by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  The USDA Economic Research Service has released a 24-page report offering an overview of renewable identification numbers (RINs) and outlining how the RIN market works in relation to the …

(Platts)  The US Environmental Protection Agency may end up deeming more biodiesel renewable identification numbers (RINs) as invalid following federal investigations into two companies that allegedly sold RINS without producing the appropriate volumes of biodiesel, …

by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com)  The U.S. Supreme Court will not hear a case brought by petroleum interests against the Environmental Protection Agency over the expanded Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2).
The petition made by the National Petrochemical …

(Sapphire Energy)  Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that USDA has issued a loan guarantee that will allow a biofuels firm to construct a facility in New Mexico to produce “green crude” oil from algae …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …In the Race for Scale, the industry has excelled in driving down operating costs. Capital costs have proven more perplexing, and sticker shock has been a hold-back. Feedstock availability at …

by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  It was déjà vu all over again on Nov. 2 as representatives of the ethanol industry were forced to watch a House of Representatives Energy and Environment Subcommittee hearing …

by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  …By Nov. 30, the U.S. EPA will issue its renewable fuel standard (RFS) volumes for the upcoming year and, once again, it will dramatically ratchet down the cellulosic biofuels …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … But here are 10 themes that are shaping up to be the Buzz of the conference.
1. RFS. Hold or Fold?
2. Can Obama find the $510 million?
3. Elections.
4. Fuels, or …

by  Susanne Retka Schill  (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Interesting article turned up this week from Australia, showing just what could happen with no RFS or mandate. The Courier-Mail reported  “Queensland motorists dudded as fuel retailers pull ethanol …

by Bill Lundberg (Biofuels Digest)  Should the Renewable Fuel Standard be scrapped, or revised? BP North America chief Susan Ellerbusch makes the case for “No”.
In Chicago, BP Biofuels North America president Susan Ellerbusch, in addressing …

by Brent Erickson (BIO/Biofuels Digest)  The Renewable Fuel Standard is the key foundation policy supporting the commercial development of advanced biofuels. It is not working as fast as some would like, but given the current …

(Modesto Bee)  Rep. Jeff Denham is citing the state’s policies in the closure of Fulton Valley Farms of Turlock, set to happen by mid-January because of rising feed costs.
The high cost of feed is a …

(25 x ’25)  As soon as a report assessing the economic and environmental impacts of the federal Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) was issued by the National Research Council (NRC) Tuesday, many questions about the validity of …

by Luke Geiver (Biodiesel Magazine)  After roughly seven months of thorough consideration and review, the U.S. EPA has approved a petition put forth by the government of Canada to allow renewable biomass grown in Canada …

(GreenMuck.com)  A criminal information was filed today charging Rodney R. Hailey, age 33, of Perry Hall, Maryland, with wire fraud, money laundering and a violation of the Clean Air Act, in connection with a scheme in …

(Renewable Fuels Association)  The results of a new National Academies of Sciences (NAS) study, entitled “Renewable Fuel Standard: Potential Economic and Environmental Effects of U.S. Biofuel Policy”, should be interpreted with extreme caution, the Renewable …

by Bryan Sims (Biorefining Magazine)   …Today, in an industry that’s working to produce high-performance, fungible, drop-in molecules, some on the cusp of commercialization, many involved in the biorefining sector contend that the current regulatory …

(EcoEngineers)  The EPA is out to prosecute cases of RIN fraud. They have launched a national initiative to investigate irregularities in RIN generation, separation or transfers. Of particular interest are cross border trade in fuel …

by Charles Abbott (Reuters)  Legislation was being drafted in the U.S. House that would reduce the federal mandate to use fuel ethanol when corn supplies are tight.
…According to consulting firm MF Global, the legislation would …

by Seth Meyer and Wyatt Thompson  (FarmDocDaily/University of Illinois)   …Biofuel mandates are directly relevant for biofuel producers, and indirectly important to feedstock markets. Biofuel refiners sell outputs that serve fuel blenders in two ways. …

by Jim Greenwood   (Biotechnology Industry Organization/The Hill’s Congress Blog)  There is widespread agreement among experts, policy makers and the public that the United States must overcome its addiction to fossil fuels to protect the …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  The first zero-cost feedstock biofuels company comes to the public markets with its IPO.
…Fulcrum becomes the 12th company to file for an IPO in the industrial biotech boom, which began …

by David Shaffer  (Los Angeles Times)   Across the nation, biodiesel plants have been restarting or ramping up production, spurred by a revived federal tax credit and renewable energy mandates.
…At least 52 of the nation’s 170 …

(Senator Mike Crapo)  Would make renewable fuels standard more “technology neutral”
U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID)and Tom Udall (D-NM)recently introduced bipartisan legislation in the U.S. Senate that would help level the playing field for advanced biofuels like …

by Robert Rapier (Forbes)  …My Plan: Award Direct Per Gallon Subsidies for Oil Displacement
Instead of offering grants and loan guarantees for cellulosic ethanol producers — and forcing blenders to pay when they can’t purchase product …

(MarketWatch/Mission NewEnergy)  Mission NewEnergy Limited , a global provider of environmentally sustainable biofuels, has announced the in-house development of an improved palm oil supply chain process called “Mission g-Palm” that maximizes green house gas savings when …

by Sean Kilcarr  (Fleet Owner) …“U.S. truckers can be pretty well assured that there won’t be any near-term spike in biodiesel being blended into the diesel stocks above 5%,” Paul Niznik, Hart’s biofuels manager, told Fleet …

by Philip Brasher (Gannett/Des Moines Register)  …The industry likely stands a better chance of protecting the annual usage mandates, known as the Renewable Fuel Standard, from being weakened by livestock or environmental interests. “I don’t …

by Brent Erickson (BIO/Biofuels Digest)  As any number of economic analysts have noted, continued policy uncertainty is holding businesses back from the hiring and investment needed to get the economy moving again. The advanced biofuel …

Erin Voegele (Biorefining Magazine)  …Vilsack estimates that we will see commercial-scale biorefineries that were supported by the USDA begin to come online in the 2012-‘13 time frame. “When you see that, you’ll begin to create …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  The National Corn Growers Association declares War on cellulosic biofuels, calling them “non-existent”, then mysteriously removes the blog post. What gives?
Ten days ago, Cathryn Wojciki, communications manager for the National …

by Jerry Hagstrom (AgWeek)  Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s Republican presidential candidacy and President Obama’s comments on ethanol have thrown the corn-based ethanol industry into turmoil as it struggles to convince Congress to provide assistance to …

by  Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay  (Chemical and Engineering News)  Government mandates have shaped the market but not always for the best
By 2050, the global population will hit between 7.5 billion and 10.5 billion. Energy demands will soar, …

(Senator Tom Udall) U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) today announced his plans to introduce bipartisan legislation in the U.S. Senate that would help level the playing field for advanced biofuels like algae by reforming the …

by Amy Harder (National Journal)  …By year’s end, the congressional “super committee”  charged with reducing the federal deficit likely will topple the $6 billion in annual ethanol industry tax credits and a corresponding government tariff …

by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  In June, the U.S EPA issued its proposal to reduce the coming year’s cellulosic biofuels volume target for the renewable fuel standard (RFS). The RFS goals set by Congress …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …A successful IPO would cap a remarkable comeback for biodiesel from the depths of “The Troubles” in 2008-09. It’s a second time through for REG: the company filed for a …

Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  The rise of themochemical biofuels, the power of markets, and the anarchic essence of energy development
…The “failure” of cellulosic ethanol is a failure of the policy framework, I said. It was …

by Paul Voosen (New York Times/Greenwire)  …For eons, plants have locked the sun’s energy into complex strands of sugar, used to build their stems and leaves. These chains are far different from table sugar or …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …In a swirling stew of change regarding US federal incentives, tariffs, tax credits and loan guarantees, the most consistent mechanism driving the expansion of renewable transport fuel has been the …

(Environmental Protection Agency)  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today (June 21, 2011) proposed the 2012 percentage standards for four fuel categories that are part of the agency’s Renewable Fuel Standard program (RFS2). EPA continues …

(Environmental Protection Agency)  The EPA is announcing a public hearing to be held for the proposed rule “Regulation of Fuels and Fuel Additives: 2012 Renewable Fuel Standards,” which EPA intends to publish separately in the …

by Steve Leer (Purdue University)
• About 27 percent of the nation’s corn crop must be devoted to ethanol this year to meet the federal mandate, leaving other corn users to compete for the remaining 73 …

by Ron Kotrba (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  …(Pete) Moss, (vice president of marketing for cereal process technologies) says the 15 billion gallon cap on corn ethanol in RFS2 is one reason why fractionation will finally come …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …EPA proposes to mandate the blending of 15.2 billion gallons of renewable fuel into the US fuel supply, and increased the proposed mandate for advanced biofuels by 48 percent, to …

by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com)  …(T)he industry has once again begun exporting fuel to the U.S. over the past few months. According to brokers quoted in a recent Soyatech article, the ethanol industry has exported 1.9 million barrels …

(National Biodiesel Board)  America’s Advanced Biofuel Supporting Thousands of New Jobs While Generating Billions in Household Income, Tax Revenues
The U.S. biodiesel industry will grow to support more than 74,000 jobs throughout the economy by 2015 while …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …E15 blending, goes the argument, can provide the immediate market growth that will absorb current capacity, and create room in the marketplace to meet RFS renewable fuel mandates, and create …

by Brooke Coleman (Advanced Ethanol Council/Biofuels Digest) …Often lost in the counter-productive and backward-facing public obsession with corn ethanol are the clear attributes of the ethanol molecule itself.
A recent study, “Ethanol – the Primary Renewable …

(Advanced Biofuels Association/PR NewsWire)  Sending a significant signal of industry unity to Capitol Hill, the leading advocates of the U.S. biofuels industry sent Congress a message today that urged lawmakers “to stand firm in the …

by Erin Voegele (Biodiesel Magazine)  How replacing natural gas with biomass as feedstock for methanol production can improve biodiesel’s already good environmental footing
The vast majority of methanol produced today is sourced from natural gas, but …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  An interview with James Garton, president of Mission Biofuels USA subsidiary. We look at the jatropha 1.0 catastrophe, actual biodiesel capacity in the US, palm biodiesel, the RFS, and more.
…The …

by Geoff Cooper (Renewable Fuels Association)  The Energy Policy Research Foundation (EPRINC) recently released a white paper inexplicably suggesting that the cost of the Federal ethanol program exceeds its benefits by a factor of 3 to …

(Advanced Biofuels Association)  A consistent commitment by Congress that avoids the ups and downs of public opinion will be crucial to the success of transforming America’s energy policy to cleaner and renewable sources, that’s what …

by Mary Rosenthal (Biofuels Digest/Algal Biomass Organization)  …Our federal tax policy actually discourages the production of low-carbon, renewable algae-based fuels, including drop-in gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, as well as ethanol, by failing to provide …

(Novozymes)  The United States has a lot riding on the success of its biofuel industry – energy independence, job creation, and environmental stewardship. But really, how far is the country in achieving its goals? There …

by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com)   In a new study from Air Improvement Resource, Inc. (AIR) commissioned by the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), the requirements of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) can be met with ethanol if …

by Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind (IndyStar)  …Washington over the years has failed to focus sufficient attention on our oil vulnerability and generate momentum behind substantive, concrete proposals with definable goals. In 1999, former CIA director …

(National Biodiesel Board)  Automakers Back Biodiesel, America’s First Commercially Available ‘Advanced Biofuel’
The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit has long been known as THE event of the year for the latest vehicle technologies …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)   …For our 2010 batch of predictions, we give ourselves 6 marks out of 10.
We gave ourselves 1 full mark for predicting the spread of Low Carbon Fuel Standard activity, the …

by Michael Devine  (Biodiesel Magazine)   …Now more than ever, the oilheat industry must recreate its brand image. Integrating biodiesel into the existing petroleum infrastructure provides the oilheat marketer a new, improved liquid fuel for the …

(Biodiesel Magazine)  …(Ed) Hegland, (soybean grower from Minnesota, served as the NBB chairman for the past 3 years): One thing discussed at the November board meeting was the need to re-launch and redefine biodiesel as …

(National Sorghum Producers)  National Sorghum Producers and the Sweet Sorghum Ethanol Association (SSEA) are happy to announce a formal collaborative agreement between the two organizations.
While NSP and SSEA have worked together in the past, the …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  … The USDA’s Sarah Biddleman speaks in terms of “standing up a biofuels industry” like a pop-up children’s book, in that all the pieces have to rise up, in the right …

by Jenny Mandel (New York Times/Greenwire)  An appeals court rejected a challenge today (December 21, 2010) by petroleum industry groups to U.S. EPA’s biodiesel blending requirements, in a move affirming the agency’s implementation of the renewable fuel …

by Erin Voegele  (Biodiesel Magazine) Although the U.S. biodiesel industry has struggled since the lapse of the $1 per gallon tax credit, renewable identification number (RIN) prices are currently trading high enough to fill that void. …

by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  Poet LLC CEO Jeff Broin told attendees at a recent energy conference that the U.S. will need to eventually utilize the equivalent of E27 in the nation’s fuel supply …

by Katie Fehrenbacher (GigaOM)   Cello Energy, the beleaguered, infamous biofuel company that was hit with fraud allegations, has finally dropped off of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) list of potential cellulosic ethanol suppliers for 2011.
…What’s …

by Robin Bravender & Darren Samuelsohn (Politico)  …Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Monday said that the future of transportation fuels shouldn’t involve ethanol, the gasoline additive that historically has received billions of dollars in federal subsidies.

“Ethanol …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …In July, the EPA indicating in a draft ruling that it would specify a range of 6-25 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol, and finalized its mandated volumes at 6.6 million …

(US Environmental Protection Agency)  Under the Clean Air Act Section 211(o), as amended by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to set renewable fuel standards each …

by Christopher G. Standlee (Abengoa Energy/The Hill’s Congress Blog)  …(T)here is bipartisan support for answering an urgent national challenge: replacing imported high-pollution petroleum with clean-burning American biofuels.  …There is bipartisan support for biofuels because their development, …

by Mike Bryan (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  In a thinly veiled attempt to further line their pockets, the meat and poultry industry, and the grocery and convenience store associations, are once again trying to stop the …

Robert White (Renewable Fuels Association)  …The U.S. ethanol industry has the capacity to produce nearly 14 billion gallons of domestic renewable fuel annually, or more than 10% of our fuel supply.  The Renewable Fuels Standard …

(Gevo)  First Isobutanol to Receive Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Registration as a Fuel Additive
Gevo, Inc., a privately held renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels company, announced November 11, 2010, that it received notification that its isobutanol had successfully …

by Philip Brasher (Zanesville Times Recorder)  Motorists will use just a fraction of the next-generation biofuels in 2011 that Congress intended, and even that small amount depends on a single project in Iowa that isn’t …

by Andrew Herndon (Bloomberg)  Oil companies won’t be able to get as much cellulosic biofuel as they might need next year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
EIA, a unit of the Energy Department that compiles …

(The Economist)  Biofuels are back. This time they might even work.
MAKE something people want to buy at a price they can afford. Hardly a revolutionary business strategy, but one that the American biofuels industry has, to …

by Dr. Theodore Wegner (Assistant Director, Forest Products Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service)  Dr. Wegner begins with an interesting profile of the demand for advanced biofuels, and the different pathways to produce biofuels from cellulosic …

by Mark Gehlhar, Ashley Winston, and Agapi Somwaru   (USDA Economic Research Service)   Achieving greater energy security by reducing dependence on foreign petroleum is a goal of U.S. energy policy. The Energy Independence and Security Act of …

by Kris Bevill  (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  There’s a growing consensus among the budding cellulosic ethanol community that the renewable fuels standard (RFS) is not doing its job. Enacted in 2005 and amended in 2007, the …

by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine)  U.S. farmers will continue to produce an abundance of food and feed for both the domestic and international markets. This was an often repeated message at the Export Exchange, …

(BioTechNOW)  Congress urged to restore funding to DOE Loan Guarantee Program
Growth of clean energy has been stifled, biofuel advocacy groups maintain, by a lack of funding and shortcomings in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Guarantee …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …With the collapse in markets, rising prices and the evaporation of the tax credits, condition were ripe for the end of biodiesel 1.0. By early 2010, only two major producers …

by Darrin Ihnen (The Hill/National Corn Growers Association)   …Unfortunately, many of the articles we’re seeing don’t get the facts quite right. The New York Times, for example, asserts that the Renewable Fuel Standard mandates the …

(Renewable Fuels Association)  Further analysis of EPA’s Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) reveals more errors in the agency’s calculation of corn ethanol and other biofuels’ carbon intensity, according to new analysis by the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA). …

by Jim Lane  (Biofuels Digest)  …“Investors constantly ask us the simple question,” says AE Biofuels CEO Eric McAfee, “ If the EPA is not enforcing the cellulosic ethanol mandate and only providing a few months of …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …However, SARA (safe, affordable, reliable, available) feedstocks for advanced biofuels remain a goal rather than an assured reality.
In this context, Genera should be seen as one of a handful of …

by John M. Urbanchuk   (ENTRIX/The Hill)  In his July 27 blog posting “The economics of U.S. ethanol policy” Professor Bruce Babcock of Iowa State University reports the results of new research suggesting that allowing the current …

By Luke Geiver (Biodiesel Magazine)   The U.S. EPA has released a Notice of Data Availability (NODA) for its recent modeling of the canola oil biodiesel pathway. As of March 26, when the EPA officially announced …

by Stacy Feldman (SolveClimate) Industry rips failing DOE loan program on the heels of EPA’s decision to slash cellulosic biofuel mandate.
…EPA announced it expects 5 to 17.1 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol to be blended into …

The US Congress has mandated an aggressive expansion of cellulosic and advanced biofuels, through the latest Renewable Fuel Standard (RFSII) and other measures. Ethanol will remain a substantial component of the US fuel supply, but …

(San Francisco Chronicle/Bloomberg)   The Environmental Protection Agency proposed requiring less cellulosic ethanol to be blended into gasoline next year than sought under U.S. law because production of the alternative fuel hasn’t reached commercial scale.
…Cellulosic ethanol, …

(Renewable Fuels Association)   …Of note, EPA has revised down cellulosic ethanol use from original RFS targets for the second year in a row. While this may be prudent for EPA based on market conditions, it …

(US EPA)  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) July 12, 2010, proposed the 2011 percentage standards for the four fuels categories under the agency’s Renewable Fuel Standard program, known as RFS2.
The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 …

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  …It has been pointed out repeatedly by advanced biofuels developers that the public sector must craft long-term, stable national policies to support and incentivize new capacity, with the return on …

by B.A. (Ben) Thorp and Masood Akhtar  (Ahead of the Curve, TAPPI)  …The first question to ask is, why do I need to know any of this? Reasons can range from increasing one’s knowledge to helping …

(American Soybean Association)  The American Soybean Association (ASA) provided comments today to the National Research Council (NRC) Committee on Economic and Environmental Impacts of Increasing Biofuels Production. ASA told the Committee that biodiesel made from soybean …

(Environmental and Energy Study Institute)  On March 18, 2010, the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) held a briefing on the state of the cellulosic biofuel industry and its prospects for producing the volumes required by …

Growth Energy, the coalition of US ethanol supporters, announced today that it has filed papers to intervene on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a lawsuit filed against EPA by the petroleum …