Today in Biofuels: Emission study authors say biofuels OK from perennials, waste, abandoned lands; US, EU, Brazil one step from global ethanol standard; fossil fuels are driving grain price increases
Submitted by Biofuels Digest
Top Story:
The University of Minnesota researchers who started a global controversy over biofuels emissions with an article in Science magazine that has been reprinted and discussed around the globe, said that biofuels would be OK as practiced in….Minnesota.
The researchers said that land conversions would run up a carbon debt mitigated only after 423 years of palm oil production in Indonesia, 167 years of soy production in Brazil, and 167 years of corn production in the USA.
However, they added that ethanol made from perennial prairie plants in Minnesota would incur little or no carbon debt and offer immediate and sustained greenhouse gas emissions. The researchers said that biofuels made from waste biomass, or using abandoned agricultural lands, are appropriate areas for biofuels production.
Producer News:
In Pennsylvania, BioEnergy International closed financing for its 100 Mgy corn ethanol plant and pilot cellulosic plant, in Clearfield. The $201 million in debt financing was provided by TD Banknorth and WestLB, with tax exempt bond financing by Sterns Brothers. Equity funding was provided by BioEnergy and its investors Plainfield Asset Management, Camulos Capital, Itera Ethanol, LLC, Context Capital Management and NGP Capital Resources. “The corn and cellulosic pilot plants to be built in Clearfield are core to BioEnergy’s mission of integrating the development of novel biocatalysts for use in innovative, state-of-the-art biorefineries,” the company said.
In Ohio, a 110 Mgy corn ethanol plant owned by The Andersons and Marathon Oil in Greenville has commenced production. The joint venture will produce 350,000 tons of distillers grains in addition to ethanol.
In Nebraska, Ethanex Energy announced that it will acquire the Midwest Renewable Energy ethanol plant in Sutherland, for $220 million in cash and Ethanex stock, in a series of three transactions. Under the agreement, Ethanex will acquire the existing 26 Mgy Midwest corn ethanol plant, and will subsequently acquire an additional 85 Mgy in production capacity, currently under development by Midwest. Total capacity for the plant will be 111 Mgy upon project completion.
In Indiana, Green Fuels has proposed a 20 Mgy biodiesel plant on a 32-acre site in Fulton County. The company has requested a rezoning hearing with the County to advance the project. The proposed feedstock for the new facility was not disclosed.
In Washington State, Tri-City & Olympia Railroad has established a subsidiary, Green Diesel, to make biodiesel for the railroad. The subsidiary has established a 1 Mgy research plant in Richland that will produce fuels for use on the 127-mile railroad that uses 500 gallons of fuel per week for the 100 cars it runs on the line. The plant is scheduled to begin operations as soon as April, and is the first biodiesel plant owned and operated by a railroad.
International News:
In Brazil, representatives of Unica, the Sao Paulo-based sugar cane industry association, said that Brazil, the United States and the European Union have agreed on all items in a new international standard for ethanol, except the volume of water in ethanol. The EU wants to limit water content to 0.24 percent, while Brazil has proposed 0.5 percent and the US is pressing for a 1.0 percent water content. When agreement it achieved, it will permit ethanol to be traded globally as a unified commodity. Brazil and the United States, which are major ethanol producers, object to the lower water standard proposed by the EU because it would reduce overall production.
In India, Bihar state will re-auction 60-year leases on 10 abandoned sugar mills after bids were not received on three and seven bids did not meet the reserve price. Five mills were successfully leased to Reliance Industries, Hindustan Petroleum, Rollcon Projects and SS Infrastructure were successful in their lease bids.
In Macedonia, Makpetrol will introduce biodiesel into the market, despite unclear regulations on fuel quality and the absence of incentives for biodiesel producers. Makpetrol said it would sell biodiesel for for a 0.8 percent price premium over diesel fuel. Macedonia law requires that fuel retailers sell a B2.5 to B5 blend, with a mandated increase to B20 by 2020, but the laws have never been implemented due to the absence of fuel quality standards.
Research News:
In Missouri, researchers at Washington University have received a $425,000 grant from the US Department of Agriculture for a pilot butanol project. The university’s International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability is using microbes to produce butyrate from corn kernels. Butyrate can be fermented into butanol. “We pretty much placed our bets on cellulosic ethanol,” Gary Schmitz, of the National Renewable Energy Lab, told St. Louis Today “But we are on record, in testimony before Congress, as saying that longer term, butanol is one of several alternative bio-based fuels that may be worth looking at.”
Policy and Policymakers:
In Washington, John Podesta, CEO of the Center of American Progress, said that fossil fuels account for two-thirds of the cost of producing and transporting grains, and blamed the 129 percent increase in fuel costs for the increase in food prices. Lester Brown, director of the two-thirds of the Earth Policy Institute, recently wrote that ethanol grain usage has increased 27 million tons between 2006 and 2007. However, the the chief scientist at BP said that crop prices have been rising because the emerging world is consuming more food, noting food grains demand increased by 28 million tons, and that ethanol uses only 4 percent of world grain production. Crop failures in the Ukraine and Australia, as well as yield problems in China, have exacerbated the situation.
Consumer and Fleet News:
In Alabama, the Pike County School System said that it has achieved a 1.5 to 2.0 miles per gallon improvement with biodiesel, based on a fleet traveling 8,500 miles per week. Mike Johnson, chief of maintenance and transportation for the schools, said that the improvement has been three miles per gallon on trucks, up to two miles per gallon on older buses, and roughly the same mileage on newer buses.
Financial News:
The Biofuels Digest Index™ (BDI), a basket of public biofuels stocks, jumped 3.35 percent Friday to close at 121.04, recovering most of the losses from last week’s slide. For the day, diversified agribusiness Archer Daniels Midland (AMD) leaped 3.72 percent to close at $42.95 after announcing cost-cutting measures. Among mid caps, VeraSun Energy (VSE) rose 1.62 percent to $9.41 as ethanol stocks generally rose, excepting Aventine Renewable Energy (AVR), down 1.07 percent to $8.30. Among small caps, GreenShift (CICB.OB) fell 35 percent to $0.0052 while Nova Biosource Fuels (NBF) rose 3.98 percent to $2.09. Overall, declines led advances 3 to 2.
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