In the News
Oct 10, 2015
By Deidre Shesgreen
WASHINGTON — Former Missouri Sen. Jim Talent has joined a pitched battle to protect the ethanol industry from a two-pronged political attack in Washington, a showdown that pits Show-Me State farmers against an array of powerful interest groups.
At issue are federal rules requiring ethanol and other alternative fuels to be added to America’s gasoline supply, which has been a boon to corn farmers in Missouri and other Midwestern states.
But the ethanol mandates, which are supposed to increase every year under a 2005 law that Talent helped craft, are a bane to the oil industry, which is committed to killing the requirements.
The fight has scrambled the usual party lines in Washington, where oil and gas lobbyists have aligned with environmental advocates, hunger activists and fiscal watchdog groups in an effort to repeal or gut the 2005 requirements. On the other side, the powerful farm lobby and the biofuel industry are working with Midwestern lawmakers to preserve the so-called Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
Sens. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., have repeatedly badgered the Environmental Protection Agency to ramp up its implementation of the RFS, saying the agency has been too slow and lax in setting targets.
Talent, a Missouri Republican who served in Congress for 11 years before losing re-election in 2006, entered the fray last week, when he helped launch a new advocacy group called Americans for Energy Security and Innovation. Talent said the group is funded by biofuel companies and investors, but he declined to provide any more detail.
“We’re not hiding the fact that these are biofuel (firms)” that have an economic stake in the issue, Talent said. But he said the new group, organized as a nonprofit under the IRS code, is not required to disclose its members or its funding.
The biofuel industry approached him, he said, because “they knew it was kind of my baby.” The new group will run TV ads and try to mobilize supporters, Talent said, with the goal of shaping public opinion and influencing the political debate.
Congress created the Renewable Fuel Standard in 2005 and then expanded it in 2007, as part of a broader effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions and reduce America’s reliance on imported oil. The law requires specific quantities of alternative fuels — such as ethanol — to be blended into fuel for cars, trucks and other vehicles. The EPA is charged with crafting the exact RFS, with the agency setting annual hikes in the amount of alternative fuels added to regular gasoline.
Supporters of the RFS say it has sparked innovation and job creation in the biofuel industry, reduced greenhouse gas pollution and scaled back U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
“We think consumers benefit, our farmers benefit, and our economy as a whole benefits by keeping (fuel-related jobs) in the United States instead of exporting them to countries that don’t like us very much,”said Gary Marshall, CEO for the Missouri Corn Growers Association.
Missouri is the 10th top corn producing state in the country, growing 500 million bushels a year. And the state ranks 12th in ethanol production capacity, with six facilities that turn corn and other grains into ethanol.
“It’s had the effect of strengthening family farms and without price supports,” Talent said.
But critics say the ethanol requirements are a sop to the agriculture industry that skew the free market and do not help the environment.
“This is the government using corporate welfare to shower money on a favored industry and then send the bill to the general public,” Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said in February, when he unveiled legislation to repeal the corn ethanol provision in the RFS.
He was joined by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, who said the ethanol requirement drives up the cost of food and gas, damages car engines and hurts the environment.
“If the mandate continues to expand toward full implementation, the price of corn will increase,” Feinstein said. “Americans living on the margins simply can’t afford that.”
That bill has attracted the support of a strange-bedfellows list of interest groups — from the American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry’s lobby arm, to Friends of the Earth, a liberal environmental group. The oil industry says the current fuel-supply infrastructure can’t handle increasing amounts of ethanol. Environmental groups say ethanol has turned out to be as harmful as, or more hamful than gasoline, in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, land use and farm runoff.
“There are few things worse for the environment than gasoline, but corn ethanol is one of them,” Emily Cassidy, a research analyst at the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group, said earlier this year when the EPA unveiled its latest renewable fuel targets.
Those targets were a small victory for opponents of the standards, because the EPA lowered the amount of ethanol required to be added to gasoline, saying the targets set by Congress were no longer realistic given changes in production and consumption.
In a rule that will be finalized next month, the EPA called for requiring refiners to blend 17.4 billion gallons of renewable fuels in 2016, much of it from corn, but 3.4 billion gallons would come from advanced biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol made from grasses and wood chips. The figure was well below the 22.3 billion target set by Congress. EPA officials also proposed 16.3 billion gallons for the current year, less than the 20.5 billion set by Congress.
Blunt and others have objected to EPA’s move, accusing the agency of sidestepping Congress’ intent and creating uncertainty in the biofuels market. EPA officials say they have the legal authority to lower the numbers Congress intended, noting, among other things, that higher-ethanol blends such as E15 and E85 have not been widely accepted.
The oil industry hailed the EPA’s decision, saying the vast majority of cars and trucks on the road today can’t handle fuel with higher concentrations of ethanol than what is already available today — 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline.
“That’s what we call the blend wall,” said Bob Greco, a top official at the American Petroleum Institute.
But Moore, the Missouri Corn Growers Association’s CEO, said the blend wall is a fiction that “exists only in the minds of the oil industry.”
He said the real reason they have objected to more ethanol is because it will cut demand for gasoline.
“You’re trying to take 10 percent of the market, or more now, from the wealthiest, most influential business in the world,” he said. “So obviously that creates problems.”
He and others are fighting the EPA’s decision. Lower demand for ethanol will cause corn prices to drop, Moore said, dealing an economic blow to farmers in Missouri and other big corn-producing states.
Talent said the fuel standards are “under attack” by both the Obama administration and in Congress, prompting the need for the new group, Americans for Energy Security and Innovation. Talent, who is also a military expert with the American Enterprise Institute, said he will not register to lobby on the RFS. And he declined to outline the group’s specific plans, saying more details would be coming soon.
But Talent clearly plans to use his conservative credentials and his political savvy to sway the debate, and he said he would be specifically trying to counter the idea that the ethanol mandates amount to government favoritism for a special industry.
“The purpose of the RFS was not to create a market so much, but to protect the market that was already developing against manipulation by the oil cartel, so they couldn’t strangle it before it had a chance to grow,” Talent said. “That’s a message that will resonate I hope and believe with conservatives.”
Read the original story here : Ex- Sen. Talent Revs Up Fight Over Whether Ethanol Must Be Added To Fuel
Oct 8, 2015
By Susanne Retka Schill
In continuing pressure on the administration and U.S. EPA to not weaken the renewable fuels standard (RFS), the National Corn Growers Association and National Farmers Union released a white paper showing the impact of the RFS on farm income, which is now projected to decline 26 percent this year from the 2013 peak.
The paper cites a Congressional Research Service report that called the lack of annual renewable fuel volume standards for 2014 and 2015 a key uncertainty that was “crucial in determining how the U.S. agricultural economy will fare.” USDA projects 2015 net cash income will decline $35 billion from 2013 highs. “The net farm income projection for 2015 at $58.3 billion is down over 50 percent compared with the record $123.7 billion level achieved in 2013 and is the lowest since 2006.”
In a media call the morning of the release, Roger Johnson, President of the National Farmers Union said, “The EPA’s proposed rule and the uncertainty around it have frozen investment in rural communities and sources of income for farmers in the advanced and cellulosic biofuels industry at a crucial time. Already, the new industry has suffered a $13.7 billion shortfall in investment because of uncertainty around the RFS. That cuts off a long-term potential for supplemental farm income, and causes job loss in rural communities. The economic and environmental benefits of advanced biofuels cannot be realized without a strong RFS.”
President of the National Corn Growers Association Chip Bowling said, “Our country’s farmers and biofuels producers have met the challenges of the RFS, investing in renewable fuel production and creating jobs in rural America that can’t be outsourced to other countries. Thanks to the RFS, we are helping to reduce foreign oil dependence with clean, secure American-made renewable fuel. However, the EPA’s weakened proposed rule has hurt farm income across the country – the USDA has projected net cash income for American farmers and ranchers to decline by 26 percent this year. Now is not the time to break our commitment to America’s farmers. It’s time to put forth a strong RFS so we can continue moving our country forward and bolster farm income in our rural communities.”
In the question period following the prepared statements, both leaders acknowledged that the uncertainty around the RFA is not the only reason farm income is declining, although Johnson stressed, “it is a significant factor.” Bowling pointed out, however, that the boost in farm income starting in 2005 has widely been credited to corn ethanol. He added that he farms near an ethanol plant that shut down recently, with an immediate drop in the basis—basis being the price differential between the nearby futures corn price and a local cash quote.
Growth Energy cochairman Tom Buis commended the two agricultural organizations “for bringing this issue to the forefront to ensure that communities across rural America can continue to grow and prosper.” He reinforced the key message from NCGA and NFU. “Farm income has already declined this year and the proposed reduction of the RVOs under EPA’s proposed RFS rule will only further drive down farm income, putting a severe strain on America’s rural economy. The past several years of inaction by EPA have resulted in significant uncertainty among producers, stifling growth, innovation and the necessary investment to move toward next generation fuels from the farm.”
Read the original story here : NFU, NCGA : RFS Uncertainty Drives Down US Farm Income
Enogen Corn From Syngenta Expands To 16 Ethanol Plants, Reaches 1-billion Gallon Production Capacity
Oct 6, 2015
Minnetonka, - Syngenta today announced that, to date, it has reached agreements with 16 ethanol plants to use Enogen grain. Together, the plants have a combined production capacity of more than 1 billion gallons. Syngenta is in discussions with a number of other ethanol plants, as well, with plans to continue its expansion. Enogen® corn enzyme technology is an exclusive in-seed innovation from Syngenta and the industry’s first and only biotech corn designed specifically to enhance ethanol production.
Enogen was grown on approximately 225,000 acres in 2015, and that number is expected to top 400,000 acres next season, demonstrating the continued commercial success of this technology. According to Jack Bernens, head of Enogen for Syngenta, the robust alpha amylase enzyme found in Enogen corn hybrids helps an ethanol plant dramatically reduce the viscosity of its corn mash and eliminate the need to add a liquid form of emzyme.
“This breakthrough viscosity reduction can lead to unprecedented levels of solids loading, which directly contributes to increased throughput and yield, as well as critical cost savings from reduced natural gas, energy, water and chemical usage in ethanol plants,” Bernens said. “Growers who plant Enogen corn benefit as well – they earn an average premium of 40 cents per bushel.”
Enogen is rapidly gaining popularity because of the value it delivers and the opportunity it provides corn growers to be enzyme suppliers for their local ethanol plants. Assuming an average yield of 165 bushels an acre, Enogen corn is expected to generate approximately $26 million of additional revenue for local growers in 2016 through per-bushel premiums. Furthermore, numerous trials have shown that Enogen hybrids perform equal to or better than other high-performing corn hybrids.
“The agreements we have in place with a steadily increasing number of plants will enable them to source alpha amylase directly from growers and keep enzyme dollars in those local communities,” Bernens added. “This is what truly sets Enogen corn apart from other technologies designed to enhance ethanol production. It adds significant incremental value at the local level for communities that rely on their ethanol plant’s success.”
Go to www.enogen.net to learn more about Enogen.
October 6, 2015
By Katie Fletcher
The International Energy Agency recently released its annual Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report at a Group of 20 leaders’ meeting in Turkey. The report forecasts global market trends and developments for renewable energy and biofuels to 2020.
The MTRMR 2015 indicates that renewable energy will represent the largest single source of electricity growth over the next five years, driven by falling costs and aggressive expansion in emerging economies. Although the report points to the promise renewables hold for affordably mitigating climate change and enhancing energy security, the report warns governments to reduce policy uncertainties that are slowing greater deployment.
“Renewables are poised to seize the crucial top spot in global power supply growth, but this is hardly time for complacency,” said Fatih Birol, IEA Executive Director as he released the IEA’s MTRMR at the G20 Energy Ministers Meeting. “Governments must remove the question marks over renewables if these technologies are to achieve their full potential, and put our energy system on a more secure, sustainable path.”
According to the MTRMR, renewable power expanded at its fastest rate to date—130 gigawatts (GW)—in 2014 and now represents more than 45 percent of overall supply additions. The report attributes the fall in fossil fuel prices over the past years to concerns about the competitiveness of renewables and government willingness to maintain policy support. One policy, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, carries uncertainty. The report states, “Amid generally sluggish demand growth, OECD power systems face challenges to maintain long-term policy frameworks while shifting away from high incentive levels and integrating higher variable renewable penetrations.”
In the report’s executive summary, it states renewable electricity additions over the next five years will reach 700 GW, or more than twice Japan’s current installed power capacity. The report concludes that the share of renewable energy in global power generation will rise to over 26 percent by 2020 from 22 percent in 2013.
This deployment is thought to increasingly shift to emerging economies and developing countries, which will make up two-thirds of the renewable electricity expansion to 2020. China will account for nearly 40 percent of total renewable power capacity growth and require almost one-third of new investment over the next five years.
The MTRMR highlights risks that may be associated with increasing deployment. Financing remains key to achieving sustained investment, and regulatory barriers, grid constraints and macroeconomic conditions pose challenges in many emerging economies.
The report shares that wind leads global renewable growth, followed by solar and hydropower. Meanwhile, other renewable technologies grow slower on an absolute basis, but still scale up significantly. The report gives the example of bioenergy supported by coal-to-biomass conversions in Europe and a significant scale-up in non-OECD Asia using domestic resources. Excluding traditional biomass, the report states global renewable energy use for heat will grow only moderately over the medium term. “While renewable heat technologies can be cost-effective options, an extended period of lower oil prices could undermine growth, particularly in bioenergy markets.”
The report also carries insight on biofuels for transport and renewable heat. “Blending mandates are expected to support biofuels for transport demand and production, even with the lower oil price environment.” The report indicates that, overall, biofuels growth is forecast to stabilize, reaching over 4 percent of road transport demand in 2020. A number of risks limit this growth, however. The U.S. continues to face structural challenges in scaling up ethanol to more than 10 percent of gasoline demand while the EU-28 has introduced a 7 percentage point cap on the contribution of conventional biofuels towards the 10 percent renewable transport target for 2020, according to the report.
The MTRMR notes that significant development of advanced biofuels is necessary for diversification and debarbonization of transport in the long term, particularly in aviation. Since 2013, the report shares that advanced biofuels have made good progress, with nine commercial-scale plants commissioned. Also, policies that mandate blending levels and provide capital incentives, along with the development of secure local feedstock supply chains have been fundamental. The report estimates new projects may require oil prices around $100/bbl or above to be attractive.
The executive summary of the MTRMR concludes, while energy security and local sustainability concerns prove a first-order motivation for adopting enhanced policies, the improving affordability of renewables can have positive ramifications for global climate change negotiations.
Read the original story: IEA Releases Mid-Term Forecast for Biofuels, Renewable Energy
Find a full copy of the executive summary here or more information at the IEA website here.
Oct 1, 2015
By Ann Bailey
The Senate Banking Committee has defeated an amendment that would have eliminate corn-ethanol blending targets under the renewable fuel standard (RFS).
The amendment introduced by Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Penn., was defeated Oct. 1 by a vote of 7-15. Toomey attempted to add the American Crude Oil Export Equity Act which would lift the U.S.’s ban on oil exports.
“It is no surprise that Senator Toomey’s amendment failed – it never had a chance of passing,” said Tom Buis, Growth Energy CEO. “Similar to legislation he has introduced before, it did not gain any traction and failed because this legislation only restricts consumer choice and attempts to dismantle a successful American industry that is creating jobs, improving our environment and reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
“The simple fact is that the RFS has bipartisan support and it has been the most successful energy legislation this nation has enacted in over 40 years.”
The Renewable Fuels Association said that consumers can breathe a sigh of relief when they fill up at the gas pump because the defeat of the amendment ensures that ethanol will remain the No. 1 source of renewable fuel in the world, said Bob Dinnen, RFA president and CEO.
“The committee understood the writing is on the wall when it comes to the RFS, and that legislative proposals that seek to purportedly “fix” the statute are nothing more than political gamesmanship. “When Congress passed the RFS, it did so with the intention of stabilizing and growing the biofuels market.
“The committee rightly rejected the amendment by Sen. Toomey because it would have done nothing more than squelched investment and created uncertainty in the market, and thereby would have had a detrimental impact on the energy and economic future of generations to come.”
American Coalition for Ethanol Executive Vice President Brian Jennings called it gratifying that a majority of Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee want the RFS to remain the law of the land.
“Perhaps today’s vote can help EPA understand that they need to set blending targets that reflect the statute instead of riding the brakes on the RFS because of so-called E10 blend wall concerns,” Jennings said.
Read the original story here : Amendment To Eliminate Corn-Ethanol Blending Defeated
October 2, 2015
By Devin Henry
A group of senators is pushing the White House to issue a strong mandate for ethanol fuel.
Fourteen senators — a mix of Republicans and Democrats, many from ethanol-producing Midwestern states — met with White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough on Thursday to make their case for an aggressive new ethanol mandate under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rankled many ethanol producers in May when it proposed increasing the amount of biofuel it wants mixed into the gasoline supply, but at levels below those set by Congress in 2007.The EPA is due to finalize three years of RFS targets by the end of November, and ethanol allies in Congress and the energy industry want the White House to increase the mandate.
“The last thing we should be doing is throwing the brakes on the progress we’ve made by rolling back the Renewable Fuel Standard,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who helped organize the McDonough meeting, said in a statement.
“The future of the biofuels and advanced biofuels industries depend on a rule that provides stability and predictability.”
The ethanol mandate is a contentious subject in the fuel industry and in Congress. Ethanol producers slammed the EPA’s proposed targets in May for being too low, while oil producers and refiners said they’re already mixing as much ethanol as is possible into the gasoline supply.
Several lawmakers want to end the ethanol mandate entirely. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), among the RFS’s biggest critics in Congress, tried attaching a repeal of the mandate to a bill lifting the ban on crude oil exports during a committee meeting on Friday, but that effort failed.
The mandate’s defenders — a mix of environmentally inclined Democrats and Midwestern lawmakers — say the rule is important for both reducing carbon emissions from the transportation sector and supporting the ethanol industry in agricultural states.
Three Republican senators from Iowa and South Dakota joined 11 Democrats at the White House meeting on Thursday.
“When lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, representing states all over the country, come together to share a common concern, that really means it is time to listen,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said in a statement. “And I hope the Administration does.”
Read the original story here: Senator Push White House on Ethanol Mandate
Sept 26, 2015
By Sebastien Pouliot and Bruce Babcock
The EPA’s justification for proposing to reduce ethanol mandates in the Renewable Fuel Standard is that consumer demand for ethanol is not high enough to meet the original targets.
About 13.7 billion gallons of ethanol can be consumed in E10, which contains 10 percent ethanol. The original mandate for conventional biofuel (widely assumed to be corn ethanol) was supposed to increase to 15 billion gallons in 2016. This would require that 1.3 billion gallons of ethanol would need to be consumed in gasoline-ethanol blends that contain more than 10 percent ethanol.
The two blends that contain more than 10 percent ethanol approved for sale are E15 and E85. The number of stations that sell E15 is currently quite small, whereas almost 3,000 stations sell E85. Thus, EPA focuses on the contribution of potential E85 sales to make its claim that there is insufficient demand for ethanol to support a mandate of 15 billion gallons.
The EPA writes in its proposed rule: “Thus, we believe it is possible for the market to reach volumes perhaps as high as 600 million gallons under favorable pricing conditions.”
Adding this 600 million gallons to 13.7 billion gallons of ethanol consumed in E10 means the EPA believes a maximum of 14.3 billion gallons of ethanol can be consumed in the United States. This is why the EPA proposes to reduce mandates for the non-advanced biofuel from 15 to 14 billion gallons in 2016.
Estimation of the demand for E85 requires data matching various E85 price levels with the corresponding amount of E85 sales.
A rich source of data was provided to us that we used to estimate directly the proportion of U.S. owners of flex vehicles who buy E85 at various price points. The data contains daily station fuel sales and prices of a major Midwest chain of retail gasoline outlets.
We report on how owners of flex vehicles in two metropolitan areas respond to changes in the price of E85 and extrapolate the results to the national level. Perhaps uniquely, this chain’s aggregate market share in these two metro areas was much greater than 90 percent, thus allowing us to estimate the proportion of owners of flex vehicles in the area who chose to switch from E10 to E85 at various price levels.
Using these new direct estimates of consumer demand, we find that owners of current flex vehicles in all U.S. metro areas would consume 250 million gallons of E85 if it was priced at parity on a cost-per-mile basis with E10, and 1 billion gallons of ethanol if E85 were priced to save drivers 23 percent on a cost-per-mile basis.
These estimates assume no new E85 stations are installed. If new stations were installed so drivers in metro areas had the same driving distance to an E85 station, as drivers do in one of our study areas, then more than 1 billion gallons of ethanol would be consumed in E85 in U.S. metro areas if E85 were priced to save FFV drivers 10 percent on a cost-per-mile basis.
These estimates significantly understate total U.S. E85 consumption because consumption in non-metro areas is not included.
Our results show that meeting the original 15 billion gallon RFS ethanol target in 2016 is feasible. The two key conditions needed to meet this consumption level are to allow the market for RINs to work as intended, which will allow the price of E85 to fall to induce consumers to buy the fuel, and for EPA to set a consistent policy signal to industry that they will indeed have to meet this target. A clear and consistent message from EPA is needed to foster investment in fueling stations that will allow enough consumers to access E85.
Comments are from an executive summary of a study by economists at Iowa State University. Sébastien Pouliot is assistant professor of economics and Bruce A. Babcock is professor of economics and Cargill Chair of Energy Economics and is director of the Biobased Industry Center at ISU.
Read the original story here : E85 Makes Original RFS Target Feasible
Read the study here
Sept 22, 2015
By Sussanne Retka Schill
Senate democrats introduced a national energy bill Sept. 22 that they says offers a pathway to a cleaner energy future and economy. The American Energy Innovation Act of 2015 takes a multi-faceted approach, dealing with a number of issues and sectors including electrical generation, energy efficiency, alternative fuels, clean energy research, energy cybersecurity.
Several provisions discussed in the bill summary are of interest to the existing biofuels industry.
Under a section title Clean Fuel Production Credit, a 10 year production credit would be available for facilities in 2018, starting that year for those built earlier, as well as those put in service after it takes effect. The bill also creates a technology-neutral incentive for the domestic production of renewable transportation fuels, based on lifecycle carbon emissions. “Fuels begin receiving incentives if their lifecycle emissions are at least 25 percent less than the U.S. nationwide average in 2015. Zero and net-negative emission fuels quality for the maximum incentive of $1 per energy equivalent of a gallon of gasoline,” the summary details.
Another provision in that section allows fuels using similar feedstocks and production pathways to be grouped together by the U.S. EPA and requires new pathways be given provisional guidance with a year of the initial request for approval and final guidance no later than two years later.
The American Energy Innovation Act would also repeal repeal tax incentives for major integrated oil companies such as foreign tax credits, domestic manufacturing deduction, expensing intangible drilling and others.
Earlier, in July, U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., introduced a broad, bipartisan energy bill. Focused on a wide range of national energy opportunities and challenges, the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015 features five titles reflecting common ground on energy efficiency, infrastructure, supply, accountability, and land conservation. Versions of some of the provisions contained in that act appear in the newly introduced democratic-sponsored bill.
Read the original story here : Senate Democrats Introduce Comprehensive National Energy Bill
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September 22, 2015
Today, Novozymes announced the launch of a new enzyme for ethanol producers who want to reduce their use of chemicals without sacrificing yield.
Liquozyme LpH is an alpha-amylase effective at low pH that thins the mash by breaking down starch into shorter dextrin chains. A more fluid mash ensures more efficient operational performance for ethanol producers running their production at low pH.
Plant trials have shown improved viscosity levels and liquefaction, enabling customers to reduce their use of chemicals for pH adjustment.
“We were really pleased by our recent trials,” says Peter Halling, Vice President for Biofuels at Novozymes. “Ethanol producers can reduce dosing of both ammonia and sulphuric acid during the cook process. This saves costs and ensures a safer working environment.
More innovation for the ethanol industry
Liquozyme LpH is the latest addition to Novozymes’ range of enzyme products for the ethanol industry, and there is more to come.
“Novozymes will continue to develop new technology for the ethanol industry,” says Peter Halling. “We will expand our portfolio further towards the end of the year with a new innovation”.
Read the original story: New Enzyme for Ethanol Producers Reduces Use of Chemicals and Saves Costs
September 17, 2015
By Anna Simet
Nearly two dozen top executives from the advanced and cellulosic biofuels industry recently sent a letter to President Obama regarding the U.S. EPA’s renewable fuel standard (RFS) volume requirement proposal, four of whom spoke during a Sept. 16 conference call to discuss its message.
In the letter and during the call, it was emphasized that the May 29th proposal represents a broken promise that is negatively impacting investments and partnerships in advanced biofuels, is sending projects and jobs overseas, and is at odds with the president’s initiatives to combat climate change.
“As you know, the point of the RFS was to require oil companies to buy and sell an increasing amount of renewable fuel to address the fact that the oil industry would otherwise use its market position to cut off market access for competitors and thereby smother investment in cellulosic ethanol and advanced biofuels that have the lowest carbon footprint in the world,” the letter reads. “And yet, for the first time in RFS history, EPA is proposing to change the rules in the middle of the game to allow challenges related to the “distribution” of renewable fuel by oil companies – i.e. the oil industry’s refusal to buy and distribute low carbon, renewable fuel and its willingness to block brand-licensed gasoline retailers from selling higher renewable content blends under their branded canopy to be cause for waiving the RFS on a year-to-year basis. Such a provision would gut the core concept behind the law.”
During the call, Adam Monroe, North American president of Novozymes, said discussed how the RFS was originally set up—participants who chose not to comply were required to purchase RINs. “Basically it rewards those who behave the way the law intended, and penalizes who don’t,” he said. “What has happened with the proposal is that it has turned this whole mechanism on its head, in that those who don’t want to participate are actually rewarded.”
He said the proposal is driving investors away, and commented that it seems pointless to implement the Clean Power Plan when altering the RFS would increase carbon emissions by 25 million metric tons per year, the equivalent of nine coal-fired power plants.
Poet-DSM President Dan Cummings remarked that the RFS has experienced great success over the past 10 years, and as a result, the joint venture invested $275 million to build one of the world’s first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plants now operating in Emmetsburg, Iowa. “As we see the proposal moving forward, it has chilled the outlook for us, for further investing,” he said. “We have a network of an additional 25 plants in the U.S. that are eligible to further adapt this technology….but we’re struggling.”
Cummings said Poet-DSM is looking more overseas, particularly in Europe, and discussing licensing the technology there and in other parts of the world as well. “That’s a message I’ve been hearing, now everyone is looking outside of the U.S., due to uncertainly in the market.”
Enerkem CEO Vincent Chornet echoed Monroe’s and Cummings’s statements, adding that the company, which has invested $400 million in its municipal solid waste-to-ethanol and –methanol technology and has a full-scale, commercial plant up and running and making money, isn’t prioritizing projects in the U.S. anymore. “It’s unfortunate, because we’ve viewed the RFS as the gold standard of renewable fuel standards globally—it’s an outstanding piece of legislation and well designed, and it’s unfortunate that the rules may be changing…”
Chris Standlee, executive vice president of global affairs at Abengoa Bioenergy, which owns and operates 15 commercial-scale biorefineries on three continents and is nearing 900 MMgy per year of ethanol production, said that because of the RFS, Abengoa now permanently employs 500 in the U.S. and has invested over $2 billion in developing its eight U.S. production facilities, including a cellulosic pilot plant and one of the world’s first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plants in Hugoton, Kansas. “It’s very frustrating for us, and we think just a little but ironic, that the RFS, which is based on the concept of lowering greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicle fuels, has been undermined by one of the most active administrations in fighting climate change,” he said. “Obama is asking the nation to get behind the Clean Power Plan, but turning his back on only law currently on the books that is directly aimed at climate and clean energy. “
As a result, Abengoa has been forced to change its investment strategy, according to Standlee. He said Abengoa had originally intended to develop other second-generation projects based on the Hugoton model, but is now looking overseas for those opportunities. “While we will continue to purse projects in the U.S., especially from waste-to-biofuels area, we have found interest in U.S. projects from investors and potential partners has been dramatically reduced as a result of the recent proposals.”
Brazil and France are now the most likely locations for the company’s next second-generation projects, Standlee said.
Read original story here: Advanced Biofuel Industry: RFS Proposal Damaging Industry
September 16, 2015
By Don Davis
Finding gasoline mixed with higher percentages of ethanol soon will be easier for Upper Midwest motorists.
A federal grant is due to help fund 620 new "blender pumps" around Minnesota that can dispense fuels with 15 percent to 85 percent ethanol content. That is third to the number of pumps the federal program will help install in Texas and Florida.
Other area states also are due for aid, including Iowa, with 187 pumps; Wisconsin, 120; North Dakota, 90; and South Dakota, 74. Nearly 5,000 blender pumps will be added across the country.
Nearly 200 million cars and light trucks built in 2001 and later can use the 15 percent blend, known as E15, federal authorities have determined.
Higher blends, such as E85, can be used by nearly 20 million flex-fuel vehicles made in recent years.
"It will not harm your emissions systems ... your engine," said Kevin Hennessy, Minnesota Agriculture Department biofuels manager. "My suggestion is to try it and see if you like it."
Ethanol generally is made from corn.
Most states followed Minnesota's lead in the 1980s and have required that gasoline include 10 percent ethanol, mostly due to its ability to cut pollution. In corn territory, some states have provided funding to help ethanol take off.
Few states have helped add blender pumps, but Minnesota has had a program in operation two years. More than 40 stations in the state have installed 120 pumps.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture grant announcement, to be followed in a couple of weeks with release of specific dollar amounts each state will receive, was greeted with enthusiasm in the corn belt.
"Corn farmers have scored a big point in our ongoing battle with big oil and its efforts to use its deep pockets and lobbying power to block the installation of flex-fuel infrastructure,” said Doug Albin, who farms near Clarkfield, Minn., and leads the Minnesota Corn Research and Promotion Council.
The council is among organizations, along with the state, that will provide money to match the federal grant.
Kelly Marczak of the American Lung Association said the increase in federal, state and private funds to improve the flex-fuel infrastructure demonstrates a strong demand across the country for cleaner, more affordable fuel.
Higher ethanol blends produce higher octane, less pollution and cost less.
Hennessy said that he filled his car's tank with E15 Wednesday morning, paying $2.01 a gallon.
However, while ethanol has benefits, it also produces less energy than pure gasoline and miles per gallon figures usually drop. Hennessy said E15 produces 98.2 percent of the energy of E10.
Existing Minnesota blender pumps are concentrated in the Twin Cities to get the most sales possible, but they also are in a variety of cities around the state including Perham, Pipestone, Bemidji and Willmar, Hennessy said.
The federally funded program also will be focused in the Twin Cities, he said, but it also will help pay for pumps in other parts of the state.
“Access to more pumps should provide consumers with more opportunities to use biofuels in their vehicles if that is their choice," U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said.
At the same time, the congressman added, studying how blended fuel sales go will help government officials determine whether to continue ethanol programs.
Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey said it is important to build the new infrastructure so Iowans may use more of the ethanol produced in their state.
While the ethanol production plant growth spurt of a few years ago has slowed, two new plants are under construction in the country and others on the drawing boards. One planned plant would be in central South Dakota, where Ringneck Energy hopes to build a $140 million operation.
Ringneck President Walt Wendland is traveling North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota to find investors. He has helped start two Iowa ethanol plants.
"You want to see those dividends go back into those communities," he said. "I don't want to see large oil companies owning these, or large corporations owning these plants. To me, it's about being able to add value and own a piece of these that's a great model."
Read the original story here: More Ethanol Choices on the Way for Minnesota Region
Sept 16, 2015
By Mike Bryan
Since the ethanol blend wall seems to be the current issue the U.S. EPA is struggling with, I have a crazy idea. Instead of setting a blend wall for ethanol, why not set a fossil fuel pollution cap (PC). After all, ethanol is not causing major pollution in our cities, it’s not damaging our environment, or polluting our oceans, rivers and streams and causing untold health issues for our citizens, fossil fuels have already cornered that market. It just seems like the EPA is doing everything possible to restrict the use of the wrong fuel. Fossil fuels have a proven track record of nasty effects from health to wars. I don’t recall seeing any health effects or wars that have been attributed to ethanol.
While seemingly an outlandish idea, having a fossil fuel PC would accomplish a number of key objectives for the country and the environment. Unless I’m mistaken, that should be the objective of the EPA, to help protect the citizens of this country through sound environmental policy. Policy that promotes a cleaner environment and better air quality, via minimizing the use of polluting fuels like gasoline and diesel fuel. Besides, the PC could also stand for the politically correct thing to do as we come into the 2016 election cycle.
It’s not terribly complicated. The government, led by the EPA, would enact legislation that caps the use of fossil fuels over the next 30 years to, say, 50 percent of its 2020 level. Let’s say that by 2020, fossil fuel use would be capped at 85 percent of the levels it is today. That would provide an opportunity for ethanol and biodiesel to meet those limits over the course of the next four years.
Then, during the following 10 years from 2020 to 2030, fossil fuel use would have to be reduced from the 2020 level to 70 percent. Following that, it would have to be reduced to 60 percent and, finally, by 2045 to 50 percent of the 2020 level. It’s a program that would accomplish many things for the environment, air pollution and for the economy as a whole. All by simply addressing the root cause of the problem.
It is difficult to imagine the impact such a policy would have on the economy of this country. Not just the rural economy, but the economy as a whole. We would not have to concern ourselves anymore about protecting our oil interests around the globe. We would reduce air pollution by at least 30 percent or more. We would go far toward achieving our global carbon reduction goals and improve the health and well-being of citizens from coast to coast. Combined that with the development of new vehicle technology such as electric and improved fuel economy and it may just be an achievable idea.
I know, I could have used this space to talk about something that actually has a chance of becoming policy, but one never knows. The EPA is simply focused on the wrong thing. It’s seems to be intent on restricting the use of a fuel that has contributed enormously to the environment, the economy and energy security, in favor of a fuel that has done almost the exact opposite.
The introduction of a fossil fuel PC is beyond my ability, but perhaps some of our Washington insiders ought to give it a think. Many things begin with a simple idea.
That’s the way I see it.
Read the original story here : Time To Cap Fossil Fuel Pollution
September 15, 2015
By Bob Dinneen
It’s that time of year again, when leaves make their seasonal color change and pumpkins are carefully placed on every porch. Another year is on its way out. Time, it seems, is never on our side; it’s always zipping by us faster than we expect. The ethanol industry had quite the significant “has it been this long?” moment in August when we celebrated the 10th anniversary of what is arguably our nation’s most successful energy policy: the renewable fuel standard (RFS). Over the past 10 years, the RFS has made an indelible impact on the nation’s economy, environment, and energy security.
The RFS is powering America’s rural economy in ways we could not have imagined before the Energy Policy Act was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2005. Since then, ethanol industry jobs have more than doubled, driving a threefold increase in annual ethanol production from plants nationwide to its historic height of 14.3 billion gallons in 2014. Farmers are now producing 25 bushels of corn per acre thanks to higher yields—all without expanding onto additional lands—and the doubling of corn prices has saved families from the brink of bankruptcy.
The RFS is, of course, a multifaceted program that was created to tackle critical energy issues gripping the nation at the time of its passage. In 2005, the United States imported three-fifths of its petroleum needs. Today, that number rests at just over a quarter. Notably, ethanol’s rise to claim 10 percent of the gasoline pool has virtually eliminated all gasoline import dependence. Last year, the Energy Information Administration found that ethanol displaced the gasoline equivalent of 512 million barrels of crude oil, which is more than all the oil America imports every year from Saudi Arabia.
But what is a comprehensive energy plan without a consideration of its environmental impact? Ethanol continues to be unquestionably cleaner than fossil fuels. Conventional ethanol is reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 34 percent compared to gasoline. That means less carbon monoxide, benzene and other toxic hydrocarbons are polluting our atmosphere. The lowered emissions each year equate to removing more than 8 million cars from the road. If cleaner tailpipe emissions aren’t already a draw, consumers can look forward to cheaper gas prices, thanks to ethanol. On average, ethanol saves drivers about a dollar per gallon at the pump.
The fact is the RFS is doing what Congress intended it to do 10 years ago. The American public recognizes that fact. The U.S. EPA, however, does not seem to want to hear about the public’s satisfaction with the program. Its proposal to drastically slash volumetric blending requirements for refiners proves that the agency instead prefers to listen to the same misinformation that the oil companies have been propagating for years. As the EPA witnessed at its June hearing Kansas City, support for the RFS at the ground level is ubiquitous and strong. EPA’s proposal will only reverse the program’s success in the name of Big Oil profits.
The RFS is just a decade old and its results have been wide-ranging and long-lasting. Ethanol production, corn yields, and the number of rural American jobs are up, while oil imports, greenhouse gas emissions and gas prices are down. At a time when the White House is making a concerted effort to move America beyond the 20th century kilns of the coal factories, biofuels are now more important than ever. The stability the RFS has brought to the ethanol industry has not only economically rejuvenated the nation, but it has driven the innovation necessary to propel advanced biofuels into the forefront. What was once a niche gasoline supplement has found its footing and is being recognized for what it is: the fuel of the future.
Read the original story "RFS: Doing What Congress Intended"
Press Release by Algenol and Protec Fuel
September 14, 2015
Offering ethanol made from algae for the first time commercially. Algenol and Protec Fuel have agreed to market and distribute ethanol from Algenol’s Fort Myers, Fla., commercial demonstration module. The two will also offer Algenol’s future 18 million gallons per year from its commercial plant, which is planned for development in Central Florida in 2016 and 2017. Protec Fuel will distribute and market the fuel for E15 and E85 applications for both retail stations and general public consumption, as well as fleet applications.
“This alliance is a logical step for Algenol as our commercial fuels are coming on-line,” says Algenol Founder and CEO Paul Woods. “We are excited about partnering with a successful, innovative renewable fuels distributor, who is knowledgeable in the regional and Florida ethanol market and has the expertise and relationships to grow the partnership nationally.”
“We know that advanced ethanol is a key element of the future of fuels, and we are excited to partner with Algenol, the leader in the development of algae-based fuels,” said Todd Garner, CEO, Protec Fuel. “The key components and priority of ethanol’s use are sustainability, cleaner air, and to provide the public with lower-cost fuel,” he said. “To be able to offer a fuel that can accomplish the three key components only bolsters this advanced biofuel’s future.”
This partnership will enable Algenol to leverage Protec’s established network of retail clients for the distribution of Algenol’s E85, E15 and other advanced biofuels, while also enhancing Protec’s proven ability to bring to market unique renewable fuels. The agreement encompasses E85 and E15 marketing and supply to Protec distribution network and to fuel terminals and other third parties, as warranted by market conditions. While the partnership will initially focus on Florida, the agreement provides for expansion into a national partnership scope as Algenol develops projects in other markets. Algenol’s Florida-based production facilities will provide both parties and their customers with a substantial margin advantage versus fuels shipped from out-of-state.
This agreement follows a series of successful commercialization milestones achieved by Algenol, which include its pathway approval by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in December 2014, its organism approval by both the state of Florida and by the EPA in the same year, and the June 2015 completion of its 2-acre commercial demonstration module funded in part by a $25 million DOE Recovery Act grant. Algenol is producing ethanol meeting the D4806 ASTM specifications on a daily basis, and it can be sold commercially as E85.
Algenol has developed a patented technology using algae to produce the four most widely used fuels; ethanol, gasoline, het and diesel fuel, all for about $1.30 a gallon. The company captures, recycles and utilizes CO2 that is used as a feedstock for the algae, an approach specifically identified as a qualifying technology for reducing carbon emissions in the recently established Clean Power Plan. Its pathway reduces Greenhouse gas emissions by 69% per gallon compared to tradition gasoline according the official EPA pathway approval. A single 2,000 acre commercial Algenol module is equivalent to planting 40-million trees or removing 36-thousand cars from the road. Ethanol, used in gas pumps across the country, is typically made from the fermentation of sugars produced by plants such as corn and sugar cane. But through the innovation of using algae to convert Co2 emissions into fuels, Algenol has successfully developed a fossil fuel replacement with yields 20 times greater than that of corn.
Read the original press release: Algenol to Distribute Ethanol Commercially
September 13, 2015
By David Schaffer
The gas station at Penn Avenue and 67th Street in Richfield has carried various names over the past 50 years — Conoco, Mobil, U.S. Oil and others — as owners changed or marketing contracts lapsed.
Now, after two decades of local ownership by businessman Mark L. Olson, the station has been reborn as a local brand: Minnoco.
Across the Twin Cities region, 19 independent gas station owners like Olson have become Minnoco retailers in the past two years, freeing themselves from big oil companies while cutting costs and launching group marketing efforts. More Minnoco stations are coming.
“This is bringing together the independent operator that can’t put ads in the newspaper or on radio and TV,” said Olson, who converted his station to Minnoco in early August. “It brings everyone together to market the brand just like an SA [SuperAmerica] or a Holiday. That is what we are trying to do.”
Under the business model, station owners invest in their own station refurbishments and engage in joint marketing. Minnoco offers coupons for discounted gas and other products via newspaper inserts, social media, e-mail and minnoco.com. It plans an instant rewards program and a fundraising effort for a breast cancer charity this fall.
Minnoco was created by the Minnesota Service Station & Convenience Store Association, an industry trade group. Lance Klatt, executive director, said the goal is to get at least 50 stations under the Minnoco brand.
“We can market our brand how we want,” Klatt said. “It is a business model that makes sense. There are a lot of independent retailers that are hungry for a new image, the opportunity to control their own brand and to bring new fuel to the marketplace.”
The stations also gain from the buy-local movement. “You look at the logo and you know it is a Minnesota company,” said Michael Porter, an adjunct faculty member in marketing at the University of St. Thomas Minneapolis campus.
And in a nod to renewable fuels, Minnoco’s mostly green logo features a plant leaf.
Among the first to offer E15
Renewable fuel is an important piece of the Minnoco story, and it underscores the changing landscape of gasoline retailing.
All but two of the Minnoco stations sell “Unleaded Plus,” or E15, a blend of 15 percent ethanol and 85 percent gasoline that can be used in 2001 and newer cars and trucks. The price typically is 10 cents less than regular fuel, which is 10 percent ethanol.
The ethanol industry has been trying to get more gas stations to sell E15, but it’s a challenge because oil companies have little incentive to upgrade pumps for renewable fuel blends that cut petroleum’s market share. So ethanol and corn-producer trade groups now offer grants to help stations with pump upgrades to sell a range of ethanol blends.
“It’s cleaner and it’s cheaper and the performance and fuel mileage is the same as regular gasoline if not better,” said Joel Hennen, who owns the Shakopee Minnoco station and is chairman of the Minnoco board of directors.
Big oil companies like BP, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil once owned gas stations, but have divested them over the past decade. Their names remain on about half of the nation’s gas retailers because they fund station improvements under long-term marketing deals.
Minnoco stations aren’t the only ones getting help from the renewable fuel industry to introduce E15, and higher ethanol blends like E30 and E85, which are for flexible-fuel vehicles. Mike O’Brien, vice president for market development at Growth Energy, an ethanol industry trade group, said other U.S. regional retailers adding such blends are Sheetz, Kum & Go, and Murphy USA.
“In order to get E15 into the marketplace, you have to go around the established markets,” said O’Brien, who is based in Minnesota.
Soon E15 will get another push from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is handing out $100 million in grants to upgrade 4,880 of pumps across the country. Of 21 states tentatively approved for grants last week, Minnesota is slated to get the third-largest share, enough for an estimated 620 pump upgrades.
Benefits, hidden and not
Station owners cite other benefits of severing alliances with big oil companies.
One plus is that stations are free to purchase gasoline from wholesalers at market prices generally lower than those offered by big oil brands, they said. This helps the stations compete against other convenience store chains, which already benefit from wholesale purchasing.
At major-brand stations, the independent owner is “essentially obligated to buy their gas and you can be roped in for seven to 15 years,” said Rick Bohnen, who converted one of his two stations on Penn Avenue in Minneapolis to a Minnoco. His other station is a BP.
Bohnen said Minnoco stations also get a break on credit card swipe fees, which can be a major expense at stations, typically costing 2.5 percent of every sale.
Porter, of St. Thomas, said that rebranding under the Minnoco logo can help station owners avoid the fallout from disasters like the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico or the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker grounding and oil spill off the coast of Alaska.
After such disasters, some consumers turn away from that oil brand, choosing to fill up elsewhere.
“Minnoco is closer to a hometown brand, and it is less likely to take the backfire from a Deepwater Horizon spill,” Porter said. “You are insulating yourself from that kind of backlash.”
Read the original story: Growing Minnoco Gas Station Brand is Fueled by Independent Operators
Global Renewable Fuels Alliance
Sept 11, 2015
The UN FAO has released data showing that global food prices have experience the steepest monthly drop since 2008, casting doubt upon concerns about the impact of ethanol production in food price increases. The recent decline in food prices has coincided with a period of record ethanol production expansion, reaching a high of 94 billion litres in 2014 from 83.5 billion litres in 2012, a 10% increase over this period. This contrast clearly demonstrates that increased ethanol production has not driven up food prices.
The UN FAO Food Price Index averaged 155.7 points in August, down 5.2% from July, representing the steepest monthly drop since December 2008 with virtually all major food commodities registering marked dips. This drop coincides with a fall in crude oil prices in July of 19%, closing at $48.25 per barrel on July 31.
The Global Renewable Fuels Alliance (GRFA) has for several years argued that the price of oil and energy inputs are the single most influential drivers of food and commodity prices. A number of international institutions including the World Bank, International Energy Agency (IEA) and United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) have also recognised the strong relationship between oil prices and food prices.
A 2013 World Bank publication, Long-Term Drivers of Food Prices, concluded that almost two thirds of food price increases are caused by rising oil prices. The report states that between 1997-2012 the price of crude oil caused maize and wheat prices to increase by 52 percent and 64 percent, respectively. The report also found that biofuels had a negligible impact on food prices during this period.
The undeniable relationship between oil price and food price is outlined in this chart. The recent collapse of global crude oil prices has been followed by the collapse in the global food price index showing how reliant food prices are on the price of oil.
In a recent publication, the UN FAO conclude that increased biofuels demand has helped the agriculture sector by increasing agricultural productivity and output which has “ensured that the global supply of crops available for non-biofuel uses has continued to grow over the long term.”
In a speech this past January at the Global Forum for Food and agriculture the UN FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva recognized biofuels as a key part of the global agriculture complex with social, agricultural and environmental benefits and outlined the potential for agriculture to accommodate mutually supportive food and biofuel production.
Read the original story here : UN Data Shows That Ethanol Is Not Causing Food Price Rises