Purdue researches launch innovative bioenergy company

Biomass Magazine


By Purdue University | April 03, 2014


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Discovery could yield more efficient plants for biofuels

AgriNews


Wednesday, March 26, 2014 2:00 PM


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Purdue research finds modifying key protein complex can boost biofuel yield

Biofuels Digest


Meghan Sapp | March 20, 2014
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Purdue economist says EPA should drop 2014 blending by 2.3 billion gallons

Biofuels Digest

Meghan Sapp | August 20, 2013

 

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Understanding termite digestion could help biofuels

Ethanol Producer Magazine
By Purdue University
February 20, 2013

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Purdue gets $5.2 million to develop new biofuel process

Ethanol Producer Magazine
By Purdue University
September 19, 2012

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University Economic Studies Show Waiving RFS Would Have Negligible Impact on Corn Price

Biofuels Digest
Jim Lane
August 16, 2012

In Washington, two separate studies released this week by Iowa State University and Purdue University, directly refute the suggestion from livestock and poultry groups that waiving the US Renewable Fuel Standard would dramatically reduce corn prices and increase availability. The Purdue University analysis showed that the flexibility built into the RFS—namely the ability of refiners to use excess RIN credits accumulated in past years—serves to reduce corn price without a waiver being necessary. However, the Purdue economists found, if Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did waive the RFS, corn prices might decrease further by approximately 5.6% in 2013.
Meanwhile, the Iowa State University analysis, an update to an earlier report, found that fully waiving the RFS would result in just a 7.4% reduction in corn price in the 2012/13 marketing year.

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Demand Destruction: Ethanol

The Progressive Farmer: Market Matters Blog

Katie Micik DTN Markets Editor
Monday 07/16/12

The ethanol industry is in a position to do a considerable amount of rationing given the recent surge in corn prices, Purdue agriculture economist Chris Hurt said. Corn prices are high enough that many ethanol plants can't produce the fuel profitably and some are shutting down.

Economists call this demand destruction. But Hurt thinks it won't all happen in one fell swoop.

"I think one of the keys is, as long as ethanol price per gallon is below gasoline prices, then gasoline companies have continued incentive to blend ethanol and what that means is they'll do it on a volume basis," Hurt told DTN.

As the price of corn escalates, some plants shut down, making supply less available. That bids the price of ethanol up and enables plants to pay more for their corn.

"So I think there's some stop and go on some of these ethanol plants, depending on how all these price relationships interact," Hurt said.

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Analysis shows H2Bioil technology is cost competitive with oil

Biomass Magazine
By Erin Voegele
June 25, 2012

An economic analysis of Purdue University’s thermo-chemical H2Bioil biofuel technology demonstrates that the process could be price competitive when crude oil is priced at approximately $100 per barrel, depending upon the method used to generate hydrogen used in the process. In the event a federal carbon tax is implemented, the analysis found the process would be even more economical.

The H2Bioil technology involves the rapid heating of biomass to approximately 500 degrees Celsius in the presence of pressurized hydrogen. The resulting gases are passed over catalysts to create molecules similar to those in gasoline. According to information released by Purdue, the technology was created in the lab of Rakesh Agrawal, the university’s Winthrop E. Stone distinguished professor of chemical engineering. The economic analysis was completed by a team led by Wally Tyner, Purdue’s James and Lois Ackerman professor of agricultural economics.

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Purdue University Researchers and Partners Say Sorghum Should Be in The Mix as Biofuel Crop

Biofuels Journal
Date Posted: June 20, 2012

West Lafayette, IN—Sweet and biomass sorghum would meet the need for next-generation biofuels to be environmentally sustainable, easily adopted by producers and take advantage of existing agricultural infrastructure, a group of researchers led by Purdue University scientists believes.

The scientists from Purdue, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Illinois and Cornell University believe sorghum, a grain crop similar to corn, could benefit from the rail system, grain elevators and corn ethanol processing facilities already in place.

Their perspective article is published early online in the journal Biofuels, Bioproducts & Biorefining.

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Purdue scientist develops new biofuel process

Evansville Courrier & Press
By The Associated Press
Posted June 5, 2012 at 8:09 a.m., updated June 5, 2012 at 8:09 a.m.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University says a new process for creating biofuels developed by one of the school's researchers has potential to be priced competitively with crude oil.

The H2Bioil method was created in the West Lafayette laboratory of chemical engineering professor Rakesh Agrawal.

The process exposes biomass such as switchgrass to pressurized hydrogen and heats it to about 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Catalysts then separate oxygen from carbon molecules, making the carbon rich in energy.

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Purdue professor warns of volatile days for corn growers

Boilerstation
11:18 PM, Apr. 28, 2012

Written by ERIC WEDDLE


Climate change, energy policy could make for wild price ride

Corn prices could increase drastically in the future due to a combination of climate change and federal biofuel mandates.

A study out this week from faculty at Purdue and Stanford universities warn that the price volatility of corn could increase by about 50 percent over the period from 2020-2040 as compared to recent history.

Thomas Hertel, a Purdue distinguished professor of agricultural economics, said the study finds the Corn Belt states, including Indiana, to be at risk.

"Closer integration of the corn and energy markets through the ethanol industry could aid in buffering these shocks, but this would not occur in the presence of a mandate," he said.

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Purdue / Stanford Study Finds Climate Change to Be Big Contributor to Corn Price Volatility in Coming Years

Grainnet.com
Date Posted: April 23, 2012

West Lafayette, IN—A study from Purdue and Stanford university researchers predicts that future climate scenarios may cause significantly greater volatility in corn prices, which would be intensified by the federal biofuels mandate.

The findings, published this week in the journal Nature Climate Change, show that severely hot conditions in corn-growing regions and extreme climate events that are expected to impact supply would cause swings in corn prices.

When coupled with federal mandates for biofuel production, the price volatility could increase by about 50 percent over the period from 2020-2040 as compared to recent history.

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Hog Producers Can Compete with Ethanol for Corn

DomesticFuel.com
Posted by Cindy Zimmerman – March 12th, 2012

An agricultural economist says hog producers are now able to compete with ethanol producers for corn.

“This is an amazing difference from just five years ago,” said Purdue agricultural economist Dr. Chris Hurt. “The hog industry was largely set up with $2-2.50 corn going into 2006. After that we saw major increases in those corn prices.” Dr. Hurt spoke to swine veterinarians on the topic of “Global Feed Economics in a Biofuel World” during seminar in Denver on Friday.

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Ethanol Land Use Debate Continues

DomesticFuel.com
Posted by Cindy Zimmerman – March 8th, 2012

The debate over ethanol, greenhouse gases and land use continues – and that was the topic of a panel discussion at the recent 17th annual National Ethanol Conference.

The panel, moderated by Renewable Fuels Association VP of Research and Analysis Geoff Cooper, consisted of Thomas Darlington with Air Improvement Resource, Inc.; Dr. David Zilberman with the University of California-Berkeley; and Dr. Wally Tyner with Purdue University. The three experts addressed the latest developments in GHG analysis, and the impact of regulations like the Renewable Fuel Standard and California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard on the future of the ethanol industry.

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ISU professor studies growing infrastructure needs for biofuels

Drovers Cattle Network
Iowa State University Extension Updated: February 11, 2012

AMES, Iowa -- Even though a federal $6 billion tax credit for ethanol expired on Jan. 1, the U.S. government still mandates that the fuel industry blend 13.2 billion gallons of ethanol this year -- up from 2.1 billion gallons in 2002. And nine years from now, the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard calls for a target of 36 billion gallons of biofuel to be blended into the U.S. domestic auto and truck fuel supply.

That's having a tremendous impact on the distillers' grain markets in Iowa and across the Midwest -- and the small towns that support their production. Bobby Martens, an Iowa State University assistant professor of supply chain management, says ethanol industry leaders need to reconsider investments in transportation equipment and infrastructure while the government adjusts policies to effectively move all that biofuel to market.

Martens and Frank Dooley, a professor in the Department of Agriculture Economics at Purdue University, teamed up on a chapter titled "Transportation and Logistics in Distillers Grain Markets," for the book "Using Distillers Grains in the U.S. and International Livestock and Poultry Industries" (2008 Midwest Agribusiness Trade Research and Information Center).

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DDGS provides same cow growth performance as traditional feeds

Ethanol Producer Magazine
By Matt Soberg November 10, 2011

Young dairy cows achieve the same growth performance from a diet of distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) as traditional grains, according to Purdue University studies. The ethanol coproduct is an option for dairy producers as young heifers attain similar weight gain, skeletal growth and feed efficiency, according to Tamilee Nennich, assistant professor of animal science.

“We’ve seen similar growth performance whether producers are feeding distillers grains or more traditional feeds, such as corn and soybeans. We also found that it doesn’t matter if an animal is being fed in a feedlot and has a diet based on harvested forages or if that animal is grazing,” Nennich added.

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Improved ethanol production eyed

UPI.com
Published: Oct. 24, 2011 at 8:44 PM

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Treating separate parts of corn stalks differently during ethanol conversion would make the production process more efficient, agricultural scientists say.

Purdue University researchers say not all parts of corn stover, the leaves and stalks left in a field after the harvest of cereal grain, are equal and shouldn't be treated alike when processing them to yield ethanol, a university release said Monday.

Normally everything is ground together and blended in the ethanol process, but Purdue research scientist Eduardo Ximenes and his research team found that three distinct parts of the stover -- the rind, pith and leaves -- break down in different ways.

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Purdue University Ag Economist: Ethanol Mandate Means Corn Demand Less Responsive to Price

Grainnet (Biofuels Journal)
Date Posted: June 29, 2011

West Lafayette, IN—Federal law that helped jump-start the ethanol industry in the United States also is shifting normal supply-and-demand forces within commodities markets, said a Purdue University agricultural economist.

Not quite four years after Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act in 2007, markets are struggling to meet both the law's renewable fuels standard and grain demands from the livestock, food and export sectors, said Wally Tyner, an energy policy specialist.

About 27 percent of the nation's corn crop must be devoted to ethanol this year to meet the federal mandate, leaving other corn users to compete for the remaining 73 percent.

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Purdue invites Brazilian energy ideas to campus

The Exponent Online (Purdue University)
Posted: Friday, May 20, 2011 10:00 am
BY TARA SIPPLES Summer Reporter Purdue Exponent

Each year for the past six years Purdue has hosted a symposium focusing on bioenergy production but this year’s was a bit different.

This week, Frontiers in Bioenergy: U.S.-Brazil Symposium on Sustainable Bioenergy focused on building strong collaborations toward creating sustainable energy.

“What’s different about this one is that we decided to make it an international meeting and invite Brazilian colleagues up,” Maureen McCann, director of the Energy Center in Discovery Park said. “Because Brazil has been this model of how to implement biofuels and give themselves energy independence.”

The symposium focused on the issues of sustainability in the production of biofuels, including sustainable farming, harvesting and pre-processing of crops. Purdue invited Brazil because it has managed to replace a significant amount of oil consumption by using ethanol as liquid transportation fuel, and the country is at a place with sustainability that the United States would like to catch up with, McCann said.

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