Interesting article from the The Economist about the recent cut in ethanol subsidies. What do you think about ending these subsidies. Comment below to voice your opinion.

TWO of the iron rules of American politics are that Republicans don’t vote for higher taxes and only the foolhardy vote against Iowa. Both were broken on June 16th when senators from both parties voted by sizable margins to repeal a tax credit and tariff on ethanol.

Since 2004 blenders have received a credit, now worth 45 cents, for each gallon of ethanol they mix with regular gasoline (petrol). Most of the benefit flows down to farmers. And since 1980 domestic producers have also been protected by a 54 cent tariff on imports, which serves to keep out ethanol made more cheaply from Brazilian sugar cane.

Defenders say the credit and tariff reduce American dependence on imported fossil fuels and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. But it is an inefficient way to do both. Because ethanol produces less energy than petrol and requires the burning of fossil fuels in its production, and because ethanol would still be used without a credit, the taxpayer pays about $1.78 to reduce petrol consumption by one gallon via corn-based ethanol. Taking everything into account, ethanol releases almost as much carbon dioxide as petrol does. As Michael Greenstone, the director of the Hamilton Project, a liberal research group, puts it, “Ethanol is largely farm support policy, not environmental policy.”

Read more here

It would appear that the farm belt lobby has lost some weight in Congress. But maybe the reality of the situation has finally set in and fiscal and environmental sense has come back.

Ethanol fuel biomass may be defined as vegetable substances or plants currently in use to generate gasoline or sustaining energy. More particularly this is a biological origin that is extracted from the living matter. Ethanol has derived its alternative energy coming from plants like corn, switchgrasses, hemp, willow and sugar cane along with additional vegetation which provides or hold sugar. A large number of plant life either is made up of sugar or simply has a number of component inside it that can be converted to sugar. This valuable sugar is required for ethanol production which is done through fermentation, distillation coupled with dehydration. Non-renewable fuels do not fall into this category. They aren’t polar solvents as is ethanol, as a substitute they are hydrocarbons.

Extracting cellulose from specific plants like corn is a challenging practice. Cellulose consists of a component of strands which contain sugars and also all these sugars must be extracted so that they can make the carbs needed to create ethanol. The method employed is a mix of heat with pressure and particular basic acidic ailments. A chemical substance must be used in order to break up one of several chains of glucose and connects on the freely end of the chain and performs its way through the chain breaking down units of sugar (glucose). The closing step is to break up the sequence straight into two molecules and ferment this straight into ethanol. That is a costly strategy to get to ethanol. Researchers have offered a way of biologically engineering a bacteria that would certainly break down the actual components needed to make ethanol biomass.

Ethanol biomass is a controversial issue specially in the process of biologically designed microorganisms as well as the concern of it escaping to the atmosphere. On the other hand, there was significant hot debate around the usage of ethanol in the us. Controversy isn’t always a deterrent to continue no matter whether it’s industrially or even scientifically. We all view controversy as nothing more than thoughts and we all might need thoughts to better our own opinions, transform our system of doing anything and most of all as a means to advance forward, to improve. After all bio ethanol fuel is essential for the future of our planet.

Well whether you love it or hate it ethanol has made plenty of waves this past year. It is certainly not the ultimate solution to our energy woes but it does have its place in the mix.

Here is a round up of recent news and info from the world of ethanol production. As always your comments are welcomed on this topic.

Ethanol Strikes Back: Industry Groups Sue California Over Low …

The ethanol industry — specifically proponents of the corn-based fuel — feel like they’ve been picked on long enough. So, now they&#

Advanced BioFuels USA » Cellulosic-Ethanol Mandate Faces Snags

by Naureen S. Malik (Wall Street Journal) Cellulosic-ethanol production, a cornerstone of the U.S. government’s plan to curb greenhouse-gas emissions, is earmarked to overtake corn ethanol over the next decade. …

Ledesma expanding ethanol production, aims for Argentine market …

In Argentina, Ledesma announced a $37 million investment to expand its facilities to produce ethanol for the Argentine market. The company said that the investment would be applied to increase sugar cane production, …

Advanced BioFuels USA » Ethanol from Cellulose Faster

by J.W. Walkinshaw and S.E. Poniatowski (University of Massachusetts and Terrasonics) This presentation illustrates the usual process of breaking cellulose into sugars for ethanol fermentation by using an enzymatic process and, …

Quite a year for ethanol | Brownfield

2009 was sort of ‘The Tale of Two Cities.” That is how Bob Welch describes what happened to the ethanol industry this year. Welch has a government.

How Ethanol Is Made Animated Feature

Myth: Corn Ethanol is Great

Pitfalls of Ethanol Fuel

Feel free to comment on ethanol and ethanol production below.

At this years’ Going Green we talked to Bill Roe, the CEO of Coskata about his company’s work in developing bio fuel alternatives. They are making ethanol from a variety of feed stocks including switchgrass, wood chips, agricultural residues (bagasse, corn stover, etc.) as well as waste streams such as old tires and municipal solid waste.

Coskata is commercializing a proprietary process and related technologies for the conversion of a wide variety of input materials into ethanol. Coskata has an efficient, affordable, and flexible three-step conversion process:

1. Incoming material converted to synthesis gas (gasification)
2. Fermentation of synthesis gas into ethanol (bio-fermentation)
3. Separation and recovery of ethanol (separations)

After the carbon-hydrogen bonds in the feedstock are “cracked” using gasification and converted into syngas, bacterial fermentation (biofermentation) of the syngas into ethanol occurs using proprietary Coskata microorganisms.

Coskata microorganisms are extremely efficient, utilizing the entire energy value of available input material to produce ethanol. This is a significant advantage over other approaches that only use a fraction of this energy due to their inability to utilize all portions of biomass input material and/or result in non-ethanol byproducts hurting efficiencies.

Bill tells us about their system in the video below.

Bill Roe, CEO Coskata – Going Green 2008

DuPont and Genencor of Palo Alto, CA have announced they are working together to create the World’s-Leading Cellulosic Ethanol Company. Why is this important? Well as you may have read lately there is a large debate over making ethanol from existing food stocks and causing shortages and price in creases for those items such as corn and sugar.

If these companies can create viable ethanol product using no food stock sources then it will mean a boom to our economy of energy production and not a bust.

Here is the announcement of the joint venture:

DuPont and Genencor, a division of Danisco A/S, today announced an agreement to form DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC, a 50/50 global joint venture to develop and commercialize the leading, low-cost technology solution for the production of cellulosic ethanol — a next generation biofuel produced from non-food sources – to address a $75 billion global market opportunity.

The partners plan an initial three-year investment of US$140 million, which will initially target corn stover and sugar cane bagasse. Future targets include multiple ligno-cellulosic feedstocks including wheat straw, a variety of energy crops and other biomass sources.

“With food and gas prices surging at double-digit rates, there is an imperative for sustainable biofuels technologies. This joint venture addresses this issue head on,” said DuPont Chairman and CEO Charles O. Holliday, Jr. “By integrating our companies’ strengths and expertise in this new venture, we are significantly increasing the potential to make cellulosic ethanol from multiple non-food sources an economic reality around the world.”

“By combining the world-class capabilities of DuPont and Danisco, our joint venture will offer the technology standard for cellulosic ethanol production,” said Danisco CEO Tom Knutzen. “This joint venture will be a powerhouse of discovery, development and engineering. It represents a major step forward in Danisco’s new strategic intent to be a leading force in the field of industrial biotechnology.”

Through the scientists and technologies of both companies, DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC will launch an accelerated effort to integrate the unique cellulosic processing capabilities of both companies to economically produce ethanol from non-food sources. The parent companies will license their combined existing intellectual property and patents related to cellulosic ethanol. The goal is to maximize efficiency and lower the overall system cost to produce a gallon of ethanol from cellulosic materials by optimizing the process steps into a single integrated technology solution.

In the United States, the joint venture will scale up an optimized technology package for corn cobs from integrating the proprietary DuPont pretreatment and ethanologen technologies with the innovative enzyme technology of Genencor, while DuPont continues to analyze the collection and storage of cellulosic feedstocks. The global joint venture expects its first pilot plant to be operational in the United States in 2009, and its first commercial-scale demonstration facility to be operational within the next three years. The joint venture will be headquartered in the United States and will be formed after receipt of required regulatory approvals.

The joint venture will license its technology package directly to ethanol producers for deployment in the United States and around the world, as well as through the establishment of regional cellulosic ethanol affiliates. The regional ethanol affiliates will invest in equity interests with strategic partners, including ethanol producers and energy companies, to enable the rapid deployment of the joint venture’s cellulosic ethanol technology at commercial scale. The joint venture’s technology package can be used both as a “bolt-on” to an existing ethanol plant — expanding its capacity to accept cellulosic feedstocks — or as the design basis for a stand-alone cellulosic ethanol facility. The joint venture expects to enable production of commercial volumes of cellulosic ethanol by 2012.

A video primer on Cellulosic Ethanol:

Ethanol It was a good alternative. Then it was not, then it was. Now it is a raging debate with charges flying all about.

Now we have rising corn prices (read- consumer food prices) and an adminstration that is locking in support of ethonal while the community debates the merits. What do you think? Here are some videos on the subject to stimulate your thoughts.

What do you think of ethanol? Shout out and let us know.

With rising oil costs and environmental concerns has come increased pressure on the motor industry to develop an alternative and greener fuel to power the world’s vehicles. But would ethanol be a viable alternative to petrol (gas)?

Ethanol is largely seen as an environmentally friendly alternative to petrol. It is made from crops such as sugarcane in Brazil and soyabean in the US, and it is significantly less polluting than petrol because it doesn’t produce sulphur dioxide or lead emissions and, importantly, any carbon dioxide produced can be offset by growing more sugarcane. Cars in the UK, for instance, can currently run on about 10 per cent of ethanol in petrol, but the corrosive effect of ethanol means increasing levels above this can damage the engine if the necessary changes have not been made. Recent moves by Brazil to export biofuels to the European market on a bigger scale have increased interest in ethanol as a possible replacement for petrol. Since signing agreements with Sweden and Japan, Brazil is now interested in developing partnerships with British and European companies. In Brazil ethanol is widely available and it makes up around 40 per cent of fuel consumption and powers over 50 per cent of vehicles. Having spent the last 30 years refining the production of ethanol from sugarcane, Brazil has now become the largest producer and exporter of ethanol in the world.

The technology for creating ethanol has been around since the 1920s, but production only took off in Brazil in the 1980s when the government looked around for alternative sources in the wake of the 1970s oil crisis and rising oil prices. During the 1980s more than 75 per cent of all motor vehicles and around 90 per cent of cars were run on ethanol. But a drop in oil prices and an end to government subsidies meant that ethanol lost it’s popularity for a while. However, rising oil prices caused the popularity of ethanol to rise again a couple of years ago, and now over 50 per cent of new cars in Brazil are FFVs (Flexible Fuel Vehicles) that can be run on either pure petrol, pure ethanol or a mixture of the two.

Brazilian production of ethanol is set to rise over the next few years. In 2005 they produced 282,000 barrels of ethanol per day and the expectations are for production to rise to 442,000 barrels per day by 2010. Brazil currently exports 7,200 barrels per day to the US (who also produce their own ethanol from soyabeans). This, of course, is still a drop in the ocean compared to overall US gasoline consumption. And the question is whether or not Europe and, particularly, the UK will become a new customer for Brazil’s growing biofuels industry.

We wait to see if becomes the true green alternative and, of course, how much governments – particularly in the UK – squeeze out of us by way of tax!!

More: continued here

The Caribbean islands are often viewed by North Americans as a pleasant place to escape from the grasp of winter. What many don’t realize is that the islands have been a source of wealth for centuries-and that there is a source of wealth waiting for today’s savvy investor.

Columbus arrived in search of gold. European planters arrived in search of agricultural land. The islands truly came into their own when sugar cane developed as their primary crop. That was the real gold, as real as the gold that covers the ceilings of British aristocracy’s homes. That gold was paid for from the proceeds of sugar, rum and molasses. Was it profitable? My graduate research at Bettie’s Hope Estate in Antigua revealed 18th century documents that proved the profitability of the islands for sugar cane production. In one year alone, Bettie’s Hope delivered a profit of over one million pounds at the end of the eighteenth century. This is a fortune by any century’s standards and this was only one plantation on one island.

Sugar cane agriculture died out in the islands soon after World War II when sugar beets became a cheaper source of sugar for world markets. Many of the islands now have acres of land lying in scrub brush where sugar cane used to grow. The land is primarily owned by governments who bought out the planters when they abandoned the islands for more lucrative investments.