Ethanol working to lower gas prices

Even though gas prices have broken record after record this year, motorists should know that the state's corn and ethanol producers are working hard to lower the cost at the pump.

"As ethanol production increased over the last six months--with new plants coming online--ethanol prices have fallen, meaning ethanol blends at the pump are priced lower than regular gas," said Jon Holzfaster of Paxton, farmer-chairman of the Nebraska Corn Board.

During his presentation to the Advancing Renewable Energy conference last fall, Keith Collins, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief economist, said that in 2006, ethanol made up approximately 3.6 percent of the gasoline demand--a six-fold increase since 1996. There's another way to look at it, though.

In the 1996-2006 time frame, gasoline demand increased by 20 billion gallons, while ethanol production rose 4 billion gallons. "That 4 billion gallon increase met 20 percent of the increase in gasoline use over the decade," Collins said. "Since 2000, ethanol has met more than 30 percent of the increase in gasoline demand. So I ask you to imagine, if 30 percent of the marginal gasoline demand over the past five years did not come from biofuels, what might crude oil refining margins and gasoline imports look like?"

Holzfaster said gas prices would certainly be higher if ethanol wasn't available.

"The simple fact is, without ethanol, we'd need another 6 billion gallons of gasoline this year. I can't imagine how high prices would be if we had to import that much more gas," he said. "Oil refiners can't add capacity fast enough to meet demand--but ethanol producers have had many new plants come on line already this year, and more are on the way. Ethanol is helping keep gas prices down by increasing the fuel supply."

In fact, the rack price of ethanol in Nebraska was $2.46 per gallon last week, a dollar or more below the cost of regular unleaded. "That's why gas blended with ethanol, to make E-10 or gas with 10 percent ethanol, costs less than regular unleaded," Holzfaster said. "It's also why E85, or gas with 85 percent ethanol, costs even less for those that have flex fuel vehicles. Using an ethanol blend can save drivers money at the pump."

Randy Klein, director of market development for the Nebraska Corn Board, said there are enough ethanol plants under construction or expanding today to more than double the amount of ethanol produced--in Nebraska and nationally--and corn producers will be there, ready to supply them.

"As these plants come online over the next few months, gas blended with ethanol should continue to be priced below regular gasoline. But no matter what the price is, the addition of eight to 10 billion gallons of ethanol into the fuel supply helps buffer high gas prices," Klein said.

The Nebraska Corn Board collects and disburses the funds generated by the 1/4 of a cent per bushel corn checkoff. Nebraska corn checkoff funds are invested in programs of market development, research and education.

Source : www.hpj.com

Albany Gas Station Begins Selling Ethanol Fuel

Two upstate gas stations are now selling ethanol fuel to the general public and officials say they're the first in the state to do so.

In light of increasing gas prices and environmental concerns, some drivers have started using alternate fuels. Around 200,000 vehicles in the state can accept the blend of 85 percent ethanol, 15 percent gasoline known as E85.

On Monday, the Campus Mobil station near the University at Albany and a co-owned property in Warrensburg became the first gas stations in the state to sell the 100-percent American-made fuel to the public.

For the next four years, New York state isn't collecting any taxes on E85, making the fuel cheaper than regular gasoline.

Source : www.9wsyr.com

Caltex Australia signs ethanol contract

Caltex Australia has signed a new contract for Dalby Bio-Refinery Ltd to supply ethanol to the fuel giant from its ethanol plant to be constructed in Queensland.

The plant would be built at Dalby in the Darling Downs area in Queensland.

Under the contract, Dalby Bio-Refinery would supply Caltex Australia with 30 million litres of ethanol annually for three years.

This would occur from the date of completion of the plant which is expected to be next year.

The new contract incorporates the ethanol supply volume agreed under a much smaller contract with DBRL that was announced in December 2005.

Caltex also has contracts in place with other suppliers for ethanol in existing New South Wales and Queensland plants.

Source : au.news.yahoo.com

Kenya: New Firm to Run Kisumu Ethanol Plant

The Kisumu Ethanol Plant is now to be run by a new subsidiary of its majority owner Canada's Energem Resources Inc. The subsidiary, Energem Biofuels, will be charged with boosting production.

Energem Resources holds a 55 per cent stake in the Kisumu Ethanol Plant.

Previously, the plant fell under Energem's logistics and supply division. Placing of the Kisumu facility under the new subsidiary is part of a reorientation, Energem says, that will see the Canadian firm focus its business on the midstream oil and gas infrastructure and biofuels sectors.

The reorganisation will also optimise the firm's business outlook and help raise its market value. Currently, the company's shares at the Toronto Stock Exchange are undervalued.

"The review examined the options available to the company for a restructuring, repackaging and relaunch of Energem in a form that would be more functionally effective, with respect to unlocking value in the equity markets," Energem said in a statement last week.

"The company believes that its core sectors have enormous potential and scalability across Africa," it added.

Two months ago, Energem announced that the Kisumu plant had resumed full capacity production following a closure in December 2006. Energem had shut down the plant to carry out modifications and maintenance in light of the limited availability of molasses feedstock at the time.

Production was restarted in the third week of January, picking up to the full capacity - 60,000 litres of potable alcohol per day - by February.

The bulk of the alcohol is sold to secondary manufacturers in the Kenyan market, although Kep has started exporting to Uganda and Rwanda.

According to Energem, the prices of potable alcohol recorded this year are better than last year's, while molasses feedstock availability may improve following good rains in western Kenya's sugar growing region.

Last week, Energem said the enhanced performance of its Kisumu facility had confirmed projections that the plant could serve as the linchpin of its bio-products line on the continent.

The imminent positioning of the Kisumu plant as a major biofuels producer in the region comes at a time when interest in clean fuels has risen globally.

Proponents of biofuels say that their increased usage would lead to a lower rate of global warming, as they release lower quantities of greenhouse gases. This argument has seen the European Union set a target of using biofuels in 10 per cent of its cars by 2020, creating a large potential market for the fuels.

However, some experts have cautioned that widespread adoption of biofuels could have far-reaching effects on global food security as agricultural areas are turned into fuel sources. Adoption of biofuels could also speed up global warming as rainforests, especially in regions such as South America and Central Africa, are cleared to make way for fuel crops. Rainforests mop up greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.

Apart from its Kenyan interests, Energem has mining and energy interests in at least 10 African countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.

Its ventures include diamond mining and mineral exploration, mid and upstream oil and gas projects, and infrastructure. Energem also owns and manages a bitumen emulsions manufacturing factory in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Recently, the company provided the procurement and logistics infrastructure necessary for the re-establishment of the Koidu diamond mine in Sierra Leone and the construction of oil storage and distribution facilities in Nigeria and Malawi.

Source : allafrica.com

Hinton ethanol plant receives air permit, tax credits

The proposed ethanol plant in Hinton edged closer to construction in the past week with the approval of its air permit and millions of dollars in tax credits.

On Tuesday the plant secured its Iowa Department of Natural Resources air permit. Floyd Valley Ethanol, LLC's John Baardson, Floyd Valley Ethanol's president and CEO, applauded the news and said this is a big step towards construction.

"Our company has been received warmly by the state and local government and the people of northwest Iowa. We look forward to becoming part of the community and making a positive economic impact," Baardson said.

Developers of the $150 million plant were also awarded a nearly $9 million boost last Thursday from the state.

The Iowa Department of Economic Development (IDED) pledged $8.9 million in tax credits to Floyd Valley Ethanol, the developer of the ethanol plant, as part of the High Quality Job Creation Program in Iowa for creating skilled jobs in Plymouth County.

The award was approved by IDED director Mike Tramontina.

Construction on the 115-million gallon-a-year ethanol plant is expected to begin in September with a completion date slated for the third quarter 2008.

Ed Cable, the local project manager, said they are still finalizing equity and debt for the plant.

"As soon as that's completed, we'll begin construction," Cable said.

At capacity, the plant will also yield 360,000 tons of high grade distiller's grain annually for animal feed.

Roger Price, general manager of Farmers Coop Company which is partnering with Floyd Valley ethanol in the development of the project, said demand for ethanol continues to increase.

"Aggregate demand for ethanol, is increasing as called for by President Bush and Congress," Price said. "At the same time, we believe that corn prices relevant to ethanol will continue to exhibit major volatility."

"This is precisely the environment for which Floyd Valley Ethanol developed its business model.

"Corn availability will be a big advantage to Floyd Valley Ethanol with our strategic partnership with Floyd Valley Grain, LLC," Baardson said.

Floyd Valley Grain will deliver 38.6 million bushels of corn to the plant annually through its facilities located immediately adjacent to the ethanol plant.

The plant would sit just east of Highway 75 near its intersection with county road C-60, close to the co-op and rail system.

"Also unique to the 90-acre plant site, is our location directly next to the Burlington Northern, Canadian National, and Union Pacific (via trackage rights) railroads," Price added.

With access to the three railroads, Floyd Valley Ethanol will market ethanol into all major markets throughout the United States. The site currently has 100 car unit train capabilities for corn and a railroad switch with siding dedicated to 110 car unit train outbound ethanol will be installed.

Plant construction will create more than 400 skilled and non-skilled jobs. When completed, Floyd Valley Ethanol will employ 45 full-time people.

Floyd Valley Ethanol is a Baard Energy, LLC company. Baard, based in Vancouver, Wash., and its affiliates have developed over 1,200 MW of electrical generation facilities in the last 20 years and are currently developing Coal to Liquids projects.

Source : www.lemarssentinel.com