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Ethanol Extends Weekly Decline to 11% on Senate Bill

Ethanol futures fell in Chicago, capping a second straight weekly drop, on concern a requirement to blend corn-based ethanol with gasoline will be eliminated, while U.S. production climbed to a 23-month high. The biofuel slipped 11 percent this week. U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein from California and Tom Coburn from Oklahoma introduced a bill yesterday to remove the requirement from the federal Renewable Fuel Standard, Bloomberg BNA reported. Ethanol output in the U.S. rose to 944,000 barrels a day in the week ended Dec. 6, according to a Dec. 11 Energy Information Administration report. “You have a bipartisan legislation introduced to the Senate which would eliminate corn ethanol from the RFS mandate completely, and carryover from the bearish EIA report,” said Sean Wever, a biofuels broker at Green Key Markets LLC. “The bear has a lot of talking points right now.” Denatured ethanol for January delivery dropped 6.5 cents, or […]

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US military to seek bulk purchases of advanced drop-in biofuels

se more alternative fuels. Under USDA’s and Navy’s “Farm-to-Fleet” venture, biofuel blends for the first time will now be part of the Department of Defense’s domestic solicitations for jet engine and marine diesel fuels. The Navy said it would seek to purchase JP-5 and F-76 advanced drop-in biofuels blended from 10-50% with conventional fuels. “A secure, domestically produced energy source is very important to our national security,” Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in a statement. “The Farm-to-Fleet initiative we are announcing today is important to advancing a commercial market for advanced biofuel, which will give us an alternative fuel source and help lessen our dependence on foreign oil.” […]

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Study shows bamboo ethanol in China technically and economically feasible, cost-competitive with gasoline

Study shows bamboo ethanol in China technically and economically feasible, cost-competitive with gasoline Bamboo, the composition of which is highly similar to energy grasses used for biofuel production such as switchgrass, is an interesting potential feedstock for advanced bioethanol production in China due to its natural abundance, rapid growth, perennial nature and low management requirements. Now, researchers at Imperial College London have shown that bioethanol production from bamboo in China is both technically and economically feasible, as well as cost-competitive with gasoline. An open access paper on their study is published in Biotechnology for Biofuels . Bamboo2 Bamboo3 China bioethanol pump price for five enzyme loading scenarios in ( a ) 2011 with a 16¢ per liter […]

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US ethanol production at 2013 high as crush spread widens

US ethanol production climbed 2.5% in the week ending November 22 to 927,000 b/d, matching the highest level so far this year, as makers of the biofuel boost output on cheaper corn costs, data from the Energy Information Administration show. Production was lifted by a widening spread between the cost of corn, the chief feedstock in the manufacturing of ethanol in the US, and the final selling price of the biofuel in Chicago, home to the country’s most active spot market for the gasoline oxygenate. The so-called crush spread, an indication of how profitable it is to turn a bushel of corn into ethanol, rose to $1.4/gal on November 22 from $0.63/gal on the previous week, according to Platts data. The crush spread fell to $0.91/gal on November 27, but remained above the average recorded so far in November of $0.62/gal. The crush […]

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Raízen breaks ground on Iogen cellulosic ethanol facility in Brazil

Raízen breaks ground on Iogen cellulosic ethanol facility in Brazil Iogen Corporation announced that Brazilian ethanol giant Raízen Energia Participações S/A has started construction of a commercial biomass-to-ethanol facility using Iogen Energy’s advanced cellulosic biofuel technology. (Iogen Energy is a joint venture between Raízen and Iogen Corporation. Earlier post .) The $100-million plant, to be located adjacent to Raízen’s Costa Pinto sugar cane mill in Piracicaba, São Paulo, will produce 40 million liters (10.6 million gallons US) of cellulosic ethanol a year from sugarcane bagasse and straw. Plant start-up is anticipated in the fourth quarter of 2014. Iogen will provide cellulosic ethanol related process technology, process designs and start-up and operational […]

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Analysis: High-ethanol gas – Not coming to a pump near you

A month ago, Steve Walk was on the brink of deals to sell two big oil refiners some of his company’s specialized oil pumps, which serve up fuel that is 85 percent ethanol, a biofuel made mostly from corn. Walk’s company, Protec Fuel, sells and installs the equipment needed to dispense so-called E85. The deals would have nearly doubled Protec’s business, he said. The number of stations across the United States dispensing E85, which is a rarity despite the growing use of biofuels, would have jumped by 10 percent. But those deals are on hold after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal earlier this month to slash the minimum volume of ethanol to be used in the country’s gasoline supply next year. The surprise move by the Obama administration marks a retreat from the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act meant to push increased sales of […]

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Wind Farms Are Expensive, Subsidies Are Uncertain, Plans Are Being Curtailed

LONDON—A major European utility said Tuesday it would scrap a wind farm that was due to become the largest offshore wind project ever built, a sign of the struggles of the industry to attract investment needed to overcome huge costs and technical challenges. The Atlantic Array, in the Bristol Channel off the west coast of England, could have generated up to 1,200 megawatts of electricity, almost twice as much as the largest farm already operating in U.K. waters. But RWE said on Tuesday that continuing with the project faced problems that were “prohibitive in current market conditions.” RWE’s decision highlights the central difficulty in achieving Europe’s ambitious wind targets. Huge plans are in place, but few investors are willing to stake the billions needed to build them, in an environment where government subsidy is essential but uncertain and costs can skyrocket. The U.K. has pioneered offshore wind power, maximizing […]

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Costa Rica to build 3 geothermal electricity plants with Japanese funding

The Tico Times has a report on plans to expand geothermal power in Costa Rica – Costa Rica to build 3 geothermal electricity plants with Japanese funding . Costa Rica hopes that the additional electricity generated by steam from the volcanic area will help the country reach its goal of generating 95 percent of its electricity with renewable resources by 2014. … The first of the proposed plants, Pailas II, will have an electrical generation capacity of 55 megawatts and will cost more than $333 million to build, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial. The costa Rican Electricity Institute, or ICE, will construct two other 50-MW power plants, Borinquen I and II, 40 kilometers away from the Pailas geothermal plants. “This is 165 MW of reliable [electricity generation]; that is to say, they will operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This is clean, renewable and […]

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Biomass-based diesel production passes 2013 mandate in October: EPA

Houston (Platts)–18Nov2013/532 pm EST/2232 GMT US biomass-based diesel production production in October passed the federal mandate for full-year 2013, Environmental Protection Agency data showed Monday. Production through October was at 1.39 billion gallons, besting the Renewable Fuels Standard’s 1.28 billion-gallon target for the year. The remaining production throughout 2013 can be partially applied to this year’s ethanol mandate or advanced biofuel mandate, and to 2014’s mandates. Monthly biodiesel production was lower in October for just the third time in a record-breaking 2013, down 3.34 million gallons to 163.78 million gallons. US biomass-based diesel production has been spurred through the year by the return of the $1/gal biodiesel blending tax credit and a 10 cents/gal credit for agricultural biodiesel producers. –Jordan Godwin, [email protected] –Edited by Richard Rubin, [email protected]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple