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.
Iowa
Back TO HOMECornoil – 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
DuPont Urges Congress to Keep Biofuel Policy
by Philip Brasher (Des Moines Register) ...“The single most important thing that Congress can do for advanced biofuels is to provide a stable policy environment,” Jan Koninckx, DuPont’s global biofuels business director, told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
April 18, 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
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
The Class of 2011
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Will these biofuels projects make the expected steps towards commercialization? There was a strong response to yesterday’s Top Story about technologies that were approaching make-or-break milestones in 2012. But what about 2011, asked some? What
April 08, 2011 Read Full Article
The World Market For Ethanol You Did Not Know About.
by Stu Ellis (FarmGateBlog.com) ...(E)thanol producers who have a pipeline into the export market may find added demand from a variety of nations that need to buy it. At a time when ethanol imports are controversial along with the
April 05, 2011 Read Full Article
Key Players: Advanced Biofuels
by David Beattie (Renewable Energy World Magazine) ...Importantly, and what sets these latest fuels apart from their first-generation predecessors, is the fact that they are produced using feedstock that would normally be classed as waste or non-food. These include parts
April 05, 2011 Read Full Article
Next-Gen Biofuel Depends on Subsidies, Senate Told
by Philip Brasher (Des Moines Register) Even as President Barack Obama renewed his push for next-generation biofuels, an industry official warned that cuts in biomass subsidies could discourage farmers from providing corn residue and other needed feedstocks. If farmers “see the
April 04, 2011 Read Full Article
Senate Hearing Examines Oil Price Spikes, Role of Biofuels
by Holly Jessen (Ethanol Producer Magazine) During a U.S. Senate committee hearing on March 30, Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said that focusing on advanced biofuels for homegrown energy is in the best interest of the United States. “I think that
March 31, 2011 Read Full Article
Combatting Today’s High Gas Prices
by Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Waterloo) (GlobeGazette) ...For too long, we’ve depended on foreign countries for our oil — and we’ve sacrificed our independence and our national security in the process. But there’s no one, easy solution to the problem. We need
March 28, 2011 Read Full Article
Biofuel Bus Idea Developed By Grad Student
by Caleb Denison (IBTimes.com) ...(David) Correll, (a Ph.D. student at Iowa State University’s College of Business) ... is the co-founder and president of “ISU BioBus” – a program created to convert spent cooking oil from one of the university’s
March 25, 2011 Read Full Article
Ethanol Industry Has Come a Long Way Since Its Iowa Roots
by Richard Johnson (Globe Gazette) ...And, he (Walt Wendland) said, his industry can adapt to technological changes, such as cellulosic ethanol, a biofuel derived from cellulose plant fiber. “We think there’s great synergy between cellulosic production and what we’re doing now,” Wendland
March 21, 2011 Read Full Article
DuPont Leader: Renewables at the Heart of Clean Technology Market Opportunity
(DuPont) DuPont is uniquely positioned to deliver clean technology opportunities, including both advanced biomaterials and biofuels, DuPont Applied BioSciences President Craig F. Binetti told attendees at the Jeffries 11th Annual Clean Technology Conference. “We are meeting the growing demand for reducing dependence
March 17, 2011 Read Full Article
E85 Sales in Iowa Break Records
by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com) E85 sales in Iowa have broken all records reaching an all-time high for the state. According to the Iowa Department of Revenue, sales of E85 by Iowa retailers reached 9,311,908 gallons last year representing a 43%
March 16, 2011 Read Full Article
U.S. Sen. Grassley: Ethanol and Energy
(IowaPolitics.com) Floor Speech of Sen. Chuck Grassley Ethanol and Energy Independence Delivered Monday, March 07, 2011 ...We must look to alternative and renewable resources so we can improve our energy and national security. This includes supporting energy from wind, biomass, hydroelectric, solar,
March 16, 2011 Read Full Article
Sinclair Partners with REG on Biodiesel Blending Terminal
by Luke Geiver (Biodiesel Magazine) Drivers in the Ft. Madison, Iowa, area will now have access to biodiesel after Sinclair Oil Corp. officially announced the company will offer REG-9000 dyed and clear biodiesel blends at its Ft. Madison blending
March 10, 2011 Read Full Article
Ethanol Gets Boost from Rising Oil Prices
by Erin Golden (Omaha.com) ...Headlines about higher gas prices are putting a big-picture focus on the country’s dependence on oil, said Todd Becker, the CEO of Omaha-based ethanol producer Green Plains Renewable Energy. And on a smaller scale, he said,
March 09, 2011 Read Full Article
DuPont Exec: Company to Become Renewables 'Powerhouse' by 2015
by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) DuPont Applied BioSciences President Craig Binetti told attendees of a recent clean technology conference that DuPont expects the biofuels industry worldwide to grow by $25 billion in the next five years and it plans
February 25, 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
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
Municipal Solid Waste to Biofuels Summit: Conference Report
by Bill Brandon (Advanced Biofuels USA) On February 10 & 11, about 120 participants gathered in chilly Chicago for the first Municipal Solid Waste to Biofuels Summit presented by the British firm, Eye for Energy. The conference drew participants from
February 21, 2011 Read Full Article
Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Announces Funding for Projects to Create Jobs and New Economic Opportunities for Rural Residents
(USDA) Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the selection of 16 projects in 10 states for funding to create jobs and provide new economic opportunities. The projects are being funded through the Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant Program (REDLG), which
February 21, 2011 Read Full Article
Students Show Talent in Renewable Fuels Video Contest
by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com) Students were challenged to create the best video highlighting the importance and benefits of renewable fuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, to local communities, Iowa and the nation and the four winning videos were featured at
February 03, 2011 Read Full Article
Algae Project Advances at Green Plains Renewable Energy Plant
by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) BioProcess Algae LLC has begun operating commercial-scale algae bioreactors at Green Plains Renewable Energy Inc.’s 65 MMgy ethanol plant in Shenandoah, Iowa. The project is a joint venture among GPRE, BioProcessH20 LLC, a division
February 03, 2011 Read Full Article
Gingrich to Obama: Focus on Energy
by Kathie Obradovich (Des Moines Register) Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is mulling a 2012 run for president, called on President Obama to use his State of the Union speech tonight to make the American energy production a “major
January 31, 2011 Read Full Article
Iowa Economy Powered by Renewable Fuels
by Cindy Zimmerman (DomesticFuel.com) ...At the Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit in Des Moines on Tuesday, the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) released a new study detailing the positive benefits that provides for Iowa. According to the report, the renewable fuels industry, both
January 31, 2011 Read Full Article
Enervation Advisors Aquires Tri-City Energy Biodiesel
by Joanna Schroeder (DomesticFuel.com) ...The company will deploy multiple feedstock technology as rising costs of feedstocks are a common source of financial hardship for biofuel plants. It has recently been reported that rising corn prices are currently squeezing ethanol margins. This
January 28, 2011 Read Full Article
Green Jobs Offer Limited Hope to Iowa
by Philip Brasher (Des Moines Register) ...The potential for some green jobs, especially in biofuels, is dependent on technologies and processes that haven't proved economical. Ethanol giant Poet LLC wants to produce fuel from corncobs, a form of cellulose, as
January 28, 2011 Read Full Article
Power Fund Board Approves Terms for Iowa Cellulosic Ethanol Project by DuPont-Danisc
(Iowa Office of Energy Independence) Project Would Produce Jobs and New Energy Technology for Iowa The Iowa Power Fund Board (Board) approved terms January 12, 2011, to start contract negotiations on a grant award for one of the first in the nation,
January 14, 2011 Read Full Article
POET Cellulosic Ethanol Efforts Could Have Nearly $38 Billion Impact on Iowa
(POET) New analysis outlines jobs, economic output of Project LIBERTY work POET's Project LIBERTY will generate as much as $37.8 billion in economic activity over 20 years and could employ more than 2,800 people, an independent analysis claims. A report done by Impact
December 21, 2010 Read Full Article
SynGest'S Bioammonia Project Completes Award Contract with Iowa Power Fund and Iowa Office of Energy Independence
(SynGest/BusinessWire) Mini plant will make 150 TPD of nitrogen fertilizer from biomass San Francisco, CA - (Business Wire) December 13, 2010 - SynGest Inc. announced that the Iowa Power Fund and Iowa Office of Energy Independence have approved an award contract in
December 13, 2010 Read Full Article
Grassley Speaks Out on Renewable Fuels Tax
(Farm Futures) Iowa Senator says what's fair for oil should be fair for ethanol. ...During a speech on the Senate floor, Grassley said, "I'd like to remind my colleagues of a debate that we had earlier this year on an amendment
December 03, 2010 Read Full Article
FRA Advances Use of Bio-Based Fuels and Lubricants with New Research Grants
(US Department of Transportation) U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced two research grants totaling $766,562 intended to advance the use of bio-based fuels and lubricants with the goal of cleaner air and decreasing the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels. “We are
December 03, 2010 Read Full Article
King: GOP House Good for Ethanol, Biodiesel Tax Cuts
by John Davis (DomesticFuel.com) Republicans taking control of the U.S. House is good for the chances of the federal ethanol and biodiesel tax breaks seeing renewal … that’s according to a GOP member from Iowa. AgriNews.com reports that U.S. Rep. Steve
November 12, 2010 Read Full Article
Growing Sorghum for Biofuel
(EurekAlert!/American Society of Agronomy) Iowa State researchers examine the efficiencies and environmental impacts of growing sorghum for ethanol Conversion of sorghum grass to ethanol has increased with the interest in renewable fuel sources. Researchers at Iowa State University examined 12 varieties of
November 11, 2010 Read Full Article
Power Fund Gives Corncob Ethanol Plant First Approval
by Dan Pillar (Gannett/Des Moines Register) The Iowa Power Fund Board voted Wednesday to enter into negotiations with a joint venture of DuPont and Danisco, for an $19.8 million grant for the joint venture to build an ethanol plant in Story
November 11, 2010 Read Full Article
Is Corn Stover the Next Big Biofuel?
by Dan Piller (Des Moines Register) If the cobs, stalks and leaves left behind after corn harvest become the next big source for ethanol, the technology to pick up the stover is decidedly old-school. "A farmer who bales hay can do this,"
October 25, 2010 Read Full Article
Blairstown Ethanol Plant Gets $2.9 Million State Grant
by George Ford (SourceMedia Group News/Eastern Iowa Business) The Iowa Power Fund Board awarded a $2.9 million grant to a cellulosic ethanol plant in Blairstown. Fiberight-Blairstown Operating LLC received the grant to demonstrate how municipal solid waste can be converted into cellulosic
September 17, 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
News: Fiberight Making Ethanol from Paper Mill Waste; Household Garbage May Be Next
by Dean Close (Vinton Today) ...In layman’s terms, what Fiberight does is take waste from a paper mill in Cedar Rapids, and uses rare bacteria – Stewart Paul refers to that bacteria as “the bugs” – to convert the sugar
September 02, 2010 Read Full Article
Ag Secretary Candidate Thicke Promotes 'New Vision'
by Dan Piller (Des Moines Register) Francis Thicke of Fairfield, the Democratic candidate for Iowa agriculture secretary, used his State Fair Soapbox speech Wednesday to call for a "new vision" for Iowa agriculture based on renewable fuels, ecologically sustainable production
August 19, 2010 Read Full Article
Lab Test: ICCC Lab Becomes National Leader in Biodiesel Testing
(PR Newswire) Community college is first to earn BQ-9000 designation, driving business to the state. Don Heck has heard a lot of talk about making Iowa the "renewable energy capital of the world," and he thinks he's found a way to
August 10, 2010 Read Full Article
New DOE Video Highlights Impact of Biofuels on Rural Communities
(US Department of Energy) DOE also released May 6, 2010, a new video which showcases how cellulosic biofuel technologies can help decrease U.S. dependence on foreign oil, spur growth in the domestic biofuels industry, and provide new revenue opportunities to farmers in many
May 11, 2010 Read Full Article
US Farm State Senators Offer Bill to Extend Ethanol Tax Credit
Nick Snow (Oil and Gas Journal) US senators from agricultural states introduced legislation on Apr. 20 that would extend the federal ethanol tax credit through 2015. Failure to do so would cost 112,000 jobs nationwide and reduce domestic fuel ethanol
April 22, 2010 Read Full Article
Biodiesel Plant to Break Ground in May
by Richard Johnson (GlobeGazette.com) ...Mt. Valley will use all types of feed stock — grease, soy, sunflower seeds — in a closed-loop, emissions-free facility. It will be able to produce 3 million gallons of biodiesel fuel per year for its first
April 05, 2010 Read Full Article
Federal Legislation for Ethanol Pipeline Being Introduced
March 29, 2010, Congressman Leonard Boswell (D-IA) and Congressman Lee Terry (R-NE) held a news conference to highlight a bipartisan effort to boost our country’s homegrown energy industry by improving infrastructure for moving ethanol from the Midwest to the rest
April 02, 2010 Read Full Article
Stacking Traits in Algae is Focus of Grant to Iowa State University Researcher
Genetically stacking traits in corn in order to increase production, resist insects, improve standablity and many other characteristics is so common in agriculture that producers have come to expect it. Some traits found in corn help it function as a better
March 02, 2010 Read Full Article
Experts Push for Farm Change
“Our current industrial model of agriculture is only possible because of cheap fossil fuels,” said Francis Thicke, a candidate for Iowa secretary of Agriculture. “We’re nearing the end of our cheap fossil-fuel era.” Laura Krouse, the owner of Abbe Hills Farm,
February 19, 2010 Read Full Article
Study Shows Iowans Want Biodiesel in State’s Diesel Fuel
Nearly seven out of 10 Iowa voters say they want legislation to ensure the state’s diesel fuel supply includes five percent biodiesel (B5). The Iowa Biodiesel Board released the results of new public opinion research today to show legislators that
February 02, 2010 Read Full Article
Ethanol Industry to Ask for Iowa Mandate of 10% Blend
(DesMoines Register) The Iowa ethanol industry plans to ask the legislature to pass a bill requiring that all motor gasoline in the state carry at least 10 percent ethanol. Despite being the largest ethanol producer in the U.S., Iowa has
February 02, 2010 Read Full Article
U.S. Sen. Harkin Pushes for Extension of Biodiesel Blenders' Tax Credit
by Grant Gustafson / Kate Cyrul (IowaPolitics.com) Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today wrote to Senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Finance, urging them to prepare and introduce legislation to
December 10, 2009 Read Full Article
Fiberight to Produce MSW-Based Cellulosic Ethanol
by Kris Bevill (Ethanol Producer Magazine) The former Xethanol LLC ethanol production facility in Blairstown, Iowa, has been purchased by Fiberight LLC and will soon be producing cellulosic ethanol at a demonstration scale. The company recently acquired the shuttered plant
November 30, 2009 Read Full Article
Senator Charles Grassley Speaks Out Against Inappropriate Use of International Indirect Land Use Change Analysis
Prepared Floor Statement of Senator Chuck Grassley: Biofuels and the Environmental Protection Agency Thursday, October 29, 2009 ... The first issue I’m speaking about relates to the EPA’s proposal to penalize biofuels for greenhouse gas emissions from supposed changes in international
October 30, 2009 Read Full Article
Two EPA Administrators Tour Farms, Visit Biorefinery
by O.Kay Henderson (Radio Iowa) Two top officials in the Environmental Protection Agency who've never visited an American farm were in Iowa today, at Senator Chuck Grassley's invitation. They toured Grant Kimberly's farm near Maxwell. ... Senator Grassley says he wants