by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Add-on technology developed for corn ethanol plants Rather than retrofitting a corn-ethanol plant to produce i-butanol, n-butanol or use other novel fermentation technologies, three companies are collaborating to turn a traditional ethanol plant into a
corn/maize
Back TO HOME3 Things You Need to Know about Biofuels
by Maggie Koerth-Baker (BoingBoing) ...In a nutshell, that’s why liquid fuel is so valuable. So far, it’s the clear winner when we need energy for transportation—especially air transportation and heavy, long-distance shipping—because it allows you to stuff a lot of
August 10, 2011 Read Full Article
Technique Measures Ethanol Isotopes from Vehicle, Plant Emissions
by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Researchers at the University of Miami Rosentiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science recently developed a technique to measure ethanol isotopes and discovered that the ethanol found in urban air and vehicle exhaust has
August 09, 2011 Read Full Article
Hankinson Ethanol Plant Installing Demo-Scale Anaerobic Digester
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Hankinson Renewable Energy LLC, a 120 MMgy ethanol plant in Hankinson, N.D., is in the process of starting up an anaerobic digester to produce 54 MMBtu of biogas a year, according to David Rein,
August 01, 2011 Read Full Article
Building on the Success of Corn Ethanol to Corn Hydrocarbons
by Holly Jessen (DomesticFuel.com) Although the U.S. corn ethanol industry is frequently misunderstood and misrepresented, it’s the only domestic renewable fuel industry to reach significant scale and make a measurable impact on the U.S. fuel supply, said Luca Zullo, principal
August 01, 2011 Read Full Article
New Study Finds U.S. Ethanol Production Growth Has Not Triggered Indirect Land Use Change
(PR NewsWire/-- Prior studies failed to compare land use predictions to historical data A new study published in the July 2011 Biomass and Bioenergy Journal on indirect land use change (ILUC) due to biofuels production indicates that the real impact of U.S. biofuels
July 28, 2011 Read Full Article
Analysis: Ethanol to Edge Pigs for Corn Use, but Not Quite Yet
by Charles Abbott and Karl Plume (Reuters) Ethanol appears almost certain to win the food-versus-fuel contest in the United States. But not just yet. The Agriculture Department forecast that a tad more corn will be used to make ethanol than to feed livestock
July 19, 2011 Read Full Article
Soy Chemicals: A Global Strategic Business Report - New Market Report Published
(PR-Inside.com) The global soy chemicals market is forecast to reach over $13 billion by the year 2017, spurred by the anticipated high demand from bio-diesels market and growing adoption of alternative renewable sources of energy. In particular, the soy-derived chemicals
July 19, 2011 Read Full Article
Debate over Corn Use Estimates Shows Need for Solid Ethanol Data
by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) The latest USDA World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates marked a milestone of sorts for the ethanol industry. For the first time, the USDA predicts that more corn will be used for ethanol production
July 15, 2011 Read Full Article
At the Capitol: Alternative Energy Can Be Found Right Here in Illinois
by Rep. Jim Sacia (Journal-Standard) ...Ethanol is another source of alternative energy that has established a foothold in America, and we can be very proud of our own Adkins Energy ethanol plant in Lena. One of the strongest lobbying groups in
July 12, 2011 Read Full Article
The New "30 Years War"
by Michael T. Klare (CBS News) ...Over the coming decades, we will be embroiled at a global level in a succeed-or-perish contest among the major forms of energy, the corporations which supply them, and the countries that run on them. The
June 29, 2011 Read Full Article
Agrivida Teaches Biofuel Crops to Self-Destruct
by Martin LaMonica (CNET) ... Agrivida is using genetic engineering and other techniques from the biotech industry to create proteins with specific traits designed for rapid, and cheaper, biofuel production from sorghum, switchgrass, and corn stover, the residual material from corn harvesting. Company
May 23, 2011 Read Full Article
Mexican Biofuels Seen Meeting 3% Blending Target In 2012
by Ivan Castano (Renewable Energy World) "I think it can be done," says Raul Felix, climate change and renewable energy practice coordinator at Baker & McKenzie in Mexico City. "However, Pemex is going to have to pay much more to make [supply]
May 03, 2011 Read Full Article
GasHole: Dirty Oil and the Biofuel Myth
by Allison Kilkenny (Huffington Post) This week marked the world premiere of GasHole, a new documentary film (narrated by Peter Gallagher) about the history of oil prices and the future of alternative fuels. Biofuel gossip has been everywhere in the news
May 02, 2011 Read Full Article
The Impact of Ethanol and Ethanol Subsidies on Corn Prices: Revisiting History
by Bruce A. Babcock, Jacinto F. Fabiosa (Iowa State University) The rapid rise in corn prices that began in the fall of 2006 coincided with exponential growth in U.S. corn ethanol production. At about the same time, new ethanol consumption
April 28, 2011 Read Full Article
Franken Tours Poet Ethanol Plant
(AlbertLeaTribune.com) Get ethanol at the pumps. That’s what the farmer owners of the Poet Glenville ethanol plant told Sen. Al Franken they would like to see. The comments came during a meeting Wednesday at the plant. “We want consumers to have a
April 28, 2011 Read Full Article
Is More Really Less? Overfertilizing Can Degrade Quality
by Morgan Gallagher (Ethanol Producer Magazine) ...Rather than look at only the total mass yield of either the corn grain or the crop residue, we took a different approach. We measured the mass yield of key biochemicals such as carbohydrate,
April 27, 2011 Read Full Article
Knocking Natural Gas Off Its Throne
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Although natural gas is king of power generation at ethanol plants, there’s increasing interest in renewable energy technologies that could help ethanol plants someday produce a domestically grown fuel without using fossil fuels.
April 27, 2011 Read Full Article
Lawsuit: Ethanol Production Threatens America's Vanishing Grasslands
by Kathleen Ryan (Public News Service) The search for ethanol is devastating one of America's vanishing ecosystems. That's the claim in a new lawsuit filed by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). It accuses the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of failing
April 27, 2011 Read Full Article
Cornoil – A Growing Feedstock for REG
by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com) The synergies between the biodiesel, ethanol and advanced biofuels industries are growing. One of the things that’s been happening over the past few years is the ethanol industry creating a new feedstock for the biodiesel industry
April 27, 2011 Read Full Article
Super Corn Sought to Limit Nitrogen Use, Pollution
by Jon Birger (Bloomberg) ...Other than water and sunlight, there’s nothing more important to growing corn -- the most-valuable U.S. crop, worth $66.7 billion in 2010 -- than nitrogen. Generous applications of nitrogen fertilizer are essential to the 180-to-200-bushel-an- acre
April 18, 2011 Read Full Article
Sovereign Focuses on Delivering Ethanol's Message
by Jean Caspers-Simmet (AgriNews.com) Dave Sovereign tries to help people see the benefits ethanol brings to the economy. ...It frustrates Sovereign when people bash ethanol. "After 9/11 the president and Congress asked all Americans to do what they could to eliminate our dependence
April 18, 2011 Read Full Article
Ethanol Groups Unite in Response to Anti-Ethanol Policy Forum
by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) Food and environmental lobby groups took their anti-ethanol message to the Capitol Visitors Center April 14, staging a “Corn Ethanol Policy Forum” that included planned remarks from several legislators as well as analysts from
April 15, 2011 Read Full Article
Ethanol's Overlooked Source of Food Supply
by Gavin Maguire (Commodities Now/Reuters) Ethanol producers often get much of the blame for driving the price of corn to its current multi-year high levels due to that industry's strong usage of corn to make fuel. But critics overlook the
April 12, 2011 Read Full Article
USDA Changes Corn Wording after Ethanol Makers Complain
by Charles Abbott and Christopher Doering (Reuters) The government introduced new wording on corn use on Friday following complaints from ethanol makers that they were not getting credit for the corn byproducts that are fed to livestock. Instead of saying "corn for ethanol"
April 11, 2011 Read Full Article
Harvesting, Storage and Transfer Technology Update
by Maynard Herron and Bob Matousek (Kansas Alliance for Biorefining and Bioenergy) AGCO (Hesston, KS) received an award for biomass feedstock supply demonstration as a partial match of a $5 million renewable energy R & D grant
April 11, 2011 Read Full Article
Ethanol: Pros, Cons Fuel Debate over Its Worth
by Tyler Ellyson (Columbus Telegram) Robeson, general manager of Frontier Co-op in Brainard, considers the corn-based fuel to be the crutch that the Midwest and Nebraska economies leaned on during the recent recession — keeping our heads above water while
April 04, 2011 Read Full Article
Saint Michael’s Receives $766,000 NSF Grant as Part of Plant Genome Project
(VermontBiz.com) Saint Michael's College biologist Dr Mark Lubkowitz and his students join a team of researchers from the University of Missouri, University of Florida, Purdue University and the University Nebraska-Lincoln, on a five-year project to study the genes that control
March 24, 2011 Read Full Article
Logos and EdeniQ Receive Department of Energy Funding for Corn-to-Cellulosic Pilot Biorefinery
(Logos Technologies) DOE commits full $20.5 million to retrofit and build pilot plant in Visalia, CA Logos Technologies®, Inc. and EdeniQ, Inc., announced U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) approval to fully fund $20.5 million in federal cost share under DOE's Integrated
March 23, 2011 Read Full Article
Whole New World of Corn
by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com) Everything you ever wanted to know about corn is contained in the latest edition of the World of Corn from the National Corn Growers Association. This year’s publication, available online now, highlights the wide variety of roles that farmers
March 23, 2011 Read Full Article
Companies to Produce Edible Ethanol Co-Product
by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com) ...Prairie Gold (PGI) of Bloomington, and GTL Resources USA of Itasca, Illinois have agreed to collaborate on the construction of a zein protein production plant. Zein is a high valued co-product that can be produced from
March 23, 2011 Read Full Article
Governors Call for Improved Corn-for-Ethanol Reporting
(Western Farm Press) A coalition of 34 U.S. governors from Washington to New York to Texas have called on U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to alter the way his department reports the use of corn for ethanol production. They argue
March 17, 2011 Read Full Article
Swazi Biofuels Strategy Complete, Awaiting Cabinet Approval
by Winile Mavuso (The Swazi Observer) ...Director of Energy Henry Shongwe said the document was basically a policy which would guide companies which want to venture into the bio fuels industry. Such companies include among others; D1 Oils and others.
March 17, 2011 Read Full Article
Corn Growers To Explore Payment Shift
(Wallaces Farmer) ...NCGA (National Corn Growers Association) delegates attending the meeting in Tampa, Fla., adopted ethanol policy that states "NCGA supports reforming existing ethanol tax policy. Ideas to replace existing tax law, in the following priority order, should be a variable
March 16, 2011 Read Full Article
The Need for Alternative Fuel: When Biofuels and Genetic Engineering Meet
by Alexander Kunev (The McGill Daily) ...However, getting rid of a system of distribution that encompasses a large network of filling stations and refineries is far from the most efficient way to ensure that more vehicles will be powered by
March 14, 2011 Read Full Article
Maize Farmers Lobby to Supply Biofuel Industry
by Stephanie Nieuwoudt (Interpress Service News Agency) South African maize farmers are pushing hard to change a government decision to exclude their crops as feedstock for bioethanol, in view of food security concerns. Shortly after the government unveiled its biofuel strategy last
March 14, 2011 Read Full Article
Monsanto Invests in Sapphire; Goes Hunting for Yield Traits in the Wild, Wild Wet
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...But let’s take this opportunity to really lock down an understanding of Sapphire. That will help reveal the motivations and opportunities in this deal. But also, in a larger sense, will help clarify the algal
March 09, 2011 Read Full Article
Overfertilizing Corn Undermines Ethanol
(ScienceBlog) ...A new paper in today’s online edition of the American Chemical Society’s journal Environmental Science and Technology shows how farmers can save money on fertilizer while they improve their production of feedstock for ethanol and alleviate damage to the environment. ...The team led by
February 28, 2011 Read Full Article
Grassley and Ethanol: Industry Loses Key Ally in Deficit Battle
by Phil Brasher (Des Moines Register) Cutting the deficit is more important than protecting the ethanol industry if it comes to that, says Sen. Chuck Grassley, long the biofuel industry's most powerful ally in Congress. Grassley said Tuesday that he would
February 24, 2011 Read Full Article
Biofuel Dreams Running on Vapor
by Dan Chapman (AJC/Atlanta Business News) ...One day, the dreamers said, Georgia would turn corn, pine trees, yeast, soy beans, peanut shells — any rapidly grown feed stock — into gasoline for cars or diesel for trucks. Alternative energy factories
February 24, 2011 Read Full Article
Ethanol is 'Good, Good, Good,' Grassley Says
by Courtney Blanchard (Telegraph Herald) Senator rejects new criticism of U.S. ethanol policy that comes after reports of low corn reserves. Near record-high corn prices and the lowest reserves in 15 years have reinvigorated the debate over ethanol. U.S. Sen. Chuck
February 22, 2011 Read Full Article
Ethanol Is Valuable State Crop, Group Says
(Ashland Current) A recent report issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture says the total value of Wisconsin crops rose by more than $1 billion dollars last year to $4.8 billion, up from $3.5 billion in 2009. More than half of
February 22, 2011 Read Full Article
Government Hands May Be Tied on Ethanol: USDA Official
by Ayesha Rascoe (Reuters) ..."The fact is the industry has pretty much been built," USDA Chief Economist Joe Glauber told reporters on the sidelines of a Commodity Markets Council conference. "This isn't a question of just saying 'cut it off.'
February 22, 2011 Read Full Article
USDA Approves Corn Amylase Trait for Enogen(TM)
(Syngenta) First corn output trait for ethanol industry Enables ethanol industry to improve efficiency and profitability Significant environmental benefits Syngenta announced February 11, 2011, it has received full deregulation for its corn amylase trait from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This is the
February 21, 2011 Read Full Article
The Corn Ethanol War: Wall Street Journal, Gingrich Get out the Slingblades
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In New York, the Wall Street Journal launched a bitter counterattack this week on former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, after Gingrich remarked, at a meeting of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association that “Obviously big urban
February 01, 2011 Read Full Article
Corn Profitable for Farmers, Less So for Ethanol
by Dan Piller (Des Moines Register) The surge in corn prices since mid-2010 has bolstered the profits of corn farmers but has eaten away at the profitability of ethanol producers. ...Ethanol producers meanwhile saw a dramatic drop in their margins from
January 24, 2011 Read Full Article
The Hidden Cost of Oil at the Grocery Store Checkout Counter
by Stephanie Dreyer (Renewable Energy World/Growth Energy) ...The cost of crude is a major inflator of grocery prices, because transportation, manufacturing and packaging cost more as oil prices go up. In 2009, when diesel was $2.67 a gallon, the cost
January 11, 2011 Read Full Article
Disarming the Food to Fuel Conflict Part 2: The Misinformation Campaign
by Christopher Klug (Tiny Green Bubble) ...According to the Renewable Fuels Association data, the United States produced and used approximately 10.6 billion gallons of ethanol in 2009, making the US the largest producer of ethanol in the world. (Renewable Fuels
January 05, 2011 Read Full Article
Letters: Stoking the Ethanol Debate
by Bob Dinneen (Renewable Fuels Association/Houston Chronicle) Letter to Editor ...The Chronicle says natural gas from shale deserves federal subsidies for production, but says ethanol doesn't because it requires too much water to produce. The water needs of fracking and
November 21, 2010 Read Full Article
You Can Have Your Opinion, but Not Your Own Facts
by Matt Hartwig (Renewable Fuels Association) That the Houston Chronicle would be anti-ethanol is not surprising to anyone. It is Houston, Texas, after all. But that the editorial board would play fast and loose with the “facts” they use to support
November 11, 2010 Read Full Article
GreenShift’s Patented Corn Oil Extraction Process Demonstrates Record Yield: 4 Gallons of Corn Oil for Every 100 Gallons of Ethanol Produced
(BusinessWire) GreenShift Corporation announced that its patented corn oil extraction processes have consistently demonstrated record levels of performance. David Winsness, GreenShift’s Chief Technology Officer, said: “We are proud to announce that one of our licensees, the first to have installed our full patented
November 11, 2010 Read Full Article
Inclusion of Maize in Biofuels Strategy Condemned
(The Bioenergy Site) The African Center for Biosafety (ACB) has issued a statement to express concerns over the possibility of the inclusion of maize in a revision of South Africa’s biofuels policy. ACB was prompted into action by an announcement made by
November 01, 2010 Read Full Article
What Food v. Fuel Debate?
by Stephanie Dreyer (Renewable Energy World/Growth Energy) ...You have one nutritionist with Tyson Foods speaking about the great value of DDGs (Dried Distillers Grains) as a feed for livestock. And then another expert takes it a step further, saying that
October 27, 2010 Read Full Article
Guest Column: Give Farmers Credit Due for Conservation
Dean Taylor (Des Moines Register/Iowa Corn Growers Association) ...Iowa farmers have made measurable progress in conservation and water quality. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, farmers' use of nitrogen and phosphorus per bushel has been drastically reduced over the
October 27, 2010 Read Full Article
Export Exchange Conference Zeros in on Supply
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, a conference focused on connecting
October 14, 2010 Read Full Article
First Corn-Powered Train Closer to Reality
by National Corn Growers Association (Natural Resource Report) ... “AHL-TECH has developed an ethanol-hybrid locomotive to capitalize on the growing ethanol market in the United States and to replace the railroad industry’s aging diesel-electric locomotive fleet,” said Tom Mack, president and
October 14, 2010 Read Full Article
Ethanol Gets Iowa Football Fans Pumped Up
by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel) Did you know that 60 cents of each gallon of E85 purchased stays in the state of Iowa? I didn’t know that until I participated in the Iowa Corn Fed Game Day pump rally at Riverside,
September 13, 2010 Read Full Article
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson Discusses Farm Bill Issues with Saratoga County Farmers
by Paul Post (The Saratogan) ...For local dairy producers, one of the most pressing concerns is ethanol production that drives up corn prices — hurting small family farms in the process. ..."We’ve got a big problem in the ethanol industry," (House
September 09, 2010 Read Full Article
China May Absorb South Africa’s Grain Surplus - Agriculture Ministry
by Hopewell Radebe (Business Day/Reuters) The government yesterday brought hope to grain farmers who are struggling to find alternative markets to dispose of surplus maize following a bumper crop that drove prices down. ... Last month, Grain SA chairman Neels Ferreira called for the
September 09, 2010 Read Full Article
Water: Is There Enough for Biofuels at Scale?
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...In a note at CO2science.org, a trio of authors contend: “There simply is not enough freshwater on the face of the earth to make the production of biofuels a viable and significant alternative to the
August 25, 2010 Read Full Article
APOV: A Strong Case for Ethanol
by John M. Sawyer and Michael C. Sawyer (The Daily News) ...Corn ethanol is not responsible for destruction of forest land. Total U.S. crop acres are actually declining, total U.S. land devoted to crops will be 346 million acres in
August 13, 2010 Read Full Article
Chinese Experts Urge Government to Halt Corn-Based Ethanol Production on Price, Food Security Concerns
(People's Daily) China's industrial experts are advising the government to halt projects making ethanol bio-fuel with corn, as the projects are pushing up corn prices and sparking food security concerns. Zhao Youshan, director of the Commercial Petroleum Flow Committee (CPFC) under
August 12, 2010 Read Full Article
The Mad Scramble over the Ethanol Tax Credit
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Growth Energy, the Renewable Fuels Association, the Environmental Working Group, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the American Meat Institute, and several members of congress are among the main players in a
July 20, 2010 Read Full Article
Using Biofuel Tax Credits to Achieve Energy and Environmental Policy Goals
(Congressional Budget Office) The federal government supports the use of biofuels—transportation fuel produced usually from renewable plant matter, such as corn—in the pursuit of national energy, environmental, and agricultural policy goals. Tax credits encourage the production and sale of biofuels
July 19, 2010 Read Full Article
Corn and Cellulosic Ethanol Fight for Viability, Government Favor
(HybridCars) ...It's been more than four years since then-President George W. Bush told the country in his State of the Union speech that it would soon be using corn, wood chips and switch grass to power its automobiles. Biofuels, Bush
July 14, 2010 Read Full Article
MO Ethanol Plant Helps Feed Hungry
by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel) ...“While sweet corn isn’t something we normally plant in these fields, we realize there are people in our community and in the city facing tough times,” said Billy Thiel, MCGA board member and corn grower from
July 13, 2010 Read Full Article
RFA Response to San Francisco Chronicle “Dead Zone” Article
(Renewable Fuel Association) ...Let’s start with what the scientists say. Those scientists who served on federal agency panels convened in recent years to examine hypoxia issues concluded that the hypoxia zone has many causes and it is difficult—if not impossible—to positively
July 07, 2010 Read Full Article
Dead Zone in Gulf Linked to Ethanol Production
by Carolyn Lochhead (San Francisco Chronicle) While the BP oil spill has been labeled the worst environmental catastrophe in recent U.S. history, a biofuel is contributing to a Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" the size of New Jersey that scientists say could
July 07, 2010 Read Full Article
25 Million Acres of Corn with Nowhere to Go, by 2030? A Digest Special Report
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ...(D)oomsayers who have been predicting an inevitable conflict between food and fuel appear to have been completely off the mark. Rather than a shortage of food, the increased pace of biotechnology innovation associated with bioenergy is
July 07, 2010 Read Full Article
USDA Releases Corn-Ethanol Industry Report Showing Improving Energy Efficiency
(USDA) USDA's Chief Economist Joseph Glauber today announced the publication of a report by the Office of Energy Policy and New Uses that surveyed corn growers for the year 2005 and ethanol plants in 2008, which indicates the net energy gain
June 24, 2010 Read Full Article
Transformative Technology: SynGest Cornucopia BioRefinery
by Jack Oswald (SynGest, Biofuels Digest) ...The SynGest Cornucopia model takes an entire ear of corn and simultaneously produces The Three F’s: food, fertilizer and fuel. This is why we have adopted the slogan: “You can have your fuel and
June 17, 2010 Read Full Article
'Psychedelic' Maize May Help Increase Crop and Biofuel Yields
(Science Daily) ...(S)cientists from Pennsylvania State University have identified new genes in maize which promote carbohydrate export from leaves. These genes are called psychedelic because of the yellow and green streaks they cause in the plant's leaves. Manipulating these genes
June 09, 2010 Read Full Article
Indiana Farmers Are Producing Ethanol for the Middle East
by Gary Truitt (Hoosier Ag Today) Indiana corn is regularly exported as food and feed; but, now, more and more Indiana corn is moving onto the world market as fuel. The US ethanol industry is experiencing rapid export growth. In
May 21, 2010 Read Full Article
Growing U.S. Export: Corn ethanol
by Philip Brasher (Des Moines Register) The United States has a growing new export – ethanol fuel – and a lot is going to of all places the Middle East. New government data shows that nearly 46 million gallons of U.S.
May 21, 2010 Read Full Article
Growth Energy Responds to Cornell Paper
In response to a paper published by two Cornell University professors – a paper that is critical of the Environmental Protection Agency’s calculations that grain ethanol emits far fewer greenhouse gas emissions than conventional gasoline – Growth Energy released the
February 25, 2010 Read Full Article
EPA Greenhouse Gas Accounting Is Flawed and Inaccurate, Cornell Experts Say
A recent EPA announcement that corn-based ethanol achieves a 21 percent greenhouse gas reduction compared to gasoline is based on false accounting assumptions and could actually lead to more fossil fuel consumption, according to Cornell University economists whose research will
February 25, 2010 Read Full Article
Eco-Biofuels from the Tropics
Palm oil from South-East Asia, sugarcane from Brazil and sweet sorghum in China are the most sustainable energy crops at present. Maize from the US and wheat in Europe have a much more negative environmental impact. This conclusion was drawn
February 22, 2010 Read Full Article
Corn and Fuel Groups Weigh In on Ethanol
(New York Times) letters to editor Re “Sensible Rules for Ethanol” (editorial, Feb. 11): While American corn farmers are pleased the Environmental Protection Agency recognizes that corn ethanol offers significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions compared with gasoline, we disagree strongly
February 17, 2010 Read Full Article
Is Ethanol from Corn Bad for the Climate? The Obama Administration Says No, California Says Yes. Who Is Right?
by Douglas Fischer (Scientific American) The Obama administration last week gave the green light to corn ethanol as a low-carbon renewable fuel – in apparent contradiction to California's declaration last summer that the biofuel's carbon footprint was too big to
February 17, 2010 Read Full Article
Southland Panel Rejects Funds for Ethanol Fueling Stations
by Catherine Saillant (Los Angeles Times) Members of the Southern California Assn. of Governments reject $11 million in federal stimulus money to set up 55 stations throughout the Southland. They say ethanol causes environmental problems. A regional panel Thursday turned
February 11, 2010 Read Full Article
Corn Ethanol is a Homegrown Way to Solve Our Energy Problems
by Katie Zenk (MNDaily.com) letter to the editor Over break, I had the chance to think about the recent Minnesota Daily editorial attacking corn ethanol. My hometown is Olivia, Minn., billed “The Corn Capital of the World.” Of the roughly
February 10, 2010 Read Full Article
How Many Corn Acres Are Needed In 2010?
by Darrel Good (University of Illinois and Cattle Network) ...Planting decisions for individual crops in the spring of 2010 will be influenced by a number of factors. These include relative crop prices, prospects for net returns for completing crops, and
February 02, 2010 Read Full Article
Wildlife Report Picks and Chooses Data
by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com) The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) has analyzed a new report out from the National Wildlife Federation on “Corn Ethanol and Wildlife” and found it lacking in accuracy. ... The RFA analysis concludes that “selective and questionable
January 22, 2010 Read Full Article
One quarter of US Grain Crops Fed to Cars - Not People, New Figures Show
by John Vidal (The Guardian) One-quarter of all the maize and other grain crops grown in the US now ends up as biofuel in cars rather than being used to feed people, according to new analysis which suggests that the
January 22, 2010 Read Full Article
The Energetics of Ethanol: An Introduction and Link to Studies
(New Rules Project) Does it take more energy to make ethanol than is contained in ethanol? That question continues to haunt the ethanol industry even after nearly 30 years of expanding production. Over the years more than 20 scientific studies
January 06, 2010 Read Full Article
Market Interactions, Farmers' Choices, and the Sustainability of Growing Advanced Biofuels: a Missing Perspective?
by Yong Jiang and Scott M. Swinton (International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology) Advanced biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol are of great interest in the USA. With agriculture being the major source of feedstock for advanced biofuels, how farmers would
December 11, 2009 Read Full Article
Wet Ethanol Process Yields More Ethanol
(UPI) ... University of Illinois scientists, led by agricultural engineering researcher Esha Khullar, said the wet ethanol process involves soaking corn kernels rather than grinding them, resulting in more gallons of ethanol ... and better quality co-products than does the
November 22, 2009 Read Full Article
Improvements in Life Cycle Energy Efficiency and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Corn-Ethanol
(Journal of Industrial Ecology) Corn-ethanol production is expanding rapidly with the adoption of improved technologies to increase energy efficiency and profitability in crop production, ethanol conversion, and coproduct use. Life cycle assessment can evaluate the impact of these changes on
October 13, 2009 Read Full Article
Indiana Corn Acres Decrease as Ethanol Production Increases
(Hoosier Ag Today, Indiana Corn Marketing Council) For the last five years, Madison County farmer Mike Shuter has maintained the same crop rotation on his farm of two-thirds of his fields in corn and one-third in soybeans. He hasn’t seen
October 07, 2009 Read Full Article
U.S. Ethanol from Corn Could Double by 2030
by Charles Abbott (Reuters) U.S. farmers could grow enough corn to produce 25 billion gallons of ethanol in 2030, twice as much as this year's target of 12 billion gallons, said the leader of a U.S. corn group on Thursday.
October 02, 2009 Read Full Article
Nebraska, Nation, Looking at Record Corn Production
(the Nebraska Farmer) ... USDA estimates that Nebraska corn farmers will bring in 1.55 billion bushels of corn this year and average 169 bushels per acre. Both numbers would be records--with production surpassing the 1.47 billion produced in 2007 and
October 01, 2009 Read Full Article
Rethinking the Value of Corn Ethanol Co-Products in Lifecycle Assessments
by Dave Vander Griend (Ethanol Across America) ...As commodity prices have returned closer to norms prior to the dramatic speculation-driven increase, we need to take a deep breath and understand the truth. We are meeting the increase in demand for
August 29, 2009 Read Full Article
USDA Report Confirms Advances in Feedstock Production Technology, Practices
(25 x25) The USDA reported last week that American farmers are expected to produce 12.3 billion bushels of corn, the second largest U.S. corn crop in history. After estimating all of the uses of corn, USDA projects an excess corn
July 21, 2009 Read Full Article
Who is Driving the Biofuels and Biobased Products Industry?
One of the common frustrations that these leaders face is that the research and government organizations come to them for ideas or product samples, but instead of treating them as the drivers of innovation, they are treated as one of
January 10, 2008 Read Full Article
It Takes a Lot of Water to Grow a Corn Crop
by David Bennett (Southeast Farm Press) Last year, many Southern farmers found out just how much water a corn crop requires. “A good, high-yielding corn crop will use 22 or 23 inches of water,” says Emerson Nafziger, professor of crop production
December 30, 2007 Read Full Article
How to Beat the High Cost of Gasoline. Forever!
by Adam Lashinsky and Nelson D. Schwartz (CNN Money/Fortune Magazine) You probably don't know it, but the answer to America's gasoline addiction could be under the hood of your car. More than five million Tauruses, Explorers, Stratuses, Suburbans, and other vehicles