Wood Bioenergy » ethanol

Auburn Research Boosts Ethanol

Web Editor — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:04:55 +0000

Auburn University researchers have patented a new process for producing ethanol from paper mill waste materials through biological conversion. With research funded by the Masada Resource Group, the new conversion process can produce an estimated 2.5 million gallons of ethanol a year from one paper mill.

The process takes waste sludge and converts it to sugars. “The difficult part is that we have to make sugars out of the sludge,” says waste product was referred to as sludge by Dr. Yoon Y Lee, a researcher on the project.

The sludge is composed of cellulose and hemicellulose. Lee said these polymers needed to be broken down for conversion into ethanol. Using an enzyme as a catalyst, the polymers are converted into simple sugars, Lee said. The simple sugars are then digested by yeast. The byproduct of the microorganism’s digestion is ethanol.

“The point is that we are utilizing the waste material,” Lee said, adding that right now the sludge is being discarded in landfills.

In a press release from Auburn University, Donald Watkins, CEO of Masada Resource Group, said his company was excited about the new technologies. “They fit in perfectly with our goals of converting existing waste streams into renewable energy sources,” Watkins said. Lee added that there are 20 paper mills in Alabama, and all of their waste streams could be utilized in the conversion process that could produce 50 million gallons of ethanol each year.

Ethanol Production Hits Record Pace In January

Web Editor — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 21:02:05 +0000

According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. ethanol production began 2010 on a record pace that’s 23% higher than in 2009. According to information from the EIA, January 2010 ethanol production averaged more than 818,000 barrels per day (b/d). That’s an increase of 188,000 b/d over January 2009.

Ethanol demand, as calculated by the Renewable Fuels Assn., also reached an all time high at 784,000 b/d in January, up 22% (644,000 b/d ) from a year ago. The EIA also reported fuel ethanol imports of 1.4 million gallons in January.

EPA Releasing E15 Decision Late Summer

Web Editor — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:58:43 +0000

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will decide by late summer whether to allow higher levels of ethanol to be blended into standard transportation gasoline, the head of the agency recently reported. The EPA is considering an industry request for a waiver from federal rules to allow gasoline to contain up to 15% ethanol. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson said the agency is on track to receive final Energy Department testing results by May. “We expect that once we get that additional data…then EPA will be in a position to move toward the final decision on waiver, late summer is the time period,” Jackson told lawmakers at a recent Senate budget hearing. In December, EPA officials said initial tests showed vehicles made after 2001 probably will be able to use gasoline blended with as much as 15% ethanol.

BlueFire to Build Plant in Mississippi

Web Editor — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:14:41 +0000

BlueFire Ethanol Fuel, Inc. (Irvine, Calif.) has received permission from the U.S. Department of Energy to use a $40 million grant to build a plant in Fulton, Miss. The new plant will be on the Tennessee-Tombigbe Waterway and make ethanol from wood chips.

The plant might break ground as early as June or July, and will employ up to 1,300 during construction; permanent employment once the plant is up and running will be around 60.

BlueFire plants to churn out around 18 million gallons each year at the plant.

Ag. Sec. Vilsack Supports 15% Ethanol

Web Editor — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:46:16 +0000

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said he is pushing the Environmental Protection Agency to raise the amount of ethanol allowed in gasoline as the deadline for a decision nears.

Science indicates that a higher “blend wall” is safe for automobile engines, Vilsack said recently in an interview at a conference on global hunger in Des Moines, Iowa. Increasing production of ethanol, made from corn in the U.S., would also meet national goals of energy independence and aid the industry as it attempts to expand. “We will continue to publicly advocate an increase, and privately advocate,” Vilsack said. “Our hope is they understand the significance of this decision as it relates to the future of the industry.”

The U.S. biofuels industry is challenged by infrastructure limitations and a government-imposed limit, called a blend wall, that restricts to 10.2 percent the amount of ethanol that can be mixed with gasoline, the Government Accountability Office said in a recent report. This past spring, a group representing ethanol producers filed an emergency request asking EPA to waive its standard data-gathering process for transportation fuel changes and make E15—a 50% increase from E10 blends—a standard transportation fuel. The emergency waiver request requires EPA to deliver a decision by December 1. The request has encountered resistance from a growing number of interests, including small engine and marine manufacturers and more recently major auto manufacturers that claim greater biofuels content may hurt engine performance and increase corrosion and that more research is needed.