We all know how much the American industry is struggling to get E15 onto the market. The powerful opposition of fossil fuel, automobile and food industries is effectively blocking the rollout, scaremongering car owners that E15 is bad for their engines. Even though E15 is probably the most tested fuel in the U.S., this idea that E15 could harm has an effect. Only a shred of doubt seems to be enough to make consumers concerned and sceptical. For European ethanol producers, E15 is still a distant dream. For us, the struggle is to get from E5 to E10. The legislation to offer E10 has been in place since 2009 but its use, even five years after the legislation came into force, is still very disappointing. There are only three countries in Europe where one can buy E10: France, Germany and Finland. Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Lithuania, Bulgaria and the U.K. are considering E10 in the future, but the &ldquo;accidents&rdquo; that occurred when E10 was introduced in Germany are not yet forgotten and explain the slow pace of implementation elsewhere. The argument revolving around potential engine damage from E10 was used by the German car and oil industries. It resonates with the average motorist who gets scared that one day his car will stop if he fills up with E10. Not surprisingly, E10 sales had a poor start in Germany when the fuel was introduced in early 2011. But remarkably, its share is continuously increasing and now stands at around 17 percent of gasoline sales&mdash;not entirely bad for a fuel that was held with such suspicion. E10 is not only cheaper, but it performs well too. Since its introduction, not a single car failure has been reported. So much for the scaremongering. In France, the E10 share is now close to 30 percent of gasoline sales. And, as in Germany, the growth is on the back of shrinking gasoline consumption. France is topping Germany because the E10 introduction was handled better by the government and car/fuel stakeholders. In the U.K., the government postponed the introduction of E10, referring to the problems in Germany (what problems?) and saying indirect land use change policy should be resolved first at the EU level. Now a new witch hunt has started. A U.K. car magazine measured fuel consumption and emissions from cars running on E10. Tests on four cars found that compared to 100 percent fossil gasoline, the average fuel consumption was 7.7 percent higher higher with E10, and as a consequence, increased tailpipe emissions. This contrasts markedly with Finnish research from 2011 that found little difference between E5 and E10 consumption. Some basic errors must have been committed during the U.K. tests; fuel consumption cannot rise that much when using E10 as suggested by this research. The higher tailpipe emissions are understandable, but do not reflect the true lifecycle emissions of the two fuels. Only if the emissions of biofuels are measured on a well-to-wheel basis can we have accurate data on the greenhouse gas emissions of biofuels compared to fossil fuels.&nbsp; The writers of the U.K. magazine article gave the final blow to E10 by using the old argument: "The new E10 fuel will cost U.K. motorists more." But the article didn't indicate in any way how much that additional cost would be. The messages they gave were clear: &ldquo;More fuel consumption, more emissions and more expensive. Let's forget about E10.&rdquo; Why did the writers not bother looking at other EU countries that have introduced E10? If they had done so, they would see that E10 is cheaper, there are no car damages reported and a Finnish study concluded E10 fuel consumption is just 1.5 percent higher compared to E5. Also, several very technical studies demonstrate ethanol&rsquo;s higher octane delivers benefits to engine performance, improves the combustion process and increases fuel efficiency. The negative E10 story, however, fits well with the many other supposed negative impacts of biofuels that appear in the media, of which most, if not all, have been proven to be false. Just like the myths that biofuels cause food price inflation, massive land use effects and land grabbing&mdash;the U.K. E10-study is bogus, too. Author: Robert Vierhout Secretary-general, ePURE Vierhout@epure.org

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For European ethanol producers, E15 is still a distant dream. In the EU, the struggle is to get from E5 to E10. The legislation to offer E10 has been in place since 2009 but its use, even five years after the legislation came into force, is minimal. 

EU's Struggle for E10

One of the central characters in Big Oil&rsquo;s misinformation campaign on the renewable fuel standard (RFS) continues to be the RIN&mdash;short for renewable identification number.&nbsp;&nbsp; As most of you reading this know, a RIN is a 38-digit number that serves as a &ldquo;proof of purchase seal&rdquo; for oil companies to submit to the U.S. EPA as proof they&rsquo;ve complied with terms of the RFS. Unfortunately, the Big Oil PR machine has so thoroughly demonized and mischaracterized RINs that even really smart people who should understand basic principles of economics have completely &ldquo;bought in&rdquo; to the myth that increased RIN prices equal increased prices at the pump. The truth is, RINs can only increase the price of fuel that does not contain ethanol, because ethanol blends come complete with their own RIN attached&mdash;no extra charge. In the real world, over the past 15 months, higher RIN prices helped independent gas station and convenience store owners sell more renewable fuel than they&rsquo;ve ever sold, well above Big Oil&rsquo;s imaginary 10 percent blend wall&mdash;at pump prices well below lower-octane nonblended fuels. Marketers who have sold E85 for years priced more aggressively, knowing that the RINs they would receive would more than make up for lower pump prices. More new E85 fueling locations were added last year than in any of the past five years. Increased RIN prices helped expand the availability of renewable fuels as station owners did the math and realized that an investment in equipment to sell more renewable fuels would have a quick payback. The number of retailers offering E15 and higher ethanol blends continues to expand this year, despite Big Oil contract restrictions and fear of the mythical &ldquo;liability&rdquo; bogeyman, because independent station owners recognize the opportunities offered by RINs and greater renewable fuel sales. The ability for independent fuel marketers to sell renewable fuels at lower prices while improving profit margins by selling RINs, has given independent fuel marketers something they have never had before: an advantage over Big Oil. If Joe&rsquo;s Corner Convenience Store and Exxon/Mobil each get 8,000 gallons of E10, they each get 800 RINs. Exxon/Mobil has to turn theirs in to EPA. Joe doesn&rsquo;t refine products that harm the environment, so he can sell his RINs. So far this year, Joe&rsquo;s RINs would be worth about 400 bucks. That means he could sell his E10 for 5 cents less than the oil company or pass 3 cents along to customers and make 2 cents more profit. Or he could put $400 toward a pump upgrade to sell E15 or E85 or any other blend to get him more RINs. Either way, until Exxon/Mobil sells more renewables than the RFS requires, it can&rsquo;t compete with Joe. And that&rsquo;s why Big Oil hates RINs. This is not a position familiar to them, and not one I imagine they see themselves in much longer. A couple of years ago, West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller became exasperated at the CEOs of the Big Five oil companies in a Senate hearing, and told them they were &ldquo;Deeply, profoundly out of touch,&rdquo; and &ldquo;deeply and profoundly committed to sharing nothing." Rockefeller said the Big Oil execs got that way because &ldquo;You never lose. You've never lost. You always prevail. You always prevail in the halls of Congress, and you do that for a whole variety of reasons, because of your lobbyists, because of your friends, because of all the places where you do business. And I don't really know any other business that never loses," he said. Big Oil knows they don&rsquo;t have to lose on RINs, either. With a minimal commitment to E15 and/or E85, oil companies would have all the RINs they need and extras for future years. RIN prices would retreat to the levels of two years ago&mdash;the last time Big Oil bought more renewables than the RFS required. But Big Oil won&rsquo;t do that, because even minimal E15 exposes 5 percent of a market that Big Oil currently does not have to worry about winning or losing. It may be hubris to amend John D. &ldquo;Standard Oil&rdquo; Rockefeller&rsquo;s great-grandson&rsquo;s analysis of oil company behavior, but I would suggest that the main reason Big Oil doesn&rsquo;t lose is that they very rarely have to play the game. &nbsp; Author: Ron Lamberty Senior Vice President, American Coalition for Ethanol 605-334-3381 rlamberty@ethanol.org

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The ability for independent fuel marketers to sell renewable fuels at lower prices while improving profit margins by selling RINs, has given independent fuel marketers something they have never had before: an advantage over Big Oil. 

How RINs Really Work, and Why Big Oil Hates Them 

In a world where Big Oil thinks of cellulosic biofuel as imaginary &ldquo;pixie dust,&rdquo; KiOR Inc. is among the few companies proving early, and convincingly, that the fuel can be made at commercial scale.&nbsp;
The Pasadena, Texas-based company produces commercial volumes of not ethanol but cellulosic gasoline and diesel fuel from Southern Yellow Pine at its 15 MMgy refinery in Columbus, Miss. It&rsquo;s the first of several plants the company hopes to replicate with its &ldquo;copy exact&rdquo; strategy.
Before construction was complete on the Columbus facility in 2012, KiOR signed offtake agreements with Hunt Refining, Catchlight Energy&mdash;a joint venture between Chevron Corp. and Weyerhaeuser Co.&mdash;and FedEx Corporate Services. KiOR and Catchlight Energy also have a feedstock supply agreement for the facility. The engineering, procurement and construction firm in Columbus was KBR.
While KiOR&rsquo;s drop-in fuels are not directly subject to the highly contentious ethanol blend-wall debate, the company does find kinship with corn ethanol producers and cellulosic project developers in its stance against the U.S. EPA&rsquo;s 2014 renewable volume obligation (RVO) proposal under the federal renewable fuel standard (RFS). &ldquo;The EPA&rsquo;s 2014 RVO proposal is one of the biggest obstacles our industry currently faces when it comes to expansion and development,&rdquo; says Fred Cannon, KiOR&rsquo;s president and CEO. &ldquo;The EPA&rsquo;s current proposal has the potential to significantly hamper the industry&rsquo;s ability to obtain affordable capital to grow and compete with conventional fuels. A stable regulatory policy is of vital importance for the continued growth and advancement of the renewable fuels industry.&rdquo;
It&rsquo;s not just the investment-blocking regulatory uncertainty that impedes the progress of KiOR, not to mention every other advanced biofuel project under development. Technical obstacles encountered on the commercial scale-up learning curve abound as well. This story is all too familiar to cellulosic ethanol producers, whose commercial realization perpetually seems just a few years away. But these kinds of hindrances can be expected when working to revolutionize the world&rsquo;s energy production paradigm.
On a recent operational update conference call, Cannon spoke about his company&rsquo;s plan to increase the performance and operational output of the Columbus facility. He opened the call with an overview of KiOR&rsquo;s 2013 biofuel production. During the fourth quarter of 2013, Cannon said KiOR produced 385,000 gallons of fuel, 41 percent of which was cellulosic gasoline, 37 percent cellulosic diesel, and 22 percent fuel oil. Total fuel production for 2013 was 597,000 gallons&mdash;far less than the plant&rsquo;s 15 MMgy nameplate capacity. To boost performance, the company plans to complete a series of optimization projects and upgrades. KiOR will also continue its research and development efforts aimed at increasing yields while improving operational efficiency and operational economics.
KiOR&rsquo;s technology works similarly to an oil refinery, which involves catalytic cracking and hydrotreating, but instead of using petroleum crude as feedstock, it uses woody biomass. &ldquo;KiOR&rsquo;s biomass fluid catalytic cracking unit (BFCC) is similar in concept to the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit in a refinery, but has been modified to accommodate a solid feed rather than a liquid feed,&rdquo; Cannon tells EPM. &ldquo;KiOR has a proprietary catalyst with physical properties similar to a typical FCC catalyst to promote the desired reactions needed to convert the solid biomass into a liquid fuel.&rdquo; According to Cannon, the biomass contacts a hot catalyst, vaporizes and forms coke and both noncondensable and condensable gases. &ldquo;The coke stays on the catalyst and is burned off in the regenerator to provide heat for the process,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;The noncondensable gases are burned in a waste heat boiler and turn a steam turbine generator to provide electricity for the process. The condensable gases are separated and result in renewable crude, which we upgrade into our cellulosic fuels.&rdquo;
The optimization projects to be made this year include making changes to the BFCC unit, hydrotreater and wood yard to eliminate bottlenecks. The Columbus facility can currently process between 250 and 300 tons of biomass daily, yielding around 30 gallons per ton. When operating at nameplate capacity, the facility should be able to process 500 bone-dry tons daily with significantly higher yields.
Optimization to the BFCC unit will include integration of next-generation catalysts. &ldquo;We have relationships with multiple catalyst suppliers and work closely with them to manufacture our catalyst while guarding our intellectual property,&rdquo; Cannon says. &ldquo;Our world-class team of scientists works around the clock on different types of catalysts along with tweaks on existing platforms.&rdquo;
At KiOR&rsquo;s research and development facilities in Pasadena, the company has multiple hydrotreaters that it uses to conduct research. More specifically, Cannon says, KiOR is building optimization know-how that yields minimum volumes of fuel oil and off-spec product.
Furthermore, the company intends to reduce its natural gas consumption at the Columbus facility through more heat integration throughout the plant and, in the case of natural gas used for hydrogen generation, reduced consumption of hydrogen at the hydrotreater itself. &ldquo;More broadly, wherever natural gas is solely used for heat duty, it can be replaced with biomass, like in the case of biomass-powered dryers and other sorts of technology present in the forest products industry today,&rdquo; Cannon says.
He continues, &ldquo;We expect the various projects&mdash;which we have determined are necessary to optimize the facility based on our operating experience and learnings over the last year&mdash;will require approximately $10 million of capital investment over the course of 2014. We are actively pursuing a number of ways to finance this project.&rdquo;
The successful execution of KiOR&rsquo;s optimization efforts in Columbus is critical to getting future plants financed, including the Columbus II project, which seeks to replicate the optimized Columbus facility at the same location. Bigger yet, KiOR is looking at developing its flagship facility, scaled at three times the size of its Columbus plant, in Natchez, Miss.
&ldquo;KiOR&rsquo;s process works, and it works well, based on thousands of hours of research and development at our lab, pilot- and demonstration-scale facilities in Pasadena,&rdquo; Cannon says. Since its inception, KiOR&rsquo;s pilot facility has accrued more than 10,000 hours of operation and evaluated more than 250 catalyst systems. Its demonstration plant has 400 times the processing capacity of its pilot plant and produces 15 barrels of renewable crude a day.
The company&rsquo;s &ldquo;copy exact&rdquo; strategy is not quite what it seems, though. Rather than duplicating the Columbus facility, which contains the BFCC technology to convert woody biomass to renewable crude and hydrotreating to upgrade the crude oil to diesel and gasoline, the &ldquo;copy exact&rdquo; strategy intends to develop multiple BFCC facilities that deliver renewable crude oil to a centralized upgrading processing plant.
&nbsp;&ldquo;Developing a new technology is always a challenge, and we are learning more about our technology every day,&rdquo; Cannon says. &ldquo;Our commitment to innovation and research and developments has been, and will continue to be, what drives our progress and success.&rdquo;
When asked what advice he could share with other cellulosic biofuel project developers from experiences gained in commercial scale up, Cannon says he has nothing to add. &ldquo;Let them learn the hard way like we have,&rdquo; he says. As for what the company has learned in its commercial experiences to optimize its own production, Cannon says, &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve learned that creating a strong foundation is the best way to generate sustainable, long-term success. We&rsquo;ve learned that continued research and development efforts are a great way to improve yields, operational efficiency and the economics for our existing and future commercial facilities.&rdquo; Author: Ron Kotrba Editor, Biodiesel Magazine rkotrba@bbiinternational.com 218-745-8347

LEARNING CURVE: KiOR's 15 MMgy cellulosic gasoline and diesel plant in Columbus, Miss., has been operating for a year, but at far less than capacity. A series of optimization efforts are scheduled to boost performance, yield and output. 

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BIOMASS TRANSFER:   When operating at nameplate capacity, the Columbus facility should be able to process 500 bone-dry tons a day of Southern Yellow Pine. 

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MOVING PRODUCT:  In the fourth quarter of last year, KiOR moved 385,000 gallons of product, including cellulosic gasoline, diesel and fuel oil. This was more than half its production for all of 2013. 

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Learning while producing, KiOR plans to invest another $10 million to maximize production at its commercial-scale cellulosic biofuel plant in Mississippi. The company is building a foundation of operational and R&D experience for long-term success. 

Optimization Outlays

The year 1970 marked a distinct turning point in the way Americans view the environment.&nbsp; Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson, along with concerned citizens across the country, began the Earth Day movement that changed America&rsquo;s priorities for the next 44 years. The creation of Earth Day on April 22, 1970, began to shift the way we think about environmental policies, forcing us to consider the ecological consequences of fossil fuel production and the clean energy potential of renewable fuels. Flash forward to today. It&rsquo;s now 2014 and the push for clean renewable fuels is in full swing. Ethanol has taken off and is now blended into 97 percent of U.S. gasoline, effectively replacing 476 million barrels of imported oil. A new study conducted by Life Cycle Associates, and commissioned by the Renewable Fuels Association, recently found that, &ldquo;As the average carbon intensity of petroleum is gradually increasing, the carbon intensity of corn ethanol is declining.&rdquo; The study delves deeper into the numbers, finding that corn ethanol reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 32 percent compared to gasoline, including indirect land use change. Additionally, corn ethanol reduces GHG emissions by 37 percent compared to tight oil from fracking and 40 percent compared to tar sands. Sen. Nelson would have been proud of these environmental enhancing accomplishments. But we won&rsquo;t stop there. Out of the different feedstocks that produce ethanol, cellulosic is the least carbon intensive of all. Therefore, as we expand and move toward a cleaner, greener future, the commercial success of cellulosic ethanol is critical to both political and market success for all renewables. As we speak, Ineos Bio is producing ethanol out of vegetative, yard and municipal solid waste. Abengoa BioEnergy and Poet-DSM are expected to start cellulosic ethanol production early this year. Additional facilities are under construction including DuPont Cellulosic Ethanol and Quad County Corn Processors&rsquo; bolt-on facility. While we see success both in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and advancement into next generation biofuels, the ethanol industry is under attack today. The U.S. EPA is pushing to reduce the levels of ethanol blended into gasoline. The 2007 passage of the Energy Independence and Security Act led to dramatic expansion of corn-based ethanol. That success laid the foundation for the advancements in cellulosic and advanced ethanol. We will continue fighting to keep the renewable fuel standard at the levels Congress intended so there is stability and growth in the ethanol market and increased investment in next-generation biofuels. Sen. Nelson stated on the 25th anniversary of Earth Day, "The opportunity for a gradual but complete break with our destructive environmental history and a new beginning is at hand&hellip;. We can measure up to the challenge if we have the will to do so&mdash;that is the only question. I am optimistic that this generation will have the foresight and the will to begin the task of forging a sustainable society." Yes, Sen. Nelson, we are up to the challenge. Is the EPA?
Author: Bob Dinneen President and CEO, Renewable Fuels Association 202-289-3835

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The success of cellulosic ethanol is critical to the success of all renewables. We will continue fighting to keep the renewable fuel standard at the levels Congress intended to maintain market stability and increase investment in next-gen biofuels. 

Moving Toward a Clean  and Renewable Future  

Time and again, we have heard the claims about how ethanol is the cause of rising food prices. The ethanol industry has been accused of driving up costs for everything from chicken wings to tortillas. Some of these tall tales have even gained traction in the press. Big Oil and some food special interest groups continue to use misinformation to try to convince consumers that they are paying higher prices for food because of the renewable fuel standard (RFS) despite the facts. Corn, the major feedstock for U.S. ethanol production, is only a fraction of overall food and grain costs. For every $1 spent at the grocery store, more than 85.5 cents goes to pay for secondary operations such as processing, packaging and marketing. The less than 15.5 cents remaining goes to farmers and, of that, about 3 pennies to corn producers. Digging deeper, it is obvious the falsehoods about the price of food are even more off base. No. 2 yellow corn used in the ethanol process is primarily used for livestock and poultry feed. Ethanol production uses only the starch from the corn kernel and for every bushel of corn used to produce ethanol, 33 percent goes back into the livestock feed chain in the form of a high-protein, competitively priced animal feed product.&nbsp; This coproduct replaces corn and soybean acreage that would otherwise be devoted to animal feed production. According to analysis by Air Improvement Resource Inc., only 17.5 percent of net corn acres are used to produce ethanol, not the 40 percent claimed by the antiethanol crowd. So, if corn isn&rsquo;t driving the cost of food, as special interest groups would like you to believe, what is? Well, the answer is quite simple&mdash;energy costs. According to the World Bank, United Nations, USDA and countless other objective economic studies, energy costs are the leading contributor to rising food prices. Ethanol is actually reducing fuel costs for consumers and renewable fuels can help constrain the energy costs associated with food production, processing and merchandizing, while reducing our addiction to foreign oil. &nbsp; The consumer price index for food since the RFS was implemented in 2008 has very closely tracked the increases in the overall index, growing at about 3 percent per year. In 2014, the indices are expected to continue to grow at similar rates. Consumer gasoline prices, however, have increased by more than 25 percent on average per year over the same period. In effect, consumers are getting hit twice by high fuel prices. First, they pay for the gasoline they need for family transportation. Then, they pay higher prices for the food they purchase because of energy costs.&nbsp; Food costs will only drop if Big Food is willing to pass a portion of its high profits on to the consumers. Despite their accusations of unbearable food costs resulting from our renewable energy policy, the National Restaurant Association acknowledged its members have a long record of growth, and expect to reach $683.4 billion in sales in 2014 alone, nearly double their sales in 2000.&nbsp; The most damaging fact to Big Oil&rsquo;s and Big Food&rsquo;s false claims is the price of corn itself. Though outside factors, such as adverse weather, can cause price spikes from time to time, farm prices for corn have historically been near the cost of production and the current year is no exception to this trend. Don&rsquo;t be fooled, the oil and food industries that seek to limit consumer options at the pump and abolish the renewable fuel standard are doing so to protect their control over our food and energy markets, plain and simple. When you peel back all the rhetoric and hype, this is simply a battle about market share&mdash;no more, no less, and Big Oil and Big Food will say and do anything to maintain their record profits and near monopolistic control. When the truth is laid out in an open and honest fashion, consumers should realize they don&rsquo;t have to choose between high quality, affordable food and renewable energy that is reducing their gas bills. First-generation ethanol reduces our dependence on foreign oil, revitalizes our rural communities, improves our environment and employs nearly 400,000 workers while driving down fuel costs for consumers. The next generation will make an even greater impact. America&rsquo;s farm families will continue to feed us while American workers in the U.S. ethanol industry produce the fuel to power our cars. Author: Tom Buis CEO, Growth Energy 202-545-4000 tbuis@growthenergy.org

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First-generation ethanol reduces our dependence on foreign oil, revitalizes our rural communities, improves our environment and employs nearly 400,000 workers while driving down fuel costs. The next generation will make an even greater impact.  

The Real Cost of Food

The U.S. EPA&rsquo;s decision to propose a 2014 renewable fuel standard (RFS) below the statutorily mandated volumes has generated vigorous debate. For those in the ethanol industry, it is important to understand the legal objections to EPA&rsquo;s proposal, not just the public policy objections, because the legal arguments may determine the outcome of the dispute and set the legal precedent that limits the agency&rsquo;s ability to adjust the RFS in the future.
Section 211(o)(2)(B) of the Clean Air Act expressly states the RFS mandated volume of renewable fuel to be included in gasoline: The total for 2014 is 18.15 billion gallons. However, section 211(o)(7)(A)(ii) provides a &ldquo;general waiver&rdquo; authority under which the EPA may modify these amounts if &ldquo;there is an inadequate domestic supply.&rdquo;
On Nov. 29, the EPA proposed reducing the total renewable fuel volume to 15.21 billion gallons. EPA specifically found that there was an &ldquo;inadequate domestic supply&rdquo; and asserted the phrase is ambiguous. According to EPA, this ambiguity empowers the agency to consider not only the production of renewable fuels, but also &ldquo;factors affecting the ability to distribute, blend, dispense and consume those renewable fuels&rdquo; when assessing supply. Relying on this broader interpretation, EPA contends that current limitations regarding the ability to incorporate ethanol fuels into gasoline for consumers (the ethanol blend wall) justify the proposed volumetric reductions.
Iowa Attorney General Thomas J. Miller submitted comments to the proposal outlining several objections to EPA&rsquo;s interpretation of the waiver authority, based on the well-known Chevron test used by the courts to assess a federal agency&rsquo;s interpretation of a statute: 1) If the statute is clear, the court must enforce the law&rsquo;s unambiguous language; and 2) If the statute is not clear, the agency&rsquo;s interpretation must be permissible.&nbsp;
Miller argues that the statute unambiguously prohibits EPA from considering the distribution capacity of blended fuel. Under section 211(o)(7)(A)(ii), the term &ldquo;supply&rdquo; unambiguously refers to the &ldquo;quantity of renewable fuel&rdquo; required under section 211(o)(2). Therefore, in order to reduce the RFS for total renewable fuel, EPA must find that there is an &ldquo;inadequate domestic supply&rdquo; of &ldquo;renewable fuel.&rdquo; The term &ldquo;renewable fuel&rdquo; means &ldquo;fuel that is produced from renewable biomass&rdquo; and &ldquo;used to replace or reduce the quantity of fossil fuel present in a transportation fuel.&rdquo; Because this definition does not include &ldquo;blended fuel,&rdquo; EPA cannot consider the distribution capacity of blended fuel when assessing the adequacy of the &ldquo;supply.&rdquo; This interpretation is buttressed by the fact that the term &ldquo;distribution capacity&rdquo; is expressly included in other parts of section 211, as well as legislative history demonstrating that the U.S. Senate removed the term &ldquo;distribution capacity&rdquo; from the legislation.
To the second point, Miller further argues EPA&rsquo;s interpretation is not permissible. The purpose of enacting the RFS is &ldquo;to move the United States towards greater energy independence and security&rdquo; and &ldquo;to increase the production of clean renewable fuels.&rdquo; The statutory RFS achieves these objectives by incrementally increasing renewable fuel volumes so that the fuel industry may adapt. By lowering the RFS due to distribution capacity rather than supply, EPA manipulates this framework and undermines the statutory objective of changing the country&rsquo;s fuel composition.
Anticipating the objections to its interpretation of the waiver authority, the EPA provided preemptive counterarguments. The agency disputes that &ldquo;supply&rdquo; modifies only the renewable fuel categories in section 211(o)(2), and asserts that the word &ldquo;is best understood in terms of the person or place using the product.&rdquo; Accordingly, EPA contends that it may consider factors that affect the &ldquo;supply&rdquo; of renewable fuel before it reaches &ldquo;consumers.&rdquo; EPA distinguishes other subsections of the statute that include a mandate to consider &ldquo;distribution capacity,&rdquo; and argues these provisions highlight the ambiguity in section 211(o)(7)(A)(ii). EPA also dismisses the legislative history of section 211(o)(7)(A)(ii) as having minimal &ldquo;interpretative value&rdquo; because there is no explanation accompanying the Senate&rsquo;s alteration of the operative provisions during the legislative process.
The 2014 RFS rule may bring disputes regarding EPA&rsquo;s authority to alter the statutorily mandated renewable fuel volumes to a head. Other aspects, such as the advanced biofuels mandate, are also generating serious legal and public policy pushback. Given that EPA&rsquo;s critics have solid legal arguments, the final rule may prompt a judicial response that impacts the agency&rsquo;s discretion when setting renewable fuel volumes in the future. Iowa&rsquo;s attorney general has left the door open to that possibility. Miller has had considerable success leading multistate litigation in his eight terms as a state attorney general.
Author: Alexander Logemann Associate, Faegre Baker Daniels LLP environmental group 303-607-3748 alexander.logemann@FaegreBD.com
Contributing Author: Andrew Ehrlich, principal, Faegre Baker Daniels Consulting&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
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Given the solid legal arguments of the EPA's critics, the final RVO rule may prompt a judicial response that impacts the agency's discretion when setting volumes in the future. Iowa's attorney general has left the door open to that possibility.

Legal Argument Challenges  EPA Authority to Change RFS

Lignin has long been considered an abundant, low-value byproduct of pulp and paper milling, and somewhat of a burden to biorefining, but Lignol&rsquo;s Mike Rushton remains confident that the substance is poised for new and higher uses. As research is conducted globally to find ways to mitigate the challenges of separating lignin from the most prized parts of biomass&mdash;cellulosic sugars&mdash;Rushton says industrial buyers are ready and waiting for big volumes of a super clean product no one is currently making.
&ldquo;There aren&rsquo;t any commercial producers of high-purity lignin, and we aren&rsquo;t one either, yet,&rdquo; Rushton admits. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re aspiring to be.&rdquo;
So for now, the most common use for existing lignins remains decidedly low-tech&mdash;it&rsquo;s often a boiler fuel for mills and biorefineries&mdash;but the promise of large volumes of new and better lignin products, along with a plethora of markets for them, is alive and well. In North Carolina, researchers have developed an inexpensive technique for removing lignin from plant material used to make ethanol. In Belgium, scientists are modifying the lignin in poplar trees, through biosynthesis, to more readily extract sugars. And in Finland, one company is developing ways to isolate lignin and produce myriad products from the ubiquitous organic substance.
Years ago, before the current swell of lignin research began, Lignol Energy Corp. and its wholly owned subsidiary Lignol Innovations Ltd. introduced the American biofuels industry to the enticing idea of high-purity lignin as a coproduct of cellulosic ethanol production. While ethanol is no longer LIL&rsquo;s target, the Burnaby, British Columbia-based company remains committed to its vision of building an industrial-scale biorefinery: a plant that would consume wood and turn out large quantities of high-purity lignin and biobased chemicals.
Rushton calls the company&rsquo;s process its &ldquo;big differentiator&rdquo; because it allows lignin to emerge as a pure product that&rsquo;s distinct from lignins produced through conventional pulp and paper milling and even other biorefinering techniques. The characteristics of lignin are determined by how it is extracted from biomass, chemically. LIL uses an organic solvent rather than an inorganic one, Rushton says, and the company&rsquo;s process operates in a mildly acidic pH range rather than running at high alkalinity. &ldquo;The lignin we make is quite different from other lignins that are out there,&rdquo; he says, explaining that most lignins produced from the kraft and sulfite pulping processes contain sulfur and inorganic materials&mdash;sodium, magnesium and calcium&mdash;that are baked into the product. &ldquo;Our lignin contains virtually no sulfur and very low ash content.&rdquo;
According to the International Lignin Institute, between 40 million and 50 million tons of lignin are produced globally each year, mostly as noncommercial waste. Rushton says there are, in fact, sulfur-free lignins on the market today that are exclusively made by pulp and paper mills using sulfite processes. While those products are relatively free of sulfur, they&rsquo;re not absent of other inorganics. &ldquo;Sulfur isn&rsquo;t the only issue, nor the only obstacle,&rdquo; Rushton says, explaining that the value of lignin is relative to its end-use compatibilities. &ldquo;The name of the game with lignin is to find applications where the product will work with other chemicals in varied formulations. Typically using it as a substitute for petrochemicals is the main goal.&rdquo;
In industrial terms, lignin is an aromatic compound made of benzene rings, varied molecular structures that typically have six carbon atoms surrounded by six hydrogen atoms. &ldquo;Different types of plants contain different types of lignin,&rdquo; Rushton says. &ldquo;These structures vary a lot, and they&rsquo;re ultimately responsible for how lignin behaves.&rdquo;
The appearance and consistency of lignin are also quite variable and highly contingent on process. Kraft lignin is brown in color and has the consistency of powdered instant coffee. &ldquo;Its particle size is typically around 20 microns, so it&rsquo;s quite fine,&rdquo; Rushton says, adding that the so-called organosolv lignin that results from LIL&rsquo;s process is also a brown powder. Lignosulfonates&mdash;a product that comes out of sulfite pulping processes&mdash;is water soluble and the type of lignin sold in the largest volumes globally.
While the markets for future lignin products are nearly endless, using high-purity lignin as a petrochemical substitution in resin manufacturing is particularly promising. Phenolic resins, or phenol formaldehydes, which are produced from benzene and natural gas, are used in a wide range of products including coatings, adhesives and molding compounds. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a product with a fairly high carbon footprint, so if you could substitute high volumes of phenol with lignin, you could produce a much greener product,&rdquo; Rushton says. &ldquo;But you have to be able to do it at a competitive price and without loss of performance. That&rsquo;s the opportunity we&rsquo;re working on.&rdquo;
With a virtual sea of applications awaiting high-purity lignin in manufacturing, material science, agriculture and even human health industries, the market opportunity is huge. &ldquo;It is certainly a billion-dollar business, and probably bigger than that,&rdquo; Rushton says. &ldquo;We see the market for our lignin being hundreds of thousands of tons per year in a short time. Once we have the material available, there are lots of places where we believe we&rsquo;ll be able to sell it&mdash;where it will be a good substitute for petrochemicals at a competitive price.&rdquo;
Still on path to commercial-scale production, LIL continues to share its lignin with collaborators. Starting in 2009, the company built up large lignin inventories through production campaigns at its Burnaby demonstration plant, which remains operational. &ldquo;The next step is to build a large-scale plant, which we are hoping to do with partners,&rdquo; Ruston says. &ldquo;We have quite a few active project opportunities at the moment.&rdquo;
If and when LIL&rsquo;s large-scale plant gets built, it will likely consume 300 to 400 tons of woody biomass and produce about 20,000 tons of lignin per year. As many as 30 companies worldwide have tested LIL&rsquo;s lignins, including Kingspan, a manufacturer of rigid foam insulation; Huntsman, a maker of polyurethanes; and AJ International, a producer of resins used in the foundry industry. &ldquo;Almost universally, they&rsquo;re waiting for us to be able to sell them the stuff,&rdquo; Rushton says. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the hurdle for us. To develop a commercial supply.&rdquo;
Author: Tom Bryan Editor In Chief, Ethanol Producer Magazine tbryan@bbiinternational.com 701-738-4916

The characteristics of each lignin product are variable and contingent on process. Lignolâ€™s product is light brown and about the consistency of powdered instant coffee.   

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Lignol began running its demonstration-scale biorefinery in 2009. Multiple years of production enabled the company to produce ample inventories of 
high-purity lignin, which the company now shares with collaborators.     

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Still seeking commercial-scale opportunities, Lignol continues to collaborate with companies that are eager to buy high-purity lignin in bulk. Is this abundant byproduct of pulp and paper milling and biorefining poised for new and higher uses?      

Lignin's Big Leap

The board of directors of the Neb-raska Corn Board has selected Kelly Brunkhorst to serve as the organization&rsquo;s new executive director, effective July 30. He will replace Don Hutchens, who will retire after holding the position for 27 years. Brunkhorst currently serves as the director of research for the Nebraska Corn Board. He began working for the organization in 2004 after serving as the vice president of operations and education for the Nebraska Grain &amp; Feed Association. During his employment with the Nebraska Corn Board, Brunkhorst's work included research, grant writing, seed industry and first purchaser relations, and leadership on issues related to transportation, industrial uses for corn, domestic and international markets. He has also represented the board on national research, production and stewardship committees, in addition to being chosen to participate in two national strategic planning initiatives.
Vecoplan Integrated Controls has added Henry Gilliland to its electrical engineering team. Gilliland graduated from North Carolina State University in 2012 and brings three years of practical experience to his new position. He worked on a co-op basis at Highland Industries while earning his degree and later worked as a full-time engineer with the company. His responsibilities include working with senior engineers to coordinate the design and development of individual machine control panels and turnkey integrated control systems for industrial processing lines and manufacturing plants.
Aventine Renewable Energy Inc. has named Pam Cooksey as purchasing manager of its 165 MMgy wet mill and dry mill ethanol plants in Pekin, Ill. Prior to joining Aventine, Cooksey spent 20 years with Tate &amp; Lyle in Lafayette, Ind. Her responsibilities included purchasing capital expenditures equipment and negotiating contracts and contractor labor rates on a national and global level. She also spent 13 years at Archer Daniels Midland Co., where she worked in purchasing for the corn sweetener division.
Lallemand Biofuels &amp; Distilled Spirits, a global provider of fermentation ingredients to the fuel and beverage alcohol industries, has appointed Angus Ballard as its new general manager. Ballard joined Lallemand in 2002 as director of operations for the North America Baker&rsquo;s Yeast division and then transitioned into the role of corporate director of procurement and supply chain for Lallemand Inc. in 2007. He has 18 years of experience in the yeast industry and has most recently been responsible for Lallemand&rsquo;s Global Dry Yeast export business.
DuPont has joined the Advanced Ethanol Council. The company&rsquo;s commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facility is currently under construction in Nevada, Iowa. Once complete, the 33 MMgy facility will utilize a fully integrated end-to-end production system that will be available to license globally. DuPont also operates a demonstration facility in Vonore, Tenn., that has confirmed the economics of its biomass procurement strategy and demonstrated the value proposition of its technology.
Garner Industries, manufacturer of BinMaster inventory management systems and bin level indicators, has promoted Jenny Christensen to vice president of marketing for both the Garner and BinMaster divisions. She is responsible for driving the company&rsquo;s brand strategy and revenue growth through new products and the use of innovative marketing platforms to expand the company&rsquo;s diverse customer base. Christensen joined Garner in 2008 as director of marketing.
Rail Safe Training Inc. has hired John Licht has market director. The&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; organization provides training for a variety of professions, including those involved in transload operations, unit train operations, and agricultural rail terminals. Licht&rsquo;s experience includes transload terminal site development, industrial and military railway training and safety programs.
The NCERC at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville has expanded its research team with the addition of Arun Athmanathan, a postdoctoral fellow specializing in cellulosic and advanced biofuels research. He has experience in the characterization and fermentation of many cellulosic and advanced feedstocks, including corn stover and sweet sorghum bagasse.

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Business Briefs

Debate rages over the renewable fuel standard (RFS) that mandates the use of biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. At the same time, we have had a market mandate for fossil fuels, in particular gasoline, for more than 100 years because there was no competition. We have gone from sending ships out from Nantucket, Mass., to kill whales for their oil to burning million-year-old dead vegetation buried deep in the earth in the form of oil and coal. It doesn&rsquo;t seem like much progress has been made in terms of energy, but in reality, it&rsquo;s the natural progression of things. The sun can generate more power than we could ever use and creates the wind that can generate enormous energy when harnessed. There are billions of tons of biomass energy that go largely untapped and powerful oceans that create enough energy to stagger the imagination. Yet, we plod along, debating whether we should mandate the use of renewable fuels like ethanol and biodiesel as if that were really important in the scheme of things. The world is heating up, and anyone who thinks that human activity is not at the root of that trend is simply ignoring science. It&rsquo;s time to think big, to think on a global scale, to stop focusing on the gnat on the table when there is an elephant standing in the corner. Ethanol is a transitional fuel, just like fossil fuels have provided a transition from whale oil and wood. But first, we have to let go of the past and accept the transition to a new era of renewable, cleaner energy. At some point in the future, the ethanol industry may even have to accept the eventual transition from corn-based ethanol to cellulosic ethanol and, eventually, to an entirely new type of fuel altogether. It&rsquo;s natural to cling to the past, but it&rsquo;s time to let go, open our arms to the future and embrace the wonderful energy gifts that nature has laid at our feet&mdash;the sun, the wind, the oceans, biomass and geothermal energy. I imagine our great-great-grandchildren will wonder why we continued to pollute their earth with fossil fuels when there was so much clean energy at our disposal. They will be amazed at our lack of energy ingenuity, just as we are stunned that we actually killed whales by the thousands for their oil. In time, automobiles can and will be powered with electricity generated by nature&rsquo;s clean resources. It&rsquo;s time to get past the debate about the RFS and accept the fact that ethanol and biodiesel are just logical steps in the energy transition from where we are today, to where we need to be tomorrow. That&rsquo;s the way I see it!
Author: Mike Bryan Chairman, BBI International mbryan@bbiinternational.com

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We've had a petroleum fuels mandate for 100 years. It's time to get past the RFS debate and accept the fact that ethanol and biodiesel are just logical steps in the energy transition from where we are today to where we need to be tomorrow

It's Time to Focus on the Elephant in the Corner

Finally, it&rsquo;s about to happen. Two of America&rsquo;s first big cellulosic ethanol plants&mdash;the kind we&rsquo;ve all been waiting years to see&mdash;are now substantially finished and in startup. I don&rsquo;t want to jinx their commissioning by overstating their completion, but Abengoa Bioenergy and Poet-DSM Advanced Biofuels&mdash;and later, DuPont&mdash;will be producing big volumes of ethanol from corn residue this year. &nbsp; Taking nothing away from the accomplishments of other cellulosic ethanol plants now operating or being commissioned, the sheer size of these high-profile facilities in Iowa and Kansas simply merits excitement. As we report in &ldquo;<a href="http://www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/10783/early-risers">Early Risers</a>,&rdquo; by the end of the second quarter, both Abengoa and Poet-DSM will have their plants online&mdash;producing 25 million gallons apiece&mdash;and America will be on its way to producing 50 million to 60 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol annually. DuPont is expected to follow, adding another 30 million gallons of capacity by year&rsquo;s end. History tells us it won&rsquo;t be simple. To date, there have only been a few large-scale cellulosic biofuel plants commissioned worldwide, and each has faced steep operational hurdles. The Beta Renewables&rsquo; cellulosic ethanol plant in Crescentino, Italy, and Ineos Bio&rsquo;s Indian River BioEnergy Center, for example, continue to wade through optimization challenges.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; For context, we offer &ldquo;<a href="http://www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/10782/optimization-outlays">Optimization Outlays</a>,&rdquo; which examines the scale-up learning curve that&rsquo;s being experienced by KiOR in Columbus, Miss. It&rsquo;s not ethanol that KiOR makes, but rather cellulosic gasoline and diesel fuel from Southern Yellow Pine. We report that the company is working to increase the operational output of its plant, and from the look of its fourth-quarter production numbers, making progress.&nbsp; Examining other advanced biofuel aspirations, we profile two companies employing widely different approaches to produce sugars for next-generation ethanol. &ldquo;<a href="http://www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/10781/the-sugar-producers">The Sugar Producers</a>,&rdquo; explains that Sweetwater Energy and Proterro are pursuing unrelated platforms that strive for similar ends: supplementing ethanol plant fermentation broths with sugar water. Sweetwater has offtake agreements in place with ethanol plants and is much further along than Proterro, but both platforms are promising.&nbsp; Finally, this month, we revisit the company that essentially introduced the U.S. biofuels industry to the latent value of high-purity lignin. In &ldquo;<a href="http://www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/10780/ligninundefineds-big-leap">Lignin&rsquo;s Big Leap</a>,&rdquo; we report that Canada-based Lignol Innovations Ltd. is still intent on scaling up its biorefining process and creating a market for its super-clean lignin. But like so many other biobased products, the real challenge is not selling the stuff, but making it. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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It's about to happen. Two of America's first big cellulosic ethanol plants—the kind we've all been waiting years to see—are now substantially finished and in startup. Abengoa, Poet-DSM will be producing large volumes soon. DuPont will soon follow.  

Here We Go 

Fundamentally, ethanol production is about feeding the insatiable sweet tooth of the actual ethanol producer&mdash;yeast. Two companies using widely different approaches, Sweetwater Energy Inc. and Proterro Inc., are pursuing business models to supplement fermentation broths with sugar water. Sweetwater promises to soon deliver C5 and C6 sugars derived from cellulosic feedstocks while Proterro intends to bring ethanol producers sucrose produced by its patented cyanobacteria. Sweetwater is reaching the commercialization stage, with a demonstration plant in place at its Rochester, N.Y., headquarters. The company has teamed up with Naturally Scientific Technologies Ltd. to build a commercial facility in the Eastman Business Park in Rochester. The details of the project are close to finalization and construction could begin soon.
Simultaneously, Sweetwater expects to break ground this spring on a commercial-scale facility in Wisconsin, followed by two others. The company has signed long-term offtake agreements with Ace Ethanol LLC in Stanley, Wis., Front Range Energy LLC in Windsor, Colo., and Pacific Ethanol Stockton LLC, in Stockton, Calif. It has completed the permitting process for a facility to be located on 10 acres next to Ace Ethanol, and the land purchase was being finalized in January. A petition to create a pathway for the cellulosic sugars-to-ethanol process has been filed with the U.S. EPA.&nbsp; CEO Arunas Chesonis says the Wisconsin project represents $25 million in capital investment and will employ around 15 people, producing cellulosic sugars that will displace up to 7 percent of Ace Ethanol&rsquo;s corn purchases. Permitting for the other two projects will begin this spring. While the facility in Colorado will be in the same business park as Front Range, a site has not been finalized in California, although it will be within 50 miles of the Stockton-based ethanol plant. All of the plants are located in areas with multiple feedstocks. &ldquo;You want to be in places where you can get different kinds of woods and the climate allows different feedstocks,&rdquo; Chesonis says, explaining that Sweetwater&rsquo;s process is feedstock neutral.
Sweetwater is using cellulosic pretreatment technology from Denmark-based BioGasol ApS that uses a dilute acid, he explains. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a pretty good system for reducing particle size that allows us to not to have to use heavy acids or very high temperatures.&rdquo; That is followed by enzymatic hydrolysis, using enzymes developed by others. Sweetwater&rsquo;s proprietary technology lies in the separation of C5 and C6 sugars. &ldquo;We squeeze out the C5s right in the first hour of the process, and then spend the next two or three days breaking out the C6s from the fiber and the lignin,&rdquo; Chesonis says.&nbsp; Ethanol producers are expected to initially use just the easily fermentable C6 sugars. &ldquo;If Ace doesn&rsquo;t have a cofermenting yeast it is comfortable with, getting the same economics as the one used today, and it doesn&rsquo;t have the acceptance by the folks who they sell their DDGS to, then we&rsquo;ll take the C5 out,&rdquo; he explains. That will drop the corn displacement from 7 to about 5 percent, he adds. The C5 fraction will initially be shipped to New York to be used in the Naturally Scientific process, until a customer base for cellulosic sugars is built. Sweetwater intends to build production facilities to serve multiple customers.
The $250 million joint venture with Naturally Scientific has other synergies. For one, Sweetwater will be supplying its cellulosic sugars to Naturally Scientific to convert into higher-value oils for use as feedstocks for diesel or jet fuel production or in biochemical facilities. Both companies have tested their processes at demonstration scale&ndash;&ndash;Naturally Scientific&rsquo;s demo plant in Nottingham, U.K., has been operational for two years, and Sweetwater completed its demo in Rochester, N.Y., about a year ago. They also plan to build a commercial facility in Rochester, which Naturally Scientific will use to scale up its other new technology that converts carbon dioxide into C3 sugars.
As the final details for both the Wisconsin and New York projects are finalized, Chesonis says his team is making the final push on raising money. The company also expects to receive a loan guarantee through the export bank of Denmark, due to the use of Danish technology.&nbsp;
Raising capital and launching startups is not new to Chesonis. &ldquo;My [chief financial officer] and I raised $4 billion in our last company,&rdquo; he says, but then adds, &ldquo;Any time it&rsquo;s a new technology that hasn&rsquo;t been proven at scale yet, it&rsquo;s always a challenge.&rdquo; Chesonis comes from the telecommunications sector, where he led and sold two successful companies. He brought key executive officers with him when he took on the leadership at Sweetwater as they decided to shift focus to cleantech. One reason, he explains, was to avoid the sort of market dynamics that drove the telecomm prices down 75 percent over a decade, although commodity markets have their own headaches, he admits.
The company&rsquo;s goal is to be able to produce its sugars for 10 to 12 cents per pound and, including the return to investors, sell them for 17 to 18 cents per pound, Chesonis says. That will be competitive with the price of dextrose, which is in the low 20-cent range, although he adds his company is currently paying 25 to 30 cents per pound for dextrose to supplement its cellulosic sugars for Naturally Scientific&rsquo;s development work.&nbsp; Mimicking Nature Proterro&rsquo;s ambition is to provide an even lower-cost sugar. Its unique sugar platform harnesses the power of the sun in a photobioreactor where microbes convert carbon dioxide and nutrients into easily fermentable sucrose. CEO Kef Kasdin says the company&rsquo;s economic projections indicate a production cost around 5 cents per pound. A pilot facility with four full-size reactors has been in operation since fall in Orlando, Fla., collecting data to confirm those projections.
The Proterro bioreactor mimics a leaf by growing cyanobacteria microorganisms on a fabric surface, providing maximum exposure to sunlight while a thin layer of water and nutrients flows across the surface. The fabric is enclosed in a polyethylene balloon filled with air and carbon dioxide. At ambient temperatures, the cyanobacteria secrete sugars which are carried away in the flowing water. &ldquo;That sugar water could go directly into ethanol production or we may need to further concentrate it,&rdquo; Kasdin explains.
Using off-the-shelf components&mdash;plastic, the special fabric and plumbing&mdash;the capital cost for the photobioreactors is very different from the typical biorefinery system. The photobioreactors are low cost, and the entire investment in the research and development program has cost $9 million to date, according to Kasdin. &ldquo;It looks more like agriculture and not at all like a chemical plant,&rdquo; she adds. While the modular system is relatively simple, what will contribute to the cost is the number of photobioreactors needed and the land area to support them. Current estimates are that a system of photobioreactors would produce the same amount of sugar as sugarcane on one-thirtieth of the land.
With a minimum temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit needed for the microbes to be productive, the outdoor systems are not meant for winter climates. Power or chemical plants would be able to utilize waste CO2 in the systems. Kasdin says the sugar water produced in the South can be concentrated for shipment to northern ethanol plants, plus the company is looking at the Brazilian industry for potential customers. The advantages to the Proterro system will be its low cost and the modular approach that will allow incremental expansion, plus the ability to use waste carbon dioxide to produce a clean sucrose that contains no inhibitors.
As the pilot work continues, Proterro is now raising capital to finance a demonstration-scale project and looking for potential partners with waste carbon dioxide to host it. Proterro&rsquo;s R&amp;D efforts to date have been backed by Battelle Ventures, Braemar Energy Ventures, Cultivian Ventures and Middleland Capital. With patents in place on the latest designs and the demonstration phase approaching, the company is laying the groundwork to clear the regulatory hurdles. The use of a genetically modified organism requires preparing a Microbial Commercial Activity Notice for review by the EPA. The company will have to describe any potential problems should there be an accidental escape of organisms, although Kasdin says the cyanobacteria are quite safe, producing sugar and no toxins, and multiple conditions would have to be just right for them to survive outside the reactor. Future Thinking Both executives say that while the ethanol industry is their initial target, they are looking toward broader applications in the future. &ldquo;Ethanol&rsquo;s the big existing market for turning sugar into an industrial product,&rdquo; Kasdin explains. Others would include a number of second-generation fuels, biochemicals or even the production of amino acids for the feed market.
&ldquo;The people who have the volume now that can use cellulosic sugar on a drop-in basis are the ethanol guys,&rdquo; Chesonis agrees. While the ethanol industry can provide a base to build a supply and establish a price, the ultimate target is biobased chemical production. His vision is that his ethanol customers will be part of that transition. The initial agreements with the three ethanol producers call for displacing 7 percent of their feedstock with sweetwater, but he expects that will grow to 30 to 50 percent within a few years, and ultimately, the ethanol producers will redirect production into higher value chemicals. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the program for us, but that takes time,&rdquo; Chesonis says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re doing an aggressive research program here and at MIT where we come up with customized products with our sugars so that we can have that as [intellectual property], so we can convert people from ethanol to chemicals in the future. But that&rsquo;s another story.&rdquo; Author: Susanne Retka Schill Senior Editor, Ethanol Producer Magazine sretkaschill@bbiinternational.com 701-738-4922 &nbsp;

Sweetwater Energy hosted tours of its demonstration facility, incorporating a Wizard of Oz theme to lead guests along a yellow brick road with color-coded tanks. â€œIt helps people remember,â€� says CEO Arunas Chesonis. 

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Chief Technology Officer John Aikens, co-inventor of Proterro technology and a co-founder of the company, shows the bioreactor in collapsed form. 

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Proterroâ€™s photobioreactor is made from off-the-shelf components. The Orlando pilot can hold up to four full-size units that measure 5 meters long by 1 meter in diameter.  

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Sweetwater Energy and Proterro, two companies using widely different approaches, aim for low-cost sugar that may give today's corn ethanol plants a glide path into advanced ethanol production. They're in different stages, but share similar promise. 

The Sugar Producers

Early 1900s entrepreneur and business theorist Roger Babson said that people who wish to enjoy a good future should not waste the present. In that vein, the near-term prize of being first to market with large-scale cellulosic ethanol production belongs to the companies meeting plant construction milestones today. &nbsp;&nbsp; In the advanced biofuels sphere, no U.S. cellulosic ethanol projects have been watched more closely than those being built by Abengoa Bioenergy, Poet-DSM Advanced Biofuels and DuPont Industrial Biosciences. Together, these facilities now rise from the landscape of American corn country like prairie lighthouses beaconing an industry looking for new light. Abengoa&rsquo;s 25 MMgy cellulosic plant in Hugoton, Kan., began its construction in mid-2011 and was one of the first big Midwest cellulosic ethanol facilities to begin its commissioning process this year. &ldquo;We are just on the verge of a startup here,&rdquo; Christopher Standlee, executive vice president of Abengoa Bioenergy told EPM in late January. &ldquo;We started commissioning the boiler and electric cogeneration unit and sold our first power back to the grid on Dec. 27.&rdquo;
Beginning last summer, Abengoa drove especially hard to complete the build. &ldquo;Starting in about July, we had the big final push to get construction completed,&rdquo; Standlee said, adding that more than 1,000 construction workers were on site from July through December. He said it was awe-inspiring to attend morning safety meetings and see the entire workforce assembled, donned in hardhats and reflective vests. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a pretty massive undertaking.&rdquo; With primary construction complete, contractors were busy setting minor components, finishing up the electrical systems and&mdash;in the feedstock pretreatment and yeast propagation areas&mdash;completing panel instrumentation and controls, Standlee said. The plant began moving through its second phase, initiating the whole startup scenario, at the end of January. While going through its "ramp-up and debugging" period at press time, Abengoa was preparing to begin initial production runs, according to Standlee. For the most part, all major construction is complete, Standlee said. The next step for the facility is the commissioning process, which is expected to take some time. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;re going to finish our commissioning for a while,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;It could very well take a period of months.&rdquo;&nbsp; He expected the process would start in the first quarter of the year, probably in February. Another Q2 Start More than 500 miles northeast of the Abengoa facility, Poet-DSM&rsquo;s Project Liberty plant is standing tall amongst the prairie and farmland in Emmetsburg, Iowa. The 25 MMgy plant broke ground in early 2012 and is expected to be the second commercial-scale cellulosic plant to complete its construction and commissioning this year. Sitting adjacent to Poet&rsquo;s corn ethanol plant, the facility has taken shape over the past two years and is now beginning to tower over the Emmetsburg skyline. Since last year, the site has gone from having a few tanks and construction activities to resembling of a cellulosic plant, explained Steve Hartig, general manager of licensing at Poet-DSM. &ldquo;When you&rsquo;re in Emmetsburg, it kind of looms in the skyline,&rdquo; he said. Photographs of the site confirmed recent progress. Fermentation and enzymatic hydrolysis tanks were in place, and construction was being completed on the biomass receiving area where feedstock pretreatment occurs. Other components unique to the biorefinery were also in place in late January, including an anaerobic digester that handles the liquid waste stream from the ethanol process. As each project is finished, personnel begin the commissioning process on the unit, Hartig told EPM. The pretreatment machinery was being completed and undergoing some commissioning, such as powering up and functionality testing. The main hydrolysis and fermentation tanks were, for the most part, mechanically complete and had been filled with water to test the pumps and scan for leaks. As February approached, crews were focusing on the substantial completion of the plant&rsquo;s front-end pretreatment equipment, along with its solid fuel boiler and the anaerobic digester. The boiler and digester will utilize the liquid and solid waste streams to generate steam for both the cellulosic ethanol plant and the neighboring corn ethanol plant. &ldquo;Basically, the plant will be mechanically complete at about the end of [the first quarter of 2014], and we&rsquo;ll be starting up in Q2,&rdquo; Hartig said. &ldquo;As we finish a piece of the plant, we start doing the testing and the work on that piece. So it&rsquo;s kind of a rolling process.&rdquo; Nose to Grindstone&nbsp; More than a two-hour drive southeast from Emmetsburg, the DuPont cellulosic ethanol plant lays claim to the frosty, winter soil near Nevada, Iowa. The DuPont facility broke ground on a chilly November morning in 2012, and has moved through various construction stages since then. The plant, which is expected to be completed by midyear, will utilize 590,000 bales of corn stover each year to produce 30 MMgy of cellulosic ethanol. Rather than sharing frequent updates on its construction progress, DuPont has played its cards relatively close to the vest, concentrating more on internal benchmarks than external communications. &ldquo;I think the team is almost singly focused on getting this plant up and running in 2014 and meeting that milestone,&rdquo; said Wendy Rose, global public affairs leader at DuPont. The company is working with its teams&mdash;Fagen and KBR&mdash;to start producing cellulosic ethanol once the last pieces of the project are finished, she added. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re pretty happy that construction is continuing on track, and we&rsquo;re going to deliver this in 2014.&rdquo; As construction progresses, it certainly catches the attention of those passing though. &ldquo;Folks that are in the area, they drive by and say, &lsquo;Wow! This is incredible,&rsquo; because it is an enormous undertaking, and we have state-of-the-art technology going into this plant,&rdquo; said Rosen. The plant is still expected to finish construction in the fourth quarter of this year, Rosen told EPM. &ldquo;This team is incredibly focused on hitting these marks because all of that plays right into our capital expenditures here,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We did a groundbreaking when we said we were going to do it, and we&rsquo;ll see an opening when we said we would do it in 2014.&rdquo; Farmer Followings One of the most daunting tasks in creating a cellulosic facility might not be so much the technology and equipment challenges, but the procurement of feedstock. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve built numerous ethanol plants of our own and we know what the construction process is like,&rdquo; Standlee said. &ldquo;We know our technology works, we&rsquo;re comfortable with our ability to handle the product once it&rsquo;s there, but one of the biggest challenges is the massive amounts of feedstocks that you have to deal with.&rdquo; For the past four years, Abengoa had experts in Hugoton, negotiating and visiting with growers to develop a mutual understanding about how to be good stewards of the land and avoid overharvesting corn stover. &ldquo;We certainly don&rsquo;t want to spend hundreds of millions of dollars building a facility and shoot ourselves in the foot by having a farmer find out he&rsquo;s taking too much stover off his land and didn&rsquo;t leave enough to stop erosion and (needed to) leave some of the nitrogen and nutrients back in the soil,&rdquo; Standlee said. In addition to the summer construction push, Abengoa&rsquo;s other milestone was being able to harvest more than 100,000 tons of stover by the end of November. &ldquo;As you imagine, that is a massive amount of feedstock that required a lot of coordination to get it off the land and into some sort of storage. We&rsquo;re very proud of that milestone,&rdquo; Standlee said. Abengoa&rsquo;s plant is able to operate on less than 15 percent of the available corn stover within a 50-mile radius, which allows the facility to exist in a noncaptive market situation, he added. For Poet-DSM and DuPont, feedstock procurement has also been a massive, multiyear undertaking. A group called Poet Biomass has worked for Poet-DSM&rsquo;s outreach the past seven years to develop the stover collection procedures and has been stepping up its efforts each year to collect additional biomass, Hartig said. &ldquo;This year, we have about 200 farmers under contract to supply biomass and we&rsquo;ve harvested about 100,000 tons of biomass,&rdquo; he explainied. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s enough to get us really up and running through the next harvest. It&rsquo;s going well, but it&rsquo;s taken a lot of time because it&rsquo;s a new crop.&rdquo; Poet-DSM has established multiple lanes of outreach to local farmers in order to secure its corn stover. In addition to brochures and informational videos for farmers dropping off corn at the neighboring ethanol plant, the company has worked with university researchers to study corn stover harvesting and manages booths at local county fairs to meet growers and local residents. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a lot of different outreach, teaching and talking,&rdquo; Hartig said. Leveraging its existing grower relationships through Pioneer, DuPont also had a successful year securing corn stover for its cellulosic ethanol plant, with more than 200 farmers participating in its procurement process. &ldquo;This is our fourth harvest and we have had incredible responses year over year,&rdquo; Rosen said. &ldquo;The best thing I can say about it is that we practically have a 100 percent return rate on folks that have participated the year before.&rdquo; DuPont is on track to have enough feedstock supply once the plant opens. &ldquo;When we license this technology, a lot of potential licensees and customers will feel really solid about our expertise in the supply chain piece,&rdquo; Rosen said. &ldquo;That is a very complicated piece in this whole puzzle, which is figuring how to build a sustainable supply chain to fuel a plant that is going to be producing 30 million gallons of fuel per year. It&rsquo;s a big deal.&rdquo; Author: Chris Hanson Staff Writer, Ethanol Producer Magazine chanson@bbiinternational.com 701-738-4970

LAST LIFTS: Abengoa's cellulosic ethanol plant in Hugoton, Kan., began commissioning in February. Getting the job done, more than 1,000 construction workers were on site over the last six months of 2013. 

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Abengoa needs less than 15 percent of the corn residue available within about 50 miles of Hugoton, Kan. Both companies secured about 100,000 tons of biomass in the 2013-â€™14 harvest. 

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SHAPING UP:  Poet-DSM has secured corn residue from 200 farmers near Emmetsburg, Iowa. 

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Following multiyear feedstock procurement campaigns and vast investments of capital, resources and time, America's first big cellulosic ethanol plants are nearing startup. EPM examines the progress of the Abengoa, Poet-DSM and DuPont facilities.

Early Risers

When people talk about energy, particularly at the federal level, they think of electricity and transportation.&nbsp; In the northern states, those two large sectors account for about 65 percent of energy use.&nbsp; The other 35 percent&mdash;which is heat for homes and businesses&mdash; is often ignored in policy discussions.&nbsp;
 The reason this matters is that the heat in many homes is produced from burning imported petroleum-based fossil fuel in boilers or furnaces. For northern states that are dependent in part on heating oil and propane, the majority of every dollar spent on heating fuel leaves the regional economy, and much of that money spent on heating leaves the country.&nbsp;
 &nbsp;If heating oil were a product of U.S. petroleum, at least the money spent would stay in the country.&nbsp; But most of the heating oil refined in the U.S. for the northern markets is not. Only about 19 percent of the heating oil refined in the Gulf Coast refineries comes from petroleum extracted from U.S. wells At a price of $3.80 per gallon, FutureMetrics estimates that about 770,000 jobs are exported to the other countries that supply the petroleum for heating oil and some of the propane used to keep Northern Tier states&rsquo; homes and business warm.&nbsp; This estimate excludes areas that already heat with natural gas or electricity, and areas that are likely to get natural gas.
 A very optimistic scenario might suggest that by 2020, most urban centers will have natural gas.&nbsp; But that will leave a lot of homes and business on heating oil or propane.&nbsp; The pictured chart shows the number of rural households in the northern tier states that are not on natural gas, most of which will never have a natural gas connection.
 It would be irresponsible, given the current demands by the pulp and paper industry, to suggest that there is sufficient sustainable forest feedstock today to make pellets to heat 6 million homes.&nbsp; But the world is changing, and demand for fiber from our working forests for papermaking will change dramatically in the coming decade.&nbsp;
 We are already almost half way to having enough pellet fuel for 6 million homes.&nbsp; Currently, the U.S. produces nearly 10.4 million tons per year of wood pellets annually.&nbsp; Another 7.9 million tons of capacity is under construction or in the advanced development phase.&nbsp; Some of the existing production and almost all of the new capacity is earmarked for export into overseas markets.&nbsp; If those pellets were to stay here for our heating markets, they would heat almost 2.6 million homes.&nbsp;
 The conversion from petroleum-based heating fuel to premium wood pellet fuel has many benefits, which accrue from three key pathways that have positive multiplier effects: More than 75 percent of each dollar spent on heating oil does not stay in the local economy, and jobs are exported along with that money.&nbsp; Locally produced pellet fuel keeps almost 100 percent of every dollar spent circulating locally; pellet fuel is about half the price of heating oil for the same heating energy, and those savings increase the income that households and businesses have to spend in the local economy; the supply chain for harvesting, manufacturing and distributing sustainable biomass creates jobs.&nbsp;
 Additionally, the conversion of 6 million homes and businesses from heating oil and propane to wood pellets would reduce net carbon emissions in the U.S. by 81.6 million tons per year.
 The premium wood pellet sector can deliver lower end-user heating costs, a higher degree of energy independence, needed jobs from three important pathways, and can reduce carbon dioxide emissions while doing so. Author: William Strauss President, FutureMetrics <a href="mailto:williamstrauss@futuremetrics.com">williamstrauss@futuremetrics.com</a> 207-824-7428

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FutureMetrics' William Strauss outlines the many benefits expanded pellet heating could bring to the U.S.

The Multifaceted Benefits of Pellets

Seth Ginther is the biomass industry&rsquo;s best example of the adage &ldquo;no good deed goes unpunished.&rdquo; After he thoroughly impressed a group of legal clients in the Southeast, they formed the U.S. Industrial Pellet Association, and named him executive director. That was four years ago, and today, Ginther is the voice of the fastest-growing U.S. biomass segment, charged with promoting the value proposition embodied in the production and use of industrial wood pellets.
 When someone needs to speak with policymakers in European Parliament to help them understand the complex nuances of the North American forest products industry, Ginther goes. When large and small news outlets publish misleading articles or opinion pieces about the growing pellet export market and its impact on forests, Ginther responds. And when it becomes clear that making the case that repowering large coal assets with pellets is a viable approach to slowing climate change will be a mammoth task, Ginther digs in.
 Those familiar with Ginther and his experience do not find this surprising. While attending the University of Richmond&rsquo;s T.C. Williams School of Law, Ginther served as the editor-in-chief of the Richmond Journal of Law and Public Interest. Throughout a career peppered with experience serving as legal counsel to combined-heat-and-power, landfill gas, wood pellet and other renewable energy companies, Ginther has found himself hand-selected to take on a new challenge.
 In 2003, Ginther took a leave of absence from his law practice to accept a position to represent all state boards that reported to the secretaries of both finance and commerce and trade. Soon after, he was asked to sit on Virginia Gov.-elect Terry McAuliffe&rsquo;s Transition Council on Agriculture and Forestry Policy. Work has a way of finding its way to people who can get things done, and Ginther is no exception.
 To his credit, Ginther seems to derive energy from both his schedule and the varied tasks he performs. He is quick to attribute this to the professionals he works with and for saying, &ldquo;The most exciting aspect of my job is, without a doubt, the people that I get to work with on a regular basis.&nbsp; It starts with our members and extends to their customers, the regulators and politicians from diverse cultures that drive the policy behind this industry, those involved in the supply chain, and my counterparts at other trade associations we work with on a regular basis. Each one of these professionals is helping to blaze the trail that has enabled the industry to grow so quickly.&nbsp; I am constantly learning from them, and that is a real pleasure.&rdquo;
 As Ginther looks into the remainder of 2014, he expects he&rsquo;ll have to maintain his regular presence in the European policy theater. &ldquo;It will be a busy year for us,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;European policy remains extremely important, and we will continue to be on the ground in the U.K., Brussels, the Netherlands and Denmark.&rdquo;
 Ginther&rsquo;s steady presence in Europe is likely a reflection of his belief that despite the clarity of the benefits of using biomass as a coal replacement, those driving policy both here and abroad continue to hear from constituencies with different sentiments. Reflecting on the past year Ginther notes, &ldquo;I think the biggest lesson learned from 2013 is that we cannot take for granted the fact that everybody understands what our industry does, and the positive impact that we are having.&nbsp; Accordingly, we need to constantly be out there educating policymakers and the general public on what we do.&rdquo;
 It would be hard to classify the near-term outlook for industrial pellet producers in North America as anything but bright. Export figures rise with each passing quarter, and pellet offtakers in the U.K. and mainland Europe haven&rsquo;t even completed all of the planned retrofits and new construction that has created current demand. Still, Ginther knows that success often stokes the fires of contempt, and he and his organization&rsquo;s ability to clearly articulate their value proposition is tantamount.
 For now, Ginther continues to work and sharpen the industry&rsquo;s message.&nbsp; Quoting another lawyer, he says, &ldquo;Lincoln once said &lsquo;give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will use four sharpening the axe.&rsquo;&nbsp; Constant, measured preparation is the key to successful initiatives.&nbsp; If we are going to be active on an issue on behalf of the industry, we are going to make sure that we are prepared for any surprises, and correct course as needed in order to achieve our desired objective.&rdquo;
 Chris Wiberg
 Chris Wiberg had been working for a fuels lab for seven years when he attended a biomass conference in 2005, and something just clicked. &ldquo;The U.S. domestic pellet industry was in growth mode, but struggled with the types of issues that plague an industry that does not have well defined standards,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;As a technical guy, I made it my mission to provide technical expertise to help make that happen.&rdquo;
 But well before that watershed moment when his role within the industry crystallized, Wiberg was drawn to labs. &ldquo;I was always very interested in the fancy machines that chemists get to use to quantify and qualify chemical and physical properties of things,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;That interest has served me well, in that our lab now contains many of these types of instruments.&rdquo;
 Already a seasoned laboratory professional, Wiberg has fused his laboratory prowess and passion for the industry to drive development of standards and their uptake across the pellet industry. &ldquo;This work eventually led to my involvement in helping to develop the current Pellet Fuel Institute standards, solid biofuel standards through ISO TC 238 and other industry standards.&rdquo;
 Wiberg&rsquo;s contributions to standards development is widely known and appreciated throughout the industry, but he&rsquo;s most intrigued by what working toward compliance with these standards can do for pellet producers. &ldquo;I find the practical application of my technical knowledge as the most interesting part of what I do,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;There is a lot that goes into running the various tests, but if you don&rsquo;t know which tests best suit your purpose,&nbsp; if you don&rsquo;t understand the data that is generated, or if you don&rsquo;t know how to apply it to improve the quality of your process,&nbsp; then the cost of testing doesn&rsquo;t bring much value.&nbsp; What I truly enjoy is applying our laboratory services to generate information that can then solve process problems, help design a new product, or just assure the continued performance of an existing process.&rdquo;
 As Wiberg and his colleagues developed their business, he was confident in the quality and value of the service offering they had developed. Still, he expresses surprise at the rapid growth within the sector and strong demand for Biomass Energy Lab&rsquo;s services. &ldquo;When we developed our business model, we were confident that it would well serve the needs of biomass fuel producers and users, and as such, there has been a large interest and need for our services and core competencies,&rdquo; he shares. &ldquo;I think our biggest surprise was the rate at which we had to grow to keep up with the influx of new work.&rdquo;
 Wiberg and Biomass Energy Lab have themselves well positioned to serve a North American pellet industry that&rsquo;s likely to double, if all of the planned and under construction plants come on line as planned. While the capacity increases are eye-popping and unbelievable to some industry observers, Wiberg ceases to be amazed.&nbsp; &ldquo;I have learned not to underestimate the potential this industry has,&rdquo; he says.&nbsp; &ldquo;It often takes time for biomass fuel production projects to put all of the pieces in place, but there are now many projects completing that process, giving assurance that many of the proposed projects we read about will make it to the finish line.&nbsp; Persistence has paid off in many cases, and I think we will continue to see that in the future.&rdquo;
 Wiberg is confident that an industry push toward quality certification will keep him busy. &ldquo;There are many established fuel producers that will likely make this the year to qualify or certify their production to a quality management scheme such as PFI&rsquo;s Standards program and the EN plus standard,&rdquo; he adds. &ldquo;We have seen significant growth in each of these programs in the past year, but expect their popularity will increase significantly in the next year or two.&rdquo;
 Les Otten
 A few career iterations ago, Les Otten, co-founder of Maine Energy Systems, looked across a table and informed the president of Rossignol he was prepared to make a bold investment for the ski properties he owned and operated at the time. &ldquo;He called up his plant in either Austria or Italy and told the manager that he wanted to make 10,000 pairs of shaped skis and the guy told him he was nuts,&rdquo; Otten says, &ldquo;and that it was just a fad.&rdquo; Otten was vindicated in just short four years, as these new, parabolic skis had entirely replaced its straight ski predecessors.
 For Otten, success in business has a broader definition. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always looked at business as not only having to be viable, but also being able to make a game-altering contribution to the industry I was working in,&rdquo; he says.
 Otten&rsquo;s contributions to the ski industry didn&rsquo;t start or stop with shaped skis. He began working in the industry when he was 21 years old, and just two years later, he was named ski operation manager at Sunday River ski resort in Newry, Maine. In 1980, he bought the resort, and after nine years of building a loyal customer base, he was recognized by Inc. Magazine as Entrepreneur of the Year in the turnaround category.
 &nbsp;Otten continued to build his resort business, growing it into the multiproperty American Skiing Company, which, as would become Otten&rsquo;s trademark approach, focused heavily on marketing and infrastructure development.&nbsp;
 From 2002 to 2007, Otten served as vice chairman and minority partner of the Boston Red Sox, which won its first World Series since 1918 in 2004, while Otten was a part of the organization. There, he spearheaded an effort to reimagine and revitalize the team&rsquo;s historic venue.&nbsp; &ldquo;When I looked at the Boston Red Sox, it became very obvious to me that in order for them to be a great value and saleable franchise, they needed to keep Fenway Park,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Everybody wanted to tear it down and build a new one. I looked at Fenway Park as a cathedral similar to the Parthenon or some of the great Roman structures. In the lexicon of baseball, Fenway Park was an icon of a bygone era, and instead of tearing it down, I wanted to refurbish it.&rdquo;
 After winning two World Series rings with the club, Otten parted ways with the organization and began looking for his next challenge. &ldquo;I wanted to go on to the next thing, and I didn&rsquo;t know what it was going to be,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;I started to look around at different industries, at anything that needed a fresh look, so I started to look at energy.&rdquo;
 Otten makes no bones about opinions on the long-term viability of fossil-based fuels saying, &ldquo;All the coal and oil that is on the planet was made in a 300- to 400-million-year period of time. And in the blink of an eye, in the timeline of the planet, we were essentially going to use all of it. It dawned on me seven or eight years ago that this was wholly illogical and that there must be an economy that can be built in response to this, one that made capitalistic and global sense for the use of biomass.&rdquo; At that point, the earliest sketches of Maine Energy Systems begin to emerge, which would focus on biomass thermal, a low technology risk and simple solution for moving the Northeast away from the entrenched heating oil solution that dominated the marketplace. &ldquo;We looked at it and realized this is a segment of the [energy] industry that doesn&rsquo;t need new invention, it needs marketing,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It needs awareness. It needs government support, but it doesn&rsquo;t need research.&rdquo;
 Otten is nothing if not practical. Early in the development of Maine Energy Systems, he recognized that he and his team would have to devise a thermal biomass solution that didn&rsquo;t require a significant increase in homeowner attention when compared to heating oil and propane. &ldquo;If this is going to be successful in the U.S., there are going to be the hobbyists that are willing to work for their heat, but the majority of folks are not going to want to work for their heat ,they are just going to want to turn on the thermostat,&rdquo; he says.
 While Otten&rsquo;s team worked to devise a solution that would be attractive to consumers, or at the very least, wouldn&rsquo;t turn them away, he turned his attention back to the business and began working to build credibility with the lending and investment communities. &ldquo;I remember speaking with some senior lenders at JP Morgan Chase discussing our industry and they said &lsquo;we&rsquo;d be happy to start lending your industry money, as soon as you can show us that you&rsquo;ve got a thousand customers that have borrowed money, that have paid back the loans, that the fuel has been delivered, that the trucks exist, and that you are mainstream essentially.&rdquo;
 The challenges for biomass thermal continued to emerge, as mortgage companies and the federal banks that guaranteed those loans, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, expressed concern that homes with pellet boilers would struggle to deliver full marketplace value. Struggles like these are a significant departure from the early stage work that entrepreneurs likely favor, but arguably more vital to Maine Energy System&rsquo;s long term success and Otten embraced it.&nbsp; &ldquo;Now we can show lenders that these homes and their mortgages can be sold even when their primary heating systems are not oil and gas,&rdquo; Otten says.
 Otten and his team moved Maine Energy Systems through the proof-of-concept stage and are now working to wrestle market share from an entrenched incumbent.&nbsp; On this challenge, Otten has some incredulity to share. &ldquo;The propane industry brags about its 92 percent efficiency, as compared to the 87 percent efficiency of a pellet boiler,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Those five points don&rsquo;t amount to a hill of beans if you are paying 140 percent more for the fuel. How does that compute? The propane industry gets to tell American people what they want, &lsquo;We&rsquo;re more efficient,&rsquo; but meanwhile the fuel is 140 percent more expensive. Who is being fairly served? It&rsquo;s advertising. They have a louder voice. They aren&rsquo;t doing anything illegal, but they sure are misleading people,&rdquo; he says.
 Therefore, Otten once again is turning to advertising to clearly articulate his message of overall reduced operational costs for pellet boilers with a regional television effort.&nbsp; &ldquo;We are taking the argument to the consumer, and we&rsquo;re just nailing it. Right now there is a $5,000 rebate and we&rsquo;re using the commercial to inform people about that, but we&rsquo;re also trying to say that wood pellets that are locally grown, deliver as easy as oil, and all you do is turn on thermostat and its 50 percent of the cost of oil and 40 percent of the cost of propane.&rdquo;
 With the varied sequence of foreseen and unforeseen obstacles that Otten has grown to expect, he is quick to draw attention to the quality and longevity of his team.&nbsp; &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had the same administrative assistant for 30 years, and my chief financial officer has been with me for 30 years. We have a really strong team, and there are about 20 of us that are concentrated on this. These guys allow me to stay at 20,000 feet so that I can identify the barriers to innovation. It is our team that allows us to identify the barriers and then we can get a little bit ahead of them.&rdquo;
 With the pieces in place, Otten plans on continuing the push to unseat the incumbent in northeastern home heating. Or, at the very least, rattle its cage. The stakes are high. In the Northeast, 11 million homes are heated by No. 2 heating oil, and a price fluctuation of just $1 per gallon costs residents $11 billion in increased expenses. The market opportunity is not lost on Otten, but he is more apt to focus on the economic activity generated by moving toward a heating solution that relies on local fuel sources. &ldquo;When money leaves the economy that costs jobs&mdash; a lot of jobs,&rdquo; Otten says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had a number of discussions about the jobs that leave with every dollar of increase in the state of Maine, and it&rsquo;s around 80,000 jobs that are either lost or not created as a result of this.&rdquo;
 Concluding, Otten uses a Bible story to better frame up the challenge he believes he and his team are up against. &ldquo;What our industry needs to do is look in our industry&rsquo;s own back yard.&nbsp; We need to figure out how to get more appliances in customers&rsquo; homes, and get those people to communicate with their friends and representatives in the House and the Senate at state and federal level so that our voice is heard. We are David to the heating oil&rsquo;s Goliath. Our industry needs to figure out what David&rsquo;s trick was, and catapult itself into the consciousness of the Northeastern part of the U.S.&rdquo; Author: Tim Portz Executive Editor, Biomass Magazine <a href="mailto:tportz@bbiinternational.com">tportz@bbiinternational.com</a> 701-738-4969

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Seth Ginther
U.S. Industrial Pellet Association

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In an industry with a healthy stable of innovators and advocates, few would argue with the contributions of Chris Wiberg, Les Otten and Seth Ginther

Pellet Propellers

President Obama signed the 2014 Farm Bill into law during a Feb. 7 ceremony at Michigan State University. During his speech, Obama also announced the launch the new Made in Rural America export and investment initiative.
 &ldquo;Despite its name, the Farm Bill is not just about helping farmers,&rdquo; Obama said during his speech at MSU. &ldquo;Secretary Vilsack calls it a jobs bill; an innovation bill; an infrastructure bill; a research bill; a conservation bill&mdash;it&rsquo;s like a Swiss army knife,&rdquo; he continued, noting the legislation helps create jobs and provides an economic lift for rural communities.
 The Made in Rural America initiative is expected to further benefit the U.S. agriculture community and related businesses. The program is charged with bringing together federal resources to help rural businesses and leaders take advantage of new investment opportunities and access new customers and markets abroad.

Obama signs Farm Bill, launches new initiative 

This issue of Biomass Magazine opens with the first quarterly Biomass Construction Update of 2014. Five of the 24 projects listed in the report bear the stamp &ldquo;Project Complete.&rdquo; Drawing attention to construction may seem curious, considering this installment is our first-ever &ldquo;People Issue,&rdquo; but it underscores and validates our decision to build an entire edition of Biomass Magazine that celebrates the men and women who are the beating heart of the biomass industry. The 45-MW power facility that DTE Energy has just completed and brought on line in Stockton, Calif., is the final manifestation of a collection of people who put their knowledge, skill, passion and tireless energy to work. Remove any one of the hundreds, if not thousands, of people who worked on that project, or any of the other projects in the Biomass Construction Update, and the project decelerates.
 That said, in an industry built to deliver Btus, MWs and gallons, people can and do get lost in the shuffle. Recognizing this, we decided to draw attention to a handful of people who make an invaluable contribution to the biomass industry. This proved to be challenging, as our potential subjects often deflected inquiries away from themselves and toward their work, the industry and the importance of expanding the possibilities of biomass-derived energy.
 Themes did emerge. For example, all of the people we profiled wear many hats. It seems this commonality stems from their willingness to do what needs to be done. Bob Cleaves, president of the Biomass Power Association, ping-pongs around the country to educate policymakers at both the state and federal levels about the value of base load, renewable energy. His is a game of plate spinning, but for Cleaves, the plates are scattered across the country.
 A thread of an enthusiastic curiosity for technology and technology adoption can also be found woven throughout this issue. Mel Kurtz, Les Otten and John Ackerly all recount their first exposures to various conversion technologies, and, for each, it was a watershed moment.
 An industry is nothing without its people. I would even dare to suggest that the biomass industry is even more reliant on people such as those featured in this issue, because every gallon, every Btu and every MW we advocate and innovate for, and work to bring on line, emerges in spite of an entrenched incumbent. Without our people, this industry would simply wither.

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Biomass Magazine Executive Editor Tim Portz discusses the incredible efforts that members of the biomass industry make to lead the industry to success.

The Biomass Industry's Beating Heart

Elevance hires chief technology officer Elevance Renewable Sciences has hired Robert Kumpf as chief technology officer. In his new role, Kumpf will focus on expanding the company&rsquo;s product and applications development capabilities. Prior to joining Elevance, he served as chief operating officer at Plextronics, a developer of semiconductive polymers and ink formulations. He also previously served as chief administration officer at Bayer MaterialScience.
 Chesterfield BioGas wins contract for biogas upgrading system Pressure Technologies has announced that its alternative energy division, Chesterfield BioGas Ltd., was awarded a &pound;4.2 million ($7 million) contract to supply, install and commission biogas upgrading equipment for a biogas-to-grid project in the U.K. The project will utilize Greenlane Totara-plus water-wash upgraders and will be capable of processing up to 5,000 cubic meters of biogas per hour. The resulting biogas will consist of 89 percent pure methane.
 VIC adds team member Vecoplan Integrated Controls has added Henry Gilliland to its electrical engineering team. Gilliland graduated from North Carolina State University in 2012 and brings three years of practical experience to his new position. He worked on a co-op basis at Highland Industries while pursuing his undergraduate degree, and later worked as a full-time engineer with the company.
 Reliance Industries to invest in Algae.Tec biofuel plant India-based Reliance Industries Ltd. has announced an investment in Australia-based Algae.Tec&rsquo;s first Indian biofuel plant. RIL will initially invest $1.5 million in the company, followed by $1.2 million at a later date. Algae.Tec plans to use the initial capital to build a pilot biofuel plant that utilizes its algae fuel technology.
 EBA elects new president The European Biogas Association announced its members have voted to make Jan &Scaron;tambask&yacute; the organization&rsquo;s new president. &Scaron;tambask&yacute; will replace Arthur Wellinger, who served as president for five years. David Collins of the U.K.&rsquo;s Renewable Energy Association Biogas Group was also elected to join the board. &Scaron;tambask&yacute; is the founder of NovaEnergo Ltd., which focuses on advanced biochemical approaches to enhance the overall efficiency of biogas and biomethane production processes. He is a member of the Czech Biogas Association and was appointed a member of the EPA&rsquo;s executive board in 2009.
 Sensor Electronics adds new gas detector Minnesota-based Sensor Electronics has announced a new gas detector that spots methane leaks in biogasification plants, collector tents, distribution networks, pipelines, pumping stations, storage tanks and other critical areas. The detector works both indoors and outdoors and can operate in conditions with airborne contaminants, corrosive atmospheres, fog, smog, rain, snow, dust, sleet, aerosols, and temperature and humidity extremes. The detector shows actual biomethane levels on a digital readout panel, while color-coded LEDs indicate rising gas levels.
 Puritan announces spout magnet Puritan Magnetics Inc. has announced the availability of its EZ Clean Vertical Spout Magnet. The product is engineered to remove fine to large ferrous contaminants from high-volume, gravity-fed product streams. The system is ideally suited for products that would bridge or choke in a magnetic tube-type separator and easily removes ferrous contaminants from products that are moist, lumpy, granular or in powder form.
 Construction starts on biogas upgrading system in China China Shipbuilding Industry Corp. has invested in an EnviFarm Classic biogas plant with an EnviThan gas upgrading system in Jiyuan, Henan province. The plant will operate using pig manure as feedstock. The 500-standard-cubic foot facility is expected to begin operations this year.

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Å tambaskÃ½ (left) is congratulated by former EBA president Wellinger.

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Business Brief

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission data shows that 97 new biomass-fired electricity generation units were placed into service last year. Together, those units have a combined capacity of 777 MW. In 2012, 155 units with a combined 580 MW of capacity were placed into service.
 As of the close of 2013, the FERC estimates that the U.S. was home to approximately 15.74 GW of biomass power capacity, equating to roughly 1.36 percent of total U.S. power capacity. Of the renewable power generation technologies, only wind and hydro have a greater share of nationwide capacity.
 The U.S. currently has 97.88 GW of hydropower capacity, equal to 8.44 percent of total capacity. Wind capacity is 60.29 GW, or 5.2 percent. Geothermal steam has 3.83 GW capacity, equating to 0.33 percent of total capacity. There is also 7.42 GW of solar capacity, or 0.64 percent of the total, along with 1.13 GW of waste heat capacity, equating to 0.07 percent.

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U.S. adds 777 MW of capacity in 2013

The European Commission recently proposed new clean energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction objectives, calling for an EU-wide 27 percent binding target for renewable energy by 2030. The commission is also calling for a GHG reduction of 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. In addition, the commission has proposed to establish a new governance system and a set of new indictors to ensure a competitive and secure system.
 The new targets build upon previously established targets that are to be attained by 2020. Those goals included a 20 percent GHG reduction, a 20 percent renewable energy goal and 20 percent energy efficiency improvements.
 The U.K.-based Renewable Energy Association has criticized what it calls a &ldquo;lack of ambition for renewable energy&rdquo; in the proposal, noting it sets no specific targets for EU member states. The REA also noted that the proposal indicates the renewables target would be ensured by a new governance system based on national energy plans, but that the U.K. government has been pushing for a technology-neutral approach that downplays the role of renewables.

European Commission proposes new renewable energy targets 

This long, cold winter has uncovered a few inconvenient truths about our power supply and its long-term prospects.
 The prevailing opinion in recent years, reflected in state and federal energy policy&mdash;or lack thereof&mdash;is that natural gas is plentiful and cheap, and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Because of this estimation, encouraged by a fracking and drilling boom in places like North Dakota and Texas, there hasn&rsquo;t been much urgency in promoting alternatives to fossil fuels.
 Until now. At the end (we hope) of a bitterly cold winter, the coldest in recent memory, the flaws of this plan are becoming clearer. As temperatures dropped, Americans cranked up their thermostats. The sudden increase in demand caused electricity costs to spike beyond belief, at times as high as $475 per MWh in places like Boston, more than 10 times the usual rate. Perennially low natural gas prices couldn&rsquo;t keep up with the high demand, and rose to their highest levels since 2008.
 This scenario, causing sticker shock to homeowners paying utility bills across the country, underscored the need for reliable, baseload energy sources to make up the difference during peak demand seasons and times. Natural gas as a sole baseload source of energy, supplemented by solar and wind as alternative sources, is not a reliable enough mix of energy sources to sustain the country during extreme weather conditions. There must be a solid range of baseload energy sources, like biomass and nuclear power, available to generate energy during a polar vortex or an especially brutal August.
 A recent Greenwire story highlighted the impacts of a natural gas-centric energy policy on the nuclear power industry. The focus on supporting the use of inexpensive natural gas has had the unintended consequence of endangering the nuclear industry because, as one nuclear expert put it, the industry is &ldquo;waning without a price on carbon in markets that don&rsquo;t recognize the value of carbon-free power.&rdquo;
 Just like nuclear power, biomass is challenged because natural gas is seen as the fuel of choice. Utilities&rsquo; substitution of natural gas for coal could prove to be a penny-wise, pound-foolish strategy, whereas investing in a power source like wood is the wiser long-term choice. Wood is a stable, predictable commodity that can be relied upon with some certainty.
 While unpleasant, Old Man Winter may have taught us something this year: our energy policy needs to put much more of a premium on reliable, baseload power. Author: Bob Cleaves President and CEO, Biomass Power Association <a href="http://www.biomasspowerassociation.com">www.biomasspowerassociation.com </a> <a href="mailto:bob@biomasspowerassociation.com">bob@biomasspowerassociation.com</a>

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Biomass Power Association President Bob Cleaves discusses lessons learned during the 2013-2014 winter season.

Lessons of Winter

Most in the biomass power sector recognize the name or face of Bob Cleaves, president of the Biomass Power Association. Usually boarding several planes per week en route to do so, Cleaves spends his time tirelessly representing, educating and advocating for the industry.
 Trained as an attorney&mdash;first as a white-collar prosecutor immediately after law school and then in the private sector&mdash;Cleaves says he always gravitated toward public policy. &ldquo;In law school, my dream job was to become an anti-trust lawyer for the U.S. Justice Department,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I applied, but wasn&rsquo;t even granted an interview. In hindsight, that was fortunate, because working as an anti-trust lawyer in the Reagan White House would have been a Maytag repairman-like experience.&rdquo;
 While he didn&rsquo;t get his dream job, Cleaves&rsquo;s contact at the DOJ told him the environmental section might have openings. &ldquo;As luck would have it, I interviewed with the head of a white-collar section, who happened to be from Maine. When he learned that I, too, was from Maine, I was hired. That opportunity gave me great insight into environmental laws and policy&mdash;knowledge that has proven invaluable in my work for the biomass sector.&rdquo;
 After about 15 years in law, Cleaves sought something new and different, but that utilized the skills he had developed. By the early 2000s, environmental and energy policy converged through the promotion of renewable energy, and Cleaves&nbsp; had the chance to consult for a subsidiary of Waste Management, Wheelabrator Technologies, and was invited to assist the company in promoting a sector of their business&mdash;biomass power&mdash;that was outside of their mainstream waste-to-energy business. &ldquo;I became involved in the biomass trade association, which was then called the USA Biomass Power Producers Alliance,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I was asked to run the organization in 2008, changed the name, moved it from northern California to Portland, Maine, and the rest is history.&rdquo;
 Cleaves describes his work at BPA as part educating, part advocating. &ldquo;To do that, we [BPA] need to be present at the federal and state levels&mdash;the latter being particularly challenging, given the small nature of our association&mdash;participate in seminars, collaborate with other trade associations, and be in the mix on Capitol Hill.&rdquo;
 &nbsp;A typical week in Bob&rsquo;s shoes may involve Monday in Maine doing weekly staff calls, Tuesday in a state capital meeting with energy officials on the importance of biomass, Wednesday in a D.C. meeting with fellow trade associations on various initiatives, Thursday on Capitol Hill attending a tax or energy related meeting, and Friday back in Maine planning an event like the BPA annual fly-in.
 So what&rsquo;s changed in the biomass power industry since Cleaves&rsquo;s debut? &ldquo;Exposure,&rdquo; he says, in a word. &ldquo;Historically, we were a little-known industry that was an &ldquo;inside baseball&rdquo; kind of business. Few people understood the value of biomass energy. That has changed, in part because of the renewable energy growth in the U.S., and in part because of the misunderstanding caused by studies like Manomet, which opponents have wrongly used to conclude that biomass is worse than coal.&rdquo;
 The industry has also changed in terms of complexity, Cleaves adds. &ldquo;Until recently, our focus was federal tax policy&mdash;it is now much broader. We need to be a jack-of-all-trades by involving ourselves in a wide variety of energy policy issues, and, importantly, U.S. EPA regulatory matters.&rdquo;
 To adjust to those changes, communication and outreach strategies by the association have become more sophisticated. &ldquo;Part of that was out of necessity, because of the spotlight that biomass has received in recent years, but it is also because we feel that the single largest hurdle for our industry is the public&rsquo;s lack of knowledge, and therefore appreciation for what we do,&rdquo; Cleaves says. &ldquo;School children in the country know about wind turbines and solar panels, but how many of them can explain how a steam turbine works, and why it makes sense to take waste wood and generate electricity? If we can&rsquo;t change that, we will never be successful in defeating the misinformation campaign that asserts that we are harvesting natural forests for energy.&rdquo;
 Milestones are being made, however, particularly with federal departments such as the USDA. &ldquo;Last year, with the help and leadership of USDA and the U.S. Forest Service, we created a public/private partnership and signed a memorandum of understanding,&rdquo; Cleaves says. &ldquo;USDA gets it. Biomass energy&mdash;to heat our homes and provide electricity to our communities&mdash;not only comes from homegrown sources of energy, but it helps solve a critically important challenge for federal land managers facing the challenge of reducing forest fire risk and keeping forests healthy.&rdquo;
 On near-term milestones, Cleaves says he&rsquo;d like to see the EPA complete its work on biogenic carbon. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a tremendous amount of misinformation, and EPA plays a critically important role in setting the record straight. Once we get the carbon policy settled, Congress needs to put a price on carbon. Without valuing the externalities of carbon emissions, I fear that all renewable technologies&mdash;not just biomass&mdash; will be unable to realize their full potential. The story of biomass has a long way to go before it&rsquo;s fully written.&rdquo;
 Steve Bossotti
 During his lengthy 25-plus-year career in the energy-from-waste (EfW) sector, Steve Bossotti has performed most roles that a power facility has to offer. Throughout the years, the Bayside, N.Y., native has witnessed this biomass power sector transform, innovate and maximize efficiency. Now a seasoned industry veteran, Bossotti is equipped with the skills and knowhow to help craft cutting-edge strategies to ensure Covanta Energy Inc.&rsquo;s fleet of facilities are squeezing as much value as possible out of municipal solid waste.
 When asked where his work values and drive come from, Bossotti points to his parents. &ldquo;They were raised during the Great Depression, and taught us there was no substitution for hard work, that it would lead to opportunities in life,&rdquo; he shares. &ldquo;Like most kids, I dreamed of being a Major League baseball player, but my skills were better suited for a career focused on math and science. My father was instrumental in guiding me to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and instilling in me a keen interest in engineering. &ldquo;
 Bossotti graduated from the Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y., in 1987, and served his obligation in the Naval Reserves, where he attained the rank of Lieutenant. &ldquo;It was at Kings Point where I became passionate about people and leadership,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It was also there that I received my formal education in engineering and gained an interest in steam plants.&rdquo;
 Bossotti&rsquo;s first job in the EfW business was as a control room operator at a new facility in 1988. &ldquo;As I do today, I found energy production fascinating, and that I was able to really apply what I learned in school. Thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid mechanics&mdash;I had my own laboratory with a myriad of data points and could demonstrate how they all worked in unison to make energy.&rdquo;
 Bossotti became a shift supervisor within a year, and then received the opportunity to work as a field engineer. &ldquo;This allowed me to rapidly develop ideas and improvements to systems in the facility,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I learned to influence without authority in this role, and took pride in making systems better for my coworkers. My colleagues in this industry are some of the most dedicated people you will ever meet, and I knew then that I wanted to help make their lives better while improving the operations of our facilities.&rdquo;&nbsp;
 That desire led to Bossotti&rsquo;s first managerial role leading a 24-person maintenance department at one of Covanta&rsquo;s larger facilities. &ldquo;I learned a lot about prioritization and planning, and how to stretch a budget in this role,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I also learned the importance of key performance indicators and open discussion with employees. As with any business, you can often find employees that don&rsquo;t know what the end goals are, and, ironically, they are the ones with the ability that allows us to attain them. I found that holding round table meetings and open discussions about where to focus, how to improve and what training we needed to stay sharp, were a great help in bridging that gap. Subsequently, we were able to improve facility availability nearly three percent year over year. &ldquo;&nbsp;
 Those maintenance achievements led to a promotion to operations engineering manager and eventually facility manager at two of Covanta&rsquo;s largest facilities. &ldquo;I learned to directly manage facility finances while standing firm on employee engagement and continuous improvement.&rdquo;&nbsp;
 &nbsp;By 2005, Bossotti was promoted to vice president of operations to lead nine facilities and two waste transfer stations.&nbsp; &ldquo;In this role, I had the opportunity to see wonderful ideas and different improvements implemented at each facility, and I was able to successfully facilitate the sharing of that knowledge,&rdquo; he says.
 Finally, Bossotti entered the role he presently has&mdash;leading a newly formed group dedicated to organic growth and innovation. &ldquo;In this role, I&rsquo;m charged with creating new or improved business opportunities at all of our facilities using technology advancements specific to metals recycling, ash reuse and liquids disposal,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;What started as a new, three-person group has now grown to 14 professionals focused on adding revenue through innovative technology and lessons learned.&rdquo;
 Less than 15 years ago, rather than recycling it, Covanta was paying to dispose of metal at some of its plants. Today, it is an important part of the company&rsquo;s business. &ldquo;The ferrous and nonferrous metal market advancements have fostered technology improvements that now allow us to recover finer particles of metal for resale,&rdquo; Bossotti says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re creating business lines that didn&rsquo;t exist even four years ago&mdash;it&rsquo;s exciting. Today we are focused on new metal recycling systems, and tomorrow it could be something completely different, but I&rsquo;m sure it will be cool and innovative.&rdquo;&nbsp;
 Ultimately, Bossotti&rsquo;s dream is to see EfW facilities in the U.S. reuse ash more often, for better purposes.&nbsp; &ldquo;Bottom ash, outside the U.S., is often used for roadbed, drainage and for other construction and industrial purposes,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;A high percentage of ash material from U.S. facilities can be substituted for aggregate, instead of sent to an ash mono-fill for reuse at landfills as daily cover. There are numerous studies that suggest it&rsquo;s possible, and I have participated in pilot programs with members of academia and industry to study the feasibility of making it work. With the right focus and support from regulators, we can absolutely accomplish ash reuse in the U.S. It would allow us to completely close the loop by utilizing the last remaining waste product from our industry.&rdquo;&nbsp;
 Mark Paisley
 Mark Paisley has been in the biomass industry a long while, likely before it was even recognized as that. Armed with numerous patents and a lengthy, accomplished career history, Paisley&rsquo;s work has advanced biomass gasification in the country, and his work still isn&rsquo;t done.
 Paisley grew up in Zanesville, Ohio, and attended the University of Cincinnati. &ldquo;I have always had an interest in science and designing things, so chemical engineering seemed to be a natural,&rdquo; he says. In college, he had anticipated studying biomedical engineering&mdash;a brand new field at the time&mdash;but had a change of plans, thanks to the military draft. He eventually accepted a job at Babcock and Wilcox Company at its research center in Alliance, Ohio, and it was there that he began his gasification journey.&nbsp; &ldquo;In the early 1970s, in the height of the energy crisis, B&amp;W was working on a number of gasification projects, and I was involved in several of them,&rdquo; Paisley says. &ldquo;I caught the alternative energy bug then, and have been involved in gasification projects since. My first patent for a gasification process was issued while I was working at B&amp;W, for a coal gasification process that used sulfur dioxide as the gasifying agent.&rdquo;
 His career at B&amp;W began in 1972, after which he joined Battelle in Columbus, Ohio, where he was employed for 20 years. &ldquo;During those 20 years, I was fortunate enough to have a dozen patents issued in my name, covering a variety of gasification processes and recycling technologies.&nbsp; It was at Battelle that I was first introduced to biomass as a gasification feedstock, and I discovered that biomass had many desirable attributes, as well as few of the undesirable attributes that were present in coal.&nbsp; In short, I became a biomass advocate.&rdquo;
 Paisley&rsquo;s work at Battelle included inventing what is now known as the SilvaGas process, which was demonstrated at commercial scale in Burlington, Vt., in the late 1990s. When Future Energy Resources bought the SilvaGas process from Battelle in 2000, Paisley moved to the company along with the technology, where he oversaw the final stages of the Vermont gasification program.&nbsp; Finally, in 2005, Paisley joined Taylor Biomass and invented another biomass gasification process that he says, &ldquo;further improves the market opportunities for commercial biomass implementation.&rdquo;
 For Paisley, the versatility of products that gasification can produce has been the real appeal of the technology. &ldquo;Options include replacements for gaseous, liquid, and even solid fuels, and by means of synthesis applications, chemical feedstocks and products can be produced,&rdquo; Paisley says. &ldquo;Hydrogen production can also be produced effectively using gasification as the starting point. This sustainability and the potential of biomass to provide a significant impact to the world&rsquo;s energy supplies continue to keep my interest. &ldquo;
 While no week is the same for Paisley, his activities usually involve travel to and participation in process design activities with engineering partners, authoring and presentation of technical papers for technical meetings, presentation of short courses, data evaluation and interpretation, project development, and test plan development. &ldquo;Laboratory work related to process operation is also a part of the activity list, but has been limited as the plant [Taylor Biomass Energy&rsquo;s power plant in Montgomery, N.Y.] has not yet been completed.&nbsp; I also work closely with the patent attorney in his patent prosecution efforts.&rdquo;
 While widespread deployment of biomass gasification in the U.S. is yet to be seen, Paisley said during his career, one significant change that&rsquo;s occurred within the sector is that biomass-based energy has developed from an industry-specific energy solution&mdash;pulp and paper&mdash;to a much more widespread energy option. &ldquo;Along the way, interest in specific energy products has varied, directed primarily by political option as implemented by the U.S. DOE.&nbsp; Today&rsquo;s biomass energy programs, being directed more by industry, are poised to take advantage of the range of energy options available and move into true commercial application.&rdquo;
 Before retirement, Paisley adds, he hopes to see biomass gasification and biomass energy, in general, be recognized and implemented as a significant contributor to the world&rsquo;s energy supply.
 Author: Anna Simet Managing Editor, Biomass Magazine <a href="mailto:asimet@bbiinternational.com">asimet@bbiinternational.com</a> 701-738-4961

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Steve Bossotti, Bob Cleaves and Mark Paisley are making a mark on the biomass power industry.

Power Pundits

Resources for the Future recently hosted a seminar focused on carbon accounting and forest management. The event, titled &ldquo;Considering the Contributions of Forests in the Management of Greenhouse Gas Emissions,&rdquo; was cosponsored by the Society of American Foresters.
 Roger Sedjo, senior fellow and director of the Forest Economics and Policy Program at RFF moderated the discussion, noting forests can play an important role in moderating greenhouse gas emissions. When it comes to monitoring net biogenic emissions from bioenergy facilities, he said there are two major options. The first focuses on individual facilities. The second involves monitoring the overall stock of wood in the forest. &ldquo;A huge advantage of the second approach is its low cost compared with detailed monitoring of individual facilities,&rdquo; Sedjo said, noting the U.S. Forest Service already collects much of the data that is needed.

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RFF event addresses carbon accounting, forest management 

A report released by European-based heating company Innasol and business consulting firm Frost &amp; Sullivan takes a detailed look at the U.K. heating industry and examines the savings homes and businesses can achieve by implementing renewable heating systems.
 According to the report, renewable heating applications in the U.K. have been restrained by a lack of awareness and understanding of benefits. An estimated 74 percent of U.K. residents don&rsquo;t know that biomass systems are a potential renewable heating solution.
 However, the analysis indicates that renewable heating systems in the U.K. are already cheaper than fossil fuels. The report puts the price of wood chips at 3.3 pence (5 cents) per kilowatt hour (kWh) and the price of wood pellets at 4.5 pence per kWh, lower than both electricity and natural gas. The report also shows that the price of wood pellets has risen only 6 percent since January 2000, averaging a less than 0.5 percent increase per year.

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Report highlights benefits of biomass heating 

The wallets of many U.S. homeowners have taken a hit this winter due to high propane and heating oil costs and unusually low temperatures. Those with cord wood or pellet heat, however, have a leg up on the frigid season.
 Data from the New Hampshire Office of Energy and Planning indicates wood pellets were $25.5 cheaper per MMBtu than propane and $13.71 cheaper per MMBtu than heating oil in early February.
 Colder weather, however, also means increased demand for pellets. By February, several Northeastern producers reported they&rsquo;d already sold out for the winter. Mark Wilson, president of New England Wood Pellet, said that&rsquo;s the case for his company, which operates three manufacturing plants in Jaffrey, N.H., and Schuyler and Deposit, N.Y., with a combined plant capacity of over 250,000 tons per year.

Cold weather, high fossil fuel costs drive pellet sales 

Promptly implementing New York&rsquo;s recently introduced Renewable Heat NY program, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced 18 projects that will receive program funding to help install high-efficiency, low-emission wood-fired heating equipment.
 The funding is being awarded through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority&rsquo;s Energy and Environmental Performance of Biomass-fired Heating Equipment program. Besides helping cover costs of advanced biomass heating systems, Renewable Heat NY is designed to facilitate workforce training and manufacturer support for field testing, equipment certification and early stage product development. New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is developing a Biomass Heating Roadmap for the state, which is slated for release later this year and will assess policy strategies and economic and environmental impacts.
 Examples of projects that received grants include Clarkson University at Potsdam, which received $80,000 to study the presence of carbon monoxide in wood pellet storage facilities and in the laboratory due to offgassing, and Clarkson University at Saranac Lake, which received $267,500 to install two fully automatic, high-efficiency and low-emission wood pellet boilers made by Evoworld. The boilers will be installed in residential locations to evaluate the performance and emissions of these units under the cold winter conditions for two years.

New York funds 16 biomass thermal projects

A new study has found the U.K. could generate up to 44 percent of its energy needs from domestic biomass sources by 2050. The study, titled &ldquo;Securing a BioEnergy Future without Imports,&rdquo; was completed by scientists from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Manchester.
 The study explores four possible potential scenarios toward 2050 and forecasts the biomass resource availability and bioenergy potential associated with each. A food-focused scenario prioritizes U.S. food security and productivity, while an economic focus scenario assumes future emphasis on economic development and resource competition. A conservation focus scenario prioritizes the conservation of land, biodiversity and resources. Finally, an energy focus scenario assumes the U.S. places a future emphasis on development the bioenergy sector and mobilizing biomass resources to meet energy targets. The energy scenario includes a series of subscenarios that analysis the bioenergy associated with biomass conversion to power, heat and transport fuels.
 According to the report, the modeling of these scenarios has determined that between 19 and 44 percent of the U.K.&rsquo;s primary energy demand could be delivered from indigenous biomass, with the food and energy-focused scenarios both allowing for the 2050 bioenergy targets to be met with domestic biomass sources. A future energy-focused scenario in which the U.K. prioritized the production of thermal energy from biomass was found to provide the highest energy generation for the resources available. Even if the U.K. prioritizes conservation or economic themes, however, the analysis found that domestic biomass could meet as much as 19 percent of U.K. energy demand

Study: UK domestic biomass resources could yield up to 44 % of energy needs 

Charlie Niebling
Innovative Natural Resource Solutions

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John Ackerly
President, Alliance for Green Heat 


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Charlie Niebling, Scott Nichols, Norbert Senf and John Ackerly are committed to advancing the biomass thermal industry. 

Thermal Trailblazers

Rochester, N.Y.-based ClearCove Systems Inc. was awarded funding from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to demonstrate a new wastewater treatment system at the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility in the Finger Lakes, and the Nott Road Wastewater Treatment Facility in Guilderland. NYSERDA has provided $300,000 for the projects, and ClearCove is contributing an additional $300,000.
 ClearCove has invited a screening technology that enhances settling techniques that water treatment plants typically use to process sewage. The patented process reduces energy use by removing more organic matter from the waste stream before it undergoes aeration or secondary treatment. As an added benefit, the system creates an organic byproduct that can be used for anaerobic digestion. ClearCove studies have demonstrated that organic matter captured by its primary treatment system and used in anaerobic digestion generates three times more biogas than organic matter typically taken from secondary treatment does.

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Technology produces superior biogas feedstock 

Iogen Corp. has developed and patented a new method to make drop-in cellulosic biofuels from biogas using existing refinery assets and production operations. The company estimates enough refining capacity is already in place to produce 5 to 6 billion gallons of the fuel.
 The technology involves processing biogas to make renewable hydrogen, which is then incorporated into finished transportation fuels in selected refinery hydrogenating units.
 The company developed the biogas-to-cellulosic fuels approach as it examined sending the tail end of fermentations to an anaerobic digester as a way to increase the efficiency of its cellulosic ethanol process.
 Iogen plans to implement the process as two large-scale cellulosic ethanol plants it is developing in the U.S., which are expected to be constructed in Kansas and North Dakota.

New process turns biogas into hydrogen

Many cities across the U.S.&mdash;even large cities like New York City&mdash;are stepping up recycling efforts by offering curbside collection of source separated organics, or food scraps and nonrecyclable papers. City and county governments are looking to collect household and institutional organic waste to boost recycling efforts. As they consider what to do with these organics, they should consider the value of anaerobic digestion (AD).
 U.S. EPA statistics show that in 2011, Americans generated 250 million tons of trash and recycled approximately 35 percent, or 87 million tons, of the collected material.&nbsp; Food scraps accounted for approximately 21 percent of the remaining 164 million tons of nonrecycled materials. Current recycling rates make a strong case for why local units of government are targeting organic materials to boost recycling.
 As local units of government undertake these efforts, the discussions in several jurisdictions are focused on composting the collected material. As advocates for AD and biogas energy generation, it is important that we urge cities and counties to consider anaerobic digestion as an avenue to capture the energy value from household food scraps and other organic material. Composting is far preferable to landfilling organics, and has the advantage of having viable economics with small volumes of organics, but AD offers additional benefits.
 Although project economics might not always favor AD compared to composting, it should be considered in the planning process, and used when sufficient volumes of organics make the economics more attractive The use of AD could take organic collection programs to the next level by capturing the methane from organic materials and using it generate clean power, transportation fuel or both. If transportation fuel is the preferred energy option, trucks that are used to collect organics could be fueled by the methane captured in the AD process, which could save city and county government&rsquo;s money by offsetting diesel fuel use. And you still get the same valuable organic material out the other end, just like a compost project!
 Jurisdictions are taking different approaches when it comes to getting more organics out of the solid waste stream and diverting those materials to composting or anaerobic digestion facilities. Some are enacting organic disposal bans and others are implementing voluntary organics sorting and collection programs. These efforts are helping to solve a critical first step: putting the necessary infrastructure and processes in place to efficiently move organic materials from households and institutions to central collection facilities.
 In Massachusetts, where 25 percent of the solid waste stream is organic material, new requirements aim to drive part of the nonusable organics to AD facilities.&nbsp; In regulations finalized in January, facilities that have at least 1 ton of organic material per week must separate usable food from nonusable. The nonusable portion must be sent to an AD, composting or animal feed facility. In addition, Massachusetts is offering technical assistance and financing support of up to $1 million in grants to public and private facilities to implement AD projects to process on-site organic waste and be able to receive diverted organics from other locations. The requirements go into effect on Oct. 1.
 There are voluntary and mandatory organic collection efforts happening in communities, large and small, across the country. Advocates of increased compositing and anaerobic digestion have been and will continue to be natural partners as these efforts scale up. We must all continue to work together to ensure that we make the highest and best use of the organic material diverted from landfills or incinerators. Author: Amanda Bilek Government Affairs Manager, Great Plains Institute 612-278-7118

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Biomass Magazine columnist Amanda Bilek discusses the value of AD in city waste collection efforts.

Taking Recycling Efforts to the Next Level

People who emerge as exceptional business leaders have often come from seemingly unrelated and diverse backgrounds. Thomas Edison, for example, before creating some of the greatest inventions of the 20th century, sold newspapers and candy to passengers riding on the Grand Trunk Railroad, in the late 1800s. During that stint, Edison learned telegraphy, which spurred his interest in electricity and fostered his drive for invention.
 The biogas industry is no exception to this observation; many hail from diverse backgrounds and life experiences, be it the Peace Corps, an oceanographic institute or a farm in central Minnesota. Those experiences have all, in one way or another, helped the following individuals make notable contributions to the evolving biogas industry.
 Quasar energy group decided to name its company after an abundant energy source, as &ldquo;quasar&rdquo; refers to an extremely distant object with energy output several thousand times that of our galaxy.&nbsp; The company believes quasar is one word that describes the potential of the biomass waste-to-energy industry, which it entered by storm in 2006.
 A pioneer in bringing European anaerobic digestion technology to the U.S., Quasar Energy President Mel Kurtz&rsquo;s trek into the sector began while he was working for a company that managed solid waste for the Akron, Ohio, wastewater treatment facility. The company faced chemical, air treatment and utility costs that exceeded $1 million each year, Kurtz says. &ldquo;In order to gain control of the cost, we started looking for an alternative.&rdquo;
 Kurtz&rsquo;s brother, Tom, took a trip to Switzerland via a recommendation from an Ohio State engineer he knew, and was amazed at the capabilities of an anaerobic digester he visited while there. &ldquo;Instead of buying energy to burn energy, now we&rsquo;re going to capture energy and make energy. Long story short, that&rsquo;s how anaerobic digestion became a staple for the Kurtz family,&rdquo; Mel Kurtz says.
 Since then, using an aggregation of best available technologies from more than 30 European providers, quasar energy&mdash;previously known as Schmack Biogas&mdash;has built over a dozen U.S. digester projects, mostly in Ohio. These facilities utilize a versatile combination of feedstocks&mdash;from manure to food waste to biosolids and fats, oils and greases, to produce electricity, heat and compressed natural gas. While the technologies have been sourced from Europe, quasar&rsquo;s systems run on close to 100 percent U.S.-made components, the majority of which are sourced from within Ohio.
 Being president of quasar energy involves meeting and managing goals not only for himself, but also for those already involved or becoming involved in the biogas industry. &ldquo;The industry is so new, there&rsquo;s a big learning curve for everybody involved, such as regulators, consumers, vendors and customers,&rdquo; Kurtz says. &ldquo;Most of the time is spent directing people toward a perspective about this huge opportunity that they didn&rsquo;t have previously.&rdquo;
 One of the bigger goals that quasar and Kurtz are working toward is spreading the word of biogas to potential markets and educating organizations. &ldquo;The most important thing for the industry is that everything we&rsquo;re doing with current generation digesters costs less than the alternatives in the marketplace,&rdquo; Kurtz says. &ldquo;In other words, it&rsquo;s less expensive than incineration, chemical treatment and landfills. With the dilemma of the wastewater treatment plant, federal funding has declined 97 percent since 2009, which means rate payers are going to carry the burden on any plant or infrastructure modifications.&rdquo;
 Amanda Bilek 
 At the Haubenschild dairy farm in Princeton, Minn., Minnesota Project intern Amanda Bilek was introduced to anaerobic digestion while working with a project manager in the spring of 2000. Two years later, the central Minnesota native took a permanent job within the organization, which focuses on expanding development of Minnesota&rsquo;s renewable energy resources. It was then that she became more involved in anaerobic digestion. &ldquo;That is sort of how I stepped in to work more on biogas systems, by taking over the implementation of outreach and education grants we had in conjunction with the anaerobic digestion system,&rdquo; says Bilek.
 A political science and environmental studies graduate of the University of St. Thomas,&nbsp; Bilek was initially attracted to anaerobic digestion technology because of its ability to address varieties of organic waste streams and the opportunity it provided as an alternative energy resource. At the time, state universities and government organizations were researching multiple uses for the biogas, such as cleaning it up and running it through fuel cells, she says. &ldquo;What has really gotten me excited about biogas over my entire career is that it has a wonderful ability to meet a variety of different uses for energy,&rdquo; Bilek says. &ldquo;It is a very exciting and dynamic fuel that is incredibly underutilized in the U.S.&rdquo;
 For seven years, Bilek continued to work with multiple biogas projects for the Minnesota Project. Then, she joined the Great Plains Institute, which focuses on public policy and working with diverse people to broker consensus agreements on energy policy in order to grow energy systems&mdash;such as biogas&mdash;that are both economically and environmentally sustainable, she says.
 In 2011, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton appointed Bilek to the state&rsquo;s Next Generation Energy Board. One reason for her appointment might have been due to her experience within the biogas and biomass industry, she believes. &ldquo;I was incredibly honored when I got a call from the governor&rsquo;s office when they were thinking of appointing me to the board.&rdquo;
 Bilek has also provided staffing assistance to advisory groups of the Midwestern Governors Association Energy and Jobs Initiatives including Industrial Energy Productivity, Advanced Transportation Fuels, Low Carbon Fuel Policy and Bioeconomy and Transportation.
 When she isn&rsquo;t tackling a looming deadline, Bilek usually begins and ends her day researching the growing news within the industry and managing her to-do lists. The rest of her day can encompass squeezing in meetings, additional research, writing and tackling priorities to keep projects moving forward.
 Patrick Serfass
 In 2000, the year Bilek was beginning her excursion into the biomass world, Partick Serfass was finishing his engineering degree at Dartmouth College.&nbsp;
 After graduation, Serfass explored several industries and had the opportunity to work on multiple diverse projects. At Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, he helped design deep-water vehicles, and was also involved with a group that works with the Alvin and Jason submersibles, which are mostly recognized from Robert Ballard&rsquo;s discovery of the Titanic wreck site.&nbsp; In addition to working on the submersibles, Serfass had the chance to assist with mapping underwater volcanoes in the Pacific.
 Following Woods Hole, Serfass moved to a company that blended architecture and engineering to produce stainless steel structures that support artistic projects at venues such as the Kennedy Center, Museum of Natural History in New York City, San Francisco International Airport and the Experience Music Project in Seattle. &ldquo;The goal was to create a structure that was strong, to support the art, but was also aesthetically beautiful,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I think the projects we worked on were really amazing, but at the end of the day, I didn&rsquo;t really get to work with people. I knew I wanted to do a lot more, and that&rsquo;s where I started moving away from the nuts and bolts kind of engineering and more towards application and business management. That&rsquo;s what led me to energy.&rdquo;
 Serfass became involved with the American Biogas Council when roughly 20 companies came together to form an organization to formally represent the U.S. biogas industry. While working with Technology Technician Corp., the coalition approached the company to help grow the industry. Shortly after forming the ABC, Serfass was elected executive director. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of interesting,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t really seeking out the biogas industry, but it was something we talked about for a long time, since it is kind of one of the underappreciated resources in the renewable energy space. We had a great opportunity when we were approached to try and grow the industry. I&rsquo;m really thrilled that over the last four years, we have experienced a lot of growth, and there will be much more in the years to come.&rdquo;
 Future goals include getting people to think about recycling organic waste in the same way they might think about recycling other materials, such as glass, paper and plastics, Serfass says. The biogas industry had two major successes when both Connecticut and New York City passed laws to recycle more organic wastes. &ldquo;Those took a year or more in the making to get to those states,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;This year, we have four more states with legislation that has been introduced.&rdquo;
 In addition to leading a quickly growing organization, the next accomplishments involve greater outreach and education. &ldquo;We spent the first couple years trying to grow so that we would have enough influence to get something to happen,&rdquo; Serfass says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re just now at a point where things are really starting to change within the industry. Not just because the industry is growing on its own, but because we&rsquo;re able to affect change.&rdquo;
 Joshua Rapport
 As a new biology graduate, Joshua Rapport originally planned to work in the pharmaceutical industry, but he was inspired to study biofuels and biogas during his time in the Peace Corps. He joined the organization in 2000, and worked at the island nation of Vanuatu, in the South Pacific Ocean. There, the locals had a very basic lifestyle and lacked resources that could promote their standard of living, says Rapport. &ldquo;One of the few things they have to generate income is coconuts.&rdquo;&nbsp;
 The implications of creating a coconut oil-derived biodiesel inspired Rapport to attend the University of California-Davis to study engineering. &ldquo;I was looking for a way for them to make a little money and help themselves out,&rdquo; Rapport says. The possibility of running diesel generators on the coconut fuel could potentially allow the village to have electricity for the first time in its history, he adds. &ldquo;Turns out that would be a little harder than anticipated, which is why I decided to pursue an engineering degree.&rdquo; Because of his biology background, anaerobic digestion was a natural fit for Rapport. &ldquo;So, I was interested in biofuels and engineering. I looked at several programs, and became interested in the one at UC-Davis.&rdquo;
 During his studies, he met Dr. Ruihong Zhang, professor at UC-Davis and the current chief technology advisor at CleanWorld Partners. Zhang and Rapport began working together on anaerobic digestion (AD) research and an AD pilot plant, which became part of the basis for CleanWorld Partners&rsquo; commercialization technology. &ldquo;When I was graduating, CleanWorld was just beginning to talk about putting together a team to commercialize the technology,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;So the timing worked just right.&rdquo; Rapport and CleanWorld have successfully brought on line its award-winning Sacramento BioDigester, the largest anaerobic digestion system of its kind in North America. The facility converts 25 tons of food waste per day into various forms of renewable energy including heat, electricity, and natural gas, in addition to producing fertilizer and soil enhancements for California farms. The facility is now under expansion to handle nearly 40,000 tons per year, a project that is expected to be complete by mid-2014.
 There seems to be no typical work day for Rapport. When he is not catching up on emails and attending meetings, his time is spent designing projects, consulting customers and team members. When he goes home, he uses an iPad to monitor digesters and remotely make adjustments. The application he uses allows access to the AD systems from any point in the world, he says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s sort of a 24/7 job here.&rdquo;
 Currently, Rapport and the CleanWorld team are hoping to launch two to four new units within the next year and are diligently working to improve their latest technology. &ldquo;We have already proven our system works,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I think our biggest goal will be to expand to a much wider customer base.&rdquo; In addition to launching new systems, the research and development team is investigating new additions to systems and value-added products from the digester residuals, he says. Author: Chris Hanson Staff Writer, Biomass Magazine <a href="mailto:chanson@bbiinternational.com">chanson@bbiinternational.com</a> 701-738-4970

Mel Kurtz
President, Quasar Energy Group



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Patrick Serfass
Executive Director, American Biogas Council


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Realizing the versatile and valuable qualities of biogas energy, Mel Kurtz, Joshua Rapport, Amanda Bilek and Patrick Serfass strive to spread the word. 

Biogas Bolsterers

U.S EPA data indicates nearly 16.62 billion renewable identification numbers (RINs) were generated last year, including 442,740 D3 cellulosic biofuel and 387,445 D7 cellulosic diesel RINs, bringing the total for cellulosic RINs to about 830,185.
 More than 550.98 million D5 advanced biofuel RINs were generated last year, including 25.90 million for biogas and 3.47 million for naptha. Approximately 70.03 million D5 RINs were generated for nonester renewable diesel.
 About 2.72 billion D4 biomass-based diesel RINs were also generated in 2013, including approximately 408.09 million for nonester renewable diesel.
 More than 13.31 billion D6 renewable fuels RINs were generated last year, including 15,198 for butanol and 196.36 million for nonester renewable diesel.&nbsp;
 EPA data shows that nearly 15.39 billion RINs were generated by domestic producers, with 745.24 million generated by importers and 483.24 million generated by foreign entities.

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EPA reveals 2013 RIN data 

Global Bioenergies has signed a two-year collaboration agreement with German car manufacturer Audi for development of high-performance biofuel for gasoline engines. The agreement focuses on isobutene-derived isooctane.
 According to Global Bioenergies, it is developing a process for the direct and cost-efficient transformation of renewable resources into light olefins. Its most advanced program is on the production of biobased isobutene, a molecule that can be transformed into isooctane, a drop-in biofuel with an octane rating of 100.
 &ldquo;We had recently announced the start of our precommercial pilot phase at the Fraunhofer [Center for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes] in Leuna allowing production of high-purity isobutene that can be used for different applications. One crucial point of our collaboration with Audi will consist of supplying them with isooctane derived from isobutene produced at our pilot plant. Furthermore, the collaboration with Audi will enable us to emphasize even more the usage of sustainable feedstock,&rdquo; said Thomas Buhl, head of business development at Global Bioenergies.

Audi, Global Bioenergies partner on drop-in fuels

In early February, President Barack Obama signed a Farm Bill that provided support to a broad spectrum of biomass technologies.
 This bill is the result of hard negotiations among members of Congress, and as a result of the give-and-take process, the bill is not perfect. We are happy to see that elected officials are acknowledging the potential of biomass in the U.S., but as our nation grows, we will need new and sustainable sources of products from feed and food to fuels and chemicals.
 Biomass technologies are beginning to provide that diversity of products, as well as the environmental upside of processes like carbon dioxide sequestration. In the algae industry, several companies are optimizing technologies that will grow biomass exclusively with saltwater or wastewater, an even more important accomplishment in the face of recent droughts. Stories of these potential solutions and commercial successes are beginning to attract new congressional supporters on both sides of the aisle.
 The new Farm Bill was particularly interesting in that it addresses algae and other biomass from many angles:
 &bull; The bill will continue to allow algae projects to be eligible for support through the Biomass Crop Assistance Program for establishment and maintenance of algae crops.&nbsp; This means that algae farmers will remain eligible to apply for USDA funding to establish their algae crops and also to maintain these crops on an annual basis.
 &bull; Every biomass supporter should be happy to see that $881 million in mandatory funding for the energy title is included in the Farm Bill. Many in Congress had proposed excluding the mandatory funding, which would have jeopardized programs like BCAP, the Biorefinery Assistance Program, the Biomass R&amp;D Program, and the Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels.
 &bull; The bill extends the Biorefinery Assistance Program beyond biofuel refining to renewable chemicals and other biobased products. This will be welcome news for those looking to produce the full range of products derived from algae.
 &bull; The bill extends the Noninsured Crop Assistance Program to energy crops. Currently, NAP only covers crops grown for food, feed and fiber.&nbsp; This means that producers of biofuels will now be eligible to apply for insurance coverage of their crops in the case of a natural disaster.&nbsp;
 Members of the Algae Biomass Organization supported all of these changes, as did many in the biomass community at large.
 The Farm Bill isn&rsquo;t perfect, but Congress recognizing that biomass industries should have real support is a significant step forward for the new wave of technologies that are generating jobs, renewable products, and environmental benefits that so many in the U.S. are demanding.
 &nbsp;The final language in the new Farm Bill is evidence that keeping Congress informed about the benefits of biomass and our industry success stories has a positive impact. I&rsquo;m surely not alone in thinking that additional strong policy support can only make these technologies more successful in the U.S.
 As we share more success, we will see more support. Author: Margaret McCormick Chair of Board of Directors, Algae Biomass Organization 877-531-5512 <a href="http://www.algaebiomass.org">www.algaebiomass.org</a>

The Algae Biomass Organization's Margaret McCormick discusses implications the new Farm Bill has on algae and other biomass technologies.

A Biomass Farm Bill

The emerging advanced biofuels and chemicals industries are full of people with dreams, people who imagine multiple means for making a biobased economy a true replacement for petroleum. Looking back at 100 years of oil development history, we focus on the titans of the industry that built the success stories that made petroleum products ubiquitous. We don&rsquo;t know yet who the winners in the advanced biofuels and biochemical space will be. But regardless which companies ultimately succeed, that success will be built on the efforts of many people.
 Michael McAdams is well known for his advocacy work on behalf of the emerging industry as the president of the Advanced Biofuels Association. His desire to work in the policy arena goes way back, to around the dinner table as a boy where public policy was part of the daily conversation. &ldquo;My father came to Washington, D.C., to work for a senator as a very young man,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;Since he was my hero, I thought that what he did for a living in public service was a great calling.&rdquo; His dad helped him get a job as a page in the House of Representatives when he was 15. Working alongside him in the House mailroom was none other than Bob Dinneen.&nbsp; &ldquo;Fast forward 35 years and here we are,&rdquo; McAdams says. &ldquo;Bob leading the Renewable Fuels Association and me leading the Advanced Biofuels Association.&rdquo;
 Earlier in his career, though, McAdams was on the other side of the table, representing an oil company. He sees his 14 years of experience with BP as giving him a solid foundation for his work today. &ldquo;I worked directly for the CEO Lord John Browne the last five years, I was his policy guy in the U.S.,&rdquo; he says. He worked at BP on the &ldquo;Beyond Petroleum&rdquo; effort and during the time that BP delivered the first low-sulfur gasoline in the United States. &ldquo;What I worked on for the last five years I was with BP was the cutting edge of cleaning up hydrocarbon fuels. I literally sat down and negotiated with Bob Dinneen in 2000, and BP became one of the first companies to support a mandate for ethanol.&rdquo;
 Working in the oil industry gave McAdams an understanding of the transportation market, how fuel markets work and capital is allocated, as well as how complicated and costly transportation infrastructure is. And, it gives him a different attitude towards Big Oil. &ldquo;If we&rsquo;re able to develop this [advanced biofuels] industry, it&rsquo;s going to be through our sweat and tears and our own innovation,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;If we develop reasonable processes and deliver the goods, they will be the first people to be investing in it. At the minimum, [the oil companies] are going to be the customers we sell to.&rdquo; It is a mistake to paint the companies in the oil industry with a broad brush, he says, they are highly competitive and far from monolithic.
 Besides working for BP, McAdams has worked on the staffs of two members of Congress as well as other advocacy groups before helping to organize the Advanced Biofuels Association and working as its lobbyist. &ldquo;Anybody in this business has to have an eternal optimism. They have to wake up every morning believing they are doing the right thing for the world,&rdquo; he says.&nbsp; &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve really got to have a thick skin in this business, because you&rsquo;re going to take a lot of shots and you&rsquo;ve really got to do your homework. I tell all the young people who work for me that this is not easy. You will have to read and work and continue to do that throughout your career.&nbsp; When you line up across the line of scrimmage across from someone, whether it&rsquo;s the American Petroleum Institute or someone else, you better bring your best game. This is not unlike a professional game. You&rsquo;ve got to bring your A team, if you&rsquo;re going to play at the big leagues of the federal policy arena.&rdquo;
 The rewards for the effort are significant, he adds. &ldquo;When you accomplish something, it lasts for a long time and you make a difference in lives. For me, I&rsquo;m trying to help those innovative second generation biofuels companies. That&rsquo;s my dream, before I retire, to see it become a real industry.&rdquo;
 Jason Quinn 
 In his mid-30s, Jason Quinn is among the group of researchers who will shape the development of renewable energy in the decades ahead. As an assistant professor in mechanical engineering at Utah State University, he is teaching students about the principals of mechanical engineering such as fluids, energy and mass transfer as applied to a range of renewable energy systems, including wind and solar. A second class he teaches is focused on biofuels from a systems engineering angle looking at life-cycle analysis and tech economics. &ldquo;I enjoy the class on the metrics,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We do what I call first-order calculations.&rdquo; With his roots in the Midwest, Quinn has his students call farmers to ask how much diesel they burn when planting or combining soybeans. The farmers&rsquo; numbers are factored in with other data gathered in a similar fashion to develop a life cycle-analysis on soy-based biodiesel. &ldquo;We basically start in a very grassroots style, get an answer and look at others who have done the work and compare,&rdquo; Quinn says. The student calculations are within 10 percent of the experts&rsquo; results.
 Quinn&rsquo;s research delves deeper into the world of advanced biofuels systems. He is in the first year of a three-year research project funded by the National Science Foundation to look at heavy metals and their effect on microalgae growth. &ldquo;Most plants take CO2 from the atmosphere but microalgae grow at such a fast rate you have to supply CO2,&rdquo; he explains. Integrating microalgae culture with coal-fired power plants could utilize flue gases, helping solve several issues for that industry. His research will look at the effects that the heavy metals contained in the flue-gas waste stream may have on algae growth, and whether the heavy metals are being concentrated in a final product like biodiesel.
 In other research projects, Quinn is broadening his examination of algae. &ldquo;One project is taking a growth model we&rsquo;ve developed and looking globally,&rdquo; he says. There have been multiple assessments of the third-generation fuel&rsquo;s potential in the U.S., he says, but not of the global potential. Another project is making a life-cycle and economic analysis for a third-generation microalgae-based biorefinery that would produce not just biodiesel, but also bioplastics and electricity.
 When asked about his goals, Quinn replies, &ldquo;If it were easy, it would already be done.&rdquo;&nbsp; He doesn&rsquo;t expect microalgae-to-fuels to be commercialized for another decade, but its promise makes it a worthwhile endeavor. &ldquo;Microalgae&rsquo;s biggest strength over anything else is its productivity potential. When you look at yields of traditional crops, microalgae yields are orders of magnitude larger today,&rdquo; he says, albeit the systems are not yet economically viable. Currently, algae systems are yielding between 2,500 and 5,000 gallons per acre per year, compared to first- and second-generation biofuel yields that number in the hundreds of gallons per acre per year.
 The work to be done to make such tantalizing yields economically viable will include engineers working on the systems and biologists working with the microorganisms at small scale, all generating data to be used for scale up. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to develop experiments that enable us to scale and draw data into large-scale modeling,&rdquo; Quinn says, &ldquo;trying to tie everything together and bring the rubber to the road.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
Susan Hager
 As senior vice president for corporate communications and government affairs at Myriant Corp., Susan Hager says she has the best job in the world. &ldquo;Not only do I work in the most exciting industry, but my function in the organization is the best. So much of what I do focuses on understanding what is happening internally and then leveraging that to communicate externally with customers, partners, investors or the government. It&rsquo;s a very dynamic position, but one that lets me interact with everyone in the organization in everything from finance to engineering. It&rsquo;s a lot of fun.&rdquo;
 A biologist by training, Hager started her career doing benchtop research on immunology and cancer treatments. But rather than continuing on for a doctorate in immunology, she decided to pursue an MBA. &ldquo;I was very interested in the business aspects of biotech,&rdquo; she explains. A few years later, she was at a crossroads again when a friend became CEO at a development-stage advanced biofuels company and invited her to join his team. &ldquo;I had no experience in clean energy or biomass,&rdquo; she says, but after reading up on all sectors of clean energy she became enthusiastic. &ldquo;The clean energy sector is probably the only other industry as altruistic as trying to cure cancer.&rdquo;&nbsp; It was an industry she could rally around, she says. &ldquo;I started to get passionate about the technologies I was reading about. The company I joined [Qteros] had this really cool bacteria&mdash;biology at the core with really slick engineering.&rdquo;
 At Qteros, Hager cut her teeth on energy policy and was involved in getting the Advanced Ethanol Council established to raise awareness of advanced cellulosic fuels in Congress. Shifting over to Myriant&rsquo;s focus on bioproducts and biobased chemicals was not a heavy lift, she says. Similar to Qteros, Myriant&rsquo;s technology harnesses the ability of a microbe, in this case to produce succinic acid, used in the manufacturing of a broad range of plastics and foams. The contrast with her earlier career, where her primary focus was on the Food and Drug Administration, was much bigger. &ldquo;I really thought, what could be more challenging than working with FDA trying to get drugs approved and on the market? And then I came over to clean tech. Trying to establish consistent energy policy is actually harder than getting a cancer drug approved.&rdquo;&nbsp;
 Hager hopes that within five years, biobased chemicals will be entering the mainstream, &ldquo;and that the big manufacturers and packaged goods companies are seriously looking at making products more sustainability for the benefit of the environment. Sure, it&rsquo;s great for all the companies trying to scale their technologies, but there is a bigger mission here&mdash;to be able to find renewable, sustainable feedstocks with lower carbon footprints, where the processes are carbon neutral or environmentally friendly and they contribute to products that are ecofriendly. I hope in five years, we&rsquo;re not just talking about two to five success stories. I hope there are so many success stories it&rsquo;s hard to keep track of them all,&rdquo; she says, &ldquo;but a lot needs to happen for that to happen.&rdquo;
 &ldquo;The biggest change is going to be when the generation that&rsquo;s in elementary school now comes up and enters the workforce,&rdquo; she continues. &ldquo;I have a 10 year old; and I&rsquo;m always amazed, happily, at how environmentally aware her generation is and the things they consider to be wasteful, that they would never consider doing, whereas our generation says &lsquo;whatever.&rsquo; They&rsquo;ve been brought up with the mindset of recycling and doing good, not wasting precious resources and mindful of petroleum as a finite resource. They understand what renewable biomass is, even at the age of 10. They get it. It will be that generation that is inquisitive enough to ask the questions about how you can do things differently. And they&rsquo;ll be the generation that can affect change from a policy perspective.&rdquo; Education is going to take a big role in keeping those students, and young women in particular, moving towards that future. &ldquo;Schools need to focus on STEM&mdash;science, math, technology and engineering, particularly&mdash;if, as a country, we want to maintain a competitive edge and be a country that fosters innovation and IP creation.&rdquo;
 Graham Noyes
 Though today Graham Noyes is one of the most well-known attorneys in the bioenergy space, the road to the sector was long and winding.&nbsp;
 The Dixbury, Mass., native attended the University of Virginia in Charlottesville as an undergraduate, and then traveled to the University of California-Davis for law school.&nbsp; &ldquo;While at UVA and in law school, I planned to pursue a career in politics,&rdquo; Noyes says. &ldquo;To explore the possibility further, I interned in Washington, D.C., after my second summer in law school.&rdquo;
 From that experience, Noyes realized that Capitol Hill was not for him. &ldquo;My summer [in D.C.] convinced me to return immediately to the West Coast,&rdquo; he says. He went on to graduate from law school and took the California bar exam, but struggled deciding what to do next. &ldquo;I had never intended to be a corporate lawyer, had decided not to pursue politics, and was reluctant to enter environmental law with its maze of regulations,&rdquo; Noyes reflects. &ldquo;I meandered around Central America for a few months waiting on bar results and pondering my next move.&nbsp; Upon my return to the U.S., I decided that given my uncertainty, the best way to start my legal career would be to try cases.&rdquo;
 Still a long way from bioenergy, Noyes worked his way into a position as an association public defender in Sacramento County, which he did for two years, then started a private practice in San Francisco, where he continued to do primarily criminal defense and expanded into civil rights litigation. &ldquo;While I learned a great many interesting and disturbing things during my eight years as a public defender, I became increasingly convinced it was time to find a new line of work,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The natural progression for a criminal defense attorney is from juvenile and petty offender cases toward serious felonies and capital cases. While I have great respect for my colleagues who continue to represent the indigent accused, I grew weary of studying police reports, interviewing clients in holding cells and prisons, and trying to sort fact from fiction.&rdquo;
 After becoming captivated by &ldquo;From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank&rdquo; by author Josh Tickell, who proposed biodiesel as a tool of environmental and economic change, Noyes met Tickell through mutual friends during his Veggie Van campaign. &ldquo;I had always been fascinated with engines, energy and the environment, and biodiesel touched all three issues,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;so I began exploring business models for a start-up biodiesel business. &ldquo;
 &nbsp;After performing a competitive analysis of the industry, Noyes decided a more financially sound plan of action was to pursue a position with World Energy Alternatives LLC, a biodiesel company that had financial backing from Gulf Oil LP, and was based in Chelsea, Mass. &ldquo;I tracked down Gene Gebolys, the CEO of World Energy, when he was visiting San Francisco,&rdquo; Noyes says. &ldquo;It took me several months to overcome his skepticism about the sense in hiring a criminal defense attorney to introduce biodiesel to the West Coast market, but, eventually, my persistence paid off.&rdquo;
 After working for World Energy six years, Noyes moved on run the company&rsquo;s U.S. sales. &ldquo;This work gave me exposure to the petroleum distribution network, feedstock supply and cost issues, quality control, federal and state policy impacts, public relation battles, and all things biodiesel,&rdquo; he says. Beginning in early 2007, he began leading sales and business development for Imperium Renewables, which was building a 100 MMgy biodiesel plant on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington.&nbsp; &ldquo;Imperium was positioning itself as a &ldquo;pure-play biodiesel IPO&rdquo; with plans to build three more 100 million gallon plants,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Unfortunately, before we could bring the IPO to market, the IPO window began to close, due to the onset of the recession.&rdquo;
 When Imperium&rsquo;s Board decided not to pursue the IPO, Noyes decided it was time to return to the law. Today, Noyes practice is focused almost exclusively on bioenergy. &ldquo;Most of my work involves incentives like the renewable fuel standard and California&rsquo;s Low Carbon Fuel Standard. I counsel companies developing new feedstocks, establishing new pathways, registering new fuels, dealing with renewable identification number (RIN) contract disputes, and responding to Requests for Information and Notices of Violation from the U.S. EPA.&nbsp; I work on the full range of transactions from feedstock agreements, to offtakes, to joint ventures and acquisitions, and I assist advanced technology bioenergy companies who are pursuing and developing strategic business relationships.&rdquo;
 Most of Noyes&rsquo; time is spent reviewing regulations and agency guidance, drafting contracts and letter briefs, discussing issues with clients, and negotiating with agencies and counterparties. &ldquo;Now that I have joined Keyes, Fox &amp; Wiedman LLP (from Stoel Rives LLP) I am looking forward to becoming more active in rulemakings, and in leveraging the firm&rsquo;s policy tracking capabilities to supply regulatory and legislative updates to clients,&rdquo; he says.
 While biodiesel industry has been his area of expertise, Noyes is increasingly involved in other bioenergy technologies, and says he is enthusiastic about projects that convert waste into fuels, energy and coproducts. &ldquo;These projects deliver multiple benefits,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I am convinced that state and federal policies are providing value for the positive benefits that could not previously be monetized, and that longer-term the market will provide this value directly.&nbsp; Based on the same trends, I am observing forward-thinking corporations that integrate sustainability into their business models, become very good global corporate citizens, and succeed because of it.
 Some free legal advice? Complete a diligent review of fundamentals including feedstock availability, permitting issues, off-take certainty, and sufficiency of working capital. &ldquo;I would also encourage developers to continue to be persistent and innovative and to maintain a long-term perspective,&rdquo; Noyes adds. &ldquo;The U.S. is ideally situated to lead the world in sustainable bioenergy&hellip;the world&rsquo;s growing population needs developers to continue evolving the efficiency and sustainability of their projects and increasing the energy, economic and environmental contributions of bioenergy.&nbsp; While there will be resistance and economic setbacks, we are in the early days of advanced bioenergy, and there are many accomplishments in the industry&rsquo;s future.&rdquo;
 Author: Susanne Retka Schill Senior Editor, Biomass Magazine 701-738-4922 <a href="mailto:sretkaschill@bbiinternational.com">sretkaschill@bbiinternational.com</a>

Michael McAdams
Advanced Biofuels Association

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Michael McAdams, Jason Quinn , Susan Hager and Graham Noyes work under the same advanced biofuel and chemical umbrella, but all have different motivators and visions for the future. 

April 2014

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April 2014.css-7jxktu{position:absolute;bottom:0px;left:0px;right:0px;height:3px;border-radius:3px;background-color:var(--chakra-colors-brandBlack);}

Business Briefs

Business Briefs

Business Brief

Columns

EU's Struggle for E10

How RINs Really Work, and Why Big Oil Hates Them

Moving Toward a Clean and Renewable Future

The Real Cost of Food

Legal Argument Challenges EPA Authority to Change RFS

It's Time to Focus on the Elephant in the Corner

Here We Go

The Multifaceted Benefits of Pellets

The Biomass Industry's Beating Heart

Lessons of Winter

Taking Recycling Efforts to the Next Level

A Biomass Farm Bill

Featured

Optimization Outlays

The Sugar Producers

Early Risers

Pellet Propellers

Power Pundits

Thermal Trailblazers

Biogas Bolsterers

Advancing Biofuels

Departments

Lignin's Big Leap

April 2014