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 Response No. 21

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 Response No. 31

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 Response No. 41

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 Truck Receiving/Shipping
Automated System Saves Labor, Time on Shipping, Receiving
Automated systems for unloading and
loading transport vehicles at ethanol
plants are reducing labor costs while im-
proving throughput and security.
Typical time savings are one to one
and a half minutes per truck.
One such system, developed by
CompuWeigh Corp., Woodbury, CT, called
SmartTruck, automates shipping and receiv-
ing of corn at ethanol plants by providing
precise weights and grades, accurate weights
for shipping DDGs, and exact gallons of
ethanol loaded to truck and rail.
Receiving
When a trucker delivers corn, for ex-
ample, the steps are:
• The truck arrives at a remote probe
station, where a radio frequency card tag
in the truck automatically identifies ei-
ther the customer contract or truck ID.
• The probe pneumatically sends the
grain sample to the scale house for test-
ing. The attendant tests the grain and key
4_5_Compuweigh_spread.pmd 3 6/12/2009, 12:41 PM
grade factors are electronically trans-
ferred to the grading workstation.
• The truck moves forward to an un-
attended scale, where the system ensures
that the truck is correctly located on the
scale and takes the gross weight.
• An outside display board shows the
grades and directs the driver to the appropri-
ate receiving pit, where he dumps the corn.
• The truck moves forward to a sec-
ond scale which automatically weighs the
empty truck and provides a ticket right at
the scale showing gross, tare, and net
weights, grade and grade factors. This in-
formation is electronically sent to the ac-
counting system.
Shipping DDGS
• The empty truck is weighed at the
first scale. If this truck has just delivered
corn, the tare weight can be taken on the
exit scale eliminating the need for them
to re-weigh on the inbound truck scale.
• The truck moves to the loading sta-
tion, and a precise load is automatically
dumped into the truck.
• The truck moves to the second scale,
where gross weight is taken. Automatically,
a check is made to ensure that the empty
weight of the truck plus amount loaded is
very close to this gross weight. A scale ticket
is issued right on the scale so that the driver
can collect it and exit the facility.
Shipping Ethanol
• The truck arrives at the flow meter
where the driver enters an order num-
ber. If valid, the system in the control
room becomes active allowing the opera-
tor to authorize the filling of the tanker.
• When full, the amount of gallons is
recorded and a ticket is issued to the
driver. The contract information in the
accounting system is updated along with
the required RFS/RIN documentation.
• A similar system is employed for load-
ing rail cars with DDGS or ethanol.
Response No.51
 BIOFUELS JOURNAL
3065 Pershing Ct. | Decatur, IL 62526
800-728-7511 | FAX: 217-877-6647
www.biofuelsjournal.com
MAY/JUNE l 2009 issue
Editor’sNote
Vol. 7 | No. 3
BIOFUELS JOURNAL is published bi-monthly by
Country Journal Publishing and is mailed to
There’s Gold in Them Thar
all U.S. ethanol and biodiesel plants along
with industry contractors, engineers, and oth-
Landfills
ers allied to the industry.

Subscriptions Dear Readers:

Subscriptions to BioFuels Journal are available
to all ethanol and biodiesel producers free of
charge, with a limit of three complimentary
issues per facility. Additional subscriptions
should be paid. Regular subscriptions are
available for $25.00 per year within the
United States. International subscriptions are
$50.00 per year. Subscription forms are avail-
able online at www.biofuelsjournal.com, by
mail or fax. Please contact Mark Avery for
subscription assistance at 800-728-7511 or
mark@grainnet.com
Back Issue Reprints and E-Prints
Back issues will be made available to sub-
scribers if available. All costs of shipping and/
or reproduction will be paid by the subscriber.
Please contact us about reprints and e-print
charges.
Advertising
Biofuels Journal reaches a highly-targeted
audience with excellent editorial, operations
and equipment news for the ethanol and
biodiesel industries. To find out more about
BFJ advertising opportunities or to receive a
Media Kit, please contact Mark, Deb, Lauren
or Jeff at 800-728-7511 or mark@grainnet.com
PUBLISHER
Mark Avery | mark@grainnet.com
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Myke Feinman | myke@grainnet.com
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
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Lauren Colee | lauren@grainnet.com
I’ve often been accused of being the person who writes about gar-
bage. Or is it that what I write is garbage?
In any event, I’ve always believed that a truly “green” society should not
be burying its waste in landfills—or at the very least, should be utilizing the
methane gas from the landfills as a fuel source.
As I put this energy-themed issue together, I realized how waste is start-
ing to become a viable source of energy. And it’s not just from landfills.
Sampling of Waste-to-Fuel
Some of the waste-to-fuel feedstocks include:
• Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)—in other words, landfill garbage—
is a feedstock for many cellulosic ethanol and other advanced biofuels
processes both in the United States and Canada.
• So-called “ag residues” such as corn cobs and corn stover are not
only feedstocks for cellulosic ethanol projects, but can also be a source
of fuel for biomass burners to power ethanol plants.
• The syrup or solubles, which are added to distillers grains, also can
be a source of fuel for a plant.
• Duckweed, a weed that grows naturally in ponds,
is being considered as a feedstock for ethanol.
• Other weeds like jatropha and pennycress
are being developed as viable alternative feed-
stocks for biodiesel.
• Woody biomass is starting to become a valu-
able commodity as pellets for the electrical genera-
tion industry. This feedstock could become more
expensive as a source for cellulosic ethanol or to
fuel a plant’s fluidized bed boiler if the electric utili- Myke Feinman
ties step up woody biomass purchases.
• The carbon dioxide (CO2), which most ethanol plants emit into the
atmosphere, can be a source of food for algae, producing new fuels and
co-products at ethanol plants.
So, the next time somebody tells me that what I write is just garbage,
I can agree with them, with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek.
I guess you could say, “There’s gold in them thar landfills,” folks.

CIRCULATION Myke Feinman | Editor | myke@grainnet.com

Teresa Walden | teresa@grainnet.com Phone: 800-728-7511 | Fax: 217-877-6647
ACCOUNTING
Sy McElvain | sy@grainnet.com Between issues, get your biofuels news here...
BioFuels News Daily ... www.biofuelsjournal.com

6 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09

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 Response No. 71

7_MAC_fullpage.pmd 2 6/9/2009, 9:26 AM

 Contents Facility Features
30 Homeland Energy, Lawler, IA

M/J.09 50 Louis Dreyfus Commodities,

Grand Junction, IA
68 Western Biodiesel Inc., High River, AB
Energy Issue 82 Costilla County Biodiesel, Mesita, CO

Cover Articles
10 Switching On Efficiencies Q & A Interviews
Government provides
incentives to existing biofuels plants 34 Mark Stowers, POET
12 EPA GHG Threshold 40 Wes Clark, Growth Energy
A proposed regulation categorizes 80 Michael Haas, USDA Agricultural
ethanol plants Research Service
16 Exploring Efficiencies
Optimizing energy goal of
new VeraSun plant owner
17 Biogas Energy
ADI researching
conversion of syrup to
biogas to power plants
18 Testing Gasification
Chippewa Valley
tests new technology
20 Algae Bolt-ons 18 20
Using ethanol plant’s CO2
to produce algae
21 Raw Starch Hydrolysis Supplier Q & A Interviews
POET’s pathway to increasing 96 Michael Althouse, MAC Equipment, Inc.
energy efficiency
97 Craig Pilgrim, Lallemand Ethanol
22 Energy Integration
Technologies
Savings requires monitoring,
measuring, and optimization 98 Howie Nelson, SGS North America Inc.
24 Combined Heat, Power
POET earns EPA’s CHP award for
third consecutive year
25 Burning Syrup Construction News
Update on Corn Plus attempts to 38 Ethanol Plants in the Pipeline
power plant by combusting syrup
72 Biodiesel Roundup
26 Burning Cobs
Lincolnway Energy set to deploy 89 Breaking Cellulosic Ground
fluidized bed technology 90 Cellulosic Ethanol Plants Under Construction
27 Pumps to Save Energy 91 Cellulosic Ethanol Plants Construction Map
Positive displacement pumps

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 Each Issue
28 Monthly Ethanol Production
44 Ethanol World
45 Calendar of Events
46 State Report: Colorado
54 Ethanol Industry News
64 Profile: Mike Isom,
North County Ethanol
58
65 Profile: Chuck Hofland,
Siouxland Ethanol
66 Profile: Kumar Plocher,
Yokayo Biofuels
71 Biodiesel World
86 Biodiesel Industry News
Ethanol Features
42 CO2 Ruled Pollutant
48 FDA DDGS Monitoring
58 ACE Preview
61 Duckweed Ethanol
62 Sunoco Buys Northeast Biofuels
63 Indirect Land Use Change Update
67 RIN Violation Crackdown
8_9_Contents.pmd 3 6/11/2009, 3:04 PM
Biodiesel Features
74 Wastewater Algae
75 Rocket Biodiesel
76 Pearl Harbor B20
78 Algae-to-Fuel NREL Research
79 Green Diesel
88 Plastic Biodiesel
92 Green Crude Oil
61 76
Cellulosic Features
85 Ethanol Tech Conference
89 Biomass Conference
93 New CO2 Co-Products
94 Synthesis Gas Applications
Product Reviews
99 Mechanical Solutions /
Cereal Process Technologies
100 Burns & McDonnell Engineering Co. /
Butterworth, Inc.
101 The Aldon Co. / Wilks Enterprise Inc.
MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 9
 Switching On Efficencies
Biofuels Plants Presented Incentives to Reduce Energy Consumption

The Obama administration wants existing and future biofuels • Lincolnway Energy’s fluidized bed system (p. 25).
plants to be more energy efficient, and it will provide loans • Blackmer’s positive displacement pumps (p. 26).
and grants—more than $175 million—to do it. Myke Feinman, editor
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), U.S. Department
of Energy (DOE), and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
announced May 5 the formation of the Biofuels Interagency
Working Group to increase the nation’s energy independence. “The USDA, DOE and EPA have been di-
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said at a May 5 a press confer- rected to aggressively accelerate the in-
ence that President Obama issued a directive that day to “ag-
gressively accelerate the investment in and production of biofuels.” vestment in and production of biofuels.”
By that directive, USDA is to expedite and increase pro- - Tom Vilsack, U.S. Agricuture Secretary
duction of and investment in biofuels development through:
• Refinancing existing investments in renewable fuels to
preserve jobs in ethanol and biodiesel plants.
• Make renewable energy financing opportunities in the
2008 Farm Bill (see chart to right).
The financing will pay for retrofits of existing ethanol and
biodiesel plants to decrease energy consumption.
It also provides funding for new projects such as advanced
biofuels which are due to start being produced under the new
Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) signed into law in 2007.
Under the new RFS2, Vilsack said increasing renewable
fuels will reduce dependence on foreign oil by more than
297 million barrels a year and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions by 160 million tons a year when fully phased in
by 2022.

In This Issue
In this issue, Biofuels Journal looks at several ways biofuels
plants can increase or ‘switch on’ energy efficiency.
For example, the EPA has announced “pathways” to re-
duce a plant’s energy consumption, thus reducing its GHG
(see p. 12).
Many ethanol and biodiesel producers and other technol-
ogy providers already are implementing such strategies. Some
of them include:
• Carbon Green purchased a bankrupt VeraSun plant, with
plans to increase its efficiency (p. 16).
• ADI’s syrup-to-biogass ethanol plant converstion system
(p. 17).
• Chippewa Valley Ethanol’s gasification system (p. 18).
• Stellarwind’s algae processing system for ethanol plants
(p. 20).
• POET’s raw starch hydrolysis system (p. 21).
• Siemens’ integrated process and energy system (p. 22).
• Combined heat and power to save energy (p. 24).

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 Response No. 111

11_UIW_Fullpage.pmd 2 6/9/2009, 9:28 AM

 EPA GHG Threshold
Ethanol Plants Categorized By Conservation, Innovations
The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) May 5 released 24 meth-
ods new ethanol plants can use to re-
duce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG)
to meet the 2007 Renewable Fuel Stan-
dard (RFS2) thresholds.
12 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
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New plants are defined as those that
were not under construction at the end
of 2007. However, every ethanol plant
in operation or under construction as of
the end of 2007 is grandfathered in and
not subject to the new GHG regulations,
6/11/2009, 3:49 PM
for production up to 15 billion gallons.
However, the EPA is providing incen-
tives for grandfathered plants to reduce
their GHG emissions and thereby be eli-
gible to sell their fuel at a higher price.
RFS2, signed into law in December
2007, requires new ethanol plants to pro-
duce fuel that results in at least 20% less
in GHG emissions than gasoline.
Along with the EPA’s May 5 proposed
rulemaking announcement, the U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture also announced that
funds will be made available for grants and
loans to existing ethanol plants to become
more energy efficient (see story on p. 10).
Average Starch-Based Plant
The vast majority of the ethanol pro-
duced in the United States (9.5 billion
gallons in 2008) is from dry grind, natu-
ral gas-fired plants that dry their distill-
ers grains with electricity.
Their GHG requirements, however, are
complicated by RFS2 language that re-
quires the EPA to consider indirect 䉴
“The proposal talks about
how ethanol is 16% better
than gasoline. We’ve shown
that the current process for
making ethanol can take al-
ternate pathways to re-
duce the footprint, for every-
thing from how to generate
power that’s put into the
process to the use of feed-
stock.”
- Lisa Jackson, EPA administrator
 Response No. 131

13_dbcSmartsoftware_FullPage.pmd 2 6/9/2009, 9:26 AM

 land use change (ILUC) in calculations for
starch-based ethanol’s GHG threshold.
Without ILUC, a grandfathered starch-
based dry grind ethanol plant utilizing a
natural-gas fired system and drying all its
distillers grains qualifies production as
61% lower GHG than a gasoline refiner.
On the other hand, with ILUC (the theory
that other nations will plow down rainforests
and pasture land for biofuels crops, thus
inadvertently releasing carbon into the at-
mosphere), that same dry grind ethanol plant
produces fuel that is merely 16% better than
gasoline, lower than the required 20%
threshold. (See article about EPA’s comment
period for ILUC on page 63).
Possible Pathways to Qualify
The proposed rulemaking, released by
the EPA, includes language for possible
“pathways” or technology/processes for
an ethanol plant, even if grandfathered
in, to reduce its GHG emissions.
“The proposal talks about how etha-
nol is 16% better than gasoline,” said EPA
Administrator Lisa Jackson at a press con-
ference May 5. “We’ve shown that the cur-
rent process for making ethanol can take
14 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
12,14_Eng_Side_EPA_GHG_Threshold.pmd 4
alternate pathways to reduce the footprint,
for everything from how to generate power
that’s put into the process to the use of
feedstock. The idea is to send a strong sig-
nal about what the science says is the best
way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
See chart on page 12 for the EPA’s list-
ing of possible pathways to reduce GHGs.
Many of the suggested pathways al-
ready are being utilized at some plants
or are being considered.
Pathways include such innovations as:
• Combined heat and power (CHP)–
19% overall reduction in GHG.
• CHP and corn oil fractionation–
27% reduction.
• CHP, fractionation, and membrane
separation–30% reduction.
• CHP, fractionation, membrane sepa-
ration and raw starch hydrolysis (such
as the process utilized by POET’s cold
cook system)–35% reduction.
Another way to reduce the GHG is
by not drying all distillers grains with
solubles (DGS).
“Not drying DGS makes it a 27%
reduction in GHG compared to gaso-
line,” said Geoff Cooper, vice president
Response No. 141
6/11/2009, 3:09 PM
“The new Renewable Fuels
Standard (RFS2), signed into
law in December 2007, re-
quires new ethanol plants to
produce fuel which is at
least 20% less in GHG emis-
sions than gasoline.”
- EPA
of research for the Renewable Fuels
Association (RFA).
Currently, most dry grind plants do
not dry all their DGS.
“Only 40% of DGS are sold wet in
the United States,” Cooper said.
In addition, about half of the plants
in the United States are gasifying biomass
and not drying DGS, Cooper estimates.
Cooper said the EPA pathways also
will help ethanol plants qualify for lower
carbon footprints under California’s low
carbon standard.
Myke Feinman, editor
 Response No. 151

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 Exploring Efficiencies
Optimizing Energy Goal of New VeraSun Plant Owner
The former VeraSun plant in
Woodbury, MI.
The former VeraSun Energy plant in
Woodbury, MI will be dedicated to show-
casing how a plant can be as “green” as
possible by increasing operational efficiency
and reducing energy usage.
Carbon Green BioEnergy, a joint ven-
ture between Carbon Green, LLC, based
in Chicago, IL and Energetix, LLC, based
in Indiana, agreed to purchase the
VeraSun plant from AgStar Financial Ser-
vices on May 5.
AgStar acquired the 40-million-gallon-
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per-year Fagen-ICM plant March 18
through VeraSun Energy’s bankruptcy
proceeding.
Carbon Green BioEnergy intends to
restart the plant in early 2010. It origi-
nally went on-line in September 2006 and
went idle in November 2008.
Experienced Partners
Carbon Green LLC, has been assisting
ethanol plants in the purchase of credits on
the Chicago Climate Exchange for such car-
bon footprint-reducing actions as displac-
ing electricity and natural gas.
Entergetix is a process optimization
and management company owned by
Mitch Miller and Jason Jerke, who will
who will serve, respectively, as the chief
executive officer and chief operating
officer of Carbon Green BioEnergy,
LLC. Both men have focused on similar
process enhancements to improve the
carbon footprint in the ethanol industry
for the past 15 years.
Response No. 161
Exploring Options
According to President Jim Murphy,
the company plans to explore several op-
tions for reducing the plant’s carbon foot-
print and energy usage.
One of the optimization methods the
company plans to implement is corn oil
extraction from distillers dried grains with
solubles (DDGS).
“We think this could save an estimated
5% of the ethanol plant’s energy costs,”
Murphy said.
Other options the company is exploring
is to further develop the wet distillers grain
market to save on drying expenses as well
as exploring an alternative source of power
such as gasifying biomass, Murphy noted.
Gasification of biomass such as forest
waste would create steam to power the plant,
displacing natural gas.
“We will focus on electrical and natural
gas usage,” Murphy said. “Our proximity
to biomass in Michigan is a plus.”
Myke Feinman, editor
 Biogas Energy
ADI Researching
Conversion of
Syrup to Biogas to
Power Plants
Research being conducted by ADI
Systems, Fredericton, NB, Canada, has
found a method to convert solubles into
a biogas to power an ethanol plant.
The stillage or syrup currently is uti-
lized as the solubles in distillers dried
grains with solubles (DDGS) at conven-
tional ethanol plants.
ADI Systems, researchers believe this
anaerobic
digestion
technology
will allow an
ethanol
plant to displace natural gas as an en-
ergy source.
“This could displace all the energy
needs at an ethanol plant,” said ADI’s
Vice President of Technology Shannon
Grant (506-452-7307).
He added that each plant’s energy
needs are different, so the results could
vary by location.
How it Works
According to Grant, this technology
eliminates all of a plant’s water dis-
charge. “A plant then can be retrofitted
with this technology to produce a
biogass that is 60% to 80% methane
that then can be used in the plant’s pro-
cess boiler,” Grant said.
Anaerobic Digestion Process
According to the U.S. Department
of Energy (DOE), anaerobic digestion
is a process by which bacteria break
down or “digest” organic material in
the absence of oxygen and produce
biogas as a waste product.
Methane is a gas that contains mol-
17_Eng_Side_ADI_Biogasj.pmd 3 6/9/2009, 9:18 AM
ecules of methane with one atom of
carbon and four atoms of hydrogen
(CH4). It is the major component of
the natural gas used in ethanol plants
to create steam. It is odorless, color-
less, and yields about 1,000 British
Thermal Units (BTUs) of heat energy
per cubic foot when burned, according
to the DOE.
Economic Factors
The decision to utilize this technol-
ogy as a natural gas replacement at
ethanol plants, said Grant, must be
done while considering other factors
such as the cost of natural gas and the
value of DDGs with or without
solubles.
According to Grant, because
grains, DDGS, and natural gas, all
commodities, fluctuate wildly in price,
it may not pay to convert solubles to
biogas.
For example, a year ago, natural gas
was selling for upwards of $10 per
decatherm, while today it is hovering be-
low $5.
“This is tied to the price of grains
and the price of fuel and whether you
can get a discharge permit for dis-
charging after an anaerobic reaction,”
Grant said.
“It depends on the economics,” he
added. “Each case is different.”
Myke Feinman, editor
“A plant can be retrofit-
ted with this technology
to produce a biogass that
is 60% to 80% methane
Response No. 171
that then can be used in
the plant’s process boiler.”
- Shannon Grant,
vice president of technology
 Gasification Update
Chippewa Valley Ethanol Tests Biomass Gasification at Plant
The objective of Chippewa Valley mit allows it to use up In 2008, 3,200 acres of
Ethanol Co. (CVEC), Benson, MN, is to to 25% biomass gasifi- cobs were harvested for
displace its natural gas by 90% using a cation fuel to displace the gasifier. In 2009, three
biomass gasifier. natural gas. The feed- to four times that amount
According to CVEC General Man- stock has been wood so will be harvested.
ager Bill Lee (320-843-4813), after one far. The plan is eventu- The corn provided to
year of testing, the plant is not allowed ally also to utilize cobs the plant could displace
to be at 90% displacement ... yet. from the farmers who G a s i f i e r a t C h i p p e w a 70% of the natural gas
“Despite some temporary constraints supply the plant’s corn. Valley Ethanol Co. needs at the plant if cobs
on throughput, we are pushing forward “We think that corn were harvested from the
and generating valuable operating expe- cobs are the obvious choice in the corn same acres, Lee noted.
rience on this new system,” Lee said. belt,” Lee said. The system installed at the plant a year
“We are working with original equip- ago was designed by Frontline BioEnergy,
Gasifier Feedstock ment manufacturers to do some corn Ames, IA (515-292-1200), Lee said.
At the present time, the plants per- cob harvests. Myke Feinman, Editor

Response No. 181

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 Response No. 191

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 Algae Bolt-Ons
Ethanol Plants Look at CO2-Consuming Algae as New Process
It only takes six to eight days for the
reactor to reach full density and be ready
for harvest, he added.
In a typical algae farm, one third of
the crop would be harvested every day.
Furthermore, depending on the algae
species used, the company can produce
an algae oil to be used as a feedstock for
biodiesel production or an algae oil chemi-
cally equivalent to crude petroleum oil.
“It’s very pure, very consistent, and
there is almost no sulfur,” William said.

Other Products
In addition to algae oil, William noted,
the algae farm also will produce biomass,
which can be fed through an anaerobic
digester or pyrolyzed to produce more
fuels such as methane gas and butanol.
The methane could be used as a
power source to power the algae facility,
John noted.

Pilot Plant
Dr. John A. Kassebaum (left), cofounder and chief technical officer of Stellarwind is developing a small-scale
Stellarwind Bio Energy, LLC, and his twin brother, William R. Kassebaum, version of its entire system at its north-
cofounder and president, examine a flask of algae. west Indianapolis facility and plans to
build a pilot plant beginning in July 2010
Co-locating an algae farm at an etha- plenty of CO2 for the algae. that will encompass a 50-to-100 acre site
nol plant could provide a way for etha- Initial studies show that 100 metric
nol producers to capitalize on tons of tons of CO2 are required per acre of
carbon dioxide (CO2) vented annually. algae produced per year. “The algal oil is very pure,
Stellarwind Bio Energy, Indianapolis,
IN (317-225-4180), in April unveiled a Process very consistent, and there
new two-step process to grow algae, which “Our new technology includes our
includes utilizing an ethanol plant’s CO2. proprietary PhycoGenic Reactor, Phyco
is almost no sulfur.”
“The concept of raising algae to pro- Processor, RecyCo2Tron, and RRS pro- - William Kassebaum, president
duce oil is not new, but growing,” said cess that will allow us to grow, harvest, and CEO, Stellarwind Bio Energy
Dr. John A. Kassebaum, Stellarwind co- and refine algae oil on a commercial scale.”
founder and chief technical officer. According to Kassebaum, the process
“However, until now, harvesting and utilizes CO2, water, and sunlight. when it is completed.
processing this highly efficient energy re- John’s brother, William, the other co- A biodiesel plant in Covington, IN
source has been problematic,” he said. founder of Stellarwind and president already has committed to purchasing 12
For the ethanol industry, if the algae and CEO of the company, said the pro- million gallons of algal oil from the pilot
were being grown adjacent to an existing cess’ design involves long rows of plant for biodiesel production.
corn plant, the plant would provide bioreactors to grow the algae. Myke Feinman, editor

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 Raw Starch Hydrolysis
the process in the future. May 5 as a method to reduce energy
Pathway to Raw starch hydrolysis is one of the consumption and improve the green-
specific “pathways” listed by the Envi- house gas emissions of an ethanol plant,
Increasing Energy ronmental Protection Agency (EPA) thus reducing a plant’s carbon footprint.
Efficiency
Raw starch hydrolysis—also referred
to as cold cook—was developed by POET,
Sioux Falls, SD, as a way to convert starch
to ethanol utilizing enzymes instead of heat,
thereby reducing energy costs.
Called BPX ®, this
patent-pending process was
introduced by POET and
developed in partnership
with Novozymes in 2004. POET uses the
process in 24 of its 26 plants with plans to
install in the remaining two.
“We have figured out a way to use en-
zymes instead of heat for fermentation to
convert starch into ethanol, which increases
our yields and shaves our energy use by
12% to 15% in comparison to a conven-
tional ethanol plant,” said Public Relations
Director Nathan Schock (605-965-2200).
This technology equates to a process that
reduces natural gas consumption, Schock
said, noting that natural gas is the primary
heat source used in conventional plants.

“We have figured out a

way to use enzymes instead
of heat for fermentation
to convert starch into
ethanol, which increases
our yields and shaves our
energy use by 12% to 15%.”
- Nathan Schock, public
relations director

Schock said BPX is the only raw

starch hydrolysis process being utilized
and that there may be plans to license
Response No. 211

MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 21

21_Raw_Starch_Hydrolyses.pmd 3 6/11/2009, 3:59 PM

 Energy Integration
Siemens: Energy Savings Requires Monitoring, Measuring, Optimization
An au t o m a t i o n system can r e d u c e
energy consumption.
Integrating a biofuels plant’s process
system with its demand for energy is the
key to energy optimization, according to
Siemens Industry Inc.
Siemens Biofuels Marketing Manager
Rich Chmielewski, Spring House, PA
(215-646-7400), said one of the most
cost-effective ways to reduce energy con-
sumed at a biofuels plant is to track your
demand management and cost alloca-
tions via power monitoring and smart
22 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
22_Eng_Side_Siemens_Optimization_Techniques.pmd
2 6/11/2009, 8:50 AM
asset management devices.
According to Chmielewski, “the power
monitoring systems do not requires a spe-
cific process automation system so they
are not vendor exclusive,” he added, “and
the costs for implementation can be mini-
mal. Network solutions can help reduce
manual collection of data.”
He said having the demand management
information helps plant managers under-
stand what they can hold, stop or slow in
the process to save energy costs and avoid
setting new energy peak demands.
Front End Optimization
For example, power monitoring can
help you identify how the grinder mo-
tors are running, and cost-effective,
smart motor overload devices can be
installed to keep the motor at optimum
efficiency. This extends the life of the
device providing asset management in-
formation. This could mean a savings
Response No. 221
of between 4% and 12% in energy con-
sumption per year, Chmielewski said.
Compressors and Valving
Monitoring loaded and unloaded
equipment can help find air leaks, sav-
ing an additional 4% to 6% per year.
Cooling, Pumps, Heat Exchangers
“With integrated produciton monitor-
ing, you can find ways to hold, stop or
slow the pump and cooling tower applica-
tions and match the operations of the tower
with the ambient temperatures and pro-
duction,” Chmielewski said. Linking energy
consumption to the production demand
can save between 5% and 7% in energy.
Boiler
The measurement of steam consump-
tion in the production and tuning can
result in a savings of 6% to 8% annually.
Myke Feinman, editor
 Response No. 231

23_MillElevator_Fullpage.pmd 2 6/9/2009, 9:30 AM

 Combined Heat, Power
POET Earns EPA’s CHP Award For Third Consecutive Year
For three years, the Envi-
ronmental Protection Agen-
cy’s (EPA) has presented
CHP Energy Star Awards
for energy innovations at dry
mill ethanol plants.
Combined heat and power
(CHP) is a system that combines an etha-
nol plant’s electricity and steam, thereby
recovering waste heat for heating, cooling,
and dehudification.
In April, POET was named the 2009
CHP Energy Star award winner for its
CHP system at POET Biorefining-
Ladonnia, MO.
24 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
24_CHP_POET.pmd 2 6/11/2009, 8:48 AM
POET’s plants in Macon, MO
and Ashton, IA are among four
ethanol plants that were presented
the award in 2007 and 2008.
Waste Steam
At Ladonnia, waste heat is
recovered from a nearby utility plant,
Missouri Joint Municipal Electricity Util-
ity Company (MJMEUC). The waste
heat creates steam to support POET’s
ethanol production process.
This system generates 63,000 pounds
of steam per hour,” said Spokesman Kris
Lancaster (913-551-7557), meeting approxi-
Response No. 241
mately 60% of the ethanol plant’s needs.
According to POET Public Relations
Director Nathan Schock, Sioux Falls, SD
(605-965-2200), all three of the
company’s plants that have won the CHP
award are utilizing natural gas turbines
and co-producing electricity and steam.
The EPA announced May 5 that there
are many pathways to reduce an ethanol
plant’s greenhouse gas emissions, and spe-
cifically mentioned CHP as one recom-
mended pathway.
“CHP is one way ethanol can be pro-
duced in an even more efficient and envi-
ronmentally-friendly manner” Schock said.
 Wind, Burning Syrup
cronutrients. The ash is sold as a natu- as good or better than conventional
Corn Plus Ethanol ral fertilizer. commercial fertilizer, better than char
“The Agricultural Utilization Re- ash from a gasifier, and better than tur-
Plant Saves Energy search Institute showed that our ash is key litter combustion ash.
With Innovation
Two wind turbines and a system to
combust the plant’s syrup is providing
energy savings for Corn Plus, Winnebago,
MN, thereby reducing its carbon foot-
print.
The 45-million-gallon-per-year Delta-T-
designed ethanol plant has been using the
two wind turbines for
one year. General
Manager Keith Kor
(507-893-4747) esti-
mates the 2.1 mega-
watt turbines cut the
Two corn plus plant’s electricity usage
wind turbines. by 35%.
In addition, the
plant utilizes an A.E.
Von Roll fluidized bed system (gasifier)
that burns its syrup to create enough
fuel to displace 60% of the plant’s natu-
ral gas needs.
This contrasts with a conventional
plant, which adds syrup to the distillers
dried grains with solubles (DDGS).
Kor said Corn Plus sells DDGs with no
syrup to area dairy livestock and poultry
feedlots which allows the feedlots to in-
clude a higher percentage of DDGs due to
its lower fat content.
“The syrup product is very consis-
tent,” Kor said of the DDGs. “With
the syrup being dried with DDGS, the
evaporators get dirty. You end up rais-
ing heat to evaporate the water, using
more energy. And there are flowability
issues.”

New Co-product
In addition to saving energy, the
gasification system also produces a
new co-product—ash—which con-
tains 17.5% phosphorus, 15% potas-
sium, and 4% sulfur plus other mi-
Response No. 251

MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 25

25_Eng_Side_Corn_Plusj.pmd 3 6/9/2009, 9:17 AM

 Cobs Displacing Coal?
Lincolnway Energy, Nevada, IA, May Deploy by 2010
Lincolnway Energy is
investigating a fluidized
system to burn cobs and
other biomass in place of
coal to power its 50-million-gallon-per-
year ethanol plant.
“At the present time we are awaiting is-
suance of a new air permit,” said Lincolnway
CEO Rick Brehm (515-232-1010).
“Once we have the permit, we will
move forward and explore the possibil-
ity of burning corn cobs, construction
demolition waste, and wood byproducts,”
Brehm said. “We’d like to move forward
as quickly as possible.”
26 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
26_Eng_Side_Burning_Cobs.pmd 2 6/12/2009, 9:04 AM
Brehm hopes to com-
mence construction of
the fluidized bed system
later this year but does
not expect the system to be on-line at
the central Iowa plant until mid-2010.
Roadblocks to the project include fi-
nancing and rising biomass costs, he ex-
plained.
The plant, which opened in May 2006,
is applying for U.S. Department of Ag-
riculture (USDA) grants, but Lincolnway
won’t know if the plant will receive them
until later this summer.
Also, the price of biomass feedstocks
Response No. 261
may be increasing, Brehm noted.
“There are other power generating
industries starting to pressure biomass
availability,” Brehm added.
Dual Fuel Supply
The fluidized bed system, being engi-
neered by Energy Products of Idaho
(EPI), Coeur d’Alene, would allow the
plant to utilize a duel fuel system of both
coal and biomass.
“This system is EPI’s standard coal
fluidized bed combuster,” Brehm said.
Also working on the project is Pre-
ventive Maintenance, Inc. of Ames, IA.
 Energy Saving Pump
“Anywhere a gear pump can be ap- tive displacement pumps at both etha-
Sliding Vane plied, a vane pump can be applied as nol and biodiesel plants.
well,” Bohr noted.
Pumps Could Save He said Blackmer has installed posi- Myke Feinman, editor
Plant’s Energy
Consumption

Sliding vane pumps can save biofuels

plants up to 5-7%.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s

(DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy (EERE) reports that
pumping systems account for between
27% and 33% of the total electricity
used at biofuels plants.
However, there is a pump design that
can cut energy consumption 5% to 7%
per year—the sliding vane pump.
Bill Bohr, director of business devel-
opment for Blackmer, Grand Rapids,
MI (616-248-9252), attributes the slid-
ing vane pumps energy savings to two
factors:
• More efficient power consumption
than gear pumps.
• Contant energy savings over the life
of the pump—up to 20% in efficiency
over the life of the pump.

Positive Displacement
“A sliding vane pump is a positive dis-
placement pump, which has a fixed ca-
pacity per revolution of the shaft,” said
Bohr.
“By contrast, gear pumps turn the
shaft, causing wear due to shear and vi-
bration,” he continued.
Response No. 271

MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 27

27_Eng_Side_Pump_Saves_Energyj.pmd 3 6/9/2009, 9:20 AM

 March Ethanol
Production Continues Monthly U.S.
Upward Trend
Ethanol production continued to climb
in March to 640,000 barrels per day (b/d),
Ethanol Production
according to an Energy Information Ad-
ministration (EIA) report released in June. 680
That is an increase of 79,000 b/d Figures represent thousand barrels/day
660
from March 2008. 640
Ethanol demand was 644,000 (b/d), 620
significantly higher than 566,000 (b/d) 600
in March 2008. 580
February production was at 595,000 (b/d), 560
higher than 518,000 in February 2008. 540
ACE comment. “As gasoline demand 520
and prices rise, ethanol becomes an even 500
greater value, and these numbers should 480
continue to improve,” said American 460
Coalition for Ethanol Vice President, 440
Market Development Ron Lamberty. 420
“The first quarter ethanol demand num- 400
ber is only about 7% of the gasoline 380
demand, so refiners will have to step up 360
their ethanol purchases to meet the 2009 340
Renewable Fuels Standard.” FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR

Response No. 281

28 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09

28_Monthly_Ethanol_Production.pmd 2 6/11/2009, 4:01 PM

 Response No. 291

29_PEI_fullpage.pmd 2 6/9/2009, 9:22 AM

 When the Homeland Energy Board
of Directors decided to build an etha-
nol plant in Lawler, IA, in 2005, they
didn’t have to look far for the expertise
to develop it.
Both Chad Kuhlers and Walt
Wendland had managed and operated
the Golden Grain Ethanol plant in nearby
Facility Feature
Homeland Energy
Solutions, LLC
563-238-5555 | Lawler, IA
www.homelandenergysolutions.com
Walt Wendland, GM
Chad Kuhlers, Plant Manager
Christy Marchand, CFO
Tina Knebel, Lab Manager
Don Mork, Maintenance
Manager
Stan Wubbena, Commodities
Manager
Employees: 36
Capacity: 100 MMGY
Feedstock: Corn
30 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
30_31_32_FF_Homeland_Energy.pmd 2 6/12/2009, 11:08 AM
Mason City, IA since 2005.
That experience was the genesis for
Homeland Energy Solutions, a 100-
million-gallon-per-year (MMGY) etha-
nol plant that began production in
April.
The plant is a Fagen-ICM design,
with engineering input from Kuhlers
based on their experience at Golden
Grain.
Original plans for the plant
called for gasification of biom-
Plant Manager Chad Kuhlers shares
his time between the Lawler plant
and Golden Grain, Mason City, IA.
ass to replace a natural gas system to
power the plant.
“However, due to economic and fi-
nancial circumstances, we went with a
natural gas system,” Homeland Energy
Plant Manager Kuhlers said.
“Fagen and ICM invested in the plant
to see what could be done to optimize
the ethanol process,” Kuhlers said. “We
have a goal of reaching 150 MMGY in
the first year.”
Company History
The story of Homeland Energy be-
gan when Kuhlers and the rest of the
directors in December 2005 decided to
form a new ethanol company.
“We knew we wanted to make it
unique,” Kuhlers said.
At first the plan was to use biomass
gasification to power the plant instead
of natural gas.
“We have a goal of reach-
ing 150 million gallons per
year (MMGY) in the first
year.”
- Chad Kuhlers, plant manager

Nathan Scheidel, production supervisor, operates the plant’s computer, as
ethanol is produced.
In December 2006, Homeland En-
ergy raised $87 million from investors—
including 1,280 local owners and com-
panies like ICM and Fagen.
Homeland declined to release the to-
tal cost of the project.
According to Kuhlers, a bidding war
between Chickasaw and Winneshiek
counties ensued for the project.
“Each county tried to outbid the
other,” Kuhlers noted.
In the end, Chickasaw County pro-
posed a 20-year tax abatement for the
project, winning the investor’s ap-
proval.
A 300-acres site in Lawler then was
purchased, and construction began No-
vember 2007.
Streamlining the Process
Building on Kuhlers’ experience
Grain receiving is designed to handle
enough corn for 100 MMGY and
285,000 tons of distillers grains per year.
30_31_32_FF_Homeland_Energy.pmd 3 6/12/2009, 11:09 AM
gained at Golden Grain, the new plant
was built lean and mean.
“For example, we are not heating up
the fermentation, which saves energy,”
Kuhlers said.
Also, flow rates were improved using
different piping systems.
Kuhlers said the plant is producing a
gallon of ethanol utilizing 26,000 BTUs,
including drying 100% of the plants’ dis-
tillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS),
compared to the industry average of
The plant can store up to 9,000 tons of distillers dried grains with solubles.
32,000 BTUs.
Currently, more work is being done
to “debottleneck” the process and opti-
mize the plant to achieve the goal of 150
MMGY.
Capacity/Transportation
The plant is designed to produce a
nameplate of 285,000 tons of DDGS.
It has the capacity to store up to 9,000
tons at the plant.
Also, the plant can store 1 million bush-
els of corn and 3 million gallons of ethanol.
The plant, which is located about
90 miles west of the Mississippi River,
will truck most of its DDGS to the
river.
Ethanol, however, is transported via
rail and sent primarily to the East Coast
via the Iowa, Chicago, and East Railroad.
The plant includes a loop track for
unit-train capacity, Kuhlers said.
Marketing
Green Plains Renewable Energy,
headquartered in Omaha, NE markets
the plant’s ethanol.
Cenex Harvest, States, Inner Grove
Heights, MN, markets the DDGS inter-
nationally.
Management Expertise
Most of the staff and management 䉴
MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 31
 came from the region, Kuhlers said.
Wendland, chief executive officer
(CEO), comes to Homeland after work-
ing first as project and construction
manager for Golden Grain then staying
on as president and CEO. He now works
at both locations.
Kulers, plant manager, was opera-
tions manager of Koch Hydrocarbon
with a background in electrical engineer-
ing. Kuhlers also works at both Golden
Grain and Homeland.
Christy Marchand, chief financial
officer (CFO), comes to Homeland En-
ergy after working at Golden Grain as
the CFO. She now works at both loca-
tions.
Tina Knebel, lab manager, comes
to the company from Hawkeye Renew- Lab Assistant Lindsay Zeien examines ethanol, as it is produced at the plant.

able Energy, Shell Rock, IA, where she

was lab manager.
Don Mork, maintenance manager,
was engineering manager for Donaldson
Co. in Cresco, IA.
Stan Wubbena, commodities man-
ager, had been a commodities manager
at a Bunge river terminal in McGregor,
IA for 15 years.

Future Plans
Kuhlers and Wendland still hold hope
to install a gasification system.
A lot depends on whether the federal
government moves to a cap and trade
system for carbon.
If that happens, natural gas-fired
ethanol plants could be at a disadvan-
Homeland Energy will be drying up to 285,000 tons of distillers dried grains tage because gasification of biomass
with solubles each year. would displace a finite resource with a
renewable one.
“It’s still in the board’s dreams, but it
will depend on cap and trade as well as
economic and financing considerations,”
Kuhlers said.

Future of the Industry

Kuhlers said that starch-based etha-
nol is here to stay and cellulosic ethanol
is just around the corner.
“Somebody will figure out a cost-ef-
fective way to make ethanol out of cel-
lulosic material,” Kuhlers believes.
“We have a great ethanol industry in
this country, so I believe it’s got a bright
future,” he added.
Part of the optimization program at the plant is to not heat up the fermentation
tanks, which will save energy during production. Myke Feinman, editor

32 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09

30_31_32_FF_Homeland_Energy.pmd 4 6/12/2009, 11:09 AM

 Response No. 331

33_Lallemand_FullPage.pmd 2 6/9/2009, 9:24 AM

 Question and Answer
Stowers Close-Up
Education: 1977: Appalachian State
University with a bachelor’s of
science degree in biology. 1980:
North Carolina State University, with
a master of science degree in
microbiology. 1982: North Carolina
State University, with a doctor of
philosophy degree in microbiology.
Family: Wife, Sarah; daugthers:
Rosemary and Elizabeth; son:
Sam.
Career: 1982-83: Post-doctoral
associate with the Boyce Thompson
Institute for Plant Research at
Cornell University. 1983-85: Senior
project leader for NPI.1986-89:
Technology manager for Eastman
Kodak Company. 1989-96: Business
director for Monsanto Company.
1996-2000: Vice president for
worldwide marketing for Seminis.
2000-01: Vice president for VivoRx.
2001-06: President of the Michigan
Biotechnology Institute.
Hobbies: Fly fishing, upland bird
hunting, golf, hiking, travel, and
cooking.
34 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
34_36_Q+A_MarkStowers.pmd 2 6/12/2009, 11:29 AM
Mark Stowers
Vice President of Science and
Technology, POET
Mark Stowers is leading POET’s am-
bitious effort to commercialize cellulosic
ethanol utlizing corn cobs as the feedstock.
Stowers, POET’s vice president of sci-
ence and technology, has worked at the Sioux
Falls, SD-based ethanol producer since
2006.
Stowers spoke with BioFuels Journal
about POET’s new cellulosic ethanol en-
deavor, Project LIBERTY, the retrofit of
the company’s existing starch-based etha-
nol plant in Emmetsburg, IA, and on the
future of cellulosic ethanol.
Project LIBERTY
Plans for Project LIBERTY received
a boost after the Energy Independence
and Security Act of 2007 helped the
United States move forward with plans
to maintain energy independence
through renewable sources.
One of Project LIBERTY’s main
goals is transforming a strictly grain-to-
ethanol dry mill plant into an integrated
grain-based and cellulosic plant that will
utilize biomass feedstocks.
After the project is completed, our
plant in Emmetsburg, IA will produce
125 million gallons a year (MMGY) of
ethanol, of which 25 MMGY will be cel-
lulosic ethanol. The plant, which opened
in March 2005, produces 50 MMGY
of ethanol from corn feedstocks.
Project LIBERTY is on schedule and
is tentatively scheduled to be completed
by the end of 2011.
Project LIBERTY is a big project for
POET in terms of money and meaning.
The Emmetsburg plant will be one of
the first commercial cellulosic ethanol
plants to operate, and the total cost of
the project will exceed $200 million.
Appoximately $80 million will come
from the U.S. Department of Energy
(DOE) and $20 million from the state
of Iowa.
Most of POET’s current activities are
focused on the validation of the biom-
ass collection strategy and POET’s cel-
lulosic ethanol process technology.
Cost Competitive?
For POET, cellulosic ethanol today is
about $1 per gallon more expensive to pro-
duce than starch-based ethanol. Process
“Most of our current ac-
tivities are focused on
the validation of our bio-
mass collection strategy
and our cellulosic etha-
nol process technology.”
- Mark Stowers,
vice president of science and
technology, POET
improvements have resulted in significant
cost reductions producing corn ethanol. We
expect the same to occur with cellulosic etha-
nol.
Improvements in the yield and reduc-
tion in capital costs are expected as we
learn more about the process.
 Response No. 351

35_Aldon_fullpage.pmd 2 6/9/2009, 9:29 AM


Cellulosic ethanol technology at the
POET Research Center, Scotland, SD.
We expect that cellulosic ethanol will
be cost competitive with corn ethanol
five to seven years after the commis-
sioning of Project LIBERTY.
Saving Energy
Now that our pilot plant for cellu-
losic ethanol is operational in Scotland,
SD, we can begin to answer many ques-
tions that have been posed for years, in-
cluding energy concerns.
In the future, we expect cellulosic
ethanol plants to be self-sufficient and
36 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
34_36_Q+A_MarkStowers.pmd 4 6/12/2009, 11:04 AM
also able to generate enough power to
fuel an adjacent corn-to-ethanol plant,
as well.
We plan to do this by using the water
streams from the cellulosic ethanol pro-
cess to generate steam and biogas to
replace fossil fuel for both our cellulo-
sic ethanol plant and the co-located corn
ethanol plant.
Also, the lignin that is produced dur-
ing the process will be used as a power
source through combustion.
Feedstock Logistics
Corn cobs, which we have proven
can be collected easily, will be utilized
as the feedstock for Project LIBERTY.
Cobs have little nutrient value and
have more carbohydrate than the stalk.
They are the first and best cellulosic bio-
mass to collect—but we expect others
will follow.
As far as transportation goes, there
are multiple systems for farmers to
use to harvest the cobs and transport
them to the plant.
Response No. 361
“POET’s strategy to ‘bolt on’
cellulosic ethanol plants
makes sense and is part of
our deployment strategy.”
- Mark Stowers, POET
Future Deployment
The expan-
sion of cellu-
losic ethanol
is important
in meeting
our national
goal of energy independence, as well
as meeting our targets for improving
the environment and creating jobs.
The way we’re going to deploy cellu-
losic ethanol is to bolt on the technology
to our existing plants.
Adam Tedder, associate editor
 Response No. 371

37_Behlen_FullPg.PMD 3 6/9/2009, 9:31 AM

 In the Pipeline
Update on U.S. Ethanol Plant Development

Iowa Kentucky generally in terms of the economic cri-

Plymouth Energy of-
ficially opened its
Merrill ethanol plant in
early June.
The $195 million
plant, which has been operating since
December, produces 120 million gallons
per year (MMGY) and employs 36
people.
Plymouth Energy uses approxi-
mately 55,000 bushels of corn a day
and stores 517,000 bushels, which is
enough for eight days of production.
Lexington-based Alltech announced in
late May that plans for a $70 million etha-
nol plant had been put on hold indefinitely
because of insufficient
funding.
The plant, which was
announced in April 2008, is supposed to
be partially funded with state and fed-
eral grants.
“We’ve basically looked at where etha-
nol is today and decided to put that
project on hold,” says Dr. Mark Lyons,
project head. “The reason for this was
sis where we all find ourselves. Funding
ethanol is not very popular right now
with the banks.”
Alltech, an international bioscience,
animal health, and nutrition company,
received a $30 million U.S. Department
of Energy (DOE) grant in April 2008
for the project and planned to get bank
financing for the balance.
The company had been talking about
halting the project altogether, but DOE
agreed to allow it to place the project
on hold.

Response No. 381

38 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09

38_39_In_the_pipeline.pmd 2 6/11/2009, 8:52 AM

 Minnesota Wisconsin to begin, though he says the project is
Lamberton-based Wisconsin-based still viable.
Highwater Ethanol LLC Global Renewable, The proposed $237 million plant will
is getting ready to move LLC announced in produce 120 MMGY from 38 million
from its construction November 2006 it bushels of corn.
phase into an operational would be building a The plant would buy corn from
phase. plant in Sharon. within a 50-mile radius.
Highwater CEO and President Brian As of mid-June,
Kletscher said that as of late May, Fagen, construction had yet to break ground,
Inc., the plant’s contractor and its sub- and company president Jeff Knight Compiled from news sources by
contractors are nearing completion of the has stopped saying when he expects it Adam Tedder, associate editor
plant, and with its staff already hired,
Highwater is due to start up production
of ethanol by the end of June.
“Construction should end by June 15
or so,” Kletscher said. “We are looking
at starting up by late June, but that could
go either side by a week or two. It de-
pends on how things go from here.”
Kletscher said equipment testing is
starting, and by June 20, he hopes to
have a bulk of the testing nearly com-
plete.
Actual full-scale production of etha-
nol should begin by either the end of
June or first part of July.
Kletscher said Highwater already
has railcars lined up to transport etha-
nol and distillers dried grains.
The ethanol plant is expected to pro-
cess approximately 18 million bushels
of locally grown corn into 50 MMGY
of ethanol.
The plant also will produce 160,000
tons of distillers grains.

South Dakota
Officials of Valero Energy Corp. met
with local producers and the media May
20 at their newly ac-
quired ethanol plant in
Aurora, SD.
Valero is the largest
independent petroleum refiner in
the United States. Last month, the
San Antonio, TX-based company fi-
nalized its purchase of seven etha-
nol plants and one development site
from bankr upt VeraSun Energ y.
Valero Spokesman Bill Day said in
early June that five of the seven plants
are now back in operation, and the
other two will be in the next few
weeks.
He said the company plans to run
the plants at full capacity. Over the next
year, Day said, Valero expects demand
for ethanol to increase slowly, as the
economy improves.
Response No. 391

MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 39

38_39_In_the_pipeline.pmd 3 6/11/2009, 8:53 AM

 Question and Answer
Clark Close-Up
Education:1968: Oxford University,
Oxfordshire, Great Britain, with
bachelor’s and master’s degrees
in economics, philosophy, and
politics.
Career: Wesley Clark came home
on a stretcher from Vietnam after
he was wounded in action as an
infantry company commander. He
stayed with the Army for another
30 years. He commanded at the
battalion, brigade, and division
level. In his last position as
Supreme Allied Commander-
Europe, he led NATO forces to
victory in Operation Allied Force
in 1999, saving 1.5 million Albanians
from ethnic cleansing.
Awards: His awards include the
Presidential Medal of Freedom,
Defense Distinguished Service Medal
(five awards), Silver Star, knight-
hoods from the British and Dutch
governments, and numerous other
awards from other governments
including award of Commander of
the Legion of Honor (France).
40 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
40_41_Q+A_Wes_Clark.pmd 2 6/13/2009, 12:01 PM
Wesley Clark
Chairman, Growth Energy
Growth Energy was established last fall
by several of the ethanol industry produc-
ers and technology providers to help grow
America’s economy through cleaner and
greener energy from ethanol. The organi-
zation is headquartered in Washington,
DC.
In Januar y 2009, Growth Ener g y
named Wesley K. Clark as its new chair-
man.
BioFuels Journal interviewed Clark on
the group’s goal to increase ethanol blends
from E10 to E15.
The Move To E15
The current blend wall stands at
10% ethanol blended into the gaso-
line supply. Up until we submitted
our Green Jobs Waiver on March 6,
the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) didn’t have a path or the data
to consider an increase in ethanol
blends for existing autos. Now, we
have given them both.
As we said in the cover letter of
our waiver for E15, the EPA could use
the data we assembled with a substan-
tially similar waiver for blends of E12
or E13 relatively quickly. Beyond that
immediate move, the science over-
whelmingly supports and the market
needs a move up to E15, and it’s likely
the EPA will approve that move within
the 270-day timeframe which began in
March.
Stakeholders Onboard
Growth Energy has been in discus-
sions with automakers and we are grate-
ful that Ford Motor Company indicated
that they thought enough testing has
been done to support a move up to E15.
We think it’s only a matter of time
before many stakeholders of the indus-
try come together after reviewing the data
we’ve presented, and realize that the sci-
ence overwhelmingly supports such a
move.
A broad coalition has already voiced
support for raising the level of ethanol in
our gas from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to
Sen. John Thune, to Agriculture Secre-
“Beyond that immediate
move, the science over-
whelmingly supports and
the market needs a move
up to E15, and it’s likely
the EPA will approve that
move within the 270-day
timeframe, which began
in March.”
- Wes Clark,
chairman of Growth Energy
tary Tom Vilsack, to a number of mem-
bers of Congress, and numerous repre-
sentatives from diverse organizations.
These leaders understand that lifting
the cap on ethanol to up to 15% will
create green-collar jobs, reduce our de-
pendence on foreign oil, and reduce
 greenhouse gas emissions.
Multiple studies have been conducted
showing that higher blends—blends above
10%—work fine in existing vehicles. A
recent study by the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) confirmed that blends up
to E20 did not change the maintenance
of automobiles at all.
Extensive testing has been conducted
on more than 100 hundred vehicles, 85
vehicle and engine types, and 33-fuel dis-
pensing units to evaluate the
effects of ethanol-gasoline
blends above 10% ethanol,
including, specifically, E15
and blends as high as E85.
An even more recent study released
by Minnesota State University on April
2 adds to the sound body of science that
supports the use of higher blends of
ethanol in vehicles on the road today.
The study, which included a 4,000-hour
endurance test, found that gasoline with a
20% blend of ethanol (E20) had no nega-
tive impacts on the endurance, wear, and
performance of automotive fuel pumps.
40_41_Q+A_Wes_Clark.pmd 3 6/13/2009, 11:56 AM
Surviving the Wait
The ethanol industry is here for the
long term and will be part of the nation’s
solution to an economically vibrant,
greener, more energy independent
America. However, in order to meet the
Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) man-
date of 36 billion gallons of renewable
fuel by 2022, the arbitrary cap on etha-
nol needs to be lifted.
The more waiting that’s
done, the further ethanol pro-
ducers will be from meeting
that important goal. The only
thing preventing the American
ethanol industry from meeting the RFS
mandate is the government itself.
For example, cellulosic ethanol pro-
ducers will really suffer, if the EPA waits
on an increase in ethanol blends.
More than 300 million gallons of
planned cellulosic ethanol production ca-
pacity is waiting to come online but is stalled
because of a lack of an available market.
If we don’t increase the blend of ethanol
Response No. 411
“The only thing preventing
the American ethanol in-
dustry from meeting the RFS
mandate is the govern-
ment itself.”
- Wesley Clark
in our gas soon, many of these projects
will be cancelled indefinitely or postponed.
Staying on Target
The cellulosic ethanol requirement kicks
in next year, and there are dozens of pro-
ducers ready to start building their projects,
if we can get this arbitrary cap lifted.
Producers of cellulosic ethanol and ad-
vanced biofuels need to know that there
will be a market for their product, and that’s
why several cellulosic ethanol companies
joined with Growth Energy to sign our
Green Jobs Waiver.
MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 41
 CO2 Ruled Greenhouse Gas
Carbon Dioxide Found to Contribute to Climate Change
The Environmental Pro-
tection Agency’s (EPA) April
17 proposed ruling that car-
bon dioxide (CO2) is a pollut-
ant is not likely to have a sig-
nificant negative impact on
the ethanol industry.
“The EPA’s proposed ruling
that CO2 endangers public
health and contributes to cli- Graham
mate change is a finding that
the pollutant is subject to regulation under
the Clean Air Act,” said Stoel Rives LLP’s
Renewable Energy Attorney Graham
Noyes, Seattle, WA (206-386-7615).
42 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
42_EPA_CO2.pmd 2 6/9/2009, 4:11 PM
“At this point, it is a pro-
posed rule, and there are no
immediate practical implica-
tions for the ethanol industry.
The finding is consistent with
the legislative push for a cap
and trade system but involves
a separate area of law.”
Noyes Cost Implications
Noyes noted that under a
cap and trade system, a plant that emit-
ted CO2 would have to “pay to pollute.”
“This could translate to higher oper-
ating costs for those ethanol and biodie-
Response No. 421
sel plants that emit relatively high
amounts of carbon dioxide,” Noyes said.
However, biofuels plants would be
expected to fare relatively better than
petroleum refineries under this system.
“It is uncertain how biofuels would be
categorized and what those costs per ton
of carbon would be under the pending
Markey bill on cap and trade,” Noyes said.
He predicted that carbon cap and trade
legislation would not be enacted until late
in 2009 at the earliest and noted that there
will be a push to finalize the legislation prior
to the international proceedings on climate
change in Copenhagen in December.
 Response No. 431

43_Carver_FullPage.pmd 2 6/10/2009, 9:46 AM


Brazil
Petrobras Biocombustivel, the
biodiesel subsidiary of Brazilian fed-
eral energy company Petrobras, an-
nounced in late April it was close to two
44 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
44_Ethanol_International.pmd 2 6/10/2009, 9:58 AM
acquisitions in the biofuel production
sector, including one in the ethanol
market.
“We are rushing to close the deals
ver y soon,” said Julio Pinho,
Petrobras Biocombustivel’s partner-
ship manager.
According to Pinho, Petrobras
Biocombustivel plans to invest $2.8
billion between 2009 and 2013 in the
biofuels sector, with $450 million of that
Response No. 441
this year.
The company aims to produce 256
MMGY of biodiesel worldwide by
2013, with 141 million gallons of that
total produced in Brazil.
Germany
EC Commissioner for Energy and
Transpor t Andris Piebalgs and
Bavarian Economics Minister Martin
Zeil on April 27 officially opened a
pilot plant for the production of
cellulosic ethanol from cereal straw at
Sud-Chemie AG’s research center in
Munich.
The pilot plant will produce two
tons of cellulosic ethanol annually
from cereal straw feedstocks.
The process was developed by Sud-
Chemie and Linde.
Korea
The Korean government in Febru-
ary passed legislation increasing the
required blend of biodiesel in diesel
fuel to 2% from 1%. As a result, con-
sumption is expected to increase to
110-130 million liters from 60-70 mil-
lion liters.
The new law also requires that all
locally sold gasoline must contain 5%
ethanol, equivalent to 208.11 million
liters per year.
The government also accredited 10
producers who have over 300 million
litres of biodiesel capacity annually.
The government accredited two etha-
nol producers—Leyte Agri Corp. and San
Carlos Bioenergy, Inc.
Compiled from news reports by
Adam Tedder, associate editor

JULY | 14
JULY 14-15
International
Biomass Workshop
The Alerus Center
Grand Forks, ND
www.undeerc.org/
Biomass09.com
Biomass’ potential as a
feedstock for the ethanol
and biodiesel industries will
be the focus of this two-day
workshop.
Attendees will hear cutting-
edge presentations on new
technology developments,
learn about opportunities for
economic production of
power, transportation fuels,
and chemical feedstocks
from biomass.
Attendees also will be
afforded network
opportunities with
researchers and potential
economic partners.
45_Calendar.pmd 3 6/9/2009, 4:13 PM
AUG. 11-13 beverage industry.
American Coalition The courses are geared for
European and North
for Ethanol’s 22nd American lab, plant, and
Ethanol Conference management personnel and
are organized around
and Trade Show lectures, laboratory
Midwest Airlines Center demonstrations, seminars,
Milwaukee, WS and plant visits.
www.ethanol.org
The 22nd annual ACE
conference features breakout OCT. 28-29
sessions on such topics as:
weathering tough financial BioFuels Journal 2009
times, indirect land use Commercial Ethanol
change, increasing to E15
blends, corn oil extraction, Technology & Research
cellulosic ethanol, reducing Workshop
natural gas costs, the blend
Best Western Ramkota Hotel
wall, fire safety, risk
and Conference Center
management, and ethanol
Sioux Falls, SD
transportation safety. A trade
www.biofuelsjournal.com
show will extend networking
opportunities. (see article on Leading ethanol experts and
p. 58) researchers will report on
cutting-edge technology for
both “bolt-on” systems for
starch-based ethanol plants
SEPT. 13-18 and advanced biofuels
technology for cellulosic
The Alcohol School
ethanol.
Montreal, QC, Canada
www.ethanoltech.com This second annual workshop
also will include a mini-trade
For 26 years, The Alcohol
show coordinated by the
School has been educating
American Coalition for
fuel ethanol and distilled
Ethanol.
beverage producers in the
science of alcohol
production. The course is
designed to educate
participants in the field of
production of not only fuel
ethanol but beverage
alcohol, as well.
While the bulk of the course
is geared towards the
ethanol production process
for fuel, the majority of the
concepts are also
applicable to the distilled AUGUST | 11
MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 45
 State Focus: Colorado

Home to DOE’s NREL

NREL Consortium With Universities Conducting Biofuels Research
Despite its lack of corn
and soybean production,
Colorado Facts Colorado is emerging as one
of the leading states in
Population: 4.8 milliion (2006) biofuels production.
Corn production: 148 million bushels The state hosts the Na-
tional Renewable Energy
% corn used in ethanol: Estimated 10% Laboratory (NREL) in
Cattle on feed: 70,000 head Golden, CO. The Depart-
Governor: Bill Ritter, Democrat ment of Energy (DOE) in-
stitution has been conduct-
Lt. Governor: Barbara O’Brien, Democrat
ing research in the field of
Number of E-85 Stations: 120 open or under biofuels for decades.
construction. In addition, Gov. Bill
Ritter Jr., who is
Ethanol Profile in his first term, Gov. Bill Ritter
Labeling require- established the
ments: Colorado has Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory, a con-
an oxygenated fuel sortium of six research centers at four of the
program requiring a state’s leading research institutions—the Colorado
blend of 10% etha-
School of Mines, Colorado State University,
NREL, and the University of Colorado-Boulder.
nol during the cold
“The research centers unite world-class research-
winter months.
ers with industry leaders,” he continued. “Each cen-
Ethanol Plant Profile ter pursues both shared (public) and private (pro-
National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
• Five ethanol plants prietary) research,” he said. Industry members also
Image courtesy of DOE/NREL.
in operation, with
sponsor fellowships for graduate and post-doctoral
students at the research centers.
a total capacity of
“In a sign of the state of Colorado’s commitment to
138 MMGY. An additional 269 MMGY will be
renewable energy research leadership, the state provides
added with three new plants under con- matching funds to the Collaboratory centers’ shared re-
struction. search programs,” Ritter said.
Biodiesel Plant Profile
Capacity/Infrastructure
• One new biodisel plant, with a capacity
Colorado has five ethanol plants in operation producing
of 100 MMGY
138 million gallons per year (MMGY) and another three
Incentives under construction (269 MMGY capacity).
• Bioscience Discovery Evaluation Grant In addition, the state has one new biodiesel plant pro-
Program provides grants to research ducing 100 MMGY in Fort Morgan.
“Because of the strong ties to our agricultural heritage
institutions for biofuels research projects.
and the ethanol production industry in the state, Colorado
• The Colorado Department of Revenue
has grown quickly into a leader in biofuel infrastructure,
offers an income tax credit for the cost of usage, and research and development,” Ritter said.
construction, reconstruction, or acquisition Besides biofuels production, the state encourages retail
of an alternative fueling facility of 20% infrastructure through the Governor’s Biofuels Coalition
2009-11 and 35% 2006-09. (GBC), established in 2007, a coaltion of public and private
interests. In 2006, the state had 11 stations selling biofuels in

46 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09

46_47_State_Report_Colorado.pmd 2 6/11/2009, 1:55 PM

 A closer look ...
Gov. Bill Ritter
Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. was elected as Colorado’s 41st gover-
nor in November 2006, the first Colorado-born governor in
more than 35 years.
One of Ritter’s key priorities has been to make the state a
national and international leader in renewable energy.
“We want to build a new energy economy that is creat-
ing thousands of new jobs and establishing hundreds of
new companies,” he said.
His administration also has enacted a business-development
and job-creation agenda focusing on energy, aerospace, bio-
sciences, information technology, and tourism.
Prior to being elected governor, Ritter served as Denver’s
district attorney from 1993 to January 2005.
The sixth of 12 children, Gov. Ritter was raised on a
small farm in Arapahoe County. He obtained his bachelor’s
degree in political science from Colorado State University
(1978) and his law degree from the University of Colorado
(1981).
From 1987 to 1990, Gov. Ritter and his wife, Jeannie,
operated a food distribution and nutrition center in Zam-
bia, Africa. The couple has four children—August, Abe,
Sam, and Tally.

Colorado. By the end of 2008, 120 sta-

tions either were open or under con-
struction.
“Biofuel education and outreach by
the GBC has also been very successful
over the last few years,” Ritter said.
“More and more Colorado drivers are
using biofuels, with nearly a doubling
of fuel consumed each year. At the end
of 2008, partner stations reported an
estimated 8.8 million gallons sold to their
public and private customers compared
to less than 1 million in 2006.”

Actions Advancing Biofuels

According to Ritter, his administra-
tion has taken several actions to sup-
port and advance biofuels in Colorado:
• The Governor’s Energy Office is
partnering with the Western Governors
Association to host a two-day workshop
on opportunities in Colorado for ad-
vanced biofuels. Also, this office is re-
questing support through the U.S. De-
partment of Energy Clean Cities Petro-
leum Reduction Program for $1.3 mil-
lion in infrastructure.
• The Colorado Department of Agri-
culture supports traditional and advanced
biofuel production and infrastructure
through the Advancing Colorado’s Re-
newable Energy (ACRE) Program.
• The Colorado Department of Pub-
lic Health and Environment is working
with Colorado Corn, the Regional Air
Quality Council, Colorado Oil and Gas
Conservation Commission, and local
fleets to review the potential of a
blender pump pilot program in the state.
• Higher education research depart-
ments, the Collaboratory, and its part-
ners are securing funding for R & D
and deployment of advanced biofuels.
Myke Feinman, editor
Response No. 471

MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 47

46_47_State_Report_Colorado.pmd 3 6/23/2009, 9:38 AM

 FDA Monitoring DDGS
Watching for Antibiotics Which Could
Enter the Food Chain

Loading distillers dried grains with

solubles (DDGS) onto a truck at an
ethanol plant.

Preliminary results from a Food and

Drug Administration (FDA) study to deter-
mine whether distillers dried grains with
solubles (DDGS) could be leaching antibi-
otic residues into the food chain indicate
about half of the samples contain antibi-
otic residues.
In January, FDA Office of Surveil-
lance and Compliance Director Dr.
Daniel McChesney said in an address to
the International Feed Regulators Meet-
ing in Atlanta, GA that of 60 samples
taken, 45 had been tested and antibiotic
residues were detected in 24 samples.
Fifteen of the 45 samples contained resi-
dues of virginiamycin, 12 contained resi-
dues of erythromycin, and five contained
residues of tylosin.

Plant’s Responsibility
Because ethanol plants are producing a
feed product—DDGS—there is an implied
responsibility on the part of the ethanol
producer to be sure the DDGS is safe.
According to Harold Tilstra, national co-
products technical support for Land O’Lakes
Purina Feed, LuVerne, MN (800-333-
9774), ethanol producers can ask their sup-
pliers of process additives if those addi-
tives are approved for use in distillers grains
destined to become animal feed.
In addition, ethanol producers can per-
form procedures that reduce a chance of
infections, Tilstra said.
Response No. 481

48 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09

48_FDA Monitoring DDGSj.pmd 2 6/11/2009, 8:39 AM

 Response No. 491

49_CPT_fullpage.pmd 2 6/9/2009, 9:25 AM

 Louis Dreyfus Commodities|Grand Junction, IA|100-MMGY Plant
Facility Feature
LD Commodities
515-738-2828
Grand Junction, IA
www.ldgrandjunction.com
Jay Nelson, Commercial
Manager
Michael Hollenberg, Plant
Manager
Jason Waddell, Production
Manager
Thomas Boeckman,
Maintenance Manager
Matt Wilson, Lab Manager
Adam Graham, Environmental
Health and Safety
Allen Sievertsen, General
Manager of Ethanol
Operations, Norfolk, NE
Employees: 59
Capacity: 100 MMGY
Feedstock: Corn
50 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
50_51_52_FF_LD_Grand_Junction.pmd 2 6/13/2009, 11:57 AM
Louis Dreyfus Commodities
entered the biofuels arena in a
big way in the past two years.
The French-based international grains
trading company has built three biofuels
plants during that time:
• A 50-million-gallon-per-year
(MMGY) ethanol plant in Norfolk, NE,
which began grinding corn in Septem-
ber 2007.
Commercial Manager Jay Nelson.
• The world’s largest integrated biodie-
sel plant—88-MMGY plant in Claypool,
IN—which began operations in the sum-
mer of 2007.
• The newest—a 100-MMGY etha-
nol plant in Grand Junction, IA began
grinding corn in April.
According to Grand Junction Commer-
“Louis Dreyfus felt that its
expertise was well-suited
to the biofuels platform.”
- Jay Nelson,
Commercial Manager
cial Manager Jay Nelson, “Louis Dreyfus
(LD) discovered a desire to participate in
the biofuels arena five years ago.
“LD felt that its expertise was well-
suited to the biofuels platform,” he
added.
Company Structure
LD Commodities, Grand Junction,
 of Jefferson, Payton, and Scranton. LD Grand Junction also can store
LD broke ground at the site in mid- up to 3 million gallons of ethanol in
2007, and it took 18 months to construct the tank farm.
the plant. LD would not disclose the
project cost. Fagen-ICM Design
The first corn was ground April 26, According to Plant Manager Michael
Nelson said, and the plant was at full Hollenberg, the plant’s design, a tradi-
capacity in seven days. tional Fagen-ICM plant, benefitted from
the design and construction experience
Transportation of those companies.
The site layout includes four loop “I’ve been in the industry for four
Adam Graham, environmental health tracks measuring roughly 47,000 feet years, and I’m very familiar with Fagen-
and safety officer. with a 500 railcar capacity, Nelson said. ICM designs,” Hollenberg said.
Each loop track has the capacity of “I’ve been exposed to three different
holding a unit train of up to 108 ethanol 100-MMGY projects,” he continued.
LLC, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of LD tanker cars. “I can tell you that every one of those
Corp, headquartered in Paris, France. “We are shipping unit trains of etha- projects had different construction chal-
The business, which began in 1851, nol and unit trains of distillers dried lenges,” he said. “From the three projects
includes an array of trading platforms, grains with solubles (DDGS) all across I’ve been associated with, it is very ap-
Nelson said, including ag commodities the country” Nelson said. parent that as this industry continues to
as diverse as orange juice, cotton, and All marketing is done in-house by LD. evolve, and as Fagen and ICM continue
rice. to evolve, they have improved with each
The company’s LD Biofuels Group Storage/Capacity plant they build.
commercial side is headquartered in The plant is capable of storing up to “Fagen’s construction is better today
Wilton, CT with operations based in 1 million bushels of corn and 10,000 than it was four years ago. ICM’s overall
Kansas City, MO. tons of DDGS (a 10-day supply). technical support and overall plant sup-
The plant will produce 300,000 tons port is better, as well,” he added.
Plant History of DDGS annually, along with 100 mil- Hollenberg explained that the main con-
Development of the Grand Junction lion gallons of ethanol. struction challenges at the Grand

plant was begun in 2007 by Further Fu-
els, LLC, an investor-owned company
based in Grand Junction.
In July 2007, LD acquired Further Fu-
els’ assets and purchased a 240-acre site on
the north side of Grand Junction.
According to Nelson, the site is in the
heart of Iowa’s corn-growing country.
“This west central Iowa county an-
nually ranks as the premiere corn grow-
ing county in the state,” he added.
Further, the site is located on a
Union Pacific Railroad mainline and has
highway access to U.S. Highway 30 and
Iowa State Highway 144.
The site also includes water and natu-
ral gas access.
Alliant Energy, which provides elec-
tricity to the site, built a new substation
to service the plant. The substation in-
cludes excess capacity in case LD ex-
pands the Grand Junction plant.
“The plant was welcomed to the
Grand Junction area with open arms,”
Nelson explained. “This was seen as a
golden opportunity for a community
looking to attract another business.”
The Grand Junction region already had
a solid manufacturing base, Nelson said, Jason Waddel, production manager, monitors production from the plant’s
with manufacturing in neighboring towns computers.

MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 51

50_51_52_FF_LD_Grand_Junction.pmd 3 6/13/2009, 11:57 AM


Matt Wilson, lab manager, checks ethanol during
production.
Junction site were weather related, which delayed some paving
projects at the plant last fall.
Management Expertise
Management at the Grand Junction plant includes:
Nelson, commercial manager, who has worked predomi-
nantly in the grain merchandising industry, starting with Ar-
cher Daniels Midland in 1993. Since 1999, he worked for
Response No. 521
52 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
50_51_52_FF_LD_Grand_Junction.pmd 4 6/13/2009, 11:58 AM
several Iowa cooperatives including Heartland Cooperative
in West Des Moines.
Hollenberg, plant manager, prior to the last four years in
the ethanol industry, worked for more than 15 years in the
feed industry including Cargill for more than 13 years.
Jason Waddell, production manager, has experience in
feed and operations including working for Hollenberg at an-
other ethanol plant.
Thomas Boeckman, maintenance manager, has a manu-
facturing background, most recently working for Pella Win-
dows in Carroll, IA.
Matt Wilson, lab manager, came to the plant with experi-
ence at Lincolnway Energy, Nevada, IA.
Adam Graham, environmental health and safety officer,
came to LD from Tate and Lyle.
Future of Ethanol
Nelson said LD is confident that the ethanol industry will
not only survive the current economic downturn but thrive.
“Louis Dreyfus has over 150 years of experience under-
standing the dynamics of the agricultural market, and we are
very confident in the long-term viability of the ethanol mar-
ket,” Nelson said.
“No one can control day-to-day commodity and input fluc-
tuations. However, we are confident we will be producing
ethanol in Grand Junction for a long, long time.”
Myke Feinman, editor
 Response No. 531

53_ATEC_FullPage.pmd 2 6/9/2009, 9:30 AM

 Ethanol Industry News
Pacific Ethanol Names Bryon
McGregor Interim CFO
Bryon McGregor on April 22 was
named interim chief financial officer
(CFO) and principal financial and ac-
counting officer of Sacramento, CA-
based Pacific Ethanol, Inc.
McGregor, 45, had served as vice
president-finance at Pacific Ethanol from
September 2008, until his appointment
to CFO.
Prior to joining Pacific Ethanol,
McGregor was the senior director for
E-Trade Financial from February 2002
to August 2008, serving in various ca-
pacities including international treasurer
based in London, England from 2006
to 2008.
Before he joined E-Trade, McGregor
served as manager of finance and head
of project finance for British Petroleum
from 1998 to 2001.
54 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
54_56_57_Ethanol_Industry_News_Even.pmd 2
Lallemand Acquires New
Business In Spain
Milwaukee, WI-based
Lallemand Inc. an-
nounced May 29 it had
acquired AB Mauri’s GBI baker’s yeast busi-
ness in Spain and Portugal as well as AB
Mauri’s Portuguese yeast plant located in
Setubal (south of Lisbon).
According to Lallemand Global Mar-
keting and Product Development Man-
ager Craig Pilgrim, the acquisition gives
the company a major presence, with ex-
perienced teams and leading brands, in
the Iberian baker’s yeast markets and also
capacity eventually to compete more ef-
fectively in the French market as well as
in the world dry yeast markets.
OPW FTG Implements
Organizational Changes
OPW Transfer Fluid Group President
Response No. 541
6/11/2009, 8:41 AM
Tim Warning announced June 1 the Ma-
son, OH-based company had made several
strategic organizational changes to align
OPW’s substantial resources. T hese changes
were intended to enhance the organizations’s
ability further to provide its global customer
base with industry-leading solutions.
The company will streamline OPW’s
four business units and eight global op-
erations into two global business units.
The two units are:
• OPWFTG Global Transportation
Business Unit: Consists of two market-
focused entities—Global Rail Business
Unit and Global Cargo Tank/Truck
Business Unit.
• OPWFTG Global Chemical and In-
dustrial Business Unit: Focused on fluid
handling, transfer, loading, and unload- 䉴
 Response No. 551

55_Indeck_fullpage.pmd 2 6/9/2009, 9:24 AM

 Kevin Cook Simon Hill
ing solutions in the chemical and indus-
trial processing markets.
As a result of the organizational en-
hancements, several new positions within
the company have been created.
The Global Transportation Business
Unit now includes:
• Tom Zant, vice president.
• Kevin Cook, director of Global Rail
Business Unit.
• Simon Hill, director of the Global
Cargo Tank/Truck Business Unit.
• Dan Taylor, site manager for the Kan-
sas City, MO, manufacturing operation.
The Global Chemical and Industrial
Business Unit now includes:
• Jeff Reichert, vice president.
56 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
54_56_57_Ethanol_Industry_News_Even.pmd 4
Tom Zant Dan Taylor
• Greg Carrino, sales and marketing.
“I am confident that these changes
will benefit our customers through en-
hanced market and application focus,
better resource alignment, and improved
service to our customers and channel
partners worldwide,” Warning said.
• OPW Fluid Transfer Group an-
nounced June 1 it has named Steven Van
Pee chief financial officer (CFO). This
position most recently was held by Su-
san Hathaway who was named CFO of
Dover Corp., sister company of OPW
Fueling Components, in mid-May 2009.
Van Pee has a bachelor’s degree din busi-
ness administration and accounting from
St. Norbert College, De Pere, WI. He joined
Response No. 561
6/11/2009, 8:41 AM
Jeff Reichert Greg Carrino
Dover in 2000 as senior financial analyst
for Waukesha Bearings and in 2005, as-
sumed the position of financial analyst for
Dover Diversified, Inc. He returned to
Waukesha Bearings in 2007 as CFO.
“Steve brings 12 solid years of ex-
pertise in accounting and finance man-
agement, analysis, audit, and CFO expe-
rience,” said Warning. “He led the finan-
cial modules implementation during
Waukesha’s enterprise resource planning
initiative, and made key contributions to
Waukesha Bearings’ growth and success.”
Green Plains Renewable
Energy Buys Two Plants
Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc.,
 Omaha, NE, signed MO to Overland Park, KS, where CPT’s loaded tank cars of
definitive purchase technical and client services were located in hazardous materials
agreements to ac- a March press release. during the previous
quire two for-mer year with zero non-accidental releases
VeraSun ethanol POET Plants Earn Safety Award during the entire transportation cycle.
plants located in Ne- Eight POET ethanol plants in Iowa The POET Biorefining plants recog-
braska on May 21. and South Dakota were recognized in nized in South Dakota are Chancellor,
The new plants late April with BNSF Railway Co.’s Mitchell, Big Stone City, Groton, Scot-
will increase Green 2008 annual Product Stewardship land, and Hudson. The Iowa plants are
Plains Renewable’s Award. Coon Rapids and Corning.
Steve Van Pee ethanol capacity by The award is presented to shippers Compiled from news sources by
45%—from 330 who transported a minimum of 500 Adam Tedder, associate editor.
MMGY to 480 MMGY.
Green Plains is acquiring all of the
membership interests in two limited li-
ability companies that own the ethanol
plants located near Central City and Ord
from a lender group led by AgStar Fi-
nancial Services for $123.5 million.
The Central City and Ord plants are
rated at 100 and 50 MMGY, respectively.

Will Duensing Retires From

Cereal Process Technologies
W.J. Will Duensing Feb. 9 announced his
retirement as
president and
CEO of Cereal
Process Technolo-
gies (CPT), which
took effect
March 13.
Duensing is
recognized as one
of the nation’s
W.J. Will foremost experts
Duensing in corn chemistry
and milling. He
led the completion of the installation of
CPT’s patented technology at Renew
Energy’s 130-MMGY ethanol plant in
Jefferson, WI. That plant, which mills
corn and produces high-grade en-
dosperm, corn germ, and bran is the larg-
est corn dry milling operation in the
world.
Duensing joined CPT in 2007 follow-
ing a long career with the milling divi-
sion of Bunge North America. Duensing
served as director of quality assurance
and technical services.
With Duensing’s retirement, CPT’s
board named Robert J. Giguere presi-
dent and CEO.
Giguere, a shareholder of the Overland
Park, KS-based company, is also president
of Iowa Corn Processors in Glidden, IA.
Giguere announced the company had
relocated its headquarters from Bridgeton,
Response No. 571

MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 57

54_56_57_Ethanol_Industry_News_Even.pmd 5 6/11/2009, 8:43 AM

 ACE Ethanol
Conference & Trade Show
Aug. 10-13 | Midwest Airlines Center | Milwaukee, WI
this year’s event.
“Trends indicate travel is down in many
industries, but ACE’s history of offering
a top-quality event with one of the low-
est registration fees in the industry sug-
gests we still will be able to draw a crowd
in Milwaukee,” said Shannon Gustafson,
ACE director of strategic projects.
The 2008 conference and trade show
in Omaha, NE drew 1,200 attendees and
200 exhibitors compared to 1,800 attend-
ees and 240 exhibitors in 2007 at St. Paul,
MN.
“ACE is anticipating some decline
in participation based on trends we’ve
seen at other events,” Gustafson
added.
However, ACE is taking the follow-
ing steps to increase attendance:
• Registration discounts available to
ethanol producers.
• Less expensive venue to travel to
and for meals and lodging.
• Meeting rooms relocated to the
trade show area.

Trade Show Hours

The 2009 ACE Ethanol Conference and Trade Show will be held at the
Midwest Airlines Center, Milwaukee, WI.
Increasing the blend wall and indirect
land use change will be two of the key
topics featured at the 2009 American Coa-
lition for Ethanol (ACE) Conference and
Trade Show to be held Aug. 10-13 at the
Midwest Airlines Center, Milwaukee, WI.
Steps to Increase Attendance
With the weak economy, ACE has
taken action to increase attendance for
Tuesday, Aug. 11
• 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Trade Show setup
• 5-7:30 p.m. Welcome reception
Wednesday, Aug.12
• 8 a.m.-12:45 p.m.
• 8 -9a.m. Continental breakfast
• 10-10:30 a.m. Break
• Noon - 12:45 p.m. Lunch
Thursday, Aug. 13
• 8-10 a.m. Trade Show Open
• 8-8:30 a.m. Continental breakfast

58 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09

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 “We will have breakout speakers and
topics on the financial stress facing etha-
nol producers and how to mitigate that
stress and volatility,” Gustafson said.
The blend wall issue also will be in-
cluded in several sessions, including top-
ics on how to overcome the blend wall
and implement the use of higher blends
in ethanol in gasoline.
Indirect Land Use Change
Another topic to be explored in detail
ACE Executive Vice President Brian
will be indirect land use change (ILUC).
Jennings gives an opening address at the
2008 conference in Omaha, NE.
Sessions will focus on the “untested
theory currently being applied by both
the EPA and the California Air Resources
Board against biofuels in their respec-
tive rulemakings,” she said.
Trade Show
The conference begins Tuesday, Aug.
11, with a conference reception in the
trade show from 5 to 7 p.m.
The trade show opens at 8 a.m., Aug.
12 and runs throughout the day, con-
tinuing to 10 a.m. on Thursday.

• Exhibit booth space rates remain at

2008 levels.
“We’re confident that the quality and
affordability of our event will still be a
draw,” Gustafson added.

2009 Topics
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack
has been invited to be the keynote speaker,
to address the commitment the USDA and
other government agencies have made with
the government’s stimulus package.
ACE anticipates Vilsack will speak on
the USDA, U.S. Department of Energy
(DOE) and Environmental Protection
Agency’s (EPA) new coalition—Biofuels
Interagency Working Group— that was
formed May 5. The efforts and goals
of this group will be outlined in the ses-
sion, Gustafson said.
Another major topic will be increas-
ing the blend level from E10 to E15, to
extend the blend wall.
“We’ll have updates on where the
waiver stands and how it will affect the
industry,” Gustafson noted.
Other topics to be explored will include:
• The new renewable fuels standard
passed in December 2007.
• Successes in commercialization of
cellulosic ethanol.
• How the industry will use new media
to strengthen the grassroots that support it.
• Market development topics such as
blender pumps and mid-level blends.

Financial Stress, Blend Wall

This year’s theme is “Determination:
Renew, Unite, Succeed,” reflecting some
of the financial struggles the ethanol in-
dustry has suffered through in 2008 and
2009, with several ethanol producers
declaring bankruptcy.
Response No. 591

MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 59

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 This year’s ACE trade show in Milwaukee, WI is expected
to attract close to 200 exhibitors.

Breakout/General Sessions
The general session and breakouts begin Wednesday, Aug.
12. “As always, we will have the most current information
available highlighting the newest in public policy, market de-
velopment, and technology,” Gustafson said.
Sessions include:
• When the Going Gets Tough: Succeeding in Difficult
Market Conditions.
• Strategic Steps You Can Take, Financially and Legally, to
Protect Your Plant During Challenging Market Conditions
and Plan for Future Success.
• Biofuels Incentive Programs.
• Collecting, Handling, and Biorefining Next Generation
Feedstocks
• RINfo: Tracking and Trading Renewable Identification
Numbers (RINs).
• Risk Management.
• More Mileage with Ethanol?
• Brazil: Making Mid-Level Blends Work.
• Panel Discussion: Theory vs. Science: The Role of
Biofuels in Low Carbon Policies and Calculating Direct and
Indirect Emissions.
• Clean Corn: Efficiencies & Innovations in Corn Ethanol
• Cellulosic Ethanol: A Progress Report.
• Scaling the E10 Blend Wall.
• Strategic Advocacy and PR in the Era of New Media.
• Blending Better Solutions, 2009 Edition.

Other Events
The Jeff Fox Memorial Scholarship Golf Classic returns
this year, to be held at the Brown Deer Golf Club, in Milwau-
kee starting at 8:30 a.m., Aug. 11.
The awards banquet will be held at the Hilton Milwaukee
City Center’s dazzling ballroom, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Aug. 12.

Registration/Hotels
To register, go on-line to: www.ethanol.org
To receive preferred rates, call before July 12 to reserve a
room. The conference hotels are:
Hilton Milwaukee City Center (host hotel), 414-271-
7250 (conference rate-$154/night).
Doubletree Hotel Milwaukee City Center, 414-727-
2273 (Conference rate-$159/night).

Myke Feinman, editor

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 Duckweed Ethanol
Crop Grown in Ponds on Hog Farms Could Out-Yield Corn
Duckweed, which is grown in ponds on hog farms, could become a high-starch
crop for a traditional dry grind ethanol plant.
Move over corn. Duckweed may be
a competitor as a feedstock for starch-
based ethanol.
Researchers at North Carolina State
University (NCSU), Raleigh, have dis-
covered that the tiny aquatic plant ab-
sorbs nutrients from the ponds at indus-
trial hog farms.
The research began in 1998 as a
method to clean up the wastewater at
large-scale hog farms but developed into
an alternative feedstock for ethanol.
Large-scale hog farms manage their
animal waste for biological treatment by
storing it in large lagoons on-site.
“There was a concern for a number
of years that the nutrients in the hog waste
were not being efficiently utilized,” said
NCSU Professor Jay Cheng (jay_cheng@
ncsu.edu). “Initially, we tested duckweed
to treat wastewater, and found it was ef-
fective in removing nutrients.
“Recently we found a way to grow
high-starch duckweed that could be uti-
lized as a feedstock for ethanol,” he added.
61_Duckweed_Ethanol.pmd 3 6/8/2009, 2:01 PM
Plan for Research
Due to duckweed’s ability to absorb
nutrients, the research now is focusing
on a way to develop a strain of high-
starch duckweed (not normally high in
sugars) and convert it to ethanol.
Cheng said his group has received a
$200,000 grant from the North Caro-
lina Center of Biofuels for the next 1-
1/2 years to research growing duckweed
in wastewater at hog farms.
“The pilot study is to grow duckweed
for conversion to ethanol,” Cheng said.
“This is a comprehensive approach for
waste water management and utilization
of bioenergy production on hog farms.”
Cheng is working with fellow NCSU
researcher Dr. Anne-Marie Stomp to ex-
periment on growing the high-starch
duckweed.
“By controlling the environment, we
can improve the content of starch in
duckweed,” Cheng said.
“So far, we have found that duck-
weed is 46% starch by dry weight. That
might be less than for corn kernels, but
we utilize the entire duckweed plant,”
he added.
Yields
In initial lab tests, duckweed has
yielded 28 metric tons of starch annu-
ally per hectare of water surface area.
According to Cheng, that is five to
six times more starch per hectare com-
pared to corn which produces five met-
ric tons per hectare.
Characteristics of Duckweed
Duckweed, said Cheng, has several
characteristics that could be advanta-
geous in ethanol production.
“It grows naturally in every climate
with fresh water and can be found al-
most everywhere in the United States,”
Cheng noted.
“The starch from duckweed can be
converted easily to ethanol using a tradi-
tional corn dry grind ethanol plant,”
Cheng said.
“You can find duckweed
almost everywhere in the
United States. It grows
naturally in every climate
in fresh water.”
- Jay Cheng, NCSU Professor
Also, duckweed, as a nonfood alterna-
tive feedstock, produces ethanol without
using farmland, since it grows in water.
According to Cheng, in addition to live-
stock farms, this crop also could be
grown at a wastewater treatment plant or
other land unsuitable for growing crops.
Myke Feinman, editor
MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 61
 Sunoco Buying Ethanol Plant
Second Petroleum Refiner To Purchase Bankrupt Plant
The lines between the etha-
nol industry and the petroleum
refining industry continued to
blur when Sunoco, Philadelphia,
PA, agreed May 19 to purchase North-
east Biofuels, a 100-million-gallon-per-
year (MMGY) plant in Fulton, NY, for
$8.5 million.
In March, Valero, the largest U.S. pe-
troleum refiner, became the third larg-
est ethanol producer, when it purchased
seven of VeraSun’s 16 ethanol plants
from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in
Wilmington, DE.
Before Sunoco can commence pro-
62 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
62_Sunoco_Buys_Ethanol_Plant.pmd 2 6/8/2009, 2:00 PM
duction at the Northeast
Biofuels plant, additional engi-
neering work will have to be
completed, said Sunoco Spokes-
man Thomas Golembeski.
“We are targeting full production for
early 2010,” Golembeski said.
Golembeski, who said the plant was
designed at the site of a former brew-
ery, did not have an estimate of addi-
tional engineering costs.
Access To Local Ethanol
The 100 MMGY produced at North-
east Biofuels represents approximately
Response No. 621
25% of the ethanol Sunoco needs to blend
with gasoline annually, Golembeski said.
In 2008, for example, Sunoco’s total
fuel sales (including gasoline) totaled
325,000 barrels per day.
“This is the largest ethanol plant in the
northeast,” Golembeski said. “We are
based primarily in the northeast, so this
plant is situated in our retail marketing
region. It can reduce some of our logis-
tics costs of transporting ethanol from
the Midwest.”
Sunoco sells gasoline at 4,700 stations
in 26 states.
Myke Feinman, editor
 Indirect Land Use Change
EPA Accepting Comments on Proposed Rulemaking
Indirect land use change (ILUC) may
impact U.S. ethanol production.
In December 2007, the second Re-
newable Fuels Standard (RFS2) was
signed into law by President Bush.
It included a provision that mandated
that indirect land use change (ILUC) be in-
cluded in the calculations for determining
biofuels greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
However no definition for ILUC was
established until the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) issued a pro-
posed rulemaking on May 5.
The proposed rulemaking states that
ethanol’s greenhouse gas emissions are
drastically increased by (ILUC).
The proposed regulations includes two
provisions affecting biofuels producers:
• Biofuels must be at least 20% bet-
ter than gasoline in GHG emissions.
• ILUC must be included in deter-
mining a plant’s GHG emissions.
EPA currently is seeking comments
during a 60-day period that ends July
27.
“The law calls for indirect land use
change to be part of the analyses of
biofuels, as they relate to greenhouse gas
emissions (GHG),” said EPA Adminis-
trator Lisa Jackson.
The rulemaking is based upon a two-
year analysis of data collected from sev-
eral sources such as satellite imagery and
63_ILUC_Update.pmd 3 6/12/2009, 8:57 AM
a global crop land use study.
Under the EPA’s analysis, a natural
gas-fired, dry mill ethanol plant that dries
all its distillers grains produces fuel that
emits 16% less GHG than gasoline. That
figure includes ILUC.
Without ILUC, that same plant would
be 61% more efficient than gasoline, ac-
cording to Geoff Cooper, vice president
of research for the Renewable Fuels As-
sociation (RFA).
Flaws in Analysis
Cooper said the RFA sees several flaws
in the EPA’s analysis and plans to submit
scientific data and comments prior July 27.
“For ILUC, the EPA cobbled together
several different models and data sets to
try and arrive at exact numbers and point
estimates of what type of land use change
is going to occur as a result of the RFS2
program,” Cooper said.
“Those several different models and data
sets weren’t intended to work together,” he
added. “I’m not confident the models are
congruent.”
DDGS Credit Too Low
For example, he cites the data surround-
ing dried distillers grains with solubles
(DDGS) as inaccurate.
“The models are assuming that a
pound of distillers grains displaces a pound
of conventional feed,” Cooper continued.
“Of that feed, 90% is corn and 10% is
soybean meal. Certainly there is research
out there suggesting that in aggregated
rations across all species a pound of dis-
tillers grains replaces 1.3 pounds of feed
and more than 10% of it is soybean meal.”
The DDGS displacement of feed—
corn and soybeans—is related to land use,
especially since soybean yields are lower
than corn and, therefore, take more land
to produce compared to the same amount
of corn, Cooper explained.
Crop Yields Too Low
Another flaw the RFA sees is the
EPA’s estimates for crop yields.
“They are assuming a 1.6% annual
growth rate for corn based on a 30-year
historical trend,” Cooper said. “One of our
arguments has been that yield growth has
accelerated in the last 15 years., correspond-
ing with the period in which biotech hy-
brids have been available. It is appropriate
to use a shorter time period. They also
ought to take into consideration that there
are new seeds in the pipeline.”
Type of Land Converted
Finally, the models indicate how much
land will be converted in ILUC, but not
what type of land.
“That is important because if you are
converting forests, the carbon loss is
much higher than if you are converting
CRP (Conservation Reserve Program)
land or pastures,” Cooper noted.
He said the EPA utilized satellite imag-
ery from the time period of 2001 to 2004.
“One of our arguments has
been that yield growth has
accelerated in the last 15
years. It is appropriate to
use a shorter time period.”
- Geoff Cooper,
RFA vice president of research
“That is using a very limited time frame to
do this trend analysis,” Cooper said.
“The 30-year time frame on crop
analysis and five-year analysis on types
of land converted—that seems incon-
sistent to us,” he added.
Myke Feinman, editor
MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 63
 Profile
Mike
Isom
North County Ethanol
Rosholt, SD
Plant Manager
605-537-4585
Years with Company: 2
Years in the Industry: 5
Born: Dec. 15, 1975
Family: Wife, Katrina; son,
Tyson; daughter, Kodi.
Education: Banner County
High School, Harrisburg, NE.
Career: 1997-2000: Nebraska Depart-
ment of Roads, highway maintenance
SR. 2000-02: Wyco LP Gas, Cheyenne,
NE: Store manager; 2002-05: Farm-
land Foods, Crete, NE, maintenance
tech IV; 2005-07: Midwest Renewable
Energy, Sutherland NE, shift lead.
2007-09: North Country Ethanol,
Rosholt, SD, plant manager.
My personal key to success: I believe
in being hands-on, passionate, personable,
with a focus on safety as the keys to
success.
My biggest challenge: With today’s
economics in the ethanol industry,
surviving until better times come will
be most important and difficult, but I
believe those times will come.
How to meet that challenge: We need
to look for ways to be efficient. What
we do with corn is viable, if we can learn
to do it more efficiently.
What I like about the ethanol industry:
Working at a job that allows me to stay
Response No. 641
64 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
64_Profile_Mike_Isom.pmd 2 6/12/2009, 1:02 PM
in touch with my roots. I grew up near
farms and ranches. It’s very rewarding
to work with the same type of people
that I learned from while growing up.
Key to the growth of the industry:
Getting America on board with the
facts about the industry, and manu-
facturing more E85 vehicles would be
a good start. Also, the days of ethanol
plants not talking and sharing ideas
must go. I think the industry as a
whole has great ideas that can lead to
the whole industry being successful.
What I predict for the industry in the
next three years: I believe the industry
is going to weed out the short-term
money men and ring in the era of the
long-haul investors. It is going to be a
long year. However, I feel the industry
needed this. Growth went so fast that
technology and the country needed some
time to catch up.
Who most influenced your career:
Dennis Harstad at KL Energy, Rapid
City, SD, stands out with his passion and
enthusiasm and by always surrounding
himself with similar people. Another
person is Trampas Osborne of Midwest
Renewable Energy with his hands-on
approach.
Hobbies: Ice fishing, golfing, and ethanol
production. I just love makng the product.

Chuck
Hofland
Siouxland Ethanol
Jackson, NE
General Manager
402-632-6205
www.siouxlandethanol.com
Years with Company: 2-1/2
Years in the Industry: 6-1/2
Born: Aug. 8, 1953.
Family: Wife, Anita; daugther Angela; sons,
Wade and Brandon.
Education: 1972: Bachelor’s degree in
accounting at Northwest Iowa Community
College at Sheldon.
Career: 1973-2002: Joe’s Feed
Service, Hospers, IA. 2002-06: Iowa
commodity manager, Little Sioux
Corn Processors, Marcus, IA. 2006-
09: General manager, Siouxland
Ethanol, Jackson, NE.
My personal key to success: I believe
you need to work hard at what you
enjoy.
My biggest challenge: It is sometimes
difficult to balance time with my job,
but I find it to be one of the most
important challenges I face.
I meet that challenge by: I best deal
with balancing time by keeping
everything in perspective.
What I like about the ethanol industry:
The industry is new, and it is a great
boost to the rural economy while being
a part of the reduction of dependency
of the United States on foreign oil and
having a positive impact on the global
environment.
65_Profile_ChuckHofland.pmd 3 6/10/2009, 1:36 PM
Profile
Key to the growth of the industry:
Educating the consumer will be key
for the ethanol industry’s continuing
growth.
The biggest trend in the industry: The
promotion of higher ethanol blends
seems to be the growing trend. Many
lawmakers and ethanol supporters in and
out of the industry are pushing for
blends over 10%.
What I predict for the industry in the
next three years: I think the industry
will have to consolidate, in order to
survive the current economic hard
times.
Who most influenced your career: The
people that I have done business with.
Most have been very positive exper-
iences. Others have been educational
(sometimes the cost of education can
be expensive), but I have learned from
almost every experience I have had
working with people.
Hobbies: I enjoy spending time with my
grandchildren and golfing.
Adam Tedder, associate editor
Response No. 651
 Profile
Kumar
Plocher
Yokayo Biofuels
Ukiah, CA
President
707-462-5889
www.ybiofuels.org
Years with Company: 8
Years in the Industry: 8
Born: Jan. 7, 1976.
Family: Wife, Sunny Beaver,
co-owner of Yokayo Biofuels.
Education: Attended the
University of Califorina, Berkeley as an
English major but left before graduating.
Career: 2001-09: President of Yokayo
Biofuels, Ukiah, CA.
My personal key to success: I have an
excellent, idealistic management team
whom I trust to solve nearly every problem
thrown at us. It includes a socialist, a certified
public accountant (CPA), and a former
labor organizer. Suffice to say, we are often
able to look at things from an angle not
often represented in the biodiesel industry.
My biggest challenge: Balancing my
ideals and social goals with the need to
deliver a profit.
I meet that challenge by: I’m currently
taking accounting classes and working
to enhance my business knowledge. I
always need to remind myself that I’m
still learning how to do all this.
What I like about the biodiesel industry:
The potential to wake up as many people
as possible from the petroleum addiction
and ease the transition to something
better.
Response No. 661
66 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
66_Profile_Kumar_Plocher.pmd 2 6/11/2009, 3:12 PM
Best new product in the industry: I
currently have my eye on supercritical
methanol biodiesel and cellulosic ethanol.
I would like to prove that both are
commercially viable, and do so on a much
smaller scale than most would anticipate.
Key to the growth of the industry: The
ability to adapt, share knowledge, and
find new and better feedstocks.
What I predict for the industry in the next
three years: I am certain that biodiesel
will battle renewable diesel on the PR
front, and I see a continued dark period
for biodiesel, if it can’t align itself better
with societal needs such as localization
of economies and conservation of
resources. On the other hand, the price
of petroleum should ultimately trend
upward, which may lead to opportunities.
Who most influenced your career: My
dad, Stephen Plocher, the CPA on our
management team. He is both creative
and analytical, and he has taught me a lot
about perspective and humility. He also
gave me the money to start the company
and was living through it vicariously,
before he became more involved.
Hobbies: I love a good hike. Traveling
makes us all better people. I’m very frugal
in most areas, but I love gourmet
vegetarian cooking and tasting local wines.
 RIN Violation Crackdown
fuel or by blenders. EMTS is on-line at: www.epa. gov/
EPA Reviewing RIN assignments began Sept. otaq/presentations/renewablefuels/
1, 2007, but 2008 is the first full emts20090225.pdf
2007, 2008 RINs year of RINs have been assigned. Myke Feinman, editor
For Errors, Fraud
The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) no longer is tolerating
fraudulent or erroneous Renewable Iden-
tification Number (RINs).
By the end of this year, the EPA is
likely to issue RIN violations, which could
be accompanied by fines up to $32,500 a
day for civil violations, plus any economic
benefit gained by the violator.
EPA has found that up to 20% of the
RINs issued so far are invalid, either through
errors or fraud. The number has decreased
as a result of education and outreach to the
regulated community. EPA has contacted
submitters to get their errors corrected.
If a renewable fuel producers over-
reports the number of RINs generated
and sells the excess RINs, compliant fuel
producers may be deprived of potential
RIN sales.
“From an enforcement standpoint, we
are very serious about looking at 2007
and 2008 periods and taking enforce-
ment action,” said Erv Pickell, fuels en-
forcement team leader in the EPA Air
Enforcement Division.
“I would expect some violations issued
before the end of the year,” Pickell said.

EMTS
To combat errors and fraud, the EPA
is developing the EPA Managed Trans-
action System (EMTS).
The system has been under develop-
ment for a year but was not made public
until Feb. 25. It will be launched in 2010.

RIN System
RINs are assigned to ethanol and
biodiesel by producers and importers.
The RINs may be separated from the
renewable fuel primarily by either obli-
gated parties when they purchased the
Response No. 671

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 Western Biodiesel Producing 5 MMGY Primarily From Animal Fat
When the high cost of vegetable oil
feedstocks drove developers of a biodie-
sel plant project in Alberta, Canada to
seek alternative feedstocks, they turned
to investigating animal fats and waste
vegetable oil feedstocks.
For Dean Cockshutt and Brian
Harmes, joint owners and developers
of Western Biodiesel Inc., in High
River, AB, animal fats were the logical
Facility Feature
Western Biodiesel Inc.
403-652-1045 | High River, AB
www.western-biodiesel.com
Dean Cockshutt, President and
CEO
Brian Harmes, Vice President of
Marketing
Jason Freeman, Operations
Manager
Employees: 16
Capacity: 5 MMGY
Feedstock: Multiple feedstock
focusing on animal fats
68 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
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alternative feedstock.
“Alberta is the center of Canada’s
meatpacking industry,” said Cock-
shutt, who is company president and
CEO.
“There are plenty of high quality
rendered animal fats from numerous
sources within driving distance,” he
added. “There is more than enough
feedstock to supply our plant.”
In fact, the plant is located
adjacent to a meatpacking
plant.
The advantage of utilizing
animal fats as the primary feedstock is
the lower cost, but the disadvantage is
more complicated chemistry to produce
biodiesel.
“Chemists and chemical engineers
are required as part of the operations
staff, and a full chemistry lab is re-
quired with animal fat biodiesel,”
Cockshutt said.
Animal fat feedstocks can cause more
corrosion problems and require a more
robust heat-tracing and cleanout strat-
egy, he added.
“Having staff with chemistry exper-
tise is really a key issue,” Cockshutt noted.
The plant also purchases used veg-
etable oil from a company that collects
and refines the oil from Alberta restau-
rants.
Finally, there is a large amount of
canola grown in the region, so canola
oil also could be utilized as a feedstock,
Cockshutt said.
Plant History
Western Biodiesel Inc. was incorpo-
rated in 2005, when Cockshutt and
“There are plenty of high-
quality rendered animal
fats from numerous sources
within driving distance.”
- Dean Cockshutt,
President and CEO
Harmes selected Alberta as the site due
to the province’s financial incentives.
One of the primary incentives was
the Alberta Biofuel Commercialization
and Market Development Program that
provides grants of up to 25% of the
development costs plus a per-liter pro-
duction incentive of 14 cents.
 biodiesel in a secondary containment
tank farm.

Transportation/Marketing
Animal fat feedstocks are collected
by plant trucks from local and area ren-
derers, Cockshutt said.
A trucking company is contracted to
transport the plants’ biodiesel to be
transloaded into railcars.
Western Biodiesel markets its biodie-
sel through a global marketing company.
The plant’s glycerin is not utilized as a
co-product, Cockshutt said. Instead it is
sent to another company’s biodigester and
converted into methane gas, he explained.

ASTM Quality
The plant’s distillation system ensures
a quality fuel that meets or exceeds both
the U.S. and European fuel standards,
Cockshutt noted.

Plant operators monitor biodiesel production utilizing computers. Management Expertise

Cockshutt is a professional engineer
licensed in Alberta and served as vice
Also, Cockshutt said, effective July 1, year (MMGY) of biodiesel utilizing es- president of U.S. Gas Storage Develop-
2010, Alberta will be instituting a 2% terification, methanol recovery and ment, North America’s largest natural gas
blend renewable fuels standard (RFS) for biodiesel distillation. storage operator. He was responsible for
biodiesel with petroleum. The plant can store up to 4,000 bar- developing, constructing, and operating
Neighboring province British Colum- rels of feedstock and 3,000 barrels of five major underground gas storage

bia also is instituting an RFS, requiring a
5% blend on Jan. 1, 2010.
After site selection, construction be-
gan on the greenfield project in Novem-
ber 2006, with operations beginning in
July 2008 and production up to full ca-
pacity by January 2009.
The site, in addition to its proximity
to the meatpacking plant, also has ac-
cess to rail and truck for transporting
feedstocks and product.
Cockshutt declined to release the to-
tal cost of the project. Sixty private in-
vestors contributed, along with invest-
ments by Cockshutt and Harmes, the
principal owners.
The company secured bank loans for
the remaining cost through two lenders—
Farm Credit Canada, an ag-based lender,
and Agricultural Financial Services Cor-
poration, an Alberta agricultural lender.
A three-member board oversees the
company’s operations, Cockshutt said.

Capacity/Storage
Western Biodiesel has a nameplate ca- Western Biodiesel can store up to 4,000 barrels of feedstock and 3,000 barrels of
pacity to produce 5 million gallons per finished biodiesel.

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The plant utilizes an esterification system to allow processing of high free
fatty acid (FFA) feedstocks.
facilities for 12 years.
Harmes, vice president of market-
ing, developed, branded, owned, and
operated his own fitness franchises in
Western Canada. Harmes also has expe-
rience in industrial sales and marketing
70 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
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for the past 10 years, working as a re-
gional sales manager for a large specialty
welding supply company.
Future of Biodiesel Industry
Cockshutt said the company wants to
Response No. 701
see stronger blend mandates in other Ca-
nadian provinces similar to Alberta and
British Columbia.
“This will create the demand that will
improve sales prices and keep the in-
dustry healthy,” Cockshutt noted.
“Having staff with chem-
istry expertise is really a
key issue.”
- Dean Cockshutt
“Mandates will allow phasing out of
production incentives and will result in a
standalone industry,” he added.
He also said he sees a trend of in-
creased quality checking and enforce-
ment from end users.
“Tolerance for off-spec product will
be low,” Cockshutt predicted. “Quality
is a key concern.”
Myke Feinman, editor
 Australia The €670 million plant will produce contain 10% renewable content by 2020.
National Biodiesel in mid-May an- 800,000 metric tons of biodiesel annu- The EU, at the same time, also increased
nounced plans to build the nation’s ally and create over 100 jobs. its B5 standard to B7.
first soybean processing and biodiesel In December 2008, the European
plant. Union (EU) adopted mandatory require- Compiled from news reports by
The $243 million project will be con- ments that all EU transportation fuels Adam Tedder, associate editor
str ucted at Port Kembla’s Inner
Harbour on the New South Wales
(NSW) coast.
Starting in 2011, NSW will require
that 5% of all the diesel used in the state
contain biodiesel.
According to NSW Lands Minister
Tony Keller, the plant will be able to sup-
ply all of the state’s biodiesel require-
ments.
The plant will take approximately 18
months to two years to build.

India
Southern Online Bio Technologies
Ltd., an India-based Internet services pro-
vider, in early May announced plans to
build its third biodiesel plant by the end
of 2009.
The proposed plant will be built in
Anantapur, Kurnool, or Chittoor districts
and serve markets in Tamil Nadu and
Karnataka.
The plant will have a crushing capac-
ity of 500 tons per day.

Netherlands
Neste Oil began construction in late
May at the Port of Rotterdam, Nether-
lands of what would be the largest
biodiesel plant in Europe.
Response No. 711

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 Biodiesel Roundup
Biodiesel Plant Developments Across the United States

California Despite the hold on the projects, 2010, according to

Pacifica City Man- Whole Energy’s grant from the Clean company officials in
ager Stephen Rhodes Air Resource Board remains available early May.
announced June 4 that for use if Whole Energy can meet cer- When completed,
Whole Energy Fuels’ tain milestones, according to Rhodes. the Dynamic Fuels
proposed biodiesel The project also faces delay until plant will produce 75
project, which will Whole Energy receives proper permits MMGY. The $138 million plant will em-
share space with Calera from the city of Pacifica’s building de- ploy 45 people and generate an annual
Creek Wastewater partment to proceed. payroll of more than $4 million.
Treatment Plant, has been put on hold
due to funding issues. Louisiana Massachusetts
The $2.4 million proposed project will Construction of the Dynamic Fuels Massachusetts-based Baystate Bio-
convert used vegetable oil to produce 3 LLC biodiesel plant in Geismar is on fuels LLC announced in late May it had
million gallons (MMGY) of biodiesel schedule and will produce its first batch begun construction on a plant in North
annually. of high-grade biodiesel and jet fuel in Andover.

Response No. 721

72 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09

72_73_Biodiesel Buildup.pmd 2 6/11/2009, 8:54 AM

 The plant will be
the first full-scale
commerical
biodiesel plant in the
state.
The company says it expects to begin
selling biodiesel by the end of the summer.
The company said it plans to distrib-
ute biodiesel to oil companies seeking to
comply with Massachusetts’ Clean En-
ergy Biofuels Act of 2008.
Officals say the project is likely to
create more jobs in the region, which
has lost a significant number of jobs
this year.
nounced June 3 it is
shutting down biodiesel
production temporarily
at the company's plant
in DeForest.
No reopening date
had been announced
for the biodiesel facility as of mid-June.
Sanimax began building its 15,000-
square-foot, 20-MMGY plant in 2006.
In May 2007, the company sold its
first major batch of fuel to Progressive
Farmers Cooperative in northeast Wis-
consin.
Nova Biosource Fuels developed
the multi-feedstock technology that
Sanimax has used to produce biodiesel
fuel from recycled cooking grease, ani-
mal fats, and vegetable oils.
When it was in full operation, the
plant employed 15 people.
Compiled from news reports by
Adam Tedder, associate editor

Missouri
Clarence-based Producers’ Choice
Soy Energy announced in late May it
had completed con-
struction of its $17
million plant in
Moberly.
The plant, which
will produce 5
MMGY of biodie-
sel, is expected to
start production in late June.
The plant, which utilizes soybeans as
a feedstock, will create 20 new jobs plus
the construction labor for local contrac-
tors.
The plant produces 65,000 tons of
extruded soybean meal each year. Other
byproducts, such as glycerin and soybean
hulls, will be sold primarily in the state.

Pennsylvania
Investors in the Bard Biofuel Ad-
vance Research & Development plant
in Fairless Hills continue to look for
funding to com-
plete the $80 mil-
lion project, ac-
cording to state-
ments made by in-
vestors in late May.
As of December 2008, the project
had raised $40 million, half of its pro-
jected cost.
The proposed plant will produce 60
MMGY annually and will use algae and
soybeans as feedstocks.
Once completed, the plant will create
200 new jobs in Bucks County by the
end of 2010.

Wisconsin
Canada-based Sanimax Energy an-
Response No. 731

Response No. 1491

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 WasteWater Algae
Researcher To Grow Algae in Ocean From WasteWater
NASA Researcher Jonathan Trent is developing a system to produce algae
in the world’s oceans.
A new system to grow algae in mu-
nicipal wastewater placed in bags in the
ocean could produce oil for biofuels,
valuable nutrients for fertilizer, and pro-
teins for animal feed.
Called Offshore Membrane Enclo-
sures for Growing Algae (OMEGA), the
system is being developed by a NASA
Biofuels Project Scientist Jonathan Trent
at the NASA Ames Research Center,
Moffet Field, in Mountain View, CA.
The Process
According to Trent, his system is based
on the fact that each day in the United
States, 6 billion gallons of wastewater
are dumped into the ocean, losing a lot
of valuable nutrients.
“Those nutrients can be the feed-
stocks for algae (which can produce
biofuels), proteins for animal feed, and
fertilizer,” said Trent (650-604-3686).
The idea is to put treated wastewater
into tethered, plastic bags (called
OMEGA) made with a special mem-
branes and placed in the ocean.
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The membranes would allow clean
water to rush out through a natural pro-
cess called forward osmosis. Eighty per-
cent of the water is released through the
membrane, and the algae reaches matu-
rity within 10 days.
According to Trent, the ocean’s waves
mix the algae, helping it to grow.
The sun’s rays provide energy for the
algae to grow and CO2 from the atmo-
sphere will be consumed by the algae,
sequestering carbon.
Also, the algae takes up nutrients such
as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium
which can be used as fertilizers.
Algae would also produce protein co-
products, which can be utilized as an ani-
mal feed.
The OMEGA bags themselves, mea-
suring 100 meters by 10 meters, would
be recycled as plastic mulch for agricul-
tural applications.
The bags will be configured to allow
marine mammals a way to break
through to the surface for breathing,
Trent noted.
Benefits
Trent said the system solves several
practical issues for traditional algae farms.
For example, traditional farms either
grow algae in open ponds or in reactors.
Open ponds require paddle wheels to
stir the algae, whereas ocean waves replace
this operation in the OMEGA system.
The ponds also take up valuable land
space whereas the OMEGAs are in the
ocean.
There is also a problem in open ponds
of evaporation of water, Trent said, this
is not an issue with this system.
In warmer climates, the land-based
bioreactors act as a solar collector and tend
to get hot, but the OMEGAs use the ocean
as a temperature control bath, Trent said.
“Reactors need water to cool the al-
gae from the sun’s heat, whereas this is
replaced with the ocean’s huge heat ca-
pacity. “To work on land, the algae farm
must be robust enough to hold water
against the air. If you put them in the
ocean, it lowers the cost of the bioreactor
container,” Trent said.
Not only will this ocean-based system
yield the equivalent of 2,000 gallons of
biofuels per acre, compared to 50 to
150 gallons per acre for most oil seed
crops, Trent said, but at the same time,
it could be used to clean the world’s
oceans of pollutants.
Lab Results
So far, the OMEGA system works
well in the lab and algae has been grown
successfully.
Trent is starting to do field tests in
Monterey Bay, south of San Francisco,
utilizing wastewater from Sunnyvale and
Santa Cruz, CA.
So far, the research has received a
grant of less than $500,000 from Google,
but Trent said he needs more funding to
continue the project.
 Rocket Biodiesel?
Engineer Tests Biodiesel as Rocket Fuel
A Califor nia engineering and fluid dynamics company
is testing biodiesel in rocket engines and finding the
fuel is virtually equivalent to petroleum-based rocket
fuel.
Buck Rogers may be going green with biodiesel rocket fuel.
Not only can biodiesel be used for transportation that moves
on land and sea, but now it is being tested as a replacement
fuel for rockets.
Flometrics, Inc., an engineering and fluid dynamics com-
pany in San Diego, CA performed a test Jan. 12 to compare
traditional rocket fuel—RP-1 kerosene—with B100.
The results revealed that with an unmodified rocket en-
gine, the biodiesel performance was virtually equal to RP-1.
“With the engine calibrated for RP-1, our test found there
was only a 4% loss in performance utilizing B100,” said Presi-
dent Steve Harrington (760-476-2770).
“However, if we would tune the engine, it could perform
even better,” Harrington added.
Replacing Petroleum Fuels?
Harrington, who also teaches aerospace engineering at the
University of California-San Diego (UCSD), said biodiesel as
a replacement for rocket fuel could mean:
• Less toxic spills.
• A sustainable source of fuel.
• A fuel that potentially could be produced on another
planet (such as Mars) by growing oilseed crops there.
75_Rocket_Biodiesel.pmd 3 6/10/2009, 1:35 PM
“Theoretically, you could grow fuel for a return trip from
Mars,” Harrington said.
The January test was done on a small rocket (20 feet long),
using comparatively small amounts of fuel—three gallons of
biodiesel and five gallons of liquid oxygen (LOX)—compared
to a rocket used to bring a payload into space.
For example, the Atlas 5 space rocket (106.2 feet tall) that
send satellites into space utilize 60,000 gallons of RP-1 kero-
sene fuel derived from petroleum per launch.
Harrington noted that the Fuels and Energy branch of the U.S.
Air Force Research Lab
asked Flometrics to use
the best biofuel in the
rocket developed by the
Energy & Environmen-
tal Research Center (EERC), University of North Dakota, Grand
Forks.
Test Results
In the January test, the RP-1 fuel with LOX was tested
first, then the B100.
In both fuel tests, the unmodified rocket engine was run
for six seconds, long enough for the LOX, fuel, and chamber
pressures to stabilize, Harrington explained.
“For a rocket engine, the thrust is proportional to the cham-
ber pressure, so this gives us a way to measure the thrust,”
Harrington said.
After examining data in both burns, the chamber pressure
was 2% lower, the fuel pressure was 4% lower, and the LOX
pressure was 3% lower with B100.
“This means the biodiesel has about a 4% lower perfor-
mance than RP-1,” Harrington said.
He will be launching a small rocket in the near future on biodie-
sel and will test B100 on the Atlas Vernier engine on July 11.
Myke Feinman, editor
MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 75
 Pearl Harbor B20
Boats Shuttling Tourists to USS Arizona Fueled on Biodiesel
A ceremony to activate the USS Arizona Memorial Ferry Boat #39-1 John W.
Finn was held in Hawaii on April 7.
Five new ferry boats that will trans-
port tourists to the USS Arizona Me-
morial at Pearl Harbor, HI will be pow-
ered with B20.
The first one—Ferry Boat #39-1 John
W. Finn—was activated in a ceremony
April 7.
The new boats will replace five exist-
ing 20-year old U.S. Navy-operated tour
boats that shuttle visitors to and from
the memorial.
The five new boats were acquired
through a Federal Transit Administra-
tion grant and State of Hawaii match-
ing funds, which require the use of
clean fuel technology such as biodie-
sel.
All the new biodiesel-fueled ferry
boats will be burning B20 produced in
Hawaii by Pacific Biodiesel Inc.
Since its inception 13 years ago, Pa-
cific Biodiesel has utilized used cooking
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oil as its feedstock.
“Eventually, all five boats will run on
B100 with the blessing of Cummins, the
original equipment manufacturer,” said
Pacific Biodiesel Vice President Kelly King.
Medal of Honor Recipient
The five new boats will be named
after Medal of Honor recipients from
the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack, with the
first boat named after John W. Finn.
Finn was a chief aviation ordnance-
man stationed at Naval Air Station,
Kaneohe Bay, and is the oldest living
Medal of Honor recipient from the Pearl
Harbor attack.
The boats take three months to build,
and future boats will be activated and
named as they are completed.
Pacific’s Plants
Pacific Biodiesel, based in Kahului,
HI, has built 11 biodiesel plants in the
United States and Japan, including two
in Hawaii. The Oahu facility has been
operational since 2001 and recycles
more than one million gallons of waste
oil from Hawaii’s restaurants each year.
According to King, all of the fuel pro-
duced by Pacific Biodiesel’s two Hawai-
ian plants is sold in the islands, to help
Hawaii meet its energy independence
goals.
King added that the company is
planning a third biodiesel plant on the
Big Island, which will utilize the
company’s new, efficient, zero-waste
processing technology and include
technology to process locally grown
biofuels crops.
“This will be our first commercial
plant to process trap grease into biodie-
sel,” King said.
She said Pacific Biodiesel’s technol-
ogy can process free fatty acid (FFA)
feedstocks up to 50%.
“Eventually, all five Pearl
Harbor Memorial ferry
boats will run on B100,
with the blessing of the
original equipment manu-
facturer, Cummins.”
- Kelly King,
vice president, Pacific Biodiesel
According to King, all the company’s
biodiesel meets ASTM specifications
and will have no issues passing the new
cold soak requirements that take effect
Sept. 30.
Myke Feinman, editor
 Response No. 771

77_AGRA_fullpage.pmd 2 6/9/2009, 9:23 AM

 Algae-to-Fuel Research
Drop-In Replacements For Petro Diesel, Jet Fuel
Research on algae-to-fuels has resumed at the National Renewable Energy
Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO, led by Al Darzins. NREL photo.
Research being conducted by the Na-
tional Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL) has found that oil extracted
from algae could be a drop-in replace-
ments for petroleum-based fuels such
as diesel and jet fuel.
According to Researcher Al Darzins,
principal group manager of NREL’s
national bioenergy center, the algae-based
drop-in fuel replacement would require
no modification to the engine or to pipe-
lines transporting the fuel.
Research on algae-to-fuels at the
NREL, Golden, CO research center (303-
384-7757), started in the 1970s but stalled
in the 1990s due to federal budget cuts.
However, during that 20-year
timeframe, NREL pioneered algae pro-
duction and screened and characterized
more than 3,000 potential algae strains.
As interest in algae grew in recent
years, NREL decided in mid-2007 to re-
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sume the algae-to-fuels research.
“Our initial focus is on growing algae
on a lab scale,” Darzins said.
“We are making plans to scale up our
algal cultivation efforts” he added.
“Whatever fuels the industry generates
are going to have to be drop-in replace-
ments to take advantage of existing in-
frastructure and thereby require no en-
gine modifications.”
Reduced Emissions
The hope is that fuels derived from
algae, instead of petroleum, would re-
duce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG)
up to 50% to 60% compared to petro-
leum-based fuels.
The emissions reductions are part of
the reason for the revived interest in al-
gae, since the nation is looking at ways
to reduce GHG emissions.
Darzins said that oil refining compa-
nies like Chevron are doing research along
with NREL to commercialize algal oil as
a replacement for petroleum crude.
Natural Oil Producers
Algae are like microscopic oil wells using
photosynthesis to transform carbon diox-
ide (CO2) and sunlight into lipids or oil.
Some strains, according to Darzins,
can double their weight in just a few hours
under the right conditions, making the
oil yields much higher per acre than crops
like corn and soybeans for biofuels.
Darzins said researchers believe al-
gae may even grow fatter and faster if
they are force-fed extra CO2.
Feeding on Excess CO2
In addition to creating replacements
for petroleum products, algae also could
be utilized at ethanol plants that currently
discharge CO2 into the atmosphere.
“There are a lot of places where CO2
is being produced, like ethanol plants or
“We are making plans to
scale up our algal cultiva-
tion efforts. Whatever fu-
els the industry generates
are going to have to be
drop-in replacements .”
- Al Darzins,
NREL principal researcher
coal-fired power plants,” Darzins said.
“If you could locate an algae farm next
to a biofuels plant, you could take ad-
vantage of the CO2, instead of pump-
ing it out into the atmosphere.”
Myke Feinman, editor
 Green Diesel
Amyris Biotechnologies Developing Biomass Hydrocarbons
According to Renninger, the minus 50 degrees Celsius.
process provides the sugar mill “Our cold filter plugging
with a new co-product. point and cloud point are all well
“Right now, Brazillian sugar below petroleum and biodiesel,”
mills produce 40% sugar and Renninger said.
60% ethanol,” he continued. The fuel contains 125,000
“Our process will allow them to make BTUs per gallon, a slightly higher level
sugar, ethanol, and now, sugar-based die- than typical biodiesels but slightly lower
sel fuel,” he said. than petroleum, he said. The system to
produce this fuel nets 11 to 13 times
Sugar will be the primary feedstock Fuel Characteristics more energy than is put into the process.
for Amyris Biotechnologies’ green Unlike biodiesel, which can have chal- It can be a 100% replacement for
fuels. lenges with cold flow issues, green diesel petroleum with no engine modifications,
will not cloud in temperatures down to he added.
Amyris Biotechnolgies has developed
a specially-engineered yeast to convert sug-
ars to hydrocarbon-based fuels as a drop-
in replacement for diesel and gasoline.
Neil Renninger, co-founder and chief
technology officer of the Emeryville, CA-
based company (510-450-0761), said the
company’s business model is to convert
ethanol mills in Brazil to produce green
diesel, green gasoline, and green jet fuel.

Amyris Process
“The best way to think about our new
process is to think about how ethanol is
produced,” Renninger said.
“We do essentially the same thing—a
sugar stream to yeast, and the yeast con-
verts it to ethanol—except we use spe-
cially-engineered yeast,” he said.
The yeast, Renninger noted, is de-
signed to convert sugars to diesel, jet fuel,
and gasoline.
According to Renninger, the Amyris
process can utilize any biomass feed-
stock, but sugars derived from sugar-
cane are the simplest and least expen-
sive option.

Options for Diesel Product

The first phase in the company’s busi-
ness model is to produce diesel fuel at
Brazilian sugar mills and ethanol plants.
Response No. 791

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 Question and Answer
Haas Close-Up
Education: 1972: Bachelor’s degree
in biochemistry at the University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis. 1978:
Ph.D. in biochemistry at the
University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Family: Wife, Deborah Woolfe;
two daughers, Theresea and
Marie.
Career: 1981-2009: Research bio-
chemist for USDA Agricultural
Research Service (ARS), Wash-
ington, DC. Currently the lead
scientist of a group of five re-
searchers and acting research
leader of a department of 30
employees.
Previous USDA-ARS work
includes applied biochemical and
molecular biological methods to
characterize enzymes and to
improve them for use as applied
catalysts. Particular attention was
focused on lipases, the group of
enzymes that hydrolyzes lipids.
Hobbies: Hunting, hiking, and
restoring wildlife habitats.
80 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
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Michael Haas
Lead Scientist, USDA Agricultural
Research Service
Michael Haas is the lead scientist re-
searching alternative biodiesel feedstocks at the
USDA Agricultural Research Ser vice
(ARS) Eastern Regional Center in Philadel-
phia, PA.
Hass is the author/co-author of more
than 80 research papers and 12 book
chapters, as well as writing more than 100
scientific abstracts. He also holds five
U.S. patents.
Haas leads a research team investigat-
ing quality, analytical, emissions, and pro-
duction technology aspects of biodiesel.
He spoke to BioFuels Journal about
the new feedstocks that might be used for
biodiesel production and some new processes
that will be utilized with these feedstocks.
Algae and DDGS
A number of feedstocks have been
talked about for making biodiesel. In gen-
eral, I believe the “low hanging fruit” in this
area has been picked, and substantial new
gains will require some research and de-
velopment effort. One potential feedstock
that has had a lot of attention recently is
algal oil, i.e. oil produced by algae.
I understand that over 200 companies
presently are investigating its use as a feed-
stock for biodiesel. I think the efforts are
strong and the future looks good, though it
is still in the development stage.
We and others, as well, are interested in
converting the corn oil in distillers dried
grains with solubles (DDGS) into biodiesel.
I think that is a bright area for future fuel
production, especially as the production of
corn ethanol continues its growth.
Jatropha, a perennial plant grown in
tropical regions and able to grow in arid
climates and on poorer land, is another
feedstock being looked at and highly
touted. Some studies show that jatropha
may be able to be grown in the southern
part of the United States. A substantial
amount of research must be completed,
however, before this can occur.
“We and others, as
well, are interested in
converting the corn oil
in distillers dried grains
with solubles (DDGS)
into biodiesel.”
- Michael Haas,
USDA-ARS-Eastern Region
Bonemeal and Soapstock
I believe that coproducts that can be
used to make fuel are extremely valu-
able. Their use represents adding fur-
ther value to a product that may have
been considered a waste product while
not pressuring the use of edible lipids as
foods.
Meat and bone meal, soapstock, and
trap grease are all byproducts from
other industries.
Meat and bone meal (MBM) is a
product of the edible meat industry. A
sizable portion of every animal slaugh-
 tered is inedible and becomes
MBM. It is high in protein and
sells into the animal nutrition
markets. However, the produc-
tion of biodiesel from its lipid
constituent would not reduce the value
of its protein in nutrition.
To produce biodiesel from MBM
seems to be a good use of its lipid, and I
view it as a sustainable feedstock, as well.
Another potential feedstock is
soapstock, a co-product of edible veg-
etable oil production that mostly is used
at present as an animal feed and energy
source. As our country strives to reduce
the amount of fat in its meat, the use of
soapstock as a biodiesel feedstock has
great value. We have developed a means
for its conversion to biodiesel and shown
the economic feasibility.
Trap grease, a lipid captured from res-
taurant sink drains is another low-value
lipid that could be a fuel feedstock.
Working with BlackGold Biofuels in
Philadelphia, PA, we have developed
technology to produce biodiesel from this
material. The city of San Francisco, CA
80_81_Q+A_MikeHaas.pmd 3 6/12/2009, 11:03 AM
has recently issued a contract for
the installation of a facility using
this technology.
I view these potential feed-
stocks as sustainable, economical,
and able to substantially augment fuel
production. Just the lipids present in
DDGS, mentioned above, and in MBM
potentially could provide more than 230
MMGY of new biodiesel annually.
Other Possibilities
In my own lab, as an addition to the
trap grease work we’ve conducted, we
have been looking in recent years at de-
veloping a method we call the in situ
transesterification for biodiesel produc-
tion.
In this method, lipid is not extracted
from a material before being converted
to biodiesel. Rather, biodiesel is made
from the lipid, while it lies in the raw
material in which nature synthesized it.
It then readily diffuses out to the sur-
rounding liquid.
We have used this approach to make
Response No. 811
“To produce biodiesel
from bonemeal seems to
be a good use of its lipid,
and I view it as a sustain-
able feedstock, as well.”
- Michael Haas
biodiesel in the lab from soybeans,
canola, and DDGS, and we’ve also
looked at corn germ itself, which is a
rich source of corn oil.
We also have used inedible peanut oil
for biodiesel production successfully us-
ing the in situ method.
The peanuts had been graded as in-
edible, because they had been contami-
nated by aflatoxin. These inedible pea-
nuts represents another affordable
source of oil for biodiesel production,
one that does not use an edible oil for
fuel production.
MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 81
 Costilla County-Owned, Operated Plant Produces Fuel, Jobs
With a declining population and ag-
based economy, how does a county cre-
ate new jobs?
For Costilla County, CO, the answer
was to build a biodiesel plant.
The south central Colorado county
now is operating an integrated canola/
sunflower-crush and biodiesel plant pro-
ducing 300,000 gallons per year from
locally-grown feedstocks.
Facility Feature
Costilla County Biodiesel
719-672-0320 |Mesita, CO
www.costillacounty-co.gov
Ben Doon, Project Manager
Dan Quintana, Chemist
Crestina Martinez, Business
Manager
Employees: 3 full-time, 2 part-time
Capacity: 300,000 gpy
Feedstock: Canola, sunflower
82 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
82_83_84_FF_Castilla_County_Biodiesel.pmd 2
The biodiesel currently is being used
as a fuel blend in the county’s fleet of
40 diesel vehicles.
“Part of what attracted the county to
the project is that even if the operation
is a wash financially, we are paying our
own workers to create fuel rather than
sending money out of the county to a
petroleum company,” said Project Man-
ager Ben Doon.
Plant History
The plant, which as of mid-
June was still in its final phases
of construction, was the brain-
child of County Commissioner Joe
Gallegos who took office in 2001 but is
no longer county commissioner.
Gallegos, who was a former petro-
leum industry engineer, was looking for
ideas to stimulate the rural economy of
Costilla County, which has approximately
3,600 people.
“Our county is very low-income,”
Doon said. “One thing people kept ask-
ing is because we are ag-based, what
about renewable energy supporting our
ag infrastructure?”
6/10/2009, 9:56 AM
The county did a feasibility study, and
biodiesel rose to the top of the study
for two primary reasons:
• Feedstock are available due to the
long history of canola being raised in
“Even with such a small
population, the county
has large road mainte-
nance duties. In our re-
gion, we maintain more
roads than most larger
populated counties.”
- Ben Doon, Project Manager
the area.
“In this valley, canola was never grown
commercially, but it grows well,” Doon
said. “It loves our climate.”
• The county utilizes a large amount
of diesel fuel in its operations.
“Even with such a small population, the
 Construction Challenges uct of the biodiesel process currently is
Rather than hire a construction firm, being stored for future use.
the plant was designed and built by “Moving foward,” said Doon, “we
county employees over the six-year con- plan to replace propane as our fuel
struction period. source with the glycerin.”
“We are a totally integrated plant— Another co-product produced is
we take the seed crops and crush them canola meal or sunflower meal, through
for processing into biodiesel,” Doon said. the crush operation.
“Every step in the process we had to “There are a lot of family farms here
figure out on our own.” with 20 to 50 head of cattle, horses, and
According to Doon, equipment for other livestock,” Doon said. “In the win-
the plant came from all across the globe. ter, we can’t keep up with the demand.
“That is part of the reason it took so Our biggest customers are the cattle folks
long to build the plant,” said Doon. in the winter.”
“For example, we had some bizarre According to Doon, the farmers come
wiring,” he said. “For the crusher, the to the plant to pick up the feed, and there
manual was in Chinese. We had to fig- is no formal marketing operation associ-
ure out how to do it ourselves.” ated with the feed.
Currently, the system is being oper- “It’s just word of mouth,” he said.
ated without computer automation.
In the next phase, computer automa- Plant Storage Capacity
tion and other devices will be installed, The plant’s storage capacity consists
Lab Technician Willie Medina to make the operation more efficient, of:
examines a fuel sample. Doon noted. • A 1,500 gallon B100 tank.
The crush will be automated, and • Outdoor fuel tanks that hold 4,000
methanol recovery also will be automated. gallons of B40 in the winter and B80 in
county has large road maintenance duties. “Once we get comfortable, we will the summer.
In our region, we maintain more roads tie all the machines together and auto- “There’s not enough fuel being pro-
than most larger populated counties.” mate them,” Doon said. duced for the entire county fleet,” Doon
The vehicles utilize B40 blended at said.
the plant in cooler weather and B80 in Co-Products The plant has no rail access, only
warmer weather, Doon said. Crude glycerin produced as a co-prod- truck access, Doon noted. 䉴
The plant is owned jointly by the
county government and a nonprofit
group—Costilla County Economic De-
velopment Council.
“It sure took some real political will,
especially early on, for the county board
keep the momentum going,” Doon said.
“Politics really played a big role when get-
ting permits. A lot of people didn’t like
government getting involved in business.”
The county-owned and operated biodie-
sel plant was funded from several sources
including a $150,000 U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development
Grant, $50,000 from the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), $25,000 from
the state energy office, $270,000 from the
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), a
$35,000 USDA resource conservation ser-
vice grant, a $12,500 grant from the local
El Pomar private foundation, and a $4,500
grant from the Walcott family.
Construction on the plant began in 2003
but now is just being completed at a total
cost approximately $1 million, Doon said.
Fuel has been produced in small County worker Dave Guerra fuels a dump truck with B40. At present the
amounts at the plant since 2006. biodiesel fuel produced at the plant is utilized in the county’s diesel vehicles.

MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 83

82_83_84_FF_Castilla_County_Biodiesel.pmd 3 6/10/2009, 9:56 AM

 Marketing
All the plant’s fuel is being utilized for
county vehicles. According to Doon the plant
is not allowed to sell fuel to other users.
However, the El Pomar Foundation
is investigating privitization options for
the plant such as a non-profit, farmer
cooperative structure, which would al-
low it to market fuel to the public.

Lessons Learned
Doon said that despite the challenges
the county had in developing the plant,
it was a wise move.
“It took longer than we anticipated,”
Doon said. “The closest thing we had to
engineers were the electricians here. We
were doing everything from storing crops
to producing fuel.”
He said if the county had to do it
now, the plant would take half the time
to construct.
“The biodiesel is good quality, and the
feed meal is in high demand,” Doon said.
“We haven’t heard one word of com-
plaint from our drivers and mechanics
The plant, piecemealed together by county employees from 2003 to 2009, is now about biodiesel fuel in 2.5 years of use.”
in operation. The next phase is to automate it, including the crush operation. Myke Feinman, editor

Response No. 841 Response No. 842

84 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09

82_83_84_FF_Castilla_County_Biodiesel.pmd 4 6/10/2009, 9:56 AM

 Ethanol Tech Workshop
Second Annual BFJ Conference |Oct. 28-29 |Sioux Falls, SD
B i o F u e l s Jo u r n a l will
present its second annual
Commercial Ethanol Tech-
nology and Research Work-
shop, Oct. 28-29 at the Best Western
Ramkota Hotel & Conference Center
in Sioux Falls, SD.
Leading ethanol experts and research-
ers will report on cutting-edge technol-
ogy for both “bolt-on” systems for starch-
based ethanol plants and advanced
biofuels technology for cellulosic ethanol.
The event starts Wednesday, Oct. 28,
at noon with sessions presented at
POET’s headquarters. That night, the
Response No. 851
85_BFJ Conference.pmd 3 6/11/2009, 3:03 PM
conference moves to the Best Western
hotel for dinner and a keynote speech
by POET’s President/CEO Jeff Broin.
Confirmed speakers for the first day
sessions include:
• Panel discussion on fractionation
featuring Buhler, CPT, Delta-T, Mor
Technologies and the National Corn to
Ethanol Research Center.
• Corn oil extraction by GreenShift.
On Thursday, Oct. 29, there will be
morning sessions held at the hotel, fea-
turing talks:
• Second generation ethanol by ICM.
• POET’s Project Liberty presented
Response No. 852
by POET’s Vice President of Research
and Development Mark Stowers.
New to the workshop this year will
be a table-top trade show coordinated in
cooperation with the American Coalition
for Ethanol (ACE). ACE’s Executive Vice
President Brian Jennings will present a
state-of-the-industry address during the
first afternoon session.
Registration
To register for the event, view the
schedule and hotel accommodations, go
to: w w w. b i o f u e l s j o u r n a l . c o m / b f j _
conference.html
MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 85
 Biodiesel Industry News
Innovation Fuels Names Paul
Niznik Vice President of
Strategic Operations; Richard
Sawall President of Wisconsin
Biodiesel Association
Innovation Fuels, Albany, NY an-
nounced May 29 that Paul Niznik had
joined the firm as vice president of stra-
tegic operations, managing the New En-
gland market.
Niznik’s primary responsibility will be
leading the development of Innovation
Fuels’ new New Haven, CT terminal
which is scheduled to open in June 2009.
The New Haven terminal will fea-
ture barge, truck, vessel, and rail access
to 1.2 million gallons of heated biodiesel
fuel storage.
• In late May, Innovation Fuels Senior
Vice President of Midwest Operations Ri-
chard “Hardy” Sawall was named president
of the Wisconsin Biodiesel Association.
86 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
86_87_88_Biodiesel_Industry_News.pmd 2 6/11/2009, 8:44 AM
Paul Niznik Richard Sawall
At 33, Sawall is the youngest presi-
dent in the association’s history.
“We are extremely pleased and would like
to congratulate Hardy on his achievement,”
said Innovation Fuels CEO John Fox.
In early May, Innovation Fuels an-
Response No. 861
nounced it has begun selling biodiesel to
customers from its new Midwestern re-
newable fuels hub/Port of Milwaukee
terminal located on Lake Michigan.
PetroAlgae Appoints Three
Executives To Help Build
Support in Washington, DC
PetroAlgae, Melbourne, FL, in mid-
May appointed three executives to work
with the Obama administration, Con-
gress, non-profit groups, and the busi-
ness community on biofuels issues.
The three appointments are:
• Andrew Beck, vice president of pub-
lic affairs. Beck will manage the company’s
strategic communications, public out-
reach, and media relations operation. He
comes to the company from the U.S.
Department of Energy, where he served
as director of public affairs.
• Michael Gale, vice president of gov-
ernment relations. Gale will manage the
company’s interactions with government
officials, with a focus on energy, envi-
ronmental, tax, and national issues. He
previously worked as vice president for
international trade and government re-
lations at Warnaco Inc.
• George Lyons, vice president of gover-
nement relations.
Lyons will manage
Petro-Algae’s inter-
actions with gov-
ernment officials
with a focus on en-
ergy, tax, appropria-
tions, and state is-
sues. He most re-
cently served as
principal at the
Gumga Group. George Lyons
Andrew Beck Michael Gale
 Renewable Energy Group panies access capital and grow their "I am excited to use this knowledge
Promotes Lischer To Treasurer business. that I have accumulated over twenty
Renewable Energy Group, the Ames, "I am pleased to welcome Jim to the years in helping firms like PetroSun take
IA-based biodiesel producer and mar- PetroSun team," Gordon LeBlanc, Jr., their business to the next level," said
keter, announced May 4 that Natalie PetroSun CEO said. "He is uniquely Robinson.
Lischer has been promoted to the posi- qualified to help PetroSun at this critical Robinson has an MBA from the
tion of treasurer. point in our evolution as we seek to com- Sloan School of Management at MIT
Lischer will mercialize our algae-to-biofuel opera- and is an Adjunct Professor of Finance
oversee credit, in- tions." and Marketing at Argosy University,
voicing, cash man- According to LeBlanc, Robinson has Phoenix, AZ.
agement, tax and worked with firms since 1989 to help them
inventory, accounts access millions of dollars in startup/ex- Compiled from news sources by
payable, and debt pansion capital and develop their business. Adam Tedder, associate editor
banking relationships in her newly cre-
ated position.
Lischer, a certified public accountant,
formerly served as senior manager, cor-
porate finance and investment banking.
Lischer joined REG in 2007 after work-
ing as a senior consultant for Deloitte
Consulting in Kansas City, MO.
She has a bachelor’s degree from
Washington University, St. Louis, MO; a
master of accountancy from Truman
State University, Kirksville, MO, as well
as a bachelor’s degree in announting
from Truman State.

Wilks Enterprise Opens

West Coast Office to Focus
on Biodiesel Industry
Wilks Enterprise, Inc., Norwalk, CT,
announced May 6 the opening of a West
Coast applications and sales office.
The office, located in Boulder Creek, Response No. 871
CA (203-855-9136), will focus primarily
on expanding applications and products
for the biofuels marketplace and will be
under the direction of Wilks President
Sandra Rintoul.
“The biofuels marketplace is a rap-
idly growing industry, and so is the need
for analytical measurement techniques
to ensure product quality,” Rintoul said.
“Product quality begins at the produc-
tion facility and extends to the final burn
in the engine.”

PetroSun Names James

Robinson President
Scottsdale, AZ-based PetroSun, Inc.
announced June 9 that it had hired James
Robinson as its new president.
Robinson comes to PetroSun from
the Gideon Group, a management con-
sulting firm that helps early-stage com-
Response No. 872

MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 87

86_87_88_Biodiesel_Industry_News.pmd 3 6/11/2009, 8:45 AM

 Plastic Biodiesel
Researcher Adds Polystyrene to Biodiesel To Eliminate Waste
A researcher at Iowa State Univer- Kuzhiyil, is that it is not biodegradable, would have on engines.
sity (ISU) may have found a unique way so it normally winds up in landfills, where A John Deere diesel tractor engine
to dispose of the foam-like plastic poly- it has low density, so it takes up large was tested in a stationary format inside
styrene—add it to biodiesel. amounts of space. a building.
Najeeb Kuzhiyil, a graduate student at “Our research has found that biodiesel “We first tried mixing in between 1%
ISU, Ames (najeeb@iastate.edu), work- is a very good solvent when it comes to and 20% polystyrene,” he said. “We
ing under Dr. Song-Charng Kong, has polystyrene,” Kuzhiyil said. “At room tem- found 5% to be the optimum level and
found after a year of research that poly- perature, the styrene will dissolve with a still provide a little bit of increase in
styrene can be blended into biodiesel up little bit of agitation. Basically, biodiesel is BTUs.”
to an optimum level of 5%. a good solution to get rid of polystyrene.” “The polystyrene also advanced the
Polystyrene is a thermoplastic sub- timing of the engine,” he said.
stance used in disposable cutlery, foam Finding Right Mix To mitigate nitrous oxide emissions,
drink cups, insulation, and packing ma- Kuzhiyil’s research involved finding the adjusting the timing on the engine worked
terials. optimum level of polystyrene to be added well, he added.
The problem with polystyrene, said to the fuel and what impact, if any, it Myke Feinman, editor

88 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09

88_Plastic_Biodiesel.pmd 2 6/11/2009, 8:47 AM

 Biomass
Conference
1,025 Attend Event in Portland
Focusing on Feedstocks
Mike Bryan, BBI International president, introduces the
2009 Biomass event held in Portland, OR.
With more than 100 presentations grouped by feedstock rather
than by process technology, the 2009 International Biomass Con-
ference & Expo, April 28-29, in Portland, OR, managed to grow
in its second year, despite the downturned economy.
More than 1,025 people attended the conference, at least 100
more than the first biomass conference held last year in Minne-
apolis, MN. There were 130 exhibitors, slightly more than in 2008.
Feedstock Focus
“We decided that since biomass is so diverse, the common
thread for each track had to be the industrial feedstock sector
that each particular form of biomass falls into,” said Tom
Bryan, vice president of content and communications for BBI
International, the conference organizer.
“This allowed feedstock processors and industrial waste
generators to learn about various technologies within their par-
ticular space. We created six different tracks that focused on
specific technologies and solutions for each energy crop and
waste generation sector.”
Tracks were crop residues, dedicated energy crops, forest
and wood processing residues, livestock and poultry wastes,
municipal solid waste and urban waste and landfill gas, and
food processing residues.
The event will return to Minneapolis, May 4-6, 2010.
89_Biomass_Conference_Breaking_Ground.pmd
3 6/12/2009, 11:05 AM
Breaking
Ground
Update on U.S. Cellulosic
Ethanol Plant Development
Alabama
Sterne Agee & Leach, Birmingham, AL, said
April 21 it will provide investment banking and
underwriting services for Gulf Coast Energy’s
new ethanol plant in Livingston.
The plant will produce 10 million gallons
(MMGY) of ethanol utilizing wood waste from
the neighboring city of Hoover.
Massachusetts
Qteros, formerly Sun Ethanol, announced
plans in April to build a small cellulosic pilot
plant at the Indian Orchard property in Solutia,
MA. In addition, the company has proposed to build a full-
scale microbe manufacturing center in Solutia.
A full-scale plant is planned to be built in 2010, once
funding is in place. The future of the full-scale plant de-
pends on state support to help obtain an $18 million grant
from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Mississippi
Montreal, QC-based Enerkem Inc. announced plans
in March to build a $250 million plant in Pontotoc, MS to
turn solid waste, wood chips, and other biomass feed-
stocks into 40 million liters of cellulosic ethanol per
year.
Vincent Chornet, president and CEO of Enerkem, said the
company has applied for a $200 million U.S. Department of
Energy loan.
The Mississippi project is expected to create 150 direct
jobs, 300 jobs during the construction and startup phase.
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan's provincial government inked a
non-binding letter of intent on June 2 with Domtar,
owner of a pulp mill in Prince Albert, SK, and Iogen,
an Ottawa, ON enzyme manufacturer, for a pro-
posed cellulosic ethanol and bioenergy facility.
The proposed plant will utilize local farmer’s cereal straw.
Compiled fr om news sour ces by Adam Tedder,
associate editor
MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 89
 Building Cellulosic Ethanol

90_91_Cellulose_Map_List.pmd
U.S. and Canada Cellulosic Ethanol Plants - Operating, Planned, or Under Construction
Under Construction: 18 New Planet Energy Florida LLC | Indian River County, FL | Capacity: 60 mmgy
Feedstock: Multiple including MSW | Plant Type: Commercial

2
1 Abengoa Bioenergy | Hugoton, KS | Capacity: 13-14 mmgy
Feedstock: Various sources | Plant Type: Commercial
2 AE Biofuels | Butte, MT
Feedstock: Multiple sources | Plant Type: Small-scale commercial
3 Alltech | Springfield, KY | Capacity: 20 mmgy
Feedstock: Municipal waste | Plant Type: Commercial | Production Start: June 2010
4 Agresti Biofuels | Pike County, KY | Capacity: 20 mmgy
Feedstock: Municipal waste | Plant Type: Commercial | Production Start: 2010
5 BlueFire Ethanol, Inc. | Southern CA| Capacity: 17.5 mmgy
Feedstock: Municipal waste | Plant Type: Commerical
6 BlueFire Ethanol, Inc. | Lancaster, CA | Capacity: 3.1 mmgy
Feedstock: Municipal waste | Plant Type: Commerical
7 Coskata | Madison, PA | Capacity: 40,000 gpy | Feedstock: Multiple sources
Plant Type: Demonstration | Production Start: Summer 2009
8 DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol, LLC | Vonore, TN | Capacity: 250,000 gpy
Feedstock: Multiple sources | Plant Type: Demo | Production Start: 4th quarter 2009
9 Enerkem LLC | Pontotoc, MS | Capacity: 20 mmgy
Feedstock: MSW| Plant Type: l Commerical
10 Flambeau River Biofuels, LLC | Park Falls, WI | Capacity: 6 mmgy
Feedstock: Wood waste | Plant Type: Commercial
11 Greenfield Ethanol | Edmonton, AB | Capacity: 36 million liters py
Feedstock: Municipal waste | Plant Type: Commercial | Production Start: 2010
12 Gulf Coast Energy | Mossy Head, FL | Capacity: 70 mmgy
Feedstock: Wood waste | Plant Type: Commercial
19 Pacific Ethanol | Boardman, OR | Capacity: 2.7 mmgy
Feedstock: Mixed biomass | Plant Type: Demonstration
20 Pan Gen Global | Stuttgart, AR | Capacity: 12.5 mmgy
Feedstock: Rice hulls and straw | Plant Type: Commercial | Production Start: March 2010
21 POET-Project Liberty | Emmetsburg, IA | Capacity: 25 mmgy
Feedstock: Corn cobs, fiber | Plant Type: Commercial | Production Start: 2011
22 Range Fuels | Soperton, GA | Capacity: 10 mmgy
Feedstock: Wood waste | Plant Type: Commercial | Production Start: 2nd quarter 2010
23 RSE Pulp & Chemical | Old Town, ME | Capacity: 2.5 mmgy
Feedstock: Wood extract | Plant Type: Demonstration | Production Start: 2010
24 SunOpta Bioprocess LLC/Central Minnesota Ethanol Co-op | Little Falls, MN
Capacity: 10 mmgy | Feedstock: Wood chips | Plant Type: Commercial
25 ZeaChem | Boardman, OR | Capacity: 1.5 mmgy
Feedstock: Poplar trees, sugar, wood chips | Plant Type: Pilot
Production Start: Fall 2010
In Operation:
26 Abengoa Bioenergy | York, NE | Capacity: 200,000 gpy
Feedstock: Various | Plant Type: Pilot | Production Start: September 2007
27 AE Biofuels | Butte, MT | Capacity: 150,000 gpy
Feedstock: Multiple sources | Plant Type: Demonstration | Production Start: August 2008
28 Mascoma Corp. | Rome, NY | Capacity: 500,000 gpy
Feedstock: Multiple sources | Plant Type: Pilot | Production Start: 2nd quarter 2009

6/12/2009, 11:31 AM
13 ICM, Inc. | St. Joseph, MO | Capacity: 1.5 mmgy
Feedstock: Switchgrass, sorghum, stover, forage | Plant Type: Pilot 29 POET-Project Bell | Scotland, SD | Capacity: 20,000 gpy
Feedstock: Corn cobs, fiber | Plant Type: Pilot | Production Start: 4th quarter 2008
14 Iogen Corp. | Birch Hills, SK | Capacity: 20 mmgy
Feedstock: Wheat, barley straw | Plant Type: Commercial 30 Verenium Corp. | Jennings, LA | Capacity: 1.4 mmgy
Feedstock: Bagasse | Plant Type: Demonstration | Production Start: April 2008
15 Lignol Innovations, Inc. | Commerce City, CO | Capacity: 2 mmgy
Feedstock: Wood | Plant Type: Pilot 31 Western Biomass Energy (KL Process) | Upton, WY | Capacity: 1.5 mmgy
Feedstock: Wood waste | Plant Type: Commercial | Production Start: Jan. 29, 2008
16 Mascoma Corp. | Kinross Township, MI | Capacity: 40 mmgy
Feedstock: Wood | Plant Type: Commercial | Production Start: 2012 32 West Biofuels | San Rafael, CA | Capacity: 1.5 mmgy
Feedstock: Urban waste | Plant Type: Pilot | Production Start: August 2008
17 NewPage Corp. | Wisconsin Rapids, WI | Capacity: 5.5 mmgy
Feedstock: Woody biomass, mill residue | Plant Type: Commercial
 MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 91

90_91_Cellulose_Map_List.pmd 3 6/12/2009, 11:11 AM

 Green Crude Oil
Pyrolysis Oil Technology Provides Feedstock for Biofuels
A new joint venture—called
Envergent Technologies, LLC—an-
nounced March 24 it is licensing Ensyn
Corp.’s Rapid Thermal Processing
(RTP)TM technology to produce pyroly-
sis oil from biomass.
Ensyn’s pyrolysis oil currently is used for
the production of specialty chemicals, as
well as to produce heat in boilers and fur-
naces and to generate electricity in turbines.
The collaboration between UOP, a
subsidiary of Honeywell, and Ensyn
Corp. will continue to conduct research
on further refining pyrolysis oil into fu-
els such as green gasoline, green diesel,
and green jet fuel.
The Process
RTP is a thermal process that occurs
in the absence of oxygen, in less than
two seconds. Biomass such as wood chips
or agricultural residues are converted, at
ambient pressure, into a high-yield, liq-
uid pyrolysis oil.
“The process utilizes a circulating
transported bed reactor system similar
to that used in the UOP Fluid Catalytic
Cracking (FCC) technology,” said Randal
Goodfellow, senior vice president at
Ensyn Technologies, Ottawa, ON (613-
248-2257, ext. 138).
According to Goodfellow, to begin the
process, sand is heated to 700 degrees
Celsius in the reheater. It then is intro-
duced into the pyrolysis reactor, and a
gas is blown upward from below where
the sand is introduced. This creates a
whirlwind of hot sand.
“Biomass is introduced into the whirl-
wind of sand,” Goodfellow explained.
“The sand and biomass hit each other, and
the heat transfers from the sand to the
biomass, instantly vaporizing the biomass.”
There are two categories of products
produced in the pyrolysis reactor—sol-
ids and gas.
92 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
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Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP) TM
converts biomass into pyrolysis oil.
According to Goodfellow, the solids,
which are char and sand, move to the
top of the reactor then are transferred to
the reheater where the char is ignited to
reheat the sand. Gas, for the most part, is
condensed into a liquid, i.e. pyrolysis oil.
Pyrolysis oil is upgraded through hy-
dro-treating into bio-crude, which then
is refined in existing fossil fuel refining
infrastructure into green gasoline, green
diesel, and green jet fuel.
Applications
The application of these technolo-
gies—pyrolysis to make the pyrolysis oil
and then hydrotreating to make bio-
crude—allows refiners to reduce the car-
bon footprint of their fuels.
Furthermore, Goodfellow said, pyroly-
sis oil can be less expensive than petroleum.
“In a study done by the Department
of Energy in 2006, petro diesel was com-
pared with biodiesel and green diesel,”
Goodfellow said.
“Green diesel was competitive at $50
a barrel of petroleum crude, with $50
per ton feedstock,” said Goodfellow.
He said the DOE study also did not
take into account cap and trade for car-
bon emissions.
“With cap and trade, there has to be a
3% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions
by 2012 and 20% by 2020. All of a sud-
den, there will be a cost for carbon, thus
there will be an additional economic ben-
efit for the producers of these fuels.”
Experience With Pyrolysis
According to Goodfellow, Ensyn has
designed and operated eight RTP units
since 1989 that use a variety of biomass
feedstocks and have shown on-stream
reliability.
Its newest unit in Renfrew, ON, can
process up to 100 metric tons per day
“Green diesel was com-
petitive at $50 a barrel of
petroleum crude with $50
per ton feedstock.”
- Randal Goodfellow, senior vice
president, Ensyn Technologies
of dry biomass.
UOP brings almost 100 years of ex-
perience in process development, engi-
neering and equipment supply chain in
the petrochemical refinery business.
Goodfellow said Envergent Technolo-
gies is generating interest in projects in
the forestry and agricultural sectors, as
well as the electrical generation industry.
 New CO2 Co-Products
Ethanol Plants May Have New Products To Sell
Instead of pumping carbon dioxide
(CO2) into the atmosphere, ethanol plants
in the future may convert it to formic acid,
a building block for other chemicals such
as pharmaceuticals or replacements for
hydrochloric acid in the steel industry.
Mantra Venture Group, Vancouver,
BC, Canada, is developing technology
that recycles CO2 and converts it elec-
trochemically into formic acid, accord-
ing to CEO Larry Kristof (888-736-
5752/www.mantraener g y.com).
“CO2 is a challenging thing to reduce
or get rid of,” Kristof said. “We offer a
system that essentially recycles CO2 into
a profitable co-product.”
Kristof said his company’s process to
produce formic acid from CO2 could cre-
ate several new potential revenue streams
for ethanol plants—such as formic acid
for the steel, pulp and paper, rubber, and
pharmaceutical industries.
Because this is an electrochemical pro-
cess, Kristof noted, it requires electric-
ity, which already is being generated at
an ethanol plant.
“The idea is to produce an ethanol prod-
uct, capture the CO2, and make formic acid
with an internal electrical feed,” he said.
Mantra’s Process
Mantra’s technology works by pump-
93_New_CO2_Co-products.pmd 3 6/11/2009, 4:03 PM
ing electrical current into a water and He said formic acid is safer and less
CO2 solution. expensive.
“We clean up a portion of the CO2 Formic acid from CO2 has a variety
then produce a product that essentially of uses:
replaces hydrochloric acid with formic • Animal feed sterilizer replacing
acid,” Kristof said. antiobiotics.
“One by-product of the process is pure • Rubber processing.
oxygen and there are trace amounts of • Solvents (cleaning products).
hydrogen,” he continued. “What’s also • Pulp and paper chemicals.
advantageous is this system will produce • De-icing of runways.
a ton of formic acic on 6 megawatts of • Pharmaceuticals.
electricity per hour,” he said. • Leather treatments.
He suggests that a lignin co-product
at a cellulosic plant or crop residue/bio- Next Step
mass could be combusted to produce Mantra, which formed in 2007, is
the electricity if there is not enough avail- scheduled to build its first commercial
able after the ethanol process is done. demonstration plant next year, Kristof
“Once we get into serious conversations said. “We are working and partnering
with ethanol producers about incorporat- with different industries to adopt this new
ing this system into their plants, it could make technology,” Kristof said.
for a very interesting opportunity,” he said.
Possible Co-Products “The idea is to produce an
One scenario Kristof envisions could
be a second plant “bolted” onto an ex- ethanol product, capture
isting ethanol plant to take advantage of
the CO 2, and make formic
the ethanol plant’s CO2.
The CO2 would be the second plant’s acid with an internal
feedstock for many chemical products.
Formic acid itself, produced from electrical feed.”
CO2, can be utilized in the steel industry - Larry Kristof, CEO,
to replace hydrochloric acid, Kristof said. Mantra Venture Group
MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 93
 Synthesis Gas Ethanol
Research Continues on Thermobiological Cellulosic Ethanol

Ten years after commencing research

on how microbes can ferment syngas
into ethanol, Brigham Young University
(BYU) researcher Dr. Randy Lewis con-
tinues to move closer to optimizing the
process.
Thermobiological conversion of bio-
mass to synthesis gas, also called syngas,
is created by breaking down biomass into
three basic elements—hydrogen, carbon
dioxide (CO2), and carbon monoxide
(CO).
Lewis, a professor of chemical engi-
neering at BYU, Provo, UT (801-422-
7863), has been researching microbes
that will ferment syngas into ethanol
since 1999.

Creating Syngas
The thermobiological process is a dif-
ferent approach to producing cellulosic
ethanol from the more commonly used
Student Dila Banjade (left) and Dr. Randy Lewis work with a synthesis gas reactor technology refered to as dilute acid hy-
in a Brigham Young University research lab. drolyses.
In the hydrolyses process, enzymes
are utilized to break down biomass and
separate the carbohydrates or sugars, so
that the sugars can be fermented into
ethanol.
In the thermobiological process, the
biomass is broken down with heat and
pressure into the basic elements that

“We are utilizing the mi-

crobe clostridium bacte-
ria as the catalyst. When
the cells quit growing,
they are primarily an
ethanol producer.”
- Randy Lewis, BYU Professor
Response No. 941

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 make up syngas.
“In this process, once you produce
the syngas, then it is fermented just
like in a sugar platform—utilized in
conventional starch-based ethanol
plants,” Lewis said.
“Basically, the microbes utilize hydro-
gen, CO2, and CO to make such fuels as
ethanol and butanol.”
P11 Microbe Catalyst
“We are utilizing the microbe
clostridium bacteria as the catalyst,”
Lewis explained. “The microbe we dis-
covered has no name yet. We call it
P11.”
P11 was discovered in ponds in Okla-
homa by Microbiologist Ralph Tanner
of the University of Oklahoma,
Norman.
P11 can operate at low temperatures
and pressures, so it will not take as
much energy to produce ethanol, Lewis
noted.
P11 primarily produces acetic acid
during cell growth, he said.
“When the cells quit growing, they are
primarily an ethanol producer,” he
added.
He said there is more research still
to be accomplished on the P11 microbe.
Licensed to Coskata
The lab research, which started at
the University of Oklahoma in 1999,
was licensed two years ago to Coskata,
ther mochemical ethanol producer
startup company based in Warrenville,
IL.
Coskata plans on showcasing the
feedstock-flexible process at its semi-
scale plant starting up in Madison, PA.
Next Research Step
In addition to the microbe develop-
ment, BYU is continuing research on its
existing bioreactor design to convert bio-
mass to syngas.
Lewis is also researching the quality
of the syngas, along with how different
concentrations of CO affect the bio-
logical process. Research continues in
collaboration with Oklahoma Univer-
sity and Oklahoma State University,
Stillwater.
Funding includes an $800,000-to-
$1 million-a-year grant from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, plus fund-
ing from Coskata ($1 million), and
from the Sun Grant Initiative
($250,000).
Myke Feinman, editor
“In this process it is fer-
mented just like in a sugar
platform—utilized in con-
ventional starch-based
e t h a n o l p l a n t s . Th e m i -
crobes utilize hydrogen,
carbon dioxide, and car-
bon monoxide to make
ethanol.”
- Randy Lewis, BYU Professor,
syngas researcher

Response No. 951

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94_95_Synthesis_Gas.pmd 3 6/11/2009, 1:57 PM

 Supplier Q & A

Michael Althouse
Director of Filtration
MAC Equipment, Inc.
Kansas City, MO
800-821-2476
www.macequipment.com

Mike Althouse joined MAC Equipment, Inc.

in 1976 as a welding/shipping supervisor. In Company History
2000, Althouse, who attended Barton County MAC was founded in Sabetha, KS in 1969, by entrepre-
Community College in southeast Kansas, was named neur Gary McDaniel, manufacturing filtration products pri-
director of filtration. marily for the grain industry.
He enjoys spend- Through acquisitions and mergers, MAC has developed
ing free time with his into the largest U.S. supplier of dust collection, pneumatic con-
grandchildren, work- veying, and pneumatic injection expertise and equipment.
ing on muscle cars, In April 2007, Clyde Process Solutions plc acquired MAC
and golfing. Equipment, allowing for a global presence for both MAC and
Clyde technologies. We hosted a 40th Anniversary celebration
in June, which coincides with the opening of our new test lab
in Kansas City, MO.

Product Line
We have maintained an active role in developing new filtra-
tion and pneumatic conveying technology tailored to the biofuels
and grain processing markets, such as the Model MCF and
MPJ baghouses.
Both products were designed with energy conservation in
mind and—considering the narrow margins that many biofuel
plants operate at—it makes sense to use equipment that will
provide the lowest cost of operations, while providing the low-
est emissions of any filtration technology on the market.
Low pressure filter bag cleaning technology is the primary
product we offer—available in the MCF and MPJ filter mod-
els. Not only is the cost to operate these filters much less than
traditional high-pressure pulse jet filters, but they operate effi-
ciently in colder climates.
The medium pressure units are not susceptible to cold
weather freezeups, which significantly reduces downtime and
maintenance.

Industry Outlook
As the ethanol industry is moving from corn to cellulosic
feedstocks, the diversity of our experience can be brought to
bear to determine the most cost-effective method to move the
product throughout the plant and further reduce emissions.
Adam Tedder, associate editor
Response No. 961

96 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09

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 Supplier Q & A

Craig Pilgrim
Global Marketing and Product Development Manager
Lallemand Ethanol Technology
Milwaukee, WI
800-583-6484
www.ethanoltech.com

Craig Pilgrim joined Lallemand Ethanol in 2007 as the glo-
bal marketing and product development manager. He graduated
from Mount Mercy College, Cedar Rapids, IA in 1990 with a
bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry.
Pilgrim enjoys reading, golfing, and kayaking.
Company History
Lallemand Ethanol Technology,
formed in Milwaukee, WI in 2004, is a
unit of Lallemand Inc., the Canada-based
yeast and bacteria producer.
Lallemand got into the biofuels industry because yeast and
fermentation ingredients are the company’s core competen-
cies. We saw a growing market and decided to create value
with both its product range and service to the industry.
Lallemand supplies fermentation ingredients—yeast, yeast
nutrients, and antimicrobials—and value-creating services —
education and on site technical support—to both the fuel etha-
nol and beverage distilling industries.
enced technical sales and service professionals
who serve as consultants to alcohol plant staff,
identifying specific needs and providing targeted
products, training, troubleshooting, and labora-
tory services.
Our educational arm, the Ethanol Technology
Institute, conducts The Alcohol School, The Opera-
tors’ School and publishes “The Alcohol Textbook”.
This textbook is a preeminent reference for fuel,
distilled beverage, and industrial alcohol producers.
Industry Outlook
The trend in the industry is to get more yield
out of what is put into the fermenter. Through
our products and knowledge, we have been able
to successfully achieve more yield and through-
put in numerous facilities. In this age of eco-
nomic hardship, every dollar counts.

Product Line
There are two important things we do.
One, we provide a full product line that
includes two unique yeast formats. Our
main product is called Thermosacc®. It is
a cake yeast, which results in a quicker
start to fermentation due to lack of rehy-
dration time. The other product is called
Stabilized Liquid Yeast. It is a unique fresh
yeast product with a three-month shelf
life and can be dosed automatically, be-
cause it is a liquid. It has superior vitality
and viability for faster ethanol production.
Our Midwest locations allow us to pro-
duce and deliver the highest quality and
freshest yeasts to the market.
The second important thing we do is
educational services. Our value-creating
approach is built upon a team of experi-
Response No. 971

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 Supplier Q & A
Howie Nelson
Business Development Manager, Alternative Fuels
SGS North America Inc.
Lakeville, MN
952-892-6372
www.sgs.com/alternativefuels
Howie Nelson joined SGS North America Inc.
in 2005. In his first two years, he was an agricul-
tural supply chain manager and currently is busi-
ness development manager in alternative fuels.
Nelson, a 17-year seed industr y veteran, re-
ceived his bachelor’s degree in agronomy and
plant genetics at the University of Minnesota,
St. Paul.
He enjoys Christian missions, cross countr y
motorcyling on his Honda Goldwing , and golf.
Response No. 981
98 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
98_SupQ+A_HowieNelson.pmd 2 6/11/2009, 3:11 PM
Company History
SGS was founded in
France in 1878 and is an
inspection, verification, test-
ing, and certification company. We are the preferred international
partner for those involved in the fields of energy, trading, and
commodities. We employ more than 55,000 employees in a net-
work of more than 1,000 offices and laboratories around the world.
We assist customers worldwide throughout the energy value
chain by providing numerous services to the biofuels industry through
10 different business lines.
Our traditional field inspections and laboratory services have
been offered by our Oil Gas & Chemicals (OGC) business line for
many years. OGC has over 34 ISO 9001:2000-certified analytical
laboratories in the United States backed by a global network of
over 125 SGS group affiliates internationally.
Complete Services
Our role is to interact within the biofuels industry and uncover
any business needs for companies, investors, operators, traders, and
owners. Recently, sustainability reporting has become a key market
for the Environmental Services Business line at SGS. Our climate
change experts are helping companies deal with newly developing
carbon reduction requirements.
We also are helping ethanol and biodiesel plants by operating the
laboratory on-site as an independent third party. Our SSC business
line provides various ISO, HACCP, and OHSAS audits, training,
and certification for producers.
Our newly developed biomass technology utilizes our SGS min-
erals business line for energy content and quality analysis. Our agri-
culture business unit now is providing DDGs quality analysis in a
new lab in Brookings, SD for traders, brokers, producers, and inter-
national buyers of DDGs.
Industry Outlook
As the biofuels industry continues to grow, SGS is posi-
tioned to help companies maximize their returns while demon-
strating increased sustainability.

Cereal Process Technolo-
gies’ (CPT) MarketFlexTM frac-
tionation process gives ethanol
producers more flexibility to
meet commodity market vola-
tility, according to CPT Mar-
keting Director Reg Ankrom.
Ankrom said MarketFlex enables pro-
ducers using CPT’s patented fraction-
ation technology to “dial in” the compo-
sitions of fractions that the market val-
ues most at any given time “to help the
producer meet margins and assure his
operation’s sustainability.”
Product Flexibility
According to Ankrom, ethanol pro-
ducers who look to fractionation to dif-
ferentiate themselves in the market no
longer are limited to fixed compositions
in the streams used to make their prod-
ucts and co-products.
“We’ve proven in large-scale commer-
cial operation the ability to mill more starch
when the market makes ethanol the more
Mechanical Solutions, a mechanical
contractor, offers mechanical, technical,
and repair/troubleshooting services to
the biofuels industry.
According to President Cory Peter-
son, Mechanical Solutions takes pride in
its work.
“Our name goes on the job once it is
completed,” Peterson said. “We have to
produce a quality product.”
The types of services offered include:
• Maintenance support.
• Projects management.
• New equipment installation.
• Routine repairs.
• Emergency support.
• Shutdown crews to assist spring and
fall repairs.
• Preventive maintenance.
• Laser Alignments.
• Millwright work.
• Equipment troubleshooting.
99_PR_CPT_PR_Mechanical Sol.pmd 3 6/8/2009, 1:59 PM
Product Review
attractive product or corn germ
when the market makes its value
more attractive,” said Ankrom.
He said that along with the
flexibility to vary the kernel’s
fractioned streams, CPT had es-
tablished flexible guarantees for
the performance of its patented milling sys-
tem for the recovery and the corn kernel’s
starch and germ.
“When the producer finds ethanol the
more valuable product in the market and
wants to mill for fermentable starch, we
will guarantee yields of 96% of the kernel’s
starch and 53% of its oil,” Ankrom said.
“When oil is valued more, CPT’s
TM
milling can be adjusted and we will guar-
antee 70% recovery of the kernel’s oil MarketFlex
and 92% starch recovery.”
The milling advantages of Market- Cereal Process
Flex can be achieved in minutes, Ankrom Technologies (CPT)
said, with no interruption in the fraction- 877-851-4606
ation or ethanol plants.
Overland Park, KS
Response No. 991 • See ad p. 49 www.cerealprocess.com
Service Review
“We work with a close network of
companies to provide one-on-one for
parts or support of speciality areas, so
the customer does not have to hassle with
these in times of need,” Peterson said.
“We pride ourselves on quality and
safety during a job,” Peterson said.
Mechanical Solutions started in early
2008, catering to the ethanol industry.
The company’s three owners—Peterson,
Chris Johnson, and Josh Baker—have
30 years of combined experience in the
mechanical and electrical fields.
The company employs people hav-
ing more than 40 total years of experi-
ence in mechanical and electrical back-
Mechanical
grounds.
The Humboldt, IA-based company Solutions
works primarily in the Midwest in the 515-332-7035
biofuels industry.
Humboldt, IA
Response No. 992 www.mecsol.com
MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 99
 Product Review
Butterworth, based in Houston, TX,
is not only the oldest tank cleaning ma-
chine manufacturer in the world, but it
manufactures a range of tank cleaning
machines that can clean tanks of all sizes
within all industry systems automicially..
“Our tank cleaning equipment can re-
duce the amount of water the plant is
using for clean-in-process (CIP) and in-
crease the availability of the tanks,” said
National Sales Manager Mark Murphy.
“In other words, the plant gets the
Tank job done faster,” he added.
Cleaning Features
Murphy said that Butterworth ma-
chines have a technology that provides
Machines a focused stream before it leaves the
machine, thereby increasing the clean-
Butterworth, Inc. ing radius.
281-821-7300 “This allows us to have a machine
much smaller than competitors, 10 to
Houston, TX 20 lbs. lighter and up to 11 inches shorter
www.butterworth.com in length,” he said.
Service Review
Burns and McDonnell
Engineering Co. offers
project development services
for renewable energy and
biofuel plants.
“We are always at the
forefront looking for solutions or tech-
nologies that are available,” said Robert
Healy, senior manager of renewables.
Burns & For example, the company currently
is working with a team to develop a pilot
McDonnell scale (one metric ton of carbon dioxide
per day) algae to biodiesel plant to de-
termine commercial feasibility.
Engineering “Developers or clients come with cer-
tain strengths,” Healy said. “If they are
Co. strong in up-front analysis, we do pre-
liminary conceptual design. We bring our
strengths to complement the strengths
816-822-3384 of our clients.”
Kansas City, MO Burns and McDonnell, based in Kan-
www.burnsmcd.com sas City, MO, has been doing power and
100 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
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2 6/11/2009, 3:02 PM
Features include:
• Radius of up to 115 feet to clean a
tank up to 230 feet in diameter and up
to 230 feet tall.
• Pressures range from 30 to 300 lbs.
Average ethanol and biodiesel plants uti-
lize pressures of 100 to 150 lbs.
In addition, Murphy said Butterworth
can offer studies for future technology
applications—such as cellulosic etha-
nol—to make sure the machines are
correct for the vessels utilized in the pro-
cess, accounting for such factors as in-
ternal heat coils, mixers, and side baffles.
Butterworth has been supplying the
ethanol industry with cleaning machines
since the industry start in the early 1980s
and is a global company selling to both
biofuels plants and contractors.
Response No. 1001
civil engineering work since
the company’s inception in
1898. The company has
been designing and building
grain and biofuel facilities
since 1977.
Services Offered
The broad, multidisciplinary staff of
Burns & McDonnell provides the fol-
lowing services:
• Engineering.
• Architecture.
• Construction.
• Economic planning.
• Environmental.
• Energy audits.
• Studies and surveying.
• Business and site planning.
• Financial project analysis.
Response No. 1002 • See ad on p. 87
 Product Review

Aldon Company, a 105-year old

manufacturer of railway safety products,
has made two improvements in its por-
table derail.
Aldon’s new SaberTooth® portable
derail features tool-free installation and
a patented hooking tie brace, which pre-
vents the derail from sliding down the
rail during derailment.
“‘Tool-free’ means no wrenches are
needed to install our SaberTooth derail,”
said President Joe Ornig. “We provide
four stainless steel thumbscrews to keep
the derail from rolling sideways or lift-
ing up as the wheels pass over it. This
makes installation and removal of the
derail really easy.”
The second new feature of the
SaberTooth derail takes its inspiration
from the long-fanged prehistoric tiger that
once roamed throughout California.
“In our field tests, we found that on
taller rail, a derail’s notched tie brace
could slip off a tie plate during a
derailment. To prevent the derail
from slipping, we reinforced our tie
brace and added a curved hook at
the bottom,” said Ornig.
“The hook will bite into the tie in the
event the notch slips off the tie plate.
The lower part of our tie brace remains
Improved
trapped between two ties,” he said.
Portable
Specifications
• Low 2.75-inch profile above the top
of the rail.
Derail
• 35-pound weight. Aldon Company, Inc.
• Fits 90-to-141-pound-per-yard rails. 847-623-8800
• Can be padlocked to the rail.
Waukegan, IL
Response No. 1011 • See ads on p. 3/24/35 www.aldonco.com

Product Review
The Wilks InfraSpec VFA-IR spec-
trometer allows a lab technician to test
biofuels in the field or in the lab.
The VFA-IR is a portable, easy-to-
use, fast (within one minute), and rea- Wilks entered the biofuels industry
sonably-priced spectrometer, accord- when biofuels blends were mandated
ing to President Sandy Rintoul. in 2005.
Wilks Enterprise, Inc., based in
South Norwalk, CT, has been devel- Features
oping and manufacturing infrared ana- Features of the InfraSpec VFA-IR
lytical instrumentation for specific ap- spectrometer include:
plications and on-site analysis since • Qualitative or in quantitative
1995.
Applications for the VFA-IR in the
biofuels measurements.
• For use in labs or in the field.
InfraSpec
biofuels arena include testing blends
of biofuels at blender or retailer sites
• Measurement results in one
minute. VFA-IR
and checking biodiesel for glycerides • Proven technology for dependable,
during production.
“We can also do pretests on feed-
accurate measurements.
• Biofuels blend measurements.
Spectrometer
stocks for biodiesel,” Rintoul said. “And • Biofuels production measure- Wilks Enterprise, Inc.
we can check for ethanol in water.” ments. 203-855-9136
According to Rintoul, the VFA-IR
can check blends on-site with an accu- South Norwalk, CT
racy of +/-0.02%. Response No. 1012 • See ads on p. 57/59 www.wilksir.com

MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 101

101_PR_Aldon_PR_Wilks.pmd 3 6/8/2009, 1:59 PM

 Consulting/Environmental Water Treatment
Burns & McDonnell Burns & McDonnell
Environmental Consultants | 816-822-3384 Water Infrastructure | 816-822-4373

• Engineering and construction. • Master planning.

• Waste consultants. • Water resources & supply.
• Environmental services. • Pumping & storage.
• Water treatment design.
• Distribution.
• Water security.
• Industrial wastewater.
• Municipal wastewater.
• Collection systems.
• I/I & SSO evaluation.
• Pump stations.
• Residual management.

No. 1021 | www.burnsmcd.com | See ad on p. 87 No. 1022 | www.burnsmcd.com | See ad on p. 87

Wastewater Treatment
ADI Systems Inc.
Wastewater Treatment Systems | 603-893-2134

• Ethanol and biodiesel plant wastewater treatment

systems.
• Water reuse/reclamation.
• Thin/whole stillage and manure digestion.
• Biogas recovery and utilization systems.
• Bio-methanators.
• Membrane technologies.
• Turnkey systems.

No. 1023 | www.adisystemsinc.com | See ad on p. 54

102 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09

102_Product Surveys.pmd 2 6/11/2009, 9:35 AM

 BFJ MAY/JUNE 09
Reader Response Card
FAX us this page to get more information on the advertisers,
featured products, or companies from this issue of BioFuels Journal.
Name:____________________________________________________________________________________

Title:___________________________________________________________________________________________

Company:______________________________________________________________________________

Address:_______________________________________________________________________________

City:_________________________________ State:____________________ Zip Code:______________

Phone: _____________________________________ FAX:______________________________________

Type of Facility:________________________________________________________________________

E-Mail:________________________________________________________________________________

WRITE RESPONSE NUMBERS IN BOXES BELOW • FAX TO 217-877-6647

UPON COMPLETION, FAX TO 217-877-6647

American Coalition Canadian Renewable

for Ethanol Fuels Association
www.ethanol.org www.greenfuels.org

MAY/JUNE 09 | BFJ 103

103_RRCard.pmd 3 6/8/2009, 2:17 PM

 Ad Index
ADI Systems Inc. . . . . . 54
AGRA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
AGRI-associates Inc. . 87
The Aldon
Company . . . . . . 3, 24, 35
ATEC Steel
Fabrication . . . . . . . . . 53
Behlen Mfg. Co. . . . . . 37
Bliss Industries LLC . . . . 14
BM&M Screening
Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Brock Grain Systems . . 39
Brown Tank LLC . . . . . . 36
Burns & McDonnell . . . 87
Calbrandt Inc. . . . . . . 38
Carver, Inc. . . . . . . . . . 43
Cereal Process
Technologies . . . . . . . . 49
CompuWeigh Corp. . 4, 5
CPM/Roskamp
Champion . . . . . . . . . . 66
dbc Smart Software . . 13
De Smet Technologies . 2
DynaTek/Manierre . . . 95
E3 Energy
Partners LLC . . . . . . . . . 48
Flottweg Separation . . 56
GEA Barr-Rosin . . . . . . . 26
130 BFJ | MAY/JUNE 09
130_AdIndex_online.pmd 2 6/23/2009, 1:10 PM
Hi Roller Conveyors . . . 84
Hydro-Klean Inc. . . . . . 25
Indeck Power
Equipment . . . . . . . . . . 55
The Interstates
Companies . . . . . . . . . 42
John Deere
Agri Services . . . . . . . . 85
KC Supply Co. Inc. . . . 85
Laidig Systems Inc. . . . 81
Lallemand Ethanol
Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Larson Engineering . . . 71
LeMar Industries . . 21, 27
Lemke Industrial
Machine. . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Maas Companies . . . . 97
MAC Equipment . . . . . . 7
Marshall Gerstein
& Borun LLD . . . . . . . . . 62
Martrex Inc. . . . . . . . . . 16
Midwest Towers Inc. . . 72
Perten Instruments . . . 47
Petroleum
Equipment Inc. . . . . . . 29
Pittsburg Tank
& Tower . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Power-Serv Inc. . . . . . . 98
Pro-Environmental Inc. 41
Process Baron . . . . . . . 52
Process Control
Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Proquip Inc. . . . . . . . . . 70
RBH Mill & Elevator
Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Rosedale
Products Inc. . . . . . . . . 67
Schlagel Inc. . . . . . . . 106
SGS North
America Inc. . . . . . . . . 18
Siemens Energy
& Automation . . . . . . . 19
Sulzer Chemtech USA . 79
Trackmobile . . . . . . . . . 84
TRAMCO Inc. . . . . . . . 28
TranSystems . . . . . . . . . 44
Union Iron Inc. . . . . . . . 11
Van Sickle Allen
& Associates . . . . . . . . 94
Victory Energy
Operation . . . . . . . 17, 65
Volkmann Railroad
Builders . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Warrior Mfg. LLC . . . . . 73
Wilks
Enterprises Inc. . . . 57, 59
Winbco Tank
Company . . . . . . . . . . 105
 Response No. 1311

131_Winbco_FullPage.pmd 2 6/9/2009, 9:58 AM

 Response No. 1321

132_Schlagel_Fullpage.pmd 2 6/9/2009, 9:59 AM