In New York, the state government has awarded $2 million to Kodak’s Eastman Business Park Bioscience Manufacturing Center to construct a new facility to convert sugars into biochemicals, bioplastics, and biofuels. The facility, a 60,000 square foot plant, has already cost the state $3 million, bringing its commitment up to $5 million.

The EBP Bioscience Manufacturing Center will consist of fermentation tanks, sterilization tanks, pumps, separation equipment, seed tanks, product storage and air compressors, allowing for upstream sugar suppliers to convert their non-food plant materials into high value products such as biochemical and biodegradable plastics.

More on the story.

In New York, POET has been named a Platts Global Energy Award finalist for the Industry Leadership Award for the biofuels industry. The Industry Leadership Award recognizes “the organization that has demonstrated the strongest commitment to creativity and game changing solutions” and “takes aim at sustainably producing and delivering fuels from renewable sources.”

“It’s an honor to be a finalist for this award, especially considering the creativity and focus on sustainability that exists in so many companies in the biofuels industry,” POET CEO Jeff Lautt said. “A short time ago, our country was exclusively using gasoline. Today nearly 10 percent of that supply is filled by clean-burning, American-made ethanol. We’re proud at POET to be a part of that renewable fuel revolution and look forward to helping it grow in the future.”

More on the story.

In Louisiana, the National Algae Association will be hosting a workshop on Algae Production and networking from January 22-25 in 2015. The workshop is designed to educate and share information on algae strains, commercial algae production processes, equipment and potential markets on the algae industry. They will be focusing on:

Nutraceuticals- Omega 2 EPA/DHA
Feeds
Food
CO2 Sequestration
Wastewater

NAA is currently soliciting presentations that will open collaborative discussion on the above issues and help to fast track commercialization of the algae production industry. For consideration send topic outlines to: [email protected] by December 15, 2014.

In Washington, the House Government Reform and Oversight Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Health Care, and Entitlements held a hearing last week on the “EPA’s management of the renewable fuel standard program.” Growth Energy, and BIO have released the following statements regarding EPA’s delays in administering the RFS. Additionally, the Algae Biomass Organization submitted comments to the Subcommittee, calling on Congress to ensure that the Renewable Fuels Standard includes timely approval for advanced biofuel pathways as well as requirements for advanced biofuel volumes that match production capacity.

Growth Energy’s statement:
“While the delay from the EPA is frustrating to stakeholders and Congress alike, it is important that the EPA get their methodology and the final RFS numbers for 2014 right. The EPA’s proposed rule was flawed from the beginning. There was no way the methodology in the proposed rule would ever work, as it went against the very purpose and policy goals of the RFS. Hopefully, the EPA can get back on track, establish certainty among stakeholders and implement the RFS as it was originally envisioned.

“The RFS has been the most successful energy policy in over forty years. It has created jobs and bolstered rural America, improved our environment and reduced our dependence on foreign oil by nearly 50 percent, all while providing consumers a choice and savings at the pump. This is an energy policy that is working. It is irresponsible to rely solely on fossil fuels, and we should not put all our eggs in one basket when it comes to our national and energy security.

“I encourage the EPA to act swiftly to produce a final rule that ensures that the methodology allows our industry to move forward and invest in the additional production of biofuels, which will help grow an American industry that creates jobs, reduces our dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuels, reduces carbon pollution and creates new economic opportunities all over the country.”
BIO’s statement:

“EPA’s failure to issue a final 2014 RFS rule and other ongoing administrative delays are being misconstrued by some in Congress as a sign that the program is broken. Nothing could be further from the truth. The underlying program has worked as intended to spur innovation and growth in the biofuels space, reducing our reliance on foreign oil along with greenhouse gas emissions.
“The RFS works for companies that invest in, build and start up new advanced and cellulosic biorefineries here in the United States. This year, several new, large-scale cellulosic biofuel facilities began operations. The cleaner, smarter transportation fuel future we have hoped for is here.
“Unfortunately, EPA’s ongoing delays have chilled investment and financing of future projects, even as first-of-a-kind cellulosic biofuel plants start operations. The agency’s attempt to change the program to benefit the oil industry was unwarranted. And ongoing uncertainty about the future of the program will only further starve the advanced biofuel industry of necessary investment.
“Our hope is that Congressional oversight will result in greater regulatory efficiency by EPA in managing the RFS program.”

Lost your biobased mojo? Mesmerized by tumbling energy prices? Tired of the “calls to inaction”?

Why not REnew, REthink, REfocus on renewable energy’s solvable challenges – starting with The Digest’s REFocus 2015 survey.

(Skip to the 2015 REfocus Survey, right here)

The global worryfest over oil prices intensified this weekend when OPEC head Abdullah al-Badri told reporters that “The [oil market] fundamentals should not lead to this dramatic reduction,” but denied that OPEC’s decision to continue current levels of production, as global stockpiles grew, was a moved aimed at driving oil prices so low that it would interrupt growth in US or Russian output.

One of the Digesterati writes:

“I’ve just returned from the Middle East and the talk there was along the lines of ‘well we’re quite relaxed about seeing crude down to around $50’… the reasons discussed around the table I was at were many and various but one theme was consistent:  “We would not mind seeing the US shale and tar production reigned in.” My take on this is they might be targeting a price between $50-$60 which is at or below the marginal cost of shale production.”

Bad times in climate talks

At the same time, climate talks in Lima, Peru staggered to the finish line over the weekend, producing what was described by WWF climate chief Sam Smith a text that “went from weak to weaker to weakest and it’s very weak indeed.” The agreement was immediately blasted by an array of NGOs.

Lidy Nacpil, coordinator of Jubilee South Asia Pacific from the Philippines said,

“What has happened in Lima is that the world has said it wants to bury its head in the sand and not look at the weak and unjust 2020 climate targets again. Make no mistake, not revisiting our 2020 targets is to set us on track for 4C of warming and risk many more storms like that which hit our homes in the Philippines this week. Lima has failed the people of the world, Paris must not ignore the urgency of the crisis or its agreement will not be worth the paper it is written on.”  

Harjeet Singh, Lead on Resilience and Climate at ActionAid International added,

“This outcome provides nothing meaningful on finance, loss and damage, and pre-2020 action,” and all parties pointed to a new divide growing between industrializing and industrialized nations on the one hand, and more slowly developing nations on the other.

Refocusing on positive actions

All of which reminds us here in DIgestville of what has come to be known as the Serenity Prayer since it emerged out of Yale divinity circles in the 1930s:

O God, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed,
The courage to change what can be changed,
and the wisdom to know the one from the other.

Along those lines, another Digesterati calls industry attention away from global climate change agreements and oil prices — which might be effectively lumped together under the heading of “what cannot be changed” — and towards the pace towards commercialization in the advanced biofuels industry.

When asked to suggest topics for discussion at ABLC this spring, he writes:

If I could pick a topic I would consider breakout sessions to discuss how to advance the industry more quickly than what’s been demonstrated over the last 5 years and in [light] of lower crude prices. The industry was struggling before and have to imagine even more so in the future.  We really need a different model. The current one is simply not working and many folks I talk to believe it’s a waste of taxpayer money.

Our friend makes a good point — for here is perhaps something that can be placed under the heading “what can be changed”. And thereby we are expected to have the courage to tackle it, and the wisdom to focus on commercialization timelines in spite of poor progress on climate change, or a weak market in oil.

We’ve written previously that good companies do well in good times, but great companies do well in bad times.  Towards that end, here are some questions we might all ask ourselves.

1. Do you agree that a priority topic to work at is “how to advance the industry more quickly than what’s been demonstrated over the last 5 years.”

2. Do you agree that, in light of lower crude oil prices, the industry will struggle “even more in the future”?

3. Crucially — and especially if you have answered “YES” to the first two questions, what priorities should be different in commercializing next-gen biofuels, in your view?

The issues

In our correspondence with readers, we generally hear about six priorities for industry attention, to accelerate the pace towards commercial-scale.

1. Settling the controversy around the Renewable Fuel Standard and other comparable mechanisms around the world where legislative action is intended so that “if you produce the fuels, there will be a market for them.” Readers and their trade associations have routinely written in recent years that “policy instability” is the greatest danger they see to the Advanced Bioeconomy.

2. Moving past the E10 ethanol saturation point — specifically in the United States — where industry, readers write, has the production capacity and economics to increase ethanol output but runs into limits on blending ethanol into gasoline stocks.

3. A more robust set of tools for assessing technical readiness and for piloting and demonstrating new technologies — to conserve capital better for those projects that have the greatest chance of reaching commercial-scale.

4. Structures that offer affordable project finance capital to first-of-kind and second-of-kind commercial projects. Needs include more control or a clearer view on long term feedstock costs, the same for offtake prices, and a more robust assurance of technology readiness that addresses perceptions of “technology risk”

5. A closer cooperation between RD and commercial entities, to better ensure that government supported RD better supports increased technical readiness and economic viability at next-gen projects.

6. Accelerating the development of sustainable, affordable, reliable, available feedstocks and their supply chains.

Taking positive steps: Step one, measure.

Are these the issues, in your view? Are there others? What, in your view, are the best answers to these questions or others you feel the industry must address in 2015, which might be many things but surely could be The Year of Answers.

As Winston Churchill once observed, “there is someone who know more than anyone, and that is everyone,” and in that spirit we’d like you to help us kick-off what we expect will be a lively discussion all this coming year in The Digest about how to solve fundamental industry challenges, and focus attention on items in the “what can be changed” bucket.

We expect that ABLC, in DC this March 11-13, will provide a broad-based venue to consider and consolidate progress from discussions that may be conducted online and one-to-one between now and then.

In short, here’s a 4-question, 3-Minute Survey for you to take to begin the conversation — and if you have views to share on solutions, or priorities — now is a great time get focused on positive actions.

Your answers will help provide a solid foundation for positive industry discussion and calls to action — and you have my thanks for taking 3 minutes today (for the record, or anonymously) to help the industry chart new directions for 2015.

Government officials in the Philippines are looking to increase biodiesel blends in the coming year. This article from Business World says that country’s Department of Energy (DoE) is hopeful the country will be able to move from a 2 percent to 5 percent blend in 2015 and possibly up to a 20 percent blend by 2030.

“We are still considering several factors right now like the economic impact [of increasing the blend] and some technical issues,” Mario C. Marasigan, director of the department’s Renewable Energy Management Bureau, said at the sidelines of a solar project inauguration in Manila.

Mr. Marasigan said his departmetn asked the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to study the overall impact of an increased blend.

“We want to confirm the claims of the coconut farmers that the increase can help their socioeconomic development. At the same time, we want to know the cost to consumers and overall impact of increasing the blend,” the official explained.

Officials hope to get results on the study of the data by early next year.

A company in Minnesota has found a way to brew biodiesel cheaper and more efficiently. This article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune says Superior Process Technologies figured out how to refine grease, tallow and other waste oils into biodiesel and hopes to take the process to a commercial level.

Superior Process engineers Kirk Cobb and Joe Valdespino, whose innovations draw on decades of experience in the paper and oleochemical industries, now are working toward a big step: constructing a commercial-scale biodiesel refinery.

[Parent company] Baker Commodities plans next year to start building a 20-million-gallon-per-year biodiesel plant in Vernon, Calif., to recycle waste grease into fuel, said Doug Smith, general manager of Superior Process and assistant vice president for RD at the parent company.

“Our process is superior to the traditional method,” said Valdespino in an interview at the company’s lab and office on NE. Broadway. “It saves energy. It increases yield. … It enables you to use cheaper feedstocks.”

The article goes on to say the process is able to take better advantage of cheaper feedstocks, such as used deep-fryer oils, rendered animal fats and the contents of grease traps in sewer lines, hoping that when the process is commercialized, they’re able to make the green fuel for less than $2 per gallon.

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) today announced its Board of Directors, Officers and Executive Committee for 2015, elected at last week’s annual meeting. New officers will serve a one-year term during the 2015 calendar year.

The new officers are:
President Brian Cahill, Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy
Vice President Tom Brooks, Western Dubuque Biodiesel
Treasurer Eamonn Byrne, Plymouth Energy
Secretary Rick Schwarck, Absolute Energy

“The renewable fuels industry had many accomplishments this past year, but many challenges remain for 2015,” says IRFA President-elect Brian Cahill. “Providing certainty in the marketplace and leveling the energy playing field through the restoration of a strong and growing Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), and allowing greater consumer choice at the pump through wider availability of E15 and higher biodiesel blends will be crucial to building upon the progress we’ve made.”

Elected to join the IRFA officers on the executive committee for 2015 are, Past President Steve Bleyl of Green Plains, Inc.; and at-large members Brad Albin of Renewable Energy Group and Craig Willis, Archer Daniels Midland.