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Ethanol Producer Magazine

May 10, 2019

By Erin Voegele

The USDA Foreign Agriculture Service released updated export data on May 9 reporting that the U.S. exported approximately 140 million gallons of ethanol in March, along with 956,828 tons of distillers grains.

The 140 million gallons of ethanol exported in March was up from 113.82 million gallons exported in February, but down when compared to the 215.06 million gallons exported during March 2018.

U.S. ethanol was exported to approximately three dozen countries in March. Brazil was the largest importer of U.S. ethanol in March, with 65.66 million gallons, followed by Canada with 22.66 million gallons and India with 10.34 million gallons.

The 956,828 tons of distillers grains exported in March was up when compared to the 686,005 tons exported in February, and up when compared to the 905,558 tons exported in March 2018.

The U.S. exported distillers grains to approximately 38 countries in March. Turkey was the top importer of U.S. distillers grains for the month, with 162,660 tons, followed by Mexico with 128,712 tons and South Korea with 128,333 tons.

Additional data is available on the USDA FAS website

Read the original article: USDA: March Ethanol, DDGS Exports Up from Prior Month

Ethanol Producer Magazine

By Mallorie Wilken

May 10, 2019

Protein is in high demand worldwide. As the demand increases alongside a growing middle class, meeting it will require greater availability of feed protein products for the meat animals we consume.

Traditionally, one cheap source of protein has been distillers grains used in feeding swine, poultry, and dairy and beef cattle. Research has also shown opportunities in feeding it to fish and other aquatic species. Distillers grains’ versatility has increased its global demand for feeding meat animals.

At the same time protein demand is growing, the ethanol industry is maturing and looking for ways to add multiple revenue streams. Diversification is necessary and crucial for plants to remain profitable in this seasoned market.

Concentrated protein distillers grains will be one of the feed products aiding plants in developing new income streams while continuing to provide feed for animals to fulfill global meat consumption. Because each meat animal species has differing nutritional requirements for optimal performance, formulations incorporate feed commodities in various proportions to meet those requirements. While corn has traditionally been the primary commodity to add energy to a diet for swine, poultry and cattle, soybean meal has often been the supplier of protein because it has a more appropriate amino acid profile to meet dietary needs of swine and poultry than corn does.

More recently, distillers grains have been able to replace most of the protein supplement in cattle diets, but this corn protein isn’t as high in lysine content or as balanced in amino acids as soybean meal, and thus cannot make a similar replacement in swine or poultry diets.

High-protein distillers feed products are capable of supplying a larger amount of protein at a lower inclusion level compared to traditional distillers grains. However, it is still corn protein and the ratio of lysine to leucine remains 3:1, compared to 1:1 in soybean meal, which needs to be taken into account. High-protein distillers grains have the potential to replace portions of soybean meal to make the diet more cost effective to the producer while maintaining performance. Further research is being conducted to help us better understand the optimal levels of inclusion of the feed product in each species.

It is important to note that, while valuable, protein is not the only component in distillers grains that offers feeding advantages when added to animal diets. Fiber, fat and other intrinsic properties are additional factors. The bran or fiber portion of corn has roughly 20 percent protein content (dry matter basis). This protein is incredibly valuable in cattle diets as the microbial environment in the rumen is able to digest and utilize this fiber for energy and growth, unlike that of swine and poultry. Cattle producers will often note intake and health benefits of diets containing distillers grains compared to those without the product. Cattle will have more consistent consumption rates and, therefore, less digestive issues. The ability to separate the fiber and protein streams has the potential of directing the feed products to more species-specific commodities and increasing revenue for the plant itself.

When high-protein distillers grains and corn fiber, mixed with condensed distillers solubles such as ICM’s new feed, Fiber&Syrup (FS), are compared to traditional wet or dry distillers grains plus solubles (WDGS or DDGS) in beef cattle diets, animals observed statistically similar performance (see Table 1). Cattle consuming diets with ethanol feed products at 40 percent inclusion (dry matter basis) had similar to greater performance than those fed corn-only diets.

Since the ethanol feed products were fed at levels exceeding the required amount of protein, the cattle were able to utilize the feed as an energy source. This also illustrates that as long as protein requirements are met, cattle will “waste” the protein supplied by ethanol feed products as energy, as shown in Table 1 by the equivalent performance of cattle fed high-protein distillers grains (37 percent crude protein) and FS (32 percent crude protein). If cattle are able to perform similarly with enough but less protein in the diet, we should feed FS in the feed yards and utilize the more concentrated, higher protein products in species like swine and poultry where protein is valuable and expensive.

Fish is a protein source with increasing demand globally for human consumption. This demand shift is providing opportunities for farming fish. High-protein distillers grains have provided increased performance in tilapia when added to diets at either 15 percent or 25 percent inclusion (dry matter basis), as shown in Table 2. Tilapia fed ICM’s high-protein distillers grains at 15 percent or 20 percent observed significantly increased weight yield (0.28 percent and 0.29 percent respectively) compared to those fed a traditional control diet of 0.26 percent. These results suggest an opportunity to feed more concentrated protein ethanol feed products.

As feed and animal production grow to meet protein demand, new requirements and U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines will require technology and innovation to address the need for consistency, providing new opportunities to boost an ethanol plant’s bottom line. Consistency and verification will drive customer loyalty to purchase the feed and the price at which they choose to buy, especially as distillers grains transition from an ethanol byproduct to a feed commodity in the minds of animal producers.

The optimal balance for ethanol plants today is met by improving the ethanol production system and increasing revenue through diversified feeds that meet the needs of the local and trade markets. Market conditions are forcing ethanol plants to reevaluate their current production methods toward plant flexibility. Plants must be able to create value in all facets of production, including ethanol, corn oil and feed products. This requires plants to adopt process technologies that separate feed streams and allow the plant to recombine, concentrate, or process each feed to meet demands.

Author: Mallorie Wilkens
ICM Ruminant Technical Lead
402.936.1943
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Read the original article: Opportunities in High-Protein Feed

Ethanol Producer Magazine

May 7, 2019

By Erin Voegele

A bipartisan group of 35 representatives, led by Reps. Cindy Axne, D-Iowa, and Adrian Smith, R-Neb., sent a letter to U.S. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler May 7 urging the agency to stop issuing small refinery exemptions (SREs) to large or unqualified refiners under the Renewable Fuels Standard.

Within the letter, the lawmakers note that the Trump Administration has approved 54 SRE requests to date, and has failed to issue a single denial.

“This unprecedented rate of granting waivers is a betrayal of our rural communities, detrimental to our energy security, and threatens our entire agricultural sector at a time of declining incomes and rising debts for our producers,” the representatives wrote. “EPA must halt this process and reallocate waived gallons as the law intends.”

According to the letter, SREs approved to date have caused a loss of 2.6 billion gallons of renewable fuel blending and almost 1 billion bushels of corn demand.

“Granting exemptions to the RFS increases American dependence on foreign oil,” the letter continues. “By continually waiving the requirements of the RFS for small refineries, the EPA fosters uncertainty about the program creating uncertainty for those interested in investing and developing America’s biofuel industry. Further it disincentivizes refineries from taking the steps necessary to begin to meet the standards set by the RFS and make domestic biofuels available to consumers.”

Growth Energy has spoken out to thank the lawmakers for sending the letter. “At a time when grain markets have reached a 42-year low and there was an $11.8 billion decline in farm income the last quarter, our rural communities are continuing to be punished by the rapid escalation in small refinery exemptions by this administration," said Emily Skor, CEO of Growth Energy. "There is no legal or rational explanation for why EPA has quadrupled the number of secret exemptions to the world's largest oil companies in the past 17 months. We applaud U.S. Reps. Cindy Axne, D-Iowa, and Adrian Smith, R-Neb., and their 33 colleagues calling on EPA to halt unjust granting of SREs and to reallocate the gallons lost to ensure the targets set out under the RFS are met, and put an end to the practice of eliminating markets at a time when growers and producers need them most."

The Renewable Fuels Association has also spoken out to thanks the representatives. “We thank the members of the House who sent this letter, and we join them in calling on EPA to immediately stop excusing highly profitable oil refiners from their legal obligations to blend cleaner, lower-cost renewable fuels like ethanol,” said the RFA in statement. “Further, we strongly agree with this bi-partisan group that EPA must restore the renewable fuel blending requirements that were erased through these clandestine waivers. The refinery exemptions have had devastating impacts on our nation’s farm sector and renewable fuels industry, and the bailouts have resulted in American consumers paying more money at the pump for dirtier fuels. It’s time to stop doing special favors for refiners like Chevron and ExxonMobil at the expense of rural America, which is experiencing the toughest economic times in a generation.”

In addition to Axne and Smith, the letter was signed by Reps. David Scott, D-Ga.; Darin LaHood, R-Ill.; Roger Marshall M.D., R-Kan.; Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D.; Cheri Bustos, D-Ill.; Nanette Diaz Barragán, D-Calif.; Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb.; Steve King, R-Iowa; David Loebsack, D-Iowa; Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill.; Abby Finkenauer, D-Iowa; Don Bacon, R-Neb.; Lauren Underwood. D-Ill.; Angie Craig, D-Minn.; Rodney Davis. R-Ill.; Dusty Johnson, R-S.D.; Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill,; Emanuel Cleaver, II, D-Mo.; Mark Pocan, D-Wisc.; Jim Hagedorn, R-Minn.; Ron Estes, R-Kan.; Collin C. Peterson, D-Minn.; Michael R. Turner, R-Ohio; Steve Watkins, R-Kan.; Tom O'Halleran, D-Ariz.; Tim Ryan, D-Ohio; Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio; Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo.; Mike Bost, R-Ill.; Ron Kind, D-Wisc.;  Robin Kelly, D-Ill.; Bill Foster, D-Ill.; and James R. Baird, R-Ind.

A full copy of the letter is available on the Growth Energy website

Read the original article: Representatives Urge EPA to Stop Issuing SREs

Senator Says Trump Administration Plan to Abandon Promised Transparency Rewards Oil Companies at Expense of Nation’s Renewable Fuel Producers

Senator Tina Smith

May 2, 2019

Press Release

U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said today the Trump Administration’s plan to go back on its promise to name which U.S. oil refineries are allowed to avoid requirements to blend renewable fuels into the nation’s fuel supply could ultimately contribute to job losses across rural America and strike another blow to the nation’s struggling farm economy.

Sen. Smith, who has been an outspoken advocate to expand the use of renewable fuels, said hiding the identity of refineries that receive special Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) waivers to the nation’s biofuels laws will help big oil companies at the expense of the nation’s renewable industry.

The waivers cut the amount of corn-based ethanol and other renewables that is blended into the nation’s gasoline and diesel supply, reducing demand for agriculture products at a time when farmers have already been hit hard by low farm prices and trade disruptions.

“The EPA promised to increase transparency and publish the names of refineries that get exemptions from our nation’s renewable fuels laws. Now it’s abandoning that promise,” said Sen. Smith.

“The transparency is necessary because last year EPA granted a ‘financial hardship’ waiver to an oil refinery owned by billionaire Carl Icahn, saving him tens of millions of dollars. Such waivers have also gone to refineries owned by profitable oil companies like Exxon-Mobil and Chevron. In 2018, the waivers cut demand for ethanol by more than a billion gallons, according to the Minnesota Biofuels Association. That’s just wrong and it’s hurting Minnesota’s economy.” Sen. Smith said the EPA’s plan to be more transparent was eliminated after the White House and the oil industry pushed to end it.

She said she also remains skeptical of a reported White House-brokered “compromise plan” between the oil industry and corn industry. “I’ll be watching to ensure that any compromise coming out of the Administration does not further hurt Minnesota’s ethanol and renewable fuels industry,” she said.

Read the original article: U.S. Sen. Tina Smith Says EPA Plan to Hide Which Refineries Are Allowed to Stop Blending Renewable Fuels Would Hurt Farmers, Rural Communities

Hydrite

May 1, 2019

Press Release

Hydrite Chemical Co., an integrated manufacturer and supplier of chemicals and related services, is pleased to announce its partnership with Archangel and expand its product offering to include a full-line of antibiotics for the biofuels industry.

Hydrite is proud to add antibiotics to its existing product line which includes antibiotic-free and antimicrobial solutions.  Hydrite offers both antibiotic and non-antibiotic antimicrobial technology for fermentation, propagation, and upstream and downstream ethanol processes. 

Hydrite’s products and unique formulations serve the ethanol industry in a variety of applications.  Hydrite provides fully integrated lab services designed to help solve the toughest formulation issues and provides professional reports detailing the results and solution recommendations.

Scott Cumming, Biofuels Market Manager for Hydrite, commented, “Our partnership with Archangel is a testament to our commitment to offer quality materials and services to our customers.  Hydrite and Archangel have built a successful business partnership to now include antibiotics products to better serve the growing needs of new and existing customers in the biofuels industry.”

Allen Ziegler, CEO of Archangel Inc. stated, “The partnership between Hydrite and Archangel forms one of the most comprehensive product portfolios in the biofuel industry, and further extends Hydrite’s technical and onsite service capabilities.”

Hydrite has developed a reputation within the industry for providing the distinct combination of excellence in chemical manufacturing and distribution with the most comprehensive level of technical expertise available.  To learn more, visit www.hydrite.com or call 262-792-1450.

About Hydrite Chemical Co.

Hydrite, a family-owned company established in 1929, is one of the largest independent providers of chemicals and related services in the United States.  Headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin, Hydrite has a network of manufacturing facilities, warehouses, and laboratories located in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, California, and Texas with nearly 1,000 employees in 25 states.  Hydrite owns and operates a private fleet of over 255 units including tractors, van trailers, tankers, and railcars.

Hydrite offers expertise in chemical distribution and manufacturing, food and dairy sanitation, organic processing, liquid sulfites, foam control, water treatment, and compliance management services.

With over 5,000 items in its product portfolio, Hydrite’s dedicated chemists, engineers, and technical service staff have extensive knowledge and experience to solve the most challenging formulation problems.  Hydrite has a strong commitment to quality and customer responsiveness, and offers superior products and innovative solutions.

About Archangel

Archangel Inc. specializes in antimicrobial technology including proprietary antibiotic free, inorganic and antibiotic formulations.  With over 25 years’ experience developing and applying antimicrobials, Archangel provides options to customize unique antimicrobial programs tailored to plant needs.

Headquartered in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, Archangel holds numerous antimicrobial and process patents, and through an innovative and comprehensive approach, is rapidly being recognized as the company to turn to for the best bacterial control.

Archangel’s exclusive, patent-pending packaging reduces chemical exposure to plant personnel while preserving the integrity of the product.

Archangel’s complete product line caters to the biofuel, beverage alcohol, aquaculture, and agriculture industries, in addition to its technical and laboratory services to meet the unique and specific needs of its customers. 

Read the original press release: Hydrite to Offer Antibiotics Product Line through Partnership with Archangel

Ethanol Producer Magazine

April 23, 2019

By Lisa Gibson

The 2019 Ethanol Producer Award winners have been selected. Following a nomination period and voting process that included Ethanol Producer Magazine editorial staff and editorial board members, EPM is proud to announce this year’s winners. They are as follows:

Project of the Year: Flint Hills Resources Fairmont in Fairmont, Nebraska. Flint Hills installed Fluid Quip Process Technologies’ Maximized Stillage Coproduct system.

Collaboration of the Year: Homeland Energy Solutions in Lawler, Iowa, and Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits. The companies implemented a fermentation project together.

Board of the Year: Heartland Corn Products, Winthrop, Minnesota

Workplace of the Year: Arkalon Ethanol, Liberal, Kansas.

Good Neighbor Award: Marquis Energy-Wisconsin, Necedah, Wisconsin.

Read the original article: 2019 Ethanol Producer Award Winners Announced

The Hill

April 23, 2019

By James Talent

Over the last few years, biofuel policy has become a major flashpoint of conflict between rural supporters of President Trump and oil lobbyists working in Washington. The last administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency handed out dozens of secret exemptions to big oil companies, allowing them to sidestep long standing renewable energy laws. It is an approach that cut billions of gallons of homegrown ethanol out of the market, destroying a key segment of the rural economy.

As a result, ethanol consumption in the United States fell for the first time in 20 years. Farmers were hit the worst and now carry the highest debt income ratio since the farm bust of the 1980s. Calls to the Farm Aid crisis hotline have doubled. President Trump, who vowed that his administration is protecting ethanol, fired the former EPA chief and appointed Andrew Wheeler to take over, but the damage has yet to be repaired. In fact, it may be getting worse. Wheeler announced more oil industry handouts last month, bringing the total to 2.6 billion gallons over two years, which is enough to eliminate the market for nearly one billion bushels of grain.

Rural Republicans who gave the new EPA administrator the benefit of the doubt are understandably livid. Dozens of ethanol plants across the country have cut production or closed their doors, even as farm communities look to rebuild from recent devastating floods and a demoralizing trade war. Meanwhile, oil refiners like Exxon and Chevron that won the “hardship” exemptions have had multibillion dollar profits.

Democrats are already pouncing on this blunder. Senator Amy Klobuchar, who is running for president, told Iowa caucus goers that “biofuels in the Midwest get screwed” by the EPA exemptions. It is a message winning her new followers among rural voters who overwhelmingly voted for President Trump in 2016. The headlines do not help either. In a Reuters story titled “EPA disregarded biofuel rules to help refineries,” it was revealed that the agency quietly ignored recommendations from the Energy Department, which could find no financial justification for the oil industry handouts.

The truth is that petroleum companies simply worry about losing the battle for market share if consumers get more options at the fuel pump. Biofuel blends reduce emissions and deliver more octane. Moreover, they also cost less, as pure ethanol now trades for about 70 cents less per gallon than unblended gasoline. That is why competition is good for drivers and American energy security. It is also precisely why Congress enacted the renewable fuel standard under President Bush back in 2005.

With all eyes on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and gasoline headed toward $4 per gallon in some markets, it is hard to see why any agency would shut out lower cost fuel made in the United States. In response, rural advocates like Senator Joni Ernst have called on the EPA “to reallocate waived gallons and establish a clear procedure” to evaluate future exemptions. However, Wheeler has argued the agency simply has no mechanism that would allow it to restore lost gallons, as exemptions are filed retroactively after regulators determine how much biofuel each refinery is responsible for adding to the national fuel mix.

But there is some hope. Representative Dave Loebsack got to the key point during a recent hearing in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He questioned Wheeler whether the EPA could decide on exemptions first before setting annual biofuel targets. By shifting from a retroactive approach to forward looking approach, the EPA could ensure the full volume of biofuel required by law actually reaches consumers.

Indeed, Wheeler admitted the EPA “would have the ability to do that.” All it would take is for the agency to account for anticipated exceptions in the annual biofuel targets. It is worth noting that the EPA already does the calculation. It simply just has not been willing to act on it. President Trump has shown he is willing to crack down on insiders at the EPA when they threaten to undermine rural prosperity. This is one of those times. We cannot accept bureaucratic excuses for inaction. Farmers were promised a chance to compete at the fuel pump, and it is time to keep that promise.

James Talent served in Congress as a Republican senator from Missouri and championed the creation of the renewable fuel standard in 2005. He is a chairman of Americans for Energy Security and Innovation and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Read the original article: Time to Keep the Promises for Farmers to Compete in Energy

Ames Tribune

April 12, 2019

By

In order to battle the tough Friday afternoon winds, presidential candidate and Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar donned a lime-green hard hat and thick pea coat as she toured the Lincolnway Energy Plant in Nevada.

But for the presidential hopeful, battling the wind isn’t the issue, it’s battling major oil companies and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) small-refinery waivers on behalf of ethanol companies.

The waivers grant a small refinery temporary exemption from its annual Renewable Volume Obligations, which determine how many gallons of biofuel refineries will add to the motor fuel mix.

Following her tour of the ethanol plant, Klobuchar held a roundtable discussion with local ethanol plant producers and ethanol experts to hear the concerns and challenges the ethanol industry is facing.

Ethanol producers stated that small-refinery waivers issued by the EPA are “taking three billion gallons of demand or 20 percent of demand from the ethanol industry.”

“I think part of (this discussion) is taking on the oil companies and blatantly talking about it,” Klobuchar said. “Yeah, they have their market, but (ethanol) has their market, too, and they are trying to stomp on us and we need to speak out or we don’t have a chance.”

In terms of policy, Klobuchar said, “replacing the gallons lost” in the industry is important, as well as promoting cellulosic ethanol, ethanol produced from the fiber of a plant as a means to help recoup losses suffered in the past years.

Klobuchar also vouched for protecting and addressing how the waivers affect the Renewable Identification Numbers (RIN) market and the year-round sale of gasoline with up to 15 percent ethanol, also known as E15.

RIN is a serial number assigned to a batch of biofuel that act as credits of compliance or a type of currency of the Renewable Fuel Standard Program.

One of the concerns expressed Friday was that that small refinery exemptions issued by former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt eroded demand for ethanol in 2018 and created the RIN market for ethanol.

?(One of the things we can do) is the RIN market, and making sure it’s functioning and addressing whatever the problems are,” Klobuchar said. “We know that people are going to mess around with it, and those waivers mess around with it, too.”

In 2018, President Trump directed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to consider reforming the RIN market, and to allow the year-round sale of E15.

However, many at the roundtable said that the EPA small refinery waivers and exemptions have been overused, threatening demand for corn-based ethanol at a time when farmers are already struggling.

“We don’t make a fraction of a cent on RINs,” said Blair Picard, Commercial Manager of Lincolnway Energy. “Our RINs go out the door free with our ethanol,so you could say on one hand, we’re not as concerned with the price of RINs as we are with the price of ethanol and our margin, which both have deteriorated as a direct example of these small refinery exemptions.”

Klobuchar blended the concerns of ethanol producers with the “immediate need” to address climate change and environmental issues.

The senator said she would address climate change on day one by entering the United States back into the international climate change agreement, bringing back the clean power standards adopted under the Obama Administration, and re-implementing gas mileage standards.

“I’m a strong believer that we have to do something about climate change on day one,” Klobuchar said following the roundtable discussion. “Those are rules so they are easier to put (out for a vote), and you may have comment periods, but you can get those done in the first year.”

Klobuchar also shared her visions to get to universal health care through a public health insurance option.

Read the original article: Klobuchar Talks Ethanol Challenges at Nevada Plant