Burning Bio News

The Tharaldson Ethanol Plant in Casselton, ND has officially opened its 120 million gallon ethanol plant. This ethanol plant uses nearly a million gallons of water from the Fargo wastewater treatment plant.

A new study released by the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association shows that even during this economic slump, the production of biodiesel and ethanol and the construction of new biorefineries continue to power Iowa’s economy. Iowa ethanol and biodiesel facilities in 2008:
- Added nearly $12.0 billion, or about 9 percent, to Iowa GDP
- Generated $2.8 billion of household income for Iowa households
- Supported nearly 83,000 jobs through the entire Iowa economy, and
- Generated $576 million in state tax revenue.
The complete study is available at http://www.iowarfa.org/documents/2008IowaBiofuelsEconomicImpact.pdf

The state-funded Maine Technology Institute has announced seed grants to 14 Maine organizations, many in the energy and clean tech sector, totaling $155,000. The grants range from $6,255 to $12,500, and were matched by funds from other sources totalling $195,000. Forty percent ($64,000) of these grants supported innovations to food, fiber and fuel.

The Colville Confederated Tribes (WA) are exploring two potential clean energy products - wind power projects on the reservation and an improved woody biomass incinerator at the Colville Indian Plywood and Veneer plant - that could mean millions for the tribe and a steady flow of jobs. If the wind tests identify sufficient wind, the proposed wind farm could have a generating capacity of 75 - 100 MW. They are considering a 20 MW biomass power plant at the plywood factory.

The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) at the University of North Dakota has received $1 million to evaluate renewable oil refining technologies from North Dakota oilseed crops, such as crambe, at Tesoro’s Mandan, North Dakota, oil refinery. Crambe is a drought-tolerant oilseed crop with demonstrated viability throughout western North Dakota and the surrounding region.

Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell Announce $13.7 million for 49 energy projects in 25 PA counties. These grants will leverage $53.1 million in private investment and create 77 jobs.

Ethanol makers are increasingly becoming interested in using eucalyptus as a feedstock, says James Imbler, CEO of Zeachem, particularly in ethanol-happy Brazil. Zeachem, which will start producing fuel in 2010, wants to sell fuel both in the U.S. and Brazil. In the U.S., farmers growing crops for ethanol are getting 15 bone dry tons of feedstock per acre and are approaching 20 tons. Zeachem says that its process – which combines biological and thermochemical processes –will allow it to squeeze 135 gallons of fuel from a bone dry ton of vegetable matter.

The Nebraska Rural Development Commission of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development has awarded $83,000 in Value-Added Agriculture fund grants for two biomass-related projects. Springfield, NE-based Tighe Biodiesel, which was awarded $75,000 to build a farm-scale biorefinery in Springfield that will produce biodiesel from waste vegetable oils and from virgin oils. Nebraska Renewable Energy Systems in Oakland, NE, in partnership with Wayne State College in Wayne, NE, has received $8,000 to purchase technical reference materials and market the Renewable Energy Training & Workshop Program.

Gov. Sarah Palin unveiled a new state energy development plan focused on renewable energy sources and set a long-range goal of generating 50 percent of the state’s electricity with renewable resources by 2025. Palin also released a list of 79 renewable energy projects, mostly for small rural communities, she will recommend to the state Legislature for approval.

Aberdeen, MS, Mayor Jim Ballard announced that Mississippi Investment Petro-leum Co. will be building a third-generation biodiesel refinery at the Port of Aberdeen. The first phase of the project is expected to be operational by mid-summer, with an initial production of eight million gallons annually. The company hopes to be producing 30 million galons of the fuel by the completion of phase three.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack asked his staff to pull together a list of spending proposals that would create 300,000 jobs. Tom Harkin (D-IA) said he and other members of the Democratic Policy Committee met Thursday with economic advisers to former presidents Reagan and Clinton and presidential candidate John McCain. In spite of philosophical differences over government economic policy, they all agreed on the need for speedy intervention in the current recession, Harkin said.

The Surry County Board, NC, approved a request to deliver water to a planned site for a new Fibrowatt, poultry litter fueled power plant. The 13,000 foot, 12-inch water line will cost $953,000, and is being installed prior in anticipation of the development of the new power plant.

Tetra Tech, Inc. announced today that it has been awarded a nationwide contract of $200 million to provide National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) support services for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)/National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

The Kansas Bioscience Authority Awards $860,000 to two bioenergy projects. ICM received $500,000 for its testing of a biomass gasification system that converts waste to synthetic fuel for power generation in industrial and commercial settings. Manhattan’s Edenspace Systems received $360,00 for development of technology to lower processing costs and increase yields of biofuels from sorghum, corn and switchgrass. In addition the Kansas Bioscience Authority also awarded $400,000 for pharmaceutical development.

San Diego-based General Atomics has received a $43 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a scalable process for cost-effective, large-scale production of algae oil and an algae-derived JP-8 jet fuel surrogate. The program will address algae selection and growth; water, carbon dioxide and nutrient supply; algae harvesting; oil extraction; and conversion to JP-8. The contract will conclude with a pre-pilot-scale demonstration.

The U.S. Department of Labor today awarded nearly $123 million to 68 community colleges and community-based institutions that competed successfully under the President’s Community-Based Job Training Grants Initiative. Awardees were chosen from among 274 applications received in response to a competition announced Oct. 10, 2008. 15 of these grants workforce development grants focused on energy and green buildings. $25.9 million was allocated to these energy-related grants.

A San-Francisco-based firm, SynGest, plans to start a production plant in Iowa that will make ammonia from corncobs, stalks and leaves. To make ammonia, SynGest says the stover is fed into a pressurized oxygen-blown gasifier and converted into a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. It goes through several other steps to eventually become ammonia. The company says its production cost is about 150 dollars per ton.

U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock met with USDA and to secured crop insurance coverage for pennycress, an oil-seed crop that would be grown between corn and soybean crops in IL. Plans are underway to cultivate 400,000 acres of pennycress to feed a Mapleton, IL biodiesel plant by 2011.

First United Ethanol in Camilla, GA, has made necessary repairs to its 100-million-gallon ethanol plant and has restarted production after a mechanical problem, according to a news release from the company.

Net profitability at DTN’s hypothetical 50-million-gallon ethanol plant, Neeley Biofuels Inc., continued to deteriorate Friday. Since the last update in December, profits have fallen into negative territory. The South Dakota plant reported a net loss of 12 cents per gallon Friday, down from 8 cents profit on Dec. 8. — mj DTN, an agricultural data provider operates a hypothetical ethanol plant, which is a computer model that reflects current prices, costs, and profits of ethanol production.