A transformation is underway in Iowa. Last year, Verbio North America Corp., the U.S. subsidiary of German bioenergy producer Verbio Vereinigte BioEnergie AG, purchased DuPont Cellulosic Ethanol LLC in Nevada, Iowa. The company has plans to produce renewable natural gas (RNG) at the site, but first will need to make some changes to the facility. &ldquo;We will utilize the land, infrastructure, electric substation, control room and some other equipment and structures, but this represents only a small portion of the overall facility,&rdquo; says Rand Dueweke, chief financial officer of Verbio North America. &ldquo;To produce RNG, we need to complete a substantial new construction project&mdash;building multiple anaerobic digestion tanks and installing biogas upgrading equipment.&rdquo; Dueweke adds that the company hopes to begin production at the plant in the spring of 2020. Verbio has plans to expand that transformation beyond Iowa, not just by commissioning more RNG plants, but helping to change the diesel fuel market. &ldquo;We believe that RNG will ultimately replace diesel fuel in most heavy transportation applications, if the supply is available and the cost competitive,&rdquo; Dueweke says. Verbio has four plants in Europe that produce RNG as well as ethanol and biodiesel. Dueweke says the company is the only large-scale producer of all three products in Europe. Verbio expects to eventually commission new plants in the U.S. every six months, and is currently exploring options in western and central Kansas. Those projects are in their initial stages and sites have not yet been finalized, Dueweke says, adding it&rsquo;s too early to speculate on timelines. &ldquo;Other than Kansas and Iowa, it would be early to speculate on any other sites,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;However, the corn and wheat belts span about 12 states, so any of those are targets. &hellip; Generally, we are not looking at former grain ethanol plants; these are valued too high by the market for ethanol production.&rdquo; Dueweke says the DuPont site was selected because of its location and infrastructure, not its former use as a cellulosic ethanol plant. &ldquo;The DuPont site was attractive because of access to feedstock, water, electricity, highway, rail and natural gas infrastructure. We can also use some of the buildings and equipment on-site, but less than you would expect. The facility could have been originally constructed for a very different purpose and we still may have been just as interested in the site and infrastructure.&rdquo; While the ethanol and RNG industries have similarities, they are less like competitors than they are partners, says Marcus Gillette, director of public affairs for the Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas (RNG Coalition). &ldquo;I would say that the fuels are complements to one another. Growth and stability and the market for developing more advanced and cellulosic biofuels from all feedstocks is of equivalent interest to both markets.&rdquo; Brooke Coleman, executive director of the Advanced Biofuels Business Council, agrees. &ldquo;There is plenty of room under the RFS tent for renewable gas. The objective is to reduce oil dependence and provide more sustainable and renewable transportation fuels. The RFS will continue to succeed, and we will continue to ward off assaults on the policy, if we stick together in the biofuels sector.&rdquo; Geoff Cooper, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, says, &ldquo;We see RNG as being complementary to ethanol and other renewable fuels. We don&rsquo;t see those technologies as really competing, especially when you look at how RNG is used in transportation. It&rsquo;s typically in the heavy-duty fleets with heavy-duty vehicles, not necessarily in vehicles that would be gasoline vehicles or using ethanol. &hellip; We think the tent is big enough for lots of different kinds of renewable fuels. We do work together with the RNG folks and will continue to do that to grow the market for all renewables.&rdquo; The Process RNG is produced by improving biomethane to natural gas standards. Because RNG is produced with organic feedstocks, it is a cleaner alternative to traditional natural gas. The first step in producing RNG is capturing biogas. This is typically methane from landfills, livestock manure, wastewater treatment plants, or other facilities that produce the gas from organic material. The biogas is cleaned, removing carbon dioxide and impurities, leaving only methane. The result is known as biomethane, which is then upgraded to pipeline-quality RNG, and can be transported through existing natural gas pipelines. RNG is a direct substitute for natural gas. &ldquo;Renewable natural gas as a drop-in fuel is utilizing natural gas infrastructure that is already in place to distribute our sustainable fuel across state lines, and even across the country, in certain circumstances,&rdquo; Gillette says. According to Dueweke, most RNG is &ldquo;currently being produced at relatively small scale from landfill gas or via anaerobic digestion of dairy and swine manure.&rdquo; Verbio&rsquo;s Iowa plant, however, will use crop residue, such as corn stover and wheat straw, as its feedstock. Verbio&rsquo;s technology for this method is &ldquo;proven at industrial scale and presents an opportunity to achieve production at much larger scale and lower cost than what is currently happening in the market, given the relative abundance of feedstock supply throughout the Midwest,&rdquo; Dueweke says. Using crop residue as a feedstock isn&rsquo;t common now, but it is a growing trend, Gillette says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re seeing an increased interest and increased development in renewable natural gas from anaerobic digesters using feedstocks that include all types of agricultural waste, from dairy manure to swine waste, to leftover crop residues.&rdquo; The largest source of feedstock for RNG is landfills, Gillette says. &ldquo;Because landfills of a certain size are regulated to have biogas capture systems, it effectively acts as a large anaerobic digester already in place. So the economics of using upgraded biogas from landfills as feedstock for renewable natural gas often times makes the most economic sense.&rdquo; An Industry on the Grow While Dueweke says the RNG industry is still in its infancy, Gillette says it has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, thanks in part to the Renewable Fuel Standard. &ldquo;Since 2011, with the RFS framework in place, the RNG industry has developed over 45 new production facilities, capable of producing high-BTU gas used in transportation fuel applications, with over 50 projects currently under construction or in substantial stages of development.&rdquo; According to the RNG Coalition, 41 plants were built in North America between 1982 and 2014. Today, there are 89. With 50-plus new projects in progress, the RNG industry is poised to add $500 million to $3.5 billion in investments to the local and regional economies, depending on their locations and the feedstocks they use. In addition, Gillette says, &ldquo;Production of RNG results in as many, or more, temporary and permanent jobs than any other renewable energy&mdash;up to 173 temporary and permanent positions per project. &ldquo;The desire of various markets, as well as large- and medium-sized companies alike, to reduce their environmental and production footprint&rdquo; also play a role in the industry&rsquo;s growth, Gillette says. Most of the RNG produced in North America is used domestically. A small percentage is exported to Europe, but &ldquo;upwards of 95, and probably 99 percent of the renewable natural gas produced in North America is being used here,&rdquo; Gillette says. The Market RNG D3 RINs have outpaced those for cellulosic ethanol since 2014. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in 2017, RNG accounted for more than 240 million D3 RINs, compared to cellulosic ethanol&rsquo;s 10 million. RNG accounts for more than 95 percent of the fuel used to meet the RFS&rsquo;s cellulosic requirement. Like natural gas from geologic sources, RNG is used to power home appliances and for heating. But it&rsquo;s also used to power natural gas vehicles. Many heavy-duty truck fleets in larger urban areas have been converted to run on compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied natural gas (LNG). Gillette says Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (LA Metro) uses RNG in all its natural gas-fueled vehicles, and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport has adopted the fuel for its vehicles, too. UPS Inc. also uses natural gas vehicles in its fleet and has since 2008. The company says it used 15 million gallon equivalents of RNG in 2017, making it the largest consumer of the alternative fuel in the transportation industry. Gillette says some companies have made commitments to help with its production. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re also seeing increased interest in RNG from the development side from major corporations,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;L&rsquo;Oreal USA made a commitment [in early 2018]. Smithfield Foods has made a very large commitment to using their hog waste to produce renewable energy.&rdquo; California is a major market for natural gas, as it implements incentives for using vehicles that help reduce emissions, including those that run on natural gas. In addition, RNG can help fleet owners comply with the state&rsquo;s Low Carbon Fuel Standard. Producers can also generate LCFS credits, similar to the RINs generated under the RFS. &ldquo;California is also a more progressive state in terms of mitigating emissions and having a history of needing to reduce harmful air quality,&rdquo; Gillette says. &ldquo;The state also has had a more robust desire to reduce methane emissions and has policies and regulations working to do that, which the RNG industry has been supportive of.&rdquo; And, just like ethanol, driving further adoption of RNG is important. &ldquo;The more targets and factors that we have in place as a society and in different metro markets to increase the rate of conversion from dirtier fossil fuels to alternative fuels, the better off we&rsquo;ll be, from an air-quality standpoint and from a climate-change perspective,&rdquo; Gillette says. Author: Matt Thompson Associate Editor, Ethanol Producer Magazine 701.738.4922 mthompson@bbiinternational.com

A NEW LIFE: DuPont Cellulosic Ethanol in Nevada, Iowa, is now under the ownership of Verbio North America Corp. The company will convert the facility to accommodate renewable natural gas production.

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ON TOUR: Rep. Pete Olson, R-Texas, (right) visits with workers while touring the Fort Bend RNG production facility outside Houston, Texas.

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PROSPERING PRODUCTION: 
The Woodland Meadows RNG production facility in the Detroit, Michigan, metro area has helped boost the industryâ€™s recent growth. 

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RNG ANSWERS: Luke Morrow (left), president of Morrow Renewables, answers questions while guiding regulators and industry stakeholders on a tour of the company's Turkey Creek renewable natural gas production facility outside the Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texa

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FROM THE FEBRUARY ISSUE: Verbio has plans to further strengthen the already-expanding renewable natural gas market in the U.S., having purchased DuPont's cellulosic ethanol plant.

Burgeoning Biomethane

After the fatal 2016 explosion and fire at Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy LLC in Council Bluffs, the plant&rsquo;s management prioritized not only improving safety measures on-site, but also sharing lessons learned with the ethanol industry. &ldquo;It was our obligation, our duty, to share and explain,&rdquo; says Dan Wych, SIRE plant manager. &ldquo;The ethanol industry is so tight. It&rsquo;s a family-based industry. It&rsquo;s a little different, probably, than a lot of industries. We do not want this to ever happen at another ethanol plant.&rdquo; The fire occurred on a Friday afternoon in the loadout area, after a driver had hooked up a truck and started loading ethanol. The truck exploded, covering the driver and the area with alcohol that caught fire. The driver died from his injuries a couple weeks later. The cause of the explosion is still unknown, Wych says. &ldquo;That incident changed our safety at SIRE. We had a good safety program, but this incident opened our eyes and it really showed us what we needed to do above and beyond. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter if it was a SIRE employee or a contractor or a truck driver. It all means the same to us. Every individual who comes on this site is valued.&rdquo; Since the accident, Dan Velasquez, SIRE&rsquo;s safety manager, has delivered in-depth presentations at industry gatherings, explaining what happened and what the plant improved to prevent any injuries moving forward. Reliance on Design Perhaps the most important change implemented and recommended by SIRE is the installation of an explosion-proof building near the loadout area to house the operator presence control switch. Ethanol cannot flow unless the truck driver is inside that fire-proof building, Wych says. Previously, the plant had operator presence control switches outside and inside a small building available for shelter from weather during loading. The change means the driver is always protected. Front Range Energy LLC, in Windsor, Colorado, followed SIRE&rsquo;s lead and installed the same kind of explosion-proof shelter, housing the only available switch. &ldquo;During active loading of the truck, that truck driver is inside that building,&rdquo; says Monica Morris, environmental health and safety manager for Front Range. &ldquo;We took people away from the point of transfer. You take people away, you&rsquo;re going to save a life. &ldquo;We hadn&rsquo;t had an issue, and we took information from another plant and started looking into our own situation and thought, &lsquo;Hmm. Maybe we do have an issue,&rsquo;&rdquo; Morris says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re learning from another plant&rsquo;s experience.&rdquo; Westmor Industries helped configure the metering inside the shelters for both plants. &ldquo;We would come out with our proving equipment and make sure everything&rsquo;s communicating accurately from a commerce standpoint,&rdquo; says Jon Krueger, sales manager for Westmor. He adds that shelters are common at loadout areas, but explosion-proof protection is rare. Front Range also followed suit with SIRE on changes to the containment area, Morris says. Catch pans are now isolated, preventing drips from approaching the 200-proof tank. SIRE had installed a new skid, as the containment area underneath the previous one drained directly to the tank farm. In a fire scenario, that drastically increases the danger. &ldquo;We had this pool of alcohol, on fire, now surrounding my tank farms, storage tanks,&rdquo; Wych says. The new system has secondary containment, no longer tied to the tank farm. SIRE is a standard design for a 100 MMgy ethanol plant built in 2009. &ldquo;We all have a similar-designed loadout system,&rdquo; Wych says. Morris says, &ldquo;[Risks] could be overlooked if you just rely on an original design, and don&rsquo;t do site evaluations.&rdquo; Contracts and Accountability Safeguarding the site itself is only one part of the upgrades. The contracted truckers need to be familiar with the procedures they&rsquo;re expected to follow, Morris and Wych say. &ldquo;We really had to dive deep into our hauler management procedure and selection process for those haulers,&rdquo; Morris says. Front Range developed an approval process and disciplinary actions, and monitors the area with cameras at all times. &ldquo;We had contracts and procedures in place, but we really developed them more, and made them a lot more site-specific with more oversight,&rdquo; Morris says. &ldquo;We did a lot of homework on truck loading.&rdquo; SIRE&rsquo;s re-evaluation of standard operating procedure resulted in new training and annual recertification requirements for drivers, to ensure everyone understands their responsibilities, Wych says. &ldquo;We really improved that tremendously.&rdquo; Above and Beyond &ldquo;Obviously, when you have an incident like this, every single thing that you&rsquo;ve ever done is gone through and looked over in detail, and we had investigations from all different types&mdash;from OSHA to EPA to police, fire&mdash;for several months after that,&rdquo; Wych says. &ldquo;A lot of what we did was requirements of OSHA, but a lot was above and beyond, too.&rdquo; Following the fire, SIRE upgraded its fire-retardant clothing policy, requiring 100 percent use site-wide, outside of administrative personnel, Wych says. The clothing is provided for all employees. SIRE also requires fire-retardant head socks for drivers and employees in areas it has identified as maximum fire-risk zones, and provides those also.&nbsp; Another issue that arose during the fire was access to fire hydrants. They sat on grassy areas, which prevented the forklifts from delivering the totes of foam used in the hydrants. Tires slipped in the mud and got stuck, Wych says. Now, concrete surrounds all hydrants. And the foam is accessible in a centrally located building on-site. SIRE also purchased large, portable extinguishers on wheeled carts that pump out water and foam. Also housed in the central building are first aid kits, burn gel, burn kits, tourniquets and other emergency items, as well as hydrant wrenches. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very important that people understand each fire hydrant needs a hydrant wrench, so it&rsquo;s important to have those wrenches in central locations,&rdquo; Wych says. &ldquo;So we put those in the central foam building, too. Everyone knows where the fire hydrant wrenches are.&rdquo; SIRE also revised its loading hours, from 24/7 to only during scale house hours. &ldquo;The trucking companies have adjusted to it,&rdquo; Wych says. Those loading hours guarantee more people will be on-site, with more eyes on operations. The explosion and fire could have been much worse, if fewer people had been on-site to help, Wych says. Friday afternoons would usually mean a skeleton crew. But that Friday, many employees were still at work, including a volunteer firefighter who ran immediately to the nearest hydrant, and Velasquez, who heard the explosion and sprinted to help, attempting to smother flames on the truck driver with his bare hands, Wych says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re grateful for every individual who was there and how our plant has come together to make safety not just a program, but a culture,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It takes every single individual to make your safety culture, safety program, work.&rdquo; Wych also recommends making sure local fire personnel are familiar with the ethanol plant and the site. &ldquo;Get your fire department, get your emergency response people that are local, get them to your facility, show them what needs to happen, show them how you get in and out of your plant. Those things are all important when you&rsquo;re trying to ask for help from your local resources.&rdquo; Willing to Share Morris says Front Range spent about $40,000 and six months on its safety upgrades, after hearing Velasquez present at a recent conference. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very well worth it,&rdquo; she says of the cost. &ldquo;It builds confidence. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s important to be proactive and learn from others&rsquo; mistakes,&rdquo; she says, adding it&rsquo;s also important to not focus on flaws or point fingers. Employ a mindset of &ldquo;prevention and correction&rdquo; that evaluates operations and actively makes necessary changes.&nbsp; Wych says SIRE will continue to use its experience to help prevent a similar tragedy at other plants. &ldquo;We want to share our lessons learned, share our experience, show what we did to try to prevent, ultimately, any kind of injury for employees or contractors,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re always willing to share our story.&rdquo; Author: Lisa Gibson Editor, Ethanol Producer Magazine 701.738.4920 lgibson@bbiinternational.com

SAFETY STRENGTHENED: After its fatal 2016 fire, Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy LLC, in Council Bluffs, installed an explosion-proof shelter in the loadout area, housing the only operator presence control switch. The driver must be inside the shelter

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CONTAINMENT CATCH: A secondary containment area at SIRE disconnects from the tank farm, preventing fires from spreading.  

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FOLLOW ALONG: Front Range Energy LLC in Windsor, Colorado, followed suit and installed an explosion-proof building in the loadout area, housing the only operator presence control switch. 

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ON WHEELS: SIRE invested in portable, foam-dispensing extinguishers. 

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FROM THE FEBRUARY ISSUE: A fatal fire at Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy in 2016 prompted the facility to make changes and encourage other plants to do the same.      

Out of Harm's Way

Gasoline retailers spend a fair amount of time making sure their pumps fit their customers&rsquo; needs&mdash;needs that might be changing, with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency expected to extend the Reid vapor pressure (RVP) waiver to E15, hopefully before next summer&rsquo;s driving season. Retailers will have to decide not only if they will offer the blend, but how they&rsquo;ll dispense it. For those who have already added the blend to their product mix, the most widely chosen option has been blender pumps that combine E85 with E10 to produce blends like E15. But Mike O&rsquo;Brien, vice president of market development for Growth Energy, says there are other choices. &ldquo;As of late, Kwik Trip, Casey&rsquo;s and Cumberland Farms, for example, will be selling a preblended E15, where they put E15 in an existing tank and dispense it through existing dispensers. So, we&rsquo;re starting to see that part of the market as well.&rdquo; Nathaniel Doddridge, director of fuels for Casey&rsquo;s General Store, says preblended E15 can be added without a large capital expenditure. &ldquo;That was one of the big concerns, is how do we get someone who&rsquo;s selling us on the gasoline side of it to be OK with selling us a little bit more ethanol?&rdquo; Doddridge says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re seeing more and more fuel suppliers who are selling a preblended E15.&rdquo; That isn&rsquo;t to say Casey&rsquo;s is unhappy with the blender pumps all of its E15 sites currently use. Doddridge says the blenders have been effective. &ldquo;Maybe E15 was hot today, but we do want that flexibility,&rdquo; he says, adding that the pumps can blend up to E30, should more mid-level blends take off within the industry. Equipped for success Danny Seals, product marketing manager for retail dispensers at Gilbarco Veeder-Root, a fuel dispenser supplier, says the company offers a number of pump options for E15. He also says the demand for blenders has been steady in recent years. While there hasn&rsquo;t yet been an increase in demand for blender pumps following President Donald Trump&rsquo;s RVP waiver extension announcement, he says Gilbarco is keeping a close eye on market trends. Scott Negley, director of products for Wayne Fueling Systems, says other issues are top of mind for many retailers. &ldquo;The focus for retailers right now is probably more around making sure they get ready for the upcoming payment security&mdash;EMV chip and PIN mandates&mdash;that will be taking effect, and making sure that they comply.&rdquo; While payment compliance is the focus now, Negley says it presents an opportunity for retailers to expand their offerings. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve told my friends in the ethanol segment, &lsquo;This is an opportunity if you&rsquo;re a retailer. Whether it&rsquo;s in your short- or long-term plans to upgrade to a higher ethanol classification from a fuel offering standpoint, now&rsquo;s the time to do that because you can cover both elements in one changeover. You can get compliant on payment while making sure you meet your future fuel needs.&rsquo;&rdquo; Seals says the equipment&rsquo;s Underwriter Laboratories listing is important in retailers&rsquo; pump decisions. &ldquo;The three levels of ethanol UL has developed standards to test to are E10, E25 and up to E85,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Gilbarco has approvals for hydraulics to support all three levels.&rdquo; Ensuring equipment is compatible with blends higher than E10 is important because the corrosiveness of those fuels could lead to equipment damage. So, Seals says, retailers generally spend considerable effort making sure the pumps they choose have the UL listings that meet their needs. Negley agrees, adding, &ldquo;Everything that we make now from a retail, and even for that matter, most of our electronic fleet dispenser products, is UL listed for up to E25 as standard,&rdquo; he says. In addition, he says Wayne has options that are UL listed at E85. &ldquo;If you buy one of our blenders, we have the capability to provide a retailer maximum flexibility to offer whatever fuel grades out of whatever hoses he prefers to use.&rdquo; Further thought should be given to the pumps&rsquo; design, to help prevent misfueling, Seals says. &ldquo;With these types of dispensers, there are multiple hoses and selecting the correct grade and hose when filling up can be a concern,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Another consideration for retailers is to select the correct hanging hardware for the fuel offerings they want to dispense.&rdquo; And retailers who want to offer E15 next summer driving season shouldn&rsquo;t delay making those decisions. &ldquo;From Gilbarco&rsquo;s perspective, the dispensers capable of delivering ethanol content greater than 10 percent are within our standard lead time, so retailers should keep that in mind,&rdquo; Seals says. &ldquo;I think site designs and approvals should be considered soon due to the permitting process for a site.&rdquo; Negley also says timing is important. While an upgrade from an E10 to an E25 compatible system may be relatively minor, adding E85 is a larger task, requiring a complete teardown of the pumps and equipment. Retailers should also be aware of the availability of technicians to do the work. &ldquo;In their region, the amount of available bodies or technicians who are going to be out there to do the work may be allocated for some of these other payment initiatives and such,&rdquo; Negley says. &ldquo;That will be a consideration.&rdquo; Buying In Ron Lamberty, executive vice president of the American Coalition for Ethanol, says misinformation swirls around what it costs retailers to add E15 to their stores. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not costly to do E15. It does cost a little bit more if you want to do flex fuel, but it&rsquo;s an opportunity and the guys who see it first are going to do well.&rdquo; He adds that, for some retailers, the cost of adding E15 is little more than changing decals. Seals says retailers say the cost is high, but the return is, too. &ldquo;For our customers, the cost of adding the equipment to offer greater than 10 percent ethanol is pretty well-known. The retailers doing it have been able to capture the value of the ethanol offerings and see a reasonable payback.&rdquo; Financial assistance for retailers to add higher blends is available. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, Iowa, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota offer retailers some assistance&mdash;either loans, grants, or tax credits&mdash;to install blender pumps. O&rsquo;Brien says state corn grower associations often have funding available, adding that Growth Energy helps retailers locate the appropriate sources. &ldquo;In addition, there is, at times, Prime the Pump funding available for the larger initiatives that cut across multiple states and there are some basic criteria that the retailer has to meet to become eligible for it, and ultimately the Prime the Pump board decides who they give grants to and under what terms,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Brien says. In 2018, Growth Energy announced it had commitments from retailers to offer E15 at 2,800 locations by 2021 through its Prime the Pump campaign. On the federal level, assistance is available through the U.S. Department of Agriculture&rsquo;s Rural Energy for America Program. The program is geared toward ag producers and small businesses in rural areas and can help cover the cost of installing flex fuel or blender pumps through grants or loans. Many Miles O&rsquo;Brien says E15 has already proven itself a viable product for retailers, and it&rsquo;s a blend consumers often choose, when it&rsquo;s available. &ldquo;We do track sales of E15 and how the marketplace is shaping and, based on the sales data that we recently tracked, drivers have surpassed another billion miles with E15, bringing the total miles driven to more than 6 billion in the U.S.,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Once consumers try E15, they come back and buy more E15 and because of that, the amount of usage of E15 is growing exponentially.&rdquo; The number of consumer E15 transactions has topped 1 million, he adds. &ldquo;The initial wave of demand will pick up out of the retailers that we&rsquo;re seeing, both in terms of their summer sales, as well as the number of sites, and with that we&rsquo;ll start seeing some of those other retailers that have been waiting for RVP relief get into the fray because of the competitive landscape,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Brien says. But while adoption of E15 could grow once the RVP waiver is approved, some markets might not experience rapid growth of the blend, or the widespread installation of blender pumps. In Michigan, ethanol producer Carbon Green Bioenergy LLC partners with retailers on branding and marketing ethanol. Carbon Green has its own ethanol brand&mdash;Yellow Hose&mdash;which offers E85 directly to retailers, but it also uses the Unleaded88 branding, developed through Prime the Pump, for E15. Carbon Green has its own on-site fueling station that offers several blends, including E15. When the fueling station was initially installed, Carbon Green told Ethanol Producer Magazine the intent was to increase interest among retailers in installing blender pumps. Carbon Green&rsquo;s efforts have continued to generate some interest in higher ethanol blends, but Gabe Corey, commodities and risk manager for Carbon Green, says most of the retailers it works with are backed by petroleum companies. &ldquo;The obstacle again has been with the branded gasoline stations,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve seen more willingness to offer E85 than to put in blender pumps to offer different level blends, just because of the branding requirements.&rdquo; While the branded retailers may not be progressive E15 adopters, Doddridge says change within the industry often comes from the smaller retailers. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always said that the retailers out there that force things to change are not necessarily the Shells, the Exxons, the Marathons of the world. They&rsquo;re big retailers and do a fantastic job, but normally the small, local, regional retailers like a Casey&rsquo;s or a Kwik Trip or a RaceTrac or even a Murphy&rsquo;s, those are the guys who have been the first movers and those are the guys, I think, that will force the change in the industry.&rdquo; Author: Matt Thompson Associate Editor, Ethanol Producer Magazine 701.738.4922 mthompson@bbiinternational.com

SPREADING THE WORD: The on-site fueling station at Carbon Green BioEnergy LLC in Lake Odessa, Michigan, includes a blender pump that makes several fuel grades available to its customers.

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CAREFUL CONSIDERATION: Gilbarcoâ€™s pumps come in a variety of configurations. Danny Seals, product marketing manager, says cconsideration of how customers will select fuel helps avoid misfueling.  

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COMPATABLE COMPONENTS: Gilbarco Veeder-Root offers pumps with options for UL listings of E10, E25 and up to E85. 

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FROM THE FEBRUARY ISSUE: Retailers preparing for year-round E15 have options for pumps, financing and marketing.  

On Tap

From solar power to dairy biogas to membrane dehydration, not to mention multiple process efficiencies, California&rsquo;s ethanol plants are case studies in striving to drive down carbon intensity (CI). Under California&rsquo;s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, all fuels are given a CI score indicating their life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per megajoule of fuel. Fuels with lower CI scores generate carbon credits that can be bought to compensate for fuels with high CI ratings. Established in 2007 with a 10 percent reduction goal by 2020, the LCFS has been reauthorized with a 20 percent CI reduction goal by 2030. Prices for LCFS compliance credits have been climbing from averages of $20 to $30 five years ago, to around $190 per metric ton of CO2 equivalent in early December. Doing the math, which includes an adjustment for the energy content of ethanol as well as the conversion from tons to grams, that is more than 1.6 cents per gallon of ethanol per point of CI. &ldquo;In California, we&rsquo;ve insisted we get reimbursed for that CI value,&rdquo; says Lyle Schlyer, president of Calgren Renewable Fuels LLC in Pixley, California. Low-carbon ethanol receives a premium for every point better than the market-established base ethanol CI of 79.9. &nbsp; Calgren Calgren has nine fuel pathways on the California Air Resources Board list, ranging from 60.74 to 77.04. The lowest uses California corn and landfill gas, the highest uses Midwest grain sorghum and natural gas. All of the distillers grains are sold wet (WDGS). California corn seldom is an option for Calgren, Schlyer says. But while surrounding dairies use all available corn for feed, chopped as silage, they are beginning to turn lagoon waste into a coproduct. Dairy biogas is the linchpin of Calgren&rsquo;s most recent carbon reduction strategy. Four years ago, the company installed an on-site anaerobic digester to treat waste streams. In the fall of 2018, it began cleaning up biogas from the first of 12 dairies in a cluster connected by pipeline to capture biogas from covered lagoons. Methane is a powerful GHG&mdash;with impacts 25 times greater than that of CO2&mdash;and under a new state law is targeted for a 40 percent reduction by 2030. If dairies do not voluntarily reduce emissions, they will be forced to cover their lagoons. Under the Livestock Protocol followed by CARB, environmental credits aren&rsquo;t available to mandated digesters. Schlyer says integrating dairy biogas into an ethanol plant solves a big problem that has stymied other proposed projects: how to handle widely varying production volumes. Under ambient temperatures, the gas production in summer is generally twice that in winter, while demand for renewable compressed natural gas (rCNG) is steady year-round. It&rsquo;s uneconomic to build a biogas facility for the maximum output when CNG fuelers are reluctant to turn to petroleum sources, if local supplies run short. Rather than risk venting surplus gas and losing credits, an ethanol plant can use it to displace natural gas. &ldquo;If we used all our biogas we&rsquo;re planning to produce for ethanol, we would have a CI value in the 20s,&rdquo; Schlyer says. The better economic return, he adds, comes from selling the rCNG as transportation fuel. Calgren&rsquo;s pathway for its rCNG is pending, but Schlyer points out that two existing dairy biogas-to-CNG pathways have CI scores of -254 and -273. Eventually, Calgren will likely build its own CNG fueling station, he adds, and fuel its own trucks with rCNG, further reducing its ethanol&rsquo;s CI. Schlyer also credits multiple other technologies for lowering the plant&rsquo;s CI. Its distillation-dehydration-evaporation (DDE) system by Thermal Kinetics uses steam four times. And Calgren runs with high solids loading on the front end that reduces energy inputs at the back end for DDE and cooling. Other projects are under development, too, he adds. Aemetis Aemetis Advanced Fuels Keyes Inc. has five pathways on the CARB list. The lowest, 62.75, comes when using California corn, WDGS and landfill gas. Using natural gas bumps that score up 10 points. The CI when using Midwest corn, WDGS and landfill gas is 69.78. Like Calgren, Aemetis is launching a dairy cluster project to collect and pipeline biogas to the plant&rsquo;s new gas cleanup and compression facility. Phase 1, connecting 12 dairies, is expected to be operational late this year, says CEO Eric McAfee. In time, biogas could displace all the plant&rsquo;s natural gas, he says, but Aemetis also plans to inject rCNG into the pipeline for use as transportation fuel.&nbsp; Aemetis also is installing Mitsubishi&rsquo;s Zebrex membrane dehydration technology to displace energy used by the plant&rsquo;s molecular sieves. Due to come online in the fall, it is expected to reduce the plant&rsquo;s CI by 3.5 points, according to McAfee. With the membrane dehydration, dairy biogas and LanzaTech cellulosic ethanol technology all under development simultaneously, McAfee says the company is putting another promising technology on the back burner. &ldquo;We have not yet committed to it because of our full plate, but we will be seriously investigating mechanical vapor recycling.&rdquo; Using California renewable electricity to power fans to mechanically repressurize low-grade steam would have a lower CI than steam produced with natural gas from Texas, he explains. Pacific Ethanol Pacific Ethanol Stockton LLC has six pathways. It gets a score of 70.56 when using landfill gas and Midwestern corn, which drops by about 5 points if using California-grown corn. In its quest to lower CI scores, Pacific Ethanol has installed several innovative technologies at its two California plants in Stockton and Madera. In 2016, it was the first ethanol plant to install Whitefox membrane technology, using it to dehydrate a portion of the molecular sieve&rsquo;s regeneration stream at the Madera plant. The company says the system reduces natural gas usage by about 5 percent. In 2017, the company became the first to deploy Ener-Core&rsquo;s Power Oxidizer as part of the combined-heat-and-power plant it is building at Stockton. The Power Oxidizer allows the company to burn waste gases diverted from the plant&rsquo;s thermal oxidizers, along with natural gas. According to Ener-Core, the system would supply about half of the plant&rsquo;s steam demand, generate 3.5 megawatts of energy, reduce CO2 emissions by 20 percent and reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 57 percent. Pacific Ethanol anticipates up to a $4 million reduction in energy costs, once the CHP system is fully commissioned and operating, a company spokesman says. Pacific Ethanol Madera LLC is sporting another first, completed this fall. A solar power array started up in late summer and is now operating at its full 5 MW generating capacity. Beyond the CI benefits, the company expects the system to also reduce its utility costs by about $1 million annually. CE&amp;P Another innovative California project proposing to make sugarcane ethanol is anticipating its low CI score of 22.44, and the $190-per-ton LCFS credit value will push the development phase to financial close this year. California Ethanol &amp; Power&rsquo;s CI score is just over half the typical score for Brazilian sugarcane ethanol. Several factors contribute to low sugarcane scores: higher ethanol yields per acre of sugarcane than corn, the limited tillage for sugarcane crops that get replanted every four to six years, and the use of bagasse for electricity generation. CE&amp;P&rsquo;s treatment of vinasse is the biggest difference from the Brazilian model. Instead of spreading distillation waste streams onto fields, the California plant will divert them to its wastewater treatment facility, recycling a portion in the process. An anaerobic digester will treat nonrecycled waste streams, producing nearly a billion cubic feet of biogas annually. The inorganic solids from the vinasse are high in potassium that will be sold as fertilizer, creating an additional coproduct and reducing CI. And, of course, the California plant will have lower transportation-related emissions than Brazilian ethanol. &ldquo;The CI score needs to be verified, once the plant gets running,&rdquo; says David Rubenstein, CE&amp;P president and CEO. &ldquo;But we think we can get it lower.&rdquo; One idea is to use the biogas it produces to fuel its trucks, displacing close to a million gallons worth of diesel emissions. New Scores for All All plants selling ethanol in the California market will be recalculating their CI scores in the next couple of years. Lauren Taylor, senior environmental health and safety consultant for ERI Solutions Inc., explains that under the updated regulations taking effect in 2019, all existing fuel pathways will be deactivated Jan. 1, 2021. Applications for new pathways will need to use the California Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use Transportation Model (GREET) 3.0 in determining CI and, in 2020, third-party validation will be required. Starting in 2021, new annual reporting requirements also will include third-party verification. In analyzing GREET 3.0, Taylor says most plants will see a 3- to 5-point reduction in CI scores, compared to the previous model. But the model parameter giving the best &ldquo;bang for the buck&rdquo; in carbon reduction by far, she says, is to increase ethanol yield. &nbsp; Author: Susanne Retka Schill Freelance Journalist retkaschill@yahoo.com

COW POWER: Systems for dairy biogas cleanup and compression are tucked into the infrastructure at Calgren Renewable Fuels LLC in Pixley, California. The plant is one of several in California taking extra measures to lower its carbon intensity score, 

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PIPING POWER: About 20 miles of pipeline connect 12 dairies to Calgrenâ€™s facility. 

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SUN POWER: Pacific Ethanol Madera uses solar power from the panels in the background. 

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SWEET PLANS: California Ethanol & Powerâ€™s proposed sugarcane ethanol plant includes a large wastewater treatment facility and anaerobic digester. 

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FROM THE FEBRUARY ISSUE: With values better than 1.6 cents per gallon per point, driving down carbon intensity brings a nice payback in the Golden State. 

California Carbon Check

Buckman adds leadership roles Buckman, a global company specializing in chemical and smart solutions, announced three additions to its leadership team: chief operating officer, chief digital officer and chief information officer. Anthony Rindone will serve as Buckman&rsquo;s chief operating officer, responsible for global manufacturing operations and supply chain with a strong focus on operational excellence, safety and efficiency. His direct experience in the chemical industry helps Buckman continue to invest in new technology and optimize operations around the world. Naraimha Rao will serve as Buckman&rsquo;s chief digital officer, focusing on constructing and executing a customer-focused digital strategy that further solidifies Buckman&rsquo;s position in providing customer-specific chemical solutions with the benefits of smart technologies. His strong educational and professional background allows him to build upon Buckman&rsquo;s recent customer successes with smart technologies in even more markets around the world. Rahul Goturi joins Buckman as its chief information officer, responsible for leading the company&rsquo;s internal digital transformation with a focus on technology investments and cyber security infrastructure. &ldquo;For 73 years, Buckman has been dedicated to providing strong product innovation to the industries we serve,&rdquo; says Junai Maharaj, Buckman&rsquo;s president and CEO. &ldquo;Today, we are pioneering digitally enabled knowledge management and combining it to deliver what our customers need and expect. That&rsquo;s more than chemistry. ... It&rsquo;s information they can act on. As customers undoubtedly look for more connectivity, data, insights and control into their processes, we will be ready with the latest chemical, digital and human solutions that ensure their success.&rdquo; Rindone, Rao and Goturi will be based at the company&rsquo;s headquarters in Memphis. The Andersons to implement ICM technologies The Andersons Inc. will license ICM Inc.&rsquo;s Fiber Separation Technology Next Gen, Selective Milling Technology (SMT V2), and Thin Stillage Solids Separation System (TS4) at its plants across the U.S. &ldquo;We have experienced operational benefits of the TS4 process at our Greenville, Ohio, plant,&rdquo; said Mike Irmen, president of The Andersons Ethanol Group. &ldquo;We are looking forward to expanding our use of ICM&rsquo;s technologies and implementing ICM&rsquo;s TS4, FST Next Gen and SMT V2 systems into additional facilities.&rdquo; Tom Ranallo, vice president of operations for ICM, says, &ldquo;The Andersons is always looking for innovative, cost-effective ways to improve their operations. We&rsquo;re very excited that, once again, they have trusted ICM as their partner of choice and selected our technologies as best solutions to bring more value to their plants.&rdquo; SMT V2 is designed to maximize ethanol and distillers oil production while minimizing operational expenses. The patented technology maximizes the amount of starch exposed for conversion to ethanol and oil available for recovery while preserving fiber for higher value platform applications. FST Next Gen is designed to maximize throughput in ethanol manufacturing facilities while minimizing energy consumption. The system removes fiber before fermentation, allowing more fermentable carbohydrates to be loaded into each batch for fermentation. TS4 is ICM&rsquo;s patent-pending technology platform that provides opportunities for separating the stillage process stream into its most valuable components: protein, clarified solubles and oil. The TS4 process improves dryer and evaporator efficiencies by reducing solids in stillage. ICM will engineer, design, manufacture and install the technologies in selected plants operated by The Andersons beginning this year.

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FROM THE FEBRUARY ISSUE: Buckman add to leadership team, and The Andersons expanding use of ICM technology.

Business Briefs

Anyone with kids or grandkids might be familiar with the show &ldquo;Sesame Street.&rdquo; An educational segment designed to develop cognitive, rational thinking would show something like an apple, an orange, a banana and a bicycle, asking which doesn&rsquo;t belong. Based on things we are seeing in Washington, some in Congress and the petroleum industry need to learn from &ldquo;Sesame Street.&rdquo; Why is the quest for high-octane fuels to reduce petroleum consumption and increase efficiency in vehicles paired with getting rid of the Renewable Fuel Standard? In the waning hours of the last Congress, the Energy and Commerce Committee continued its misguided effort to address largely unfounded concerns surrounding the RFS, while considering raising the minimum octane standard in gasoline. The ethanol industry has responded to the U.S. EPA&rsquo;s requests for information about how high-octane fuels can help increase fuel economy and reduce emissions. The answer is easy&mdash;high-octane fuels allow automakers to produce higher-compression engines to achieve significant mileage increases. If that octane comes from ethanol and not the oil barrel, it achieves the additional requirement to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. And it increases the market for home-grown, renewable ethanol, which enhances energy security, stimulates the economy, saves consumers money at the pump, and displaces carcinogens in gasoline. It is the mindset of the petroleum industry, however, that any advancement for ethanol and biofuels must be offset by some other action&mdash;we should not get any of the fuel market, and to the extent we do, we should be happy with what we have and be quiet. And they&rsquo;ve tried to impart that belief on Congress. If we have the audacity to suggest we can provide octane for the next generation of vehicles, then we must give back the share of the market we have achieved to date. Therefore, any increase in octane, which ethanol could capture, can only be paired with RFS &ldquo;reform.&rdquo; Enough already. These two things do not belong together. First of all, we need clean, low-carbon octane to meet the policy objectives of our fuel economy and greenhouse gas programs. The dirty little secret of the petroleum industry is that Clean Air Act requirements to reduce toxic, carcinogenic compounds in gasoline preclude the increased use of aromatics like benzene, toluene and xylene (BTX), which has been that industry&rsquo;s go-to answer for octane. So if they can keep the octane levels low enough, they can continue to use BTX.&nbsp; Legislation floated late last year not only offered a lower octane than what we are capable of, but would effectively cap ethanol blends to 20 percent volume. And, ignoring the lessons of &ldquo;Sesame Street,&rdquo; the oil industry and its friends in Congress said, &ldquo;By the way, we&rsquo;d like to sunset the RFS.&rdquo; They refer to this as a &ldquo;transition&rdquo; from the RFS to high octane, as if the logical progression of a renewable program is to morph into a nonrenewable program. Second, the RFS is not broken&mdash;there is no need to fix it, at least not the 15 billion gallons (waivers notwithstanding) that are already in gasoline. If the advanced biofuel sector needs retooling, that is a separate and distinct conversation from us moving to a cleaner, lower-carbon, healthier fuel via high octane. At Clean Fuels Development Coalition, we continue to partner with the Urban Air Initiative on a range of critical issues to clean up gasoline by reducing aromatics. Dave VanderGriend and the UAI team have peeled back the fa&ccedil;ade built over years of neglect by EPA and shown that the negative health impacts of gasoline are undeniable, but avoidable. UAI is calling on EPA to use its authority to regulate fuels to protect public health by establishing an octane standard that would open the door to higher ethanol blends. I would add to that the need for Congress to watch &ldquo;Sesame Street&rdquo; and realize cleaner fuels and efforts to kill the RFS simply do not go together. Author: Doug Durante Executive Director Clean Fuels Development Coalition 301.718.0077 cfdcinc@aol.com

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FROM THE FEBRUARY ISSUE: Striving for higher-octane fuels shouldn't mean saying goodbye to the RFS.

Octane on “Sesame Street”

Every day, our industry battles antiquated regulatory hurdles, attacks on the Renewable Fuel Standard, protectionist trade barriers, and a constant barrage of myths and misinformation that threaten to undermine demand for ethanol and coproducts. It is easy to become weary and discouraged. But 2019 is a new year full of untapped opportunities and promise. Ethanol remains the highest-octane, lowest-cost motor fuel on the planet. And it is the only tool available at scale in the near-term to significantly reduce carbon emissions from gasoline. Meanwhile, the industry&rsquo;s coproducts&mdash;including distillers grains and distillers oil&mdash;provide indispensable protein and energy to a hungry world. As underscored by the theme of this year&rsquo;s National Ethanol Conference, &ldquo;Powered with Renewed Energy,&rdquo; the Renewable Fuels Association will be attacking these challenges and pursuing new opportunities with renewed vigor and passion in 2019. And we are certain that attending this year&rsquo;s NEC, Feb. 11 to 13 in Orlando, will help renew your own energy and enthusiasm for advocating on behalf of our extraordinary industry as well. Now in its 24th year, the NEC provides unrivaled content and fantastic networking opportunities. In 2018, about 1,000 industry leaders and professionals attended the NEC, representing 37 states, the District of Columbia and 17 countries. The NEC draws energy executives, agricultural leaders, policymakers and regulators, and other stakeholders from around the globe. The annual conference has always featured the best speakers on emerging issues affecting the biofuel and agriculture sectors, and this year is no exception. Among this year&rsquo;s featured speakers are: &bull; Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and Dan Nicholson, vice president of Propulsion Systems for General Motors, discussing the need for high-octane fuels and the pathway to get there. &bull; Renowned energy economist Philip Verleger, providing an outlook for the global liquid fuels market, which has been volatile and affected by geopolitical risks. &bull; Political pundits John Heilemann and Mark McKinnon, co-hosts of Showtime&rsquo;s political documentary series &ldquo;The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth,&rdquo; offering an entertaining and engaging luncheon session about the current and future political climate. &bull; A leading pollster presenting the results of new focus group discussions on &ldquo;What Consumers Really Think About Ethanol.&rdquo; In addition, there will be discussions on developments in the ethanol export market, ethanol&rsquo;s role in a low-carbon future, our annual &ldquo;Washington Insiders&rdquo; discussion on policy-related issues, as well as the &ldquo;State of the Industry&rdquo; report, outlining the industry&rsquo;s accomplishments in the past year and a preview of what&rsquo;s to come. The RFA also recognizes the need to help educate future generations about the U.S. ethanol industry and the numerous benefits renewable fuels bring to our economy, energy security and environment. That&rsquo;s why RFA, in conjunction with the Renewable Fuels Foundation, is pleased to again offer the NEC Scholarship Program, which provides two students in higher education with scholarships to attend the NEC. The scholarships cover the cost of the registration fee (a $949 value), and the lodging and airfare associated with the conference. So, join us in sunny Orlando to re-energize yourself for the trials, travails and triumphs of 2019. We look forward to seeing you! To register or for more information, visit www.nationalethanolconference.com. Author: Geoff Cooper President and CEO Renewable Fuels Association 202.289.3835 gcooper@ethanolrfa.org

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FROM THE FEBRUARY ISSUE: The RFA looks forward to facing challenges and seizing opportunities at this year's NEC.

Powered with Renewed Energy

The thermal oxidizer (TO) heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) is a staple system for many ethanol plants built during the mid-2000s construction boom. As plants near the 10- to 15-year operating mark, performance and efficiency might be the deciding factor between repairing or replacing equipment. Routinely inspecting and quantifying performance can improve the reliability and operation of an existing HRSG, extending the life of the system. Inspection Priorities Assessing the condition of the HRSG is a critical first step in determining its overall health. Having a comprehensive water- and gas-side inspection helps establish a baseline condition of the HRSG that can be compared to future inspection findings. Comparing can be qualitative and simple, &ldquo;The tubes appear more oxidized than last year;&rdquo; or more quantitative and complex, &ldquo;The material thinning in this location is 1/16 of an inch and last year it was at 1/32 of an inch.&rdquo; A variety of locations should be observed on the water and gas side. Knowing at-risk areas can help determine where to look and when. Inspection areas for a typical TO/HRSG configuration include the HRSG inlet from the TO, the evaporator section of the HRSG, steam drum connections and internals and the packaged economizer. Important items and components to observe in these locations are: liner and baffle condition; tube-to-header connections/welds; external tube fouling, corrosion and oxidation; internal tube deposits or material loss; steam separation equipment and configuration; and overall as-built design (pipe size, configuration, material). Common Component Issues Temperature is a key factor in how efficiently the HRSG components operate. In HRSGs that are fired harder (e.g., a TO burner that is pushed to its maximum firing rating), metal components often exceed the recommended design limit temperature. Liners, baffles and tubes are all susceptible to overheat. Overheated liners might oxidize, warp or break off studs when thermal expansion causes them to distort. As the liner sheets distort and expose insulation, the high temperature turbulent gas flow can wear away the insulation and cause hot spots on the HRSG. Baffles become brittle and degrade over time as they overheat, eventually allowing the flue gas flow to bypass the tube bank, resulting in lower HRSG performance. In the case of bypass along the sidewalls of the evaporator, the increased flow along the panel end tubes will disproportionately cause tubes to overperform and generate more steam than the tubes toward the center of the panels. The evaporator tubes are less susceptible to overheat damage, but the fin material will begin to oxidize and break off until the fin tip temperature is at the material threshold. While this is not a reliability concern, it can lower the performance of the evaporator. Tube leaks or failures often occur at the tube-to-header connection. This can be caused by high stress at the weld joint, often related to the geometry of the tube-to-header connection, but sometimes because of flow conditions on the water or gas side. Performing a gas-side inspection at the beginning of a shutdown can allow more time for tube leaks to be identified and repaired. Depending on the location within the bundle, this could be a time-consuming process. When tube failures occur, a root cause failure analysis (RCFA) should be performed to determine the failure mechanism, in addition to implementing a preventative operation or maintenance procedure to mitigate future failures. Don&rsquo;t just weld the crack; involve someone who can review the location, failure and maintenance history. Fouling is also a performance concern. As fouling buildup occurs, the tube surfaces become insulated from the gas flow, which decreases steam generation, increases backpressure and reduces thermal performance. In a TO/HRSG system behind a DDG dryer, acid dew point (sulfur dew point) corrosion might be a bigger issue than just tube-side cleaning during a shutdown. Exhaust flow with sulfur content can dramatically increase the dew point corrosion from condensation on the tubes, specifically in the cookwater economizer and preheater sections of the HRSG. This can be mitigated by process changes to the feedwater temperature or by upgrading to a corrosive-resistant tube material. Thermal Performance Getting the most from the HRSG can be a driving factor for plants that need process steam. HRSG thermal performance is affected by both gas- and water-side parameters, as well as the mechanical condition of the HRSG. Degradation and fouling reduce the steam generation rate, whereas upstream process changes&mdash;such as dryer optimization or harder firing of the TO burner&mdash;can cause the HRSG to exceed rated boiler capacity. Performance can be determined through a thermal model of the HRSG by using mechanical and process data to identify areas of under and overperformance. A thermal model can be used to compare the as-is performance to the original equipment manufacturer&rsquo;s predicted values, as well as to quantify the effects of degradation and changes to process operating conditions. Quantifying Underperformance Underperformance is often a result of gas-side fouling, flue gas bypass around heat transfer surfaces, as well as degradation and typical wear and tear of the HRSG. Gas-side fouling is a common issue, particularly in process plant conditions, that reduces the heat absorption effectiveness. Fouling can depend on both the flue gas composition and the process conditions of the HRSG. Gas-side cleaning, such as dry ice blasting, is often performed during an annual shutdown. But it might not be the best approach. A thermal model and a performance degradation tracking procedure can help determine when cleaning is necessary or economically advantageous to gain back the heat absorption of the HRSG. If cleaning is warranted, it&rsquo;s important to clean all the way down to surfaces deep into the tube bank. A thermal model can show before and after. Predicting Upgrade Performance An overperforming HRSG can impact the HRSG and downstream equipment such as a letdown turbine, and raise safety concerns. Overperformance can occur because of a process change on upstream equipment or an upgrade of HRSG components themselves. Examples of this include increasing the feedwater temperature to prevent preheater dew point corrosion or max firing the TO burner to increase steam generation. Before a change is made, a thermal performance assessment of the HRSG system should be conducted to evaluate what the possible effects could be. Key checkpoint areas should include: tube metal and nonpressure part temperatures; design pressures and safety valve capacity; material selection and operating environment; changes in gas-side backpressure; steam separator capacity; and boiler feed pump capacity. Upon evaluation of the upgrade performance, codes often allow rerating the HRSG to the higher steam generation rate, and in some cases, higher pressures or temperatures, although the latter two require extensive pressure part evaluation. Rerating can involve new nameplate documenting, the new limits to the steam flow, plus modifications to satisfy standards of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and National Board Inspection Code. Whether overperforming or underperforming, the HRSG affects many parts of the plant, and vice versa. Inspect and quantify HRSG performance to keep everything running smoothly. Author: Evan Almberg Analysis Engineer, HRST Inc. 952.767.8154 ealmberg@hrstinc.com

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BAFFLING HEAT: Overheated liners and baffles become brittle over time and degrade.

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BANK BYPASS: Flue gas bypass around the evaporator tube bank decreases performance.

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UNDERPFORMANCE ANALYSIS: Thermal analysis can pinpoint specific areas of underperformance.

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FROM THE FEBRUARY ISSUE: Plants built in the ethanol construction peak are approaching 10 to 15 years of operation, and many are exploring whether to repair or replace. HRST Inc. has some advice.      

HRSG Health: Efficiency and Performance

I&rsquo;ll be in California for a few days this month at Growth Energy&rsquo;s Executive Leadership Summit. I&rsquo;m eager to hear the discussions and presentations on E15, marketing, industry growth and demand, but I&rsquo;m also just happy to leave behind a North Dakota winter&mdash;and air that hurts my face. Besides having far better weather than North Dakota, California also leads the way in renewables goals and, perhaps more important, incentives to achieve them. Details and explanations of the state&rsquo;s Low Carbon Fuel Standard have graced the pages of Ethanol Producer Magazine, but I&rsquo;ve wondered how, exactly, the legislation affects ethanol producers and what they&rsquo;re doing to comply with it. For this issue, we found out. In our cover story, freelancer Susanne Retka Schill talks to a few producers in California about carbon intensity (CI) scores, how to keep them low and why it&rsquo;s beneficial. The math shows that the measures those plants have taken to reduce CI scores, and the partnerships they&rsquo;ve made to use waste (many with dairies and landfills), are bringing in money. Find out which pathways those plants use and what CI scores they&rsquo;re achieving, starting on page 22. E15 is everywhere. (Maybe that should have been the headline of the feature starting on page 30. We&rsquo;ll get it next time.) Associate Editor Matt Thompson delves this month into the E15 pump options for retailers, as we cling to hope that our Reid vapor pressure waiver will come in time for the 2019 summer driving season. One retailer says E15 can be added to product offerings without a huge capital expense. Another of Thompson&rsquo;s sources acknowledges the cost is high, but the return is, too. In conducting interviews for feature No. 3 in this issue, it&rsquo;s possible I learned more about the nature of the people in our industry than I did about the subject matter. This article covers safety improvements to loadout areas, focusing specifically on Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy&rsquo;s 2016 fatal fire, and the measures the plant has taken since to prevent accidents&mdash;not only at SIRE, but across the entire industry. Plant Manager Dan Wych says informing other producers of the dangers in the details in loadout areas was SIRE&rsquo;s &ldquo;duty,&rdquo; its &ldquo;obligation.&rdquo; The company has been open and vocal about changes it made and risk factors it didn&rsquo;t know it had. Other plants have followed its lead and implemented similar upgrades. Wych says the ethanol industry is like a family, and it seems to me he&rsquo;s right. The article starts on page 36. Finally, feature four looks at the renewable natural gas industry, on the heels of DuPont Cellulosic Ethanol&rsquo;s sale to a Germany-based RNG producer. The plant will be converted to produce RNG, a fuel that earns the vast majority of D3 renewable identification numbers. The RNG industry says its product is not in competition with ethanol, and our own industry experts tend to agree. There&rsquo;s room under the renewable biofuels umbrella for all, they say. Find it on page 44. I&rsquo;m not the only one here who gets to escape a frigid North Dakota February. Thompson will be in Florida for the Renewable Fuels Association&rsquo;s National Ethanol Conference. So, whether you&rsquo;re heading to California or Florida, we&rsquo;ll see you in the sunshine. Author: Lisa Gibson Editor lgibson@bbiinternational.com

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FROM THE FEBRUARY ISSUE: Editor Lisa Gibson previews the magazine, including feature articles about the Low Carbon Fuel Standard, options available to retailers who want to add E15, a look at loadout area safety improvements, and more.

February 2019

Business Briefs

Business Briefs

Columns

Octane on “Sesame Street”

Powered with Renewed Energy

See You in the Sunshine

Featured

Burgeoning Biomethane

Out of Harm's Way

On Tap

California Carbon Check

Contributions

HRSG Health: Efficiency and Performance

February 2019.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

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Octane on “Sesame Street”

Powered with Renewed Energy

See You in the Sunshine

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Burgeoning Biomethane

Out of Harm's Way

On Tap

California Carbon Check

Contributions

HRSG Health: Efficiency and Performance

February 2019