The Navy’s two-day demonstration, which will happen during the biennial Rim of the Pacific exercise around Hawaii from June 29 to August 3, is part of its plan to send such a strike group on a regular, months-long deployment in 2016, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said …

…The demonstration strike group will include aircraft operating on 50/50 blends of biofuel and conventional aviation fuel, and noncarrier ships operating on 50/50 blends of biofuel and diesel. Other parts of a strike group – a carrier and submarines – already are nuclear-powered.

The blends, of a kind not derived from food stocks, already have been tested on ships and aircraft, but the demonstration is meant to show that an entire strike group can operate together on these fuels, Mabus said.

…Nations sending units and/or personnel to this year’s event are: Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Tonga, the United Kingdom and the United States.

…The Navy has announced the ships that will take part in the Great Green Fleet demonstration.

The ships are:

USS Nimitz, aircraft carrier

USS Princeton, cruiser

USS Chafee, destroyer

USS Chung Hoon, destroyer

USNS Yukon, oiler

The aircraft are:

MH-60R Seahawk, helicopters

MH-60S Seahawk, helicopters

F/A-18 C/E/F, fighter jets

E-2C Hawkeye, early warning and battle management aircraft  READ MORE

Let’s go back 10 years ago, before the first Renewable Fuel Standard was passed, when there was 1.1 billion bushels of corn used for ethanol. Then, we’ll look at 2007-08, five years atom, when RFS had been implemented and RFS2 was on the way. And, we’ll look at the WASDE forecasts now available for the 2012/13 season.

The RFA’s Geoff Cooper reports, “USDA released its first estimate of the 2012/2013 corn crop size and it is a big one.  According to this estimate, USDA is projecting record US corn production of 14.79 billion bushels – up 1.7 billion bushels from the previous record of 13.09 billion bushels in 2009. USDA is also projecting corn for ethanol use to be 5 billion bushels for the marketing year running from September 1, 2012 to August 31, 2013. ”

…Based on USDA’s forecast, the corn available for other uses, such as export and the feed markets (which is how field corn plays into the food market, as field corn is not used for human consumption) will have increased 31 percent during the corn ethanol era.

Let’s put this in terms of corn available for other uses, per US resident. In 2002 the population stood at 287 million, and there was 30.4 bushels of corn – that’s 1706 pounds – available per US resident for all other purposes besides corn ethanol.

Where is that today, after a decade of negative press on food vs fuel? The 2012 population stands at 313, and there are expected to be 36.6 bushels of corn – that 2050 pounds, available per US resident for all other purposes besides corn ethanol.  READ MORE

“We think the model will help policy makers and forest managers make informed decisions to maintain forest productivity while minimizing the environmental impact of managed forest plantations,” says Dr. Shiying Tian, a Postdoctoral Researcher at NC State, and lead author of a paper on the model, just released in the Journal Of Environmental Quality. “It also will help us understand how these forest systems will respond if we see changes in temperature or precipitation related to climate change,” says Dr. Mohamed Youssef, Assistant Professor of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at NC State, and co-author.

…The new model is timely, due to a number of emerging uses for forest land. One example, the national interest in identifying new means of growing biofuels crops, like switchgrass, by planting it in the space between trees in commercial forests. DRAINMOD-FOREST will help determine whether such an “inter-crop” method is viable and sustainable. Would it hinder tree growth? What would the environmental consequences be? “We could also use the model to determine the viability and environmental impact of introducing new commercial tree species,” Tian says.  READ MORE  Abstract

The study commissioned by the Ministry of Mines and Energy found that Colombian ethanol made with sugar cane emits 74% less greenhouse gases than fossil fuels. Ethanol made with palm oil produces 83% less emissions.

These reductions mean that if all of the country’s existing cane sugar and palm oil facilities operated at full capacity, carbon dioxide emissions would drop by 1.8 million tonnes – 3% of the country’s CO2 emissions in 2008, the report stated.

…Though still years behind the world’s largest biofuels producers, the U.S. and Brazil, Colombia’s ethanol industry is set to benefit from the U.S. Free Trade Agreement, which takes effect May 15.

Cane sugar ethanol is not produced in the U.S., and while Brazil’s exports to the U.S. face high tariffs, Colombian fuel will avoid them as a result of the FTA.  READ MORE

The report “Contribution of Biofuels to the Global Economy”, published by the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance, reveals that in 2010 the global biofuels industry contributed 213 billion euro(1) to the global economy, increased global GDP by 0.4% and supported 1.4 million jobs in all sectors.

“This report shows that the biofuels industry is contributing substantially to the global public good. As global biofuels production increases, the economic benefits of biofuels are being further maximised”, said Mr. Rob Vierhout, Secretary-General of ePURE.

The report highlights that ethanol production sustained nearly 70,000 jobs in Europe in 2010, and this could rise to about 190,000 jobs in 2020. Currently in 2012, with more ethanol production plants having been constructed in Europe during the past 2 years, the sector supports 100,000 direct and indirect jobs(2), mainly in the agricultural sector.  READ MORE   Download Study

The agreement provides for the construction and operation of a micro-crop scientific research program in Hainan Province, China. After the success of the research program, build-out of ten commercial-scale units of approximately 5,000 hectares will be implemented step by step at locations to be determined around the world.

…Parabel’s product platform will enhance global food and energy security, and directly address deficiencies in critical feed, food and fuel industries. The company’s protein product could qualify as the first major new plant protein source for humans since soy entered the human diet in the 1950s, while third-party tests have confirmed the value of Parabel’s animal feed applications as a local feedstock for renewable “drop-in” fuels.

“This is an exciting and unique opportunity,” said Anthony Tiarks, CEO of Parabel. “Not only does this agreement simultaneously accelerate our commercialization process and deepen our relationship with CECEP, but it also envisions the construction of commercial-scale production units outside of mainland China. We look forward to working closely with CECEP to serve critical market needs in China and beyond.”  READ MORE

…(T)he biofuels industry contributed $277.3 billion to the global economy in 2010. This amounts to 0.4 percent of the globe’s GDP.

• …Biofuels displace petroleum and reduce the world’s dependence on foreign oil, especially for major importers such as the U.S and EU and rapidly growing emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil. The production and use of ethanol and biodiesel displaces the crude oil needed to manufacture gasoline and distillate. The production of 110.8 billion liters of ethanol and biodiesel in 2010 is the equivalent of 1.2 billion barrels of crude oil valued $135.4 billion at 2011 prices. The displacement of crude oil with biofuels is projected to increase to nearly 2.3 billion barrels by 2020 valued at $253.6 billion.
• The impact of biofuels on displacing crude oil has a positive effect on the balance of payments and international financial health of net oil importers. As shown in Table 7, among the 21 major biofuels producers discussed in this study only seven (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Malaysia, Mexico, and Vietnam) were net crude oil exporters in 2010 and of these only two (Argentina and Malaysia) had positive current account balances.    The aggregate current account deficit of the net oil importers was $639 billion (including the U.S. which had the highest deficit of $471 billion). These countries produced the equivalent of 821 million barrels of crude oil in the form of biofuels valued at $91.3billion. In other words, but for biofuels, the current account deficits of these countries would have been 14 percent higher.

…The importance of biofuels to agriculture is particularly notable since feedstocks produced by the world’s farmers provide significant revenue and stimulate future agricultural production that will enhance food security on a global basis. The fastest growth in biofuels production is expected to take place in emerging and developing countries particularly in Asia and Africa. For these countries biofuels will supply rapidly growing domestic markets and provide an important base for expanding export earnings needed to fuel economic growth.  READ MORE

Food and beverage wastewaters have high biological oxygen demand (BOD) from dissolved sugars, fiber, and carbohydrates and cannot be discharged into a sanitary sewer without significant surcharges. ThermoEnergy can help eliminate the expense of BOD treatment and disposal by making concentrated sugars suitable for resale in a wide variety of applications, including feedstocks for bio-ethanol production. In addition to concentrating the sugars, the remaining water is purified to levels suitable for normal discharge.

“Instead of incurring profit-draining treatment and disposal costs, companies are studying converting those wastewater streams into revenue streams, and ThermoEnergy is ready to help,” said ThermoEnergy CEO Cary N. Bullock.

“One particularly exciting use for the recovered sugar is for feedstock for bioethanol production,” Bullock noted. “Bioethanol is garnering significant international attention and support. Cleaning up a water discharge stream and converting it to a usable bio-feedstock has a tremendous, positive impact on sustainability.”

ThermoEnergy’s system is compact in size, uses less energy than competing technology, produces higher-quality concentrations, and is very low maintenance.

In 2011, Congress eliminated corn subsidies for ethanol production. The Obama Administration, however, continues to support renewable fuel standards that call for the production of more than 15 billion gallons of renewable fuels in 2012. In addition, the U.S. Department of Defense has a goal of meeting 25% of its energy requirements from renewables by 2025. Waste sugar is expected by ThermoEnergy to become a high-value feedstock replacement for corn in conventional ethanol production.

ThermoEnergy Sugar Recovery Systems integrate best available technologies to achieve the lowest OPEX/CAPEX, and the highest concentration levels of recovered sugar. These include reverse osmosis, ThermoEnergy TurboCAST®, and ThermoEnergy CAST® systems. ThermoEnergy’s Controlled Atmospheric Separation Technology (CAST®) concentrates sugar-bearing wastewater to create up to a 65-brix sugar product for use in a variety of agricultural and renewable fuel market applications. At the same time, the system recovers 100% of the wastewater for reuse in plant operations. ThermoEnergy’s TurboCAST® systems combine controlled atmospheric separation with state-of-the-art blowers to provide maximum efficiency, flow rates in excess of 60,000 GPD, and integration with commercial water technologies for zero liquid discharge applications in the food and beverage industry.

ThermoEnergy offers several financing options for system deployment, including sale of capital equipment, leasing, and “design/build/own operate” with fixed monthly payments. Service and extended warranties are also available.  READ MORE

It continued with a list of “sensible policies to promote this long-range goal.”  Including, “An economy-wide, anti-carbon policy, such as a carbon tax,” … “a higher gasoline tax, which could also fund transportation needs.”  The editorial approved of “President Obama’s auto efficiency standards,” but had less enthusiasm for “direct subsidies for electric cars” finding them “extremely expensive for meager benefits.”

Nowhere did the editorial advocating using less oil suggest the use of biofuels.  Apparently, Washington Post editors do not see the “contains up to 10% ethanol” stickers on regular gas pumps throughout the DC area; cannot calculate that already with biofuels we decrease our use of petroleum-based transportation fuel.

As we have pointed out for years, calls to end our addiction to oil focus on solar, wind and geothermal; none of which helps to end our use of oil.  And over and over, those who call for decreased oil use fail to mention the one renewable product that actually can and does decrease the use of oil.

Why this blindness and deafness to a truly renewable energy solution?  One possibility comes from the same editorial, if “America were to take the extraordinary step of removing itself from the world oil market entirely, (it) could lead to its own price spikes and ignite a trade war.”

And yet, if the links related to that statement are followed, a very different conclusion is discovered, “Importing less oil from abroad would help shrink the U.S. trade deficit. Dollars spent on oil would stay within the country rather than flee overseas. That’s not nothing. But according to the CBO, even a massive surge in production wouldn’t likely do very much to buffer the United States from the sorts of wild and harmful swings in the oil market that are becoming increasingly common.

The only real protection against oil volatility, the report concludes, is to become more fuel-efficient and ramp up alternatives to crude.”

Which is exactly what we are talking about at Advanced Biofuels USA, ramping up alternatives to crude.  It is amazing to me how intelligent, respected writers and policy advocates state the solution in general terms, but fail to articulate the obvious specifics.

If, as the Washington Post editorial concludes, reducing consumption of oil has far more promise, then let them also advocate for systemic deployment of advanced biofuels to achieve that goal.