It is always great to read positive news articles when it comes to biofuels and in particular ethanol.
Here's a timely article that should be of interest, regardless of your position on biofuels and ethanol - "Anna Autrey: Biofuels are the answer" - published on The Gainsville Sun's Gainsville.com Website http://www.gainesville.com/article/20090414/NEWS/904149911/-1/MAGAZINE?Title=Anna-Autrey-Biofuels-are-the-answer
As she mentioned in her article, Anna Autrey noted the amount of energy produced by ethanol versus that which is required to produce it; in particular her comments on cellulosic ethanol should peak some interest in those who have doubts about the benefits of cellulosic ethanol and it's place in helping to replaces our use of fossil fuels.
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| Posted by Ethanol Consultant Mike at | | | |
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The New England states now have a cellulosic ethanol plant near by in New York state. It was recently announced that Mascoma Corporation's Rome New York demonstration plant for cellulosic ethanol production was put online.
The plant was designed to enable Mascoma to utilize a variety of feedstock, incorporating their Consolidated Bio-Processing technology. To learn more about Mascoma Corporation and their cellulosic ethanol production technology, visit their site at: Mascoma.com
It was announced on April 14, 2009 that Mascoma will be relocated its corporate headquarters (September 2009) into a new research laboratory and office building located in Lebanon, New Hampshire. The corporate office is presently in Boston, Mass.
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| Posted by Ethanol Consultant Mike at | | | |
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GrowthEnergy.org America's Ethanol Producers - a new organization that is focused on greener energy alternatives for America and the world. A major focus for the organization is promoting ethanol with the understanding that America needs a new ethanol approach. And, with their proactive grassroots campaign, they are promoting the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and "expanding the use of ethanol in gasoline, decreasing our dependence on foreign oil, and creating American jobs at home..." as noted on their website.
Here's a link to an informative video posted on their site: http://www.growthenergy.org/2009/about/video.asp
As it is noted on GrowthEnergy.org's Website and for those of us who have been following ethanol and its production know that there are breakthroughs already happening that will ensure that we have an even cleaner and greener ethanol biofuel, cellulosic ethanol, for a the long-term use of ethanol to help reduce our dependency on fossil fuels.
If you are interested in participating as an "eTeam member of the organization, be sure to visit this page on their site to sign up:
http://www.growthenergy.org/2009/get_involved/eteam.asp
News release on February 5th, 2009 "General Wesley Clark Announced as Growth Energy Co-Chairman"
http://www.growthenergy.org/2009/news/showItem.asp?id=17
GrowthEnergy.org on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Omaha-NE-Washington-DC/Growth-Energy/122421550289?ref=mf
GrowthEnergy.org on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/growthenergy
For members of the press and others interest, this page has severl .pdf files that may be of interest
http://www.growthenergy.org/2009/press/index.asp
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| Posted by Ethanol Consultant Mike at | | | |
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More companies are looking to produce ethanol from biomass, i.e. cellulosic ethanol. Venture funding is pouring into companies that are leading the effort to produce cellulosic ethanol.
One venture headed up by DuPoint and Danisco, and Danisco's Genencor is working on producing cellulosic ethanol from biomass consisting of corn cobs and switchgrass. The biorefinery is under construction in Knoxsville, Tennessee with an anticipated opening in 2010.
Companies like Genencor are considered to be second generation because of the focus on producing biofuels from biomass, and in particular producing ethanol from biomass versus the first-generation approach that involves the use of corn to produce ethanol.
We suspect that 2009 will see even more venture capital funds move to help finance companies that are focused on producing biofuels from biomass and that companies focused on producing cellulosic ethanol, biodiesel, and biobutonol will find new sources of funding knocking at their door. Here's a site that recently release a digest of U.S. venture capital focused on biofuels: http://www.oilgae.com/blog/2009/01/biofuels-digest-released-summary-of-us.html
And, here's an article written by David Baker, San Francisco Chronicle, is posted on their website:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/04/MN4916RJ4C.DTL
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| Posted by Ethanol Consultant Mike at | | | |
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Alternative uses of land for biofuel feedstock...
Article "Fostering a state of innovation" by Peter Doherty on theage.com.au
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/fostering-a-state-of-innovation-20090405-9t5o.html
Along with Peter's thoughts on not being able to drought-proof Austrial's agricultural sector, in particular in the state of Victoria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_(Australia)), he offers thoughts on what else could be done. And of particular interest is Peter including these comments regarding ethanol in his article, "There's also the possibility that mechanisms for producing ethanol from biomass rather than food grains or sugar cane will have advanced to the point where some of our land might be used to grow specialised grasses for this purpose..." http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/fostering-a-state-of-innovation-20090405-9t5o.html
At all corners of the world we find folks looking at better or alternative uses of their land with many of those uses focused on growing sustainable feedstock for use in the production of cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels. It will be interesting to following efforts such as those mentioned in Mr. Doherty's article and other postings on numerous blogs and news sites across the globe.
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| Posted by Ethanol Consultant Mike at | | | |
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We've been reading about companies that will be producing cellulosic ethanol using municipal solid waste as feedstock...
Here's an article on a company that is planning to do just that, producing 20 million gallons of ethanol per year from municipal solid waste (MSW) from a landfill (the Three Rivers Landfill) in Ponotoc, Mississippi. The Montreal Canada based company, Enerkem, announced the construction of the $250 million plant and their plans of producing cellulosic ethanol.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10200929-54.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Enerkem already has built several demonstration plants using municipal solid waste and other feedstock to produce cellulosic ethanol.
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| Posted by Ethanol Consultant Mike at | | | |
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Expanding the reach into directly controlling the sources of ethanol for the business that involves mixing ethanol with gasoline, Valero Energy Corporation has won the bid to purchase 7 ethanol plants from VeraSun as part of a bankruptcy auction. A total of $477 million is to be paid for the purchases.
This is Valero Energy's first venture in directly producing ethanol for their business needs. The total capacity of these plants is estimated to be 780 million gallons per year according to the information in the company's press release.
Here's a link to Valero Energy Corp's press release on their Web site:
Valero Energy Has Winning Bid to Purchase VeraSun Plants
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| Posted by Ethanol Consultant Mike at | | | |
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Time for a refresher on cellulosic ethanol and the cellulosic biomass, i.e.,feedstock, that can be used to produce it.
Here are just some of the energy-efficient feedstocks that can be used (and are starting to be used) to produce cellulosic ethanol:
Fast-growing trees - sustainable poplar tree farms are one key source of biomass for cellulosic ethanol; short-rotation hybrid aspen (a cross between quaking aspen and European aspen; and short-rotation coppice (SRC) willow trees.
Corn stover - stalks, leaves, and husks of corn plants
Corn cobs - cobs that were typically left in the soil now can be put to better use (the cobs have minimal benefit to soil nutrient and offer the farmers yet another income source instead of being plowed into the soil)
Grain straw - cereal straws (e.g. wheat, barley, oats, rice)
These agricultural waste products are plowed back into the soil, composted, burned or disposed in landfills. Now they can become another revenue source for the farmers.
Switchgrass - these are crops grown specifically for fuel production (non-food based grasses that can be planted in soil and diverse locations less suitable for other plantings; these are perennial grasses/forage crops. They are crops that have low water & fertilizer requirements.
Miscanthus - this is a tall perennial grass whose stems can be used for cellulosic ethanol production
Sorghum - "milo" - this crop is a short rotation crop, allowing harvesting multiple times throughout the year. It requires little water
Forest product waste - included are wood chips, lumber mill sawdust, dead trees, and tree branches
Municipal waste - this includes household garbage and paper products
Industrial waste - black liquor which is a by-product of paper manufacturing; paper sludge
A major benefit of cellulosic ethanol is that it produces lower levels of greenhouse emissions.
Here's a pdf file with a tremendous amount of information - Title: Biofuels, bioenergy, and bioproducts from sustainable agricultural and forest crops: proceedings of the short rotation crops international conference - http://nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/gtr/gtr_nrs-p-31.pdf
Here's an excellent website & cellulosic information page to bookmark: http://www.seco.cpa.state.tx.us/re_ethanol_cellulosic.htm
This posting and/or subsequent postings will focus more on each of the feedstocks, highlighting where and how they are being used to produce cellulosic ethanol.
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| Posted by Ethanol Consultant Mike at | | | |
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An excellent resource to learn more about ethanol and other fuels is the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and the Alternative Fuels & Advanced Vehicles Data Center.
As posted on this government site, "This Ethanol subsite represents a joint effort of the U.S. Department of Energy's Biomass and Vehicle Technologies Programs and covers the entire production cycle of ethanol, from the field to the fuel tank. For information on other biofuels, go to the Fuels section." http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/ethanol/index.html
As more focus is turning to cellulosic ethanol as an alternative fuel that does not impact our food supply, here's a section of their web site that discusses cellulosic feedstock: http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/ethanol/feedstocks_cellulosic.html
Another important information page covers "Ethanol Energy Balance" - where information is presented that looks at corn-based ethanol and cellulosic ethanol and more recent studies that point to a positive energy balance (not the negative energy balance as reported in earlier studies). Decide for yourself but please look at all the latest information so you have the facts - not the "facts" as reported in some online, TV, and newspaper reports. You decide.
http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/ethanol/balance.html
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| Posted by Ethanol Consultant Mike at | | | |
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