Burning Bio News

BioDimensions and the Memphis Bioworks Foundation have launched a massive strategic plan for green jobs in the Mid-South. In cooperation with Battelle, the Regional Strategy for Biobased Products in the Mississippi Delta details the potential for 25,000 green jobs in the next decade in the Mid-South. The study also concluded that sustainably grown and harvested biomass in the region can supply an $8 billion biofuels and biobased products industry without affecting the food and feed supply.

Idaho National Laboratory has dramatically reduced its total fuel use in the last four years while shifting increasingly toward more sustainable fuels such as B20 biodiesel and E85 (a blend of 85 percent bio-based ethanol and 15 percent gasoline). Through June 2009, INL fuel use is down more than 167,000 gallons - an overall 20.2 percent fuel reduction for the first nine months of Fiscal Year 2009 - as compared to just four years ago.

The United State’s Naval Air Systems Command fuels team is preparing to test using biofuels in one of its F/A-18 Super Hornet by next spring or summer. Rick Kamin, Navy fuels lead, explained that before “biofueling” the plane, the team will first conduct laboratory and rig tests at Pax River in Maryland, followed by static engine tests with the Super Hornet’s F414 engine on a test stand at the Lynn, Massachusetts, facility of manufacturer General Electric. The static tests will take place “probably in the December-January time frame,” Kamin said.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has published a proposed rule that seeks to establish a voluntary labeling program for biobased products. Any biobased products that meet USDA minimum biobased content requirements are eligible for the label. These requirements are broken down into two groups: Products in designated item categories: these are biobased products that meet percent biobased content standards for the product categories set up by the BioPreferred preferred procurement program. Products not within designated categories: biobased products that do not fall into one of the designated item categories must meet a 51 percent content requirement, unless USDA approves an alternative minimum biobased content. BioPreferred encourages interested parties to submit comments on the proposed rule until Sept. 29, 2009. To submit comments go to http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-17610.htm.

JR Camelina Seed Co. will start harvesting the seeds in a plot near Marytown, WI, in Calumet County with the intention to plant thousands of acres in the state next year. Ultimately, camelina is expected to feed a not-yet-built 1 million gallon biodiesel plant in the town of Holland. “We’ve got about 15 farmers that have committed already to raise the crop next year,” he said. “Now it’s a matter of (finding other growers), because we’re going to need millions of pounds to produce the oil,” said George Ecker, the seed company and biodiesel plant’s business manager.

The U.S. EPA recently announced that the peer review of the life cycle analysis component of the second stage of the renewable fuels standard (RFS2) is complete. The peer review documents are now available on the EPA Web site.

The formal independent expert peer reviews were conducted in four primary areas:
1. The use of satellite data and land conversion greenhouse gas (GHG) emission factors in land use modeling
2. The methods used to account for the variable timing of GHG emissions
3. The modeling and data used to account for GHG emissions from foreign crop production
4. How the models utilized by EPA are used together to provide overall lifecycle estimates

–mj: This is an interesting exercise in futility. The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) just hosted an excellent conference in St. Louis, Missouri on indirect land use in the RFS2. Experts and practitioners from around the country and Brazil reported that the science is not mature enough to accomplish the legal objectives it is being forced to achieve. More to come…

Microgy has entered into a multi-year, fixed price energy purchase agreement with Alcor for supplying the Huckabay Ridge facility’s electrical power and thermal energy needs utilizing a CHP process. “As part of our continuous effort to achieve operational efficiencies and to increase shareholder returns, this CHP solution allows us to eliminate parasitic consumption of our more valuable RNG((R)) product utilizing an efficient source of energy,” said Rich Kessel, President and CEO of Environmental Power Corporation. “The net effect will be an increase in operating margins, as we now anticipate producing sales of 782,000 MMBtu’s per year, an increase of 147,000 MMBtu’s over targeted production.

The Zoo in Springfield, MO, will begin taking reservations for ZooDoo, or composted herbivore manure. Most of the manure comes from the zoo’s five adult elephants, who eat about five to six bales of hay a day and a grain mixture. The composting process takes several months and the Zoo sells compost twice a year. ZooDoo is $10 per scoop, and usually 4 scoops fill the bed of a pick up truck.

“Hundreds of thousands of gallons” of hog manure were allowed to pollute the water sources of four Marshall County, TN, homes by a Bedford County hog farmer, according to the district attorney who on Monday explained criminal charges issued by the Marshall County grand jury last week. – mj: This looks like one of those very sad cases where no one has done anything wrong. But probably because of incomplete understanding of science, bad policy, and perceptions, a legal mess has evolved. It is not clear from the article if the water test results conclusively implicate the farmer. The way the article has been written, the State has been noting violations without interacting with the farmer. Whatever has happened, this is a sad story for all involved.

Governor Edward G. Rendell today announced Pennsylvania is investing more than $5.3 million in 12 innovative clean energy projects, which will generate energy, save money, create jobs and improve the environment. These innovative projects under the commonwealth’s Energy Harvest Program are funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The selected projects will leverage more than $11.6 million in private investments, create or retain more than 200 jobs, generate enough energy to power 900 homes, save more than $1.7 million in energy costs and reduce air emissions by more than 54 million pounds annually.

Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie (MI) is studying the potential of reed canary grass (RCG) pellets as an environmentally friendly and economical heating fuel, as well as a possible economic stimulant for the Eastern Upper Peninsula. LSSU biology department head Gregory Zimmerman has identified two superior recipes: One utilizes brewers grains with RCG, and the other mixes fryer grease and cardboard with RCG.

Progress on the 90,000 ton per year Indeck Pellet Mill has not progressed as planned. Pike County, MS, Supervisors have approved the road development of the rail spur, but Indeck financing is experiencing some delays.

Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY, has begun experimenting with green energy in the form of a 500,000 btu wood pellet boiler. In addition to local energy use, the University is also looking at emissions reduction.

Officials with Iowa Lakes Electric Cooperative, near Superior, Iowa, dedicated the seven new wind turbines that were installed to supply electricity to local ethanol plants. The cooperative also dedicated another wind farm about forty miles away in Lakota, Iowa. “They’re 21.5 MW and we got them up in a compressed time table of 18-months,” said Terry Bruns of Iowa Lakes Electric Cooperative.

Owners of the ethanol plant in Winnebago, MN, have agreed to pay a $100,000 fine and make a $50,000 contribution to benefit Rice Lake after pleading guilty in federal court Wednesday to violating the Clean Water Act.

The first cob collection of 2009 is complete as Poet continues to work with agricultural equipment manufacturers and farmers to find the most efficient and affordable means for harvesting cellulosic feedstock. Equipment for harvesting corncobs was tested in fields near Harlingen, Texas from July 6 to July 22. The trials were a precursor to larger harvesting efforts this fall. In all, the effort will see as many as 25,000 acres harvested in Texas, South Dakota and Iowa.

Trillium FiberFuels has been awarded a $750,000 grant to commercialize its technology for creating fuel-grade ethanol from straw and other biomass. The U.S. DOE announced the award, which is a part of the Small Business Innovation Research Program.

Los Angeles-based synthetic fuels and fertilizer company Rentech, announced it has signed a deal to supply up to 1.5 million gallons per year of renewable synthetic diesel fuel for the ground-based equipment of at least eight airlines starting in late 2012. Rentech’s process relies on a gasifier to produce syngas. The resulting syngas being cleaned into hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The pure hydrogen and carbon monoxide then enter Rentech’s reactor, producing long-chain hydrocarbons that are upgraded and refined into the final product of synthetic diesel fuel. Alternately, the syngas can be used to produce electricity.

Connecticut-based American Energy Enterprises Inc. plans to construct a commercial-scale ethanol production facility in New Milford, CT, and according to company chairman Christopher Brown, will use wood waste to produce ethanol at a cost of 80 cents to 85 cents per gallon. The plant is expected to begin production in mid-2010 and will initially produce up to 15 million gallons per year. Once production commences, units will be added monthly to increase capacity until the plant reaches its full capacity of 80-100 million gallons per year.

American Electric Power wants $334 million in federal stimulus money to build the country’s first commercial-scale system to capture carbon dioxide emitted from coal-fired power plants and bury it underground. It would capture about 16 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted by the power plant in New Haven, WV, at AEP’s Mountaineer plant. Battelle has been working with AEP on this project since 2002. Another carbon sequestration project was canceled last week which was a $92.8 million project to test carbon-dioxide burying at an ethanol plant in Darke County in western Ohio.