Business&People Ethanol Industry Briefs
able CO2 reduction by concentrating on waste-based biodiesel and sugarcane-based ethanol. In addition to the focus on fuelgrade ethanol, it will also develop industrial, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. Clean Burn Fuels LLC, the first corn-based ethanol producer in North Carolina, has partnered with Perdue AgriBusiness Inc. Perdue will source nearly 20 million bushels of corn as feedstock and merchandise approximately 175,000 tons of distillers grains from the plant located near Raeford, N.C. Perdue will purchase the corn mostly from local farmers and receive the rest via rail from the Midwest. The distillers grains will go to area feed mills at North Carolina hog, turkey and chicken operations. Qteros Inc. and University of Massachusetts Amherst announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued U.S. Patent titled “Systems and Methods for Producing Biofuels and Related Materials” describing the novel creation of products, including biofuels, through the fermentation of biomass by a unique, naturally occurring anaerobic microorganism. The patent is based on the trademarked Q Microbe (Clostridium
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phytofermentans). Qteros, the exclusive licensee of the patent, has demonstrated that their Q Microbe technology offers ethanol producers significant cost reductions by streamlining the biomass-conversion process. Valero
Renewable
Fuels, the third largest ethanol producer in the U.S., donated more than $40,000 in money and equipment to 10 Midwestern fire departments located near existing Valero facilities. “At the ethanol plants, the staff isn’t big enough to have on-site firefighting operations,” said Bill Day, director of media relations at Valero. So, Valero will provide equipment such as firefighting foam and portable foam monitors, and will work closely with the local fire departments to ensure they are equipped and trained to respond to emergencies at the plants. In April, Valero also provided training for two members from each of the 10 departments. Over the next seven years, the GreenField Ethanol plant in Vareness, Quebec, will receive
up to $79.75 million from the Canadian government’s ecoENERGY for Biofuels program. Besides the Varennes facility, which has a capacity of 39.6 MMgy (150 MMly), GreenField operates three other corn-to-ethanol ethanol plants in Ontario, including Chatham, Johnstown and Tiverton. GreenField Hensall, a fifth ethanol plant is under construction in Ontario. Canada’s ecoENERGY for Biofuels was established in 2008 and will run through March 31, 2017. The program will invest up to $1.5 billion to support biofuel production in Canada.
tion. “We want to be a problem solver for industries,” said Nagi Naganathan, dean of the College of Engineering. GTL Resources and its
subsidiary, Illinois River Energy (IRE), announced changes in the senior leadership to augment the company’s combined business development resources. Neal Jakel joined the IRE team as general manager. He Jakel is a chemical engineer by training and has worked for Cargill and Monsanto. Vince Kwasnieski, The University past general manof Toledo, Ohio, has esager, is transitioning into the role of vice tablished an Institute for Kwasnieski president of busiSustainable Engineerness development ing Materials to bring together research teams to solve and commercial director for materials development-related GTl. EP problems, such as converting bioSHARE YOUR INDUSTRY BRIEFS To be mass sources to fuel. The insti- included in Business & People, send infortute was formed in response to a mation (including photos and logos if availgrowing corporate interest in en- able) to: Industry Briefs, Ethanol Producer Magazine, 308 Second Ave. N., Suite 304, vironmentally friendly products Grand Forks ND 58203. You may also fax and the development of sustain- information to (701) 746-8385, or e-mail it to able ways to manufacture goods. sretkaschill@bbiinternational.com. Please include your name and telephone number It will function as a separate of- in all correspondence. fice within the school’s College of Engineering and will bolster the school’s standing as a center for green technology and innova-
ETHANOL PRODUCER MAGAZINE • June 2010