Straight talk on ethanol comes into political fashion

Straight talk on ethanol comes into political fashion

Without getting into the specifics as to which presidential candidate we'd rather answer that red phone, we heard this week possibly one of the least pandering positions on ethanol a non-Michigan office-seeker has ever given.
        Speaking at a campaign stop in Terre Haute, Ind., Sen. Barack Obama, himself from one of the biggest corn states, said ethanol is a "transitional" technology that shouldn't be expected to cure the nation's addiction to oil.
        "Corn-based ethanol is not optimal. I've been a big supporter of corn-based ethanol... It's a good transitional technology, but the truth is, it is not as efficient as what the Brazilians are doing with sugar cane," Obama said.
        No word yet as to whether the Senator would support any change to the $3 billion of ethanol subsidies the U.S. doled out last year, but he's got competition as far back as 2000, when youthful upstart Sen. John McCain called ethanol "not worth it because it does not help the consumer."
        Debating the GOP field in Des Moines, of all places, McCain said "Ethanol subsidies should be phased out, and everybody here on this stage, if it wasn't for the fact that Iowa is the first caucus state, would share my view that we don't need ethanol subsidies. It doesn't help anybody."
        If you're curious, McCain drew 5% of the vote in the 2000 Iowa Caucus, or, behind W., Steve Forbes, Alan Keyes, and this guy.

Posted by :Ali Hashemi Gheinani

It's about time

It's about time...

TIME takes a moment from declining to name a Person of the Year to open up a discussion about ethanol - about four months and one "Energy Independence and Security Act" passage too late.
        The cover article, by Michael Grunwald, brings biofuels back into the spotlight for the time being, but the timing (apologies) is somewhat baffling. The issue, which hit newstands today, is basically a re-hash of the false environmental promise of corn-based ethanol.
        But this argument is already so well-documented that most journalists, at this point, have moved on and are now trying to be cynical about next-generation feedstocks, like biomass. No doubt the presses of the venerable weekly were held up so the author could coalesce a compelling lead ("I watched him grab a small anaconda with his bare hands") and spend a day in the Amazon with the Kamayura tribe.
        The article also falls short in that its foot-wide exploration of the negative consequences of biofuel mandates does not at all consider the harm to consumers who must pay more for food, or even the taxpayers who are essentially subsidizing the rural redevelopment of the interior Midwest. 
        But the worst offense of the article is that it wants to lump all biofuels, existing and future, together. This, in turn, forces Grunwald to make an entirely unsupported jab at technology that is not hurting anybody, let alone the environment, because it is not yet being practiced on any meaningful scale.
        "Even cellulosic ethanol made from switchgrass ... looks less green than oil-derived gasoline," Grunwald writes.
        This is not only a glib statement, it is likely wrong. The USDA's Agricultural Research Service is presently developing switchgrass for use on marginal, highly erodible lands. A recent study, meanwhile, showed that switchgrass yielded 93% more biomass per acre than corn.

Posted by :Ali Hashemi Gheinani

Confiscated Booze Used To Created Bio-Fuel In Sweden

Ever wonder what the cops and customs agents do with all the confiscated drugs and alcohol? I always had a sneaking suspicion that they just using it for their own personal fun, but in Sweden, alcohol that is seized by customs officials are being turned in bio-gas. Customs spokesperson Ingrid Jerlebrink said that ”We used to just pour it down the drain, but because of the increased volumes we had to look around for new solutions.”

The transition process helps to fuel the country’s public transportation system. Last year 184 gallons or 700.000 litres (!) of confiscated booze was transferred into fuel for over 1,000 buses, Lorries and one bio-gas train. The process includes heating the alcohol and turning it into bio-gas. Its good to know the authorities aren’t having crazy booze fests back at the station and they’re using the loot for better causes.

Germany's Biodiesel Blues

Germany's Biodiesel Blues

        For the past several months, German biofuels producers have been complaining that their country's tax on biodiesel has crippled Germany's biodiesel industry. Various news reports have been saying that German biodiesel capacity has been running at 60-70% capacity in 2007.
        "If we will not have any change in our regulation in Germany it is very clear that within the next two years more or less 50 percent of the [biodiesel] capacity in Germany will vanish," Reuters quoted Karl Giersberg, chief financial officer for German producer EOP Biodiesel, as saying.
        This is all due to the biodiesel tax of €0.09 per liter that was implemented in August 2006. The German government had said that the tax, which was to be raised in stages to €0.45 per liter by 2012, was enacted to help offset losses in petroleum tax revenue.   
        The biodiesel companies are hoping that one or more of several actions will take place: that the German government drop a planned tax increase of six cents per liter in 2008, which is an action the conservative Christian Democrats are considering; that tax breaks to farmers are extended, which is what the Social Democratic party is suggesting; that the biodiesel blend in diesel increase from 5% to 7%; and that the biodiesel tax change from a fixed tax to a variable tax based on the price of crude oil.
        The question is, should Germany's government relieve biodiesel producers of the taxes imposed upon them? I may be comparing apples to oranges, but protecting German biodiesel producers from cheap foreign imports reminds me of the attempts by U.S. corn-ethanol producers to protect themselves from cheaper sugar-based ethanol. Of course, ethanol has more controversy surrounding it, from an emissions standpoint. Perhaps the best is from the viewpoint of environmental sustainability: oil from rapeseed, which is used to make biodiesel, doesn't have as much environmental impact as palm oil from Malaysia (which some say causes deforestation).

World's ethanol lobbyists not so much force to be reckoned with

World's ethanol lobbyists not so much a force to be reckoned with

Some $2.3 billion in federal support would flow to biofuels under the Senate farm bill, half of it to develop cellulose as a feedstock for fuel ethanol. Ag Committee chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said the bill "puts us on a path" to produce 60 billion gallons of biofuels by 2030, roughly 10 times current output.
        At this time, the bill is not written to include a biofuels blending mandate (the Senate energy bill wants to up blending to 36 billion gallons by 2022), but that isn't stopping the farm lobby.
    In fact, the world's ethanol lobbyists took some time from squabbling over protectionist regimes and conducting ridiculous polls to issue a a rare joint statement from Amsterdam yesterday.
        "As oil prices soar to $100 per barrel and declining petroleum reserves become ever more costly to extract, it is vital that we move quickly to expand the production and availability of biofuels such as ethanol," goes the statement by the heads of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association; the European Bioethanol Fuel Association; the Renewable Fuels Association; and Brazil's Sugar Cane Industry Association.
        Groups such as these are, as of late, either just making a poor showing, or really do have nothing left except demonstrating how confused everybody is. Meanwhile, environmental, economic and social welfare groups, once supportive of ethanol, are now mobilized against it, and using scientific method, however antiquated, to raise concerns that rainforests will be pushed into crop production, food prices will keep rising, and the world's poor will shoulder the burden.

Time To Ecolabel Biofuels

It wasn't too long ago that biofuels were basking in the glow of nearly everyone's approval - a quick fix for reducing CO2 emissions from transport. The EU aims to fill 10% of its transport needs with biofuels by 2020. But biofuel's easy ride may be over. One of Sweden's leading gas chains, OKQ8, last week canceled its plans to introduce a palmoil-based biodiesel to the market after critics like Greenpeace chided the company, saying that palm oil production can be as destructive to the environment as burning fossil fuels. Ethanol has experienced a 100% increase in demand here in the last year due to all the bio-fuel cars now entering the Swedish market, and ethanol producers are also getting criticized for CO2 emissions from its production.

As governments the world over and in Europe rush to subsidize biofuel production the warning lights are flashing brighter. We've reported on the UN's special rapporteur Jean Zigler recently saying that converting arable land to biofuel production is a "crime against humanity" and calling for a moratorium on biofuels until the next generation of cellulosic biofuels - from wood, straw, non-food fibers and waste - are ready for prime time.

Perhaps to forestall criticism, Sweden's Moderate-led government coalition is proposing a green biofuel identification system be launched within the European Union. A green biofuels identification system would be, the governement implid, a way for consumers at the pump to verify the 'bio' in their biofuel. An EU committee is already working on environmental criteria for biofuels and the green marking or certification system would be part of the EU directive on fuel quality. The idea is to put in place rules to enforce reduced CO2 emissions both from fuel's production and its use

by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden

 

Biofuel plan still alive

ESCANABA — The next step is being taken in a joint biofuel venture between NewPage and a Swedish company.

NewPage’s possible partnership with ChemRec AB, which operates a biofuel plant in Pitea, Sweden, was announced last year. The two are exploring the feasibility of starting a biofuel plant at NewPage’s Wells Township mill.

“A few employees of NewPage traveled to Sweden to view the technology and determined that working with ChemRec would be a good fit for both companies,” said Kel Smyth, government and community affairs manager at NewPage.

The first phase, a pre-feasibility study, of a three-phase plan has been completed.

“An agreement was reached on April 18 to move forward to Phase ll of the plan, with Phase ll being (another) feasibility study. The study, which will take approximately seven months to complete, will cost an estimated $1.4 million. We are currently working out the cost-sharing details for the study, which will also include a primary engineering study,” Smyth said Tuesday.

Byproducts of paper production at NewPage would be used to make biofuel.

“NewPage operates a kraft/pulp mill, where fiber is removed from wood chips, with the fiber being used for the production of paper products,” said Smyth.

Smyth said “black liquor” is produced during the process of extracting fiber from the wood chips. The black liquor byproduct would be the key component of biofuel.

“Currently, NewPage burns this black liquor in a boiler which produces energy used in the production of paper,” said Smyth.

In Sweden, ChemRec AB takes this stream of black liquor and has established a means of converting the stream into gas. A number of different fuels can then be produced, Smyth said.

“Two of the biofuels being produced using this method are methanol and dimethlyether, which can be used as a gasoline additive. The methanol produced could be used in other industrial processes,” said Smyth. Other fuels being produced through this method are biodiesel, hydrogen gas, and synthetic diesel.