The vast majority of ethanol produced this year (94%) will be used as an oxygenate additive in blends up to E10 with gasoline, which brings considerable value to the gasoline fuel market.
This chart (which looks like something you studied in chemistry and would probably rather forget) shows that the energy density of ethanol is lower than gasoline and that the octane value (AKI) is much higher than gasoline. In practice, this means blends like E10 or E15 provide large oxygenate benefits that more than offset the slightly lower energy density.
The illustration on the right (which is much easier to understand for those of us who failed chemistry) compares corn ethanol to Methyl tertiary-butyl ether, more simply known as MTBE - which has been the anti-knock fuel additive of choice since 1979. That is, until a few years ago when environmental and toxicity concerns about the compound began to surface. The figure shows that corn ethanol has 88 percent more oxygen than MTBE and is a superior oxygenate combined with the environmental benefits gained from replacement of MTBE. In practice, such ethanol blends provide superior power for acceleration and the extra oxygen facilitates cleaner burning of the gasoline resulting in fewer tailpipe emissions.
South Dakota-based ethanol producer POET held a media event this week on the family farm of Darrin Ihnen near Hurley, S.D. to demonstrate techniques for harvesting corn cobs.
POET CEO Jeff Broin says, “We are going to do something that has never been done before: produce cellulosic ethanol from corn cobs on a commercial scale. When our Emmetsburg, Iowa plant is operational in 2011, it will necessitate harvesting, storing and transporting 275,000 acres of corn cobs. The 4,000 acres we’re harvesting this fall represents the first step toward making that massive harvest achievable.”
POET is working with several leading agricultural equipment manufactures, including John Deere, Kinze and Case, to refine methods for harvesting, storing and transporting corn cobs for commercial cellulosic ethanol production.
A new coalition is leading the charge for Renewable Fuels Now - not tomorrow, not next week - NOW! And they have some new polling data that indicates Americans in general feel the same way.
According to a new national poll released today by the Renewable Fuels Now Coalition, 74 percent of Americans believe we should increase our use of domestically produced renewable fuels like ethanol.
In addition, 87 percent of Americans maintain the federal government should actively support the development of a renewable fuels industry in this country, and 77 percent think Congress should encourage oil refiners to blend more ethanol into their gasoline products.
The poll, commissioned by the Renewable Fuels Association, also found that 46 percent of Americans believe rising oil prices is the number one cause of increasing food costs, followed by 15 percent citing increasing global demand. By contrast, just 7 percent of respondents believe increased ethanol production is the most important cause.
Read the complete poll results here.
Renewable Fuels Now is a coalition representing the ethanol, biodiesel, agriculture and other industries that support increased use of domestically produced renewable fuels as part of a balanced energy policy for America. The Coalition’s members include the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE), the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC), National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), 20/20 Vision, Wisconsin BioIndustry Alliance, Ethanol Producers and Consumers (EPAC), Kansas Association of Ethanol, Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, IndyCar Series, Buckeye Renewable Fuels Association, Ohio Corn Growers Association, Clean Fuels Development Coalition, and Northwest Renewable Fuels Association.
I don’t know what you think of the United Nations but I can tell you what I think of their “independent expert on the right to food” Jean Ziegler, which is not very much. The guy’s got some serious explaining to about some outrageous statements he made public. The big one is his claim that food crops for biofuels are a “crime against humanity.” Okay Bud what are you thinking? Here’s a link to the story on AP.
NCGA is rightly incensed by this and their CEO, Rick Tolman has some words on the issue.
“Genocide is crime against humanity. War crimes are a crime against humanity. Any act of persecution to a large scale of people is a crime against humanity. Finding solutions to a global energy problem while continuing to provide food to the world is not a crime against humanity,” said NCGA CEO Rick Tolman. Ziegler is calling for a five-year moratorium on biofuels production, although the price of oil is near $94 a barrel.
Tolman said if Ziegler were citing facts on biofuels and corn he would know the United States is harvesting 13.3 billion bushels of corn — more than enough to help meet the needs of global hunger, offset petroleum use, provide a nutritious feed for livestock and have more than an adequate corn supply on hand.
“It is a travesty when an official makes public statements that are so irresponsible, so inaccurate and so inappropriately damning,” he added. “The statements ‘crime against humanity’ and ‘catastrophe of the massacre (by) hunger in the world’ are not to be used lightly or in such an irresponsible manner. If this is an example of how Mr. Ziegler carries out his responsibilities, he should resign his post immediately. Hunger is not something to trifle with and those in positions of responsibility need to be accountable in their statements.”
Well said Rick. If you’d like to listen to the story in the United Nations own words then here you go:
The Indiana State Museum will have a new exhibit in 2009 titled, “Corn: Powering the World.” Thanks to the heads up from contributing sponsor Case IH.
The exhibit will showcase all things corn — demonstrating how this versatile crop feeds and fuels the world’s population. Opening at the Indianapolis museum in August 2009, the exhibit will continue through January 2010 before traveling to other venues nationwide.
Visitors will be able to view archeological artifacts, discover how popcorn pops and calculate how much corn it takes to power an Indy racecar. A modern lab built into the exhibit will allow visitors to experience genetic engineering first-hand. “Corn: Powering the World” will shape public opinion about critical issues and help visitors understand how corn is rapidly becoming the most important plant-breeding achievement of all time.
The announcement comes at a time when corn literally is a hot commodity. Farmers across the U.S. planted a record 93 million acres of corn in 2007 — responding to demand from ethanol production plants that boosted prices paid to corn growers. As demand continues to grow, farmers will be under increasing pressure to achieve higher yields.
As we near the Thanksgiving holiday it’s time to think about thanking U. S. farmers who feed us. Corn Commentary is now interlinked with the new NCGA/state affiliates website called Farmers Matter.
The website was created to thank farmers and help educate consumers about growers’ dedication for producing the safest, most abundant food and feed supply on Earth, while also supplying the demands for cleaner-burning, renewable ethanol. The site highlights interesting facts about farming, offers an interactive timeline, videos, downloadable badges for placement on blogs or social networking sites, and a video contest designed to thank farmers for their efforts. Prizes totaling $2,500 will be awarded to a first and second place winner.
“Earlier this year the media was full of stories about a pending corn shortage and the impact higher corn prices were having on the consumer’s pocketbook. In the midst of the largest corn harvest in history, we wanted to take a moment to thank our nation’s corn growers for stepping up to meet demands for both our food and feed needs, as well as helping our nation become more energy independent,” says Ron Litterer, NCGA president.
Consumers, farmers and those in agribusiness are encouraged to visit the site, participate in the video contest, comment in the corn commentary discussion forum and use the Forward to a Friend icon to share the site and fun facts about agriculture with friends and family.
It was an interesting debate and worth a listen. Tom held his own well and responded appropriately to the arguments, starting off with the subsidy issue. Bryce started by citing statistics about how much money was spent in corn price supports from 1995 to 2005. Tom responded by noting that price supports paid to farmers went down by $8 billion in 2006 because ethanol increased the price of corn.
Marty was a very good moderator in the debate and Bryce came off as totally supporting the oil industry, whether he would admit it or not.
Despite initial diplomatic words of praise, Acting Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner does not seem to be very pleased overall with the Farm Bill out of the Senate Agriculture Committee this week.
“I have to note the provisions that raise loan rates and target prices for half a dozen crops,” Conner said in a telephone press conference on Thursday afternoon. “This is just simply bad policy. It paints a bull’s-eye on the backs of the American farmer, causes us enormous trouble internationally. It’s just simply bad farm policy. No reform at all.”
Conner also has major problems with the lack of change in payment limitations. “I will just tell you simply that the administration and I do not understand the unwillingness to take wealthy investors who are simply among the wealthiest of Americans, the top 2 percent of tax-filers in all of our country, off of direct government subsidies. We just simply can’t understand that unwillingness.”
“There’s not enough reform in this, not enough in terms of the AGI limits, not enough in terms of loan rates and target prices, a number of areas that are vital to us,” Conner said. “But we are confident that we can work these things out; that we can work with the members of Congress on this. The president is anxious to sign a farm bill this year and I know producers are anxious to have a farm bill as soon as possible so they can know the rules of the game.”
The country’s largest producer organizations also voiced concerns about the Senate farm bill. The National Corn Growers Association was most disappointed by the passage of an amendment offered by Senator Pat Roberts, R-Kan., which stripped the crop insurance integration from the Average Crop Revenue program.
“NCGA is deeply disappointed with this setback,” said NCGA President Ron Litterer. “The amendment makes the revenue proposal a much less attractive option to growers.”
Can we do better? We’ll see, since the bill is far from its final form. It must still be passed by the full Senate and then go to conference, but it is unlikely that we will see any real major reforms. No bill will make everyone happy, but there is definite reluctance on the part of Congress to make any sweeping reforms that might make the U.S. less vulnerable to challenges from world trading partners, institute more fairness among commodities, or to prevent wealthy investors in farmland from reaping subsidy benefits.
That’s the how this cute little “retro” video from the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) wraps up “How Ethanol is Made.”
It reminds you of the old high school science movies from the ’60s. It’s a simple, step-by-step explanation of ethanol production and will soon be coming to You Tube. It is posted now on the EPIC website. Just click on the front page link with the little “Mr. Ethanol” logo. That’s what I call him - you know, like Mr. Science??
It’s definitely worth watching - short, simple and very entertaining.
The Senate Agriculture Committee finally completed work on its version of the 2007 Farm Bill about midday on Thursday. The bill was reported out of committee on a voice vote, despite the fact that one of the committee members intends to introduce his own version of a farm bill on the Senate floor.
Senator Dick Lugar (R-IN) criticized the House and Senate for failing to make significant reforms to farm policy. “These policies will increase market distorting subsidies, set up retaliation against all of our farm exports because it perpetuates a cotton program that repeatedly has been found to violate world trading rules.”
This week, Lugar introduced his Farm, Ranch, Equity, Stewardship and Health (FRESH) Act with co-sponsor Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) as an alternative to the bill passed out of the Senate Ag Committee, although it is unlikely to go anywhere. According to Lugar, his bill “would end depression era federal crops subsidies that benefit only a few farmers, of a few crops, in a few states. The new safety net would be an insurance program available to all American farmers.”
The Senate Ag Committee’s version of the farm bill largely keeps the current commodity title in place with only minor changes but will also offer producers an option to enroll in a revenue-based counter cyclical program.
Senate floor debate on the farm bill has yet to be scheduled.
The vast majority of ethanol produced this year (94%) will be used as an oxygenate additive in blends up to E10 with gasoline, which brings considerable value to the gasoline fuel market. 
The illustration on the right (which is much easier to understand for those of us who failed chemistry) compares corn ethanol to Methyl tertiary-butyl ether, more simply known as MTBE - which has been the anti-knock fuel additive of choice since 1979. That is, until a few years ago when environmental and toxicity concerns about the compound began to surface. The figure shows that corn ethanol has 88 percent more oxygen than MTBE and is a superior oxygenate combined with the environmental benefits gained from replacement of MTBE. In practice, such ethanol blends provide superior power for acceleration and the extra oxygen facilitates cleaner burning of the gasoline resulting in fewer tailpipe emissions. 
South Dakota-based ethanol producer 
A new coalition is leading the charge for Renewable Fuels Now - not tomorrow, not next week - NOW! And they have some new polling data that indicates Americans in general feel the same way. 
The poll, commissioned by the 
The 
As we near the Thanksgiving holiday it’s time to think about thanking U. S. farmers who feed us. Corn Commentary is now interlinked with the new NCGA/state affiliates website called 
The guests were Tom Slunecka, executive director of the 
Conner also has major problems with the lack of change in payment limitations. “I will just tell you simply that the administration and I do not understand the unwillingness to take wealthy investors who are simply among the wealthiest of Americans, the top 2 percent of tax-filers in all of our country, off of direct government subsidies. We just simply can’t understand that unwillingness.”
“And to think it all started with corn.”
That’s the how this cute little “retro” video from the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) wraps up “How Ethanol is Made.”