2019 January Ethanol Producer Magazine

JANUARY 2019

IOWA'S INFLUENCE Champion Ethanol State Shapes Industry Page 22

ALSO

Corn Fiber Technologies Gain Steam Page 28

Extra Eyes on Surveillance Page 34

www.ethanolproducer.com

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EDITORIAL President & Editor in Chief Tom Bryan tbryan@bbiinternational.com Editor Lisa Gibson lgibson@bbiinternational.com Associate Editor Matt Thompson mthompson@bbiinternational.com Copy Editor Jan Tellmann jtellmann@bbiinternational.com

ART

2019 International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo

39

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30

2019 National Ethanol Conference CPM Roskamp Champion D3MAX LLC

DSM Bio-based Products & Services

Art Director Jaci Satterlund jsatterlund@bbiinternational.com Graphic Designer Raquel Boushee rboushee@bbiinternational.com

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EDITORIAL BOARD

Ringneck Energy Walter Wendland Little Sioux Corn Processors Steve Roe Commonwealth Agri-Energy Mick Henderson Pinal Energy Keith Kor Aemetis Advanced Fuels Eric McAfee Western Plains Energy Derek Peine Front Range Energy Dan Sanders Jr.

Growth Energy

20-21

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31

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Nalco Water

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POET LLC

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RPMG, Inc.

27

Stover Controls

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Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits Phibro Ethanol Performance Group RMS Roller-Grinder Seneca Companies WINBCO

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CONTENTS

JANUARY 2019 VOLUME 25

DEPARTMENTS 4

AD INDEX

8

EDITOR'S NOTE

9

EVENTS CALENDAR

10

DRIVE

12

14

ISSUE 1

FEATURES SPOTLIGHT ON IOWA

Ethanol Impact

Iowa’s economy is tightly tied to the ethanol industry

By Matt Thompson

Welcome, 2019

By Lisa Gibson

22

Driving Opportunities to Expand the Market

By Emily Skor

IOWA RENEWABLE FUELS ASSOCIATION

CORN FIBER

The Most of Every Kernel

GLOBAL SCENE

New plants make development headway

By Matt Thompson

Europe’s Next Biofuels Move

By Emmanuel Desplechin

GRASSROOTS VOICE

Recognizing Today’s Reality to Shape a Better Tomorrow

By Brian Jennings

18

BUSINESS BRIEFS

38

MARKETPLACE

28

D3MAX

SURVEILLANCE

For Safety and Security’s Sake Cameras monitor hazards, operations and property

By Lisa Gibson

34

SOLUTIONS TECHNOLOGY GROUP

ON THE COVER

Iowa leads the country in ethanol production with its 44 plants.

PHOTO: ISTOCK

Ethanol Producer Magazine: (USPS No. 023-974) January 2019, Vol. 25, Issue 1. Ethanol Producer Magazine is published monthly by BBI International. 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.

6 | ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2019

“Thank You to our 90 Plant Partners for Trusting TransFerm® to Drive Fermentation” Take a tour on I-90 across the USA and you’ll find that exit after exit will steer you to one of the 90 plants trusting TransFerm® YP3 and TransFerm® RB3 to drive fermentation. The evolution to 90 plants has been incredible thanks to all of them! LBDS is extremely grateful to our customer partners who have shared this journey.

But we aren’t putting our ride in park anytime soon. In fact, our journey is just beginning. LBDS is heading further down the road to even more product advancements and innovations to get the best mileage out of your fermentation investment. In the meantime, we’ll keep on rolling with you. And if you want to join our adventure, we’ve still got plenty of room to ride. Hop on board!

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EDITOR'S NOTE

Welcome, 2019 As we look to 2019, the ethanol industry has a list of goals to achieve and battles to fight. We’re lucky that our largest producing state is also

Lisa Gibson

Editor lgibson@bbiinternational.com

a swing state. Ethanol’s interests wield power within Iowa and, therefore, nationally. Well, sometimes.

Of course, the ethanol industry isn’t seeing its goals and needs met in all areas, but Iowa’s Gov. Kim Reynolds and Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, played a significant role in our recent win—President Donald Trump’s announcement that E15 will receive a Reid vapor pressure waiver. It’s not perfect, might include some renewable identification number compromises, and we don’t know when it might actually be implemented, but we’re getting closer.

Ethanol is crucial to Iowa and Iowa is crucial to ethanol. The state led the country in production with its 4.2 billion gallons in 2017, just over 25 percent of the 15.8 billion gallons produced nationwide that year. Iowa’s production in 2017 was 168 times its 1980 production, compared with the country’s 90-fold increase in the same amount of time. In the feature on page 22, we explore Iowa’s ethanol stats, its industry and its impacts. Its trade groups and vendors have reaches beyond the state lines.

Switching from Iowa to Wisconsin, the next feature profiles the first commercial D3Max corn fiber-to-ethanol technology installation. It’s at Ace Ethanol in Stanley and is expected to also produce higher-protein distillers dried grains with solubles. Meanwhile, ICM and The Andersons continue to make progress on Element in Colwich, Kansas.

The plant will use ICM’s Generation 1.5 process, which incorporates milling and fiber separation technologies.

Corn fiber ethanol has been compared to corn oil in its capacity to transform revenue streams for the ethanol industry. I guess with these two installations underway, we’re getting closer to finding out if that’s a realistic comparison. Read more about both projects in the feature starting on page 28.

And the last feature of this issue focuses on surveillance. Some plants emphasize safety, while others emphasize security, but all see benefits in both. Keeping up with new technologies is worth the investment, plant managers say. The coverage starts on page 34.

We have crucial legislation on the table, progress in development of corn fiber-toethanol technologies, and evolution in surveillance for all plants. Welcome, January.

Welcome, 2019.

FOR INDUSTRY NEWS: WWW.ETHANOLPRODUCER.COM OR FOLLOW US: 8 | ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2019

TWITTER.COM/ETHANOLMAGAZINE

EVENTS CALENDAR

PROUDLY SERVING 2019 National Ethanol Conference February 11-13, 2019 Orlando, Florida

The National Ethanol Conference (NEC) is the most widely attended executive level conference for the ethanol industry. Since 1996, the Renewable Fuels Association’s NEC has been recognized as the preeminent conference for delivering accurate, timely information on marketing, legislative and regulatory issues facing the ethanol industry.

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2019 International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo June 10-12, 2019 Indiana Convention Center Indianapolis, Indiana

From its inception, the mission of this event has remained constant: The FEW delivers timely presentations with a strong focus on commercial-scale ethanol production—from quality control and yield maximization to regulatory compliance and fiscal management. The FEW is the ethanol industry’s premier forum for unveiling new technologies and research findings.

The program covers cellulosic ethanol while remaining committed to optimizing existing grain ethanol operations.

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DRIVE

Driving Opportunities to Expand the Market

By Emily Skor

As we ring in the New Year, Growth Energy is laser-focused on continuing to grow markets—both domestic and foreign—for American ethanol. The

biofuels industry has positioned America as a global leader in clean energy production, and the task now at hand is to make sure our biofuel gallons have a place to go.

Securing the ability to sell E15, a fuel blend with 15 percent ethanol, year-round and facilitating the widespread adoption of higher blends remains one of our top priorities. After all, nationwide adoption of E15 delivers 7 billion gallons of new ethanol demand. Our rural America activation in pursuit of that goal helped secure a landmark year-round E15 announcement from the president last October. Since then, we have continued to lead industry advocacy efforts with the White House, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and EPA to ensure we see timely implementation of the president’s promise. We expect a proposed rule in February, followed by a public hearing and comment process. President Donald Trump’s administration has clearly stated its intention to have a rule in place by June 1—when the 2019 summer driving season begins. Our opponents will try to derail the process and we will remain vigilant in preventing these attempts by providing EPA with the most sound legal and technical defense of the rulemaking.

While we fight for domestic market growth, there are also myriad opportunities abroad. We have identified six key markets—Brazil, Canada, China, India, Japan and Mexico—that can greatly improve ethanol’s market access and potentially secure billions of new gallons in biofuels demand. Already, the global blend rate outside of the U.S. and Brazil, the world’s top ethanol consumers, has reached 3.2 percent, and that number is expected to grow. Many of our key export markets have already begun implementing blending mandates for fuel ethanol. Growth Energy is working closely with our counterparts in those countries to ensure proper implementation and best practices, particularly in China, Canada and Brazil.

Additionally, a global E10 blend could bring a potential new 13 billion gallons of ethanol demand from other countries outside the U.S. and Brazil. However, reaching those heights will be difficult with

10 | ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2019

trade barriers restricting market access to countries like China, so we’re extending ourselves as a resource to assist China with its 2020 E10 rollout plan. Despite barriers, we exceeded 2017’s record-high American ethanol export totals, indicating a growing international demand for a cleaner, more affordable fuel alternative. Exciting opportunities like the development of ethanol policies in Canada and Brazil present natural touchpoints for us to help build new markets from the ground up, and we are continuing our work with our Brazilian and Canadian partners to do just that. Meanwhile, Mexico is currently evaluating whether its three largest cities will be permitted to blend E10, and our global trade team is coordinating with them regularly to make that a reality.

In addition to clearing a path for greater domestic adoption of higher blends and facilitating new market development abroad, positioning our industry for the RFS reset will be another critical focus in 2019.

The reset provision was written into the Renewable Fuel Standard as a mechanism to reevaluate blending targets for starch ethanol, advanced biofuel and cellulosic ethanol relative to current blending levels, while considering a range of factors from expected rate of future production to environmental impact and cost to consumers, among others. The RFS is one of our country’s greatest success stories, helping revitalize rural America. It provides tremendous benefits in terms of job creation, energy security, and environmental performance. We will continue to work with EPA to keep moving the RFS forward, just as the president has promised.

Expanding markets for the industry will be the driving force behind everything we do this year in the ongoing effort to provide maximum value for our members and help them recover from depressed margins.

Our organization is energized by the prospect of working with and on behalf of the biofuels industry to capitalize on the significant growth opportunities that lie ahead, both at home and overseas.

Author: Emily Skor CEO, Growth Energy 202.545.4000 eskor@growthenergy.org

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GLOBAL SCENE

Europe’s Next Biofuels Move

By Emmanuel Desplechin

The European Parliament voted in midNovember on what might have seemed like a technicality. It signed off on the EU’s renewable energy policy for 2020 to 2030, months after a hard-fought compromise on the continued use of conventional biofuels had been hammered out.

But that vote was an important milestone for two reasons. First, it opens the door to a more effective approach to decarbonizing EU transport, as long as member states find ways to turn that ambition into action. And second, it puts the EU on record as saying that sustainable biofuels such as European ethanol should remain an important part of any long-term scenario for decarbonization.

The need for action in the short-, medium- and long-term has never been more urgent. The headlines keep coming about the importance of fighting climate change—and about Europe’s struggle to achieve emissions reductions from the transport sector.

The most recent troubling report came from the European Environment Agency showing that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions actually increased by 0.6 percent in the EU in 2017 compared to 2016 levels. Unless the trend is reversed, that rise endangers the bloc’s efforts to reach a 2030 target of cutting emissions by 40 percent against 1990 levels. The increase in emissions was largely driven by rising transport emissions, the EEA said, pointing to an “increase of oil consumption from road transport.”

That’s all the more reason for EU policymakers to do a better job of making use of transport decarbonization solutions they have today.

One obvious course of action would be to encourage the use of lowcarbon liquid fuels like renewable European ethanol, which reduces GHG emissions by more than 70 percent on average compared to fossil fuels.

The newly approved Renewable Energy Directive (known as RED II) confirms the importance of sustainably produced crop-based biofuels such as European ethanol to achieving EU climate goals.

However, it still caps the contribution these low-carbon fuels can make at each member state’s 2020 levels, with a +1 percent flexibility and up to 7 percent.

12 | ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2019

That means EU member states have between now and 2020 to increase their use of renewable ethanol in transport—for example, by adopting E10 as a standard petrol blend—if they want to maximize their ability to reach the post-2020 renewables and climate targets under both the RED II and the Effort Sharing Regulation.

International organizations like the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and International Energy Agency have recently underlined the importance of using all available tools to fight climate change. The IEA even referred to the significant “untapped potential” of biofuels in reducing emissions.

Those reports came just before the European Commission released its long-term (until 2050) strategy for decarbonization. Unfortunately, the commission did not quite get the message.

The strategy’s focus is more on broad strokes and scenarios than specific numbers and ambitions. But even though most of the scenarios would require a massive increase in the use of biofuels, the strategy largely fails to acknowledge the important role sustainable cropbased and advanced biofuels could and should play in decarbonizing the EU. That’s too bad, especially given the strong signal just sent by the European Parliament and EU governments that Europe should get rid of bad biofuels and promote good ones—and that renewable European ethanol is one of the good ones.

Most people agree that the commission should phase out biofuels associated with deforestation and peatland drainage (those considered to be at high risk of indirect land use change). Once that happens, there is no reason a longer-term strategy shouldn’t promote the use of the good low-carbon fuels to decarbonize an EU vehicle fleet that will be made up mostly of internal combustion engines for decades to come.

A meaningful long-term strategy looking to 2050 should reinforce this by acknowledging the importance of both first- and secondgeneration ethanol. That would send a real signal from Brussels to member states that the EU is serious about reducing emissions from transport.

Author: Emmanuel Desplechin Secretary General ePURE, the European Renewable Ethanol Association desplechin@epure.com

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GRASSROOTS VOICE

Recognizing Today’s Reality to Shape a Better Tomorrow

By Brian Jennings

Looking back to one year ago, ethanol renewable identification numbers (RINs) were fetching nearly 70 cents (a valuable incentive for ethanol blending), exports were swelling to record volumes, and EPA was promising to consider granting Reid vapor pressure (RVP) relief for E15.

As 2019 begins, EPA has handed out nearly 50 Small Refinery Exemptions like trick-or-treat candy and ethanol RINs have collapsed to around the 10-cent mark, advocated by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). This is our cold, hard reality today: RINs losing more than 80 percent of their value, ethanol prices flirting with record lows and profitability evaporating because supply outweighs demand. On the bright side, exports have been robust, and we are finally poised to clear the RVP hurdle now that President Donald Trump has directed the U.S. EPA to complete a rule-making to allow E15 use year-round.

Given this reality, increasing demand and market access for ethanol will be the single most important priority for ACE in 2019.

Since the president’s RVP announcement, we have been riding herd on EPA to release the proposed rule for public comment.

Unfortunately, EPA insists upon waiting until February, leaving scarce time for a final rule to be in place before the 2019 summer driving season begins. For retailers already on the sidelines, EPA slow-walking the RVP rule could keep them from offering E15 to their customers through next summer.

In addition to seeing a legally defensible RVP rule through to the end, and likely having to defend it in court, we will keep EPA’s feet to the fire on SREs and insist upon reallocation of the waived gallons.

Speaking of court, the litigation ACE and others initiated on SREs and restoration of the waived gallons will pick up speed in the new year. It is insulting to rural America that farmers and ethanol producers are suffering real economic harm while refiners like Chevron and CVR enjoy record profits and are allowed by EPA to keep the RINs through the waivers. Lawsuits are never

the preferred approach but sometimes EPA action (or inaction) leaves us with no other choice. Recall we were forced to sue former President Barack Obama’s EPA when it waived 500 million gallons from the Renewable Fuel Standard based on so-called blend wall constraints. We prevailed in this case and are still waiting for EPA to reveal how it plans to restore this lost demand volume.

In 2019, ACE will also carefully examine the changes EPA will propose for RIN trading, as part of the RVP rule-making, to make sure blenders and retailers are still able to use RINs to help them market higher ethanol blends.

The midterm elections changed the balance of power in Congress. Democrats will now control the House of Representatives while Republicans picked up a couple of seats to retain their majority in the U.S. Senate. Because ethanol is a bipartisan issue, it doesn’t really matter to us who controls Congress, but that won’t stop oil refiners and individual lawmakers from introducing legislation to repeal or reform the RFS. In fact, two House Republicans unveiled “discussion draft” legislative language around Thanksgiving that would establish a minimum 95 research octane number (RON) fuel requirement in exchange for grave changes to the RFS, including sunsetting of volume obligations, overturning emissions anti-backsliding requirements, and gutting market access provisions for cellulosic and advanced biofuels. There are certain ideas in this legislative draft that, in isolation, might help ethanol. But the net effect of the entire legislative package would be very harmful to the ethanol industry and farmers.

Other priorities we will tackle in 2019 include export promotion, the RFS reset rule-making, and increasing ethanol demand through meaningful and thoughtful low-carbon and highoctane policies. Of course, ACE will continue working alongside retailers to expand the use of E15, E85 and midlevel blends.

These issues will be front and center during ACE’s annual D.C. Fly-in and Government Affairs Summit in 2019. Please mark your calendars to join us in Washington, D.C., April 2 to 3 at the Liaison Capitol Hill Hotel.

Author: Brian Jennings Executive Vice President American Coalition for Ethanol 605.334.3381 bjennings@ethanol.org

14 | ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2019

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BUSINESS BRIEFS

People, Partnerships & Projects

US Grains Council hires new ethanol programs coordinator Turquoise Adams joined the U.S. Grains Council on Nov. 5 as the ethanol programs coordinator at the organization’s Washington, D.C., headquarters.

In this role, Adams will support the ethanol and economics team by facilitating program planning, managing correspondence and reports, and handling information management and contracting.

“We are excited to have Turquoise join us and bring her prior experience co-

ordinating seminars and handling travel arrangements with her,” says Mike Dwyer, USGC chief economist and lead on ethanol programs. “She is a welcome addition to our team.”

Before joining USGC, Adams worked for the National Association of Surety Bond Producers as an education specialist. In this capacity, she assisted with logistics and execution of meetings, coordinated biweekly virtual seminars and provided oversight

of administrative tasks regarding continuing education credits.

Adams also previously served as Adams a coordinator for the nonprofit First Book, where she resolved customer issues and assisted in transmitting orders to warehouse fulfillment and supplier partners.

“Aemetis is pleased to join the RFA, which provides invaluable industry expertise and will help amplify our voice on Capitol Hill and throughout the world,” says Eric McAfee, Aemetis chairman and CEO. “Exports of renewable fuels such as high-octane, low-carbon ethanol are increasing, helping countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meeting the growing demand for cleaner transportation fuels. With our international footprint, Aemetis is uniquely positioned to supply lowcarbon biofuels under the Low Carbon Fuel Standard in California, as well as countries around the globe seeking to meet expanding clean fuel targets. We look forward to working

with the RFA to ensure the ethanol industry continues to innovate and grow.”

RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper says, “We are excited to welcome Aemetis to the RFA, and we value the unique perspective, experience and leadership the company brings to the table. RFA is proud to provide industryleading technical, research, government relations, regulatory and public relations expertise to Aemetis and the rest of our membership.

We look forward to working with the Aemetis team and other RFA members to chart the future course of America’s vibrant renewable fuels industry.”

Ametis joins RFA California-based advanced renewable fuels company Aemetis Inc. has joined the Renewable Fuels Association.

Aemetis, which has more than 140 employees worldwide, operates a 60 MMgy ethanol and animal feed production facility in Keyes, California. The company also operates a 50 MMgy biorefinery on the east coast of India producing distilled biodiesel and refined glycerin for customers in India and Europe.

Additionally, the company operates a research and development laboratory and holds granted patents on technology related to the production of renewable fuels and renewable chemicals.

FQPT to install SGT System at Marquis Energy Marquis Energy in Hennepin, Illinois, is installing the Fluid Quip Process Technologies Selective Grind Technology at its facility. The Hennepin FQPT SGT system will be the largest installation to date at an ethanol facility worldwide.

“The Marquis ethanol facilities are world class,” says Neal Jakel, vice president of strategy and technology for FQPT. “After completing a rigorous analysis and testing protocol with FQPT, the Marquis 18 | ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2019

technical team determined the SGT system could take their high-performing plant to even higher yields.”

FQPT has installed 15 SGT systems producing more than 1.2 billion gallons of ethanol annually worldwide and has shown an average increase of more than 3 percent in ethanol yields and more than 25 percent in oil yields.

“FQPT’s custom SGT systems and collaboration with customers help to real-

ize the full benefits from FQPT’s secondary milling technology, resulting in the ability to take high-performing plants to even higher performance levels,” Jakel says. “That’s why we are excited to partner with an industry leader like Marquis.”

BUSINESS BRIEFSÂŚ

Verbio completes sale of DuPont plant DuPont’s 30 MMgy cellulosic ethanol plant in Nevada, Iowa, is now under new ownership. Verbio North America Corp., the U.S. subsidiary of German bioenergy producer Verbio Vereinigte BioEnergie AG, completed its purchase of the plant on Nov. 20 and will soon move forward with plans to convert the facility to produce renewable natural gas (RNG).

Verbio first announced plans to purchase the former DuPont facility and a portion of its corn stover inventory on Nov. 8, roughly one year after DuPont put the plant up for sale.

DuPont broke ground on the Nevada ethanol plant in November 2012. The facility celebrated its grand opening in late Octo-

ber 2015. Just over two years later, on Nov. 2, 2017, the company announced plans to sell the plant.

In a statement released Nov. 20, Greg Northup, president of VNA, says his company will now finalize its plans to install facilities to produce RNG made from corn stover and other cellulosic crop residues at the site. The first phase of construction is expected to begin as soon as all appropriate permits have been obtained.

The RNG conversion project will be supported by Iowa Economic Development Authority. On Nov. 16, the IEDA announced approval of Verbio’s application for the High Quality Jobs program in support of the company’s plans for creating

new jobs. Verbio indicates a strong partnership with the IEDA was a critical factor in the company’s decision to redevelop the former DuPont site. The company says it looks forward to working with local growers, vendors and Nevada officials.

In a statement, the IEDA says its board has awarded Verbio tax benefits via HQJ for the proposed $35 million project. IEDA said the investment is in addition to, and separate from, the facility acquisition cost and will go toward converting the plant to utilize Verbio’s RNG technology. The project is expected to create 44 jobs, including 28 that are incented at a qualifying wage of $24.95.

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CORN IS KING: Iowa is the nation’s largest producer of corn and, therefore, ethanol. Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, says Iowans know “if it’s good for Iowa agriculture, it’s good for Iowa.”

PHOTO: IOWA RENEWABLE FUELS ASSOCIATION

22 | ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2019

SPOTLIGHT ON IOWA

ETHANOL Impact Iowaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s status as the largest ethanol-producing state means its ethanol economy affects the entire industry.

By Matt Thompson

ETHANOLPRODUCER.COM | 23

In Iowa, the economy is tied so tightly to the ethanol industry that almost everybody knows the importance of President Donald Trump’s yearround E15 announcement, says Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association.

FROM THE EXPERTS: Monte Shaw, executive director of the IRFA, speaks at a recent conference.

Shaw says ethanol and biofuels make up a large part of Iowa's economy, accounting for more than 3 percent of the state's GDP. PHOTO: IOWA RENEWABLE FUELS ASSOCIATION

IOWA in Stats Number of Ethanol Plants: 44

Gallons produced 2017: 4.2 billion Annual ethanol production capacity: 4.4 billion gallons (25.6 percent of national capacity) Annual cellulosic ethanol production capacity: 64 million gallons Sites selling E15: 171 E15 and midlevel blends sold in 2016: 8.7 million gallons SOURCES: IOWA RENEWABLE FUELS ASSOCIATION, IOWA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY, GROWTH ENERGY

24 | ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2019

A waiter in a Cedar Rapids restaurant, for instance, recently asked Shaw about Trump’s E15 waiver, upon hearing that Shaw advocates for biofuels and ethanol through the IRFA. “So here’s a waiter in the Cedar Rapids Marriot restaurant that knew that Donald Trump had done a good thing for the ethanol industry and was excited because he just kind of inherently knew that would be good for Iowa.”

And what’s good for Iowa is the ethanol industry. In 2017, the state’s 44 plants produced 4.2 billion gallons of ethanol.

This accounts for more than 25 percent of the 15.8 billion gallons produced nationwide that year. The production rate has grown faster in Iowa than it has in the rest of the country since 1980. Iowa produced 25 million gallons of ethanol in 1980, while the national total was 175 million. That’s a growth of 168-fold for Iowa and 90-fold for the nation.

While an abundant corn supply and the ability of Iowa ethanol producers to ship easily to East, West and Gulf coast markets are significant factors in the state’s success, more factors are at play, Shaw says.

One is the entrepreneurial spirit of Iowans. “I give a lot of credit to just the folks who reached into their savings and plopped $20,000 or $30,000 or $50,000 down at a local equity drive saying, ‘I want my kids to have a better experience in rural Iowa farming than I did.’ You know, those are

SPOTLIGHT ON IOWA

the people who built this industry, and they did a great job and it worked,” Shaw says.

And the state isn’t content to just watch its ethanol industry grow. It hopes to build on the success of its renewable fuel industry and help foster innovation in renewable chemicals. Iowa’s Economic Development Association recently introduced the Renewable Chemicals Production Tax Credit, which allows producers to claim a tax credit for creating certain building block chemicals from biomass.

Producers that convert biomass feedstock into any of the 30 chemicals approved by the IEDA can apply for the credit. Startup companies are eligible to receive up to $1 million, while established companies can receive up to $500,000. The goal of the program, according to Mark Laurenzo, business development manager for the IEDA, is to take advantage of Iowa’s place as a leading biofuels producer and encourage other uses for biomass, such as renewable chemicals for plastics, paints and other petroleum-based products.

“We looked around and said, ‘How can we help the … industries potentially at a blend wall?’” Laurenzo says. “‘How can we make sure that very competitively produced chemicals can be further used?’” The solution was the tax credit. Laurenzo says Iowa has had success in using tax credits in the past to incentivize ethanol and biofuels, and decided to use that approach again.

2018 was the first year producers were able to take advantage of the credit, and so far, Laurenzo says, it’s been successful.

“What we’ve seen, and what we consider a very big success, is the inquiries we’ve had into the program and how companies could utilize it. …The No. 1 goal of the program is to get the attention of the industry, and those potential users are very targeted. And that we have done.”

Advocating for the Industry

The IRFA is a state-level trade group, unaffiliated with the national Renewable Fuels Association. Shaw says the IRFA works on policy, legislation and regulation.

“Sometimes we get involved with research and development. We work on market development and consumer education. We also help facilitate some activities around plant operations in terms of environmental compliance and safety best practices, things of that nature, where we bring plants together.”

Recently, much of the association’s focus has been on E15. The IRFA’s strat-

egy for marketing E15 to retailers hasn’t changed, Shaw says, but the association is following the rule-making process closely.

“On the policy side, we are not taking our foot off the gas. This has not been put in the federal register and we are very interested in ensuring that the EPA puts its most defensible legal arguments forward when they actually do publish a proposed rule in the federal register.”

While more work needs to be done before that rule is in place, Shaw says Iowa’s political leaders were instrumental in getting it this far. “No governor did more to make President Trump’s E15 announcement happen than Gov. [Kim] Reynolds,” he says, adding that Sens. Chuck Grassley

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PHOTO: IOWA RENEWABLE FUELS ASSOCIATION

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and Joni Ernst played important roles as well. “Other senators were great, but Iowa led the way in that. And so we’re proud of that and we also want to say thank you for that.”

Shaw says the state’s political power is a benefit for the ethanol industry. “It’s nice to be one of the 10 swing states because they can’t really ignore you. And so we’re going to use that. While the truth is on our side, the resources are on the other side, so we need to use every resource and every potential point of leverage that we have just to get the truth out there.”

Shaw says IRFA helped prove the value of higher ethanol blends. “What we’ve really tried to do is use Iowa as a place where consumers will buy these higher blends.

Iowa’s not the world’s largest gasoline market, … so we were never going to solve the world’s ethanol demand problems by leading the way in gallons in Iowa,” Shaw says.

But the goal IRFA did help accomplish, he adds, is getting retailers to offer E15 and E85, and install blender pumps. “What it showed was, ‘Hey, this works,’” he says. According to Growth Energy, 171 retailers in Iowa offer E15.

Ethanol’s Expansive Reach

Ethanol’s reach in Iowa goes beyond just corn growers and production facilities.

According to a study commissioned by the IRFA, ethanol manufacturing accounted for more than 6,000 indirect jobs in Iowa in 2017.

Two of those indirect employers are Stover Controls, based in Marshalltown, and Hydro-Klean, based in Des Moines.

Stover provides valves, regulators, actuators and Emmerson products and services to ethanol plants, while Hydro-Klean specializes in industrial cleaning. Both companies’ territories extend beyond the state’s borders. Stover has customers in Nebraska, South Dakota and Illinois and Hydro-

SPOTLIGHT ON IOWA

Klean has locations in South Dakota, Minnesota and Kansas.

Paul Wagner, ethanol industry lead at Stover Controls, says his company is focused on problem solving and customer service. Highly beneficial to Stover’s ethanol customers is the company’s availability during emergency situations. “The fact that we answer our phone 24/7/365 has been huge,” he says. “Myself, personally, I’ve actually delivered valves at 2 a.m. to these customers, and they are absolutely overjoyed with the fact that we operate on the same hours that they operate.”

Hydro-Klean has similar availability for its customers. “Our policy is you’ll get a call back within 10 minutes and our guys will be at the shop and on the road within an hour,” says Brian Rinehart, HydroKlean’s director of industrial services.

Rinehart says Hydro-Klean’s emergency response for industrial spills has been huge for ethanol producers. “A lot of them have sulfuric acid spills. … They built containment around the tanks, but they’ll have leaks or spills and they need to get rid of it,” he says, adding that the company also assists with syrup, DDG and 200-proof ethanol spills, among others.

Keeping ethanol plants running is important work for both companies, as the industry is an appreciable part of the state’s economy. Shaw says the IRFA commissions a study every year on ethanol’s economic impact for Iowa. In 2017, ethanol contributed $4.5 billion to the state’s gross domestic product, $2.1 billion to household earnings, and was responsible for 43,079 jobs.

“Some of that’s in ag, and some of that’s in the supporting industries and just the economic opportunity that comes from the operation of these plants—the incomes, the household earnings, all that stuff—rolls over into your local economy,” Shaw says.

“So everything from the boost in agriculture to research and development at our state universities. It’s a big driver.”

That’s apparent looking at renewable fuels’ effect on Iowa’s gross domestic product. Between ethanol and biodiesel, renewable fuels contribute nearly $5 billion to the state’s GDP. “If you waved your magic wand and they [renewable fuels] went away, and nothing else popped up magically to replace them, that would cut 3 percent of

Iowa’s economy, which is a big deal,” Shaw says.

Author: Matt Thompson Associate Editor, Ethanol Producer Magazine 701.738.4922 mthompson@bbiinternational.com

ETHANOLPRODUCER.COM | 27

THE MOST OF EVERY KERNEL CORN FIBER

Two corn kernel fiber-to-ethanol plants are under construction, stirring hope that the concept is gaining steam.

By Matt Thompson

In October 2018, construction began on Ace Ethanol’s cellulosic ethanol plant in Stanley, Wisconsin. The plant will be the first to incorporate D3Max’s corn kernel fiber-toethanol process, and will help the plant increase its yields and produce higher-protein distillers dried grains with solubles, all without increasing the plant’s

energy consumption. “I believe Ace will be the most efficient ethanol plant in the country, with the highest yield and the lowest energy use per gallon,” says Mark Yancey, chief technology officer for D3Max. BBI International, which publishes Ethanol Producer Magazine, is a large shareholder of D3Max. The relationship between Ace Ethanol and D3Max began in early 2017. “In 2016,

28 | ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2019

we raised equity, and with that money, we designed and built a portable, skid-mounted pilot plant,” Yancey says. Once the pilot plant was built, Ace and D3Max signed a contract for Ace to complete the pilot testing of the technology. Testing began in March 2017 and ran nearly every week until October of that year.

“I think we ran into unexpected things most every week,

but we learned from them, and we worked through many phases of development in order to come up with what we think is the ideal process for us for converting the fiber to ethanol,” says Neal Kemmet, president and general manager of Ace Ethanol.

One issue that became apparent during the piloting was a high level of acid, Yancey says. “We demonstrated very

STRONG FOUNDATION: Construction of the D3Max corn fiber-to-ethanol plant at Ace Ethanol in Stanley, Wisconsin, is expected to be complete in September. It’s the first commercial installation of the technology.

PHOTO: ACE ETHANOL

high yields pretty quickly, but we knew the acid and the costs associated with that were unrealistic. There would have been too much sulfur in the highprotein DDGS produced by the D3Max process.” Yancey adds that the acid levels have been decreased, but he thinks they can go even lower.

Because D3Max does not develop its own enzymes or yeasts, the pilot phase also was

used to test the options available on the market. Testing showed enzymes from DSM and yeast from Lallemand were the best fit. “I think we ended up with two very good suppliers for the first plant,” Yancey says.

With the pilot phase successfully completed, Ace’s members voted to approve the project in April of last year, and work began on the detailed de-

sign of the plant. Yancey says Ace opted to use two design firms to eliminate the need to rework during startup. “The second company is essentially reviewing and, in some cases, redoing the engineering calculations,” he says.

As of November 2018, final changes were being applied to the design. “We’re into the final stages of process engineering and then we get into some

of the more detailed engineering with some of the electrical and instruments and so we’re still heavily in the engineering phase, but some of those phases are winding down,” Kemmet said in early November. “And, obviously, we’ve already started construction, too, because we’ve got the foundation work and all that done. So, things are still picking up steam, but we’re making pretty solid progress.”

ETHANOLPRODUCER.COM | 29

CONCRETE PROGRESS: Pouring of the tank ring walls at the D3Max plant at Ace Ethanol began in November 2018.

PHOTO: ACE ETHANOL

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CORN FIBER Construction is expected to be complete in September, followed by startup. “I expect the startup to take at least a month and maybe two or three,” Yancey says. “So, the plant should be fully operational by fourth quarter of 2019.”

According to Yancey, D3Max’s technology is different than other corn kernel fiber-to-ethanol technologies because it keeps the corn fiber process separate from the corn starch ethanol process. “We will actually measure the amount of ethanol produced with the D3Max process, so we will have a direct measurement of the amount of cellulosic ethanol.

It’s essentially one-to-one; each gallon will produce one D3 RIN (renewable identification number). Of what’s being mar-

keted to the industry, D3Max is the only separate processing technology available.”

That technology works for Ace because it integrates well with the plant’s existing infrastructure and has added benefits for its distillers grains, Kemmet says. “We looked at the DDGS after the D3Max process, and we felt that was a good fit for our local feed market.”

The technology will also benefit the plant and Ace’s shareholders financially, Kemmet says. “We feel that this project will give us a financial advantage. It gives us another revenue stream, if you will. So that’s what we’re hoping for— that the technology will allow us to provide more shareholder value for our members.”

Yancey says Ace had been exploring it. before working with D3Max. “Ace has been terrific to work with. Before I talked to them, they had been looking at cellulosic ethanol for several years. So they were very knowledgeable about it. They had the right attitude in terms of not being afraid to try something new. And they’ve just been great to work with.”

Kemmet agrees. “I think we’ve learned a lot from each other along the way and I think it’s been a good working relationship.”

ICM

Also on the horizon is a plant that will incorporate ICM’s Generation 1.5 technology into its design. Development of the technology was

completed in spring 2017, and the Element plant in Colwich, Kansas, broke ground in May 2018. Jason Friedberg, general manager of Element, says construction should be finished by mid-2019.

Brandon Emme, ICM’s principal scientist, says Generation 1.5 incorporates the company’s Selective Milling Technology (SMT) and Fiber Separation Technology (FST).

“The most recent iterations of these products that we launched last year help set a plant up for being able to implement our Generation 1.5 process, because the SMT delaminates the bran from the starch in a strategic way, so you can obtain a higher fiber recovery, and then the FST is built such that it removes that fiber

ETHANOLPRODUCER.COM | 31

CORN FIBER

from the starch stream,” Emme says.

Like the D3Max process, Generation 1.5 has benefits for coproducts as well. “Because we pull the fiber off, your DDGs are high in protein and very low in fiber. You can introduce that to different animal feed markets such as poultry and swine where that’s a significant value-add,” Emme says.

While Element hasn’t yet started its cellulosic ethanol production, Emme says ICM is already looking at ways to improve Generation 1.5. “Basically, as soon as we get the first 1.0 version done, we already have improvements that we’re working on to get more out of it and make the process even simpler than it already is right now,” he says. “Those take development, but we haven’t proven those out yet. There’s new things coming out in pretreatment design.

There’s new enzymes. There’s new yeasts. Those all can have an impact on how 1.5 will look five years from now.”

Shaping the future

Yancey, Kemmet and Emme say it’s only a matter of time before corn kernel fiberto-ethanol is adopted on a wider scale within the industry.

“People are going to evaluate technology based upon their tolerance for risk and their local market,” Kemmet says.

“So I think this technology makes sense in a lot of ethanol plants. Now, some plants might go with other technologies based upon other agreements or based upon their local market, or their willingness

FROM THE GROUND UP: Construction on the Element ethanol plant in Colwich, Kansas, is expected to be completed by the middle of 2019. The plant will incorporate ICM’s Generation 1.5 corn kernel fiber-to-ethanol technology.

PHOTO: ICM INC.

to spend money on capital improvements, but I definitely think there’s a big opportunity for this technology to be applicable to other ethanol plants.”

Emme says, “You definitely get a lot of questions and there’s a lot of demand that people want to do it. Once the Element plant starts up, I think people will be quite happy to add it on to their process.”

Yancey says he pictures adoption of corn kernel fiberto-ethanol technology to mirror the industry’s adoption of corn oil extraction. “Corn oil extrac-

32 | ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2019

tion just became kind of a nobrainer. I believe almost every ethanol plant does that now.

This is a bigger, more complex project, but I think it will be adopted in a similar fashion.” He adds that adoption might be a little slower, as the initial capital expenditure for the technology is much greater than that for corn oil extraction. But the potential payback is much greater, too, he says.

“I see nearly the entire industry adopting corn fiberto-ethanol, because the advantages a plant would have with

this technology are so great,” Yancey says. “Because it can increase the net profit of a plant by about 15 to 20 cents per gallon of ethanol produced, and for an ethanol plant to not adopt that, it would put them at a big disadvantage.”

Author: Matt Thompson Associate Editor, Ethanol Producer Magazine 701.738.4922 mthompson@bbiinternational.com

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SURVEILLANCE

for Safetyan WATCHFUL EYE: Cameras at Commonwealth Agri-Energy LLC in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, cover many areas of the plant, from grain unloading to gates and parking lots. The company plans to stay on the forefront of surveillance technology as it evolves.

PHOTO: SOLUTIONS TECHNOLOGY GROUP, COMMONWEALTH AGRI-ENERGY LLC

34 | ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2019

ndSECURITY’S

SAFETY DRIVE: Many plants install cameras to maintain efficiency, keep property secure and ensure safety.

Pictured is the wet pad at Commonwealth Agri-Energy in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

PHOTO: SOLUTIONS TECHNOLOGY GROUP, COMMONWEALTH AGRI-ENERGY LLC

SAKE The 12 cameras at Commonwealth Agri-Energy LLC in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, are primarily used to ensure safety of personnel, says Jon Stahl, operations manager. “Safety is on the forefront. That’s what the cameras are designed to do.”

Commonwealth uses both fixed and pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras, providing a view of almost the entire site, at any given time. “That gives us the ability to pretty

Camera system technologies are updated continuously, and plants stay up to date to protect personnel and property.

By Lisa Gibson

well survey the entire premises.” That includes priority areas such as loadout and high-traffic spots. “Anywhere we’ve got people on a regular basis doing what seem like mundane tasks to them, that’s when mistakes happen.”

Stephen Dawson, CEO of Solutions Technology Group, says safety joins security and operations efficiency as reasons clients install surveillance equipment.

“In an industry built on efficient staffing, it is critical to have resources that allow us to be many places at once,” says Kenny Wirts, Commonwealth’s plant manager.

“Cameras are yet another tool that we use to keep our site safe, secure and efficient.”

Servers and Systems

Solutions Technology Group specializes in network/IP camera systems with ethernet-based open architecture, meaning they’re not limited to a certain number of cameras. “You can continue to grow as you please,” Dawson says.

Expansion ability is crucial, according to Pat Hogan, director of operations for Glacial Lakes Energy LLC, with locations in Mina and Watertown, both in South

ETHANOLPRODUCER.COM | 35

SURVEILLANCE

Dakota. “We’ve found the benefit of cameras and continue to install more,” he says.

“Every time something comes up, you say, ‘Man, I wish we had a camera there.’ We usually come back and put another camera in.” Each Glacial Lakes site has about 25 cameras, installed by On Sight 24/7 Video Surveillance, based in Mitchell, South Dakota.

Solutions Technology Group served its first customer in 2009, installing nine cameras. That customer now has more than 100, Dawson says. “As it grew, the backbone of the system was there, the connections and network were there.”

The cameras rely on server-based software, tailored to the specific customer’s needs, Dawson says. The server must be sized appropriately for the number of cameras, resolution, data, memory, etc. New systems with higher resolution are polishing compression technologies. “It allows you to have more data, more videos, more cameras than ever before,” he says. “Video takes a lot of bandwidth. Bandwidth is everything.”

Once the cameras and server are in place, the next step is connecting it all, Dawson says. That can be done with fiber for long connections, standard ethernet 36 | ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2019

for close connections, or wireless point.

At Commonwealth, Solutions Technology Group’s only ethanol client, all three are employed.

That system, like most, includes mobile access as well. “If you have admin rights, you could be sitting at home at night and getting notifications of motion detection, or if you need to look at something at any time, you can sure do that on the remote app,” Dawson says. While remote capabilities are common already, the technologies continue to improve, he adds.

Operations, Security

While Commonwealth’s cameras are predominantly for safety purposes, they also help keep the site secure. “Things have gone missing before,” Stahl says. “With PTZ cameras especially, you can focus on an area at a given time, and if you’ve got some desirable items out in your laydown yard … you can keep a whole lot better eye on them that way than you could if you’re just walking by them three or four times. It’s crazy how much work it can take off you.”

Similarly, cameras keep an eye on operations to ensure efficiency. “Anything that might be a choking point in the plant that

might slow us down,” Stahl says of camera placement.

“It’s a lot of technology,” Stahl adds.

“It’s crazy how much work it saves you. It shaves some of the workers’ fatigue off your day.”

At Glacial Lakes, cameras free up operators for other duties, Hogan says. “We always used to have to have an operator present when a chemical tanker was unloading.

Now we put a camera pointing directly at where the chemical unload is and that can be monitored by the board operator from the control room.”

In addition, the cameras make it easy to know when a trucker arrives. Hogan also points out that the camera footage can be used for incident investigation, and Dawson says cameras in loading and unloading areas can monitor for mistakes in connections or disconnections, preventing damage to equipment.

Both Glacial Lakes sites and Commonwealth have large monitors in the control rooms, displaying 12 or 15 camera views simultaneously. Commonwealth uses smart TVs and has also installed one in the front office. Wirts says, “Having monitors available for the front office is invaluable—lo-

WINBCO TANK “On Line On Time”

(LEFT) OPERATING AS USUAL: An operator at Glacial Lakes Energy LLC in Watertown, South Dakota, monitors 15 camera views at once from the control room.

PHOTO: GLACIAL LAKES ENERGY LLC

FROM ABOVE: Commonwealth's camera systems have an eye on distillation, too.

PHOTO: SOLUTIONS TECHNOLOGY GROUP, COMMONWEALTH AGRI-ENERGY LLC

cating lost truckers and shipments, seeing if trucks are waiting to be loaded, etc.”

Glacial Lakes also installs monitors in the grain control rooms, and Hogan can view any area of either plant on his own computer monitor at any time.

Upgrades, Advancements

“If you use the cameras and you have a good system, you see the benefit and then you start installing more and more,” Hogan says. A surveillance system should build as the facility evolves and as new technologies are available, he adds. The size of the site will determine the number of cameras needed. Glacial Lakes’ rail loops add to its figure.

“Our system has gone through quite a few upgrades,” Hogan says. Servers are upgraded for more horsepower and cameras are replaced for new models, he cites. Glacial Lakes is increasingly using more PTZs than stationary cameras. “They’re more expensive, but you get three or four times the benefit.”

Hogan cautions that proper maintenance and use is crucial for the systems to

function as intended. “If you maintain the systems, you can get a lot of benefit from them. If you don’t maintain the system, people won’t look at them.”

Stahl says Commonwealth will continue to stay on the forefront of surveillance technology, even considering thermal cameras in the future to detect fire risk. It’s a technology Dawson says is used in other industries Solutions Technology Group serves. “Thermal cameras are becoming the thing where fires are potential hazards,” he says. “We’ve even tied them to fire alarm systems so it can notify someone as soon as possible.” From a maintenance standpoint, it makes sense, Stahl says.

Seeing any area on-site at the click of a button is beneficial for many reasons, Stahl says, but for Commonwealth, safety is paramount. “Given the hazards that come with working at an ethanol plant, it’s a good idea to have as many eyes and ears as you can.”

Author: Lisa Gibson Editor, Ethanol Producer Magazine 701.738.4920 lgibson@bbiinternational.com

For over 75 years WINBCO has been the leading Tank and Tank systems manufacture of shop and field erected tanks for the Grain Processing and Biofuel Industries.

WINBCO is certified with API, ASME, and UL and can meet all your “On Line On Time” shop built and field erected tanks, columns and pressure vessels.

WINBCO also is dedicated to all your repair needs, whether it is a planned shut down or an emergency.

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Visit our web site at www.winbco.com Contact us at: 1-800-822-1855 WINBCO Tank PO Box 618 Ottumwa, Iowa 52501

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