Dual turning point for biofuels

The Financial Express


New York Times | Updated: Apr 20 2014, 03:03 IST


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Meeting the needs of famers critical to biomass, residue harvest

Ethanol Producer Magazine


By Susanne Retka Schill | January 24, 2014


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Biofuel industry renews push to make ethanol from plant waste

kansascityBusiness

November 11

BY STEVE EVERLY

The Kansas City Star

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/11/11/4613077/biofuel-industry-renews-push-to.html#storylink=cpy

 

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Abengoa completes waste-to-biofuels demo plant in Spain

Biofuels Digest

Jim Lane | July 1, 2013

 

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Commercial-scale ethanol refineries planned for Kansas

bioenergy insight
15 February 2012


Kansas could become home to one of the first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol refineries in the US.

The global energy company Abengoa Bioenergy, aims to open what could be the first ethanol plant of this scale, in Hugoton, in 2013. It is expected to create 300 construction jobs, 65 permanent jobs and generate an annual payroll of almost $5 million (€3.8 million).

‘There’s no doubt we will be one of the first, whether we are the first or not is not critical to us as long as we complete it within our time frame,’ says Chris Standlee, executive vice president for Abengoa Bioenergy’s U.S. division.

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Abengoa to develop ethanol plant in Brazil

Energy Business Review
EBR Staff Writer
Published 13 January 2012

Spain-based Abengoa has been selected by the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) and FINEP to develop a second generation ethanol plant in Brazil.

The plant will utilize ethanol technology to produce ethanol from sugar cane biomass.

The project will enable Abengoa to produce bioethanol and biobutanol from sugar cane straw and bagasse.

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Kansas Geological Survey to Test Storage of CO2 Underground

Kansas City infozine
Saturday, December 03, 2011 :: Staff infoZine

Lawrence, KS - infoZine - The Kansas Geological Survey (KGS) at the University of Kansas has received a $11.5 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy to test the safety and efficacy of storing carbon dioxide (CO2) — captured from an industrial source — deep underground in south-central Kansas.

The cooperative agreement is the largest ever received by the KGS.

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Switchgrass ethanol research looks to yield big benefits

High Plains/Midwest Ag Journal
By Larry Dreiling

Construction has begun in Hugoton, Kan., on the nation's first commercial scale biomass fuel refinery.

Abengoa Bioenergy's new, 23 million-gallon annual throughput refinery will take biomass, mainly switchgrass, and turn it into ethanol.

One problem in seeing more of these kinds of facilities sprout up across the U.S. is finding enough quality raw materiel to make what's been called the fuel of the future, cellulosic ethanol.

"All the switchgrass varieties you see right now in the field are basically for forage. We're now working on varieties specifically for ethanol production," said Ken Vogel, supervisory research geneticist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service Grain, Forage and Bioenergy Research Unit in Lincoln, Neb.

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Energy Department Finalizes $132 Million Loan Guarantee to Support the Abengoa Bioenergy Project

Energy.gov
September 29, 2011 - 4:39pm

Washington D.C. – U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced that the Department finalized a $132.4 million loan guarantee to Abengoa Bioenergy Biomass of Kansas, LLC (ABBK) to support the development of a commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant. ABBK’s parent company and project sponsor, Abengoa Bioenergy US Holding, Inc., estimates the project will fund approximately 300 construction jobs and 65 permanent jobs. The project will be located in Hugoton, Kansas, about 90 miles southwest of Dodge City, Kansas.

“Investing in a domestic advanced biofuels industry will help us compete in a growing, global clean energy economy while creating jobs in rural communities across the country,” said Secretary Chu. “At the same time, these investments will help us reduce carbon emissions and decrease our dependence on oil."

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U.S. offers Abengoa $134 million loan aid for cellulosic

Reuters
WASHINGTON Fri Aug 19, 2011 12:06pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Energy Department said on Friday it has offered a conditional commitment for $133.9 million in loan aid to Abengoa Bioenergy for a cellulosic ethanol plant in Kansas.

The Abengoa project is expected to convert about 300,000 tons of corn crop waste into about 23 million gallons (105 million liters) of ethanol per year.

Cellulosic ethanol is expected to be made in commercial quantities from crop waste and non-food crops like switchgrass. It has been touted as an alternative to ethanol from corn, which has been blamed for helping to push up food prices.

Production has been slower than expected however, and the year the Environmental Protection Agency has reduced the U.S. mandate for cellulosic for the second year running.

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Abengoa secures biomass supply for Kansas cellulosic ethanol project

Biofuels Digest Thomas Saidak April 15, 2011

In Kansas, Abengoa is reporting that they are on schedule to secure 100 percent of the biomass raw material for its Hugoton, Kansas, cellulosic ethanol plant. The company has signed contracts with several local biomass producers, and is currently in talks with others, to obtain the required annual supply of 315,000 tons of cellulosic biomass by the end of 2011.

Upon start-up, the facility, scheduled to be commissioned in 2013, will convert about 315,000 dry tons per year of crop residue and cellulosic energy crops to 25 million gallons of ethanol, while also generating 25 megawatts (MW) of electrical power, enough to power the ethanol conversion process.

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Progress for Abengoa’s Kansas cellulosic ethanol project

BrighterEnergy.org
Published: September 20, 2010 By James Cartledge

Abengoa Bioenergy has secured 60% of the feedstocks it needs for its hybrid ethanol facility being developed in Hugoton, Kansas.

The company, part of Spanish multinational Abengoa, revealed last week that progress made this year suggests the plant should be operational in 2013.

As well as continuing to build biomass supply commitments for the plant with local farmers, Abengoa said it is in the process of finalizing the process design, based on data from its pilot plant in York and demonstration plant in Salamanca, Spain.

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Four States Gain New Cellulosic Ethanol Facilities

EnergyBoom.com
By Alison Pruitt on February 19, 2010

Thanks in part to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funding, a shift in biofuel production to cellulosic biofuels is underway as both demonstration and commercial-scale power plants are opening or moving closer to completion.

Cellulosic biofuels are produced from wood, grasses, or the non-edible parts of plants. Cellulosic ethanol has the advantage of abundant and diverse raw material compared to sources like corn and cane sugars. Conversely, it requires a greater amount of processing. According to DOE studies, one of the benefits of cellulosic ethanol is that it reduces greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 85% over reformulated gasoline. By contrast, starch ethanol (e.g., from corn), which most frequently uses natural gas to provide energy for the process, may not reduce GHG emissions at all depending on how the starch-based feedstock is produced.

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