The Big Biofuels Blog

The British press (of which I am a fully paid up member) is not right about everything all of the time, but its not usually completely off the beam either.

So when they report that drivers in the South East of England are having problems with fuel they bought from Tesco and Morrisons because of ethanol contamination I take an interest.

What the National Press hasn't quite grasped is that some petrol from sold as 99 Octane gas on these supermarkets' forecourts, contains  up to 5% ethanol anyway, and may contain a whole raft of other oxygenates. This is pretty typical of people who work in highly pressured environments to tight deadlines... try it yourself.

What the biofuel industry needs to be doing in the coming weeks and months is devising and implementing a public relations strategy to reassure consumers and sell them the benefits of using biofuels over conventional  gasoline.

This is supplied to Tesco and Morrisons by Greenergy which said in a statement yesterday:

Greenergy is aware of the reports from drivers who are experiencing problems after filling up with fuel in the South East of England. We take quality very seriously and we are doing everything we possibly can to find out what the issue is and whether it is related to us. Over the last 3 years we have sold more than 8 billion liters of fuel into the UK market and have not had any problems. So far we have conducted extensive tests on the fuel supplied to Tesco and Morrisons. We have found it is fully compliant with BSEN 228 - the independent standard everyone works to. We are continuing our investigation and will update you as soon as we
have more information.

Obvious questions to ask are: was the gas contaminated with something else, where did this contamination happen and ultimately who's liable for the engine damage.

I'll be watching for developments

Two interesting and contrasting views on how biofuels could affect the Brazilian ecosystem are outlined in Ethablog and biopact.

Ethablog looks at the common interests between Archer Daniels Midland and the governor of Matto Grosso state. Biopact wonders whether Brazil could produce enough bioethanol to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and slow global warming

Over on Trollhattan Saab, there's a beginners guide to biofuels. It seems the carmaker is making all the new cars in its range capable of using biofuels in the UK. 

Heartland, grassroots ethanol has its home, I suspect, at the American Coalition for Ethanol.

The US Department of Energy is putting $385m into cellulosic ethanol and will fund six cellulosic ethanol plants across the US in an bid to drive the technology forward. The goal is to fund plants and technology to produce around 130m gallons (522m litres) of ethanol/year. The story was reported on ICIS news by my good friend Joe Kamalick.

(Disclosure: I work for ICIS: About ICIS)

U.S. Department of Energy  Secretary Samuel Bodman said

"These biorefineries will play a critical role in helping to bring cellulosic ethanol to market, and teaching us how we can produce it in a more cost effective manner"

The lucky companies are

Abengoa

Alico

Blue Fire

Broin

Iogen

Range

The DOE is to be commended for spreading its technology bets widely with technologies ranging from wood or citrus peel gasification to more currently talked about corn stover getting backing. Big chemicals/biotech hittersDuPontt and Novozymes have are partners in theBroin project and Shell is tied up with Iogen. It will be fascinating to see which technology route works best. Which do you think is the most likely to succeed?

In any case, it Looks like I'll have to bring my mental start date for cellulosic ethanol forward by a couple of years.

Australian supertruck racing teams will race on biodiesel, according to Yahoo News. So that makes them more environmentally friendly, I guess

Interesting thoughts and information about the UK green petrol problems in the comments on that story further down.

The contaimination is silicone oil, reported on ICIS News (and elsewhere). (I work for ICIS: About ICIS). What interests me, and I'm sure that Tesco, Morrisons, Greenergy, Vopak, who ever shipped the ethanol (and anyone else up the supply chain that I've forgotten) will want to know is: how the silicone oil got into the ethanol.

About the only thing that can be said about silicone oil in this context is that it is oily. It is not remotely similar to ethanol. It is also very much more expensive than either ethanol or the other components of gasoline.

My guess, and it is pure speculation, is that there has been some at some part of the supply chain, and maybe a low viscosity silicone oil was used by the maintainance person to lubricate the seal and to position it. It's siliconE not silicon. (I remember because one is oilE the other makes computer chips). Just to confuse mateters there is silicon in silicone and they'll be testing for the element silicon. .

I particularly like Mark C's plan of getting two independent people to examine the problem and report back, which would be partly funded by the two Supermarket companies. But this may not be necessary if the paperwork is in place and hasn't been tampered with...

Postman Patel gives a roundup of fuel ethanol issues...

There's big news over on Planet ark about a global initiative to increase the use of biofuels, reported by Reuters.

The US, China and India are part of the International Biofuels Forum along with the European Commision, Brazil and South Africa. The forum won't talk about trade issues (which is a pity because trade in biofuels needs to be fair unless the North want's to prevent farmers in the South from benefiting from biofuels) but it will try to setup a world market.

I'm not sure how that would work without a unified tariff regime...

European Union countries do not want to have enforceable targets for renewables, including biofuels, according to a report on Planet Ark about a meeting between European Union Ministers yesterday.

The report by Reuters says:

Only Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Britain, Spain and Italy voiced strong support for a binding target of 20 percent of energy consumption from renewables by 2020, diplomats said.

It adds

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said the EU should aim for something stronger than vague guidelines and Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik said binding targets would be a sign that the bloc was serious.

More power to the Austrians and the Mighty Luxemborgoise!

Quoting from a report by Huey Freeman in the Decatur Herald&Review

David Wetzel, 79, was surprised to hear a knock on the door at their eastside home while he was still getting dressed.

Two men in suits were standing on his porch.

"They showed me their badges and said they were from the Illinois Department of Revenue," Wetzel said. "I said, 'Come in.' Maybe I shouldn't have."

I am slightly surprised the Wetzels weren't cuffed

The agents informed the Wetzels that they were interested in their car, a 1986 Volkswagen Golf, that David Wetzel converted to run primarily from vegetable oil but also partly on diesel.

Aha! got em!

Since the initial visit by the agents on Jan. 4, the Wetzels have been involved in a struggle with the Illinois Department of Revenue. The couple, who live on a fixed budget, have been asked to post a $2,500 bond and threatened with felony charges.

The Wetzels and two others got their day in the sun on 1 March when they testified before an Illinois senate committee on biofuels taxation.

The committee liked what it heard from them and unanimously approved  a Senate bill that would remove the bond requirement for those who use cooking oil in their private vehicles in Illinois. It just needs to be passed the Illinois Senate, Illinois House and be signed into law by the Governor.  Thanks for the coverage Huey.

It looks to me like the State of Illinois needs to get it self sorted out in terms of a biofuels taxation policy, that will actively encourage the use of small scale biofuels and not have its lawmen blundering around at the request of confused taxmen.

It is not a question of joined-up-thinking. No its more fundamental than that: Its about thinking in the first place and making the response fit the situation.

Hat tip to Mr Graydon Blair in the biodiesel & SVO Discussion forums.

Tesco is to pay for UK petrol damage, according to a report on Reuters. The news follows problems with gasoline that contained ethanol on, but which was contaminated by silicone oil the The news agency quotes the supermarket as saying

"We'd like to say how sorry we are," Tesco said. "More to the point, we'd like to promise to pay for the repairs.

"We have traced the problem to a batch of unleaded fuel from a storage facility used by one of our suppliers in Essex.

"All the affected stores in the southeast of England have been refueled with a fresh, clean supply."

Tesco is pretty well placed to do so, in 2006 30% of the UK supermarket sales went through Tesco's tills.

Dynamotive Energy systems says it has started commissioning it plant at Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

Dynamotive says

The joint ventured Guelph plant, is designed to process 200 tonnes/day of cellulosic biomass (recycled wood) and produce 175 tonnes (37,000 gallons) of biofuel/ day (12.2 million gallons a year) with the equivalent energy content of 550 barrels of conventional oil. Total development costs for the plant are currently estimated at US$ 16.5 million. Full operations are scheduled for the second quarter.

There's a useful piece by my friend, Clay Boswell, in this week's issue of ICIS Chemical Business about the way that paper mills could be chipping into success by becoming, in essence, biorefineries in the future with only modest modifications.

(Disclosure: I work for ICIS: About ICIS.)

The Institute of Science in Society has a pretty long article on why biofuels may be a worse cure than the addiction our society has to oil.

Food or fuel, or food and fuel, the debate continues with a story by Reuters on Planet ark today which asks: As biofuels boom will more go hungry?

Two world leaders talked biofuels in unusual circumstances recently... Remember when Fidel Castro phoned in to the Hugo Chavez Radio show?

"Hello presidente? This is presidente"

 That was surprising enough, to add to the excitement, they spent a chunk of time talking about biofuel. I've come across a transcript (my Spanish extends to Hello and two beers please).

Maybe Hugo and Fidel listen to The Big Biofuels Podcast. If either of you el Presidentes do please drop me a line. What would you like to hear more of...

Viva revolutionary media!

Biofuels will play a role in reducing green house gases, European Union leaders are expected to agree to day in a meeting in Brussels, according to ICIS news.

(Disclosure: I work for ICIS: About ICIS)

The ministers are likely to conclude that member states should ensure that at least 10% of their transport fuel is provided by biofuels in 2010.

US meat processor, Tyson Foods, which generates around 2.3bn lbs (about 1000 tonnes) of animal fat/year as part of its food processing operations hopes to be able to turn most of it into biofuel by the end of the year, according to a report by Reuters on Planet Ark.

This is not the first time that Tyson has looked at using the waste products associated with food production. In 2001 it looked at chicken litter as a potential fuel. In January this year it formed Tyson Renewable Energy as a division to look at the possibly of using its waste materials as biofuel feedstocks.

The volumes are likely to be high, and I guess mostly biodiesel of some sort.The question though will be whether it will be competitive with other biofuels if the price of grain starts to rise...but then there's the possibility of cross-subsidising from processed food.

In the light of Tyson's proposed entry into biofuels, and Tyson's interest in Chicken, Pork and Beef which 'flavour' of exhaust gas would you prefer from your Tyson-Brand biofuel?

a) Southern fried Chicken

b) BBQ Beef

c) Roast Pork

and as a vegetarian option

d) Juicy Jatropha

e) Silky Soy

f) Creamy Canola

please vote by leaving a comment. Poll closes on 31 March 2007

BioAmber has a process that may may help make ethanol production greener at a new plant that will take carbon dioxide from ethanol production and make a bio substitute for oil in petrochemicals.

BioAmber, is  a joint venture between Diversified Natural Products (DNP), a U.S. based biotechnology company, and French based Agro Industries Recherche et Development (ARD)) announced plans Thursday for a new facility to produce a green, bio-based replacement for oil in the chemical market.

BioAmber says it

will make succinic acid which can be used to make biodegradable chemicals using the CO2 from a newly constructed ethanol facility located on the same premises. The plant will be able to generate green chemicals, ethanol, bio-diesel, and combination products of succinic acid and ethanol, all in one location.

Now that looks, to me, like a good way of reducing the carbon footprint of ethanol production further... I wonder if they're going to be using crops to make the ethanol...

The press release follows

Civil disturbances fueled by worries over ethanol have greeted President Bush, on his visit to Brazil. Bush is expected to sign an ethanol deal with President Luis Da Silva. The visit has thrown the US tariff position on biofuels and the pressure on the administration over the issue into sharp relief

The BBC has pretty good coverage of the clashes which greeted Bush and some of the background to them. Tim Hersch's piece examining the background to brazil's pulling power looks to be solid.

Hersch quotes the Brazilian Ex-Ambassador to the US, Rubens Barbosa as saying

US Pig farmers are sick with worry about corn-based ethanol will do to the price of corn used to raise hogs in the United States, according to the Wisconsin Ag Connection.

This is an analysis, of how traditional fermentation processes are not really going to be the best long-term solution to energy needs in the US and some of the unintended consequences of switching to green energy sources.

There's an explanation of why reducing the tariff on bioethanol from Brazil would make a little real difference to the US gasoline pool and hurt US farmers.

Perhaps they could grow something that there's a real market for instead?

A new Asia Biodiesel report from ICIS is due on  21^st March. The report will feature an FOB SE Asia assessment for Palm-based biodiesel (PME), much of which is being exported to Europe.

(Disclosure: I work for ICIS: About ICIS)

ICIS pricing has developed a global portfolio of biofuels reports in the last 12 months, with Fuel Ethanol coverage in Europe, Asia and Latin America, Biodiesel reports in Europe, the USA and Asia and an ETBE (Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether) report in Europe.

If you're interested in more details about these reports, then please contact me at simon.robinson@icis.com

The US EPA has awarded $200 000 to the San Francisco City College to promote biodiesel in the city and the state.

The grant will be used to bring together a consortium of bio-diesel advocates to help develop distribution and fueling infrastructure and provide classroom training to fuel distributors, mechanics and users.

Wayne Nastri the EPA's Administrator for the Pacific Southwest region said:

"This grant gives City College of San Francisco a unique opportunity to help jump start the use of biodiesel in the Bay Area. Bringing biodiesel into mainstream use provides a homegrown fuel source that improves air quality and reduces the impact of waste oil to our waterways."

There are plenty of people in and around San Francisco Biofuels scene  who I'm pretty sure would be happy to help.

Here's a map of suppliers of 100% biodiesel in the UK from the biodiesel cook.

The Jakarta News blog says that PT Medco is to build three ethanol factories in South Sumatra mainly for domestic fuel demand, but there could be ethanol export capacity...

It's worth digging out the US Department of Energy's view on ethanol and other alernative fuels. Plenty of links to other useful information.

Hugo Chavez says he's going to try to talk to Brazil's President Lula to persuade him not to promote ethanol in Latin America (so Mr Bush has had some effect South of the Border), according to The Devils Excrement blog.

Over on GoG2G; Converting Green to Green, Konrad Imielinski is saying the US Brazil ethanol pact was a win win

I'm not sure about that, at least in the short term: Its only a win win in the sense that the US gave very little of any value to the Brazilians.

Market access is what they want and what US farmers need if American consumers are going to benefit from world priced ethanol rather than High Priced US ethanol.

Consider the subsidies, tax breaks that go into each gallon of ethanol produced in the US from grain... Are US farmers really more important than US drivers?

Hattip to Seekingalpha.

Joining those who call for a removal of the US ethanol tariff is, Paul Wolfowitz, the president of the World Bank, according to Ethanol Brasil.

Ethanol Brasil continues:

Wolfowitz called for the US to remove the ethanol tariff in a statement came at a conference in London on financing low-carbon energy, and it will increase the pressure on President George W. Bush to take action.
Wolfowitz, a former influential member of the Bush administration, also called for "a global framework" on cutting greenhouse gas emissions and for more aid to the poor for adapting to climate change.

This isn't whine whine, any more than the US Brazil agreement was a win:win. This is a serious call from a serious former aide to Bush  for the Americans to get its trade position realigned.

Helping the poor help the rich (and themselves) has got to be one of the better things to be doing in life. Now this rugged philanthropy has entered the world of biofuels.

Over On Biopact, they're writing about the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics' plan to help farmers in those regions, mostly in Africa and Asia to produce biofuels, which could be used locally or exported. (Tariff walls permitting)

ICRISAT's research on ethanol for biofuel from sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench)  and biodiesel from pongamia and jatropha crops, is not only ensuring energy, livelihood and food security to the dryland farmers, but also reducing the use of fossil fuel, which in turn can help in mitigating climate change. These crops meet the main needs of the dryland farmers - they do not require much water, can withstand environmental stress and are not that expensive to cultivate.

Hydrogenating biomass could viably produce biofuel researchers at Purdue University say, according to Science Daily. The researchers say that adding hydrogen during the gasification phase (sounds to me like they're heating biomass up in air and seeing what comes off) changes the composition of the the gasses produced making them more interesting for fuel. Possibly through a Fischer Tropsh reaction.

My only environmental concern about the process is that Hydrogen doesn't grow on trees and a fairly large amount of energy is needed to generate it, even if that energy comes from

a "carbon-free" energy source, such as solar or nuclear power.

It would be interesting to see if the researchers Chemical engineering Professor Rakesh Agrawal, doctoral student Navneet Singh and Professors Fabio Ribeiro and W. Nicholas Delgass have carried out any energy balance studies for the process.

One the other hand biomass does grow on trees...

Sorry about this, I promised myself today that I wasn't going to write anything about Brazil, the US and Ethanol, but I see the Huffinigton Post has a long opinion piece on it...

South Korea may subsidise biofuels, according to Planet Ark, which tells us that the country is considering cheap loans for firms building facilities which cut greenhouse gases.

There are details of the Petrobras Mitsui ethanol pipeline available on the EnergyGrind.

US ethanol enthusiasts including Vinod Khosla, American supermarket magnate Ron Burkle, America Online founder Steve Case, former World Bank President James Wolfensohn and film producer Steven Bing, have all become founding shareholders in the Brazilian Renewable Energy Company, according to AP.

The firm raised $200m in a private placement of shares and will be run by Philippe Reichstul, a former chief executive of Petroleos Brasileiro SA, Brazil's government-run oil company. Brazilian investors include Tarpon All Equities LLC and Grupo Semco. The firm will sell initially to the Brazilian market.

But this kind of investment by these people could mean they think that the US tariff is going to be reduced when the current tariff expires.

Hattip to David Adams at the fueling station.

Neste Oil and Stora Enso agreed on 16 March to develop a technology producing biofuels from wood residues and invest €14m ($18.4m) in a pilot plant, according to ICIS news.

(Disclosure: I work for ICIS: About ICIS)

Stora Enso, an integrated paper, packaging, and forest products company, will supply wood biomass while Neste Oil will market the biofuels. The process will involve using the Fischer-Tropsch process to convert syngas to fuel.

I wonder if they're talking to the chaps at Purdue University who are into hydrogenating biomass to fuel about optimising the process...

The European Biodiesel Board says the US is fixing prices and dumping cheap biodiesel in Europe, according to ICIS news.

(Disclosure: I work for ICIS: About ICIS)

My friend Mark Watts, quotes the EBB as saying

"In most EU countries EEB member companies are experiencing dumping competition from B99 blends which are offered in the market as pure biodiesel with a substantial discount".

These subsidies were in some cases thought to be above €150/tonne ($200/tonne).

The EBB continues in a letter to EU trade commissioner, Peter Mandleson

EU producers were being pushed out of business by price-setting, which has allowed large discounts on imports from the US

If this is true then European Biofuel producers face two difficulties. Firstly, the US Biodiesel industry is heavily subsidised in he US because of tax breaks, and it would be politically difficult to remove these.

Secondly, it is not illegal in the US for American firms to operate as cartels outside the US, if that's what they're doing. An amendment to the Sherman Act, called the Web-Pomerene act, makes it legal.

So, the European biodiesel industry will have to rely on political pressure from the European Union to sort the problem out.

Don Sturber has seen a report on AP that the rising price of corn in the US is fueling inflation there.

We agree that a better way to cut the dependence on overseas oil and reduce inflationary pressures

would be to import sugar ethanol from Brazil. But that would require dropping the 50-cents-a-gallon tariff on imported ethanol. Instead, taxpayers will subsidize corn ethanol -- a move that jacks up food prices.

It's like drilling a hole in the bottom of a boat to let the water out.

That's a nice image Don (remember the poem about the three wise men of Gotham?).

Its not the ethanol that's the problem here, its the inefficient way its being made, compounded by grossly inefficient motor vehicles. There is the possibility that ethanol made from cellulose (waste from paper production, the parts of the corn that are thrown away and so on) that could make some difference, but unless the US stops using so much gasoline we're going to be spitting into the ocean for a long time.

Over on Stolen Moments: A Green Digest I saw this about Bush Ethanol and the US (what else)

An agreement with a foreign country to produce ethanol jointly, or even an agreement to import foreign ethanol, would ease the demand for corn and thus lower prices. This might not benefit corn farmers, but it would lower prices in other sectors of the economy, easing the burden on consumers.

Given my earlier post today that looks like a sensible move.

Bush also has another strong reason for a deal with Brazil... energy independence, not energy autonomy. Importing ethanol would not necessarily mark a shift from dependence on foreign oil to dependence on foreign ethanol. It  would simply be a further diversification of fuel sources and expansion of trade with a country that produces an alternative fuel substantially more cost-effectively than the U.S.

Again this would reduce inflationary pressure in the US and could help spread wealth, not only to Brazil but also to farmers in other parts of the world.

Argentina is to make biofuels with Algae, according to SciDevNet in a post almost as short as this...

There's an interesting round up of much Indian biodiesel activity over on a blog called Renewable Energy by Ajith Gopi

It is Good to see India doing so much in this area. I wonder how the equilibrium between using crops for food or fuel is balancing out and how much could be available for export.

China Confidential tells us that Japan's investors in the US biofuels market are taking a low-key approach, but are interested in what they see as a historic shift in US energy use, environmental awareness, and agricultural resource deployment.

The information is in a post dated 18 March.

Over on Climate Policy you can find Daniel Kammen, a professor at Berkeley -- which recently won a $500m donation from BP to look at alternatives to traditional gasoline --  make a number of very sensible biofuel points...

He outlines exactly the kind of green fuel we don't want...

Ethanol, made from corn and refined to ethanol in a plant run on coal can be worse for the environment than using regular gasoline,

the kind of green fuel we do want...

Cellulosic materials turned into ethanol in a plant run by natural gas, or far better wind power or the plant's own waste energy and heat, is far, far better than gasoline.

How we could get there

What is needed next are a series of regional or national efforts to examine what the lowest carbon fuels are for different regions: plug in hybrid vehicles running off a clean grid; clean biofuels; high efficiency vehicle standards, and so forth.

It will be interesting to see how BP manages to take the last point on board in the future, given that the business of gasoline is to ship as much of a commodity, undifferentiated product as cheaply as possible around the globe. We'd have to see a significant change to the firm's business model. What do you think Lord Brown?

I'm off to Houston and then San Antonio and I'll be out of the office producing content for ICIS web TV and podcasts around the NPRA meeting in San Antonio this coming week end.

I've got a hire car (not biofuel). I've hired a cameraman. I've got an engagement diary and I see that I've got a free evening on Friday (23 March). I'd like to spend a couple of hours in the company of biofuelers in the Downtown Houston area, shooting the breeze, chewing the fat and setting the world to rights etc. Drop me a line at simon.robinson@icis.com if you're interested.

If you've ever wondered how cellulosic ethanol might be made check out the page on wikipedia about cellulase, which is an enzyme...

I had great fun today. After we landed in Houston we hired a car. I've not driven in the states for about six years and the free way was nice easy, wide and with a speed limit of 50mph (about 80km/h) just about manageable.

(But why have multiple highway designations, why name exits on the distance from the start of the road and why only sign the exit at the exit).

The trip into town was made more exciting by the opportunity to try a couple of pieces to camera as we drove in. We'll try to put together a short video about biofuels and traveling while we're here. We'll fit it in with the others we'll be making about the NPRA meeting in San Antonio over the week end.  Thinking about the road took my mind off the camera... still it is interesting to see the size of vehicles here and the lack of vehicular occupancy. Three of us and our baggage wedged into our Pontiac seemed quite cramped in comparison.

Tomorrow we start our NPRA filming with a visit to FuelQuest a firm that makes software designed to help ethanol producers integrate their logistics with mainstream fuel suppliers amongst other things.

While I was at the NPRA convention in San Antonio, Texas over the past couple of days, I interviewed Jose Carlos Grubisich president, Braskem, he's examining a technology that will convert ethanol into polyethylene, which is used in a range of things from shopping bags to cable ties.

Its likely to be a niche technology though, and will probably depend on the cost of ethanol remaining pretty low compared with other alternatives like refinery derived feedstocks. I'm aiming to post a short podcast of the interview with him before the end of the week. I'll let you know when.

Sorry I've been so remiss about posting to the blog recently, I found concentrating on another part of my job, which has been sadly neglected: Web TV. It is surprising how long it takes to produce a couple of minutes of viewable TV... so that's why there's not been much posting. You can check out what I've been up to at http://www.icis.com/tv/tv. It'll give you the opportunity to see what our cartoonist had to work on. I think he did a good job.

Investors from Japan and China have made big commitments to the Brazilian Biofuels market in the last couple of days... according to Ethanol Brasil.

Have a look at the BBC's biofuel resources for reporting that is likely to be unbiased and pretty good quality.