No-till Tilts Ethanol Energy Balance

Ohio Farmer
Compiled By Staff
June 19, 2008

Ethanol-based corn may be getting a bum rap, in light of the growing global food crisis, but the biofuel does have value, especially when produced using the right agricultural technique.

Growing corn for ethanol could be argued as environmentally justifiable, especially when farmers use no-till - a type of production technique that calls for minimally disturbing the soil and leaving residue behind to maintain soil quality and structure, according to Randall Reeder, an Ohio State University Extension agricultural engineer.

"Ethanol has value as it's getting us started on bio-based fuels. Ethanol from corn is just a small part of much bigger factors that are adding up to have an impact on the world food shortage," says Reeder. "But the amount of our corn going into ethanol is so small that, by itself, it couldn't possibly have any substantial impact."

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Ethanol co-products eyed as fillers in plastics

By Dairy Herd news source (Thursday, June 19, 2008)

A coproduct of ethanol production could be used as a non-petroleum-based filler in plastics. USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and their cooperators base this theory on recent preliminary studies.

The ethanol co-product, distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS), has a high fiber content and a molecular structure suitable for binding. These are two attributes that make it a candidate as a filler in plastics, according to Kurt Rosentrater, ARS agricultural engineer.

Rosentrater is based at the ARS North Central Agricultural Research Laboratory in Brookings, S.D.

He conducted the research with Robert A. Tatara, a professor at the Northern Illinois University Department of Technology.

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1-day-old SC law already faces legal challenge

Worchester telegram.com
Thursday, June 26, 2008

COLUMBIA, S.C.— South Carolina fuel distributors must be allowed to make their own gasoline-ethanol blends under a first-in-the-nation law that supporters say will keep the state's gas prices among the nation's lowest.

Industry experts say the law could be adopted by other states. But it already faces a legal challenge here, one day after legislators overrode the governor's veto.

The law requires oil companies to offer raw gasoline to South Carolina distributors so they can blend the gasoline with ethanol to sell at the pump.

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Food agency chief warns food prices will remain high, calls for more production

The International Herald Tribune (New York Times affiliated)
The Associated Press
Published: June 25, 2008

INNSBRUCK, Austria: The head of the U.N.'s food agency on Wednesday warned that food prices will remain high and called for a boost in production.

Food and Agriculture Organization Director-General Jacques Diouf said prices are expected to remain high due to climate change, continued demand for bioenergy, low food stocks and greater demand in emerging countries such as China, India, Indonesia and Brazil that make up a large share of the global population.

Diouf said the problem will not be solved without increasing food production, and he called on world leaders meeting in Japan next month to address this issue.

"Our message is we should increase investment in agriculture," Diouf said, adding that other matters in need of attention include those related to water control, storage and rural roads.

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SC passes ethanol law challenged by oil companies

Associated Press

By SEANNA ADCOX – June 26, 2008

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina fuel distributors must have access to pure gasoline needed to make their own ethanol blends under a law that supporters say is first in the nation and will save customers at the pump.

Industry experts say other states could enact similar laws. More than a dozen states, largely in the South, will likely consider such legislation next year, said Daniel Gilligan, spokesman for Virginia-based Petroleum Marketers Association of America.

But oil companies moved quickly to stop it here and vow to do so elsewhere: They filed a lawsuit in the state's Supreme Court on Thursday — one day after the measure became law — claiming it violates the state constitution.

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Food agency: Prices to remain high, more production needed

USA Today

INNSBRUCK, Austria (AP) — The head of the U.N.'s food agency on Wednesday (June 25) warned that food prices will remain high and has called for a boost in production.

Food and Agriculture Organization Director-General Jacques Diouf said prices are expected to remain high due climate change, continued demand for bioenergy, low food stocks and greater demand in emerging countries such as China and India.

Diouf said the problem will not be solved without increasing food production and called on world leaders meeting in Japan next month to address this issue.

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Illinois Crop Improvement Association Confirms DuPont's Ethanol Yield Potential System

GrainNet.com
Date Posted: Jun. 17, 2008

DES MOINES, IA and CHAMPAIGN, IL, —DuPont (NYSE: DD)announced June 17 that it has received an external independent validation from the Illinois Crop Improvement Association (ICIA) which shows that its Ethanol Yield Potential (EYP) near infrared (NIR) calibration reliably predicts the ethanol output of whole corn grain.

The calibration, developed by DuPont business Pioneer Hi-Bred, allows ethanol plants to rapidly and consistently evaluate incoming grain, helping both plant managers and growers determine which corn hybrids and management practices can improve ethanol production.

The calibration has been incorporated into the QualiTrak(SM) system from Pioneer, a measurement and reporting program that facilitates the flow of ethanol yield information to both plant personnel and corn growers.

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Biofuels not just about corn

Southeast Farm Press
Jun 25, 2008 9:50 AM, By Jim Langcuster
Auburn University

Experts are confident a new generation of biofuel technologies under development at Auburn University no longer will require a tradeoff between U.S. energy self-sufficiency and the steep food prices currently associated with corn-based ethanol.

Currently, the rising cost of food and the growing inability to pay for it have left many consumers not only angry but also eager to pin the blame on ethanol — namely the growing demand for corn as an ethanol feedstock as well as federal fuel mandates that promote ethanol use.

But as two Auburn University experts stress, this doesn’t have to be a balancing act between more biofuels and higher food prices — a fact that will become more apparent to Americans when a new generation of biofuel technologies under development at Auburn becomes commercially available in the next few years.

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Canada plant to make ethanol from garbage

Reuters.com
Fri Jun 27, 2008 5:17pm EDT

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - A garbage sorting plant in Edmonton, Alberta will be home to an ethanol facility that will turn 100,000 tonnes of plastic, cardboard and paper into the fuel additive starting in 2010, an official involved in the project said on Friday.

The C$70-million ($69.3-million) plant will produce 36 million liters of ethanol per year, making it the world's first industrial scale ethanol plant using waste as a feedstock, said Don Pierce of Greenfield Ethanol.

"Clearly in any new area, you've got to walk before you run," Pierce said, noting the plant's production will be small compared with grain-based ethanol facilities.

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Ethanol mixes finding way into traditional tanks

Associated Press
By ELIZABETH DUNBAR – June 26, 2008

GRANITE FALLS, Minn. (AP) — To save money and support neighboring farms, Scott Dubbelde began mixing gasoline and cheaper, ethanol-based fuel in his cars years ago, driving first to the gasoline pump, and then to the ethanol pump.

It has worked so well that Dubbelde, who manages a local grain elevator, mixes fuels for all three of his family cars, though only one was designed to handle ethanol-heavy blends.

The practice has caught the attention of the Environmental Protection Agency as a handful of filling stations install pumps that allow drivers to select different ethanol blends with the push of a button.

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