But a leading biofuels group said the report wildly overstated ethanol’s impact on grain prices.  READ MORE   Download Study

To give an idea of what effects these cuts could have on individual programs, three different options will be presented.

• Option 1: Cuts Only to Discretionary Budget Authority: This includes the direct funding of all DOE programs including EERE and Office of Science.

• Option 2: Cuts Only to Loan Programs: This includes vehicle manufacturing, building improvement, and biofuel refinery programs.

• Option 3: Cuts Divided Equally between Discretionary Authority and Loan Programs

For all options the following two assumptions were used: 1) baseline FY 2012 budget numbers are from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and 2) military line item programs in the DOE budget were not reduced because of the expressed intent of Congress to limit decreases in military funding. The following three tables present the results of this initial analysis.

Table 1
Option 1: Cuts Only to Discretionary Budget Authority
(All Values are in Billions)

Table 2
Option 2: Cuts Only to Loan Programs
(All Values are in Billions)

Table 3
Option 3: Cuts Divided Equally between Discretionary Authority and Loan Programs
(All Values are in Billions)

Analysis

While keeping in mind that this analysis is based on preliminary information and does not differentiate between programs in a specific line-item, Option 3 would reduce the overall reductions to all programs. The difference between Option 3 and Option 1 which would take the entire $7 billion out of only direct discretionary is very significant. Only a twenty percent (20%) reduction in all programs would be required instead of forty percent (40%).

These three options also provide the outline of how policy decisions will drive the direction of DOE funding cuts. For instance, for those members of Congress who are dissatisfied with the direction and results of DOE loan and loan guarantee programs, putting them on the “chopping block” would not be an unexpected course of action.

And, keeping in mind that FY 2012 agency budgets are supposed to be in place by October 1, this means many important funding decisions will be happening very fast.

According to SERC director Glenn Steele, the patent-pending process is a one-step catalytic (not Fischer-Tropsch) process that’s capable of converting waste, such as MSW, and syngas into liquid hydrocarbon fuels and chemicals. The technology evolved from collaborative research by MSU’s SERC and the land-grant institution’s chemical engineering department to find ways to recover fuel sources from MSW facilities.

…(T)he syngas-to-liquid hydrocarbon technology licensed to Harrelson & Associates is one of three different processes SERC is developing at its labs in Starkville, Miss. One is focused on utilizing a pyrolysis process to convert biomass into bio-oil and upgrade the oil to liquid hydrocarbons, a process that has since been licensed to Piedmont BioProducts,…

The third process being developed is focused on the production of bio-crude where researchers put microbes on municipal sanitary waste, such as industrial/municipal wastewater, to increase triglyceride—or lipid—where it can be extracted and converted into biodiesel or refined into green gasoline or diesel.  READ MORE

BAZ chairperson Thomson Sinkala said in an interview that the organisation would increase public awareness activities because they were a participatory industry and wanted to avail more information to the public. Professor Sinkala said BAZ would also continue to dialogue with Government on the need to announce blending ratios so that the industry could get into action.

…For some feedstock, each hectare can earn between US$6, OOO and $15,000 or more,” Prof Sinkala said. He said this meant that if the country used a million hectares on such feedstock, there would be earnings of between $6 billion and $15 billion or more per annum.   READ MORE

…The project was designed in two phases; the first involved refining the technology and developing lab-scale production capabilities. The second involved the construction of a pre-pilot scale production facility. “In 2006, the U.S. Military spent approximately $6 billion on 71 million barrels of JP-8 jet fuel. The success of this project would greatly reduce that cost as well as reduce dependence on foreign oil supplies,” said Tom Gleason, President of Raptor.  READ MORE

…The company is currently focusing on two feedstocks: stover in the Midwest and switchgrass in a partnership with University of Tennessee. Today, DDCE is looking for cost-effective biochemical solutions to convert those feedstocks into fuels, chemicals and biofuel products.

…This past year, DDCE did a corn stover test harvest in several states where they monitored everything from the storage of the materials and different moisture contents through the logistics of the equipment in the field, to collecting data on the GPS movements, to speed and fuel usage of these implements. The program this year is focused on providing answers not only to for their plant, but also for their customers’ plants.  READ MORE (includes audio and presentation slides)

Advanced Biofuels USA board member, Bob Kozak, and executive director Joanne Ivancic carpooled to Washington DC from the organization’s office in Frederick, Maryland, for the Green Car Summit a part of the Washington Auto Show. They cancelled a dinner with friends in order to try to make their way back to Frederick before the slush/snow/sleet/hail storm (complete with thunder) turned to ice on the roads.

Eight hours later, after an interview with Josh White of the Washington Post who was stuck in a car next to them, they arrived back at the office.  His story provides details of the driving adventure.   Watch next week for articles about the Green Car Summit.  We are experiencing some delays due to weather conditions.

• Critically examine the most promising avenues for bioenergy production, including cellulosic ethanol, next-generation fermentation of biofuels, algal biofuels and
  the development of new biomass feedstocks.
• Foster interactivity through poster sessions, breakfasts, lunches and a special networking dinner at the Asian Civilisations Museum on the evening of March 2.
• Include a tour of the Institute of Chemical and
  Engineering Sciences’ facility on Jurong Island on March 4.
• Provide free time for informal interaction and collaboration-building in a vibrant, cosmopolitan setting.
• Enable attendees to present and gain feedback on their research in a poster session (not required to attend).

Visit keystonesymposia.org/11C3 for more details, to submit an abstract and to register, and click here for a printable flyer. Note that short talks will be selected from submitted abstracts.

A key part of our mission as a non-profit organization is to connect scientists across disciplines and to engage the next generation of life science researchers. Whether or not you can attend, would you take a moment to forward this e-mail to at least one person who might benefit or who may not otherwise be aware of Keystone Symposia?  READ MORE

profiles of flex fuel vehicles operating on different ethanol blends (E10, E20, E30, and

E85).

… The E85 fuel blend consumed less BTU’s per mile than all other

ethanol fuel blends evaluated. This improved conversion of energy (BTU’s) for the E85

fuel blend was 13%, 9%, and 14% respectively for the light-, medium-, and heavy-loads

when compared to E10.

Better energy efficiency, BTU’s per mile, is a great attribute for a fuel, but energy

density also is an important consideration. Energy density, BTU’s per gallon of fuel

decreases as ethanol concentration increases. When compared to the E10 ethanol

blend, E20, E30 and E85 fuel blends have 3.5%, 7.1% and 26.5% less BTU’s per

gallon. To represent both of these factors, consumers most often reference efficiency

as the miles driven per gallon of fuel consumed (fuel mileage). When comparing fuel

mileage, the higher ethanol blends tended to appear less efficient, although to a lesser

degree than the energy density would suggest because of the improved energy efficiencies for the higher ethanol blends. For example, the E85 fuel blend had 26.5%

less energy per gallon than E10, but the fuel mileage only decreased 16%, 19% and

14% for the three models tested. Both the energy density and energy efficiency affect

overall fuel economy, but individually they are not good indicators of fuel economy.

Many reports highlight the lower energy content of ethanol fuel blends but very few

highlight the higher energy conversion efficiency of ethanol fuel blends.  READ MORE