The Big Biofuels Blog

People interested in biofuels should try to get get hold of a hard copy of this month's wired magazine, or better still, 'cos its free, should go to Wired's online archive
Vinod Khosla (he co-founded Sun Microsystems and is linked with Bio Willie) explains why he’s betting on biofuels
the article examines

Biofuels such as biodiesel and bioethanol could get a boost later today when the UK Treasury reports the results of a study into global warming by Sir Nick Stern.

Listen to what Sir Nick has to say See what my colleage Nigel Davis has to say in his daily chemicals industry comment: Insight

You may remember about a month ago there was a yelp of pain and annoyance from a group of people on the Biodiesel and SVO forum in the US, about a letter that had gone from The Chemical Company, a large methanol distributor, to a number of people saying, basically that they expected thier sub distributors to make sure that methanol was only being sold to people who knew what to do with it...

Well the wheels grind on... and Methanex, which supplies The Chemical Company, has emailed me with their thinking behind their actions and what they're going to do... here's the meat of the email

I thought I would take this opportunity to bring you up to date on some of our initiatives with regard to the safe handling of methanol. As you are no doubt aware, Methanex is a Responsible Care company and our commitment to health and safety is paramount.

I have attached some information from the National Biodiesel Board (NBB). Methanex and NBB have teamed up to offer web-based teleseminars on methanol handling. The first session focusing on handling and health safety will be Dec. 6, with more following as needed.

Last year, we also produced a Shipboard Methanol Safety Video (now available in 12 languages). In addition to working with our own shipping company (Waterfront Shipping), we have made this video available free of charge to anyone in the industry (through the Methanol Institute). Our Land-based Methanol Safety Video is now available in 10 languages and we are currently in the early planning stages of another safety video that will be targeted at the biodiesel market. This video will also be made available through the National Biodiesel Board.

Technorati Tags: America, biodiesel, biofuel, Companies, Methanex, methanol, safety, handling

Dynamotive and the Argentine province of Corrientes have an agreement in principle to build up to half  a dozen biofuels plants.

According to Dynamotive 

Dynamotive Energy Systems Corporation (OTCBB: DYMTF), a leader in biomass-to-biofuel technology, and its subsidiary Dynamotive Latinoamericana S.A., have signed an agreement with the Provincial Government of Corrientes in Argentina, and the engineering firm TECNA to develop up to six biofuel plants

Autumn the season of mellow fruitfulness is coming, but will there be enough grain to feed the world through the winter, and drive them to the markets?

The numbers for the US have not settled down yet. In March, according to Farmdoc the USDA was estimating that the corn harvest will be there would be around 12.46 billion bushels, 1.93 billion larger than the 2006 crop, based on March planting intentions. Farmdoc said at the time

that is about 170 million bushels above our forecast of most likely production.

The most recent numbers from the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service* shows that on 1 August the projected corn harvest is 13bn bushels.
This compares with 4.8bn bushels in 1967, and an increase in yield/acre of 90.7% from 80.1 to 152 bushel/acre over that time.
So on the face of things we're laughing. But, as Soy Captial Ag Services, which surveyed an acre or so in McLean County and put the yield at 195 bushel/acre, says:

the heat and dry weather experienced since sampling and the weather from now until harvest will impact final yield results

.

It will be interesting to see after this year's harvest in the northern hemisphere is in, just how much or little excess grain there will in fact be to produce biofuels. We've had a very dry summer across much of Europe and that could affect yields.
If we then start trying to convert grain to ethanol, instead of bread, then the price of both will start to rise. If that happens, even oil at $70/bbl won't make ethanol any more profitable. If people start finding food is too expensive then governments will step in to conserve supplies of grain for food use.

I'll be looking at prospective consumption patterns and trying to get some global production figures.

(*The link is a pain you'll have to go here, search for All US, select corn and put in the dates you want -- very poor website, must do better)

Are you swimming in glycerine? There's a potentially useful thread over on the Biofuels and SVO forum outlining a number of uses for glcyerine and the other things that you can use biodesel for.

You'll probably have to register to see it.

Filtertechnic is having a home-brew open day in Nottingham, UK on 7 June 2008. I'll be in London, but if I was in the Midlands I might pop along. 

US this year diverted 24.5% of its corn crop into ethanol production and replaced 2.65% of the total US demand for road transportation fuels -- assuming that the 2007 figures for fuel use will be around the same as 2006, according to figures from the US Department of Energy which has issued preliminary ethanol production figures for 2007.  These show that in 2007 the US produced 6485 m gal ethanol -- 49.6% of the world total --  and imported 361 m gal. Total consumption was 6846m gal. This displaced 4642 m gal of gasoline, based on preliminary data.

The US used 24.5% of the corn crop (3200m bushels) in the process.

According to the US department of Transportation, American road vehicles consumed 174 930m gal gasoline in 2006. Those numbers are likely to be updated in April 2009 for 2007.

All of this helps to put the current US pro-corn lobby lunacy into perspective. It also shows how little difference incremental planting and incremental improvements in crop yeild will make in the short- to medium-term. The last thing the world needs is the demand for grains to be getting close to the production levels of grains.

This also shows just how massive the demand for fuel is and how pathetically small attempts at growing our way out of oil dependency based on one type of technology are. If the entire corn crop were diverted to make ethanol, it would only replace 10% of demand.

 We all need to be a lot smarter about the kinds of things that we use for fuel, things like food waste and municple waste should be examined quickly and thoroughly. We should throw less away without getting the additoinal benefit from it. We should, through taxation if necessary, price gasoline at a level which reflects its true economic value and then we'd have an incentive to make all road vehicles much more efficient. That's easy for me to say, I'm not standing for office. .  

 A number of US restaurant chains look set to rise prices this year as higher corn prices ripple along the supply chain, according to Huffington post.

The key paragraph is buried towards the end of the article....

Part of the problem stems from protein producers' plans to cut back on production in the next year to avoid paying more for animal feed, which has been a huge weight on profits as the cost of corn has skyrocket. Beef producers cut supply by slaughtering more animals, which sends more product to market initially but reduces the size of herds to lower future inventory levels. Chicken producers, meanwhile, set fewer eggs to hatch.

If this is the result of higher corn prices in the US, which eats predominantly processed food,  then what must it be like in economies where  processed food is s luxury and the price of food is more closely tied to the price of the raw material (Mexico)?
How much of these price rises in corn are due to the US' ethanol from corn policy is moot (as is the volume of corn used to make ethanol).
It looks like the US is going to divert between 24% and 34% of its corn crop this year to make ethanol this will replace around 2.6% of US road fuel demand .
Diverting those kinds of volumes of corn into ethanol effectively shrinks the crop by between 16-20%. This year may have been a record crop for corn in the US, but by taking away 20% and using it to make ethanol means the volume of corn is much smaller. So prices will rise. And prices for other grains are likely to rise too. Time to grow your own food and cook it at home, if you can.

The Philippines Sugar Regulatory Authority has decided to set up a new classification for sugar to be used for biofuels. It looks like a way of properly accounting for sugar which would otherwise be counted as exports.
Sugar production in the 2007-2008 crop year hit a 25-year-high of 2.455 million tonnes, which resulted in a surplus of some 611,000  tonnes according to Business World Online. 

ST1 has an animation about its plans for decentralised ethanol production integrated with the existing gasoline distribution network. Looks interesting.

Thanks to Hugh Baker