Range Fuels uses a thermochemical process rather than a biochemical process because it's more flexible on feedstocks, yields are better because there's no lignin separation, and it presents a lot of product options because of the syngas.  Range Fuels is using wood as its source of biomass, a commodity they believe offers superior price stability.  Their location is in the middle of the timber belt and study as shown it is a good location because it will have minimal impact on existing indutries and supplies.  In phase 1 the company will use pulpwood and mill residuals, in phase two pre-commercial thinnings and in-forest residue, and eventually in phase 3 herbaceous energy crops.

"There are a lot of moving parts out there and it's difficult to get that legislative clarity today that we'd like to get, but what isn't in doubt is that there's a huge push behind this," Schafer said.  "The benefits that can be realized through this industry are in high demand."

Doug Berven, Director of Corporate Affairs for POET, spoke about his company's efforts to integrate cellulosic technologies with existing corn-based technologies. 

"We've been making excellent progress," Berven said.  "We're very excited about the future of cellulosic biomass."

This year POET is planning 25,000 acres of corn cob harvest to meet the needs of Project Liberty, its cellulosic biorefinery being added to its existing corn-based ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa.  They are working with ag equipment companies and with farmers on adding cob collection to the farmers' annual corn harvest.  This year four cob harvesting methods will be unveiled.  Next year 100,000 acres and 70,000 tons of cobs will be collected.

POET is producing cellulosic ethanol today at its pilot plant in Scotland, South Dakota.  By June of this year they report achieving a five-fold reduction in enzyme cost, putting the current total process cost at one dollar per gallon greater than that of the company's corn-based ethanol.

"The thing that stands in the way more than anything else is market development," Berven said.  "We are in total agreement with what Brian (Jennings) said the other day that blender pumps are the future in this country.  The blend wall is holding up potential investment in cellulosic ethanol."

TMO Renewables Inc. of the United Kingdom was represented by Associate Director of Engineering Jason Robinson.  The company has designed and built the UK's first demonstration facility for cellulosic ethanol and aims to license its technology and process to the U.S. market.  TMO's platform is a flexible and scalable industrial system, low energy costs, low enzyme requirements, short process times (hours, not days), and an operational demo facility with a fully integrated process.

TMO's demonstration plant has been operational since June 2008, and it's fully staffed running 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"You can't just offer the industry a tin can of organisms or a portion of the process.  You really need to offer the client a fully integrated process," Robinson said.

They report having achieved a higher amount of dry solids, which translates into much lower energy costs.  TMO's process can fully utilize the biomass' sugars in less than 8 hours, unlike the 50-70 hours common in other processes.  The organism they use for conversion is "thermophilic" - it likes heat - and can convert the biomass to sugar quickly without contamination issues.  Also, no antiobiotics are added to the process.

Robinson says the company is looking at "captive" feedstocks like distillers grain or corn fiber, which can take harvesting and all the transportation issues out of the mix. 

 

President Obama: First generation biofuels must remain viable

In a letter this week to the Governors' Biofuels Coalition, President Barack Obama stated his support for ethanol, calling advanced renewable transportation fuels one of the nation's most important industries for the 21st century.

"Combined with improved energy efficiency, biofuels are the primary near-term option for insulating consumers against future oil price shocks and for lowering the transportation sector's carbon footprint," the President wrote.  "The direct consumer benefit has been well documented and producing and using more biofuels today means an immediate reduction in oil imports in addition to an immediate increase in domestic employment."

He writes that his Administration is committed to commercializing emerging cellulosic technologies, but that cellulosic ethanol will only become reality if today's corn-based ethanol remains viable.

"But this transition will be successful only if the first-generation biofuels industry remains viable in the near-term, and if we remove long-standing artificial barriers to market expansion necessary for large volumes of advanced renewable fuels to find a place in America's transportation fuels system," the President said.

The entire letter can be read here: http://www.ethanol.org/pdf/contentmgmt/POTUS_letter_to_GBC_52709.pdf

President Obama issues a biofuels directive, starts interagency work group and calls for peer review of GHG data

President Obama today issued a directive to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack on the subject of biofuels and rural economic development, calling for a new Biofuels Interagency Working Group headed by the Ag and Energy Secretaries and the EPA Administrator.  Having the USDA, DOE, and EPA work together on biofuels issues makes a lot of sense.

In the memorandum, the President had a lot of good things to say about ethanol, including a citation of the 600,000 barrels of biofuels produced each day in the U.S. last year, as well as the jobs and tax revenues that are an important boost to the U.S. economy.  The President instructed USDA to, within 30 days, get Farm Bill programs moving that will help biofuels facilities reduce fossil fuel use and transition to advanced biofuels production.  This immediate assistance will be a positive for America's biofuel producers which have been struggling in today's tough economy as other industries have as well.

The discussion of the Presidential directive came in the same media conference call as the announcement of the proposed rulemaking for the Renewable Fuels Standard, which suggests that indirect greenhouse gas emissions be counted in biofuels' carbon tally.  Though ethanol supporters aren't happy to see that methodology in the proposed RFS rule, there was a ray of hope -- the Presidential directive calls for a peer review of the assumptions surrounding the carbon intensity of biofuels and of fossil fuels. 

Let's put this discussion back into the realm of science where it belongs so that fossil fuels can be subjected to the same scrutiny that biofuels have undergone.  If biofuels' indirect GHG emissions are to be counted, then so should those of fossil fuels.  The bottom line is that future sources of oil -- tar sands, oil shales, etc. -- are going to have serious consequences for the environment while future sources of biofuels are going to be even more environmentally friendly than they are today.

The American Coalition for Ethanol issued a full statement today which can be read here: http://www.ethanol.org/pdf/contentmgmt/ACE_praises_Presidents_biofuels_directive_5_5_09.pdf

Posted by KB, 5/5/09

Ethanol formally petitions EPA to allow up to 15% in gasoline

The official waiver petition has been made.  The American Coalition for Ethanol has joined Growth Energy, the Renewable Fuels Association, the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition, and several cellulosic ethanol companies is making formal petition to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to allow the use of up to 15 percent ethanol in a gallon of gasoline.

Allowing the use of mid-level blends of ethanol in America’s existing fleet of vehicles would bring an array of benefits, including the creation of good jobs, ensuring a market for next-generation biofuels, and providing more cost-effective choices at the pump for consumers.  The current arbitrary cap of 10 percent ethanol per gallon of gasoline is stalling growth in America’s green energy sector and unnecessarily limiting progress toward energy independence.  It's time for the E10 cap to be lifted.

Cellulosic ethanol production is under construction today

Leaders in cellulose ethanol technology were on hand for the ACE Ethanol Conference, highlighting the progress they are making toward bringing cellulosic ethanol to commercialization.

ICM, Inc. of Colwich, Kansas is working to integrate grain ethanol and cellulosic ethanol production, to "leverage one off the other and gain synergies of operation, not just from a technical standpoint but from a cost standpoint as well," said Doug Rivers, Director of R&D for ICM.  The company is currently rolling out a frationation process that gets at the parts of the corn kernel, the germ, fiber, and endosperm.  Today at the LifeLine Foods facility in St. Joseph, Missouri they are combusting the fiber as thermal energy, and by the end of the year, they will go commercial at a pilot facility also in St. Joe.

Bill Schafer, Senior VP of Business Development for Range Fuels, said that the company has broken ground on a commercial-scale cellulosic plant in Soperton, Georgia to make ethanol from woody biomass.  Using a two-stage thermochemical conversion process, they can create ethanol, methanol, and higher alcohols.  They plan to be producing ethanol by next year.  Schafer believes that market development efforts are important so that not only will ethanol production levels be able to match the Energy Independence and Security Act, but also so the marketplace can readily accept what America's ethanol producers are able to offer. "ACE has been fantastic I think in encouraging research and work in that area.  Testing conservatively indicates that more than 20 percent ethanol is achievable in existing vehicles," Schafer said.

Larry Ward, VP of Project Development for South Dakota-based POET, agreed that market development is key.  "As we develop cellulosic ethanol, it is important that we continue to build the markets for ethanol.  Market development, not just technology development," Ward said during his presentation.  POET is focusing on making ethanol out of corn cobs and corn fiber.  Project BELL is the company's new pilot plant, built specifically for experience in cellulosic ethanol.  Project LIBERTY is a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy at the company's existing corn ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa.  They expect to be operational at the pilot facility, located in Scotland, South Dakota, later this year and producing cellulosic ethanol in Emmetsburg by late 2011.

POET: Cellulosic ethanol pilot facility will be operational this year

Jeff Broin, CEO of POET, announced that construction will be completed on a $4 million pilot-scale cellulosic ethanol production facility later this year.  The announcement was made during a press conference this morning at the ACE Ethanol Conference in Omaha.

The pilot plant will be adjacent to POET's corn ethanol pilot facility and 9 mgy ethanol plant in Scotland, SD.  The company says it will allow them to build upon recent technology advances before starting construction on Project LIBERTY, its commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa, later this year.

"In the past few months, our scientists have been able to achieve significant ethanol percentages in fermentation and improve the yield of ethanol from biomass," Broin said.  "I am more sure of the future of cellulosic ethanol than ever before."

Broin also noted that POET believes corn ethanol is the best way to reach the reality of cellulosic ethanol, and that corn cobs are a great option because they have little fertilizer value for the corn field and are an agricultural waste product at this point.  He says their modeling shows that 5 billion gallons of ethanol per year could be produced using corn cobs.