Alternative Energy / Biofuels

• Are U.S. Ethanol Subsidies Coming to an End?

  One can describe the corn market as distorted since subsidies began under the Carter administration back in the 1980’s. Arguably, however this decade has seen the most severe distortion with the portion of the American corn crop devoted to ethanol rising to nearly 40% according to a NY Times article. Meanwhile corn prices have more than tripled since Congress first created an ethanol mandate (termed the renewable fuels standard in 2005, designed to force blenders to mix up to 10% ethanol with petrol to make automotive fuel). We will not suggest the subsequent price increase wholly relates to corn’s use…

• The Growing Market for Biodiesel and Bio Oils

  Today biodiesel is made by the batch, a naturally less efficient way for processes to run.  A continuous process would be less expensive to run, easier to manage and need less storage and product movement both in front and at the finished side. Continuous biodiesel production would get less expensive, more competitive and become more consumer friendly.  Most of the technology would apply to jet fuel production as well. It’s an important and worthwhile research effort. More bio oil is coming, too.  While many still bemoan corn-based ethanol, China has caught on and is importing corn dried distillers grain (what’s…

• Fuels from the Sea: Micro-Algae and Macro-Algae

  Marine ecosystems are an untapped resource that account for over 50% of global biomass and seaweeds themselves are capable of producing more biomass per square metre than fast growing terrestrial plants such as sugar cane. _Daisy Brickhill On the micro-algae front, scientists from the U. of Western Ontario have discovered a way to increase the growth of algae by almost a factor of 4. They did this using magnetic fields! Wankei Wan, a professor of biochemical engineering at the University of Western Ontario, thinks he's found a potentially significant way to stimulate algae growth. Wan and a team of research…

• Biofuels Could be the Savior of Sub-Saharan Africa

  800 million people live in Sub-Saharan Africa and a third of them don’t have enough food. By 2050, an estimated 1.95 billion people will be trying to live off the land in that region. Even if everyone in Sub-Saharan Africa were only to be fed as inadequately as they are today, the region would need to more than triple its food production over the next 40 years. For everyone on the continent to have enough to eat, food production would have to more than quadruple. _NYT SubSaharan Africa is desperately in need of industries which will provide both work for…

• Aviation Biofuels About to Take Off

  An extraordinary convergence of recent events seems poised shortly to make aviation biofuels the belle of the investor’s ball. The first is that on 8 June the follows the international standards certifying body ASTM International announcing its approval of its BIO SPK Fuel Standard, to be made official later in the year, of the use of hydrotreated renewable jet (HRJ) Jet A-1 fuel in commercial aviation. The potential financial implications are massive, as together the airline industry and the U.S. military use more than 42.25 million gallons (1.5 million barrels) of jet fuel a day. One of the leading contenders…

• Shell's $12 Billion Brazilian Biofuel Venture

  Shell has combined forces with Brazilian ethanol company Cosan and launched a $12 billion joint venture, named Raizen, in one of the biggest biofuel deals to date. Plans for the venture were announced last March when investors were told to expect annual revenues of $21 billion. The new company aims to produce and sell more than 2 billion litres of ethanol derived from Brazilian sugarcane annually, as well as 20 billion litres of conventional fuels. It will operate initially only in Brazil, where it will be the third largest fuels company, but plans later to export ethanol. Biofuels are expected…

• Brazilian Government Investing $22 Billion in Sugarcane and Ethanol Production

  Brazil's government unveiled new financing and other incentives for sugarcane ethanol production on Monday, vowing to work closely with the private sector to boost production in an industry that has struggled recently despite its immense promise. The state-run development bank BNDES announced that it would provide 30 billion to 35 billion reais ($19 billion to $22 billion) to finance expansion in the sugarcane sector through 2014, a major bet equivalent to about two-thirds of the industry's annual output. The head of Brazil's ANP energy regulatory agency, Haroldo Lima, told a major investor conference the best way for the government to…

• Biofuels About to Take Off - Just Not Yet

  Investors looking for the next big thing after a hydrocarbon economy have a panoply of options, from solar to wind, as well as biofuels. In terms of quickly ramping up production biofuels clearly win the race, but navigating the PR fluff and reality is not a simple thing. The three main contenders for investor dollars are algae, jatropha and camelina. All have strengths and weaknesses, leaving investors to choose amongst them. Stripped of PR flummery, the only issue is where and when production can begin on a viable commercial scale.  Investors who unravel the complexities of biofuel production and have cast-iron stomachs…

• Which Biofuels are the Worst Emission Offenders

  Not all biofuels are "green" according to where the crops from which they are derived are grown. The worst offenders are palm oils which may have ten times the carbon emissions of normal diesel fuel derived from petroleum, if the palm is grown on converted rainforest land. In contrast, when the palm is grown on previously cleared land, its emissions are around one fifth that for conventional petroleum-derived diesel. These conclusions are from a life-cycle analysis of 14 different source-fuels made by a team at M.I.T. which takes account of the carbon emissions incurred in the growing and harvesting of…

• US Airforce Speak Out Against Biofuel Use: 10 Times the Cost of Current Jet Fuel

  Just over a year ago, I wrote an article called Is Camelina the Next Jatropha? If you recall, a few years ago jatropha was all the rage. It could grow in marginal soil, didn’t need much water, and could provide fuel that didn’t compete with food. Farmers in developing countries were encouraged to forgo cash crops like cotton to grow jatropha, which wouldn’t be ready for harvest for at least three years after planting. Then reality began to set in. People learned that while jatropha is drought tolerant, it needs ample rainfall to flourish. There were many firsthand reports from…