In the News
Sept 14, 2014
By Delayne Johnson
This month, our company, Quad County Corn Processors, will debut an innovative new technology that promises to make one of Iowa's signature agricultural products — corn — go even further.
Over a four-year period, Quad County Corn Processors' research and development team developed a patented process for converting corn kernel fiber into cellulosic ethanol. The new "bolt on" bio-refinery at our plant in Galva, Ia., is one of the first facilities in the United States to begin commercialized cellulosic ethanol production.
The new addition will produce two million gallons of cellulosic ethanol from the same kernel used to create conventional ethanol, corn oil and livestock feed. We will add four additional workers to the 36 already staffing our facility 24/7 and increase our ethanol yields — already 35 million gallons annually — by 6 percent.
Our yearly corn oil production, now 750,000 gallons, will multiply three times, and we will be able to offer livestock feed that is much higher in protein and lower in fiber than what we've been able to generate with previous technology.
The bottom line is that this breakthrough technology will create more value out of the more than 12 million bushels of corn that our cooperative's 350 shareholder farmers bring to us each year and help Quad County Corn Processors remain a leader in America's burgeoning ethanol industry.
That industry has grown by leaps and bounds in large part because Congress created the Renewable Fuel Standard requiring motor vehicle fuel to include renewable elements such as ethanol. The Renewable Fuel Standard developed the infrastructure and industrial process to generate conventional ethanol, which gave us a base on which to build our new cellulosic ethanol technology.
For the owners of America's tens of millions of cars and trucks, ethanol has numerous benefits, such as reducing exhaust emissions, stretching our oil supplies to make us less dependent on foreign petroleum and lowering the price of gasoline at the pump. Energy economist Philip Verleger concluded that the Renewable Fuel Standard saves U.S. consumers an average of $1 on each gallon of gasoline.
A typical U.S. ethanol plant supports nearly 3,000 jobs — not just at the production point itself, but also in transportation, equipment production and maintenance, and other sectors. All in all, the Renewable Fuel Standard supports nearly 400,000 jobs.
But special interests, including the petroleum industry, are pressuring Congress to jettison the Renewable Fuel Standard. Ethanol's opponents have fashioned all manner of misleading arguments against ethanol and the fuel standard. So far, Congress has resisted the pressure. But in today's Washington, even a great, proven idea like ethanol is never safe from political maneuvering and twisted messages.
Now is the time to intensify our commitment to domestic renewable fuels, ensuring that Americans can continue to enjoy their freedom to hit the road, while paying a reasonable price for fuel. Ethanol has proven its value as an integral part of national energy policy. It's also an important part of Iowa's economy now, and must remain so for years to come.
Delayne Johnson is the CEO of Quad County Corn Processors, based in Galva.
Read the original story here : Renewable Fuels Standard Spurred Ethanol Breathroughs
Sept 10, 2014
By Susanne Retka Schill
Buffalo Lake Advanced Biofuels restarted Sept. 8, expecting to bring all systems up during the next several days and begin continuous operation once again. The plant was idled in 2009, purchased and run briefly in 2012, then purchased out of bankruptcy and renamed. The plant has run intermittently since June as repairs and upgrades were installed and tested, explained plant manager Kyle Peik. “We are up and running now, we started grinding this morning.” About 35 people are working at the newly restarted plant, which includes a small staff in New Jersey at the offices of current owners, West Ventures LLC.
The legacy Katzen-designed plant in Buffalo Lake, Minnesota, first came online in 1997 as the 9 MMgy Minnesota Energy Cooperative, expanding to 18 MMgy before shutting down in 2009 during the industry downturn. It was restarted in June 2012 by Purified Renewable Energy LLC, with a purchase announced a few months later. Purified filed for bankruptcy in March 2013 and ultimately, the plant was purchased by one of its creditors, West Ventures.
The investment group brought in Colorado-based IR1 Group to evaluate the plant and offer recommendations. IR1 has helped with repairs and upgrades in preparation for restart, along with the installation and shakedown of a new technology. Buffalo Lake Advanced Biofuels will be using new solids separation technology developed by Yield & Capacity Group LLC to process thin and whole stillage through an innovative system that eliminates the need for evaporators and centrifuges. The system will be the focus of a feature article in the upcoming November issue of Ethanol Producer Magazine.
Read the original story here : Legacy 18 MMgy Minnesota Plant Restarts Ethanol Production
Sept 9, 2014
By Ayesha Rascoe
The nascent U.S. cellulosic ethanol industry has urged the White House to change course on targets for biofuel use, warning in a letter to President Barack Obama on Tuesday that current policy risks losing investments to China and Brazil.
Federally set mandates for the use of fuels such as corn ethanol and cellulosic ethanol, made from plant waste like grasses and wood, must be based on the industry's ability to produce the fuel, not on infrastructure restraints, executives of several biofuel companies wrote.
The Environmental Protection Agency rocked the biofuels industry last year with a draft plan slashing requirements for blending renewable fuels into U.S. gasoline and diesel in 2014.
Companies including POET LLC, Abengoa Bioenergy and Dupont told Obama that investments in innovative fuel technology could be lost if EPA does not reconsider.
"If the proposed methodology is not fixed in the final rule ... the 2014 rule will have inadvertently done more than your worst critics have to harm a low carbon industry you have always championed," the executives said.
Following a backlash to the initial proposal, the companies said they expect the administration to raise the targets from the proposed rule to the final rule, sent to the White House for review in August.
But an increase in targets will not be enough to support new investment, the companies said, as long as the agency continues to limit targets based on the number of fueling pumps available to dispense higher blends of ethanol in gasoline - a variable mostly controlled by big oil companies.
The Renewable Fuel Standard requires increasing amounts of ethanol and biodiesel to be mixed into U.S. fuel supplies each year until 2022.
The EPA said it lowered the targets for 2014 because the nation had reached a point where the law would require ethanol to be blended into gasoline at levels higher than the 10 percent per-gallon mixture that dominates retail fuel stations.
But capping ethanol at 10 percent of the fuel supply will not give oil companies any incentive to invest in new fueling equipment, and the biofuel program will "cease to be effective," the companies said.
After years of falling far short of the targets set by Congress, makers of cellulosic biofuels are starting to gain some momentum.
While 2014 production will come nowhere near the 1.75 billion gallon target originally set by Congress, POET and Dutch food and chemicals group DSM last week jointly opened a plant in Iowa with an initial production target of 20 million gallons a year using corn cobs, stalks and other crop waste as its feedstock.
Quad County Corn Processors opened a plant this week that should produce 2 million gallons cellulosic ethanol a year.
It is unclear how much cellulosic ethanol will be produced in 2014. EPA's draft proposal set the target at 17 million gallons.
Read the original story here : U.S. Cellulosic Fuel Makers Press Obama To Alter Biofuel Plan
Sept 8, 2014
Today, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) released a report that further debunks the fictional food vs. fuel argument. The report shows that while corn prices have dropped dramatically over the past two years, retail food prices of dairy, pork, poultry, eggs, and beef have remained steady or continue to increase. The report concluded, “… fluctuations in corn prices do not significantly affect consumer food prices.”
Bob Dinneen, president and CEO of the RFA, commented, “The food vs. fuel folks screamed to high heaven when the price of corn rose during the drought and immediately blamed high corn prices and ethanol for food price increases. However, these same critics remain suspiciously quiet now that corn prices have dropped, but retail food prices aren’t dropping along with them.”
He continued, “The food vs. fuel argument is just another misguided attack on biofuels and the Renewable Fuel Standard, which is reducing foreign oil dependence, lowering gas prices for consumers, and revitalizing rural America.”
The report examined a number of factors that contribute to food prices including the cost of food production, pointing to Citibank’s Sterling Smith who stated, “Corn prices may have come down 50% (from their highs), but that doesn’t mean a box of corn flakes will fall 50% in price. Much of the price of food comes from the processing and movement of food...” Additionally, the report also highlighted the role of crude oil in retail food prices, finding that “…every step in the food supply chain is significantly affected by energy costs—especially crude oil.”
The report compared corn prices to the price of dairy products, pork products, beef products, and poultry and egg products from January 2007 – July 2014, finding:
Retail prices for key dairy items like milk and cheese have been largely unresponsive to changes in corn prices. In fact, since January 2011, milk and cheese prices have been negatively correlated to corn prices, meaning retail milk and cheese prices have tended to move in the opposite direction of movements in corn prices.
…retail prices for other items (like chicken legs, frozen whole turkey, fresh whole chicken) have risen steadily and smoothly since 2007. Wide swings in corn prices did not interrupt or affect the gradual trend toward higher prices for these items.
Retail prices for pork products have not shown any meaningful relationship to corn prices over the past seven years. It is well documented that the recent acceleration in pork and bacon prices has been driven by piglet casualties resulting from Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv). These retail price increases have occurred at a time when corn prices have been plunging.
Retail ground beef prices have steadily and smoothly trended higher over the past seven years, showing no obvious response to wide swings in corn prices.
Read the original story here : Food vs Fuel Debunked (Again) - Corn Prices Fall, Retail Food Prices Remain Steady
Read the full report here
Today, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) released a report that further debunks the fictional food vs. fuel argument. The report shows that while corn prices have dropped dramatically over the past two years, retail food prices of dairy, pork, poultry, eggs, and beef have remained steady or continue to increase. The report concluded, “… fluctuations in corn prices do not significantly affect consumer food prices.”
Bob Dinneen, president and CEO of the RFA, commented, “The food vs. fuel folks screamed to high heaven when the price of corn rose during the drought and immediately blamed high corn prices and ethanol for food price increases. However, these same critics remain suspiciously quiet now that corn prices have dropped, but retail food prices aren’t dropping along with them.”
He continued, “The food vs. fuel argument is just another misguided attack on biofuels and the Renewable Fuel Standard, which is reducing foreign oil dependence, lowering gas prices for consumers, and revitalizing rural America.”
The report examined a number of factors that contribute to food prices including the cost of food production, pointing to Citibank’s Sterling Smith who stated, “Corn prices may have come down 50% (from their highs), but that doesn’t mean a box of corn flakes will fall 50% in price. Much of the price of food comes from the processing and movement of food...” Additionally, the report also highlighted the role of crude oil in retail food prices, finding that “…every step in the food supply chain is significantly affected by energy costs—especially crude oil.”
The report compared corn prices to the price of dairy products, pork products, beef products, and poultry and egg products from January 2007 – July 2014, finding:
- Retail prices for key dairy items like milk and cheese have been largely unresponsive to changes in corn prices. In fact, since January 2011, milk and cheese prices have been negatively correlated to corn prices, meaning retail milk and cheese prices have tended to move in the opposite direction of movements in corn prices.
- …retail prices for other items (like chicken legs, frozen whole turkey, fresh whole chicken) have risen steadily and smoothly since 2007. Wide swings in corn prices did not interrupt or affect the gradual trend toward higher prices for these items.
- Retail prices for pork products have not shown any meaningful relationship to corn prices over the past seven years. It is well documented that the recent acceleration in pork and bacon prices has been driven by piglet casualties resulting from Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv). These retail price increases have occurred at a time when corn prices have been plunging.
- Retail ground beef prices have steadily and smoothly trended higher over the past seven years, showing no obvious response to wide swings in corn prices.
Sept 9, 2014
By Donnelle Eller
Quad County Corn Processors celebrates its $9 million cellulosic ethanol project today near Galva, technology that was "bolted on" the existing corn ethanol facility.
It's the second major Iowa facility to mark adding cellulosic ethanol this month, a more environmentally friendly fuel. Last week, Poet-DSM celebrated beginning operation of its $275 million facility in Emmetsburg.
Quad County Corn Processors uses the corn kernel fiber to make cellulosic ethanol. The 35-million gallon ethanol facility will produce an additional 2 million gallons per year of cellulosic ethanol.
That's different technology from Poet and the DuPont Danisco, a $225 million cellulosic ethanol plant under construction in Nevada. Those facilities use crop residue -- corn cobs, husks and other materials -- to make cellulosic ethanol.
Among the speakers at today's event include Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey and Bob Dinneen, CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association.
Read the original story here : Second Iowa Plant Adds New Ethanol Technology
Sept 3, 2014
By Holly Jessen
The grand opening of Poet-DSM Advanced Biofuels LLC’s Project Liberty is the start of what Jeff Broin, founder of Poet and executive chairman, believes will be a complete transformation of the energy supply. “This is just the very tip of the iceberg,” he said at the Sept. 3 event, adding that while it might not happen in this lifetime, he is certain that it will happen, because at some point, there will be an end to the fossil fuel supply. “The world needs a solution and the solution is right here,” he said.
A large group gathered at the plant in Emmetsberg, Iowa, where Poet-DSM will convert 285,000 tons of biomass annually into 20 MMgy, and later, 25 MMgy, of cellulosic ethanol. The capital cost of the project, which is co-located with one of Poet’s corn-ethanol plants, was $275 million.
Rob van Leen, chief innovation officer at Royal DSM, spoke briefly about the company’s next step, to build a facility to produce enzymes onsite. In addition, a next-generation yeast is expected to be in use at the plant during the second half of the year and a third generation yeast will be introduced next year. Poet-DSM is ready, he said, to license out the cellulosic ethanol technology that made Project Liberty possible.
Iowa native, Michael Knotek, U.S. DOE deputy undersecretary for science and energy, said on his drive from Minneapolis to Emmetsberg, he saw biomass all around and the wind blowing through it. “It’s all there, all we have to do is take it,” he said, adding that biofuels addresses the three major concerns of energy security, job creation and climate change. In order to reduce fuel prices due to volatility in the global market, 1,000 biofuel facilities like Project Liberty are needed. “When I return to Washington, I want to make a big deal out of this,” he said. “The wind is at our back, let’s make biofuels.”
Read the original story here : POET-DSM Project Liberty Goes From Fantasy To Reality
Aug 27, 2014
By Donnelle Eller
DES MOINES, Iowa — EPA delays in setting the Renewable Fuel Standard are contributing to weaker corn prices for farmers and costing manufacturing jobs, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad said Wednesday.
"Farmers aren't buying equipment and John Deere is laying people off. What EPA has done is not only damage farm income but cost us jobs in farm machinery and manufacturing," Branstad told reporters at the Farm Progress Show near Boone.
In November, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed reducing ethanol produced from corn in 2014 to 13.01 billion gallons from 14.4 billion gallons initially required by Congress. The 2007 Renewable Fuel Standard requires refiners to buy alternative fuels made from corn, soybeans and other products to reduce the country's dependence on foreign energy.
"I feel like they're playing politics instead of doing what's right for America, and doing what's right for reducing our dependency on foreign oil, and improving farm income and creating jobs," he said.
Branstad said the increase in food prices was one of the biggest arguments against the increase in the ethanol mandate.
"They put out this garbage, when the price of corn was $7-$8, that it drove up the price of food. Well, have you seen the price of food go down?" he said. "The price of corn is down to $3.50 a bushel, and the price of food hasn't gone down at all."
Bill Northey, Iowa's secretary of agriculture, said he's hopeful that the EPA won't cut quite as much in the Renewable Fuel Standard as it initially proposed last winter.
"I hear it will be better than what EPA initially announced, but it's not going to be as good under the original RFS," Northey told reporters at the show.
Iowa should be expanding its ethanol production, given low prices for corn, but instead companies are hesitant to invest, Northey said.
"It's taken away that optimism that was there," especially for expansion of the next generation of ethanol, such as cellulosic ethanol. It uses corn stover instead of corn to make the alternative fuel.
"Without a green light from EPA, I don't think we'll see that investment in technology and improved efficiencies," he said.
Read the original story here : Iowa Governor Blasts EPA On Ethanol Mandate
Aug 26, 2014
St Paul - CHS, a leading energy, grains and foods company and the nation's leading farmer-owned cooperative, has announced a new program to better enable some of the 1,400 Cenex branded locations to meet consumer demand for an E15 ethanol blend.
"We are excited to offer a new Cenex Tank Program, which further demonstrates CHS leadership in renewable fuels and helps keep the Cenex brand at the forefront in meeting consumer demand for ethanol blends," says Doug Dorfman, CHS vice president – refined fuels.
For Cenex retailers wanting to offer E15 in addition to their current gasoline products, the Cenex Tank Program will cover a significant portion of the cost to purchase and install an additional storage tank for the purpose of offering E15.
The Cenex network was among the first in the country to offer mid-level ethanol blends under its brand and has achieved significant increases in ethanol sales over the last five years, according to Dorfman.
"We value our partnership with Cenex retailers and will continue to assist them in their efforts to meet consumer demand for ethanol blends," says Dorfman. "Supporting ethanol demand also adds value to CHS member owners and farmers."
As the nation's leading farmer-owned cooperative, CHS is involved in renewable fuels from the farm to the end-user. A long-time, global marketer of ethanol and distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), CHS also produces ethanol at a recently acquired plant in Rochelle, Ill.
Read the original press release here : Cenex Tank Program Assists Retailers Offering E15
More...
Aug 22, 2014
By Sussane Retka Schill
The U.S. EPA has finalized its 2014 renewable volume obligation (RVO) rule for the renewable fuels standard (RFS) and submitted it to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review on Friday, Aug. 22.
The publication of the proposed rule on Nov. 15 precipitated widespread concern in the ethanol industry and a large number of responses during the comment period. .
Industry leaders are optimistic the proposed will be modified
“While we have not seen the rule, we hold strong in our belief that EPA and OMB will fulfill President Obama’s commitment to biofuels as a means of greater energy independence, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and wider availability of cost-saving alternative fuels for American consumers,” Bob Dinneen, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, said in a statement. “This decision is about more than targets and gallons, it is about a rationale that places highest importance on the long term strength of this country and not the bottom line of oil companies.”
“While OMB has up to 90 days to review this rule, what is most important is the content of the final rule,” said Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy. “The renewable fuels industry has provided extensive comments highlighting how the proposed reduction in the 2014 RVO’s would be detrimental to the biofuels industry, the American consumer and our environment. I hope that after reviewing these thorough comments, they will finalize a rule that moves our nation forward on the adoption of renewable fuels, not backwards.
“Ultimately, this final rule should promote the policy goals of the RFS and call for an increase in the production of renewable fuels, so we can continue to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, create jobs at home that cannot be outsourced and mitigate climate change, while we improve our environment. Furthermore, it is critical we have the support of the Administration to end the monopoly oil companies have on the liquid fuels marketplace and finally provide consumers with a choice and savings at the pump.”
From the American Coalition for Ethanol, Brian Jennings, executive vice president, provided this statement: “ACE members are pleased the 2014 RVO is now at OMB for interagency review and we continue to encourage the administration to finalize a rule that allows the RFS to work by incentivizing oil companies to blend above the E10 limit. Anything short of that turns the keys to the RFS over to the oil companies and puts cellulosic biofuel at risk. While all stakeholders have waited a long time for the final rule, and it could take another 30 days or more for interagency review, getting the rule done right is far more important than getting it done quickly.”
Read the original story here : EPA's Final 2014 RVO Delivered To The OMB; Industry Reacts
Aug 22, 2014
By Jane Whitmore
U.S. Senator Charles Grassley was given a tour of POET/DSM Project LIBERTY last week.
"I won't be able to come to the Grand Opening, so they invited me here to see it," said Sen. Grassley. "When I go to a business place to tour, I always talk to the employees."
The Senator spent half of his time at POET talking to the employees and answering questions. They talked mostly about ethanol.
"We talked about the possibility about retaining the RFS (Renewable Fuel Standard)," said Grassley. "It's in EPA, where it's been since last November. They could have issued a rule around Feb. 1. We think we've made some impact, I can't prove that, but by the delay and the delay and the delay now I think it's going to be delayed until after the election."
Grassley said he did not know if the RFS would be the original 13 billion gallons or, if they don't do anything, it would go to 14.4 billion gallons.
"That's what they're supposed to use this year (14.4 billion gallons), or somewhere in between," he said. "We don't know even when we talk to the director. We've even talked to people at the White House."
The last person employee to speak said that he was born in Emmetsburg and glad to live here.
"He said, 'just look at the good jobs we've been creating.' I said, you just said one-fifth of what I generally end a speech with on ethanol:
"It's good for the jobs in rural America that you never thought you'd have.
"It's good for agricultural income.
"It's good for the environment.
"It's good for national security, because energy is very essential to protect our country and help the military.
"It's good for balance of trade because you keep exporting.
"So I always end my speech: Everything about ethanol is good, good, good. There's no negatives about it."
One Of A Kind
Sen. Grassley pointed out, "When they keep using the phrase 'one of a kind' 'the biggest' or 'the second biggest' it's pretty impressive, coming from rural America.
"The foresight of people, not only for ethanol from grain, moving to cellulosic it's phenomenal very, very impressive. Just the capitalization of it, the ability to get that done to even do all this building is pretty impressive, and then the scientific work that goes into the process."
Grassley encourages people to go back to the 1970s. "Who would ever thought you and I would never think that we were going to be able to run our cars off of stuff made from corn. Here we are, doing it big time.
"You would have been laughed at if you'd have said we're going to make it from corn stalk, and leaves and stover and all that stuff.
"It's just kind of unbelievable. Seeing is believing" he said.
On a personal note, Grassley related, "In 1984 I bought a 1964 Oldsmobile and I had it for about 20 years and I always burned the 10-percent (ethanol) in it. Somebody was telling me that a car made in the 1980s, ethanol was ruining it. Don't tell me that stuff, I burn it in a 1964 Oldsmobile."
A Look At Ethanol
"Our biggest problem in Washington is ignorance about ethanol," said Grassley. "It's difficult to fight ignorance. One of the best examples about ethanol is the number of people that pronounce it 'eethanol'."
Continuing on that thought, Grassley added, "There's a great deal of ignorance. A few years ago, the biggest uproar about ethanol was, we've got $7 corn because of a drought, you shouldn't be using corn for ethanol, we've got to use it for feed. We were planting 93 million acres of corn. Why are we planting 93 million acres instead of 85 million acres? Because of ethanol. If we didn't have ethanol, we'd be planting 85 million acres of corn and if we had a drought we'd still have $7 corn. I probably made people mad if I tried to tell people that, but sometimes you have to explain that to farmers, livestock farmers. That's part of the problem we have defending ethanol."
Read the original story here : Everything About Ethanol Is Good-Good-Good
Aug 22, 2014
By Timothy Cama
A regulation setting the required volumes of ethanol and biodiesel that fuel refiners must use was sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review Friday, the final step before the rule mandate can be unveiled.
The Environmental Protection Agency proposed last year to reduce the volume of ethanol refiners must blend into gasoline for 2014, while keeping the mandate for biodiesel in diesel the same as the previous year.
In announcing the White House review, the EPA did not say whether it changed the volumes from last year’s proposal but said it supports the program and wants to increase renewable volumes.
“EPA supports the energy independence and security goals that congress envisioned when establishing the RFS program,” a spokeswoman said. “The agency’s overarching goal is to put the RFS program on a path that supports continued growth in renewable fuels over time.”
The EPA said it received more than 340,000 comments on the proposal, and it will issue the final rule after the White House and other federal agencies weigh in.
Under the law that established the RFS, the EPA is supposed to finalize each year’s volumes in November of the prior year. This year has been the longest delay in the program’s history.
The White House is allowed to take up to 90 days for its review, but can easily extend the timeline if necessary.
Aug 18, 2014
By USDA Agricultural Research Services
The release of a new type of switchgrass specifically designed for bioenergy generation has been announced by USDA researchers and their partners. Agricultural Research Service scientists have spent decades working on different projects that contributed to the development of the cultivar "Liberty," which can yield 8 tons of biomass per acre.
ARS is USDA's chief intramural scientific research agency, and this research contributes to the USDA priority of developing new bioenergy sources.
The release of the new cultivar is a significant milestone for ARS. It's also a key accomplishment for CenUSA Bioenergy, a project funded by USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, which is tasked with developing perennial bioenergy production systems in the Midwest. An announcement about Liberty was published in the Journal of Plant Registrations in June.
ARS researchers who contributed to Liberty's development include retired geneticist Ken Vogel, agronomist Rob Mitchell, molecular biologist Gautam Sarath, and geneticist Michael Casler. Mitchell and Sarath work at the ARS Grain, Forage and Bioenergy Research Unit in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Casler works at the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center in Madison, Wisconsin.
Liberty contains traits from southern lowland switchgrass types that result in high yields, as well as traits from northern upland switchgrass types that support winter hardiness. In a 16-year breeding study, the new cultivar increased biomass production by as much as 43 percent compared to the parent lines.
Another plus with the new cultivar is that gains in yield were achieved without an increase in nitrogen fertilizer use, which helped lower expected production costs on the farm by approximately $20 to $30 per ton. With the increased yields, each acre of switchgrass could potentially be used to produce 75 to 160 more gallons of ethanol.
The development of Liberty followed several ARS investigations into the evolutionary patterns of switchgrass, which is a native North American perennial with a highly complex genome. This work has resulted in the identification of eight regional gene pools with traits that could be useful in developing switchgrass varieties for different production environments.
Results from these studies have been published in Genetica and Crop Science.
Read more about this work in the August 2014 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.
Read the original story here : USDA : New Switchgrass Variety Promises More Biofuel At Lower Cost
Aug 14, 2014
By Geoff Cooper
Believe it or not, there are still some clueless critics out there who have the audacity to claim corn ethanol is “not economical.” Perhaps they haven’t noticed that wholesale ethanol prices have been an average of $0.71 per gallon lower than wholesale gasoline prices so far this year. Maybe they overlooked the fact that ethanol has been priced at 75–80% the price of gasoline for much of the past three years. It’s possible, I suppose, that they haven’t noticed the $1 per gallon spread between ethanol and RBOB gasoline futures prices in April–August 2015.
And maybe they didn’t notice that for the first time in nearly eight years, a bushel of corn—the primary input in the ethanol process—costs less than a gallon of gasoline. That’s right—the price of a 56-pound bushel of corn averaged just $3.57 in July, while the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline hit $3.61.
Let’s think about what that means from an economic standpoint.
- From one bushel of corn we get at least 2.8 gallons of fuel ethanol. For you BTU counters out there, that means $3.57 worth of corn gives you nearly twice as much usable energy (in the form of ethanol) as you get from $3.61 worth of gasoline. Of course, ethanol’s high octane and oxygen content mean its value goes far beyond its BTU content.
- In addition to the ethanol, we get about 16.5 pounds of high-protein livestock feed from one bushel of corn. This amount of feed—called distillers grains—is enough to produce 10 quarter-pound hamburgers, or roughly 8 pounds of chicken.
- But that’s not all! Most ethanol biorefineries are also extracting about 0.6 pounds of distillers corn oil from every bushel of corn processed. This vegetable oil is used as another animal feed ingredient, or as a feedstock for biodiesel or renewable diesel.
- Many ethanol plants also capture and sell high purity carbon dioxide. This CO2 is used for carbonating beverages, flash freezing grocery items, and a number of industrial purposes. Each bushel of corn processed by an ethanol plant results in about 16 pounds of CO2 - enough to carbonate nearly 4,300 cans of soda!
Talk about bang for your buck! Any way you slice it, converting corn to ethanol and distillers grains is a tremendously efficient and economical use of America’s most versatile crop. We did a similar economic comparison last fall when crude oil was $100 per barrel and corn was about $4.65 per bushel. Since that time, ethanol’s competiveness with gasoline has improved even further.
It’s no wonder that ethanol has been able to claim the title as the lowest cost motor fuel and octane source in the world over the past several years.
Read the original story here : What Can You Get For $3.60?
Believe it or not, there are still some clueless critics out there who have the audacity to claim corn ethanol is “not economical.” Perhaps they haven’t noticed that wholesale ethanol prices have been an average of $0.71 per gallon lower than wholesale gasoline prices so far this year. Maybe they overlooked the fact that ethanol has been priced at 75–80% the price of gasoline for much of the past three years. It’s possible, I suppose, that they haven’t noticed the $1 per gallon spread between ethanol and RBOB gasoline futures prices in April–August 2015.
And maybe they didn’t notice that for the first time in nearly eight years, a bushel of corn—the primary input in the ethanol process—costs less than a gallon of gasoline. That’s right—the price of a 56-pound bushel of corn averaged just $3.57 in July, while the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline hit $3.61.
Let’s think about what that means from an economic standpoint.
- From one bushel of corn we get at least 2.8 gallons of fuel ethanol. For you BTU counters out there, that means $3.57 worth of corn gives you nearly twice as much usable energy (in the form of ethanol) as you get from $3.61 worth of gasoline. Of course, ethanol’s high octane and oxygen content mean its value goes far beyond its BTU content.
- In addition to the ethanol, we get about 16.5 pounds of high-protein livestock feed from one bushel of corn. This amount of feed—called distillers grains—is enough to produce 10 quarter-pound hamburgers, or roughly 8 pounds of chicken.
- But that’s not all! Most ethanol biorefineries are also extracting about 0.6 pounds of distillers corn oil from every bushel of corn processed. This vegetable oil is used as another animal feed ingredient, or as a feedstock for biodiesel or renewable diesel.
- Many ethanol plants also capture and sell high purity carbon dioxide. This CO2 is used for carbonating beverages, flash freezing frozen grocery items, and a number of industrial purposes. Each bushel of corn processed by an ethanol plant results in about 16 pounds of CO2—enough to carbonate nearly 4,300 cans of soda!
Talk about bang for your buck! Any way you slice it, converting corn to ethanol and distillers grains is a tremendously efficient and economical use of America’s most versatile crop. We did a similar economic comparison last fall when crude oil was $100 per barrel and corn was about $4.65 per bushel. Since that time, ethanol’s competiveness with gasoline has improved even further.
It’s no wonder that ethanol has been able to claim the title as the lowest cost motor fuel and octane source in the world over the past several years.
- See more at: http://www.ethanolrfa.org/exchange/entry/what-can-you-get-for-3.60/#sthash.xfmbITlb.dpufAug 14, 2014
By North Dakota Farmers Union
Ethanol production in North Dakota generates significant income for retail agricultural service and supply dealers, roughly $700 million a year, according to a study recently released by the Center for Agricultural Policy and Trade Studies at North Dakota State University.
The study, commissioned by North Dakota Farmers Union (NDFU), directly links 10 percent of all agricultural retail sales to ethanol production.
“Growing corn for ethanol production is not only an important value-added market for farmers, it is a lucrative product for fuel suppliers to retail,” said NDFU President Mark Watne. “Thirteen cents of every sales dollar last year was directly related to ethanol production.”
The study outlined four immediate impacts of ethanol production: increased commodity prices, increased net farm income, increased agricultural inputs, and increased land prices.
According to the study, ethanol production in the U.S. was about 1.6 billion gallons in 2000. A decade later, America produced 12.7 billion gallons of ethanol, consuming nearly 37 percent of the U.S. corn crop. That increased demand raised corn prices from $2 per bushel on average in 2005 to almost $7 in 2012.
“Corn sets the price for all other commodities,” noted Watne. “It’s to our advantage to grow, sell and buy this home-grown renewable fuel.”
To view the study in full, go to AG STUDY
Read the original story here : Study Shows Ethanol Impact On Retail Ag Service Sales
Aug 12, 2014
By Cindy Zimmerman
Concluding the sixth year of sponsorship at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and the Buffalo Chip Campground, Robert White with the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) believes they are making some real headway in getting the true story about ethanol to motorcycle riders.
“The education to the riders is actually taking on a new life,” said White. “We’re seeing riders talking to riders.”
In this edition of the Ethanol Report, White talks about a rider who pulled up for the Free Fuel Happy Hours who said he defended ethanol to his friends at the rally who told him it was a bad for his motorcycle. “He said ‘I kinda came unglued on them’,” he related. The biker told him that he had been talked in to using it at the rally the year before, and he’s “been using it this entire last year without any issue.”
In another case, White said a guy with a brand new Harley said he had been told by the dealer not to use ethanol and he wanted to get a response to that. “And I said why would you believe me?” White said. “I didn’t engineer your motorcycle, I didn’t put the parts together, I’m not providing a warranty for that motorcycle.” The man agreed, noting that neither did the dealership, but his owners manual from Harley in fact said he could use 10% ethanol. “Harley’s been doing this a long time, as have (other motorcycle manufacturers) they know what fuel is going to be most prominent, least expensive, highest octane option for these motorcycles, and it’s going to be ethanol.”
White says they are looking forward to next year, which will be the 75th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, where RFA will having an even bigger presence with an even bigger crowd.
Read the original story here : RFA Making Inroads In Motorcycle Education