House Agriculture Chair Says Cellulosic Ethanol is 10 Years Away
UK Reuters reports that the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee announced it would be at least ten years before technology is in place to commercially produce ethanol from farm and forest waste (wood chips, corn stalks, switchgrass). One huge thing we need is more pipelines to support fuel transportation for all the new ethanol facilities that are being built. Ethanol can not be transported through the same pipelines that transport petroleum.
Sourse: House Agriculture Chair Says Cellulosic Ethanol is 10 Years Away
Sago Palm Bioethanol Plant Planned
A Japanese company is planning on building a bioethanol making the green fuel from a plant that is said to yield more ethanol per hectare than any other biofuel crop currently being grown.
This story posted on Checkbiotech.org says Necfer Corp. will make ethanol from sago palm trees at a testing refinery in Malaysia:
Necfer has developed its own dedicated fermentation technology to convert the resource into biofuel.The true sago palm (Metroxylon sagu) has been described as mankind’s oldest food plant with the starch contained in the trunk used as a staple food in southeast Asia. Traditionally, hunter-gatherers use a complex and labor-intensive process of felling the tree, splitting it open, removing the starch and cleaning out its poisonous substances, after which it is ready to be consumed. The carbohydrate itself is very nutritious and some of us may have even tasted it because some modern starch products (tapioca flour) are made from it. As these sago-growing hunter-gatherers migrate to the cities, they abandon their healthy starch-rich diet and choose for fat and sugar food habits that don’t differ much from ours.
Sago palm is estimated to yield between about 2,000 and 2,500 gallons of ethanol for each hectare grown… even more than sugarcane.
Sourse: Sago Palm Bioethanol Plant Planned
US$1 PER GALLON ETHANOL?
Coskata employee with one of the company’s proprietary ‘Bioreactors’
WIRED’s Chuck Squatriglia has reported that a start-up, Coskata, a GM-backed company has found a way to convert almost any organic material, including municipal waste into ethanol using bacteria at a cost of US$1 per gallon! This translates into not more than 87 sen per litre in Malaysian currency!
Ethanol is being mixed with gasoline (petrol) to produce E85. E85 is a 85%/25% ethanol/gasoline mix which is said to burn cleaner, which reduces green house gases. In October 2007, an episode of Orange County Choppers aired [LINK] which detailed the construction of an E85 powered motorcycle. American Green Holdings has also released an E85 powered bike, the Victory-based EcoOutlaw.
The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), however, has expressed concern about ethanol-blended fuels, in an article in MotorcycleUSA.com. “The AMA supports the use of cleaner-burning fuels, but we are concerned about premature engine damage or failure while a bike is being ridden on a highway if the allowable level of ethanol is raised to 20 percent,” said Imre Szauter, AMA legislative affairs specialist. “We are also concerned about any degradation in performance, fuel economy and rideability that may result from the long-term use of blended fuels with greater than 10 percent ethanol.”
The AMA concerns stem from the fact that when burnt, ethanol creates more heat than burning conventional gasoline and this may lead to potential damage to motorcycle engines not originally designed to handle the additional heat load, especially air-cooled motorcycle engines. In addition, fuel systems (hoses, etc.) on bikes may be adversely affected by the corrosive effects of the higher concentrations of ethanol in E85 fuel.
If Coskata’s technologies are accepted worldwide, assuming the cost of the technology becomes affordable, will we see E85 powered vehicles, including motorcycles on the road soon? What do you think? Leave your comments below.
For more information on ethanol-blended fuel check out http://www.allsafe-fuel.org/
SOURCE: WIRED, MOTORCYCLEUSA.COM, AMERICANGREENHOLDINGS, COSKATA
Show Me Conflict
Too many political bedfellows are spoiling the chances of a Missouri ethanol plant getting some government financing incentives.
Show Me Ethanol of Richmond, Missouri is scheduled to open this spring, backed by over 700 investors including a congressman’s wife, the governor’s brother and a state legislator. The plant was approved to receive a low-interest loan rate backed by the state, but “no incentives can be given if the company has even a single investor who is a lawmaker, statewide elected official, state department director or a parent, sibling, spouse or child of any of those officials,” according to an AP story.
Among the investors is Andy Blunt, pictured in the AP photo with his brother Gov. Matt Blunt. So far, he is holding on to his shares as plant officials try to negotiate a compromise with State Treasurer Sarah Steelman. State Rep. John Quinn of Chillicothe also owns shares in the plant and he believes the treasurer’s office should relax its policy, perhaps allowing up to 5 percent of investors to have political connections.
Read the Associated Press report here.
An Introduction to Ethanol-Fuelled Cars
There is understandably some confusion amongst the general population regarding alcohol-based fuels. (…)
Sourse: An Introduction to Ethanol-Fuelled Cars
Think Twice Before Pumping Ethanol Into Your Vintage Car
There’s no hard evidence that ethanol will hurt the engines of older vehicles. But there’s plenty of reason to be wary. “AutoWeek’s” Ken Gross (currently print version only) points out that ethanol is a solvent that can loosen sludge, varnish and dirt that accumulate in your gas tank. Ethanol can clog older fuel lines and block carburetor jets. It might be incompatible with aging rubber compounds and some metals.
Hagerty Insurance Agency, which insures a large number of vintage vehicles, has begun a $50,000 study in conjunction with the Kettering University Advanced Engine Research Laboratory to see how much danger ethanol actually poses to older vehicles. This might actually shed some light about the real dangers. The Internet teems with ominous articles, some of which hint at ill effects, but few that present anything more than theoretical problems with ethanol.
Sourse: Think Twice Before Pumping Ethanol Into Your Vintage Car
GM Buys Ethanol Company
Making ethanol from garbage makes much more sense than from food crops. Hopefully, just the very act of GM buying this upstart company, doesn’t condemn it failure. I for one, would love to GM succeed on this front. But that being said, GM needs to start innovating and leading the industry for a change.
General Motors, eager to ensure a supply of fuel for the big fleet of flex-fuel ethanol-capable vehicles it is building, has joined the rush into alternative energy and invested in a company that intends to produce ethanol from crop wastes, wood chips, scrap plastic, rubber and even municipal garbage.
Rick Wagoner, GM’s chairman and chief executive, announced the investment on Sunday in a speech at the opening of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The company purchased an equity stake in Coskata, a start-up company in Warrenville, Illinois, that plans to make ethanol without using corn. GM would not say how much it paid or how big a stake it took in the company.
Coskata plans to build a pilot-scale plant this year in Warrenville, William Roe, the president and chief executive of Coskata, said in a briefing with reporters last week. It has demonstrated all the phases of its technology but has not linked them together in an operating plant, he acknowledged.
Putting money into the fuel business is new for car companies, said Jeffrey Leetsma, the president of the Automotive Hall of Fame, in Dearborn, Michigan, and a car historian. “I think this could be new ground,” he said. Read more….
Technorati Tags: ethanol, General Motors, GM
Sourse: GM Buys Ethanol Company
Auto Show Buzzing About Ethanol
It is easy being green this year at the 2008 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit.
EPIC Marketing Director Reece Nanfito is there and he reports that “the whole place is buzzing about alternative fuels.”
Ferrari is showing a Biofuel Ferrari for North America that is all about being green. The Associated Press picked up on the story that Ferrari is experimenting with ethanol to help its luxury sports cars produce lower emissions and improve fuel economy.
Ferrari said Monday it developed an engine for an F430 Spider to run on E85, an 85% ethanol blend. The automaker said it produces 5 percent less carbon dioxide emissions and boosts horsepower by 10 percent.
Nanfito was especially impressed with the Mazda Furai, which he says is an amazingly futuristic car. “Apparently E98 is the fuel of the future, because that is how they designed the car,” said Nanfito. “Our logo is on it, along with BP, and it is getting a lot of attention.”
CNN Money headlined the “E100 Powered Furai Concept” reporting that “the Furai looks as if it’s straight off the race track and features an “air fin” on top to help keep the engine cool.”
Sourse: Auto Show Buzzing About Ethanol
GM parters with Coskata
Below is a video of GM’s Alternative Fuels strategy including the announcement of a partnership with Coskata (skip to 16 Min for that part).
Sourse: GM parters with Coskata
GM and Coskata Partner In Syngas-to-Ethanol Technology
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| The Coskata process can combine a variety of gasification technologies with Coskata proprietary microorganisms and bioreactors. Click to enlarge. |
Emphasizing on one hand the importance of ethanol as a shorter-term solution to reducing oil dependence and emissions, and on the other to coming up with alternatives to corn-based ethanol, GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner announced a partnership with Coskata Inc., a second-generation ethanol startup, during his opening press conference at the North American International Auto Show.
Coskata uses a proprietary process that leverages patented microorganisms and bioreactor designs to produce ethanol from practically any carbon-based feedstock, including garbage, old tires and plant waste, for less than $1 a gallon—about half of today’s cost of producing gasoline. The partnership includes an undisclosed equity stake for GM, joint research and development into emissions technology and investigation into making ethanol from GM facilities’ waste and non-recyclable vehicle parts.
Coskata uses a three-step syngas-to-ethanol process:
- Gasification. Carbon-based feedstock is converted into syngas using well-established gasification technologies.
- Fermentation. Coskata’s proprietary microorganisms convert the resulting syngas into ethanol by consuming the carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2) in the gas stream.
- Separation. Pervaporation technology separates and recovers the ethanol.
Coskata’s process technology is ethanol-specific and enzyme independent, requiring no additional chemicals or pre-treatments.
Coskata’s process uses less than a gallon of water to make a gallon of ethanol compared to three gallons or more for other processes. According to Argonne National Laboratory, which analyzed Coskata’s process, for every unit of energy used, it generates up to 7.7 times that amount of energy, and it reduces CO2 emissions by up to 84% on a full well-to-wheels basis compared with gasoline.
A pilot plant will be in operation in the fourth quarter of 2008. GM will use the fuel in testing vehicles at GM’s Milford Proving Grounds. Coskata expects to have its first commercial-scale plant with a capacity of 50-100 million gallons of ethanol per year running in 2011.
Coskata was founded in 2006 by leading renewable energy investors and entrepreneurs, including Khosla Ventures, Advanced Technology Ventures, and GreatPoint Ventures. Vinod Khosla appeared at the press conference in Detroit.
Sourse: GM and Coskata Partner In Syngas-to-Ethanol Technology
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