Tag Archives: chat
Sky’s The Limit – Aviation Biofuels About To Take Off?
By John Daly | Sun, 11 August 2013 Benefit From the Latest Energy Trends and Investment Opportunities before the mainstream media and investing public are aware they even exist. The Free Oilprice.com Energy Intelligence Report gives you this and much more. Click here to find out more. For the past decade, commercial production of jet biofuel has become of major interest to international airlines. Renewable Jet A-1 biofuel has two alluring aspects. First, it is a “drop in” fuel – blended 50-50 with conventional Jet A-1 kerosene derived from hydrocarbons, it requires no special engine modifications. Secondly, as the world prepares to institute carbon emissions penalties, biofuel Jet A-1 can reduce commercial airliners’ carbon emissions by 80-85 percent. The eye of the needle for this sunny renewable biofuel future has been twofold. First, the cost – no one has yet been able to produce renewable Jet A-1 at a cost comparable to hydrocarbon Jet A-1. The second problem derives from the first, in that no one has yet been able to produce renewable Jet A-1 in commercial quantities at a competitive rate. But this might all be about to change. AltAir, a major player in the burgeoning biofuels market, has unveiled ambitious plans to provide United Airlines with at 15 million gallons over the next three years of renewable jet fuel from a retooled Los Angeles-based refinery . Needless to say, the development is being closely watched, as the AltAir project will be the first U.S. refinery capable of producing both diesel and drop-in replacements for petroleum-based jet fuels. United has collaborated with AltAir Fuels for the past five years and has agreed not only to the initial purchase, but an option to purchase more. And United scores a march on its competition, as on 5 August Air Transport World magazine named United Airlines the Eco-Aviation “Airline of the Year” Gold Winner by, the top award granted by ATW in its annual Eco-Aviation Awards. United Airlines chairman, president and chief executive officer Jeff Smisek gushed, “This is a great honor for United and I’m proud of the work that my co-workers do every day to be responsible stewards for the environment. Our initiatives are paying off as we reduce United’s environmental footprint and work together toward a sustainable future for our company and our industry. United managing director for global environmental affairs and sustainability Jimmy Samartzis added, “This is a great day for United and the aviation biofuels industry. This agreement underscores United’s efforts to be a leader in alternative fuels as well as our efforts to lead commercial aviation as an environmentally responsible company. We’re excited about what this strategic partnership with AltAir means for United, the industry, the environment, and for our customers.” PR fluff aside, United has solidly put its capital behind its efforts to retool its aircrafts’ fuel consumption. United currently has more than 290 fuel-efficient aircraft on order and was the first U.S. carrier to purchase Boeing’s fuel efficient 787 Dreamliner, which cuts fuel consumption by and estimated 20 percent improvement. Deepening its commitment, United recently increased its order for Boeing 787 Dreamliners to 65 aircraft. Not limiting itself to U.S. domestic aircraft, United has also ordered 35 Airbus A350-1000s, which have reduced fuel consumption rates similar to Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Accordingly, United believes that it will meet its 2013 goal to reduce fuel usage by 85 million gallons and associated carbon emissions by 828,750 metric tons. The attention will now switch to AltAir – can it deliver? Rather than build a new refinery, the company intends to retrofit part of an existing petroleum refinery into an advanced biofuel refinery near Los Angeles. With AltAir’s retrofits, the Los Angeles refinery is set to become the first commercial-scale producer of renewable jet fuel in the world. AltAir CEO Tom Todaro has no doubts about the viability of the project, telling journalists, “United Airlines has been a strategic partner for several years as we work to establish our biofuel facility . We cannot overestimate how important this milestone is for the commercialization of sustainable aviation biofuels, and we at AltAir are proud that United is our first customer.” And AltAir is dreaming big, expecting to expand the refinery’s capacity eventually to produce 30 million gallons of advanced biofuels and chemicals after retrofits are complete. Feedstock for the facility? Non-edible natural oils and agricultural wastes. Can AltAir find sufficient natural oils and agricultural wastes in LA? Can they deliver the promised volumes of fuel? Watch this space. By. John C.K. Daly of Oilprice.com Continue reading
One-Pot Process To Simplify Production Of Biofuel From Biomass
Details Category: Technology 16 Aug 2013 Published on Friday, 16 August 2013 The right combination of enzyme cocktail and ionic liquid pretreatment can be used to extract fermentable sugars from switchgrass in a single, wash-free step. (Photo by Roy Kaltschmidt) A “one-pot” method of processing biomass into biofuels has been developed by researchers with the United States Department of Energy’s Joint Bioenergy Institute. “By combining ionic liquid pretreatment and saccharification into a single vessel we eliminate the excessive use of water and waste disposal currently associated with washing biomass that that is pretreated with ionic liquids,” said chemical engineer Blake Simmons. Advanced biofuels made from cellulosic sugars stored in the biomass of grasses and other non-food crops and agricultural waste could substantially reduce the use of fossil fuels. In the United States alone, more than a billion tons of biomass are produced annually that could be potentially used to create cleaner and greener substitutes for fossil fuels. In order for advanced biofuels to be commercially viable however, they must be cost-competitive with fossil fuels. Currently, the processes to extract the sugars needed to formulate these fuels are costly and complicated. To process biomass, it must first be pretreated with an ionic liquid – environmentally benign organic salts – before adding an enzyme cocktail that breaks down the biomass into fermentable sugars. However, as most ionic liquids inhibit the enzyme cocktail, the biomass needs to be washed beforehand. “The recycling and waste disposal costs associated with this required washing pose a significant challenge for the commercial scale-up of ionic liquid pretreatment technology,” said Seema Singh, director of JBEI’s biomass pretreatment program. The JBEI team focused on the use of imidazolium-based molten salts in their one-pot processing method. Imidazolium is one of the most effective known ionic liquids for breaking down cellulosic biomass. “However, imidazolium, like other ionic liquids, can inhibit the commercial enzyme cocktails now used for the saccharification of cellulosic biomass,” said Ms. Singh. To meet this challenge, JBEI researchers developed a compost-derived consortium of bacterium that could grow on switchgrass, a popular biomass crop. The consortium was dubbed “Jtherm” and consists of several species of thermophiles, microbes that can thrive at extremely high temperatures and alkaline conditions. “Jtherm is both an ionic liquid and heat tolerant cellulase cocktail that can liberate sugars from biomass in the presence of up to 20-percent ionic liquids, “ said John Gladden, deputy director for fungal biotechnology at JBEI. The one-pot system uses imidazolium-based ionic liquid pretreatment on the switchgrass then adds Jtherm to extract the sugars. With this one-pot system, they liberated 81.2 percent glucose and 87.4 percent xylose over the course of a 72 hour processing at 70 degrees Celsius. They were able to separate the sugars at better than 90-percent efficiency. The team is now planning to scale-up tests of this one-pot system and is in the process of further optimizing the Jtherm enzyme cocktail and seeking to identify other ionic liquids that could be used in this process. – EcoSeed Staff Continue reading
Deere Posts 3Q Record Earnings Of $997 Million
Jennifer DeWitt jdewitt@qctimes.com Deere & Co. Net quarterly net earnings Fueled by strong farm equipment sales, particularly in North and South America, Deere & Co. reported record earnings and sales for the third quarter Wednesday while increasing its forecast for its full-year income. The Moline-based equipment maker announced that net income jumped 26 percent on a 4 percent gain in sales and revenues. Net income for the quarter, ended July 31, was $996.5 million, or $2.56 per share. The results compared with $788 million, or $1.98 per share, for the same period last year. In a conference call with analysts Wednesday, Susan Karlix, Deere’s manager of investor relations, said the quarter marked Deere’s 13th consecutive quarter of record profits. Both sales and net income were the company’s “best-ever results” reported for a third quarter, she said. The results beat Wall Street’s expectations of $2.17 per share. The report sent Deere’s stock down $1.57 in trading Wednesday to $82.34 a share. The Quad-Cities’ largest employer raised its net income forecast for fiscal 2013 to $3.45 billion, up from $3.3 billion forecast three months ago. Company officials said, however, fourth-quarter equipment sales are expected to fall 5 percent against “a tough comparison” last year. “Last year’s fourth-quarter sales were particularly strong, in part because our factories were running at a high rate to catch up with customer orders,” Deere Chairman and CEO Samuel Allen said in a news release. “Even with this difficult comparison, our financial guidance implies a healthy level of income for the coming quarter and a third consecutive year of record results.” He added that the company’s “success is a reflection of considerable strength in the farm sector, especially in North and South America. We also are making further progress executing our wide-ranging operating and marketing plans, which call for expanding our global market presence while keeping a close watch on costs and assets.” Karlix told analysts that the lower forecast for agriculture equipment sales “does not indicate any change in our outlook for demand or global ag fundamentals.” Deere expects U.S. farm cash receipts to go down modestly, “but it still looks like they will be at historic high levels,” Deere spokesman Ken Golden said. “We know cash receipts is the No. 1 predictor of farm equipment sales,” he said, adding that farmers traditionally invest in new equipment when farm receipts are healthy. The company’s forecast predicts total U.S. farm cash receipts for 2014 to be $379.7 billion, down from the 2013 forecast of $389.8 billion. As part of the earnings report, Deere said net income for the first nine months of the year was $2.73 billion, or $6.97 per share, compared with $2.377 billion, or $5.88 per share, last year. Worldwide net sales and revenues increased 4 percent to $10.01 billion for the third quarter and rose 8 percent to $28.345 billion for nine months. In addition to agriculture and turf equipment, Deere manufactures construction and forestry equipment. The company’s financial services division also helped drive results with its 38 percent increase in third-quarter profits. Financial services reported net income of $150 million for the quarter and $407.9 million for nine months, which compared with $110.4 million and $338.6 million last year. Sales of agriculture and turf equipment rose 8 percent in the third quarter and 12 percent for the first nine months on increased prices and higher shipment volumes. Meanwhile, construction and forestry sales decreased 11 percent in the quarter and 8 percent for nine months on lower shipment volumes. Deere now forecasts ag and turf equipment sales to increase about 7 percent for 2013 and construction and forestry equipment sales to decrease by about 8 percent for the year. It predicts total equipment sales to be up about 5 percent for the fiscal year. Crediting Deere’s workforce and business model, Golden said the construction and forestry division “is holding favorable profit levels despite the fact that sales have fallen considerably.” In the release, Allen indicated his optimism for the future. “We continue to believe our investment in new products and capacity will allow Deere to be the provider of choice for a growing global customer base in the years ahead,” he said. “In our view, broad trends based on a growing, more affluent, and increasingly mobile population have ample staying power and should help the company deliver substantial value to its customers, investors and other stakeholders in the future.” The optimism also has reached the dealer level, where at least one Quad-City area John Deere dealer is having “a very good year.” Paul Seyller, the owner of River Valley Turf in Davenport and Silvis, said last year’s drought was hard on his commercial customers and kept homeowners from investing in new lawn equipment. In addition, he said commercial lawn companies were hit last winter by a lack of snow removal jobs, which provides a part of their income. “Now they’ve had a good year of mowing, and they are starting to get cash reserves built up, so in the spring (next year), they will be making more purchases than ever,” he said, adding that this year has been strong with the municipal clients and homeowners. In addition, Deere’s new line of high-performance John Deere Gators is boosting sales. “It’s the most Gators we have sold in our 15 years in business,” Seyller said. Continue reading
