The issue of investment and financing for ethanol plants and bio refineries in general was addressed today by Chris Groobey, Baker & McKenzie, LLP. He works on project financing with investors and lenders and mostly in renewable fuels. He painted a pretty bleak picture. In fact, he says the New York investment community is not interested in biofuels right now. …
Ethanol Trucking
When it comes to infrastructure needs for a bio economy our rural road system is a key component. To speak about it here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference we heard from Frank Dooley, Purdue University. He sees a big increase in grain production, primarily in the midwest. With that comes a growing demand for transportation. He thinks …
Rail Car Transportation of Ethanol
We hear a lot about the growth in ethanol production but do you know how it gets from the plant to where it needs to be to enter our fuel supply? How about rail car? During our discussion on the infrastructure needs of a Transition To A Bio Economy, we heard from Paul Hammes, Union Pacific Railroad. Of course his …
Buying Biomass
Okay. This is the last one for today. But there’s more to come tomorrow. Sarah Brechbill, Purdue University, got to put her masters degree project on the stage today here at the Farm Foundation’s Transition To A Bio Economy conference. She looked at the cost to get biomass to a plant and specifically looked at switchgrass and corn stover. She …
Cellulosic Flavonoids
We hear a lot about co-products with ethanol production like the DDGS but what about in cellulosic ethanol production? Well, Danielle Julie Carrier, Arkansas State University is doing work on that subject. I was very interested to hear that there are some possibilities. She’s working with switchgrass and they’ve found that if you wash the feedstock prior to the pre-treatment …
Adding Peas To Corn For Ethanol
I know you’re getting a healthy dose of biofuels here on AgWired today but it all has to do with agriculture and rural America so I hope you’re enjoying it. I’ve been learning a lot, including just how much work the Farm Foundation does. During our last session of the day here at the Farm Foundation, Transition To A Bio …
More On Ethanol Plant Location
On the subject of locating a biorefinery we had another presentation on the subject here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference. This one was by David Perkis, Purdue University. He says the purpose of his work is to answer questions that local decision makers have such as, Where to locate plants?, What do we have to prepare for?, …
Is There a Biofuel To Food Price Link?
The first speaker here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference is Michael Wetzstein, University of Georgia. His talk deals with two issues. One is on price volatility and the other is on food and fuel. He’s one of 22 speakers on the program and all the talks are dealing with the biofuels issue. I’ll do my best to …
Ethanol Car Runs Strong in Iowa
This year’s Iowa Corn Indy 250 is over and as usual, ethanol won. Actually, Dan Wheldon, Target Chip Ganassi Racing won the race. You can see plenty of victory lane pictures in my photo album. However, I was rooting for Team Ethanol. They ran as high as 3rd place but according to driver, Ryan Hunter-Reay, they lost a gamble on …
My Iowa Pace Car Ride
After today’s ethanol press conference the media were treated to rides out on the track in the Iowa Speedway Pace Car. I got to do one at Indy a couple years ago in a truck so this was different. Our driver was Davey Hamilton. Even though we only went about 95 mph, the curves were tough to deal with. As …