In the News

EPA's Waivers Undermine The RFS, Corn Market

Aug 12, 2019

DETROIT LAKES, Minn. – Following an announcement Friday evening from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the granting of 31 small refinery exemption waivers under the Renewable Fuel Standard, Congressman Collin C. Peterson issued a statement pointing to the capacity of the waivers to significantly undermine the RFS at a time when farmers need the certainty it creates.

“The Administration tried to bury bad news for rural America by quietly approving 31 more waivers this Friday afternoon that undermine the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and the market for corn. On Wednesday, I hosted a packed forum at Farmfest with Secretary Perdue where farmers raised this issue again and again. Farmers are on the front lines of the tariff war and this announcement by the EPA will only make things worse.”

As a co-Chair of the Congressional Biofuels Caucus, Congressman Peterson has worked to stop the EPA from approving waivers to the RFS that have hurt ethanol producers and the farm economy. Congressman Peterson, Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) and the co-chairs of the Congressional Biofuels Caucus introduced H.R. 3006, the Renewable Fuel Standard Integrity Act of 2019, which would stop the EPA from recklessly granting waivers to oil refineries and undermining the market for ethanol.

Finnair Flies First Biofuel-Powered Flight From San Francisco To Helsinki

Biofuels International

Aug 6, 2019

Finnish airline Finnair has flown the first biofuel flight supported by its ‘Push for Change’ carbon reducing initiative.

On 5 August, a Finnair flight departing from San Francisco Airport to Helsinki in Finland was fuelled with a 12% biofuel blend. Another flight will depart on 7 August, with the total carbon dioxide emission from the two flights reduced by around 32 tons.

“The launch of our Push for Change initiative was an important step for Finnair in order to provide our customers with the opportunity to conveniently offset or decrease the emissions from their travel,” said Arja Suominen, senior vice-president of communications and corporate responsibility at Finnair. “We have been pleased with the early phases of the initiative so far and we are now excited to move forward and fly our two first biofuel flights supported entirely by the Push for Change contributions. We naturally hope that customers will be increasingly willing and interested in using the service in the future as well.”

The airline is working with partners SkyNRG and World Energy in San Francisco, while Shell Aviation provided logistics and supply chain support for the project. The biofuel is produced from used cooking oil in California.

Read the original story here : Finnair Flies First Biofuel-Powered Flight From San Francisco To Helsinki

Performance Matters

Ethanol Producer Magazine

August 1, 2019

By Evan Almberg

Many ethanol plants are up to 15 years old, or older, and the subject of increasing production, efficiency and profitability is more prevalent than ever. With new, more efficient technologies coming to market for various processes within a biorefinery, the desire to debottleneck older equipment can drive maintenance and capital project decisions.

Producers must decide if they want to budget and plan to maintain, upgrade or scrap and replace with a new unit. When it comes to boilers and heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs), maintenance cost and upgrade opportunities often dictate the conversation.

Tools for Making Data-Driven Decisions
Fully assessing the operation of a boiler or HRSG requires accounting for multiple factors including how a process change will affect related equipment, not just the direct system involved. Process operators and plant engineers can utilize the distributed control system (DCS) to perform on-the-fly performance checks confidently. Combining this with information located in the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) predicted performance data sheets, producers can estimate as-is performance while operating. Additionally, the data historian system provides the ability to trend data over time, providing long-term review capabilities of the boiler.

Where Modeling and Data are Key
While a control room data assessment can give a brief insight of as-is performance, it doesn’t tell the whole story. Boilers are often run differently than originally designed, making a direct comparison to the OEM predicted performance difficult. Additionally, a process change—such as dryer throughput or feedwater temperature—can greatly affect multiple aspects of the system that are not as easily quantified.

A thermal model can provide more accurate insight into the boiler performance and help fully assess the system. Modeling provides a digital representation of the boiler system, taking into consideration the physical geometries of the water and gas-side flow paths, along with OEM predicted performance values used to validate the model.

Taking it one step further, DCS and process information (PI) historian data can be reviewed and matched to the thermal model to provide an as-is representation of operation, ideal for plants that have been operating for multiple years or have changed components. Accurate data is important, so performing mass and energy balances about various sections of the boiler is needed to identify good and bad data, which leads to investigating and correcting miscalibrated instruments or DCS conversion algorithms.

Once developed, the model can be used to track degradation, identify under or overperforming sections of the boiler and simulate upgrade and process changes, as well as provide key insights into pressures, temperatures, flows and how they affect ancillary equipment.

Case Study: Process Upgrade Effects
A facility comprised of two identical firetube waste heat boilers, operating in parallel and sharing a common final steam separator, was investigated for a potential upstream process upgrade being performed elsewhere in the plant. Using HRST’s PerformancePro thermal modeling software, a thermal model was developed based on the OEM thermal and mechanical data sheets. Typical process conditions gathered from the PI data historian were used to replicate the existing boiler operation, creating an as-is representation of the system performance.

The process upgrade parameters were provided by the plant, including values for increased boiler feedwater (BFW) temperature, as well as flue gas temperatures and mass flow rates. Primary areas of concern were the American Society of Mechanical Engineers boiler design pressures and temperatures, stamped boiler capacity, safety relief valve pressure set points and relieving capacity, as well as the final steam separator capacity.

Upon modeling and subsequent analysis, it was determined that multiple shortfalls existed in the system when simulated under the process upgrade conditions, including:

• Metal temperatures exceeding the ASME design temperatures for the upstream tube sheet, tube inlets and, in some cases, the bulk tube temperature.

• Steam generation exceeding the boiler rated capacity and the safety valve relieving capacity.

• Combined (boiler one and two) steam flow exceeding the final steam separator capacity.

Additionally, it was determined that the pressure drop from the boiler to the main steam header would increase on the order of 2.25 times over existing, and the increased flue gas mass flow and temperature would increase the stack temperatures by 40 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit over the current baseline.

Solutions for meeting ASME code would require a capacity and design temperature rerate, whereas the final steam separator would only require upgraded internal equipment to meet capacity requirements. To rerate for higher temperatures, a condition assessment of all tubes and welds would be required to validate the component thickness for ASME code calculations. Plant personnel said abrasive particulates in the flow eroded tube inlets, causing plugging.

While a steam capacity rerate would be advantageous, discussion with plant personnel determined that the scope required to validate all tube and pressure part thicknesses would be costly and, because of the failure history, may only indicate that a temperature rerate would not be possible.

Because of those factors and the age of the boilers, the plant opted to continue use under existing conditions for the short term. Ultimately, the decision was made to replace each of the boilers with newer, higher-capacity units specifically designed for the upgrade parameters, with results of the thermal modeling assessment used as justification.?

Key Takeaways
When it comes to making long-term decisions about boiler operation or replacement, historical operating data trends and future operating conditions can provide helpful insight and, when combined with system modeling, create a useful tool to analyze the boiler as well as ancillary equipment.

Approaches such as this can help operators and plant management make data-driven decisions when facing the choices to maintain, upgrade or replace.

Author: Evan Almberg
Analysis Engineer
HRST Inc.
952.767.8154
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Read the original article: Performance Matters

New York Publishes Proposed Rule to Allow E15 Sales

Ethanol Producer Magazine

July 24, 2019

By Erin Voegele

The New York Department of Agriculture and Markets published a proposed rule July 24 to allow E15 sales within the state. The move will soon open the nation’s fourth largest gasoline market to sales of the fuel blend.

The rulemaking comes nearly a nine years after the U.S. EPA first issued a waiver allowing E15 to be used as fuel in certain vehicles and less than two months after the agency took action to allow E15 to be sold year-round. E15 can currently be used to fuel model year 2001 and newer vehicles.

The rulemaking marks the second effort New York has made to allow sales of E15. A proposed rule issued by the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets in August 2016 was withdrawn the following month. In a notice posted to the New York State Register Sept. 21, 2016, the department said the proposed rule was withdrawn because “several objections were received to the express terms of the proposed rule.”

The new proposed rule published by the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets aims to update the state’s fuel regulations to allow the sale of E15. A 60-day public comment period on the proposal opened July 24.

Chris Bliley, vice president of regulatory affairs at Growth Energy, has expressed confidence that the rulemaking could be finalized by the end of the year.

According to Bliley, Growth Energy has been engaged in the process to open the New York market to E15 for the past five years, working with government agencies, local consultants and New York-based ethanol producer Western New York Energy.

“We’ve had lots of good discussions with the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets,” Bliley said, noting the department held stakeholder meetings earlier this year that Growth Energy participated in. The trade group has also had discussions with other state agencies that had questions and wanted to better understand ethanol and E15, he said.

“It’s been a really long effort, but we are certainly pleased to see [the state] move forward with the proposed rulemaking, and now look forward to its adoption,” Bliley continued.

Bliley said the proposed rulemaking sends a strong signal to New York fuel retailers that they will soon be able to sell E15. The state represents the nation’s fourth largest gasoline market, with annual consumption of approximately 5.7 billion gallons of gasoline, he said. For E10, that volume of gasoline consumption translates into approximately 570 million gallons of ethanol demand. Bliley said that if the whole state moved to E15, that would represent demand for about another 285 million gallons of ethanol, roughly equivalent to 100 million bushels of additional corn.

While other states in the Northeast don’t have the same outright restrictions on E15 that New York does, New York’s action to allow E15 sales could help increase demand for the fuel within the region. “What we’ve certain in other states and locations is that once you have one or two marketers installing the fuel, it certainly puts competitive pressure on others in the area to start offering it as well,” Bliley said.

Moving forward, Bliley said Growth Energy will be filing comments in support of the proposed rule. “I know others will be weighing in with strong support as well,” he said, stressing that New York’s action to allow the fuel is exciting for Growth Energy.

A full copy of the proposed rule is available on New York State Register website.

Read the original article: New York Publishes Proposed Rule to Allow E15 Sales

Year-Round E15 Highlighted in MN Biofuels’ Mid-Year Report

Ethanol Producer Magazine

July 25, 2019

By Matt Thompson

The Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association’s (MN Biofuels) 2019 First-Half Report was released to its members July 17, and the report highlights the organization’s push to grow the use of E15 in Minnesota, and the impacts the one-pound RVP waiver for the fuel has had on the state.

In a release, Tim Rudnicki, executive director of MN Biofuels said, “This year, as of May 31, E15 sales in Minnesota have hit 29.26 million gallons and with E15 now available throughout the summer, we have launched several promotional campaigns aimed at further increasing E15 consumption this year. Moreover, with E15 now available year-round, there will be new opportunities to increase the number of fuel retailers who offer E15 in Minnesota.” According to the report E15 is currently offered at 352 retail locations in Minnesota. Rudnicki added that Minnesota needs 660 stations offering the blend to make it drivers’ go-to fuel.

“With the RVP ban lifted, E15 can finally take off,” Rudnicki said. “But for that to happen, we have to continue to educate and engage with consumers on the benefits of using E15 and get more retailers onboard.”

And more retailers have started to jump onboard, Rudnicki said. “Since the ban was lifted, interest in E15 among independent retailers, especially those with multiple stations, have certainly increased. It was previously very difficult to convince some stations to take on a product they could only sell for 8.5 months a year,” he said.

In addition to focusing on E15 growth, the report highlights other initiatives undertaken during the first six months of the year. In terms of policy and advocacy, MN Biofuels worked with members of the state legislature and the governor’s office to expand the biofuel infrastructure partnership program. “While we made great strides in creating awareness about the need to increase the availability of E15 in Minnesota, funding for the initiative was constrained by lawmakers’ budget targets,” the report says. “Nonetheless, we will continue to work with agency heads and the governor to identify discretionary funds for this initiative.”

Rudnicki said MN Biofuels has data and evidence “that indicates a second BIP program could be one of the most cost-effective methods to boost E15 on the supply side. At the same time, organizations like MN Biofuels will continue to educate and promote E15 to consumers to boost demand. That's good for the farmer, economy, consumer and the environment,” Rudnicki said.

Looking ahead, the report says MN Biofuels plans to research proposals for a low carbon fuel standard. “Some environmental and biofuel stakeholders have already attempted to draft a model standard; however, a preliminary assessment indicates a host of questions about its effectiveness and implications for the ethanol industry in Minnesota have yet to be addressed,” the report says.

“There are a number of questions we have about proposed models and whether they actually recognize the evolving reality such as the growing number of hybrid vehicles and the role of mid-level blends of ethanol in helping to boost engine performance and cut greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector,” Rudnicki added.

Read the original article: Year-Round E15 Highlighted in MN Biofuels’ Mid-Year Report

Energy Department Says EPA Issued RFS Exemptions Against DOE Advice

Senator Chuck Grassley

July 23 2019

Press Release

Contrary to assertions by the EPA, the Energy Department confirmed in a letter to Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) that the EPA has issued so-called “economic hardship” exemptions under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) to small refineries, often owned by billion-dollar oil companies, even when the Energy Department found that the refineries faced little or no actual “hardship.”

In a response to an April 10 letter from Grassley, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry outlined the role of the Energy Department in the issuance of these waivers and indicated EPA has on at least one occasion issued an exemption when the department recommended no exemption and has ignored recommendations to grant only partial exemptions in other cases. Perry also indicated that the department has not changed how these analyses are applied or scored from the prior administration. Full text of Perry’s letter to Grassley is available HERE.

The number of small refinery waivers issued by EPA has skyrocketed the last two years.

In his April letter, Grassley specifically sought clarity on whether the Energy Department had changed its criteria or methodology of how it makes recommendations to EPA for small refinery exemptions. He also requested information about how many instances EPA granted the exemptions without recommendation from the department.

“This confirms what we’ve suspected and has been reported by news media,” Grassley said. “President Trump delivered on E15, but EPA has been undermining the president’s commitment to Iowa, the Midwest and rural America. I hope the White House puts an end to these handouts to Big Oil that hurt American farmers.”

Grassley is a leader in the fight to maintain a strong Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). He led efforts to put pressure on the EPA to stop issuing “hardship waivers” to large, highly profitable oil companies as well as make the waiver process more transparent and highlight the importance of the RFS to President Trump and his administration.

Read the original press release: Energy Department Says EPA Issued RFS Exemptions Against DOE Advice

Report Shows Optimism for Fuel Ethanol Use in Korea

Ethanol Producer Magazine

July 18, 2019

By Matt Thompson

A recently released report from the USDA Foreign Agricultural Services Global Agricultural Information Network says South Korea may soon revise its regulations to allow the use of ethanol-blended fuel. The report follows the 2019 Seoul Fuel Ethanol Conference, hosted by the U.S. Embassy Seoul’s Office of Agricultural Affairs, the U.S. Grains Council and the Korea Biofuels Forum.

“Despite acknowledged air quality issues in urban centers, Korea does not currently allow the use of ethanol as a transportation fuel,” the report says. “With growing public concern about air quality issue in the transportation sector, the growing use of ethanol in transportation fuel in neighboring countries, and Korea’s interest in diversifying energy sources, FAS Seoul is optimistic that Korea will soon move towards approval for some ethanol use in fuel.”

According to the report, the South Korean government recently studied the feasibility of using ethanol-blended fuels in its transport sector. The feasibility study is currently under review by the ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy “which will finalize a recommendation on whether to permit ethanol fuel blends in the near future,” the report says.

The conference, which was held at the end of April, included presentations from representatives of the U.S. Grains Council and Flint Hills Resources, as well as a panel discussion titled “The Necessity of Korea’s Fuel Ethanol Policy and Future Roadmap.” The 2019 conference was the largest since its inception four years ago.

Following the conference, a release from the U.S. Grains Council noted that South Korea imported over 56 million gallons of U.S. ethanol between September 2018 and February 2019. That ethanol is used only in the country’s beverage and industrial sectors; however, the Grains Council is also hopeful the transport sector will provide further export opportunities for U.S. ethanol.

Read FAS Seoul’s Wrap-Up Report for the 2019 Seoul Fuel Ethanol Conference here.

Read the original article: Report Shows Optimism for Fuel Ethanol Use in Korea

New University and Government Reports Set the Record Straight on Ethanol’s GHG Benefits

Renewable Fuels Association

July 19, 2019

By Ken Colombini

Two new academic studies released this week provide further evidence that grain-based ethanol is significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and call into question the reliability of recent “land use change” analyses based on flawed satellite imagery-based methodologies.

These studies add to a large body of existing literature that debunks falsities spread by well-funded opponents about the role ethanol plays in protecting the environment.

According to the Renewable Fuels Association, this new research will allow policymakers and regulators to focus on the fact that corn farmers and ethanol producers alike are making great strides forward in sustainability and efficiency.

“As the Environmental Protection Agency considers the GHG impacts of expanded ethanol consumption under the Renewable Fuel Standard, we urge them to strongly consider the latest science and data regarding ethanol’s tremendous carbon benefits,” said RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “At the same time, we implore EPA to exercise great caution and prudence when considering the results of flawed land use change studies reliant on data from satellites that, frankly, can’t tell the difference between a pasture and a parking lot. The land use research relied upon by EPA for its Second Triennial Report to Congress was so flawed and erroneous that it simply cannot be used for regulatory decision-making, and we urge EPA not to make the same mistake as it considers future regulatory actions on the RFS.”

The first new study, conducted by the Laboratory for Applied Spatial Analysis at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE-LASA), exposes fundamental flaws in satellite imagery-based research regarding land use change that was quoted in the EPA’s Second Triennial Report, released in 2018. SIUE-LASA’s review of the data sets and methodologies that were used in the prior research revealed some remarkable errors.

A series of papers by Tyler Lark, Holly Gibbs and Christopher Wright relied heavily on use of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cropland Data Layer (CDL), which assigns land type categories using satellite imagery. Their research suggests there has been conversion of grassland and other “native” lands to cropland since the Renewable Fuel Standard was established. However, the CDL has shortcomings that render it poorly suited for this type of analysis, notably the inability to differentiate between grassland types (native prairie, Conservation Reserve Program, grass hay, grass pasture and fallow/idle grasslands), a problem USDA itself has recognized.

In one egregious example where the CDL failed, a body of water was misclassified as deciduous forest and grass pasture. Click here for the image example. This example is symptomatic of the errors associated with the CDL, underscoring why the research based on this data should not be used for regulatory decision-making.

Additionally, the research by Lark, Gibbs, and Wright (much of which was funded by the National Wildlife Federation) is prone to reflecting “false change,” in which a higher share of actual cropland is recognized in the newer, more-accurate CDL versions than in older, less-accurate versions, thus giving the appearance that cropland expanded.

For example, SIUE-LASA examined conditions in Iowa, since it is a leading producer of corn and ethanol and previous research asserted Iowa was an area with significant land use change. Using data from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, SIUE showed that from 2008 to 2012 in Iowa there was a net increase of only 38,000 acres of cropland as opposed to 263,468 acres and 295,100 acres claimed in two satellite data-driven papers cited by the EPA in its 2018 report.

The land use research (“Critical Review of Supporting Literature on Land Use Change in the EPA’s Second Triennial Report to Congress”) was conducted for Renewable Fuels Association by Joshua Pritsolas and Dr. Randall Pearson of SIUE-LASA. In summary, the authors found “…there are major concerns regarding both the data and the methods that were used by the researchers [Lark, Gibbs, Wright], which call their findings into question.”

Click here for the full report.

The second new study, a worldwide meta-analysis funded in part by the Department of Energy and USDA, determined that corn residue (“stover”) retained on fields—which is the common practice—results in the sequestration of approximately 0.41 metric ton of carbon per hectare per year in the soil. This implies not only that the carbon intensity of corn-based ethanol is significantly below current estimates by EPA, the California Air Resources Board, and others, but also that leaving more residue on the field can have a larger carbon benefit than significant removal and conversion of the residue into ethanol.

Based on this research, properly accounting for the soil carbon sequestration benefits of corn production would reduce the existing lifecycle “carbon intensity score” of corn ethanol by some 20-25 percent, meaning most dry mill corn ethanol produced today would result in a 50-65 percent GHG savings compared to gasoline.

The soil carbon sequestration research was conducted by a team of environmental and soil scientists from the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, South Dakota State University and the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. They used 409 data points from 74 stover harvest experiments conducted around the world. The paper, titled “A global meta-analysis of soil organic carbon response to corn stover removal,” was recently published in GCB Bioenergy, an international journal. Click here to read it.

Read the orginal article: New University and Government Reports Set the Record Straight on Ethanol’s GHG Benefits

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IRENA: Bioenergy Employed 3.18 Million People Globally in 2018

Ethanol Producer Magazine

July 10, 2019

By Erin Voegele

The International Renewable Energy Association recently released the sixth edition of it Renewable Energy and Jobs report, announcing the renewable energy sector employed at least 11 million people last year, directly and indirectly. The solar photovoltaics, bioenergy, hydro, and wind power industries were the biggest employers.

Bioenergy, which includes liquid biofuels, solid biomass and biogas, employed approximately 3.18 million people last year, up from 3.06 million in 2017 and 2.74 million in 2016.

Approximately 2.063 million people were employed by the liquid biofuels industry in 2018, with 787,000 employed in solid biomass and 334,000 employed in biogas.

According to IRENA, worldwide biofuels employment is estimated at 2 million, up 6 percent from 2017. Many of the jobs in the sector are generated in planting and harvesting of feedstock. Fuel-processing facilities tend to offer fewer jobs than feedstock supply. However, those jobs typically required higher technical skills and offer better pay.

With 832,000 jobs, Brazil has the world’s largest workforce in liquid biofuels. In the U.S., record production in 2018 drove up liquid biofuels employment to 311,000 jobs. Biofuel employment in the EU reached approximately 208,000 jobs in 2017, which is the most recent year for which data is available. Brazil, the U.S. Indonesia, Columbia and Thailand are the top five countries for employment in liquid biofuels.

Heat and electricity derived from solid biomass accounted for approximately 387,000 jobs in the EU in 2017. There were approximately 186,000 jobs attributed to solid biomass in China, with 79,000 in the U.S. and 58,000 in India.

For biogas, approximately 145,000 of the estimated 334,000 jobs were in China, with 85,000 in India, 67,000 in the EU and 7,000 in the U.S.

A full copy of the report can be downloaded from the IRENA website.

Read the original article: IRENA: Bioenergy Employed 3.18 Million People Globally in 2018

Delta’s First Carbon Neutral Flight Powered by Air BP-Supplied Biofuel

Biofuels International

July 15, 2019

US airline Delta has flown its first carbon-neutral delivery flight, using biofuels and carbon offsets, as the airline continues towards its goal of a 50% carbon emission reduction by 2050.

Delta has teamed up with biofuel supplier Air BP for the provision of biofuels for an initial 20 delivery flights from the Airbus final assembly line in Mobile, Alabama, US.

The Airbus aircraft are manufactured and refined using sustainable sources and processes, the airline added.

“Today’s carbon-neutral delivery flight is a milestone on Delta’s sustainability journey as we work to cut carbon emissions in half by 2050,” said Alison Lathrop, Delta’s managing director – global environment, sustainability and compliance. “We are excited to partner with Air BP and Airbus to power these delivery flights with biofuels and carbon offsets, and will explore opportunities to bring this level of sustainability to all delivery flights going forward.”

Delta has reduced its consumption of traditional jet fuel since 2005, resulting in an 11% decrease in emissions.

The airline was the first and only US airline to voluntarily cap carbon emissions at 2012 levels by purchasing carbon offsets ahead of the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s CORSIA implementation, which caps international emissions from aviation at 2019/2020 levels.

“Airbus is committed to being part of the solution for meeting aviation’s global CO₂ emissions reduction targets,” added Simone Rauer, head of aircraft operations for environmental affairs at Airbus. “Contributing to a lasting decrease of our industry’s carbon footprint is key to ensuring a sustainable future for aviation.”

“We are proud to help Delta achieve its sustainability goals for the maiden voyages of their new Airbus aircraft,” said Jon Platt, CEO of Air BP. “Air BP is supplying sustainable aviation fuel, produced by Neste, for 20 delivery flights, and through the BP Target Neutral program we are offsetting the residual carbon emissions of each delivery flight. This is another example of BP’s commitment to advancing the energy transition and helping our customers meet their lower carbon goals. We hope this project inspires others to follow suit.”

Read the original article: Delta’s First Carbon Neutral Flight Powered by Air BP-Supplied Biofuel

Phibro Ethanol Performance Group Announces Innovative New Portfolio of Yeast Products for the Ethanol Industry

Phibro Ethanol Performance Group

Press Release

July 10, 2019

Phibro Animal Health Corporation’s Ethanol Performance Group has again expanded their portfolio of customer solutions by unveiling new yeast products to address the needs of a changing market.

“Ethanol production is a very efficient industry. The technology keeps improving and lately yeast has been driving those improvements,” said Michael Giambalvo, President, Phibro Ethanol Performance Group. “We understand fermentation, preventing and managing plant infections and the key role of yeast in biofuel production. Yeast has been at the core of Phibro’s businesses for decades.”

A longtime industry leader in antimicrobials, Phibro Ethanol Performance Group provides solutions for ethanol producers based on its core competencies of fermentation, infection management and co-products for animal feed. Products include processing aids, cleaning aids, corn oil recovery and now its proprietary yeast products. PhibroADY™ and FortiPhi™ yeast products represent the latest product offerings by Phibro Ethanol Performance Group.

PhibroADY was developed for ethanol production, using a specially selected Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain. PhibroADY demonstrates robust performance across a wide range of operating conditions. With high temperature tolerance, organic acid tolerance, and high gravity substrate tolerance, this yeast has an efficient performance characteristic allowing for higher ethanol production. PhibroADY has a fast fermentation kinetic and also demonstrates superior longevity, remaining viable late in fermentation.

FortiPhi, a specialized nutritional supplement for industrial yeast, is specifically designed for grain mash fermentations producing ethanol. FortiPhi contains premium organic and inorganic compounds intentionally chosen to help improve the fermentability of standard grain mashes. The inclusion of inactivated yeast culture, vitamins and essential minerals provide a balanced supplement to help support yeast growth and metabolism.

“In recent years, the market has shifted. Ethanol producers are more interested in GMO technologies because of the multiple benefits they provide. Producers have recognized the value in yeast that will express enzymes and contribute to higher yields,” said Jenny Forbes, Vice President, Products and Services, Phibro Ethanol Performance Group. Phibro is responding to this market need with an entirely new higher performance yeast due out later this year. Initial tests have proven promising for Phibro’s next generation genetically engineered yeast product that is under development. This next-gen yeast will enhance yeast robustness and performance, while reducing processing costs such as enzymes.

“We have been a leader in the ethanol production industry for many years, and we’ve been very fortunate to be able to grow with our customers,” said Giambalvo. “This is just the natural progression in providing more solutions to meet the needs of our customers. Phibro’s innovations in yeast will help the industry achieve higher productivity, higher efficiency and process optimization. If you’re not innovating, you fall behind.”

For more information on Phibro Ethanol Performance Group and the full suite of products, please visit EthanolPerformanceGroup.com.

Toyota’s Brazilian Corolla Will Run on Pretty Much Whatever You Want

Bloomberg

July 9, 2019

By Sabrina Valle

For 22 years, Toyota Motor Corp. has made hybrid cars that don’t require drivers to choose between running on gas or electricity. In October it will add a third option: ethanol.

The Japanese manufacturer will package its ultrapragmatic drivetrain in an all-new Corolla sedan that will be bolted together at its plant in Sao Paulo. Toyota is billing the vehicle as the cleanest hybrid ever made.

Ethanol has long been a popular fuel in Brazil, where it’s brewed fairly efficiently from fast-growing sugar cane. Because the plants process CO? as they grow, ethanol is considered a renewable fuel; burning a gallon of it releases only 10% to 20% as much carbon as burning a gallon of traditional gas, according to Unica, a sugar association.

“The goal is to make a car with zero carbon emission; that’s the industry’s race,” said Ricardo Bastos, Toyota’s head of government relations in Brazil. “With ethanol, we’re closer if you consider the whole cycle, well to wheel.”

The chimera car could prove to be a useful stopgap in an industry slowly transitioning to vehicles that exclusively plug in and run on batteries, particularly in countries committed to ethanol. Brazil has supported the fuel as a green alternative since the 1970s, and as a result it’s now available at all 40,000 of the country’s gas stations. Ethanol in Brazil is often cheaper than conventional fuel, depending on the price of sugar at any particular moment.

Electrified vehicles have made little headway in Brazil, in part because of anemic charging infrastructure and taxes of up to 120% on imports such as the Toyota Prius. Of the country’s 44 million cars and trucks, only 11,000 or so were electric as of the end of 2018.

These days, however, almost all new cars in Brazil can burn ethanol or gasoline. Last month, Brazilian policymakers further primed that market for the new Toyota, making tax concessions that will lower the price of hybrid vehicles by as much as 3% for cab drivers and fleet companies. With that sweetener, a hybrid electric vehicle that also burns ethanol could make up 10% of the fleet by 2025, according to some estimates.

Such a machine may also catch on abroad. Starting next year, Toyota plans to export its new ethanol-enabled Corolla to Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. “Any country which already uses ethanol or wants to increase the usage of hybrids is a target,” Bastos said. “If Europe wants it, we have the technology ready.”

In the U.S. nearly all fuel contains a small amount of ethanol, typically up to 15%, according to a federal renewable fuel mandate last updated in 2007. A traditional internal combustion engine can be damaged by more concentrated ethanol, and it’s still tough to find a more refined version. Only 3,400 stations sell a blend of as much as 85% ethanol for purpose-built flex-fuel vehicles, and most of them are clustered in the country’s Corn Belt.

Meanwhile, ethanol has fueled a long-simmering debate. Scientists point out that it’s not as clean as it’s been made out to be, considering the energy required to grow the plants ethanol is derived from and to refine the end product. What’s more, ethanol typically emits more smog than conventional gas and produces fewer miles per gallon.

The hybrid Corolla will be able to run on any of the three fuels or two at the same time. Toyota will make the car with engines from Japan at its Sao Paulo plant, a factory that can churn out as many as 70,000 vehicles a year. The automaker has yet to release pricing or mileage-efficiency estimates for the car.

Read the original article: Toyota’s Brazilian Corolla Will Run on Pretty Much Whatever You Want

U.S. EPA Proposes Hike in 2020 Biofuel Mandate But Waiver Volumes Draw Ire

Reuters

July 5, 2019

By Humeyra Pamuk

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday proposed refiners increase the volume of biofuels blended into their annual fuel output but did not reallocate the waived amounts under the hardship program, drawing ire from powerful corn and biofuel groups as well as Republican senators.

The EPA is charged with setting biofuel blending requirements for the refining industry as part of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), a more than decade-old regulation that is aimed at helping farmers and reducing U.S. dependence on oil. It also provides waivers to small refining facilities that can prove compliance would cause them financial harm.

RFS and the waiver program, known as the Small Refinery Exemption (SRE) program, have increasingly been at the forefront of a heated political debate between the influential corn and oil lobbies, leaving President Donald Trump struggling to find a balancing act between the two important constituencies as he eyes re-election next year.

The issue has also gained more importance with many 2020 Presidential hopefuls looking to secure support in key states such as Iowa, a major ethanol producing state.

Since Trump took office, the EPA has more than quadrupled the number of waivers it has granted, saving the oil industry hundreds of millions of dollars but enraging another key constituency - corn growers - who claim the move threatens demand for their products.

EPA on Friday said it has proposed increasing the volume of biofuels refiners must blend into their fuel annually to 20.04 billion gallons in 2020, up from 19.92 billion gallons in 2019. The proposed mandate included 15 billion gallons of conventional biofuels like ethanol, unchanged from 2019.

Reuters reported the proposed volumes ahead of the announcement in May, citing industry sources.

The EPA also proposed holding the biodiesel mandate at 2.43 billion gallons for 2021, unchanged from 2020. The agency sets biodiesel mandates a year in advance. Corn and ethanol producers have long urged the EPA to lift the figures to make up for the volumes waived under the small refinery hardship program.

The lack of it infuriated biofuel groups and Republican senators from corn state Iowa. “It’s unacceptable that EPA would set biofuel volumes below demand at a time when farmers, biofuels producers and agribusiness owners are forced to shed jobs and close plants,” influential Senator Chuck Grassley said.

“I urge President Trump to compel EPA to reverse course and keep his word to the forgotten Americans who have faithfully stood with him.”

American farmers have been among the most affected by Trump’s trade war with China, which once was a top export market for U.S. agricultural products - although the rural heartland has mostly remained loyal to him.

“EPA appears to be selling out to oil refiners — again — at the expense of rural America,” said Geoff Cooper, president and chief executive of the Renewable Fuels Association.

“Until the EPA reigns in the abuse of SREs (small refinery exemptions) and reallocates what has already been lost, billions of gallons of biofuel demand will be destroyed each year as SREs explode around our industry like fireworks above the Washington Monument on the 4th of July,” said Executive Director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association Monte Shaw.

Trump has also been increasingly annoyed with the waiver program, sources told Reuters, and ordered a review of it, after hearing from angry farmers during his Midwest tour last month.

The proposed mandate also includes 5.04 billion gallons of advanced biofuels, like those made from agricultural wastes, up from 4.92 billion in 2019. As part of the advanced biofuel proposal, the agency set mandates for cellulosic fuel at 540 million gallons.

The deadline for EPA to issue the final rule on blending requirements is Nov. 30.

Read the original article: U.S. EPA Proposes Hike in 2020 Biofuel Mandate But Waiver Volumes Draw Ire

Grassley Statement on New Threats to RFS

Senator Chuck Grassley

July 1, 2019

Press Release

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today released the following statement in response to recent media reports on new threats to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

“For years, Big Oil and its advocates on and off Capitol Hill have worked hard to undermine the RFS and dole out ‘hardship’ waivers to oil companies without regard to actual need. Hardship waivers should be the exception, not the rule, and they have been abused for far too long.

“President Trump has promised time and again to farmers and agribusinesses in Iowa and throughout Rural America to uphold the integrity of the RFS and follow the law as it’s written. I’ve been encouraged by the commitments made by President Trump regarding ethanol and the RFS, and am confident that he will continue to keep his promises.

“I would expect that the Environmental Protection Agency, with input from USDA, and any other legitimate source, will honor President Trump’s commitment to follow the law.”

Grassley is a leader in the fight to maintain a strong Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). He led efforts to put pressure on the EPA to stop issuing “hardship waivers” to obligated refiners as well as make the waiver process more transparent. Grassley has also worked to highlight the importance of the RFS to President Trump and his administration.

Read the original press release: Grassley Statement on New Threats to RFS

Report: E10 Could Save UK Drivers £100 Million In 2020

Ethanol Producer Magazine

June 19, 2019

By Erin Voegele

A reported released June 11 by the All Party Parliamentary Group for British Bioethanol found that the immediate introduction of E10 in the U.K. market could save drivers approximately £100 million ($126.44 million) in 2020.

The report explains that the All Party Parliamentary Group on Bioethanol launched an inquiry into the introduction of E10 in the U.K. in March. The interim report released June 11 brings the first stage of that inquiry to a close.

According to the report, without the swift introduction of E10, the U.K. economy could lose its £1 billion ethanol industry, resulting in the loss of thousands of jobs. The loss of the British ethanol industry would also impact the country’s ability to attract additional investments for next-generation biofuels and enhanced animal feed coproducts. In addition, the loss of the U.K.’s ethanol industry would cause increased dependence on foreign sources of biofuel. Farmers would also be impacted through the loss of markets for surplus crops and the availability of ethanol coproducts used for feed.

The report stresses the introduction of E10 would assist the U.K. in achieve its greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets, noting the use of ethanol is low-cost in comparison to other options. The U.K.’s GHG reduction requirement for 2019 is currently set at 4 percent for 2019, and is set to increase to 6 percent in 2020. The group said introducing E10 could reduce the impact of that increase, which is most likely to be passed down to drivers as an increase in fuel prices. The report predicts E10 could save consumers £100 million in fuel costs. The use of E10 and higher blends of ethanol would also improve air quality.

Within the report, the group calls on the U.K. Department of Transport to publish its response to its own consultation on E10 without further delay. That consultation closed in September 2018.

The group also calls on the Secretary of State for Transport to host an emergency summit on the future of the British ethanol industry, bringing together all relevant stakeholders before the summer parliamentary recess. “This is needed in order to quickly agree the most efficient, transparent and cost effective way E10 could be introduced in the U.K. by 2020 to safeguard this industry, realize the many economic and environmental benefits it would deliver, and avoid potentially adding millions of pounds to motorist’s fuel bills,” the group said in the report.

The U.K. Renewable Energy Association released a statement welcoming the report’s findings. “E10 has a crucial role to play in the decarbonization of U.K. transport and with the correct policy support from government, could save motorists £100 million in its first year of implementation,” said Nina Skorupska, chief executive of the REA. “The electrification of passenger vehicles is gaining momentum and whilst supply chains develop and costs reduce, E10 is essential in offering cost-effective and immediate GHG savings.

“Whether meeting our legally binding climate targets or realizing the more ambitious targets of net-zero GHG by 2050, we need to utilize all technologies available and the complimentary deployment of biofuels and electrification is a perfect example of the forward thinking needed to achieve this,” Skorupska continued.

A full copy of the interim report can be downloaded from the APPG for British Bioethanol website.

Read the original article: Report: E10 Could Save UK Drivers £100 Million In 2020

Senators Ask EPA to Update Ethanol Science to Improve Trade

Ethanol Producer Magazine

June 25, 2019

By Erin Voegele

A bipartisan group of 11 senators led by Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., sent a letter to U.S. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler June 25 urging the agency to update an outdated environmental analysis on ethanol in order to improve foreign sales opportunities.

The letter references a report released by the USDA’s Office of Chief Economist in April that found greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from corn ethanol are 39 percent lower than gasoline vehicle fuel, and perhaps as much as 43 percent lower, depending on the refining technology.

“This summarized report is based on a 2017 USDA comprehensive analysis that highlights the significant reductions in emissions that have come from innovations in feedstock production as well as refining processes,” the senators wore. “It raises the question as to why the [U.S. EPA] still has not revised its assessment for corn ethanol since 2010, which only shows about a 20 percent reduction for conventional, starch-based ethanol.”

In the letter, the senators “request that EPA publicly announce its intent to review and incorporate the latest GREET modeling into an updated life cycle assessment for corn ethanol and to announce a timeline by which this will be completed.”

The senators note that the change “need not require further delay or arduous analysis” as it “is only a matter of EPA formally adopting these changes.”

If there are valid reasons the change cannot be done in a timely fashion, the senators ask that the agency remove obsolete information from its website and replace it in the interim with the USDA’s analysis.

According to the senators, the U.S. Department of Energy developed the GREET model nearly 30 years ago to measure the GHG emissions of vehicle fuels. The updated model is now used by more than 30,000 professional organizations worldwide, including the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Ford, General Motors, BP and PetroChina. EPA, however, does not currently use the updated model.

“Meanwhile, the EPA stands alone in its decade-old calculation having major implications for opening up new global markets for ethanol,” the senators wrote. “For example, until recently, Japan, which imports 99 percent of its ethanol, met those needs with Brazilian production based on Brazil’s low carbon intensity and their belief that U.S. corn ethanol did not meet their criteria for carbon intensity relative to gasoline. Not until a great effort was expended by the U.S. Grains Council in Japan to overcome the conflicting information generated by the outdated EPA model was the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry…persuaded that the latest science verifies U.S. ethanol is suitable for addressing Japan’s GHG reduction goals—creating new market opportunities for our farmers.”

The letter stresses the Brazil example is not an isolated case. While ethanol has been the fastest growing agricultural export during the past five years, the senators said the EPA’s old ethanol science is thwarting its advancements. Other nations look to EPA for technical information regarding GHG emissions on U.S. corn ethanol, wrote the senators.

“In the March 26, 2010, preamble to Renewable Fuel Standard implementing regulation, EPA committed to updating the GHG assessment for ethanol, affirmed that the science evolves, and pledged to incorporate the updated into formation into a new assessment,” the senators wrote. “The time has arrived to complete this responsibility.”

“We assert that there is little justification for EPA to maintain such an outdated calculation that otherwise could be easily corrected with existing, available analysis—and straightforwardly address an unnecessary obstacle to trade,” the continued.

In addition to Grassley and Durbin, the letter is signed by Sens. Joni Earnst, R-Iowa; Tina Smith, D-Minn.; John Thune, R-S.D.; Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc.; Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.; Deb Fischer, R-Neb.; and Josh Hawley, R-Mo.

The American Coalition for Ethanol has spoken out to applaud the letter. “ACE extends our gratitude to Senators Durbin and Grassley for leading this bipartisan effort to hold EPA accountable on this important issue. Unlike the Argonne GREET model, EPA has not reviewed or updated their original 2010 corn ethanol greenhouse gas (GHG) assessments,” said Brian Jennings, CEO of ACE. “Current data from the GREET model indicate that corn ethanol’s carbon intensity is almost 50 percent less than petroleum gasoline providing significantly more GHG reduction benefits than when the RFS was enacted a decade ago. Last year, ACE published “The Case for Properly Valuing the Low Carbon Benefits of Corn Ethanol” recommending, as is stated in the Senators’ letter today, that EPA refer to the latest U.S. Department of Energy GREET model for life cycle analysis of corn ethanol.

“Given the all hands-on deck nature of the climate change problem, agricultural and biofuel stakeholders continue to believe that governmental policies need to properly acknowledge the role that agriculture and biofuel can play in providing near-term solutions to offsetting U.S. GHG emissions,” he continued. “One of the most direct ways to capitalize on agriculture’s ability to mitigate GHG emissions is to properly acknowledge the role U.S. farmers and ethanol producers are playing to dramatically reduce life cycle GHG emissions from corn ethanol by improving efficiencies, investing in technologies, and adopting sustainable agricultural practices.

“U.S. farmers are under tremendous financial stress from collapsing net farm income, rising expenses, ongoing trade tensions, weather-related disasters, and the undermining of the [RFS] with demand destroying small refinery waivers,” Jennings said. “Updating EPA’s decade-old modeling would be a step in the right direction to underpin the scientific and economic opportunity for ethanol use to increase via low carbon fuel markets.”

A full copy of the letter can be downloaded from Durbin’s website.

Read the original article: Senators Ask EPA to Update Ethanol Science to Improve Trade

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