February 2009 Ethanol Producer Magazine

INSIDE: FUNGUS PROMISES TO IMPROVE ETHANOL PLANT EFFICIENCY FEBRUARY 2009

Pipeline Prospective Several Companies Aim to Prove That Ethanol Can be Pipelined

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ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

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inside FEBRUARY 2009 . VOLUME 15 . ISSUE 2

features 50 TRANSPORTATION It’s Not Just a Pipe Dream

74 INDUSTRY Delving Into the Intermediate Blends Report

As more companies move ethanol successfully via pipeline and others develop ethanol pipeline projects, the transportation mode is closer to becoming an option for the industry.

By Erin Voegele

EPM takes a detailed look at the U.S. DOE’s initial report on midlevel ethanol blends and the effect on nonflexible-fuel vehicles.

By Ron Kotrba

Page 50

Page 58

Page 82

58 STORAGE Storage Strategies for Cellulosic Feedstocks

82 ENVIRONMENT Incentivizing Biofuels Sustainability

Researchers working to determine the best, most efficient ways to store cellulosic feedstocks have had great success with large, round bales.

By Anna Austin

A group of scientists believe that the development of sustainable biofuel production systems starts in the field with best-management farming practices.

By Jessica Ebert

66 INNOVATION Fertile Fungus Using a food-grade fungus called Rhizopus microsporus, an Iowa State University team developed a process that improves the efficiency of ethanol plants and produces new coproducts.

By Susanne Retka Schill

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

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inside FEBRUARY 2009 . VOLUME 15 . ISSUE 2

departments 8 On the Web 9 Advertiser Index 12 The Way I See It

By Mike Bryan EPM reflects industry in many ways

16 Business & People 20 Commodities 22 View From the Hill

By Bob Dinneen Ethanol and the Green Team

23 RFA Update 24 Industry News & BIObytes 34 Plant Construction List 44 Finance

By Robyn Heinz Clear Communication Can Lift Employee Morale

90 Events Calendar 92 EPM Marketplace

Ethanol Producer Magazine: (USPS No. 023-974) February 2009, Vol. 15, Issue 2. Ethanol Producer Magazine is published monthly. Principal Office: 308 Second Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, ND 58203. Periodicals Postage Paid at Grand Forks, North Dakota and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Ethanol Producer Magazine/Subscriptions, 308 Second Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, North Dakota 58203.

BPA Worldwide Membership Applied for October 2006

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

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ON THE

web PODCAST

BLOG

Delving

TAKINGSTALK Canadian Industry Marches On The annual Canadian Renewable Fuels Summit was held the week Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper suspended Parliament.

Harper’s unexpected move didn’t damper the industry’s enthusiasm at the CRFS. Many feel support will remain unwavering for the federal renewable fuels standard that takes effect soon.

into the

Intermediate Blends Report Two of the seven authors of U.S. DOE’s recent initial report on the effect of midlevel blends on legacy vehicles and small engines discuss the results of the study and future work.

By Ron Kotrba

To view this blog and others, visit www.ethanolproducer. com/takingstalk/archive.jsp.

Senior Staff Writer Ron Kotrba looks at the U.S. DOE’s initial report on midlevel blends in his February EPM feature, “Delving Into the Intermediate Blends Report.”

What impact will it have on nonflexible-fuel vehicles?

To listen to this podcast and others, visit www.ethanolproducer.com/podcast.

TOP 10 WEB EXCLUSIVES

Corn Contracts, Raising Equity and a New Administration EthanolProducer.com’s most-read Web exclusive news stories for December

1

VeraSun negotiates corn contracts

2

Ethanol opponent Pilgrim’s Pride files bankruptcy

3

Coskata secures equity financing

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Grain suppliers uncertain about VeraSun contracts

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Glacial Lakes Corn Processors shores up finances

As part of its ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, VeraSun Energy Corp. receives a 120-day deadline to present the court with a reorganization plan for its corn contracts.

The nation’s largest chicken producer Pilgrim’s Pride files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in response to volatile feed prices, slumping demand and an unmanageable debt load.

Cellulosic ethanol developer Coskata Inc. announces it has secured a Series C round of equity financing.

Grain suppliers with corn contracts linked to bankrupt ethanol producer VeraSun Energy Corp. seek certainty as to whether their contracts will be honored.

South Dakota-based Glacial Lakes Corn Processors announces it has collected $10 million from shareholders as part of a company recapitalization plan.

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Kinder Morgan begins ethanol pipeline service

7

RFA responds to reports of key Obama appointments

8

Jamerson: All is well at Mascoma

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Falling gas prices open loophole in Missouri law

10

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP becomes the first transmarket gasoline pipepline company to commercially move ethanol shipments by way of pipeline.

The Renewable Fuels Association says it is confident President-Elect Barack Obama’s Cabinet appointments will comprise a diverse energy portfolio that includes ethanol.

Bruce Jamerson, Mascoma Corp.’s president and chief executive officer, says that despite recent layoffs, his company’s “financial resources are fine.”

A price trigger in Missouri’s renewable fuels standard trips, allowing fuel retailers to avoid selling ethanol when gasoline becomes cheaper than the renewable fuel.

Legislators call on Congress to protect US ethanol State legislators voice support for the Americans for American Energy Act, which includes a trust fund allocating funding for biofuels, bioenergy and cellulosic biomass, among other items.

► For up-to-date Web exclusives, visit www.ethanolproducer.com 8

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

AdIndex

14 & 15 2009 BIOMASS Conference & Expo

45 Genencor International Inc.

49 2009 Canadian Renewable Energy Workshop

35 Greenway Consulting LLC

64 2009 International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo

72 Growth Energy 79 HEMCO Industries 76 Indeck Power Equipment Co.

32 2009 National Ethanol Conference 42 2009 RETECH Conference 19 Agra Industries Corp.

2 American Railcar Industries Inc. 57 ATEC Steel 27 Barr-Rosin Inc. 52 & 97 BBI Bioenergy Australasia 80 BBI International Engineering & Consulting 28 BetaTec Hop Products Inc. 46 & 88 Bioenergy Canada 43 & 98 Biomass Magazine 70 Brock Grain Systems 53 Buckman Laboratories Inc. 33 Buhler Inc. 4 Burns & McDonnell 78 Cereal Process Technologies 26 Christianson & Associates PLLP 63 Clifton Gunderson LLP 65 Crown Iron Works Co. 73 dbc SMARTsoftware Inc. 81 Delta-T Corp.

86 Eisenmann Corp.

18 & 85 ethanol-jobs.com 25 ETS Labratories 3 Fagen Inc. 54 FCStone LLC 13 Fermentis

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

30 Interstates Cos. 71 Intersystems 37 Kennedy & Coe LLC 89 Lallemand Ethanol Technology 55 Louis Dreyfus 10 MAC Equipment 31 Martrex Inc. 40 McC Inc. 60 Natural Resource Group Inc. 77 Nexen Marketing USA Inc. 62 North American Safety Valve 6 Novozymes 100 Poet LLC 68 Primafuel 87 R&R Contracting Inc. 47 Renewable Fuels Association 69 Resonant BioSciences LLC 99 Robert-James Sales Inc. 61 SafeRack 36 Salco Products Inc. Insert Siemens AG 29 TDC Dryers 38 Trico TCWind 48 Vaperma Inc. 56 Vecoplan 39 Vogelbusch USA Inc. 84 Wabash Power Equipment Co.

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EDITORIAL

ART

PUBLISHING & SALES

Jessica Sobolik Managing Editor jsobolik@bbiinternational.com

Jaci Satterlund Art Director jsatterlund@bbiinternational.com

Mike Bryan Publisher & CEO mbryan@bbiinternational.com

Dave Nilles Contributions Editor dnilles@bbiinternational.com

Sam Melquist Graphic Artist smelquist@bbiinternational.com

Kathy Bryan Publisher & President kbryan@bbiinternational.com

Rona Johnson Features Editor rjohnson@bbiinternational.com

Elizabeth Slavens Graphic Artist bslavens@bbiinternational.com

Joe Bryan Vice President of Media & Events jbryan@bbiinternational.com

Ron Kotrba Senior Staff Writer rkotrba@bbiinternational.com

Jack Sitter Graphic Artist jsitter@bbiinternational.com

Tom Bryan Vice President of Communications tbryan@bbiinternational.com

Susanne Retka Schill Staff Writer sretkaschill@bbiinternational.com

Matthew Spoor Sales Director mspoor@bbiinternational.com

Kris Bevill Staff Writer kbevill@bbiinternational.com

Howard Brockhouse Sales Manager, Media & Events hbrockhouse@bbiinternational.com

Erin Voegele Staff Writer evoegele@bbiinternational.com

Clay Moore Account Manager cmoore@bbiinternational.com

Anna Austin Staff Writer aaustin@bbiinternational.com

Jeremy Hanson Account Manager jhanson@bbiinternational.com

Ryan C. Christiansen Staff Writer rchristiansen@bbiinternational.com

Chip Shereck Account Manager cshereck@bbiinternational.com

Bryan Sims Staff Writer & Plant List Manager bsims@bbiinternational.com

Tim Charles Account Manager tcharles@bbiinternational.com

Hope Deutscher Online Editor hdeutscher@bbiinternational.com

Marty Steen Account Manager msteen@bbiinternational.com

Jan Tellmann Copy Editor jtellmann@bbiinternational.com

Bob Brown Account Manager bbrown@bbiinternational.com

Megan Skauge E-Media Coordinator mskauge@bbiinternational.com

Marla DeFoe Advertising Coordinator mdefoe@bbiinternational.com Jessica Beaudry Subscriptions Manager jbeaudry@bbiinternational.com Jason Smith Subscriber Aquisition Manager jsmith@bbiinternational.com Christie Anderson Administrative Assistant, Sales canderson@bbiinternational.com Nicole Zambo Receptionist nzambo@bbiinternational.com

HOW TO REACH US

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

We welcome letters to the editor. Send your letter to: Ethanol Producer Magazine Letters, 308 Second Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, ND 58203 or e-mail to jsobolik@bbiinternational.com.

Letters should include the writer’s full name, address and telephone number, and may be edited for purposes of clarity and space.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Ethanol Producer Magazine is now free of charge to everyone with the exception of a shipping and handling charge of $49.95 for any country outside the United States, Canada and Mexico.

To subscribe, visit www.EthanolProducer.com or you can send your mailing address and payment (checks made out to BBI International) to: Ethanol Producer Magazine Subscriptions, 308 Second Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, ND 58203.

You can also fax a subscription form to (701) 746-5367.

CUSTOMER SERVICE AND CHANGE OF ADDRESS

For service, please use our Web site at www.EthanolProducer.com. You can also call (866) 746-8385, or write to: Ethanol Producer Magazine, 308 Second Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, ND 58203.

BACK ISSUES AND REPRINTS

Select back issues are available for $3.95 each, plus shipping. To place an order, contact Subscriptions at (701) 746-8385 or subscriptions@ethanolproducer.com. Article reprints are also available for a fee. For more information, contact Christie Anderson at (701) 746-8385 or canderson@bbiinternational.com.

COPYRIGHT Š 2009 by BBI International

ADVERTISING

For advertising rates and our editorial calendar, visit www.EthanolProducer.com or call (866) 746-8385.

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

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The Way I See It EPM reflects industry in many ways

I

t’s interesting to scan through Ethanol Producer Magazine and see the variety of companies that have grown up with this industry over the years. It’s also quite interesting to see how advertisers have changed, especially over this past year.

Some companies that believe the corn-to-ethanol industry is mature have cut back or stopped advertising, while others have begun to focus on servicing the existing industry in an even more dynamic way.

I don’t know the exact numbers, but I know that the existing ethanol industry spends tens of millions of dollars every year on pumps, motors, tanks, chemicals, enzymes, electronics, maintenance and more.

Now that there are more than 180 operating plants, the aftermarket continues to grow.

EPM’s editorial content has changed, as well, with more focus on cellulose and a greater emphasis on plant operations. The focus has evolved from how can we build more plants to how can we produce more ethanol better, faster, cheaper and more profitably? I think the magazine accurately reflects this changing landscape.

When The Energy Independent newsletter was first published in 1995, we had no idea that it would evolve into a trade journal for the ethanol industry. These days, EPM is created each month with a great deal of pride. The journalists who gather the stories, the art department that creates the look and the editors who make sure that the integrity of the magazine is of the highest quality are all dedicated professionals.

In looking at other trade journals for different industries, EPM stands out as one of the best. The importance of a quality trade journal cannot be overstated. In an industry that is small when compared with the more traditional energy sectors—oil, natural gas and electricity—a quality trade journal lends measurable credibility. In addition, the educational aspect of the magazine is of critical importance to ethanol producers and service providers, as well as policymakers and investors.

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the advertisers that have been with us month in and month out for many years. We look forward to continued success together. In addition, ethanol producers have been awesome in providing insight to articles and suggestions on stories that help educate fellow colleagues. The openness between ethanol plants in regard to technology and plant efficiencies is perhaps second-to-none in the energy business.

As we embark into 2009, we look forward to your continued success and pass along our sincere appreciation for helping make this magazine a smashing success.

That’s the way I see it!

Mike Bryan Publisher & CEO mbryan@bbibiofuels.com

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ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

Graphic design s Marie RIO

Our fermentation experts offer custom made recommendations to adapt to your process, your needs & your economics.

From the selection of the yeast strain to the definition of its format up to onsite training of your staff, Fermentis offers your ethanol plant a global fermentation approach to maximize your efficiency & profitability.

For more information, visit www.fermentis.com or email fermentis@lesaffre.fr ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

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ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

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BUSINESS&PEOPLE

Business&People Ethanol Industry Briefs

Business Iroquois Bio-Energy to install reactor tower

InEnergy to provide due diligence services The North Dakota-based Energy & Environmental Research Center Foundation launched InEnergy Inc. in November.

The for-profit consulting corporation was created to provide due diligence services for financial investors analyzing the risks and opportunities of new energy technologies, and emerging energy industry trends. The corporation will draw upon the expertise of the EERC and a select group of others.

InEnergy boasts a wide range of technical expertise, including alternative fuels, emission control systems, and energy and water sustainability. EP

KL Energy improves wood-to-ethanol process KL Energy Corp., formerly KL Process Design Group, announced in late November a 56 percent improvement in its glucose recovery rate per dry ton of wood while simultaneously reducing its enzyme loading rate by 22 percent. “We feel this is a landmark achievement for KL Energy, proving economically viable yield and enzyme consumption rate results in a commercial-scale plant environment,” said Randy Kramer, KL Energy president and chief executive officer. “If implemented properly, these new developments could allow ethanol producers to significantly lower the cost of cellulosic ethanol while increasing overall production efficiency.”

BBI launches networking site BBI International Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mike Bryan told EPM it wasn’t long ago when he and his wife Kathy personally knew every ethanol plant general manager in the industry, but as production and markets grew, that bond became less common.

Thus, BBI launched www.ePlantSpace.com in November to reconnect ethanol producers with each other. “We believe [the site] has the power to rekindle the grassroots spirit of the ethanol industry,” Bryan said.

Intended strictly for fun and not business, the Web site offers users the capability to post pictures, videos, blogs and more to help industry members keep in touch. EP

Iroquois Bio-Energy Co. LLC, a 40 MMgy corn-based ethanol plant in Rensselaer, Ind., has ordered a PDX Ethanol Reactor Tower from U.K.-based Pursuit Dynamics PLC. According to Pursuit Dynamics, the tower will improve ethanol yields by 8 percent to 12 percent with no additional energy requirements. The system was under construction in early December, and slated for delivery and installation in February with operation to begin in March. “We congratulate [IBEC] on being the first commercial user of our system,” said Pursuit Dynamics Chief Executive Officer John Heathcote.

The company said it had also signed letters of intent to purchase this system from three additional unnamed plants. “We have set a target of installing a base of 610 million gallons per year in the U.S. ethanol industry by the end of September 2009,” Heathcote said. EP

Novozymes expands production in China

EP

Denmark-based Novozymes A/S has expanded its Suzhou Hongda Enzymes Co. enzyme fermentation facility in Taicang, China, approximately 30 miles north of Shanghai. The expansion, which triples the number of employees at the site, includes facilities that will focus primarily on enzymes for the production of cellulosic ethanol.

Novozymes also operates an enzyme production facility in Tianjin, China, 690 miles north of Taicang. China aims to double its ethanol production to 3 million tons by 2010, and Novozymes said it plans to have enzymes available for large-scale cellulosic ethanol production that same year. EP

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ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

Share Your Industry Briefs To be included in Business & People, send information (including photos or illustrations if available) to: Industry Briefs, Ethanol Producer Magazine, 308 Second Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, ND 58203. You may also fax information to (701) 746-5367, or e-mail it to jsobolik@ bbiinternational.com. Please include your name and telephone number in all correspondence.

BUSINESS&PEOPLE

Sponsored by

Business

Coskata advances projects Coskata Inc. in Warrenville, Ill., is continuing discussion with United States Sugar Corp. in Clewiston, Fla., regarding development of a 100 MMgy cellulosic ethanol plant in Clewiston that would annually convert 1 million tons of sugarcane waste and bagasse into ethanol. Pending a grant from the Florida Energy Office and loan guarantees from the USDA, the estimated $400 million plant could begin production in 2012. Negotiations had been on hold for several months until the sugar company signed a land sale and use agreement with the state of Florida in November.

Meanwhile, Coskata secured a Series C round of equity financing led by New Yorkbased Blackstone Cleantech Venture Partners LP to help complete construction of its 40,000-gallon-per-year demonstration plant in Madison, Pa., which is expected to be operational in early 2009. EP

Mascoma moves forward Massachusetts-based Mascoma Corp. will meet all set targets for its cellulosic ethanol projects despite recent staff downsizing, according to Chief Executive Officer Bruce Jamerson. These include the startup of its 30 MMgy demonstration plant in Rome, N.Y., which Jamerson said is nearly complete, and construction of a 40 MMgy commercial-scale facility in Kinross township, Mich. Mascoma recently released five to 10 people, including Vice President Colin South. However, Jamerson said Mascoma’s financial resources are secure and the company won’t need to raise money in 2009. “As far as science milestones in the lab go, we are ahead of schedule,” he added. EP

EPIC transitions to Growth Energy In late November, the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council completed its transition into Growth Energy, a newly formed organization dedicated to promoting the promise of agriculture and economic growth through clean energy. It will have offices in Omaha, Neb.; and Washington, D.C., according to Growth Energy spokeswoman Joanna Schroeder. EPIC, which consists of 33 producing ethanol plant members and approximately 100 associate members, reduced its staff from 14 to eight to prepare for the merger. The new entity’s board of directors includes Jeff Broin of Poet LLC, Dave Vander Griend of ICM Inc., Steve McNinch of Western Plains Energy LLC, Al Jentz of Amaizing Energy LLC, Bruce Rastetter of Hawkeye Renewables LLC and Wayne Hoovestol of Green Plains Renewable Energy Inc. EP

SunEthanol changes name, receives funding Hadley, Mass.-based cellulosic ethanol company SunEthanol, now called Qteros, raised $25 million in November from a consortium of investors in a Series B round of financing. The funds are intended to further the advancement of the company’s novel Q Microbe, the inspiration for the company name change. The financing was led by Venrock and previous investor Battery Ventures.

Series A investors Long River Ventures and Camros Capital also participated in the Series B round. New investors Soros Fund Management LLC and BP Amoco PLC contributed, as well. EP

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

Virent wins award, adds management In early December, Virent Energy Systems Inc. was named Technology Pioneer 2009 by the World Economic Forum for its BioForming technology. The company also announced that Lee Edwards would become its chief executive officer and president in January. He previously spent 25 years at BP Amoco PLC, most recently as president and chief executive officer of BP Solar International Inc. In November, Virent Energy named Jay Kouba as chairman of the board, of which he has been a member since 2007.

He is the CEO of Tetravitae Biosciences Inc. and the chairman of Metabolix Inc. EP

GPRE forms algae venture Nebraska-based Green Plain Renewable Energy Inc. has partnered with Tennessee-based filtration products manufacturer Clarcor Inc., Rhode Island-based photobioreactor and filtration system developer BioProcessH20 LLC, and Ireland-based NTR PLC to develop a pilot-scale algae production facility at GPRE’s 50 MMgy ethanol plant in Shenandoah, Iowa. GPRE said BioProcess Algae LLC will grow the algae, which will be used to produce biodiesel, ethanol and animal feed. The company will utilize an advanced photobioreactor based on technology licensed to the company by BioProcessH20. The size, scope and construction time line of the facility had not yet been determined. EP 17

BUSINESS&PEOPLE s.com www.ethanol-jobs.com www.ethanol-jobs.com www.ethanol-jobs.com www.ethanol-jobs.com www.ethanol-jobs.com www.ethanol-jobs.com www.ethanol-jobs.com www.ethanol-jobs.c

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People Verenium taps interim CFO Massachusetts-based Verenium Corp. appointed Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer Jeffrey Black as interim chief financial officer, replacing John McCarthy in November. Black has served as Verenium’s vice president and chief accounting officer since 2005. EP

Aldous leads Range Fuels David Aldous has taken the helm of Broomfield, Colo.based Range Fuels Inc. after Chief Executive Officer Mitch Mandich stepped down in November. Mandich will Aldous continue to serve Range Fuels as director of its board. Aldous joined Range Fuels after a 30-year career in the oil industry that included an executive role with Royal Dutch Shell PLC. EP

Orgas joins GPRE Ethanol producer Green Plains Renewable Energy Inc. has appointed Michael Orgas as executive vice president of commercial operations. Previously, he served as director of raw materials, strategic sourcing and risk management for Malt-O-Meal Co. in Northfield, Minn. He was also an investment banker for McCarthy and Co., and held management positions with ConAgra Trade Group and General Mills Inc. At GPRE, he will manage the company’s commodity, logistics, supply chain and risk management operations. EP

www.ethanol-jobs.com www.ethanol-jobs.com www.ethanol-jobs.com www.ethanol-jo

COMMODITIES REPORT Natural Gas Report

By Casey Whelan, U.S. Energy Services Inc.

Bearish information continues to roll in Dec. 31—Commodity—and energy—prices have generally dropped dramatically over the past six months. Inspecting the price patterns more closely, it is clear that oil prices have dropped significantly more than natural gas prices. The chart shows the relationship between oil and natural gas. A high number implies oil is more valuable relative to natural gas and a low number implies the opposite. The dramatic change in the relationship from oil trading at nearly a 16 multiple to natural gas in July to less than seven in January is truly remarkable and deserves some attention.

The market sent a dramatic price signal that natural gas is relatively more valuable than oil in today’s marketplace. There are at least two plausible reasons why this appears to be happening: fundamentals and trade speculation. First, natural gas fundamentals are bearish. Supply is up significantly and demand continues to lag as economic growth disappears. However, oil fundamentals are even weaker. Actual demand for oil has dropped worldwide and expected high demand from developing nations has evaporated. Oil tankers are now floating in the ocean looking for a home.

Second, oil was likely exposed to more commodity speculation since it is a worldwide commodity. Due to the limited supply sources and market uses of natural gas, there was less international trading activity. Oil is produced, shipped and consumed worldwide. The oil

commodity bubble was able to grow and expand to a much greater extent than natural gas due to worldwide trade participation. As the commodity bubble burst, oil prices dropped to a much greater extent than natural gas as traders were forced to exit positions.

Bottom line: Due to strong supply and weak demand there is limited opportunity for natural gas prices to increase materially from current levels. The caveat is that oil prices remain soft at or below $65 per barrel. EP Casey Whelan, vice president of strategic initiatives, can be contacted at cwhelan@usenergyservices.com.

Corn Report

By Jason Sagebiel, FCStone

’09 projections see drop in ethanol demand Dec. 22—The USDA made a revelation in its December supply/ demand corn balance tables. A reduction in corn demand was projected in both exports and ethanol demand. Corn for ethanol demand was slashed by 300 million bushels to 3.7 billion bushels. This equates to a 10.175 billion gallon ethanol market in the next corn marketing year. With ethanol production expected to be lower, a decrease in coproduct is assumed to be introduced into the livestock feed sector.

Corn for feed demand was projected to increase by 50 million bushels. Keep in mind that a corn marketing year is not a calendar year.

Corn expected to be exported was reduced by 100 million bushels as competition from other grain exporters grows and an overall slow down in world economies takes its toll.

World corn ending stocks was increased from 110.12 million metric tons to 123.83 million metric tons. This was due to the increase in the U.S. and South Africa carry-out. Major world importers exhibited more reduction, hence the reduced U.S. corn export figure.

There are more questions in 2009. With the current economics the concerns of fewer corn acres and more soybean acres may be reality. What will corn/soybean economics be in January/February?

One thing to note is agronomic practices may not be as aggressive, limiting yield potential. The graph depicts new crop soybeans versus new crop corn. With the current ratio (at press time), plantings would 20

encourage more soybeans acres in 2009. However, one must consider the economics of the two commodities when the February/March timeframe rolls around. The market could see extreme volatility during this time as corn tries to gain on soybeans to encourage plantings.

The big caveat for corn in the future is the renewable fuels standard.

EP

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

COMMODITIES REPORT DDGS Report

By Sean Broderick, CHS Inc.

Plethora of market issues impact DDGS Dec. 19—As Christmas approached, DDGS prices were affected by a number of influences. On one hand, prices trended with corn futures, creating movements of $10 to $15 in as short of a time span of 10 days. In the week after Thanksgiving, prices for UP rail delivered to California traded as low as $141. Ten days later, cars traded at $160. As of Dec. 19, they traded at $150 and were seemingly headed lower. Cooler weather played a part in this, as winter storms across the Midwest drove feed demand higher, and late arriving cold temperatures in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico drove buyers—who seemingly waited as long as possible—into the market to fill pipelines before the holidays.

In the export markets, the demand for containers remains quite

strong, but at lower prices. Container shipments out of Chicago seem to be the most competitive, as a preponderance of containers seems to be getting emptied there, and shippers going overseas have cut rates drastically in order to get them headed back to the Pacific Rim. West Coast loadings have dropped significantly as shippers skip loading them on the way back to the producers that provide the primary revenue. It will be interesting to see how these moves evolve as the U.S. economy struggles.

Going ahead, DDGS supply will be affected by the economics of ethanol production, but demand will be affected by the availability of feed ingredients internationally, particularly feed wheat. EP

Regional Ethanol Prices ($/gallon as of Dec. 29)

REGION

SPOT

RACK

West Coast

1.73

1.7065

Midwest

1.375

1.5999

East Coast

1.758

1.5518 SOURCE: DTN

Regional Gasoline Prices ($/gallon as of Dec. 29)

REGION

SPOT

RACK

West Coast

1.3650

1.3873

Midwest

0.9098

1.0197

East Coast

0.8858

1.0198 SOURCE: DTN

DDGS Prices ($/ton) LOCATION

DEC. 2008

NOV. 2008

DEC. 2008

Minnesota

120

125

145

California*

152

165

205

Chicago

95

105

155

Buffalo, N.Y.

115

120

157

Central Florida

135

145

SOURCE: CHS Inc.

Corn Futures Prices DATE

Ethanol Report

By Rick Kment, DTN Biofuels Analyst

188

*Central Valley

(March corn, $/bushel)

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

Dec. 19, 2008

3.84

3.75 1/2

3.80 3/4

Nov. 19, 2008

4.01 1/2

3.91 1/2

3.95 1/4

Dec. 19, 2007

4.36 1/4

4.32 1/2

4.34 3/4

Financial pressure limits demand Dec. 29—As 2008 draws to a close, the ethanol and energy industries look completely different than anyone would have expected just months before. Ethanol futures prices have are once again trading at a premium to gasoline markets as ethanol production companies have shown signs of financial turmoil that may cause supplies to become tight.

In the first few months of 2009, gasoline prices are expected to remain low compared to levels seen over the past several years, with the front month RBOB gasoline price trading at 84 cents per gallon. This plummet in price levels is largely due to the dismal economic news that seems to be surfacing almost daily. The lack of consumer demand as well as overall weak confidence in the markets seems to have kept most commercial and noncommercial (speculative) buyers

out of the market for the meantime.

Ethanol prices continue to be pressured by the weak gasoline markets, although the stronger corn prices through the month of December have helped to push ethanol prices higher in order to maintain at least slim margins at ethanol plant levels. Ethanol prices are currently tied to the movement in corn prices much more than energy price movements as concerns of supply shortages seem to be building through the country. Regulated demand for ethanol in order to meet the current Renewable Fuels Standard continues to keep ethanol prices elevated compared to gasoline markets. But demand typically increased through the early spring and summer months as additional driving takes place. This could cause energy prices to rebound over the next several weeks. EP

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE JANUARY 2009

SOURCE: FCStone

Cash Sorghum Prices ($/bushel) DEC. 19, 2008 NOV.14, 2008 DEC. 20, 2007 Superior, Neb. Beatrice, Neb. Sublette, Kan. Salina, Kan. Triangle, Texas Gulf, Texas

2.86 2.71 2.95 3.06 2.83 3.67

2.95 2.80 2.97 3.10 2.97 3.88

4.18 4.13 3.90 4.32 4.00 4.97 SOURCE: Sorghum Synergies

Natural Gas Prices

($/MMBtu)

DEC. 2008

NOV. 2008

DEC. 2007

NYMEX

5.83

6.31

7.17

N. Ventura

5.89

5.90

6.76

Calif. Border

5.75

3.80

6.76

SOURCE: U.S. Energy Services Inc.

U.S. Ethanol Production Output September 2008

640,000

August 2008

647,000*

September 2007

441,000

*all-time monthly high

(barrels/day)

SOURCE: U.S. Energy Information Administration

21

VIEW

FROM

THE HILL

Ethanol and the Green Team President Barack Obama’s White House, Cabinet and agency selections bode well for a large-scale shift to significantly advancing the development of energy innovation and green technologies. The naming of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu as Secretary of Energy; Lisa Jackson, former head of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection as Administrator of the U.S. EPA; former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack for Secretary of the Department of Agriculture; and former Clinton EPA Administrator Carol Browner as White House Energy/Environment Czar point to a significant change in the direction of this nation’s use of fossil fuels.

Obama has been clear in his support of greener fuels and innovative technologies that reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil. Such forward thinking recognizes the role biofuels, America’s original green fuel, can play in meeting the new administration’s energy, environment and national security goals.

As America’s most dynamic green industry, the ethanol industry has been hard at work reducing its carbon footprint, improving the efficiency of its biorefinery operations, and investing in innovative technologies to convert cellulose to ethanol. The Renewable Fuels Standard, signed into law just over a year ago, will require the production of 10.5 billion gallons of ethanol in 2009. Although the downturn in the economy is affecting nearly every industry today, the ethanol industry is well-positioned to meet the RFS goal as well as contribute to expanding green jobs as part of the new president’s economic stimulus plan.

Some in the media have tried to label the team Obama has formed as an ethanol “dream team.”

Such a moniker is premature. There will be times when our industry disagrees with the direction the incoming Obama administration is heading. We will be

direct and honest with them in those circumstances, as we had during the transition, and we expect to find them open to discussion and dialogue as they have always been.

The bottom line is that Obama and his Cabinet are committed to tackling the challenging issues of energy security, economic revival and environmental Dinneen sustainability. By pairing people such as Chu, a leader on the cutting edge of biofuel technology, and Vilsack, a chief executive intimately familiar with the importance of a robust domestic biofuels industry, Obama is delivering on his campaign promise to accelerate the development of second- and third-generation renewable fuel technologies. The combination of scientists, legislators, administrators and state executives ensures that strong voices in support of today’s American ethanol producer sing in harmony with voices seeking to accelerate the development of new technologies. In the end, this country will need them both to tackle future energy, environmental and economic challenges.

As Obama settles into the Oval Office and his new administration begins its push to stimulate the economy, generate green jobs and innovative green technologies, America’s biofuels industry will be there to make its contribution.

Bob Dinneen President and CEO Renewable Fuels Association 22

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

RFA Update

US celebrates EISA anniversary

RFA responds to land use change modeling The RFA submitted formal comments to the California Air Resources Board that raised concerns about the methodology, models and data used to assess greenhouse gases resulting from potential indirect land use change (ILUC) induced by expanded biofuels production. In addition, the RFA also released comprehensive analysis of the debate surrounding ILUC and the role of biofuels in that debate.

CARB is attempting to model greenhouse gas emissions from ILUC as part of the development of a statewide Low Carbon Fuels Standard. The California process is likely to set the tone for discussions about carbon policy in other states and at the national level.

The RFA’s biggest concern over CARB’s modeling was the manner in which the Global Trade Analysis Project model was used to simulate ethanol production expansion. The GTAP model “shocks” the simulated market with a 13.25 billion gallon ethanol increase. The model must handle this adjustment instantaneously. However, in the real world, market conditions change, new technologies are introduced and dynamic adjustments are made every year. “Accurately accounting for land use changes, both domestically and internationally, is critically important,” said RFA President Bob Dinneen. “While we applaud CARB’s efforts to develop a policy framework that significantly reduces the carbon intensity of our transportation fuels, it is imperative that the policy is based on sound science and unassailable modeling.”

More information, including the RFA’s analysis, can be found at www.ethanolrfa.org.

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

w w w. e t h a n o l R FA . o r g

Dec. 19 marked the one-year anniversary of the signing of the Energy Security and Independence Act, which ushered in the Renewable Fuels Standard that requires the use of ethanol and other renewable fuels to reduce dependence on foreign oil.

Since the act was signed, the U.S. ethanol industry has expanded production from 6.9 billion gallons per year to more than 10 billion gallons per year and the fuel can be found in more than 70 percent of the gasoline sold in the country. “The RFS provides an important platform for the incoming Obama administration,” RFA President Bob Dinneen said in late December. “President-elect Obama’s green jobs and green energy agenda are a perfect fit with expanding America’s production of the only green fuel that is reducing foreign oil dependence and global warming emissions today.”

The production and use of 6.5 billion gallons of ethanol over the past year added more than $45 billion to the national gross domestic product and helped create more than 238,000 green jobs.

On Dec. 17, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said that imports of fuel, mostly in the form of oil, will account for just 40 percent of the nation’s consumption by 2025. Because oil imports are used largely for the production of liquid transportation fuels such as gasoline, the impact of ethanol and other renewable fuels is significant. “The Renewable Fuels Standard is an ambitious target and one America’s ethanol industry is more than capable of meeting,” Dinneen said. “The investments being made and research being conducted at the private and public sector level will ensure this industry rises to meet this challenge.”

23

INDUSTRYNEWS

BIObytes Ethanol News Briefs

EU adopts 10 percent mandate Kinder Morgan begins pipeline shipments On Dec. 2, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP began commercially shipping denatured ethanol via its 16-inch Central Florida Pipeline between Tampa and Orlando, Fla. The company spent $10 million to modify the approximately 80mile line for ethanol shipments, which involved chemically cleaning the pipeline, replacing incompatible equipment and expanding storage capacity at its Orlando terminal. The milestone represents a first for the U.S. ethanol industry.

Low gas prices open loophole The falling price of gasoline has made it possible for some Missouri fuel retailers to bypass the state’s renewable fuel standard and supply customers with regular gasoline rather than E10. The state’s renewable fuel standard requires that E10 be sold when the price of the ethanolblended fuel is equal to or less than the price of unblended gasoline. The price trigger takes effect at the terminal level, meaning the trigger is only applicable if the price of standard gasoline at the terminal is less expensive than E10.

EPA announces 2009 RFS The U.S. EPA has announced that the 2009 renewable fuels standard (RFS) will be set at 10.21 percent, ensuring that at least 11.1 billion gallons of renewable fuels will be blended into transportation gasoline this year. The announcement was made during the interim period between the EPA’s enactment of the RFS in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and its proposed rulemaking for the RFS in the Energy Independence & Security Act of 2007 (RFS2), which may contain calculations pertaining to indirect land use. Six U.S. senators recently submitted a letter to the EPA recommending that it move forward with a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for RFS2 without the inclusion of indirect land use considerations, citing

The European Union has a new directive that sets climate change reduction goals to be phased in over the next decade. The European Parliament approved the language Dec. 17 for Europe’s 20-20-20 plan that calls for a 20 percent cut in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 1990 levels, a 20 percent increase in the use of renewable energy and a 20 percent cut in energy consumption through improved energy efficiency, all by 2020.

A mandatory 10 percent goal for transportation fuels such as biofuels, electricity and hydrogen is included in the renewable energy increase. That replaces a voluntary 5.75 percent target for the EU, which was implemented by individual member states through a variety of policies. New measures incorporated into the EU directive include minimum GHG reduction targets for biofuels and sustainability criteria.

The GHG target for biofuels—to take effect in 2011—was set at 35 percent less than GHGs from fossil fuels. For biofuels producers in operation in January 2009, the requirement will take effect April 1, 2013. In 2017, the requirement increases to a 50 percent reduction, and for new producers after 2017, the target will be 60 percent. According to Emmi Jozsa, biofuels legislation expert at Swedish ethanol producer and marketer Sekab, many ethanol producers already meet the 35 percent goal, but any producers still using natural gas for process heat will have to adopt greener energy sources in order to meet those requirements.

Targets for GHG emission reductions include not only fossil fuels, but also biofuels blends, electricity and hydrogen. The revised fuel quality directive requires fuel suppliers to reduce GHG emissions caused by extraction or cultivation, including land use changes; transport and distribution; processing; and the combustion of transport fuels. Cuts in GHG emissions can be achieved by using more alternative fuels, or by reducing gas flaring and venting at oil wells or refineries.

A separate European initiative focusing on sustainability criteria is expected to be complete by the end of 2009, giving the European Commission time to review the language for inclusion in the climate change directive. The

initiative says no member state can go beyond the sustainability and certification requirements set up in the directive, nor can the member state refuse a biofuel complying with the sustainability requirements. Jozsa explained that each member state will still have flexibility in developing its own incentives and policies, which in the past have often favored its own producers.

The directive offers incentives for more sustainable biofuels by allowing second-generation biofuels to be double-credited in the 10 percent target. These second-generation biofuels wouldn’t compete with food or feed production because they would be made from wastes, residues, and nonfood cellulosic and lignocellulosic biomass such as algae, wood residues or paper waste. The directive calls for the European Commission to develop a methodology to measure GHG emissions from indirect land use by 2010.

The fuel quality segment of the directive calls for the low ethanol blend standard to be raised from the E5 to E10, which Jozsa said can be accomplished fairly quickly on a national level, although the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) is expected to revise its standard for low blends up to 10 percent. In Sweden’s case, the country also has a standard for E85 blends.

The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) called the EU’s new policy a positive signal for biofuels producers, saying Brazil’s sugarcane industry is confident the sustainability criteria can be met. “Strict national legislation and the industry’s own initiatives already in place, plus land use planning instruments such as the agro-ecological zoning adopted in September 2008 in the most important sugarcane growing region in the world, the state of São Paulo, are realities in Brazil,” said Marcos Jank, president and chief executive officer of UNICA. “Add to this the federal government’s upcoming national mapping of regions suitable for sugarcane, and you have a solid set of safeguards ensuring that the expansion of sugarcane does not endanger sensitive areas or compete for land with other agricultural activities.”

—Susanne Retka Schill

continued on page 26

24

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

INDUSTRYNEWS

ETS

Quarterly earnings indicate ethanol producers’ resolve

Fluctuating corn and lower ethanol prices have caused some ethanol producers to restructure their financial obligations in an effort to avoid an interruption in production, or asset liquidation. Ethanol companies that managed to preserve capital in order to sustain operations exhibited resiliency in their quarterly earnings released in late 2008.

Pekin, Ill.-based ethanol producer and marketer Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings Inc. posted a net income of $2.5 million during its third quarter of 2008, compared with a loss of $1.9 million in its second quarter. The company also generated $14.3 million in cash from its operations.

Maumee, Ohio-based The Andersons Inc. posted a net income of $12.8 million on revenues of $906 million in its third quarter 2008 earnings report versus $10.6 million on $554 million in revenue during the same reporting period in 2007. The company’s grain and ethanol group’s operating income took a hit, generating $9.4 million compared with $13.7 million during the same quarter in 2007.

Archer Daniels Midland Co.’s firstquarter 2009 earnings more than doubled on the back of higher grain commodity prices.

The Decatur, Ill.-based agri-giant posted net earnings of $1.05 billion for its quarter ending Sept. 30, 2008, an increase of approximately 138 percent when compared with the $41 million it reported during the same quarter in 2007.

Cambridge, Mass.-based cellulosic ethanol producer and specialty enzyme company Verenium Corp. posted a net loss of $133,242 in its third quarter, up from a net loss of $20,493 posted during the same quarter of 2007.

High corn prices and suspended construction undercut Pacific Ethanol Inc.’s third quarter 2008 earnings. The Sacramento, Calif.-based ethanol producer posted a net loss of $54.9 million, compared with a $4.8 million loss it accrued during the same quarter in 2007.

MGP Ingredients Inc. posted a net loss of $17.2 million for its first quarter of fiscal year 2009, which ended Sept. 30, compared with a net loss of $353,000 in its first quarter 2008 fiscal year. The diversified agricultural products company, which owns and operates two ethanol plants in Kansas and Illinois, saw a 16 percent decline in ethanol sales compared with its first quarter 2008 report.

VeraSun Energy Corp. posted a $476.1 million net loss for its third quarter of 2008.

However, revenues increased 389 percent to $1.08 billion, compared with its third quarter of 2007.

In addition to these quarterly earnings statements, Glacial Lakes Corn Processors, the parent company of Glacial Lakes Energy LLC, collected $10 million from its shareholders in late November. The move was part of the company’s recapitalization efforts to obtain working capital to sustain operations at its ethanol plants in South Dakota.

The volatility in the corn and ethanol markets hasn’t been exclusive to U.S producers, either. German biofuels producer Vereinigte BioEnergie AG (Verbio) reported financial losses in its ethanol division during the first nine months of 2008. The company attributed high grain prices and decreased sales volumes to increased German taxes on biofuels. For this reason, its ethanol plants in Schwedt and Zorbig, Germany, were offline at times in 2008.

Meanwhile, two U.S. ethanol producers discontinued operations in December due to volatile economic conditions. Altra Biofuels temporarily halted production at its 60 MMgy plant in Coshocton, Ohio, and indefinitely shut down its 88 MMgy facility in Cloverdale, Ind. Pine Lake Corn Processors LP also idled its 20 MMgy plant in Steamboat Rock, Iowa.

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

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INDUSTRYNEWS

BIObytes Ethanol News Briefs they are based on “incomplete science and inaccurate assumptions.”

NEDEK Ethanol receives fine NEDAK Ethanol LLC, a 44 MMgy ethanol plant under construction near Atkinson, Neb., was fined $15,000 by the state of Nebraska for building an ethanol storage and load-out facility near the city of O’Neill without first receiving a construction permit from the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality. NEDAK Ethanol paid $5,000 of the $15,000 fine in November. The remaining $10,000, due within 12 months, may be waived if NEDAK Ethanol doesn’t violate any provisions within the Nebraska Environmental Protection Act during that time.

Studies explore switchgrass options South Dakota State University researchers are studying how the timing and cutlength when haying potential sources of cellulosic biomass, such as switchgrass, might affect the nesting success of game birds. The 1,400-acre study ends in 2010.

Meanwhile, the National Science Foun continued on page 28

26

Solar technology could offset natural gas use Colorado-based Abengoa Solar Inc., a subsidiary of Spain-based Abengoa S.A., recently announced that its solar thermal technology is available to biofuels producers, offsetting the use of natural gas at production facilities.

Abengoa Solar’s technology uses a parabolic mirror to focus the sun’s direct beam radiation onto a receiver tube, said Sales Manager Peter Thompson. “The receiver is a pipe that absorbs the sun’s energy, heating the transfer fluid inside,” he said. “The heat transfer fluid is pumped throughout the solar field, gathering solar thermal heat energy. The heat energy is then circulated through a heat exchanger, providing either hot water for a boiler feedwater system or in some cases steam using a steam generator.”

Depending on the temperature required, the heat transfer fluid may consist of water, water and glycol, or specialized oil.

Thompson said the technology is best suited for areas where clear, sunny days are common, such as in the Southwest. “As most renewable energy systems go, a supplemental source of energy is required when the sun is not available,” he said. The system is typically partnered with a boiler system to offset the use of natural gas, he added.

Not only does the technology offset natural gas costs, but it also reduces greenhouse gas

PHOTO: ABENGOA SOLAR INC.

continued from page 24

Abengoa’s solar thermal technology can be used to offset the use of natural gas at ethanol plants.

emissions, Thompson pointed out. Due to its design, the technology requires less equipment to produce the same amount of power when compared with flat plate designs. According to Abengoa, solar thermal systems are eligible for a 30 percent federal investment tax credit and accelerated depreciation. In states with renewable energy portfolios, rates of return may be even more attractive.

“The use of solar energy, in contrast to natural gas, provides a measure of energy price stability,” Thompson said. “Environmentally, the use of solar energy at a biofuels plant will greatly increase its net energy gain and will answer a major criticism leveled against the industry.”

—Erin Voegele

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

INDUSTRYNEWS

US, Brazil partnership grows despite opposition Since a memorandum of understanding to advance cooperation on biofuels was signed in March 2007 by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, a growing number of new partnerships between the U.S. and Brazil have been signed recently.

Meanwhile, opposing groups are pleading to keep the U.S. independent from imported energy.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer led a U.S. delegation to an International Conference on biofuels in São Paulo, Brazil, in November. The delegation wants to maintain a strong relationship with Brazil for the development of renewable energy.

“This will allow more flexibility for farmers to get involved and reduce the dependency on one or two feedstock sources,” Schafer said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory is collaborating with Brazil on second-generation biofuels research. NREL signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate for two years with Petrobras, the largest energy company in Latin America. The memorandum formalizes a previous verbal agreement to work together on renewable energy projects.

In opposition, Americans for American Energy and the Congress for Racial Equality said they would rather see the U.S. energy focus remain in the U.S. They are demanding action from Congress for more American energy production. “Our focus is on speaking in favor of American-produced energy of all types,” said Greg Schnacke, AAE president and chief executive officer.

“Being reliant on our own energy helps our economy and puts people to work. It just makes sense.” The group hoped to introduce a new bill, the Americans for American Energy Act, to Congress in January.

The legislation would establish the American Energy Trust Fund, which specifically allocates funding for biofuels and other energy types.

In addition, the Indy Racing League is being criticized for its decision to partner with a Brazilian group for its 2009 season.

APEX-Brasil, a Brazilian trade association, will be the official ethanol supplier of the

IRL and the Indianapolis 500. In response, Renewable Fuels Association President Bob Dinneen expressed his group’s concern in a letter to Terry Angstadt, IRL president of the commercial division. “The decision to bypass the more than 180 ethanol biorefineries across our country in favor of a tanker ship from São Paulo … is an affront to America’s farmers who have worked to enhance economic opportunities for rural communities, and all Americans who have fought and are fighting for our energy independence.”

Growth Energy, a former IRL fuel sponsor, also expressed its disappointment in the decision. “I understand that the IndyCar Series is no different than any other business entity in tough economic times,” said Growth Energy Executive Director Toni Nuernberg. “The need to secure sponsors is of utmost importance. However, a decision based solely on financial issues misses the mark. The U.S. ethanol industry has transformed the energy landscape in this country, while providing jobs and pumping money back into the American economy. I sincerely hope the IRL will reconsider its decision.”

—Megan Skauge

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BIObytes

INDUSTRYNEWS

Ethanol News Briefs continued from page 26

dation awarded The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation in Ardmore, Okla., $1.2 million to improve varieties of switchgrass for disease resistance and drought tolerance, and to customize varietal lignin content for thermochemical and biochemical conversion processes.

Funding increases S.D. blender pumps Forty-five fueling stations in South Dakota have received $5,000 grants to help pay for the installation of blender pumps since May, according to the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council and the South Dakota Corn Utilization Council.

As of mid-November, 34 of the 45 stations had already installed blender pumps, which offer varying ethanol blends for flexible-fuel vehicles. The pumps are located in 27 cities across the state.

Poet plans 2009 cob harvest Poet LLC has announced plans to conduct its first commercial corn cob harvest in the fall of 2009. Poet is converting its 50 MMgy corn-based ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa, to an integrated corn-to-ethanol and cellulose-to-ethanol continued on page 30

Automakers maintain FFV targets in bailout plans In order to prevent bankruptcies, each of the Big Three automakers (General Motors Corp., Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor Co.) submitted loan plans to Congress on Dec. 7, all maintaining their goals of making 50 percent of their new vehicles flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs) within the next three years.

In early December, GM and Chrysler told lawmakers they are only weeks away from running out of funds. Ford said it would reach the same status a few months into 2009.

To avoid what seemed to be inevitable and the aftereffects of such a blow, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a $14 billion emergency loan plan for automakers in early December, but the request was rejected by Senate Republicans over the timing of wage concessions proposed by the United Auto Workers. The Bush Administration quickly stepped in, announcing one week later a $17.4 billion emergency loan that is slated to come from the U.S. Treasury’s $700 billion financial stabilization fund. The automakers received an immediate $13.4 billion, and the remaining $4 billion will be distributed in February. “In the midst of a financial crisis and a recession, allowing the U.S. auto industry to collapse is not a responsible course of action,” Bush said in a press conference Dec. 19.

Ford’s financial plan stated that ethanol is

“an important long-term solution to our energy needs, especially as second-generation fuels become available.” The company also recommitted to doubling its production of FFVs by 2010, making 50 percent of its fleet E85-capable by 2012. It added that it has produced demonstration hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles capable of running on E85.

GM’s plan suggests full compliance with the Energy Independence & Security Act of 2007, which requires the U.S. to use 11.1 billion gallons of renewable fuels in 2009, increasing annually to 36 billion gallons in 2022. GM also indicated it would continue its goal of producing 50 percent FFVs in 2012.

Chrysler has more than 1.7 million FFVs already on the road and indicated it’s on target to meet its 50 percent FFV commitment, as well.

A large number of organizations and companies encouraged a financial support system for automakers, including the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition. “U.S. automakers are leading the way in developing and marketing flexiblefuel vehicles, but without immediate financial assistance, those efforts may go by the wayside,” said NEVC Executive Director Phil Lampert.

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INDUSTRYNEWS

The 2008 Canadian Renewable Fuels Summit drew more than 400 industry leaders from across North America to discuss policy, marketing and the continuous need to look beyond the traditional conceptions of global fuel needs in an effort to grow beyond oil. The fifth annual event took place in Gatineau, Quebec, in December.

Following the June passage of Bill C-33, which mandates 5 percent renewable content in gasoline by 2010, the status of the renewable fuels industry, the foodversus-fuel issue and the recent instability of the Canadian government were at the forefront of the summit’s agenda. Furthermore, although new research and development in second-generation biofuels were of great interest to attendees, some speakers stressed that corn-based ethanol will continue to be the backbone of the industry. “Corn ethanol still has a good future,” said Paul Wheaton, president of Nova Scotia-based AtlanTec BioEnergy Corp. “Contrary to public opinion, it will continue to be a good bridge fuel for many years, and even decades, before something takes its place.”

Funding still remains available for both first-generation and second-generation

PHOTO: KHALILA HAMMOND, BBI BIOFUELS CANADA

CRFS addresses 2009 opportunities, challenges

More than 400 people attended the 2008 Canadian Renewable Fuels Summit in Quebec in December.

technologies. “Many people thought that with all the bad press, there was no money available for first-generation technologies, but that is not the case,” said Vicky Sharpe, president and chief executive officer of Sustainable Development Technology Canada. According to SDTC, $1.2 billion in public funding has been invested in next-generation technology in the areas of enzymatic hydrolysis, gasification, algae and biobutanol. “More than $200 million in venture capital has been invested in 16 Canadian companies [so far],” she said.

Perhaps the greatest challenge facing the industry will be a new ethical debate, not unlike the food-versus-fuel conflict.

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

“Next year, [the issue] will be indirect land use changes,” said Bob Dinneen, president of the U.S.-based Renewable Fuels Association. The crux of this issue will be the many ways to measure indirect land use. “The modeling efforts undertaken to date are woefully inadequate,” said Don O’Connor, president of (S&T)² Consultants Inc., pointing out that idle land and biofuel coproducts are often not considered. Proving that expanding agricultural land can occur without jeopardizing forests or other sensitive lands will be the next challenge for the industry.

Five awards were distributed at the summit’s Green Fuels Awards Reception and Gala. Esteban Chornet, founder of Enerkem, received an award for Outstanding Dedication to the Advancement of Renewable Fuels in Canada. General Motors Corp. received the Achievement in Promoting the Use of Renewable Fuels in Canada award, and New Producer Awards were presented to IGPC Ethanol Inc. and Terra Grain Fuels Inc. for their efforts in developing the biofuels industry.

—Khalila Hammond

29

BIObytes

INDUSTRYNEWS

Ethanol News Briefs

NFU: Food prices cause for concern continued from page 28

biorefinery that will produce 125 MMgy of ethanol, 25 MMgy from corn cobs.

Poet harvested close to 10,000 acres of cobs this past fall in demonstration harvests in Texas, South Dakota and Iowa.

Poet Chief Executive Officer Jeff Broin was dubbed “Mr. Ethanol” in a Forbes magazine profile.

Iogen refuels racecar at Thunderhill event For the second consecutive year, Canadabased Iogen Corp. supplied Green Alternative Motorsports’ Lemans Prototype racecar with cellulosic ethanol, meeting its fuel needs at the National Auto Sport Association’s 25 Hours of Thunderhill, the longest road race in the world. Iogen Executive Vice President Jeff Passmore said the company supplied a total of 300 gallons of cellulosic ethanol for the event. Out of 68 participants, the racecar finished fourth. EP

Food prices remain high even though it’s been months since commodity prices tumbled, prompting the National Farmers Union to call on Congress to reexamine the issues behind the high cost of food.

Congress first heard arguments on this matter in the spring of 2008 when higher commodity prices were being blamed for a spike in retail food prices, which some members of the media and special interest groups said was ethanol’s fault.

“It’s clear that contrary to claims of food processors, retailers and others quick to criticize agriculture commodities, commodity prices have very little impact on the American consumers’ cost of food,” said NFU president Tom Buis. “It’s equally clear that processors and retailers are pocketing the economic benefit of declining farm commodity prices and reduced energy costs without passing those savings on to the consumer.”

A month after the NFU asked Congress to revisit the issue, NFU Director of Communications Liz Friedlander updated EPM on the status of its request. “The small business committee responded,” she said. “It’s on their agenda for the next Congress, and we’re optimistic they’ll take it up. We see this as a vehicle to set the record straight on the true causes of food price increases.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, food prices increased 0.2 percent in November and 6 percent over the past year. Meanwhile, energy prices dropped 17 percent in November,

and transportation costs fell 10 percent. “It’s time Big Food stops acting like the Grinch and lowers its prices,” said Greg Breukelman, spokesman for Growth Energy.

Meanwhile, a poll of 1,000 Americans, commissioned by the Food Before Fuel campaign and conducted by survey-based market research company Ipsos, concluded Nov. 18 that a majority of respondents—56 percent—wanted Congress to change its ethanol subsidy and mandate policies. However, Ipsos’ Web site indicated the majority of respondents were “provided with information about USDA data showing corn ethanol production is the cause of 10 percent of food price inflation.” Food Before Fuel didn’t respond to requests from EPM to discuss the survey.

“Ethanol has been on the government payroll for 30 years,” said Joel Brandenberger, president of the National Turkey Federation, a member of Food Before Fuel. “After three decades of government policies subsidizing and supporting the ethanol industry, we find ourselves at the end of 2008 with more questions than ever before about the wisdom of this course.”

In mid-December, Growth Energy said corn prices had fallen by more than 50 percent since the Grocery Manufacturers Association began its Food Before Fuel campaign against ethanol in July. Gas prices fell nearly 50 percent during that time.

—Susanne Retka Schill

1-800-827-1662 • www.interstates.com

ELECTRICAL CONSTRUCTION • ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • AUTOMATION • INSTRUMENTATION 30

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

INDUSTRYNEWS

Ethanol producers might be losing millions of dollars in revenue by inadvertently discounting the true value of their distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), according to Jacinto Fabiosa, a researcher at Iowa State University.

Fabiosa said he feels the lost revenue is a result of DDGS not being tested and sold based on nutritional content. He reviewed nutritional variations in DDGS from 40 ethanol plants, and found no correlation between price and nutrition. He said DDGS should be analyzed and sold based on fat, protein, amino acid and mineral content.

Livestock and poultry producers can learn more about how to best use DDGS for feed with help from the Midwest Agribusiness Trade Research and Information Center at Iowa State University, which has published an electronic book titled “Using Distillers Grains in the U.S. and International Livestock and Poultry Industries.” The publication details how to best utilize and optimize DDGS to suit the needs of beef cattle, dairy cattle, swine and poultry. It also identifies export opportunities for DDGS and describes some of the logistic hurdles that need to be resolved, as well as new technologies that are being used to improve DDGS as a feed ingredient.

PHOTO: RYAN C. CHRISTIANSEN, BBI INTERNATIONAL INC.

Various factors may add to DDGS value

Kyle Cruit, director of sales and marketing for Hi-Tech Agro Projects Private Ltd., examines DDGS pellets produced by the company’s PL500 flat-die pellet mill.

Australia is now among international entities considering DDGS for feed. The U.S. Grains Council said the first imported sample of U.S. DDGS cleared customs in Australia and will be used in feeding trials by feed supplier CopRice. Hawkeye Gold LLC in Ames, Iowa, supplied the DDGS to

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

CopRice. The DeLong Co. Inc. in Clinton, Wis., donated transloading services for the shipment, while the USGC covered freight costs.

Pelletizing distillers grains may also add new value to the ethanol coproduct. Ag Fuel & Feed LLC, a joint venture of Ag Pellet Energy LLC in Carmel, Ind., and Landers Machine Co. in Ft. Worth, Texas, have developed a new process to pelletize distillers dried grains (DDG) for feed or fuel without the use of additives or binders. Landers designed a die that mills a 100 percent DDG pellet by increasing the density of 15 percent moisture DDG to 40.6 pounds per cubic foot, which increases truck and railcar load rate potentials, and increases flowability and shelf life. Similarly, a pellet mill manufactured by New Delhi-based Hi-Tech Agro Projects Private Ltd. was demonstrated Dec. 9 at the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute in Waseca, Minn. AURI is using the PL500 flat-die pellet mill to test how energy crops in the U.S. can be made into pellets for combustion and other applications. AURI pelletized DDGS and DDGS mixed with wheat middlings, a byproduct of flour or semolina production.

—Ryan C. Christiansen

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ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

Tomorrow today will be yesterday. In order to be successful tomorrow, ethanol producers must maximize value creation from corn today. Buhler has the equipment and process know-how to produce food, feed and fuel from the same bushel of corn. This makes you more proďŹ table today and more environmentally friendly tomorrow. A full line of equipment, combined with in-house process engineering and unrivaled after sale support, equals customized solutions without limits.

Buhler Inc., 13105 12th Ave N., Plymouth, MN 55441, T 763-847-9900 buhler.minneapolis@buhlergroup.com, www.buhlergroup.com/bioenergy

The solution behind the solution.

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

33

Representing 2.12 Billion Gallons Annually

Ethanol Plant Construction New Project

Project Complete

Project Expansion

Expansion Complete

Start-ups occur despite wintery conditions ith winter weather bearing down on construction crews, four ethanol plants completed their respective projects on schedule in December.

GreenField Ethanol began grinding corn and producing ethanol at its 200 MMly (53 MMgy) ethanol facility near Johnstown, Ontario, on Dec. 8. Two days later, the plant reached its full production capacity.

NEDAK Ethanol LLC completed construction of its 44 MMgy plant in Atkinson, Neb., in late December. Shortly thereafter, the company initiated the commissioning phase, which was to be followed by corn grinding, according to General Manager Jerome Fagerland.

Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy LLC completed construction of its 110 MMgy facility in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in late December, as well. Commissioning was underway to be followed by start-up, according to Plant Manager Dan Wych. The facility will use steam, as opposed to natural gas, to power its boilers and dryers.

Tharaldson Ethanol LLC confirmed that construction of its 120 MMgy plant in Casselton, N.D., was complete with corn grinding slated for Dec. 29. Plant Manager Russ Newman said the plant began receiving corn in November and would run at 70 percent capacity once operational. “We expect the plant to be open between

W

Christmas and the New Year’s holiday,” Newman said. “After that, we plan to hold a grand opening sometime in June when the weather is nicer.”

Two plants were added to this month’s list. Nexsun Ethanol LLC is constructing a 48 MMgy plant in Ulysses, Kan., while Northwest Bio-Energy Ltd. was conducting commissioning work at its 25 MMly (6 MMgy) facility in Unity, Saskatchewan. Start-up is slated for March.

Three plants suspended construction recently: E Caruso LLC, a 20 MMgy facility in Goodland, Kan.; Route 66 Ethanol LLC, a 10 MMgy plant in Tucumcari, N.M.; and Midwest Energy Producers LLC (formerly Holt County Ethanol LLC), a 110 MMgy facility in O’Neill, Neb. According to Steve Reed, co-owner of and investor in Route 66 Ethanol, the company was looking to dismiss its general contractors and hire a new contractor to finish the remaining work. He estimated the project would resume in January. Contractors hadn’t yet arrived at Midwest Energy Producers, but the company recieved permits in December that would allow it to proceed with construction, according to Kurt Bravo, vice president of project development.

—Bryan Sims

Abengoa Bioenergy of Indiana

Abengoa Bioenergy of Illinois

Location General contractor Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Target start-up date

Location General contractor Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Target start-up date

Posey County, Ind. Abener Energía SA Vogelbusch USA Inc. 88 MMgy corn Abengoa Bioenergy Trading Abengoa Bioenergy Trading undeclared March 2008 fourth quarter 2009

Synopsis of progress Tank erection is approximately 90 percent complete. Distillation columns are set. Work on grain silos is ongoing. Steel erection has begun, and rail work is approximately 50 percent complete.

Madison, Ill. Abener Energía SA Vogelbusch USA Inc. 88 MMgy corn Abengoa Bioenergy Trading Abengoa Bioenergy Trading undeclared March 2008 fourth quarter 2009

Synopsis of progress Tank erection is approximately 90 percent complete. Distillation columns are set. Work on grain silos is underway, and rail work has begun.

To provide updates to this list, contact Bryan Sims at (701) 738-4950 or bsims@bbiinternational.com.

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ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

Appomattox Bio Energy Location General contractor Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Target start-up date

Archer Daniels Midland Co. Hopewell, Va. Agra Industries Inc. Katzen International Inc. 65 MMgy barley Osage Inc. N/A N/A October 2008 second quarter 2010

Location General contractor Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Target start-up date

Columbus, Neb. undeclared undeclared 275 MMgy corn Archer Daniels Midland Co. undeclared undeclared July 2007 third quarter 2009

Synopsis of progress Construction continues. No further information was available at press time.

Synopsis of progress N/A

Archer Daniels Midland Co.

Aventine Renewable Energy-Mt. Vernon LLC

Location General contractor Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Target start-up date

Cedar Rapids, Iowa undeclared undeclared 275 MMgy corn Archer Daniels Midland Co. undeclared undeclared June 2007 first quarter 2010

Synopsis of progress N/A

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

Location General contractor Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Target start-up date

Mt. Vernon, Ind. Kiewit Energy Co. Delta-T Corp.

113 MMgy corn Aventine Renewable Energy Inc. Aventine/Consolidated Grain and Barge

undeclared September 2007 fourth quarter 2009

Synopsis of progress N/A

35

E Caruso LLC

Bionol Clearfield LLC Location Design/builder Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Target start-up date

Clearfield, Pa. Fagen Inc. ICM Inc. 110 MMgy corn Bionol Clearfield LLC Land O’Lakes N/A February 2008 January 2010

Location General contractor Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Target start-up date

Goodland, Kan. JMC Engineering LLC/Agri-Systems JMC Engineering LLC/Agri-Systems

20 MMgy corn undeclared undeclared N/A June 2006 first quarter 2009

Synopsis of progress Work on grain silos, fermentation tanks and tank farm continues.

Synopsis of progress Construction of this project is on hold. No further information was available at press time.

Clean Burn Fuels LLC

GreenField Ethanol

Location General contractor Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Target start-up date

Location General contractor Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Start-up date

Raeford, N.C. Biofuels Design/Clean Burn Fuels LLC

Katzen International Inc. 60 MMgy corn undeclared Harris Crane Inc. Airgas Inc. May 2008 July 2009

Synopsis of progress Work continues on fermentation tanks and the distillation area. Grain storage is being installed. Chiller, cooling tower and distillers grains building are complete. Work on ethanol storage tank work is underway.

36

Project Complete Johnstown, Ontario SNC-Lavalin Group ICM Inc. 200 MMly (53 MMgy) corn GreenField Ethanol Commercial Alcohols undeclared October 2006 December 2008

Synopsis of progress This plant started operation in December. Congratulations GreenField Ethanol!

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

Kawartha Ethanol Inc.

Highwater Ethanol LLC Location Design/builder Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Target start-up date

Lamberton, Minn.

Fagen Inc. ICM Inc. 55 MMgy corn Renewable Products Marketing Group

CHS Inc. N/A November 2007 May 2009

Synopsis of progress Natural gas lines are set. Electrical substation is nearly complete.

All rail work is complete. Work on administration building and energy center is ongoing.

Location General contractor Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Target start-up date

Synopsis of progress Construction continues. No further information was available at press time.

Homeland Energy Solutions LLC

Louisiana Green Fuels LLC

Location Design/builder Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Target start-up date

Location General contractor Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Target start-up date

Lawler, Iowa Fagen Inc. ICM Inc. 100 MMgy corn Green Plains Renewable Energy Inc.

CHS Inc. N/A May 2007 March 2009

Synopsis of progress N/A

THE ROAD TO SUCCESS IS FILLED WITH TWISTS AND TURNS. FORTUNATELY, WE ALREADY KNOW THE WAY.

Havelock, Ontario Profab International Ltd. Delta-T Corp.

80 MMly (21 MMgy) corn undeclared Thompson’s Ltd. undeclared October 2007 February 2009

Lacassine, La. Casey Industrial Inc Louisiana Green Fuels LLC/Praj Industries Ltd.

25 MMgy sugarcane/sweet sorghum undeclared N/A undeclared April 2008 fourth quarter 2009

Synopsis of progress The colocated sugarcane syrup mill is operational. Construction of the ethanol plant continues. No further information was available at press time.

The biofuels industry’s accounting, tax and various consulting needs can be nearly as complicated as the refining process itself.

Which is why Kennedy and Coe’s knowledge and experience in the industry can help you identify and capitalize on many opportunities that can significantly impact your organization’s cash flow. Our expertise can help you navigate even the most confusing paths, so you can make the most of your operation’s potential.

Call Jesse McCurry at 800-303-3241 or visit us at www.kcoe.com.

Not your average accountants.SM The “e” mark and the “stylized e” are registered service marks of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council. Used with permission.

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009 KAC.10442_EPM_Wnd_7.5x3.375_4C 1

37 7/24/08 11:10:53 AM

Midwest Energy Producers LLC Nexsun Ethanol LLC

(formerly Holt County Ethanol LLC) Location General contractor Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Target start-up date

O’Neill, Neb. Midwest Developers LLC Praj Schneider 110 MMgy corn Aventine Renewable Energy Inc. undeclared N/A May 2007 2009

Location Design/builder Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Target start-up date

Ulysses, Kan. ICM Inc. ICM Inc. 48 MMgy corn undeclared undeclared undeclared September 2007 first quarter 2009

Synopsis of progress The general contractor and process technology provider have been changed, and replacements are not yet on-site. The company will resume construction in April.

Synopsis of progress Initial site work is approximately 98 percent complete. Concrete work has begun.

NEDAK Ethanol LLC

Northwest Bio-Energy Ltd.

Location General contractor Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Start-up date

Project Complete Atkinson, Neb. Delta-T Corp.

Delta-T Corp.

44 MMgy corn Eco-Energy Inc. Frahm and Deitloff N/A June 2006 December 2008

Synopsis of progress Construction was complete in December, followed by corn grinding and commissioning. Congratulations NEDAK Ethanol LLC!

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Location General contractor Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Target start-up date

Unity, Saskatchewan Northwest Terminal Ltd. Katzen International Inc. 25 MMly (6.6 MMgy) wheat undeclared undeclared undeclared September 2007 March 2009

Synopsis of progress All equipment, tanks and piping are installed. Electrical and instrumentation work is ongoing. The biomass-fired boiler is complete.

Commissioning has begun.

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

Northwest Renewable LLC Location General contractor Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Target start-up date

Panda Hereford Ethanol LP Longview, Wash.

Makad Construction Corp.

Lurgi Inc. 55 MMgy corn U.S. Ethanol LLC Lansing Trade Group undeclared November 2006 second quarter 2009

Synopsis of progress N/A

Hereford, Texas Panda Ethanol Inc. Thermo-Kinetics/Lurgi Inc. 105 MMgy corn Aventine Renewable Energy Inc. Panda Ethanol Inc. undeclared September 2006 first quarter 2009

Synopsis of progress Construction continues. No further information was available at press time.

One Earth Energy LLC Location Design/builder Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Target start-up date

Location General contractor Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Target start-up date

Plymouth Energy LLC Gibson City, Ill. Fagen Inc. ICM Inc. 100 MMgy corn Eco-Energy Inc. Ag Motion Inc. N/A October 2007 March 2009

Synopsis of progress Work on water treatment system continues. Most building components are installed. Interior mechanical and electrical work is ongoing. Cooling tower erection is underway. Rail work is complete. Some concrete work remains.

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

Location General contractor Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Target start-up date

Merill, Iowa Delta-T Corp.

Delta-T Corp.

50 MMgy corn C&N Cos. Plymouth Energy LLC undeclared May 2007 2009

Synopsis of progress N/A

39

Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy LLC

Range Fuels Inc. Location General contractor Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Target start-up date

Soperton, Ga. undeclared undeclared 10 MMgy woody biomass undeclared N/A N/A November 2007 first quarter 2010

Location Design/builder Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Start-up date

Project Complete Council Bluffs, Iowa ICM Inc. ICM Inc. 110 MMgy corn Lansing Ethanol Group Bunge N/A November 2006 December 2008

Synopsis of progress Construction continues. No further information was available at press time.

Synopsis of progress The commissioning phase was underway, followed by start-up in late December. Congratulations Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy LLC!

Route 66 Ethanol LLC

Tharaldson Ethanol LLC

Location General contractor Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Target start-up date

Location General contractor Process technology Capacity Feedstock Ethanol marketer Distillers grains marketer Carbon dioxide marketer Broke ground Start-up date

Tucumcari, N.M. APS/United Stainless Process Technology United Stainless Process Technology

10 MMgy corn/milo undeclared undeclared N/A October 2007 first quarter 2009

Synopsis of progress Construction was on hold in December but slated to resume in early January.

40

Project Complete Casselton, N.D. Wanzek Construction Inc./Valley Engineering

Vogelbusch USA Inc. 120 MMgy corn Green Plains Renewable Energy Inc.

Verde Bioproducts Inc. N/A May 2007 December 2008

Synopsis of progress Construction was complete in late December, followed by commissioning. Corn grinding was slated for Dec. 29. Congratulations Tharaldson Ethanol LLC!

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

WE KNOW CELLULOSE TO ETHANOL

With over 40 years of combined “hands-on” experience in conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, BBI is your best resource for cellulosic project evaluation and development. Our experts understand the critical technical and economic issues related to feedstock collection and storage, biological and thermochemical conversion technologies and downstream processing. Our direct experience includes the design and engineering of concentrated acid hydrolysis, dilute acid pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, and fermentation processes for converting a broad range of feedstocks to ethanol. Whether it’s a feasibility study, feedstock assessment, due diligence, process design or complete project development, BBI is the definitive source of answers for your cellulose-toethanol questions.

BBI International Engineering & Consulting 300 Union Blvd., Suite 325 Lakewood, CO 80228 Phone: ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009303-526-5655 www.bbiinternational.com

41

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ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

Biomass Magazine is a trade journal serving companies that use and/or produce power, fuels and chemical feedstocks derived from biomass.

Collectively, these biomass utilization industries are positioned to replace nearly every product made from fossil fuels with those derived from plant or waste material. The publication covers a wide array of issues on the leading edge of biomass utilization technologies, from biorefining, dedicated energy crops and cellulosic ethanol to decentralized power, anaerobic digestion and gasification. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all here.

www.BiomassMagazine.com

For additional information please contact us at (701) 746-8385 or at advertising@biomassmagazine.com

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

43

:FINANCE

Clear Communication Can Lift Employee Morale

hen economic times call for difficult measures, the ethanol industry may not be exempt. Media coverage of plant closures and bankruptcies has only heightened how managers must deal with employee morale, or in some cases, a lack of it.

Today’s economy is challenging but managers can find solace in knowing how to effectively communicate with various levels of staff about potential changes. If your plant is facing potential layoffs or financial change, there are steps you can take to help stave off low employee morale.

No matter the size of the plant, upper management is ultimately responsible for guiding an organization during tough times. Production employees will look to these leaders for specific language and direction when times are tough. Every employee may feel financial stress at the workplace but especially those watching their retirement account or dealing with the post-holiday stress of paying credit card bills.

When employees feel financial pressure outside their workplace in addition to their job, it creates a feeling of less control on their own

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44

By Robyn Heinz

personal well being. People wondering if they’ll even have a job tomorrow will not be as productive at work as those who’ve been told as much information as possible about job security and about the company’s management plan during an economic crisis.

While leadership can’t tell every employee full details of the plant’s financial situation, keep in mind that in the absence of real information, employees will create their own. Once this happens, the information is subject to each person’s interpretation. Effective communication from the top down can help mitigate gossip and ease the fear of the unknown. Being open and honest with employees shows you understand their concerns and are trying to give them as much information as possible.

One way to ensure employees are in the company loop is to specifically ask for their feedback.

For example, consider staff ideas on ways to operate more efficiently, reduce waste, cut non-operating costs or reduce overtime. Empowering employees gives them an opportunity to truly offer input on what may happen with their job. In general, people fear the unknown and morale could be low because of

what employees perceive they don’t know or can’t control.

In addition to open communication, employHeinz ees may be able to take advantage of company benefits including an Employee Assistance Program, credit counseling service, personal financial planning and budgeting program or prepaid legal services. These benefits can provide employees with someone to talk to in confidence about their financial situation, stress and uncertainties.

Whether low oil and gas prices continue to affect ethanol blending contracts or the impacts of highpriced corn linger, the ethanol industry has hurdles to jump.

Robyn Heinz heads Kennedy & Coe LLC’s human resources consulting services. Reach her at (316) 685-0222.

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

Together we can build a low-carbon economy where business and future generations thrive.

Genencor® and you— a partnership of possibilities At Genencor®, we help our customers explore the limitless potential of industrial biotechnology. We apply our expertise in enzyme technology and systems biology to the challenges of the diverse industries we serve. Our ability to deliver innovative and sustainable customer solutions creates value while minimizing environmental impact. Join us in building a better future. www.genencor.com © 2008 Danisco US Inc. Genencor® is a registered trademark of Danisco US Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries.

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ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

47

Register now : www.crew2009.com Knowledge, Technology & Connections The 2009 Canadian Renewable Energy Workshop is the first stop on the path to optimizing your strengths and realizing your renewable energy ambitions. Attendees will enjoy world-class presentations at the only conference in Canada that combines emerging biofuels and biomass power in one.

Join us March 10-12, 2009 at the Regina Inn to…

• Discover energy opportunities to supplement natural gas and electrical bills; • Utilize promising future feedstocks including wood, algae, waste, cellulose, and more; • Interact with industry professionals to build your bioenergy network.

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2nd Annual | March 10 – 12, 2009 | Regina Inn Hotel and Conference Centre | Regina, Saskatchewan ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

49

TRANSPORTATION

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Not Just a

Pipe Dream Kinder Morgan proved that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s possible to overcome the challenges of moving ethanol via pipeline when the company shipped its first commercial batch in November. Bolstered by industry support, consumer interest and favorable legislation, other pipeline companies are also tackling ethanol pipeline projects.

By Erin Voegele

50

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

TRANSPORTATION

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

51

TRANSPORTATION

I

n late 2008, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP became the first U.S. company to ship a commercial batch of ethanol through its Central Florida Pipeline, an 85-mile stretch between Tampa and Orlando, Fla. Kinder Morgan’s success is the result of extensive preparation and a sizable investment. The company spent about $10 million to modify the pipeline, which was previously dedicated to gasoline service, so it could handle ethanol. The money was used to clean the pipe, replace ethanol-incompatible equipment and expand capacity at Kinder Morgan’s Orlando terminal so it could handle the shipments. Commercial ethanol shipments are scheduled to continue through that pipeline once a week.

Several other companies are also working on ethanol pipeline projects. Magellan Midstream Partners LP and Buckeye Partners LP have partnered to study the feasibility of constructing a dedicated ethanol pipeline, which would span 17,000 miles from northwestern Iowa to New York Harbor.

In addition to the project with Magel-

lan, Buckeye has notified the U.S. Department of Transportation of its plans to run a test batch of ethanol through an existing Detroit, Mich.-area pipeline. Eric Gustafson, Buckeye’s chief operations officer, says the test batch will travel approximately 20 miles through the pipeline and should be complete within a few months.

In an effort to overcome the problems associated with traditional steel piping, ALL Fuels & Energy Co. has plans to construct a new resin-based multiproduct pipeline. According to President and Chief Executive Officer Dean Sukowatey, his company is in the process of funding a pipe manufacturing facility in Des Moines, Iowa. The company plans to construct a pipeline in two phases.

Phase one would consist of a pipeline system throughout the Midwest. Phase two would seek to expand the pipeline to the East Coast.

Overcoming Obstacles Although Kinder Morgan has successfully moved ethanol through the Central Florida Pipeline, many obstacles remain. The

primary challenges involved in moving ethanol through a pipeline can be divided into two main categories; challenges resulting from the corrosive nature of ethanol, and challenges resulting because of how ethanol reacts with other products and substances within the pipeline.

Jim Lelio, Kinder Morgan’s director of business development, says the obvious challenge is that ethanol reacts so much differently than the refined petroleum prodLelio ucts that are typically moved through pipelines. The industry must find ways to overcome ethanol’s affects on the pipe, the valves and the systems themselves. “If you can do that, you’ve got a good chance of moving the product,” he says.

More specifically, the corrosive nature of ethanol leads to concerns over stress corrosion cracking (SCC). SCC can be defined as the slow growth of cracks along the pipeline, which are caused by mechanical stress

TRANSPORTATION

and exposure to a corrosive environment.

While Kinder Morgan’s success in transporting ethanol long distances through a pipeline is a new achievement, there is Gustafson actually an extensive history involving the movement of ethanol short distances through pipes. Piping infrastructure can be found within ethanol plants, and it’s used to connect tanks to various infrastructure elements, such as blending racks and barge docks. “Over the years, there have been about 10 to 20 instances of stress corrosion cracking in existing facilities handling ethanol,” says Eric Gustafson, Buckeye’s chief operating officer. These instances have been relatively minor because they occurred in completely contained environments. “The stress corrosion cracking, which occurs on the interior of the pipe, is different from what we are accustomed to with other products,” says Bruce Heine, Magellan’s director of government and media affairs. “That

cracking could lead to a release of product.”

Heine says pipeline companies are highly motivated to prevent all releases, which is why it’s important to develop ways to Heine prevent this type of corrosion. Although product release is exceedingly uncommon, Gustafson says his company has a zero-tolerance policy. “Even though there have only been a handful of these stress corrosion cracking incidents … we need to understand what is causing them and make sure we have mitigated the risk,” he says. Other compatibility and corrosion issues can arise because of the way ethanol reacts when nonmetal materials and plastics are present in existing pipelines.

Ethanol’s solvent qualities pose additional challenges. Over years of use, small quantities of residue, or dirt, can build up in existing pipeline systems. Although this dirt is not soluble in petroleum products, it is soluble in ethanol, which can lead to discoloration.

In addition, pipelines can hold a small amount of water. In the petroleum production process water and hydrocarbons are often mixed, Gustafson says. At certain temperatures water stays soluble in the product in very small amounts. “As the temperature of the product cools, which it typically does when it goes in the ground, some water drops out and becomes what we call free water,” he says. Because the amount of water tends to be small, it’s not a huge issue when transporting pure denatured ethanol. It does, however, make transporting pre-mixed ethanol and gasoline blends more difficult. “If a blend of gasoline and ethanol encounters water, the water will actually cause the ethanol to come out of the blend,” Gustafson says. The result is a water ethanol mix, and gasoline that no longer meets specifications.

Dedicated Pipeline A Solution Gustafson and Heine say a dedicated pipeline should help overcome many of the issues that arise when shipping ethanol via pipeline. Although the project is still in the feasibility study stage, the two companies

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TRANSPORTATION

continue to dedicate resources and effort to the project.

When constructing a new pipeline, special construction and welding techniques can be applied. “You can also choose materials that will be compatible with ethanol,” Gustafson says. Furthermore, the pipeline would be dedicated solely to ethanol shipments, thus eliminating the problems stemming from incompatibility with other products. “This doesn’t mean that you can’t safely handle ethanol in some of the existing pipes— because I think we can—but it’s easier when a system is specifically designed to [move ethanol],” Gustafson says.

ALL Fuels & Energy is taking yet another approach to overcoming challenges associated with the use of steel pipes by utilizing resin-based pipes. “[The resinbased pipes] work for all products, including ethanol, because they are very corrosion resistant,” says Voldemars Pelds, president and chief executive officer of Leo Pelds Engineering Co. “It doesn’t get eaten away by the ethanol.” In addition, the pipe can be sealed from end to end, which prevents moisture from entering, Pelds says.

According to Sukowatey, the polymer used to make the pipe will weld, or bond, with fiberglass. “[This bond] is called a chemical weld because you can bond what’s called a fiberglass reinforced pipe,” Pelds says. “We then enhance it with a wrap of resin pipe.” Although commodity prices can change, Pelds estimates the cost of the pipe will be comparable with the price of traditional steel piping.

Another benefit of ALL Fuels & Energy’s proposed pipeline is its long lifespan when compared with steel. “Right now we can’t even put a finite level of life on the pipe,” Sukowatey says. “It’s like putting a plastic jug in a landfill. It’s probably going to be there 100 years from now.

The pipeline projects in development

by Magellan and Buckeye, and by ALL Fuels & Energy are all designed to overcome logistical challenges faced by the industry.

“If you look at the routing of the proposed pipeline system for Magellan and Buckeye, there are no pipes in place today that transport other products out of the upper Midwest to the Eastern Seaboard,”

PHOTO: KINDER MORGAN ENERGY PARTNERS LP

TRANSPORTATION

Kinder Morgan shipped the first commercial batch of ethanol through its Central Florida Pipeline.

Heine says. “The flow of gasoline and diesel fuel doesn’t naturally go in that direction, but the flow of ethanol would.”

Kinder Morgan will continue supplying ethanol service through existing pipelines, monitoring the Central Florida Pipeline and looking for opportunities to add ethanol service in other areas, Lelio says. He expects the company will begin to identify the next pipeline system toward the end of the first quarter of 2009.

Making the Dream Come True Kinder Morgan’s efforts to move ethanol via pipeline are the result of customer interest, Lelio says. “Every part of [the Central Florida Pipeline project] was driven by the needs of our customers,” he says. “We’re not just out there doing a science project.

We’re there because our customers want us to do this.”

The first commercial batch of ethanol Kinder Morgan shipped through the Central Florida Pipeline sold out immediately, and Lelio expects this level of interest from customers will continue. Although he’s not sure what exactly drove consumer interest, he says the project has received a “groundswell of support.”

To continue their pipeline project Magellan and Buckeye are looking to the U.S. DOE’s loan guarantee program, which was designed to encourage the commercial use of new or significantly improved technologies, Heine says. “We’ll be looking to make some modifications to that existing program to recognize the differences associated with a large-scale renewable fuel pipeline project,” he says. This would include extending some pre-existing timelines.

While the DOE loan guarantee program would improve the feasibility of ethanol pipeline projects, an important piece of legislation passed in 2008 made it possible for pipeline companies to continue ethanol projects. Language in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 revamps the tax code that had blocked publicly traded partnerships (PTPs), such as Kinder Morgan, Magellan and Buckeye, from claiming income generated from the storage and transportation of biofuels as qualifying income.

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TRANSPORTATION

Magellan and Buckeye’s proposed pipeline would extend from Iowa to New York Harbor.

SOURCE: MAGELLAN MIDSTREAM PARTNERS LP

Under the old tax code, PTPs had to earn 90 percent of their income from the handling of depletable natural resources.

If that condition was not met, the PTP would be treated as a corporation for tax purposes. The revised code allows PTPs to earn qualifying income from handling any liquid fuel approved by the U.S. EPA. “There is no way [our project] could move forward without that legislation,” Gustafson says.

The U.S. DOT, which is in charge of safety regulations for hazardous liquid pipelines, is also getting involved with ethanol pipeline projects. In fact, Kinder Morgan worked closely with the DOT during the Central Florida Pipeline project, Lelio says. “[The DOT] was very interested in ensuring that the correct preliminary precautions were taken,” he says. These precautions included the education and training of firefighters and other emergency response personnel so they would be prepared to deal with any ethanol-related emergency situations. “We were very thorough, and the DOT was very interested and involved in the entire process,” Lelio says.

“Pipelines are the safest, most reliable and most cost-effective method to transport large volumes of liquid energy from where it’s produced to where it’s consumed,” Heine says. Pipelines have fewer accidents than rail or truck transportation, the cost is lower and it’s dependable.

“Pipelines don’t typically have problems with snow, ice or rain,” Gustafson says.

“They tend to be more predictable about getting products where they need to be on time, and in good shape.”

Support from ethanol producers is also important to keep ethanol pipeline projects moving. “The people we have talked to are very enthusiastic,” Gustafson says. “We just need to keep that enthusiasm growing.”

“We think a project [like ours] would benefit the entire ethanol industry,” Heine says. “We’ll certainly be looking for trade association support as we move forward on legislative initiatives as well.” EP Erin Voegele is an Ethanol Producer Magazine staff writer. Reach her at evoegele@ bbiinternational.com or (701) 373-8040.

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STORAGE

Storage Strategies for Cellulosic Feedstocks EPM explores storage options for corn stover and switchgrass, both of which have the potential to serve as the next big feedstocks for cellulosic ethanol production.

By Anna Austin

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C

orn stover, which consists of the leaves and stocks of corn plants usually left in the field after harvest, makes up about half of the yield of a corn crop. Corn stover, if it can be efficiently harvested, stored and transported, has multiple uses including as feed for animals, fertilizer, a biomass source for steam generation or electricity, and as a feedstock for the production of biofuels.

Corn stover has been seriously considered as a potential feedstock for the production of cellulosic ethanol for several years, and has been the subject of much research and experimentation. Innovation is needed, however, in corn stover collection, transportation and storage methods to turn the idea into reality.

Eric Woodford knows corn stover. He and his wife, Mary, run Woodford Custom Inc., a family farm business in Redwood Falls, Minn., where their primary focus is baling and selling corn stalks.

Currently, the most widely accepted storage method is to turn the corn stover into large, round bales, according to Woodford.

“The infrastructure to do this type of harvest is already in place on many farms across the Midwest,” he says. Round bales generally require less expertise than square baling, shed water easier, and are typically less expensive (about $15 per dry ton for round bales, compared with $20 per dry ton for square).

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The initial investment would be the purchase of a round baler at a cost of approximately $23,000, whereas a square baler would cost about $87,000.

Woodford has found that corn stover storage practices vary among the different regions of the U.S., mainly due to climate and end-user needs. “My experience is in the Midwest, where the climatic challenges are rain, snow, ice and humidity,” he tells EPM. The corn stover bales can be wrapped to protect them from inclement weather. Woodford has found that wrapping the bales with net/mesh is more effective than just wrapping the bales with twine. “Net wrap provides a certain amount of protection from the elements,” Woodford says. “When water hits the net, it beads up and runs off the edge of the bale.” Although it’s more expensive than other methods, mesh wrap sheds water better and prevents a great deal of loss while the bales are being moved, which may offset the higher cost.

According to Tom Schechinger, chairman of the board of managers at BioMass Agri Products in Harlan, Iowa, plastic from the twine or mesh wrap is also considered a serious contaminate. “De-twining is often a laborious task,” he says. “Installing equipment that will de-twine or de-wrap adds cost and is not fail proof.”

PHOTO: ERIC WOODFORD

STORAGE

Woodford recommends lining bales side-by-side when storing outdoors.

Storage Logistics In a study conducted by the Department of Biological Systems Engineering at the University of Wisconsin and released in 2007, round and square stover bales, both dry and wet were stored indoors and outdoors, some wrapped in a plastic film tube, sisal twine, plastic twine and net wrap.

“Corn stover bales are usually made at a range of 7 percent to 18.5 percent moisture,”

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Woodford says. “Bales that are wetter than this will heat, which will reduce the value of the feedstock and may cause a fire.”

Consistent with Woodford’s recommendation of using net wrap, the researchers found that bales in the net wrap and plastic twine had a much less dry-matter loss than the ones wrapped in sisal twine.

Bales wrapped in the tubes were removed after approximately 8 months of storage, and the researchers found there were no statistical differences in fermentation between bale types, but higher moisture bales produced significantly greater levels of fermentation products than low-moisture bales.

The study’s overall findings were that storing wet corn stover by ensiling resulted in less loss and more uniform product moisture, compared with dry stover bales stored outdoors. Ensiling may also prevent or reduce the risk of fire.

Woodford recommends that the bales stored outside on the ground be lined up end to end, rather than side to side. “The area should have a good slope so rain water will run off and there should be no depressions where water can pond,” he says.

In Midwest locations where harsh weather conditions can occur, Woodford suggests stover bales be placed where they can be accessed by roads, yet will not block roads with drifting snow. “If bales need to be stacked high in large piles I would recommend some

sort of roof or tarp to cover the top of the stack, because when you stack bales, rain and snow has to soak in as it can’t run off as easily,” he says. “Extreme care must be taken to make sure that all bales placed in the stack are dry and will not heat.”

Woodford prefers to have multiple satellite storage locations as opposed to one central location. “Multiple satellite locations help break up truck traffic and reduce potential loss in the event of a fire,” he says.

Although corn stover looks to be a promising feedstock for cellulosic ethanol, Woodford thinks it should be considered as a stepping stone to more sustainable crops, such as native grasses and dedicated energy crops.

Switch to Switchgrass Switchgrass is another potential cellulosic ethanol feedstock that has garnered a lot of attention. University of Tennessee researchers are well on their way to discovering the most economical and beneficial methods of storing switchgrass.

Switchgrass is a warm-season perennial commonly found in prairies, pastures and along roadsides. It is considered a high-yielding, versatile, adaptable plant, which is able to thrive in many different weather conditions, and requires lower fertilizer and herbicide amounts compared with typical crops.

Several companies, including Missouribased CleanTech Biofuels Inc., have expressed

PHOTO: ERIC WOODFORD

STORAGE

Corn stover consists of the leaves and stocks of the corn left over in the field after harvest.

interest in the crop. The research team at UT co-led by agricultural economics professor Burton English, agricultural economist James Larson and soil scientist Don Tyler began experimenting with switchgrass in January 2008 through the Tennessee Biofuels Initiative.

“Logistics is a big issue in regard to biomass,” English says. “We realize that one can transport more rectangular bales in a truck than round bales, but storage is another matter.”

The group established 720 acres of switchgrass in eastern Tennessee to perform a storage study, comparing round or rectangular bales stored on three different surfaces, covered and uncovered.

Five-by-4-feet round bales, and 4-by-8feet rectangular switchgrass bales were stored on well-drained ground, gravel and pallets.

Some bales on each of those surfaces were

STORAGE

covered with a plastic tarp, wrapped in plastic or left uncovered.

Every 100 days starting in January 2008, the group conducted bale destruction tests to see what was happening inside of them, Burton explains. “We do this by cutting them open with a chain saw, selecting four different weathered surfaces to take samples from and sending the samples to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., for testing,” he says.

The researchers have collected samples from January, May and September, and are now preparing to collect the December samples. “We are doing this every 100 days for 500 days, even though a season is 365 days,” Burton says. “We believe there will have to be some extra storage time, just in case not enough switchgrass is produced in every given year. At this time, we think the material will be stored at farms, so this study will look at the cost of each specific method.”

Cost and Findings According to English, the least expensive switchgrass storage method is as round bales, without a tarp and on pallets.

“It costs about $4 per ton that way,” he says. “If it doesn’t have a tarp it’s going to weather about 6 inches, but we don’t know if that’s bad or good for conversion processes, because we don’t have conversion process data yet.”

The samples the group has sent to the NREL will be chemically analyzed to answer that question. Among several things that were measured, English says the bale’s ethanol content will be significant.

A round bale covered with a tarp and stored on a gravel pad will cost about $12 a ton, English says, noting that a round bale typically weighs 1,300 pounds; a square bale weighs about 1,700 pounds. “If you don’t cover that square bale and leave it open to rain, it can increase in weight by up to 3,100 pounds,” English says, adding that the square bales soak up water rather quickly, which may damage their quality. All bales that were left uncovered were waterlogged when the first samples were taken in May. Taking cost and overall effectiveness into consideration, the UT researchers found that tarp-covered bales stored on pallets resulted in less degradation com-

STORAGE

PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE

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English stands in front of a field of switchgrass planted by University of Tennessee researchers.

pared with those stored on a gravel pad. “A gravel pad is more expensive, and it doesn’t add quality,” he says.

In the experiment, round, tarp-covered bales showed little signs of weathering, and decreased in weight by about 37 pounds per bale. Weathering on covered rectangular bales varied and significant decomposition was observable along the bottom edge and exposed sides of most bales. The average decrease in weight was about 1,313 pounds per bale.

A 25-by-100-feet tarp costs $500 and will cover about 144 rectangular bales, or 120 round bales, according to English. Pallets cost about $6.50 each, and only one bale can be placed on a pallet.

Gravel pads cost approximately 60 cents per square foot.

English says UT should begin receiving experiment results from the NREL at any time and that the study should be completed by next summer.

Feedstock Future Determining the cost and effectiveness of feedstock storage is important to the commercial development of cellulosic ethanol production, which is why so many companies and universities are working to put the pieces of this puzzle together. For example, in August 2008, Illinois-based Archer Daniels Midland Co., Deere & Co., and Missouri-based Monsanto Co. announced a collaboration to identify environmentally and economically sustainable methods to harvest, transport and store corn stover. Other universities, such as Iowa State University and the University of Kentucky have developed programs to study biomass-to-ethanol crops, with an emphasis on switchgrass.

It is clear researchers are beginning to develop a solid storage infrastructure for the use of these crops as a source of clean, renewable fuel. EP Anna Austin is an Ethanol Producer Magazine staff writer. Reach her at aaustin@bbiinternational.com or (701) 738-4968.

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

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INNOVATION

Fertile Fungus Iowa State University researchers use fungi to treat thin stillage and create some interesting new coproducts.

By Susanne Retka Schill

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PHOTO: JORDAN MILLER, ISU CENTER FOR CROPS UTILIZATION RESEARCH

H

ans Van Leeuwen has long worked with fungi to purify food processing wastewater, starting in South Africa, then in Australia, and in recent years in his position as a professor of environmental and biological engineering at Iowa State University in Ames. When he first considered using fungi to clean up the water used in the corn wet-milling process, he learned that although the fungi grow well, the process would be somewhat marginal in terms of increasing the profitability of a corn wet mill. When his team at ISU turned to the dry-mill ethanol process, they found a different story. Not only do the fungi grow prolifically, promising some interesting new coproducts, but the energy and water savings could be significant.

The researchers dubbed the new process MycoMax and formed MycoInnovations Inc. to facilitate commercialization. There is one patent pending for the process and another one in development. Van Leeuwen is currently seeking funding to test the process on a pilot scale, which he estimates will cost $1 million for equipment and tests.

Their research has already garnered some attention for the ISU team, which includes van Leeuwen, doctoral candidate Mary

The team at Iowa State University who worked on developing the MycoMax process includes, left, Pometto, Rasmussen, van Leeuwen and Khanal.

Rasmussen, Samir Khanal, now with the Department of Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering at the University of Hawaii, and Anthony Pometto, currently with the Department of Food Sciences at Clemson University in South Carolina. The team won the grand prize for university research from

the American Academy of Environmental Engineers, a project innovation award from the International Water Association and they won a 2008 R&D 100 Award from R&D Magazine.

What the researchers have learned shows great promise for improving the ef-

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

INNOVATION

Iowa State University Researchers have discovered a food-safe fugus that cleans up thin stillage in ethanol plants.

PHOTO: JORDAN MILLER, ISU CENTER FOR CROPS UTILIZATION RESEARCH

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PHOTO: JORDAN MILLER, ISU CENTER FOR CROPS UTILIZATION RESEARCH

INNOVATION

The food-grade fungus Rhizopus microsporus grows prolifically in thin stillage, cleaning up the water, and allowing the recycling of enzymes while reducing energy costs.

ficiency of an ethanol plant. In the dry-mill process, after ethanol is separated from the fermented mash by distillation, centrifuges are used to remove most of the solids, which

become the distillers grain coproduct and is sold as animal feed. The remaining liquid, called thin stillage, is partially recycled for use in the corn fermentation process. Only

about 50 percent of the watery thin stillage can be recycled to prevent a build up of total dissolved solids, glycerol, lactic acid and acetic acid—fermentation byproducts that can limit the process when levels are too high, van Leeuwen says. The water from the remaining thin stillage, which contains about 6 percent solids, is evaporated in the conventional dry-mill ethanol plant creating a syrup with about 30 percent solids. It is blended with the previously removed solids and becomes the “solubles” in distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS).

Process Savings The MycoMax process replaces the syrup formation with a system that grows the food-grade fungus Rhizopus microsporus in the nutrient-rich thin stillage while removing acetic acid, lactic acid and glycerol. The fungus removes those substances and allows for the ability to recycle nearly all of the water in the fermentation process, van Leeuwen says. In laboratory experiments, the fungi reduced chemical oxygen demand (COD)

INNOVATION

CO2

Dry-grind ethanol plant

Fungal inoculum

Thin stillage

Screen

Airlift fermentor

Blowers

DD G

Water Recycled water

Fungal biomass

Water Vapor

by 80 percent, glycerol and organic acids by 100 percent and suspended solids decreased to nearly nondetectable levels in three to five days. Rasmussen believes the reaction time can be reduced to two days or less by using a larger volume of fungi-containing water to inoculate the process.

The fungi thrive in thin stillage. “We were surprised by how prolifically it grew,” Rasmussen says. “It grew so much on the reactors in the lab setting we moved it to a larger scale fermentor right away.” Although the fungi got hung up on the sides of the small glass vessels used for the first fermentation trials, that didn’t occur with the larger volumes and stainless steel walls of the 50-liter fermentor, she says. Providing for adequate aeration was another issue that had to be addressed in the experiments. The COD for thin stillage at 100 grams per liter is between 10 to 100 times the levels found in most wastewater treatment situations. Fungi growth would be limited by high levels of organic material, which create the high COD without adequate aeration. To boost the oxy-

High- quality animal feed

Dryer

Fungal biomass

Centrifuge/ Belt filter

The MycoMax process would add a step in a dry-grind ethanol plant to grow fungi in thin stillage. It should allow all of the water to be recycled into the fermentation process while creating a new feed coproduct.

SOURCE: HANS VAN LEEUWEN

gen levels, van Leeuwen designed an air life reactor to replace the stirring and inadequate aerators that are usually used.

The process not only increases water efficiency by cleaning up the water, it also of-

fers savings in enzyme costs. Currently, some enzymes are recycled through the portion of thin stillage that’s reintroduced to the yeast fermentation process. Researchers anticipate the recovery of more enzymes as more water

INNOVATION

New Coproducts Feeding trials on the dried fungal biomass left after the fungi have cleaned the water are also on the list of future research. The fungal biomass could be a high-value feed

supplement containing 40 percent protein, between 2 percent and 4 percent lysine, about 1 percent methionine and 3 percent chitosan.

The high protein lysine and methionine levels should make the fungal biomass a better feed supplement in distillers dried grains than the solubles it displaces, particularly in swine, poultry and fish diets. The chitosan and chitin content add a new dimension to the feed coproduct. “These substances have proven health benefits in animals, averting the use of antibiotics and improving the rate of gain,” van Leeuwen says. Those benefits, however,

PHOTO: JORDAN MILLER, ISU CENTER FOR CROPS UTILIZATION RESEARCH

is recycled, also Rhizopus microsporus are known to produce glucoamylase. Testing proved that the enzymes survived the process, but the enzyme effect needs to be analyzed and quantified in future research, van Leeuwen says, which could also involve related fungi known to produce alpha amylase.

The fungal biomass is dough-like in consistency before it is dried. At about 40 percent protein, it would be a high-value feed supplement and may offer new coproducts for the food market.

were established with chitosan and chitin derived from other sources so research will be required to confirm the same effects with the substances derived from the MycoMax process, he adds. Chitin can also be used as a source for the popular neutraceutical, glucosamine, he says.

One advantage that could speed up the coproducts use in animal feed is that the fungus already has the “generally regarded as safe” designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The GRAS designation will simplify the process of getting the new feed supplement approved, and also opens the way for new coproducts. “You can freely eat this, although it’s not used much because it’s not produced in any quantity,” van Leeuwen says. The primary food use is in an Asian specialty food called tempe. A related fungus is widely sold in Europe as Quorn, a meat substitute. “My big dream for the future would be to turn this into protein for human consumption,” he says, improving people’s diets in protein-short regions. “First we aim to get it established for animal feed.”

Energy Savings Potential Perhaps the biggest benefit of the MycoMax process will be in its energy savings. A typical dry-grind ethanol plant evaporates water to condense 2.5 gallons of thin stillage produced per gallon of ethanol from 7 percent solids into syrup 70

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

INNOVATION

that contains 32 percent solids. Using the energy requirement of a common evaporator, concentrating the syrup requires 9,563 British thermal units (Btus).

Another 4,340 Btus are used to dry the syrup portion to 90 percent solids after it is blended into the distillers grains. Estimating the cost of natural gas at $13.2 per million Btu, the researchers expect a total energy savings of about 18 cents per gallon of ethanol produced.

The actual savings would vary among dry-grind ethanol plants. Some plants recover a portion of the heat used in the evaporators to provide heat for the distillation process. Researchers point out, however, that the distillation process requires substantially less heat than thin stillage evaporation. Other ethanol plants put the thin stillage and other condensates through a methanator to produce methane gas for process heat.

The energy savings realized from eliminating evaporation are not likely to be offset by the fungal cultivation process itself, which is a low energy user. Van Leeuwen says the fungi grow at 98 degrees Fahrenheit. Because the thin stillage leaves the distillation chamber at higher temperatures, the heat from that liquid could be used to maintain the temperature of the fungi growth chamber. When scaled up, the process might require heating in winter and cooling in summer, much like the fermentation process.

The economic analysis for the MycoMax process includes a cost savings from lower water requirements and estimates a 25 percent savings in enzyme costs. It also includes an estimated value for the fungal feed coproduct at $260 per ton. If all the numbers prove out when scaled up, that could total 20 cents per gallon of ethanol from the water savings and additional income.

On the expense side, the biggest operational cost for a 100 MMgy ethanol plant is about $3 million per year for the electricity to run the blowers that aerate the growing fungus. The operation of microwave dryers, maintenance, personnel and other expenses bring the estimated operational costs to $6.9 million per year.

The capital investment for a 100 MMgy

ethanol plant would total an estimated $11.9 million for equipment including tanks, air blowers, separation equipment, piping and pumps.

When the savings and income are balanced against the capital and operating costs, the investment could be paid back in less than a year. Yet, in spite of such promise, van Leeuwen says difficult times in the ethanol industry have made it challenging to raise money to build a pilot facility. The process has to be proved at a larger scale to find

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

any unknown inhibiting factors, solve any handling and separation issues, and produce enough fungal biomass for feed trials. EP Susanne Retka Schill is an Ethanol Producer Magazine staff writer. Reach her at sretkaschill@bbiinternational.com or (701) 738-4922.

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INDUSTRY

Delving into the

Intermediate Blends Report Two of the seven authors of U.S. DOEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recent initial report on the effect of midlevel blends on legacy vehicles and small engines discuss the results of the study and future work.

By Ron Kotrba

A 2003 Buick LeSabre is being tested at Colorado State Department of Public Health and Environment (National Renewable Energy Laboratory subcontractor).

PHOTO: NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY

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I

n October, the U.S. DOE released its initial report on midlevel ethanol blends and the effect on legacy, or conventional nonflexible-fuel vehicles, and small engines. It’s the first part of a comprehensive investigation into how E15 and E20 will affect emissions, performance and mechanical durability. The report is titled “Effects of Intermediate Ethanol Blends on Legacy Vehicles and Small Non-road Engines, Report 1,” and its authors say the study and report were pilot work for what’s to come.

The DOE program under which this body of work is being conducted is co-led by the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Biomass Program, and the EERE Vehicle Technologies Program. Technical support is provided

by Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The program was initiated by the DOE in the summer of 2007.

This whole effort on behalf of the federal government is to provide information that may be useful in forming the legal means to build-out the blend wall. The volume of

renewable fuels required under the renewable fuels standard in the Energy Independence & Security Act, commonly referred to as RFS2, is 36 billion gallons by 2022, much of which is expected to be corn-based and secondgeneration ethanol. Saturating the national E10 market would require approximately 14 billion gallons, and while the effort to expand the number of E85 vehicles and pumping stations is commendable, few are convinced that E85 will become more than a niche market.

Thus, to accommodate the volumes of ethanol required under RFS2, the U.S. EPA must be satisfied with the results from comprehensive testing to determine if any environmental, mechanical or operability issues arise from running legacy vehicles on E15 or E20.

E20 is a new fuel for legacy vehicles.

“Under the Clean Air Act, a new fuel like E20 is illegal for use in conventional vehicles, basically guilty until proven innocent,” says Brian West, deputy center director and research and development staff member with ORNL and co-author of this initial intermediate ethanol blends report. Like going to trial court where the U.S. EPA is judge and jury, a convincing

case must be made—one that satisfies EPA enough to declare the fuel benign with respect to any negative effects on tailpipe emissions, catalyst durability and engine operability and performance.

By and large, the study and subsequent results yielded no great surprises in fuel economy, emissions and catalyst temperatures, according to Keith Knoll, senior NREL engineer and co-author of this report. “We were looking for data and nothing from this jumped out as a big surprise,” he says. Knoll adds that this initial study helped identify certain areas of interest for further investigation—such as how different automaker engine calibrations react to higher blends of ethanol, and in direct relation to that, what long-term impacts higher exhaust temperatures have on catalytic converters and emissions.

Vehicle Results: Points of Concern, Future Study The vehicle fleet tested in this pilot study consisted of 16 vehicles but testing was completed on 13 of the 16 vehicles. Selection of

the makes and models within that fleet was not random, but rather based on a representative sample of late-model vehicles (2000 to 2007) on U.S. roadways in 2007.

Fuel economy decreased relative to the amount of ethanol in the fuel mix. With E20, the average drop in fuel efficiency was 7.7 percent. “Limited evaluations of fuel with as much as 30 percent ethanol were conducted, and the reduction in miles per gallon continued as a linear trend with increasing ethanol content,” the report states. A drop in fuel economy was fully expected because ethanol has two-thirds the energy density of gasoline on a volumetric basis thanks to its oxygen content.

Most vehicles run under what’s called “closed-loop” operation, where oxygen sensors in the exhaust system send information to the vehicle’s computer where it reads the data and adjusts fueling accordingly to get to a stoichiometric fuel/air ratio. However, when vehicles are cold or under high load such as wide-open throttle, they often operate in “open-loop” or power-enrichment mode, often a rich condition where there’s more fuel in the fuel/air mixture. “As you add ethanol

PHOTO: OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY

INDUSTRY

Pictured is the exhaust manifold and first catalyst from the Camry test vehicle. Exhaust systems were removed for installation of thermocouples and wide-range oxygen sensors before testing.

to the fuel, the engine computer has to add fuel to enrich the mixture to compensate for the oxygen that’s in the fuel,” West explains.

“It goes hand-in-hand with the fuel economy penalty we saw, so with E20 we expected to

add 7 [percent] to 8 percent extra fuel mass to compensate for the oxygen that’s in the ethanol to maintain stoichiometric combustion under closed-loop conditions—all the cars did that well.”

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At wide-open throttle, seven of the 13 vehicles tested were found to maintain a consistent although not stoichiometric fuel/air equivalence ratio on E20. A true stoichiometric condition is when 100 percent of both the fuel and air are consumed in combustion, leaving no excess oxygen or unburned fuel in the exhaust stream. All vehicles used adaptive fuel trim during closed-loop operation to maintain stoichiometry. Seven of the vehicles tested in this study applied this adapted fuel trim to open-loop, power-enrichment operation. The other six vehicles ran leaner during power enrichment on E20 than on E0 gasoline leading to higher exhaust temperatures, which may impact long-term catalyst durability and thus emissions over the vehicles’ full life.

Some vehicles are designed to learn the fuel trim necessary for stoichiometry during closed-loop operation and apply that knowledge to open-loop operation. Other vehicles do not do this. West says one of the prevailing opinions as to why some vehicles do apply

learned fuel to open-loop operation and some do not is that it takes a lot of engineering man hours to calibrate the controls to accomplish this. “So if automakers don’t need to do this, it could potentially be a waste of effort,” West says. “If the car is designed for E10 or E0, perhaps they don’t need it—if they can meet full useful life emissions standards without doing it, then why bother. Some have done it by choice. The ones that don’t apply learned fuel at wide-open throttle run hotter, which makes perfect sense. It’s combustion chemistry.”

Knoll says the automakers use this power enrichment mode, where under high-load conditions the vehicle by design runs richer, in order to protect engine components and the catalyst from higher temperatures that result from high-power conditions. “They enrich the mixture and they are allowed by EPA to do that up to 6 percent beyond lean best torque,” Knoll says. “If the [original engine manufacturers] go beyond that, they need to have special discussions with EPA as to why they went

further—in order to protect the engine components and emissions control devices.

The question is: Do they apply learned fuel in that power enrichment mode?” Findings of this pilot study determined that about half the cars tested do apply it and the other half do not.

The vehicles that did not apply learned fuel with E20 at wide-open throttle ran leaner and hotter, and catalyst temperatures increased up to 35 degrees Celsius higher than when run on straight E0 gas. “That’s probably one of the automakers biggest concerns,” West says. Knoll tells EPM one of the big questions remaining is what are the long-term effects on the catalysts? “A small increase in catalyst temperature has a big impact on reactivity,” he says.

The next step is an 80-vehicle study to investigate long-term catalyst durability and whether a higher cat temperature has any effect on long-term emissions. “The reason that’s a concern is that the manufacturers could be fined if their cars are outside their emissions limits at full life, or they could have very expensive warranty repairs—or both,” West says.

The report indicates that regulated tailpipe emissions (nitrogen oxide, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide) remained largely unaffected by the ethanol content in the fuel. However, increases were observed in formaldehyde and acetaldehyde emissions. Formaldehyde emissions are regulated by EPA but acetaldehyde emissions are not.

Impact on Small Engines Unlike some on-road vehicles with sophisticated closed-loop operation capability, small engines generally aren’t equipped to adjust fuel/air ratio and apply long-term fuel trim. Thus, when small engines like those found on chain saws or weed eaters are run on intermediate ethanol blends, they tend to run leaner and therefore hotter.

“These open-loop engines are commonly air-cooled, and they customarily operate fuel-rich to achieve cooler combustion temperatures for longevity purposes,” the report states. “With a fixed fueling calibration, as ethanol content in the fuel increas-

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es, combustion becomes leaner, leading to higher combustion temperatures and higher component temperatures, as well as changes in emissions and sometimes idle speed.”

Twenty-eight small nonroad engines were tested for this report. “There was certainly concern that the higher ethanol blends might shorten the lives of those small engines,” West says. “But it’s fair to say these were accelerated aging tests. We put full life hours, for example 125-hours, 300-hours or 500-hours life, on the engines in a short period of time. Running an engine to its full-life hours over a few months during ‘aging’ is not the same as letting it sit in your shed for five years, so there’s more work to be done here before small engine makers would accept higher blends of ethanol.”

The effect on small engine emissions was fairly expected. Nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions increased as a direct result of the increased combustion temperatures from running leaner with higher concentrations of oxygen-rich ethanol. Hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide emissions in general went down. In most cases, regulated hydrocarbon plus NOx emissions decreased slightly, but West says, “Hydrocarbons plus NOx didn’t change much because of the counteracting relationship between hydrocarbons and NOx.”

wherein it takes time to dissipate those effects from greater ethanol concentration in the fuel mix.”

It is also important to note this pilot study on intermediate blends used splash-blended fuels as opposed to match-blended fuels. West says “match-blended” means the fuels are carefully blended to try to match vapor pressure and octane levels with like fuels, where hydrocarbon content and fuel speciation are closely monitored. In essence, though, splashblended fuels were used initially because it was quicker to obtain the fuels, and researchers wanted to get started testing. “Future projects will use match-blended fuels when warranted,” West says, while the 80-vehicle long-term catalyst durability program now underway is using splash-blends for expediency and cost. “Comparing fuel A to fuel B at zero test miles or 50,000 test miles, having splash-blends should not affect the results.”

The emissions testing protocol was the LA92 or “unified cycle,” which is an inventory

emissions cycle test used in California and in EPA’s EPAct study. “Auto engineers say the LA92 is more representative of how people drive compared with the [Federal Test Procedure],” Knoll says. “And the wide-open throttle protocol was from an earlier program and we modified it slightly with input from CRC.” West and Knoll stress not to read too much into the preliminary results from this pilot study. “Although the results to date are encouraging, this was a small sample, and part of a much larger program,” Knoll says. EPM will continue to follow the efforts of this important research. “We’ll know a lot more in a year,” West says. “Will we know enough? I don’t know. That will be up to the EPA to decide.” EP Ron Kotrba is an Ethanol Producer Magazine senior writer. He can be reached at rkotrba@ bbiinternational.com or (701) 738-4942.

Additional Information The Coordinating Research Council, a consortium of automakers, auto engineers and petroleum interests, has also conducted several studies on legacy vehicles with E15 and E20. CRC Report No. 652 concluded that, from the testing of six legacy vehicles, it found no significant effect on fuel type or vapor pressure on drivability. Knoll says as DOE’s effort to better characterize intermediate ethanol blends in legacy vehicles continues, he hopes to involve the CRC and its plethora of related studies to definitively pinpoint evaporative and permeation emissions with legacy vehicles. “Permeation emissions are long-term effects, it takes a while for ethanol concentrations in fuel to affect permeation emissions,” Knoll says. “It’s what’s called the hangover effect

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ENVIRONMENT

INCENTIVIZING

Biofuels SUSTAINABILITY

Scientists weigh in on sustainable biofuels production including how to best manage cropping systems and establish an incentive program that awards environmentally responsible biofuels development.

By Jessica Ebert

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conference conceived

by Dale Brockway of the USDA Forest Service and shepherded by the conference co-chairs William Parton, an ecologist at Colorado State University, and Richard Pouyat with the USDA Forest Service, took more than a year to plan. Parton and Pouyat are members of the Ecological Society of America, which organized the event and brought more than 300 people to the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. For one day, speakers representing various government agencies, ethanol producers and academic researchers, presented their views on the environmental benefits—and costs—of biofuels production.

“From the beginning we wanted to promote a thoughtful discussion about the environmental implications of biofuels,” explains Clifford Duke, the director of science programs for the ESA. “But when we started planning the conference we weren’t sure if the issue would remain salient over the roughly year and a half we thought it would take to do the planning for the conference.” Then, about two weeks before the conference, which was held on March 10, two papers were published in the journal Science that raised concerns about the carbon debt that could potentially be linked to biofuels production.

The ESA’s Ecological Dimensions of Biofuels conference provided a timely forum for discussing

Ecological Dimensions of Biofuels The Ecological Society of America, with more than 10,000 members, is the largest society of professional ecologists in the world. The organization was founded in 1915 to improve communication among ecologists, improve the communication of ecological science to the public, and to enhance the communication between the ecological community and environmental decision makers including policymakers. It was this latter mission that prompted the ESA to organize the Ecological Dimensions of Biofuels conference. The goal of the conference was to address the following six questions about the state of the science surrounding biofuels sustainability: What is known about opportunities for sustainable production of biofuels, including crop selection, farming practices, feedstock transportation and refinery location?

What management strategies would best sustain important ecological services while increasing biofuel production?

What are the implications of biofuel production for water quality and landscape dynamics relative to

other land uses such as food and fiber production or wildlife conservation?

What are the key knowledge gaps that need to be addressed so that policymakers, environmental managers and producers are able to support environmentally sustainable biofuel production?

What are the potential affects of biofuel production on landscapes that are both managed and relatively unmanaged, including intensively farmed areas, rangelands, natural grasslands and forests?

What emerging technologies may reduce or mitigate adverse impacts of biofuel production?

Conference attendees heard presentations on topics ranging from the environmental impact of biofuel cropping systems; developing sustainable biorefineries; biofuels and water quality; the biogeochemistry of bioenergy landscapes; interactions between biofuel choices and land use; and biofuels and biodiversity. The conference program, downloadable speaker presentations and poster presentations can be found at www.esa.org/ biofuels/.

wabash

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the sustainability of biofuels production systems and the means by which biofuels industries, particularly the emerging cellulosic ethanol industry, can grow and prosper while promoting environmental stewardship. The one-day event was followed by a twoday workshop where 50 scientists, including ecologists, soil scientists, economists, water quality experts, botanists and microbiologists, were invited to discuss the issues that emerged from the conference. These workshop discussions culminated in a policy paper that was recently published in the journal Science.

In that paper, 23 of the workshop participants explained how the explosion of grain-based biofuels production systems and conventional management practices has caused environmental harm, including increased soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, and the leaching of fertilizer nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus from soil to ground and surface waters. These effects stem from policies that promote action before the consideration of consequences.

The authors point out that the 2007 mandate for 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2022 and the subsidies for both refiners and growers as stipulated in the 2008 Farm Bill will encourage the same acceleration and adoption of production systems before the environmental impacts of these systems are properly vetted.

For example, “To get maximal yield, farmers may apply maximum amounts of fertilizer, which can exacerbate a nutrient-loss problem,” says Andrew Sharpley, a water quality researcher at the University of Arkansas and a contributor to the Science paper. “The crop may not be grown on lands that are most suited to it. These policies may encourage a shift away from rotating crops to a monoculture,” he says, and there is a potential for increased use of water.

“All of this could impact the quality and quantity of water in the long run.”

This, however, is not the way it needs to be, these scientists write. In the bulk of their paper, these experts in soil and water quality and agricultural systems and economics explain that these impacts can be reversed or at the very least lessened. They explain how the adoption of best management practices and the development of sustainable incentive programs can soften the environmental impacts of grain-based ethanol production and strengthen the potential positive attributes of cellulosic biofuels.

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

“Sustainable biofuel production systems could play a highly positive role in mitigating climate change, enhancing environmental quality and strengthening the global economy, but it will take sound, science-based policy and additional research effort to make this so,” the researchers write. “Decision makers at all levels need to understand that applying best available practices to biofuel crop production will have positive impacts both on the sustainability of our working lands and on providing a

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PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

Incentives for Best Management

Sharpley, a water quality expert at the University of Arkansas, says that the policy forum published in the journal Science will initiate a discourse about sustainable solutions to biofuels development.

long-term place for biofuels in our renewable energy portfolio, and that the policies necessary to ensure this outcome are not currently in place.”

So what practices should be used and what policies are needed to ensure environmental sustainability in the face of accelerated biofuels production? At the farm level, the authors outline bestmanagement practices that build healthy soils, promote water quality and increase biodiversity. The use of no-till farming, advanced fertilizer technologies and cover crops, for example, can slow erosion and capture nutrients thereby preventing runoff into nearby waterways or ground water. Creating patchworks of land characterized by mixtures of crops, grasses, shrubs and areas of unmanaged habitat can increase the presence of pollinators, beneficial insects and wildlife, Sharpley explains.

In addition, the improvement of crops through genetic manipulation or classical selection can increase the stress tolerance of these plants or reduce the need for pesticides. The biggest benefits, however, may come from the development of cellulosic feedstocks. Many of these will be perennial crops that, once established, require little if any chemical inputs or tillage. These feedstocks are also better suited to being raised among a mixture of species.

Although the environmental benefits of these best-management strategies are known, the adoption process is slow at best. “If we’re going to expand agriculture for biofuels and use more agricultural lands, we need to do that in the right way and use the best-management practices we have,” Parton says. “We need to find policies to do that.” Therefore, at the government level, a program that rewards environmentally conscious growers and producers should be established, the authors write. An incentive program like this would award subsidies when certain performance standards were met. These standards would likely be regionally based and could include the use of best-management practices and measures of greenhouse gas emissions, water quality and soil erosion.

This kind of incentive program could be modeled after the organic food certification program where canners or processors have to make sure that their suppliers have met certain standards and the products are truly organic.

“It means that you don’t have policemen out there,” explains Otto Doering, an agricultural economist at Purdue University. “It means that the processing plant that buys the materials has to make sure the grower of the cellulosic material is doing the right thing. You don’t have big government regulation. It’s built into the market system.”

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PHOTO: PEGGY GREB, USDA/ARS/IS PHOTO UNIT

ENVIRONMENT

be published in the society’s peer-reviewed journal Ecological Applications. The ESA is also working with the Energy Foundation, a partnership of major donors that provides grants to institutions working to advance energy efficiency and renewable energy, to publish five reports on biofuels sustainability, which will be written for the public and will be produced as part of the ESA’s “Issues in Ecology” series, according to Duke.

In addition, Parton is working through the ESA to organize an international con-

ference on biofuels sustainability. “The Science paper reflects what the science community is concerned about and that we need to do something ahead of time,” Parton explains. “It’s an interesting and global science question. We know what we should be doing. We’re just not doing it.” EP Jessica Ebert is a freelance writer for Ethanol Producer Magazine. Reach her at jebertserp@yahoo.com.

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), a prairie grass native to North America, has been used in the United States for conservation plantings and cattle feed. Its biofuel potential stems from its wide adaptability and high yields, the relatively low level of inputs required for biofuel production and conversion, and its ability to sequester carbon in soils for extended periods.

The U.S. EPA has the perfect opportunity to make something like this happen. Under the 2007 Energy Independence & Security Act, the EPA must certify that any ethanol production, beyond the 15 billion gallons that’s already being produced or that will be produced at plants under construction, meets certain greenhouse gas emission requirements. “What we’re saying is that we shouldn’t just think of greenhouse gas standards, we should put it in a broader framework for good environmental stewardship,” Doering says.

The first step toward such a framework was taken with the publication of the Science paper, which its authors intended to be a springboard for greater dialogue. The ESA is planning to follow this up with the publication of several science-based manuscripts from the conference speakers. These papers will

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Toulouse Mercure Toulouse Atria

March 30â&#x20AC;&#x201C;April 3, 2009 A Tradition of Industry Education For 28 years, The Alcohol School has been educating fuel ethanol and distilled beverage producers in the science of alcohol production.

The weeklong programme in Toulouse, France, is designed for lab, plant, and management personnel and is organized around a series of lectures and laboratory demonstrations presented by a faculty of academic, industry and Ethanol Technology Institute experts.

The programme will cover the process of ethanol and beverage alcohol production from milling and mash preparation through fermentation and distillation. Enzyme usage, yeast biology, bacterial contamination and control will also be discussed along with other issues currently affecting both industries.

For More Information Registration is limited, with preference given to fuel ethanol and distilled beverage producers.

Registration materials and additional information are available online at www.ethanoltech.com.

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National Ethanol Conference Feb. 23-25, 2009 San Antonio Convention Center San Antonio In addition to Renewable Fuels Association President Bob Dinneen’s State of the Industry Address, panel discussions at this 14th annual event will focus on midlevel ethanol blends and cellulosic ethanol commercialization, and include the annual Washington Insiders’ Roundtable.

Other topics will include life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions, infrastructure, retailing and an international outlook, among many others.

(202) 289-3835 www.ethanolrfa.org

Renewable Energy Technology Conference & Exhibition Feb. 25-27, 2009 Las Vegas Convention Center Las Vegas This event will include a business conference, trade show and several side events. The business conference will address the status and outlook of renewable energy. One breakout session in particular will focus on biomass and biofuels. It will address sustainability, feedstocks, financing, ethanol production technology, a global market outlook, engines and fueling stations, and nextgeneration facilities.

Regina Inn Hotel and Conference Center Regina, Saskatchewan This second conference facilitates the continued development of Canada’s renewable energy industry. Confirmed speakers include Gord Quaiattini, president of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association; Jeff Passmore, executive vice president of Iogen Corp.; and Stu Porter, manager of business development for BBI Biofuels Canada, among many others. A complete agenda will be available as the event approaches.

(888) 501-0224 www.crew2009.com

(805) 290-1338 www.retech2009.com

EVENTS

Canadian Renewable Energy Workshop March 10-12, 2009

CALENDAR

The Future of Biofuels April 4-8, 2009 Snowbird Resort Snowbird, Utah The goal of this meeting will be to share a broad perspective defining the critical needs for biofuels and to highlight cutting-edge research and development efforts that are defining the next generation of biofuel product and process advances.

This event will bring together a broad spectrum of core experts to better enable and advance biofuel research efforts globally.

(800) 253-0685 www.keystonesymposia.org

Alternative Fuels & Vehicles National Conference + Expo April 19-22, 2009

Advanced Biofuels Development Summit April 20-21, 2009

Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort Orlando, Fla.

Marriott at Metro Center Washington, D.C.

This 14th annual event will represent all fuels, vehicles and technologies that provide an alternative to petroleum, including ethanol. Preconference sessions will address biofuels blends, government funding and incentives, and how to convert vehicles to run on alternative fuels.

Breakout sessions will focus on local and state policies, and U.S. EPA regulations. There will also be a ride-and-drive event, industry tours, and niche market workshops focusing on government fleets, school buses, airports, transit and goods movement.

This event will bring together leaders of scientific innovations in advanced biofuels development.

Topics will include business models and strategies, emerging feedstocks and process technologies, public policy, financing, alliances and public-private partnerships, and international biofuels development. An agenda will be available as the event approaches.

(781) 972-1346 www.biofuels-summit.com

(702) 254-4180 www.afv2009.com

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World Biofuels Markets March 16-18, 2009

African Biofuels March 30-April 2, 2009

The Alcohol School 2009 March 30-April 3, 2009

Brussels Expo Centre Brussels, Belgium

Vodaworld Event Center Johannesburg, South Africa

Toulouse, France

This is one of the largest biofuels events in Europe and a key meeting place for industry experts looking to share best practices and attract new clients. Agenda topics will include conventional and cellulosic ethanol; international ethanol markets such as Asia, Brazil and Africa; infrastructure; and use.

This fourth annual conference will focus on various biofuels, including ethanol, and the movement toward second-generation biofuels. Through speakers, panel and open floor discussions, mini workshops, and case studies, the agenda offers information about ethanol production, efficiency, risk management, technology, funding and economics, and legislation. The status of the ethanol industry in Africa and around the world will also be discussed via international case studies focusing on Sweden, Brazil, China and India.

+44 20 7099 0600 www.worldbiofuelsmarkets.com

(011) 771-7000 www.africanbiofuels.co.za

Biomass Conference & Expo April 28-30, 2009 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Ore.

This week-long course will educate fuel-ethanol and distilled beverage producers in the science of alcohol production. The program will cover the ethanol production process from milling and mash preparation through fermentation and distillation. Enzyme usage, yeast biology, and bacterial contamination and control will also be discussed, along with other issues currently affecting both industries. Registration is limited, with preference given to fuel-ethanol and distilled beverage producers.

(800) 583-6484 www.ethanoltech.com

International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo June 15-18, 2009

Ethanol Conference & Trade Show Aug. 11-13, 2009

Denver Convention Center Denver

Milwaukee

This event, sponsored by BBI International Inc., will address the latest technologies and business considerations for bioenergy projects, including biofuels. Breakout session topics will include cellulosic ethanol; feedstocks such as ag residues, wood waste and municipal solid waste; project finance; and permitting and project implementation. Attendees will also be able to tour the Cornelius Summit Foods ethanol plant.

This will mark the 25th anniversary of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest ethanol conference, which was recently recognized by Trade Show Week magazine as one of the fastest-growing events in the United States for the second consecutive year. The event will address conventional ethanol, nextgeneration ethanol and biomass. More details will be available as the event approaches.

(701) 746-8385 www.biomassconference.com

(701) 746-8385 www.2009few.com

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

The American Coalition for Ethanolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 22nd annual conference will highlight public policy, technology and education in regard to the ethanol industry, among many other topics. A more detailed agenda will be available as the event approaches.

(605) 334-3381 www.ethanol.org

91

EPM MARKETPLACE Ag Products & Services Grain Origination Services Agnetic, LLC 317-696-2824

blog.agnetic.com

Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. 800-247-6803 www.pioneer.com

Associations/Organizations Trade

Hydro-Klean, Inc. 515-283-0500 Seneca Waste Solutions 800-369-5500

www.hydro-klean.com www.senecaco.com

www.hydro-klean.com

Fans www.lactrol.com

www.ferm-solutions.com

Hydro-Klean, Inc. 515-283-0500

www.hydro-klean.com

Filter Media Hydro-Klean, Inc. 515-283-0500

www.hydro-klean.com

Heat Exchanger www.lactrol.com

Water Treatment Fremont Industries Inc. 952-445-4121

Emergency Spill Response

Hydro-Klean, Inc. 515-283-0500

Lallemand Ethanol Technology 800-583-6484 www.ethanoltech.com PhibroChem 800-223-0434

www.hydro-klean.com

Evaporators

Anti-Microbial Ferm Solutions 859-402-8707

Hydro-Klean, Inc. 515-283-0500

www.api.org/ace

Chemicals PhibroChem 800-223-0434m

www.senecaco.com

Ductwork

Hybrid Corn

API Credit Exchange 202-682-8192

Seneca Waste Solutions 800-369-5500

www.fremontind.com

Hydro-Klean, Inc. 515-283-0500 Seneca Waste Solutions 800-369-5500

www.hydro-klean.com www.senecaco.com

Hydro-Blasting

Yeast Ferm Solutions 859-402-8707

www.ferm-solutions.com

Fermentis-Division of SI Lesaffre 800-558-7279 www.fermentis.com

Hydro-Klean, Inc. 515-283-0500

www.hydro-klean.com

EPM MARKETPLACE one convenient location, Ethanol Producer Magazine not only contains top editorial content but also a useful directory in each publication. Whether a first-time advertiser wanting to raise

Lallemand Ethanol Technology 800-583-6484 www.ethanoltech.com

Hydro-Klean, Inc. 515-283-0500

www.hydro-klean.com

Railcar Spill Response

With all contact information placed in

Stabilized Liquid Yeast, Thermosacc,® Superstart™

Plate─Frame

awareness of your business or a frequent display advertiser looking for

Hydro-Klean, Inc. 515-283-0500

www.hydro-klean.com

Railcars Hydro-Klean, Inc. 515-283-0500 Inland Waters 313-841-5800

www.hydro-klean.com www.inlandwaters.com

Scrubbers Hydro-Klean, Inc. 515-283-0500

www.hydro-klean.com

Smoke Stack Hydro-Klean, Inc. 515-283-0500

www.hydro-klean.com

Cleaning

added exposure, EPM Marketplace is

Tank Cleaning Services

Dryer Systems

the perfect solution.

Hydro-Klean, Inc. 515-283-0500

Hydro-Klean, Inc. 515-283-0500 92

www.hydro-klean.com

www.hydro-klean.com

Professional Environmental Cleaning Services 402-212-0949 www.professionalECS.com ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

EPM MARKETPLACE Seneca Waste Solutions 800-369-5500

www.senecaco.com

Insulation

Plant Construction CYC Construction 402-333-1652

Construction

www.cycconstruction.com

Buildings─Modular

9l`c[`e^ 8 GcXek Fe K_\ N\jk :fXjk6

Miller Insulation Co, Inc. 701-258-4323 www.millerinsulation.com

Mechanical

JIC

JOULÉ Industrial Contractors

OVER 40 YEARS OF PROVIDING QUALITY COST EFFECTIVE SOLUTIONS TO THE INDUSTRIAL INDUSTRY.

Fabrication

Macomber Welding & Fabricating, Inc. 616-698-0819 www.macomberwelding.com W. Soule & Company 1-877-976-8531

We provide: • Experienced Supervision • Multi-craft Staff • Logistical Support For: • Plant Outages • Plant Construction and Expansion • Relocations • Capital Projects • On and off site pipe Fabrication To: • Ethanol and Alternative Fuel Plants • Pharmaceutical Manufacturers • Food Plants • Building Material Facilities Toll Free: (800) 445-6853 email-bbosher@jouleinc.com

www.wsoule.com

Reach your customers Your Solution. Advertise Today.

EPM MARKETPLACE

JIC

:fekXZk A?B <G: :XgXY`c`k`\j =lcc$J\im`Z\ @e[ljki`Xc >\e\iXc :fekiXZkfi J\c]$G\i]fid :`m`c :feZi\k\# D`ccni`^_k`e^# GifZ\jj G`g`e^ =XYi`ZXk`fe Xe[ @ejkXccXk`fe# KXeb <i\Zk`fe# Jk\\c <i\Zk`fe I`^^`e^

/)( K_`i[ 8m\el\# Cfe^m`\n# N8 0/-*) *-'%+)*%,,(' nnn%a_b\ccp%Zfd

Railroad Tracks R & R Contracting, Inc. 800-872-5975

www.rrcontracting.net

Railworks 913-888-4091

www.railworks.com

Tanks Caldwell Tanks 502-964-3361

www.caldwelltanks.com

Consulting Environmental Air Resource Specialists,Inc. 970-484-7941 www.air-resource.com Inland Waters 313-841-5800

www.inlandwaters.com

Natural Resource Group, LLC. 612-347-6789 www.nrg-llc.com Mid-States Mechanical Services, Inc. 800-950-0279 www.mid-statesmechanical.com

Pinnacle Engineering Inc. 507-280-5966 Seneca Waste Solutions 800-369-5500

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

www.pineng.com www.senecaco.com 93

EPM MARKETPLACE Management Services

Engineering

Computer Software

Process Design

dbc SMARTsoftware, Inc. 770-427-7633 www.dbcsmartsoftware.com

Vogelbusch USA, Inc. 713-461-7374

www.vogelbusch.com

Equipment & Services

FeedForward, Inc. 770-426-4422

Agitation Equipment ProQuip, Inc. 330-468-1850

Control Systems www.feedforward.com

SoftPLC Corporation 512-264-8390 www.proquipinc.com

www.softplc.com

Control Systems-Distributed

Analytical Instruments Perten Instruments, Inc. 801-936-8165

www.perten.com

Blowers & Fans FlaktWoods 716-845-0900

www.flaktwoods.com

Boiler Systems

Greenway Consulting,LLC 320-589-3085 www.greenwayconsulting.net

Rentech Boiler Systems, Inc. 325-794-5701 www.rentechboilers.com

Cooling Towers

Boilers─Reboilers

Delta Cooling Towers, Inc. 800-BUY-DELTA www.deltacooling.com

Wabash Power Equipment CO. 847-541-5600 www.wabashpower.com

Dryers─Fluid Bed

Centrifuge Repair

Littleford Day, Inc. 859-525-7600

www.littleford.com

Dryers─Ring

Personnel Recruiting

Barr-Rosin,Inc 630-659-3980

SearchPath of Chicago 815-261-4403 www.searchpath.com/chicago

www.barr-rosin.com

Dryers─Rotary Drum

Plant Optimization

Barr-Rosin,Inc. 630-659-3980

Granatus Consulting, Inc. 218-773-0005 www.granatusinc.com

www.barr-rosin.com

Ronning Engineering Company, Inc. 913-239-8118 www.ronningengineering.com

Education

Emission Monitoring Systems

Iowa BioDevelopment 641-969-4167 www.iabiodevelopment.com

MonitorTech Corp.

866-682-6771

Iowa Biofuels Training International 641-969-4167 www.biofuelstraining.org

www.monitortechgrp.com

Iowa Lakes Community College 800-242-5108 www.iowalakes.edu

Employment Centrifuges

Recruiting SearchPath of Chicago 815-261-4403 www.searchpath.com/chicago The Richmond Group USA - BioEnergy Search Division

804-285-2071

Cooper Equipment 281-494-7400

Combustion Equipment

www.trgbioenergy.com Eclipse.Inc. 815-637-7213

94

www.coopequip.com

Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems Easiest installation, operation and maintenance Meet or exceeds EPA requirements NOx, O2, CO, SO2 and others Turnkey systems for under $100,000.00 P.O. Box 9271, Columbus, Oh 43209 866-682-6771 sales@monitortechcorp.us

www.eclipsenet.com ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

EPM MARKETPLACE Fermentation Monitoring

Loading Equipment

ETS Laboratories 707-963-4806

www.etslabs.com

Pressure & Temperature

Hemco Industries, Inc. 877-347-7106

www.hemcocpm.com

SafeRack 866-761-7225

Filtration Equipment Fluid Engineering 814-453-5014

www.saferack.com

WIKA Instrument Corporation 888-945-2872, x5127

www.wika.com

Pumps

Maintenance Services

ITT Industries Goulds Pumps 315-568-2811 www.gouldspumps.com

Fractionation─Corn

Joule’ Industrial Contractors bbosher@jouleinc.com www.jouleinc.com

Watson-Marlow Bredel Pumps 800-282-8823 www.watson-marlow.com

Buhler Inc. 763-847-9900

www.buhlergroup.com/us

Maintenance Software

QA Test Products

Cereal Process Technologies 217-779-2595 www.cerealprocess.com

Mapcon Technologies, Inc. 800-922-4336

FWS Technologies 204-487-2500

Mills─Hammer

Resource Recovery

Heat Exchangers

CPM/Roskamp Champion 800-366-2563 www.cpmroskamp.com

Eco-Tec, Inc. 905-427-0077

Custom Metalcraft Inc. 417-862-0707 www.custom-metalcraft.com

Mixers

Seals

www.fluideng.com

www.fwsgroup.com

Munters - Des Champs Products 540-291-1111 www.deschamps.com

www.us.endress.com

Perten Instruments, Inc. 801-936-8165

www.perten.com

Process Sensors Corp.

508-473-9901 www.processsensors.com WIKA Instrument Corporation 888-945-2872, x5127

www.wika.com

Insulator Industrial Construction & Engineering 636-970-1650 www.ic-e.cc

Laboratory─Equipment Perten Instruments, Inc. 801-936-8165

www.perten.com

Laboratory─Outsourcing SGS North America Inc. 281-479-7170 www.sgs.com/alternativefuels

Laboratory─Testing Services Midwest Laboratories, Inc. 402-829-9877 www.midwestlabs.com Romer Labs, Inc. 636-583-8600

www.kinematica-inc.com

Moisture Analyzers

Instrumentation Endress+Hauser 317-535-2174

KINEMATICA, INC. 631-750-6653

www.mapcon.com

www.romerlabs.com

Trilogy Analytical Laboratory 636-239-1521 www.trilogylab.com

Perten Instruments, Inc. 801-936-8165

www.perten.com

Perten Instruments, Inc. 801-936-8165

www.aesseal.com

Utex Industries, Inc. 432-333-4151/800-873-0946

www.utexind.com

Separation Equipment Fluid Engineering 814-453-5014

Molecular Sieves

Storage─DDGS www.vaperma.com

Zeochem, LLC 502-634-7600

www.zeochem.com

www.eco-tec.com

Aesseal Inc. 865-531-0192

Sartorius Mechatronies-Omnimark 800-835-3211 www.sartorius-omnimark.com

Vaperma, Inc. 418-839-6989

www.perten.com

Laidig Systems, Inc. 574-256-0204

www.fluideng.com

www.laidig.com

Structural Fabrication

Motors

Cherokee Steel Fabricators, Inc. 903-759-3844 www.cherokeesteelfabricators.com

Trico TCWind, Incorporated 320-693-6200 www.tricotcwind.com

Tanks

Paint & Protective Coatings

CMC Letco Industries 417-831-1528

Mongan / Bockman 260-748-7655 www.monganbockman.com

Federal Equipment Company 800-652-2466 www.fedequip.com

Pipe Robert-James Sales, Inc. 800-666-0088

Your Ad HERE www.rjsales.com Your Solution. Advertise Today.

Pipe-Fittings Robert-James Sales, Inc. 800-666-0088

EPM MARKETPLACE www.rjsales.com

Reach your customers

Pipe─Flanges Robert-James Sales, Inc. 800-666-0088

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

www.cmc-letco.com

Your Solution. Advertise Today. www.rjsales.com

EPM MARKETPLACE 95

EPM MARKETPLACE Equipment & Services-Valves

Transportation

North American Safety Valve 800-800-8882

Rail Ties

www.nasvi.com

Thompson Industries, Inc. 317-859-8725 www.thompsonindustries.net

Wastewater Treatment Services Biothane Corporation 856-541-3500x501 Hydro-Klean, Inc. 515-283-0500

www.biothane.com www.hydro-klean.com

Aquatech International Corporation 724-746-5300 www.aquatech.com Fluid Engineering 814-453-5014

American Waste Removal 505-417-9933 www.americanwasteremoval.com

Used Equipment

Louis Dreyfus Commodities 402-844-2680 LDCommodities.com POET LLC 605-965-2200

Utility Integrys Energy Services 608-235-2547 www.integrysenergy.com

Your Ad HERE

Existing Producers

Thermal Energy

www.shuttlewagon.com

www.fluideng.com

Ethanol Production www.paragontrailer.com

Shuttlewagon, Inc. 816-767-0300

Utilities

Water Treatment

Paragon Trailer Sales 800-471-8769

Railcar Moving

Your Solution. Advertise Today.

EPM MARKETPLACE

www.poetenergy.com

Finance Accounting Christianson & Associates PLLP 320-235-5937 www.christiansoncpa.com Kennedy and Coe, LLC 800-303-3241

www.kcoe.com

EPM MARKETPLACE With all contact information placed

Mergers & Acquisitions

in one convenient location, Ethanol

Kent Group, Inc. 715-358-7528

Producer Magazine not only con-

www.kentgroupinc.com

tains top editorial content but also

Risk Management First Capitol Risk Management 800-884-8290 www.firstcapitolrm.com R.J. Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Brien 800-621-0757

www.rjobrien.com

Legal Services

Stoel Rives LLP 612-373-8800

tion. Whether a first-time advertiser wanting to raise awareness of your business or a frequent dis-

Attorneys Faegre & Benson, LLP 612-766-6930

a useful directory in each publica-

play advertiser looking for added www.faegre.com www.stoel.com/biofuels

exposure, EPM Marketplace is the perfect solution.

Marketing Fuel Ethanol Atlas Renewable Energy, LLC 800-884-8290 www.atlasenergyllc.com 96

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

EPM MARKETPLACE

ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2009

97

Biomass Magazine is a trade journal serving companies that use and/or produce power, fuels and chemical feedstocks derived from biomass.

Collectively, these biomass utilization industries are positioned to replace nearly every product made from fossil fuels with those derived from plant or waste material. The publication covers a wide array of issues on the leading edge of biomass utilization technologies, from biorefining, dedicated energy crops and cellulosic ethanol to decentralized power, anaerobic digestion and gasification. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all here.

www.BiomassMagazine.com

For additional information please contact us at (701) 746-8385 or at advertising@biomassmagazine.com

Robert-James Sales is your #1 source

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