Ethanol. Right. Now.

Expert warns against putting regulations ahead of science on GHG emissions

John Kruse of international forecasting company Global Insight told ACE conference attendees he's concerned that regulations are getting ahead of the science in measuring greenhouse gas emissions and the resulting indirect land use changes.  Kruse is the Managing Director of Agriculture Services for the firm.

A Low Carbon Fuels Standard has been adopted in California to develop a comprehensive strategy for reducing GHG emissions.  California may become the model for the rest of the nation, and Kruse said that under their proposed modeling, ethanol may run in to some problems and not be able to qualify as a low-carbon fuel.

The California methodology hypothesizes that increased ethanol use will lead to higher corn prices, which will lead to more corn acreage at the expense of other crops, which will lead to lower production and lower exports, which will lead to other countries changing their land use - often, they say, putting rain forest or other sensitive land into crop production. 

But Kruse says that, looking at the actual data on ethanol production and crop exports, it's tough to make the case that ethanol is driving major crop area changes.  Also, he notes that some of the studies on the topic have error margins as high as 55 percent.  "And yet we're ready to make regulations based on these," Kruse said. 

In the California model, ethanol is compared to gasoline from conventional sources, which ignores the fact that as world energy demand increases, oil from new sources like the Canadian tar sands will be used.  GHG emissions from tar sands oil are 2 to 3 times higher than that of conventional oil.

"There's not a very well established system.  The science is not there, and the regulation is ahead of the science on the measure of indirect greenhouse gas emissions," Kruse said.

Kruse's firm is completing a study soon for the American Coalition for Ethanol on the subject of how a Low Carbon Fuels Standard might impact biofuels.

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.

Corn ethanol producers showcase impressive new technologies

The "Innovations in Corn Ethanol" panel at the ACE conference showcased some of the new technologies that are diversifying production and reducing energy usage at U.S. ethanol plants.

Chippewa Valley Ethanol Co., a farmer-owned plant in Benson, Minnesota, has installed a biomass gasifier that uses wood chips to help power the facility and reduce its need for natural gas.  "Btu to btu, it's about half the cost," said Andy Zurn, Engineering Manager.

Zurn noted that they started with wood chips instead of ag biomass so that they could focus on the technology of gasification, instead of working at the same time on the biomass collection issues. CVEC is partnering with the University of Minnesota at Morris to study the collection of corn cobs from surrounding farms, which, when used in the gasifier, will provide 75 percent of the plant's btu requirements.

Rob Nelson, Director of Technology Development with South Dakota-based VeraSun Energy, highlighted progress on the oil extraction facility being installed at its Aurora, SD 120 mgy ethanol plant.  The technology will extract the corn oil from the distillers grain, with the oil then being made available for sale to the biodiesel market.  One gallon of corn oil yield sapproximately one gallon of biodiesel.  The process is expected to yield 8 million gallons of corn oil annually from 390,000 tons of distillers grain.

NCGA's Tolman is 'very confident' about ability to meet food, feed, and fuel needs

 

Rick Tolman, head of the National Corn Growers Association, told ACE conference attendees today that he is "very confident" about corn growers' ability to meet the needs for food, feed, and fuel. 

Speaking of corn production technology, he said "We haven't seen anything yet," noting the tremendous advances in traits and genomics that are making previously unbelievable yields attainable.  In 1944, for example, 85 million acres were planted to corn in the United States, yielding a total of about 2.8 billion bushels.  In 2007, 85 million acres were again planted to corn - but the total crop was 13.1 billion bushels. 

Tolman encourages ethanol supporters to begin speaking not of ethanol's demand of corn production, but rather of the total corn supply.  Talking only about corn production ignores the fact that each year there's a carryover of supply from the previous growing season.  Letting ethanol critics frame the discussion in their terms makes ethanol's portion of the crop seem larger than it actually is.  Tolman noted that instead of ethanol using more than one-third of the corn production, it's actually more like less than one-quarter, especially considering the distillers grain which is about a third of the corn that goes into the ethanol plant.

He says the food interests have adopted Big Oil's model - "pass it on through and blame ethanol." 

ACE President: Grassroots ethanol supporters are the fuel for revolution

"Ethanol is the fuel of revolution, and we are the fuel for revolution," ACE President Bob Scott told the crowd today in his address, explaining the conference theme of 'Fueling Revolution'.

"We have the fuel for revolution, and it's in the power, faith, spirit that everyone in this room has," Scott said.

ACE Executive Vice President Brian Jennings carried on the theme, making no mistake that ethanol truly does represent a revolution in the way we fuel our cars and the way this nation fuels its energy needs. 

"Our revolution is to make gasoline the alternative fuel," Jennings stated, met by a round of applause.

Governor Heineman expresses support for corn-based ethanol

"Higher fuel prices have caught the attention of every American family," said Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman, opening this afternoon's session at the ACE Ethanol Conference.  The Governor stated how proud he is of what Nebraska is doing with ethanol. 

Ethanol production in Nebraska has brought great economic benefit, especially in the rural areas.  The Governor used the example of an ethanol plant being constructed in a community of about 250 people.  This ethanol plant brought 50 good, new jobs to the area - an extraordinary boost to the local economy.  Taken times the 20-plus ethanol plants in Nebraska, the industry has been hugely beneficial to the state and its rural citizens.

"Corn-based ethanol is going to be around for a long, long time," Heineman said. "It's the foundation for the future." 

He emphasized how important it is for agriculture to stand together to support ethanol.  "Nebraska and America need a strong ethanol industry, and Nebraska and America need a strong livestock industry.  One cannot succeed without the other."

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.

ACE expands its Board with more industry and grassroots representation

At its Annual Business Meeting yesterday, the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) voted to expand its board of directors to add representation from key ethanol companies and grassroots organizations. With the vote, these four ACE members will now have representation on the board:

Fagen, Inc. – Ron Fagen, President & Chief Executive Officer

ICM, Inc. – Greg Krissek, Director of Government Relations

Nebraska Ethanol Board – Todd Sneller, Administrator

Missouri Corn Growers Association – Gary Marshall, Chief Executive Officer

 

“ACE has always prided itself on being the grassroots voice of the industry, and today we’re proud to

expand our board of directors to better represent the industry as a whole by adding two leading companies and two grassroots organizations,” said Brian Jennings, Executive Vice President of ACE.

 

“Having grassroots representation for the U.S. ethanol industry is key at both the state and federal levels, and I’m pleased to have the opportunity to represent Nebraska ethanol on the ACE board of directors,” Todd Sneller said.

 

“For many years, ACE has coordinated the grassroots voice of the ethanol industry, and I’m pleased to be joining its board of directors,” Ron Fagen said.

 

ACE is the industry’s largest association, with nearly 1,500 members nationwide, including farmers, ethanol producers, industry suppliers, rural electric co-ops, the agriculture community, and others supportive of ethanol.

 

Several members of the ACE Board were re-elected at today’s meeting, including:

Merle Anderson – Member of the Board, Minnkota Power Co-op and ACE Founder

Jerry Demmer – Chair, Minnesota Corn Research & Promotions Council

Richard Hanson – member of the Board, Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company

Bill Honnef – Co-Founder, VeraSun Energy Corp.

Howard Roe – Member of the Board, POET Biorefining – Coon Rapids

Wayne Wagner – Member of the Board, Red River Valley Sugar Beet Growers

Online registration has closed, but you can still attend the ACE Ethanol Conference

As staff members make final preparations for the ACE Ethanol Conference next week in Omaha, online registration has been closed.  But if you'd like to attend, you can certainly join us and register once you arrive at the Qwest Center.  This link on Ethanol.org has a detailed conference agenda and information on hotel accommodations in Omaha.  You can call the ACE office at 605-334-3381 if you have any questions.

We hope to see you there!

Ethanol blender pumps, mid-range blends will take center stage at ACE conference

Ethanol blender pumps and mid-range blends will be a hot topic at this year's ACE Ethanol Conference. 

The Wednesday morning (8/13) breakout session "Blending Better Solutions," based on ACE's recently published blender pump guide by the same name, will detail the how and why of adding mid-range ethanol blends like E20 and E30 at the pump.

The general session will turn its focus to the issue on Thursday morning (8/14) in the panel discussion, "The Pathway to Higher Blends."  How far have we come in our quest to get mid-range blends approved by the EPA?  The panel of experts will give you the details.

Did you know?

There are currently more than 40 gas stations around the Midwest that use blender pumps to offer their customers mid-range ethanol blends like E20 and E30, in addition to E10 and E85.

We've published a Google Map showing all the blender pump locations - view the map here.

For more information, visit Ethanol.org's "Higher Ethanol Blends" page.

Register online at Ethanol.org through August 5th

Ethanol.org will have an online registration form available through Tuesday, August 5th.  To register online, or to view the conference agenda, check out this page http://www.ethanol.org/index.php?id=30&parentid=30.

If you're not able to pre-register, you can still attend the conference - just register when you arrive at in Omaha at the Qwest Center. 

You're invited: ACE's 21st annual ethanol conference

More than 1,000 ethanol supporters are expected to gather in Omaha, Nebraska next week for the American Coalition for Ethanol's 21st annual conference - we hope you will be one of them!  The ACE Ethanol Conference & Trade Show will be held August 12-14 at Omaha's Qwest Center.  Visit our weblog often for more previews of the conference this week and for live posts from the conference next week.