Tag Archives: biofuel
Oil Industry To EPA: Lower 2014 Biofuel Mandate
August 19, 2013 The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) and the American Petroleum Institute (API) have petitioned the EPA to lower the 18.15 billion 2014 renewable fuel mandate to about 14.8 billion gallons. The oil industry groups say the partial waver is needed to avoid “severe economic harm that will result from exceeding the 10 percent ethanol blendwall.” Projected to occur in 2014, the 10 percent blend wall refers to the difficulty in incorporating ethanol into the fuel supply at volumes exceeding those achieved by the sale of nearly all gasoline as E10. Most gasoline sold in the US today is E10. Beyond 10 percent, the ethanol renders the blended fuel “incompatible with today’s engines, vehicles and the multi-billion dollar infrastructure” in the US, the AFPM and API say. In issuing the final 2013 Renewable Fuel Standard earlier this month, the EPA said it received comments from a number of stakeholders concerning the blend wall and said it will propose to use flexibilities in the RFS statute to reduce both the advanced biofuel and total renewable volumes in the 2014 renewable fuel volume requirement proposal. Not good enough, say the oil industry groups. Waiving the 2014 volumes is the only way to “avert the potentially disastrous implications of the blendwall,” according to AFPM and API. If the EPA does not act, the inability to blend the mandated amount of ethanol “could cause severe economic harm,” AFPM President Charles T. Drevna says. AFPM cites analysis conducted by NERA Economic Consulting that says unless the RFS volumes required by statute are waived, NERA predicts a $270 billion decline in GDP in 2014, which will grow to $770 billion in 2015. Meanwhile the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) has applauded the EPA’s biofuels ruling and said it provides advanced biofuel developers and investors with confidence that if they can produce advanced and cellulosic biofuels, they will have market access. Efforts to repeal the program are “motivated solely by the oil refining industry’s desire to block competition and consumer choice at the pump,” said Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO’s Industrial & Environmental Section. Continue reading
UK Seeks “Best” Biofuel
Posted on August 12, 2013 by Joanna Schroeder According to an article in The Guardian , the United Kingdom (UK) is willing to pay for the best biofuels. The UK government is hosting a competition to come up with the most viable demonstration plants for biofuels made from waste organic materials, such as wood waste or straw. Many groups, especially environmental groups, have begun to lobby in favor of “better biofuels” or ones they consider to be both better for the environment or for society. Within this context, groups are opposed to first generation biofuels – or those that can be used for “food-” aka the food versus fuel debate. In light of this trend, focus has shifted to biofuels made from other feedstocks, especially waste materials – things that would end up in landfills. Attempts to manufacture biofuels from waste have been going on since the late 1960s; however, until now, research has been limited to the lab have have not met with great success. Yet growing concerns about the environment has brought more attention to the transportation sector and a resurgence in waste-to-energy technology has evolved. Today, the industry is beginning to see some success at demonstration level . In the UK, Ministers believe that research has now reached a stage where advanced biofuels are commercially possible. The department for transport said indications from the biofuels industry have demonstrated there are potential projects with a modicum of interest. The Ministers believe there will be several “high quality” bids for the 25m on offer, which must be matched by private sector investment. Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat transport minister, told the Guardian, “It’s hugely important that we decarbonise transport. We have been up hill and down dale on biofuels in the past few years. What we need to do is distinguish between good biofuels and bad biofuels, and this competition will produce good biofuels.” The first step of the prize will involve a feasibility study detailing the design of the competition and the criteria that needs to be met by any bidder. This stage is expected to take four or five months, after which bids will be accepted. A winner could be announced within a year, but the process could take longer depending on the bids received. The prize will accept a bid for a project using any methodology or feedstock as long as they can be proved to produce carbon savings over conventional fuels and come from feedstocks that are environmentally sustainable. Continue reading
The Slow Creep Of Next-Gen Biofuels: KiOR Misses Production Targets
by Katie Fehrenbacher AUG. 9, 2013 SUMMARY: Next-gen biofuel company KiOR misses its production targets from its new biocrude making plant by 75 percent. It’s still slow going for these companies trying to scale up and compete with oil. If you’ve ever read anything about the next-generation of biofuels — the ones made from plant waste, trash, or energy crops called cellulosic ethanol — then you know that they’ve forever been trapped on the brink of commercialization. The thesis still seems to apply for the young companies that are trying to scale up. This week KiOR, a venture capital-backed startup that went public in the Summer of 2011 , revealed in its second quarter earnings that it was about 75 percent below its forecast for producing and shipping its next-gen biofuel last quarter . KiOR shipped 75,000 gallons last quarter from its Columbus, Mississippi plant, but was hoping to ship between 300,000 and 500,000 gallons in the quarter. Revenue for the quarter was of course below estimates, too, alongside the slower than expected scale up in production. As a result, KiOR’s stock dropped almost 10 percent on Thursday, rallied a bit and is now trading around $4.14 on Friday. KiOR went public at $15 per share in mid-2011. But it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that’s been following any next-gen biofuel startup. It takes eons to get to the scale where they can make biofuels for cheap enough to compete with oil. KiOR started producing its biocrude at the Columbus plant last November and started shipping it shortly after that. At the time KiOR CEO Fred Cannon called the first shipment “the world’s first cellulosic gasoline and diesel fuel products.” KiOR has developed technology that allows it to convert biomass (plants and bio waste) into a bio substitute for crude oil. The company emerged in late 2007 as a joint venture between Khosla Ventures and Netherlands-based biofuel startup BIOeCON . Khosla Ventures provided the early rounds of funding and BIOeCON provided the intellectual property for its “biomass catalytic cracking process,” a thermochemical process that’s been used in the oil industry for decades and which turns out can also produce biocrude from grass, wood and plant waste. Cannon has described KiOR’s technology as being able to do in seconds what has taken millions of years in nature (the natural process of how biomass has been crunched into oil). About a year ago I wrote a really long indepth piece on KiOR. Check it out here: The perils of cleantech investing: KiOR and the long term, high risk view . Continue reading
