Posts

March 22, 2013

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As we’ve hinted at before, some interesting things are starting to happen with high corn prices, high RIN prices, the blend wall and ever compounding RFS requirements! We all know that corn prices have been high – so high in … Continue reading →

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3:05 PM | Corn, ethanol, RIN prices, and the blend wall!

As we’ve hinted at before, some interesting things are starting to happen with high corn prices, high RIN prices, the blend wall and ever compounding RFS requirements! We all know that corn prices have been high – so high in … Continue reading →

February 24, 2013

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4:15 PM | The blend wall and what we will do will all the cellulosic ethanol

While we’ve discussed production issues with cellulosic a bit on this site (here and here), if John is right and we do scale up in the next couple years, whatever are we going to do with it all? http://farmdocdaily.illinois.edu/2013/02/ethanol-blend-wall-biodiesel-RFS.html They … Continue reading →

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4:15 PM | The blend wall and what we will do with all the cellulosic ethanol

While we’ve discussed production issues with cellulosic a bit on this site (here and here), if John is right and we do scale up in the next couple years, whatever are we going to do with it all? http://farmdocdaily.illinois.edu/2013/02/ethanol-blend-wall-biodiesel-RFS.html They … Continue reading →

February 21, 2013

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8:45 PM | Has biofuels led to major land use changes in the US?

And is the land that is being converted from grassland to corn and soy the “marginal land” that people take about growing dedicated bioenergy crops? A new article in PNAS this week seems to answer “yes” to both these questions. … Continue reading →

Wright, C. & Wimberly, M. (2013). Recent land use change in the Western Corn Belt threatens grasslands and wetlands, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1215404110

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February 07, 2013

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7:41 PM | updates on the court challenge to the RFS: minimal long-term impact

I like how this post by Judy Endres explains the recent court ruling “overturning part of the RFS”. The devil is in the details: Although the court rejected EPA’s approach favoring overestimation of projected cellulosic biofuel production, the RFS itself, … Continue reading →

February 05, 2013

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4:00 PM | The RFS- basket case, or just a few years ahead of it’s time?

When Congress established the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) through the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, one of the primary goals was to grow the fledgling cellulosic ethanol sector from laboratory scale up to an industry surpassing corn ethanol, via … Continue reading →

February 01, 2013

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5:49 PM | comparing original RFS volumes with revised volumes (some perspective)

Today the EPA released revised mandated amounts of biofuel to be blended under the RFS legislation. To put these numbers in perspective I have taken the original requirements for cellulosic in the 2007 law and compared to the revised amounts … Continue reading →

January 28, 2013

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4:00 PM | Colorado goes cellulosic!

Via Paul, and article in Biofuels Digest highlighting how our local corn ethanol plant (Front Range Energy in Windsor, CO) will soon be transitioning to cellulose-derived sugars for a fraction of its feedstock: http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2013/01/16/sugar-rush-sweetwater-front-range-ink-100m-cellulosic-biofuels-deal/ This is a very exciting development! … Continue reading →

December 13, 2012

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4:04 PM | thoughtful opinions on the major questions w/ the future of biofuels..

Some insightful and honest opinions about some of the major questions about the future of biofuels. Def worth the 5 min read.. http://www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2012/12/13/15-burning-questions-and-answers-for-biofuels-in-2013/

November 20, 2012

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5:00 PM | POET and DuPont prepare for commercialization…

On the heels of KiOR’s commercial production startup, POET announces more details about their commercial process, slated to begin in 2013. They have been buying corn cobs and corn stover from farmers for the past two seasons in preparation for this.. … Continue reading →

November 19, 2012

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5:00 PM | next gen biofuel feedstock also a noxious weed?

Sometimes we don’t always think about the weed potential when we are studying potential bioenergy feedstocks and “energy crops”.. Other things that are not mentioned alot are how susceptible to disease and pests these bioenergy crops may be when grown in monocultures.. … Continue reading →

November 05, 2012

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4:00 PM | Agrivida publishes details of engineered maize for biofuel

For biofuels to be economical, we will need some technology breakthroughs. In the US, the RFS is driving us to produce liquid fuel, usually with enzymes that convert sugars and starches in the biomass to ethanol or other liquid molecules … Continue reading →

Shen, B., Sun, X., Zuo, X., Shilling, T., Apgar, J., Ross, M., Bougri, O., Samoylov, V., Parker, M., Hancock, E. & Lucero, H. (2012). Engineering a thermoregulated intein-modified xylanase into maize for consolidated lignocellulosic biomass processing, Nature Biotechnology, DOI: 10.1038/nbt.2402

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August 14, 2012

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4:47 PM | Are blenders really paying $6.8 million fines for fuel that doesn’t exist?

In the last couple weeks I’ve seen several claims that fuel refiners are paying $6.8 million fines for “blending nonexistent cellulosic fuel”, and even filing a lawsuit against the EPA for this! Before I present all the details, I’ll get … Continue reading →

August 01, 2012

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3:01 PM | rice straw as the world’s bioenergy feedstock

This is a subject close to me – my Ph.D. research is focused on the potential of this resource as a bioenergy feedstock. What is it? Rice straw – what is left after collecting the rice grain from a crop. … Continue reading →

June 20, 2012

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4:27 PM | Agrivida and corn that grows its own enzymes to preprocess cellulosic materials

A company is starting field trials of some corn they engineered with enzymes that degrade the corn stover for cellulosic bioenergy: http://ethanolproducer.com/articles/8877/agrivida-launches-field-trials-to-test-modified-corn-stover What is so cool about this approach is the enzymes are not activated until the corn stover is … Continue reading →

June 05, 2012

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4:16 PM | the problem with dedicated bioenergy crops on degraded lands

Sometimes I find it hard to understand the aggressive funding in the US towards dedicated bioenergy crops – crops like switchgrass and miscanthus that proponents argue can be grown on degraded land (land that we wouldn’t be able to grow … Continue reading →

Shield, I., Barraclough, T., Riche, A. & Yates, N. (2012). The yield response of the energy crops switchgrass and reed canary grass to fertiliser applications when grown on a low productivity sandy soil, Biomass and Bioenergy, 42 86-96. DOI: 10.1016/j.biombioe.2012.03.017

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January 20, 2012

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11:22 PM | Researchers develop bacteria that can turn seaweed into ethanol

Beautiful description of the development of a strain of E. coli that can convert sugars in macroalgae (seaweed) into ethanol or other fuels: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6066/273.full

November 12, 2011

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2:04 PM | 2020 before cellulosic ethanol competes with corn grain?

While POET would probably disagree, this paper seems to support the recent NAC conclusion that biofuels have a long way to go, and so called second generation and advanced technologies have a REALLY long way to go. Are they the … Continue reading →

October 14, 2011

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4:28 PM | For biofuel crops, like any other crop, genetics matter!

Today I want to mention a couple recent developments on the bioenergy feedstock front. Specifically, these deal with engineering the genetics of a bioenergy crop with enhanced characteristics for bioenergy. First up, is switchgrass with a gene that prevents flowering … Continue reading →

August 18, 2011

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7:42 PM | CSU researchers receive DOE grant to study bioenergy feedstocks

Some more local news at Colorado State! My lab as part of a larger collaboration was awarded a pretty large DOE/USDA grant for translational research on bioenergy feedstocks. We’ll be using rice as both 1) a model for other grasses … Continue reading →

July 19, 2011

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1:57 PM | some potential for miscanthus as a bioenergy crop, while switchgrass loses again

So today I’m sharing a study completed by some researchers here at Colorado State University, along with some folks at UI Urbana-Champaign using the DAYCENT model. They basically asked what would happen if instead of using corn to make ethanol, we … Continue reading →

March 22, 2013

February 24, 2013

February 21, 2013

February 07, 2013

February 05, 2013

February 01, 2013

January 28, 2013

December 13, 2012

November 20, 2012

November 19, 2012

November 05, 2012

August 14, 2012

August 01, 2012

June 20, 2012

June 05, 2012

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November 12, 2011

October 14, 2011

August 18, 2011

July 19, 2011

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