“Biofuels, biomass, wind and solar rely primarily on farm, ranch, and forest lands, the potential for renewable energy development resides predominantly in our Nation’s rural regions,” Vilsack said. “Certainly, renewable energy is an important source of jobs and economic growth in rural communities across the country, while biofuels and biomass offer exciting new opportunities for entrepreneurs and, in particular, for American agricultural producers. Our nation’s future depends on out-innovating, out-investing, out-educating, and out-building our competitors in an increasingly integrated and competitive world economy.”

One of the many energy-related components of the Farm Bill that is up for reauthorization is the Biodiesel Fuel Education Program, which is a grant program that supports the education of government and private entities that operate fleets, other interested entities and members of the public about the benefits of biodiesel. The American Soybean Association submitted written testimony to the hearing calling for the reauthorization of the program.

“The Biodiesel Education Program plays a vital role in helping expand marketplace acceptance and use of biodiesel as a low-carbon, renewable diesel replacement fuel,” said ASA President Steve Wellman. “It supports technical outreach efforts to engine manufacturers, truckers, and fuel marketers that will eventually allow the use of higher biodiesel blends in conventional diesel applications. The education program serves to expand and increase market penetration, thus promoting growth for the entire industry. This translates into higher production, more jobs, and more economic value, especially in rural communities.”

In his comments, Wellman also addressed the economic impact of the biodiesel industry, which he said is especially strong in rural areas. The industry supported more than 39,000 jobs in 2011 and generated more than $1.7 billion in income while creating more than $3 billion in gross domestic product, he said. Regarding rural development, Wellman pointed out that most of the 170 biodiesel plants in operation in the U.S. are located in rural areas and that the majority of biodiesel feedstock production originates in rural areas as well.

In addition to supporting the reauthorization of the Biodiesel Fuel Education Program, the ASA is also advocated for the Biobased Market Program. “The Biobased Market Program continues and expands the federal biobased procurement program and voluntary labeling program,” Wellman said. “This is an effective and important program for promoting the emerging biobased industry, which has significant potential to enhance agricultural markets, displace foreign petroleum and fossil fuels, and contribute new green jobs to the economy.”

SOURCE: BIODIESEL MAGAZINE

In a report titled Biofuels Markets and Technologies, futures analysis firm Pike Research estimates that production of biologically-based fuels (such as ethanol and biodiesel) will increase from $82.7 billion in 2011 to $185.3 billion by 2021, but will fall short of demand. Pike estimates demand will be in the 71.8 billion gallons per year (BGPY) area whereas production will fall short of that by several billion gallons. Current production worldwide is about 29.4 BGPY.

Pike estimates that 2021 total fuel usage will increase to about 375 BGPY for gasoline, 427 BGPY for diesel in ground transportation, and 200 BGPY for aviation globally. The biggest hurdles will be feedstocks for the fuels and the resulting shift towards more advanced technologies such as cellulosic production.

For comparison, current levels of ethanol production in the United States make up about 5 billion gallons per year, or about 70% of total world production. Nearly all U.S.-made ethanol is based on corn and if every corn ear grown in this country were diverted to making ethanol, it would only produce about 12% of the total gasoline actually used in this country.

Pike Research expects the Americas (the two largest producers of ethanol in the world are the U.S. followed by Brazil) to account for 71% of total global biofuels production for most of the 2012-2021 period. Global production of ethanol will reach 49.5 BGPY by 2021, Pike says, along with the following trends:

* Oil prices are expected to climb over the next decade, driving increased interest in biofuels.

* Wash-out from “Food versus Fuel” and “Indirect Land Use Change” will linger, shifting investor and policy focus from conventional to advanced biofuel pathways.

* Advanced biofuels seek near-term revenue, continuing the trend towards feedstock and end-product flexibility.

* Commercial airlines and the US military continue to emerge as key drivers of industry growth, signaling growing demand and attracting new investment into the industry.

* Genetic modification and feedstock optimization will improve outlook for non-food feedstock pathways, enabling new geographic expansion and accelerated commercialization.

* Number of off-take agreements with oil and chemical will increase, confirming the trend towards strategic partnerships.

* Mandates continue to integrate sustainability measures, setting benchmarks for market access and dictating terms for accessing financing.

* Production is expected to significantly outpace demand in some markets (e.g., Brazil) and fall short in others (e.g., China), increasing opportunities for global trade in ethanol and biodiesel.

It should be noted that the current most active financiers of biofuel production are petroleum companies, including all of the multinational oil conglomerates. Pike expects government stimulus investments to drop and for private financing to fill the gap.TORQUE NEWS.

Salicornia – The Way to Go Green

Together with experiments involving everything from clean coal to bacteria, there is a plant called Salicornia that is said to produce an oil, which can be refined into biodiesel, as stated in an energy magazine.

There are several advantages that come handy with the Salicornia. First, these plants are oil-rich and easy to grow; second, sea-based nurseries leave land free for food production; and third, the process should take out more carbon from the atmosphere than what it puts in. Hence, Salicornia would be the best option that could be used to create alternative energy source for commercial aviation.

Salicornia is also known as Pickleweed or Dwarf Saltwort. It’s flourishing far from the coast — in saltwater and sand tanks at NASA’s wind-turbine powered Green Lab near Cleveland-Hopkins airport.

Hopes from Algae

Algae are one of the world’s most common aquatic plants. Studies have already shown it to have great potentials to create oils for the food industry as well as for various fuels; making it an excellent replacement for fossil fuels.

Algae as both a food source and as a biofuel has been the subject of many projects all over the world; utilizing one of the earth’s most abundant plants that has been  supplying much of our oxygen as well as  food for marine life. Vegans get Omega 3 from algae sources.

Bilal Bomani said, “You know that hurricanes devastated Galveston, Texas.  When we went to Galveston, Texas, there was nothing there.  The oil fields were devastated, but we saw Salicornia all over the place!  It can actually help with the coast line, because it has nice root structure, and Salicornia has very thick roots.”

The Green Solution – Biofuel

Scientist Bilal Bomani said in a statement to a business magazine, “Salicornia is a green solution.  In order for a product to be considered green, there are three metrics that need to be satisfied”.  One, is it sustainable?  Bilal Bomani says, “Are you preserving what you’re doing for future use or for future generations”. Well, since unsustainable means eventual collapse, and this is in context to a global scale here, then sustainable means so there can be future generations.  Two, is it alternative, and clearly this is alternative. Is it different in what’s being used today, or does it have a lower carbon footprint than what’s used conventionally.  And three, is it renewable? Bilal Bomani future explains what exactly does renewable mean, saying, “Does it come from earth’s natural repulsing system like sun, water and air”.

The main reason that the aviation industry has been target here for the use of biofuel or biodiesel is because, the field of aviation i uses more fuel than by every other, combined, report business news. Hence, there is a need to find an alternative. It is expected that this alternative would produce biofuel using domestic and safe ‘friendly’ resources.

As we a quite aware that 97.5 percent of the earth water is saline. Why not use it? And the great news here is that entire process of producing biofuel works without precious resources such as fresh water or arable land. Even the fertilizer comes from an unlikely source: freshwater mollies, which can be converted to saltwater in a matter of hours.

Salicornias are cheap and they love to have babies.  And that’s why scientists at the Glenn Research Center are planning to use them.  And so, all we have to do is basically is seed one of the tanks outside with 50 mollies, and now each one has over 300.  And that lab’s been in existence since 2009, November.

Bilal Bomani’s Work

Back in the tropical, strong greenhouse at NASA Glenn, Bilal Bomani tends his plants and works to accelerate that bio-fueled future. He knows there are skeptics, disbelievers who doubt that the jets circling overhead will come to depend on what he’s growing. There have been criticizers who are curious to know what goes on in the Glenn Research Center. Bilal Bomani says, his top most reason to work on this project is that he wants to help ‘save the world’.

source: industry leaders magazine

Pacific Biodiesel “is the oldest biodiesel producer and refinery in the country, started in 1996,” said Vilsack during his remarks on Tuesday at the memorial, noting that USDA has provided assistance to help that company grow. “We provided recently a $5 million business and industry loan to Pacific Biodiesel to allow it to continue to expand its capacity.”

That loan, announced in February 2010, is being used to construct a $10 million, 5.5 million gallon per year biodiesel production plant in Kea’au on the Big Island. Pacific Biodiesel vice president and co-founder Kelly King says Big Island Biodiesel will be the companies 13th biodiesel plant. “We’ll be owning and operating five of them, the other ones we built for clients throughout the mainland, from the east coast to the west coast,” she says, with capacity ranging from a half million to six million gallons.

“We started in Maui, where we actually had the first available biodiesel pump for the public,” said King. “Back then, most of our customers were environmental hippies who would come and pay 70 cents a gallon more for fuel and thank us and tell us to keep the change!”

King says Pacific Biodiesel operates on a community-based sustainable model set up locally to benefit local communities. While all the plants can use any type of oil feedstocks, much of them operate on used cooking oil. “It can use the most degraded oils up to the purest oils,” she said. “The degraded oils make the best feedstock because it’s the cheapest!”

King and two of her Pacific Biodiesel team members were excited to be part of the secretary’s appearance at Pearl Harbor and to have him recognize the importance of renewable fuels in the Aloha State.DOMESTIC FUEL.

The proposed sites for development are in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and will use an Algae Enhancement Technology, the GB3000 system, employed for growing algae for the production of fish feed, proteins and biofuel. Prime Inc India’s current clients include Exxon, Shell, General Electric (GE) and Siemens.

“We look forward to working with Prime Inc India in the design, development and support of a cost-efficient algae production farm,” Liran Kosman, CFO of WHEN, said. “We anticipate scaling up operations and completing a number of significant algae projects in 2012.”

World Health recently acquired GNE-India, an algae technology firm with the distribution and licensing rights to a unique and innovative technology, the GNE GB 3000 system, to grow algae quickly and efficiently to produce biodiesel and commercial fish food protein. GNE-India owns and retains the territorial rights for distribution and sales of the proprietary technology in India and Sri Lanka.

The company enjoys exclusive distribution and licensing rights to the GNE GB 3000 system in India and Croatia.

In 2011, the GB 3000 system was used to grow local algae species like spirulina, as well as chlorella, for fish feed and biodiesel markets, Biodiesel Magazine reports.

WHEN is focused on biofuels produced from algae because, the company explains, it gives substantially higher yields in comparison to ethanol derived from corn, rapeseed, jatropha and palm oil. The company also works with enterprises producing progressive, broad-based solutions for better physical, nutritional and environmental health worldwide.

In addition, World Health is pursuing another use of algae: the efficient production of high-protein fish feed for commercial fish farms.By Natalia Real.FIS.

The ASA highlighted accomplishments it made in several specific areas, including policy and advocacy, and domestic and international use of soy. Under the heading of policy and advocacy, the ASA noted it doggedly supported the biodiesel industry in an effort to extend the biodiesel tax credit in 2011, which helped the industry reach record biodiesel production levels in 2011. According to the ASA, it also worked alongside the United Soybean Board, U.S. Soybean Export Council, and soy exporters in an effort to maintain access for U.S. soybean exports to the EU that would otherwise be negatively affected by the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive. The ASA also noted that the U.S. government and the EU have agreed to enter into bilateral negotiations on how U.S. soybeans can be deemed compliant with RED requirements. In addition, the ASA efforts in the 2008 Farm Bill helped to establish the USDA’s BioPreferred program, a voluntary biobased product labeling program.

Regarding the use of soy, the ASA said record biodiesel production levels achieved in 2011 were the direct result of efforts by the National Biodiesel Board, the biodiesel industry and the ASA in supporting the development of a renewable fuel standard for biodiesel and extending the tax incentive through the end of 2011. In its statement, the ASA also noted its efforts have been supported by strong soybean checkoff investments in research and promotion.

The ASA also noted several key policy issues it intends to focus on in 2012, including defending the biodiesel portion of the renewable fuel standard and supporting the extension of the biodiesel tax incentive. The association also plans to work to maintain market access in the EU by addressing the treatment of U.S. soybeans under the RED.

A full list of the ASA’s 2011 accomplishments can be downloaded from the organization’s website.BIODIESEL MAGAZINE.

According to a statement released by Evogene, the impetus behind establishing the subsidiary is due to the need for diversifying feedstock supply to fulfill worldwide demand of biodiesel, which currently relies mainly on edible oils such as soybeans and canola.

Originally launched in 2007, Evogene’s biofuel activity targets the development of second-gen feedstocks to serve as sustainable, viable and cost-effective sources of oil for the burgeoning global biodiesel industry. In addition to its castor bean seed development and commercialization efforts, the company stated that it “intends to broaden its activity to additional potential feedstocks for the biodiesel, biojet and ethanol markets.”

“With the biofuel industry’s continued growth and tremendous demand for cost-competitive feedstock, there is a strong and immediate need for a solution based on designated second-generation seed products,” said Ofer Haviv, president and CEO of Evogene. “The establishment of Evofuel as a separate company strongly positions it to address this substantial unmet need. We are reinforced by the progress and results of our castor seed in Brazil and believe that access to Evogene’s leading plant genomics capabilities will provide Evofuel with commercial advantages and opportunities in relevant markets.”

The formation of Evofuel follows on the heels of Evogene successfully completing field trials for its advanced castor varieties in Brazil in cooperation with SLC Agricola S.A., a leading agribusiness firm in the country, which will be cultivated for biodiesel feedstock. Under the expanded agreement, Evogene and SLC Agricola intend to continue to evaluate Evogene’s castor varieties at its farm locations in Brazil. The goal is to identify the best performing varieties and agronomic practices suitable for commercial-scale production.

In addition to Brazil and Israel, field trials of castor been cultivars are also being conducted in the U.S.; most notably at Texas A&M University. Additional collaborators in the program include NASA and Honeywell’s UOP.

In mid-2010, Evogene announced that biobased jet fuel produced using its castor varieties met international standards for alternative aviation fuels. The testing was completed in collaboration with NASA and Honeywell’s UOP. Also in 2010, the company announced that a life-cycle analysis of biodiesel using its castor varieties demonstrated a 90 percent greenhouse gas reduction when compared to petroleum.BIODIESEL MAGAZINE.

This year’s efforts more than doubled last year’s production of about 315 million gallons and breaking the previous record of about 690 million gallons set in 2009. The new record comes after a federal tax incentive for biodiesel was reinstated earlier this year.

The incentive is in danger of expiring on Dec. 31 without congressional action.

“I can say without question that this tax credit has helped us grow our production and hire new people, and it will play a big role in our growth going forward,” said Gabe Neeriemer, president of Patriot Biodiesel in Greensboro, N.C. “It will affect how many people we can hire, how much feedstock and equipment we buy, how many truckers we put to work delivering fuel.”

Neeriemer says Patriot Biodiesel was forced to temporarily suspend operations when the tax credit expired in 2010. With the incentive restored this year, the plant is not only back online but is expanding production to about 5 million gallons per year and hiring a half dozen new employees.

“This incentive is working, and particularly in this kind of economy when politicians say they’re doing everything they can to create jobs, I can’t imagine why Congress would allow it to expire,” Neeriemer said.

The biodiesel industry rebounded after Congress reinstated the $1-per-gallon tax credit in December 2010. Without the incentive last year, production dropped dramatically as dozens of plants shuttered and thousands of people lost jobs.

This year’s increased production will support more than 31,000 jobs — up from fewer than 13,000 last year — while generating at least $3 billion in GDP and $628 million in federal, state and local tax revenues, according to a recent economic study conducted by Cardno-Entrix.TRUCKING INFO.

“Many biodiesel companies are already in a critical situation, and there is a risk that this will be transformed into companies closing in the next months,” said Raffaello Garofalo, secretary general of the European biodiesel industry association EBB.

“Many companies have already closed, especially in Germany and Spain.”

The EBB estimates European Union 2011 biodiesel production capacity is at 22.1 million tonnes but that the industry is reaching only 44 percent of that capacity.

“Although the EU has got a nominal biodiesel capacity of more than 22 million tonnes, many plants have been at least temporarily closed down or idled and are not really producing,” said Rabobank analyst Susan Hansen.

“This is for instance the case in Germany, Spain, or Italy but actually across the whole of the EU.”

A poor EU rapeseed crop has made palm oil and soyoil-based biodiesel more price attractive.

German oilseeds analysts Oil World forecasts EU biodiesel output will fall to 9.07 million tonnes in 2011 from 9.54 million last year largely because of competition from imports.

“EU imports of biodiesel have increased sharply so far this year and will probably reach a record 2.52 million tonnes in January/December 2011, up 21 percent from last year,” Oil World said.

“We expect 1.4 million tonnes of biodiesel to arrive from Argentina and at least 830,000 tonnes from Indonesia and Singapore,” Oil World says.

That compares with imports of 1.1 million tonnes from Argentina and 516,000 tonnes from Indonesia and Singapore last year.

European biodiesel producers came under extra pressure earlier this year as environmentalists questioned the EU policies for green fuels, after studies said the cultivation of rapeseed, palm or soybeans as a feedstock for biodiesel was worse for climate change than the use of regular diesel.

Biodiesel refiners themselves are often unwilling to talk about the depth of the problem.

“The industry is in a very bad way, and we could see more closures pretty soon, especially in south Europe,” said one German refiner, who declined to be named.

CRISIS CLOSE IN SPAIN AND ITALY?

A crisis could be approaching in Spain and Italy, where biodiesel capacity usage is falling to dramatically low levels.

“I cannot see how Spanish and Italian biodiesel producers will survive much longer at the terrible capacity usage rates we are currently seeing,” one oilseeds trader said.

“The signs are that biodiesel imports are causing an alarming fall in local output.”

Spain’s 2011 biodiesel output will drop 31 percent on the year to 550,000 tonnes, Oil World estimates. Spain’s biodiesel production capacity is 4.4 million tonnes.

Italy’s 2011 biodiesel output is likely to fall 40 percent on the year to 450,000 tonnes, Oil World forecasts. Italy’s annual capacity is 2.2 million tonnes.

More EU imports of palm-based biodiesel are expected, especially from Indonesia.

“Biodiesel demand for Europe at least keeps us in business and will keep palm oil prices very supportive next year despite expectations for strong production,” said an Indonesian trader who sells biodiesel to Germany.

But rising imports, especially from Indonesia, also threaten to create trade friction, with allegations of unfair prices.

“Palm oil and even biodiesel is sold in the internal market in Indonesia at a price which is higher than the price of exports to Europe,” said the EBB’s Garofalo. “There is clearly dumping. This also happens from time to time with Argentine imports.

“We are now talking to the EU Commission authorities to raise their attention to this issue.”

Rabobank’s Hansen said she would not be surprised if the EU moved to curb imports.

“Every time imports drastically increase, I believe the EU will find ways to – at least temporarily – put barriers in place by introducing tariffs on imported biodiesel for example,” she said.

The EBB is also calling on European governments to take more steps to reach the EU’s goal of 10 percent biofuel use in transport by 2020.

“This (low production) is a paradox when we have a desperate need to reduce greenhouse gases in transport to fight climate change,” Garofalo said.

(additional reporting by Niluksi Koswanage in Kuala Lumpur, editing by Jane Baird).REUTERS.

Output rose 5.5 percent to 9.57 million metric tons in 2010, the European Biodiesel Board said today in an e-mailed statement. Output growth slowed from 17 percent in 2009 and 35 percent in 2008, according to the Brussels-based group.

“Forecasts for 2011 show a reduction of European production compared to the same time last year,” the statement said. The region’s plants operated at 44 percent in the first half of this year, according to the group.

–Editors: Rob Verdonck, Raj Rajendran.

SOURCE: BLOOMBERG