Ethanol Producer Magazine

September 13, 2019

By Lisa Gibson

Minimizing feedstock cost is one rule for a successful cellulosic ethanol project, according to Mark Yancey, chief technology officer for D3Max. “That can be a very large component of your project costs.”

Yancey spoke Sept. 13 at Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits’ Alcohol School, held this week in Montreal. The final day of the event focused on cellulosic ethanol.

D3Max partnered with Ace Ethanol in Stanley, Wisconsin, to construct a cellulosic ethanol plant, which is expected to start up in October. Yancey said the D3Max development plan has always been to colocate with an existing ethanol plant.

In a cellulosic project, Yancey continued, avoid feedstock harvest and transportation, make sure it’s available year-round and has a high coproduct value.

Other rules Yancey shared from his experience included those in pretreatment: ensure high solids loading, a low-cost catalyst, and minimize inhibitor production. In Enzymatic hydrolysis, minimize enzyme cost, avoid dilution after pretreatment, and use hemicellulase and cellulase enzymes. In fermentation, ensure both C5 and C6 sugar fermentation, use a robust and low-cost yeast, and aim for a high product yield.

Yancey said issues a cellulosic ethanol plant might face include: feedstock supply, feedstock cost, capital cost per gallon of ethanol, ethanol yield, coproduct value, wastewater and project financing.

The feedstock for the D3Max system is wet cake, making a pretreatment step crucial. The wet cake goes into a reactor, then a clash tank, then to fermentation, beer column, and to dehydration or decanters to recover ethanol or produce feed.

“This is considered separate processing,” Yancey said. “There’s no mixing of the starch or sugars between the two plants. That makes us what EPA calls separate processing.” The separate processing status makes permitting much easier, he added.

Corn oil yield is expected to be 1.2 pounds per bushel, with a dried distillers grains with solubles yield of 10.5 pounds per bushel. That’s an improvement of DCO yield from 0.7 pounds per bushel from a standard dry mill ethanol plant, Yancey said, and a decrease of DDGS from 14 pounds per bushel, but an increase in protein of 27 percent.

“Ace is very happy with the results,” Yancey said.

Key players in the project include Ace and D3Max, as well as Fagen Inc., AdvanceBio, Fluid Quip Process Technologies, DSM, Lallemand and Whitefox Technologies.

The D3Max plant is expected to produce about 3.4 MMgy, increasing Ace’s overall yield of 2.9 gallons per bushel to 3.1 gallons per bushel, Yancey said.

In response to questions about starch in feedstock and the effects of nutrients, Yancey said, “when this is all up, we’ll need to reoptimize the whole facility.

“Everyone is waiting for our plant to start up. The proof will be in the actual commercial demonstration.”

Read the original article: Alcohol School: Yancey Delivers D3Max Project Update

Reuters

September 16, 2019

By Jarrett Renshaw, Stephanie Kelly

U.S. President Donald Trump has tentatively approved a plan to increase the amount of biofuels that oil refiners are required to blend each year to compensate for exemptions handed out to small refiners by the Environmental Protection Agency, two sources familiar with the matter said.

The plan is intended to address a major source of anger in U.S. farm country as Trump seeks to hold favor in the Midwest ahead of next year’s election, but it is likely to upset the oil industry, another important political constituency, underscoring the pitfalls of U.S. biofuel policy.

Under the plan, the U.S. EPA will calculate a three-year rolling average of total biofuels gallons exempted from the mandates under its Small Refinery Exemption program and add that figure to its annual biofuel blending quotas each year, the sources said. For 2020, that figure would be 1.35 billion gallons, according to a Reuters calculation.

That would come in addition to a tentative agreement to boost next year’s blending volumes by 1 billion gallons, including 500 million gallons for conventional biofuels like corn-based ethanol and 500 million gallons for advanced biofuels like biodiesel, the sources said.

A court in 2016 ruled that the Obama administration illegally lowered the mandate by 500 million gallons, and part of the current proposed addition would satisfy the decision.

As a result, if the Trump administration followed through on the plan, next year’s total blending mandate would come out to about 22.4 billion gallons, from just over 20 billion in the EPA’s current proposal, according to the Reuters calculation.

The EPA has until the end of November to finalize its 2020 biofuel volumes mandates.

Under the Renewable Fuel Standard, oil refiners are required to blend increasing volumes of biofuels like corn-based ethanol into their fuel each year, to help farmers and reduce imports, but small refining facilities in financial straits can seek waivers.

Trump inserted himself into negotiations between the rival oil and corn industries after his administration recently granted 31 oil refiners exemptions to their blending requirements, infuriating corn farmers and ethanol producers who say the program undermines demand for ethanol at a time the industry is already suffering from a loss of foreign markets.

He and senior administration officials have held a series of meetings with biofuel company officials, chief executives from Marathon Petroleum Corp and Valero Energy Corp, and lawmakers from key farm states including the Republican senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley.

Trump was expected to meet with senators representing oil-producing states on Monday to continue discussions on the issue, sources said.

It was unclear if Trump would secure the backing of the oil industry for the plan without granting it any concessions.

One idea that Trump discussed during the meeting with Marathon and Valero last week to help refiners was to potentially cap the price of blending credits refiners must earn or purchase to comply with the RFS, sources familiar with the matter said.

Senators including Pennsylvania’s Pat Toomey and Texas’s Ted Cruz sent a letter to Trump on Thursday, asking any increase to biofuel volumes be accompanied by safeguards against higher credit prices.

Read the original article: Trump Backs Plan that Would Boost Biofuel Quotas 10% in 2020

Senator Amy Klobuchar

September 12, 2019

News Release

U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) led a letter to President Donald Trump today strongly urging him to help rural Americans, and the environment, by rescinding the 31 recently approved small refinery exemptions (SRE) for biofuels. They also urged his Administration to uphold the intent of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The letter follows recent news reports indicating that the Administration is considering changes to the RFS that would boost biofuel volumes following backlash from farmers after 31 additional SREs were approved on August 8. SREs, or so-called “hardship” waivers, are intended to help small refineries by exempting them from the RFS, but the EPA has issued dozens of waivers, including for some of the most profitable oil companies in the world. The abuse of these waivers has resulted in lost jobs in rural communities and lost markets for farmers at a time when they are already struggling with low commodity prices and ongoing trade disputes. Under the Trump Administration, 85 SREs have been approved, contributing to a reduction in the use of billions of gallons of renewable fuel.

Biofuels are a key pathway toward decarbonizing the transportation sector while lowering gas prices, driving economic growth, and creating jobs. Every gallon of biofuels we use displaces a gallon of oil and cuts carbon emissions. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) found that first generation biofuels cut greenhouse gas emissions by between 39 and 43 percent.

Klobuchar and Duckworth were joined on the letter by Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, and Senators Tina Smith (D-MN), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Gary Peters (D-MI), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI).

“In recent months, the biofuels industry has seen an increase in the number of plant closures, and many other plants are beginning to reduce overall production, resulting in thousands of lost jobs in rural communities and lost markets for farmers at a time when they are already struggling with low commodity prices and ongoing trade disputes. We have previously expressed our serious concerns to the EPA about the impact of your Administration’s policies on the rural economy as a result of the improper issuance of SREs. Since that time, the approval of additional SREs and the worsening economic conditions facing biofuel producers and farmers have only exacerbated those concerns,” the senators wrote.

“The EPA’s continued issuance of SREs is undermining the statutory intent of the RFS to the detriment of rural communities and farmers. It is for this reason that we ask you to ensure that any plan negotiated with the EPA and USDA rescinds the 31 recently granted SREs and upholds the intent of the RFS by accounting for future SREs in the calculation of the 2020 RVOs.”

In June, Klobuchar and Duckworth led a letter, signed with 11 other senators, urging EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler to cease issuing SREs and requesting that the EPA immediately reallocate the remaining gallons and make public the information regarding any recipients of these exemptions.

The full text of today’s letter can be found below:

Dear Mr. President:

We understand that your Administration has convened meetings to consider proposals related to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and the continued issuance of small refinery exemptions (SRE), based on recent reports. As you continue to deliberate on a final package, we strongly urge you to rescind the 31 SREs that were approved on August 8, 2019, and to prospectively account for any future SREs when calculating Renewable Volume Obligations (RVO) for 2020.

For the compliance years of 2016, 2017, and 2018, the EPA has approved 85 SREs, all of which have contributed to a reduction of over 4 billion gallons of renewable fuel blending volumes and 1.4 billion bushels of corn. The abuse of SRE authority by the EPA is negatively impacting the rural economy, and the consequences resulting from the continued misuse of these exemptions are becoming more apparent by the day.

In recent months, the biofuels industry has seen an increase in the number of plant closures, and many other plants are beginning to reduce overall production, resulting in lost jobs in rural communities and lost markets for farmers at a time when they are already struggling with low commodity prices and ongoing trade disputes. We have previously expressed our serious concerns to the EPA about the impact of your Administration’s policies on the rural economy as a result of the improper issuance of SREs. Since that time, the approval of additional SREs and the worsening economic conditions facing biofuel producers and farmers have only exacerbated those concerns.

According to reports, the latest proposal under discussion would increase blending requirements for some categories of renewable fuels including biodiesel, but would fail to rescind the recently granted SREs and delay the reallocation of prospective exemptions until the 2021 compliance year. 

The EPA’s continued issuance of SREs is undermining the statutory intent of the RFS to the detriment of rural communities and farmers. It is for this reason that we ask you to ensure that any plan negotiated with the EPA and USDA rescinds the 31 recently granted SREs and upholds the intent of the RFS by accounting for future SREs in the calculation of the 2020 RVOs.

Thank you for your attention to this issue.

Sincerely,

Read the original news release: Klobuchar, Duckworth Lead Colleagues in Urging President to Help Rural Americans, and the Environment, by Upholding the Intent of the Renewable Fuel Standard

WhiteFox Technologies Limited

May 15, 2019

Press Release

A Midwest consumer advocacy group is imploring automakers to stay committed to flex-fuel vehicles, which offer American car buyers real choice—on the lot and at the pump. Seeking 20,000-plus signatures, the grassroots group has launched a petition in response to a noticeable downtick in the number of FFVs being manufactured and model types available to prospective car buyers.

Chris Schwarck, of Mason City, Iowa, kicked off the campaign after hearing about General Motors’ apparent retreat from FFVs in favor of other powertrain priorities. “It became apparent to many of us that car manufacturers, in particular General Motors, are moving away from flex-fuel vehicles as we know them today,” Schwarck explained in an e-mail to ethanol producers and corn growers last week. “Many of you have probably had as difficult a purchasing experience as I have in trying to buy a flex-fuel vehicle in a size vehicle you would like. It appears they do not really care what you want; it’s more of “this is what we have” type of thing. In my view, if we are to achieve our goal of selling more gallons of alcohol, we must have more flex-fuel vehicles to do it.”

Schwarck expects a groundswell response from the consumer public and has already gathered nearly 1,000 signatures. “We need everyone’s hands on the rope to pull this off,” he said. “We hope to garner 20,000 or more signatures when we deliver the petition to the vehicle manufacturers. It will take a lot of coordination to do this.”

While the ethanol industry has been especially supportive of the petition, Schwarck said the entire ag community needs be concerned about FFV production. “Every corn grower has a lot at stake here, whether they use ethanol or not; a lot of their corn is ground to make the product,” he said. “In addition, if you are a livestock or poultry producer, I’m sure you want a reliable, dependable supply of distillers grains available to you. The time has come when we must do some of the heavy lifting ourselves and cannot look to Washington or anyone else to do it for us.”

Pleading with automakers to stay the course on FFV manufacturing, the petition states: “We are consumers of your vehicles and we request that you manufacture cars and trucks of all models, engines and trim levels that will allow the use of higher ethanol blends such as E15, E20, E30 and E85. This would make our purchasing experience more enjoyable and less cumbersome than it is today. Many of us can simply not find the vehicles we wish to purchase. In addition, this would be beneficial to your sales presentation to offer environmentally friendly vehicles that burn clean, high-octane American made fuel, while supporting rural America and U.S. agriculture. We wish to support and promote the automakers that choose to produce quality cars and trucks that run on higher ethanol blends.”

The petition can be found here.