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ONE NATION ETHANOL AWARENESS CAMPAIGN I TRULY BELIEVE ONLY AUST. FARMERS CAN BE TRUSTED TO BOTH. . . . “FOOD & FUEL THE NATION” EFFICIENTLY & ECONOMICALLY!! We cannot & must not let the oil companies take control of our emerging Bio-fuels Industry & thereby to also control the price of our food & daily needs as they do with their fossil fuels! Driving us into economic meltdown! TIME IS RUNNING OUT! OUR FARMERS HAVE THE GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO “FUEL & FEED US!!” BUT THEY MUST MAKE THEIR MOVE NOW OR U.S. COMPANIES LIKE ETHTEC; BIOENERGY & B.P. MONSANTO WILL CLOSE THE DOOR ON THEM! UPDATE (19) My sources: The American coalition for Ethanol, N.E.V.C (The U.S.A National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition) Underwriters Laboratories (U.L) gasket & seal authority’s certifiers) Greenfuel Algae Biodiesel, Algae-Link, Bio King Inc. Bio-Diesel Reactor Manufacturing & suppliers. Also Celebrated NASA Aerospace Engineer & President of Pioneer Astronautics research and development Robert Zubrin. Agriculture online.com. Successful Farming Magazine, Poet energy, Alico Energy LLC. Coskata energy. 5/ 8/ 08 This ISSUE Features: Cracking celluloses the dream is close at hand! General motors’ backs Coskata’FFVs’ & celluloses process, Timothy Charles Holmseth U.S. DOE say’s: Numbers don’t lie! The massive uncovered $33 billion Opec oil subsidies!! Carpet industry wastewater able to grow algae! U.S. now leading the world in biofuel production! Robert Zubrin to host Advanced Biofuels Workshop to be held in Minneapolis on Sept. 28-30 2008. Plus much more but first ... In my last issue I covered the latest in the Algae to Biodiesel progress. In this one I am pleased & privileged to mainly present the very latest research & info on the U.S. march ever closer to the amazing CELLULOSES PROCESS! Of course this goes also for the Algae Industry! Both Industries are moving ahead in bounds & have left all critics groping desperately for new & false propaganda in order to discourage our world class Farmers from taking control of this Industry as their U.S. cousins have!! It is their Industry & one that must be kept in their own hands & control!! Kevin Mitchell ALL OUR FARMERS TOGETHER WITH OTHER ICONIC COOPS, GOLDEN CIRCLE, DEVONDALE, BEGA CHEESE ETC; AS WELL AS THE MANY SUPPORTING AUST. OWNED INDUSTRIES CAN ALL BECOME MEMBERS OF AN AUST. CELULLOSIC WASTE & ALGAE BIOFUEL COOPERATIVE GIANT & NOT JUST CONTRACTORS TO THE FOREIGN OIL COMPANIES! More & more we are seeing many of our iconic industries like Arnotts, Vegimite, plus many other food & food processing industries etc; being taken over by foreign companies! It is time those left standing banded together to stop the rot! To shore up our Australian owned industries from foreign takeover & to expand them to a point of strength & communal National benefit! It is this that I see as the coming together of our own rural, manufacturing industries & services as the way to achieve this goal! Our potato growers in Tassi, our Citrus growers in the Borossa, our FNQ cane farmers etc; etc; all have waste! Some might say that my campaign is placing upon their shoulders a huge burden? I would say to them that these our world class farming Australians first & foremost deserve to be the privileged few once again entrusted to turn around our Nations lagging fortunes & its dive into recession! For in the process they will rightly stand to cash in on & control the Biofuel boom not just on their own initiative but as the U.S. farmers are indeed working hand in hand with all the locally owned supporting Industries, that have also become a part of their great cooperative successes! The revival of thousands of struggling Rural communities that were slowly dying & becoming ghost towns! Thus in doing so to lift the heavy burden off our Nations Citizens who are struggling to make ends meet because of greed & corruption by foreign Companies! In reality I ask? Who else can we trust & turn too to fix all after the betrayal of those we trusted to manage our countries wealth & who have betrayed that trust? To again fix it just as those great Australians did when it was said we “Rode home on the sheep’s back” to become the land of milk & honey rising to great financial & economical wealth & strength after two world wars, not to mention a great depression!! They did it then & if given the chance they can do it again, for as then the wealth they alone generated enabled Aust; to become one of the world’s great not just rural nations, but indeed a manufacturing giant!! Self sufficient in every way! But now it is a different scenario, due to successive un-Australian Govt. Policy of slash & burn into Globalization, we no longer have manufacturing industries that can save us, for they have all been destroyed leaving us prostrate to the world!! A world that we unbelievably must rely upon for 97% of our daily needs! So once again history repeats itself & it is up to the very Australians that Govt. policy though trying too, has not yet been able to completely destroy!! When the call came out from our politicians of yesterday, those like Hughes, Curtain & Chifley with substance & National pride not greed, our farmers stood to be counted! But now these hard working Aust. ranks are thin & drawn & in many cases mortgaged to the hilt, still once again I believe that the key to the return to our former glory as before rests solely on their broad & capable shoulders!! So no!! I do not think this idea is a burden upon them but indeed the light at the end of a very dark tunnel first for their own embattled Industry that has seen it systematically destroyed through GATS & Free Trade tariff deals they cannot compete with! While hundreds each week walk away from a lifetime of work! But now there’s hope? Cellulosic & Algae BIO-FUEL! But as the oil companies see it slipping away from their grasp at least in the States along with the blossoming Algae for Bio-Diesel in Spain & Holland, so they are spending billions to discourage not just our own but indeed the world’s farmers with lies & false figures! All the while they are secretly setting up their own bio fuel fortunes as they are here in Aust. with eight plants on the drawing board in NSW VIC & QLD!! They were all set to start building their grain feed plants that are soon to be outdated but suddenly along came the CELLULOSES & ALGAE process! So it was then back to the drawing board!! All this is in our Aust. Farmers best interest as I have been proclaiming over the past five years now where the window of opportunity is still open for them to emulate their U.S. cousins who now control through ACE & other cooperatives close to 60% of the U.S. ethanol Industry! So the ball is in their court where to follow those in the articles below that are current & up to date stories of their successes & their goals!! Goals being realized despite the oil company propaganda & lies!! Just how far ahead are the yanks while we still argue whether 10% will damage our engines or not?? You be the judge!! Kevin Mitchell. FIRST THIS NEXT AMAZING SUCCESS STORY SHOWS THE VERY VERSITILITY OF THE WASTE PROCESS! OUR WASTE IS THE SINGLE MOST PROLIFIC MATERIAL ON EARTH! BUT WE BURN & PLOUGH IT IN OR BURY IT TO LANDFILL! NOW I INCLUDE THIS AS JUST ONE EXAMPLE OF WHAT NOT JUST OUR GRAIN FARMERS CAN PARICIPATE IN BUT ALL AGRICULTURE! 2 Cracking cellulose Successful Farming magazine Business Editor Dan Looker 4/22/2008, 9:15 AM CD Cellulosic ethanol will be here sooner than you think, say some experts Thirty miles inland from Fort Meyers, Florida, stretches a 112,000-acre farm and ranch, Alico, Inc. It's a flat expanse of fields, savannas, cabbage palm, and cypress bogs on the verge of a bio-fuels revolution. The publicly traded land management firm in LaBelle, Florida, is diverse. Its cow herd was the nation's sixth largest until drought forced culling to 11,000 cows last year. It grows vegetables, 11,000 acres of citrus, 64 million start-up plants for commercial growers, and 14,000 acres of sugarcane. There is little its savvy owners don't sell, including hunting leases for deer, coyotes, and wild pigs. It even harvests alligators and their eggs Alico has something else -- enough biomass to produce 21 million gallons of ethanol a year. That's a reason its subsidiary, Alico Energy LLC, was the only farm among six companies picked by the Department of Energy for grants to jump-start cellulosic ethanol. The green rush is on Cellulose is the green version of the atom, with huge potential for liquid energy. The stuff of cell walls in plants, it accounts for a third of all the earth's plant material. It's made up of sugars, but unitl recently it's been expensive to unlock them. This year the race to crack cellulose is picking up. It began with KL Process Design Group becoming first to market cellulosic ethanol made from waste wood near the Black Hills. Left: The bagasse from sugarcane being harvested on the Florida farm of Alico, Inc. can be used for cellulosic ethanol. The farm may use energy cane, a low-sugar, high-cellulose type that's a better feedstock for fuel. The white birds are cattle egrets foraging for insects. Right: Consultant Craig Evans says this sugarcane trash, which is normally burned, could be turned into cellulosic ethanol (photos by Greg Latza, Dan Looker and Josh Sears). General Motors announced an investment in a high-tech cellulosic ethanol company, Coskata. Range Fuels is building a 20-million-gallon cellulosic ethanol plant in Soporton, Georgia. To John Alexander, the CEO of Alico, the decision to look into ethanol production was pragmatic. Alico management was looking for better profits from sugarcane. "The prices have been stationary for about 20 years, and the cost of growing it has intersected the price," Alexander says over lunch at the ranch's headquarters. Florida can’t cop Brazil. At first, Alico considered the Brazilian method of fermenting ethanol from cane sugar. It soon discovered an environmental problem -- 10 gallons of liquid waste, or vinasse, for every gallon of ethanol. "They dispose of it in ways that we cannot," Alexander continues. U.S. clean water laws and local protections of the Florida Everglades bar Alico from dumping vinasse with the help of consultant Craig Evans, Alico decided to use a completely different technology -- gasification. That approach uses high heat to turn energy cane (or anything with carbon) into mainly carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Those syngases go into a fermenter where patented microbes turn them into ethanol. Besides producing less waste, gasification offers the advantage of being able to use all of the energy cane. "Only one third of sugar cane goes to sugar," Evans says. The rest is leaves (currently burned off before cutting) and bagasse (what's left of cane after its sap is squeezed out). Unlike other companies chosen for DOE cellulosic grants, Alico isn't a technology company. This spring it was in the last stages of licensing gasification technology from Bioengineering Resources, Inc. of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Alico sees itself as a source and a gatherer of biomass for that process. It may use yard waste, citrus peel, and other sources in addition to energy cane. Evans estimates that within 100 miles of Alico are enough yard and agricultural wastes to make 100 million gallons of ethanol 3 Another way to break cellulose Far from the warmth and perpetual green of Florida, Mark Stowers is working on other ways to turn cellulose into fuel. As vice president for research and development for POET in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Stowers and a growing staff of researchers are looking for the best ways to break down corncobs and the fiber in corn kernels into fermentable sugars. A screen saver on Stowers' office computer shows astronaut Neil Armstrong standing on the moon. It reminds me every day that the challenge of cellulosic ethanol is not too dissimilar to the challenge of putting a man on the moon," Stowers says. He guides a visitor through labs and new labs under construction. In one, researchers Bill McDonald and Jason Kwiatkowski are doling out brownish-orange sludge from a thick metal container called a zipperclave. It has a faint sweet smell of molasses or silage. Stowers describes this as the crude oil of cellulosic ethanol. It's what you get after putting ground red corncobs into the zipperclave and treating them with pressure and chemicals. It's a mixture of sugars that can be fermented into ethanol with yeast or microbes. POET is testing more chemicals and enzymes that break cellulose into sugars. It's testing microbes for fermentation. "We're leaving no rock unturned," Stowers says. Even the way corncobs are stored and ground up can affect ethanol yield. So last fall, the company harvested 4,000 acres of cobs near Hurley, South Dakota, and carried out more than 100 storage experiments, says POET's CEO, Jeff Broin. "We need to understand how this affects the ethanol process." Next year, the company will start building a 25-million-gallon cellulosic ethanol plant next to its 100-million-gallon corn ethanol plant at Emmetsburg, Iowa. Right now, the cost of making ethanol from corncobs and indigestible corn fiber is about $1 per gallon more than corn ethanol. By the time the company starts up its cellulosic plant in 2011, it hopes to erase that difference. Unlike gasification, POET's use of chemicals and enzymes to make cellulosic ethanol does leave by-products. But those will provide energy for making grain ethanol, Stowers says. Merging cellulosic with grain ethanol makes both more efficient. With cellulose, POET expects to get 11% more ethanol from a bushel of corn and 27% more from an acre of corn while eliminating most of the fossil fuel used in the whole process. GM's bet on COSKATA Above left: POET researchers Bill McDonald (foreground) and Jason Kwiatkowski test methods for turning corncobs to sugars and ethanol. As a source of cellulose, cobs are twice as dense as stalks, says head of research Mark Stowers. "That really helps reduce truck traffic," he says. And leaving the stalks prevents erosion and maintains soil fertility. Right: Coskata's Mike Sura holds a bioreactor where microbes turn gases to ethanol. Another sign of a surge in cellulose is General Motors' stake in Coskata, an ethanol firm with its own expanding labs in a suburban office park in Warrenville, Illinois, outside Chicago. Unlike Alico and POET, it didn't get a DOE grant. But it has deep-pocket backing from Vinod Khosla. The founder of Sun Microsystems is a venture capitalist to several bioenergy firms, including Range Fuels. Until GM announced its backing, Coskata kept a low profile. "It was stealth. We already have 16 patents granted or in process," says Wes Bolsen, Coskata's chief marketing officer. "GM had their research and development team in here for seven months." After looking at about a dozen firms, it picked Coskata. 4 Like Alico, Coskata chose to use gasification. And like most ethanol makers, it borrowed some technology. To gasify biomass, it will use a plasma torch developed by Westinghouse 40 years ago to test space capsule heat shields for NASA. It has licensed microbes from Oklahoma and Oklahoma State Universities that are efficient at turning carbon monoxide and hydrogen into ethanol. Yet it has 28 Ph.D.s looking for improvements. The microbes make just a three- to four-percent ethanol solution from syngases. In one lab, researchers plunge their hands into rubber gloves to check cultures of even more efficient bugs that are growing in an oxygen-free chamber. In another lab, design engineer Mike Sura holds up a clear plastic tube filled with hollow fibers. It's a key step, where microbes feed on gases moving through the fibers, releasing ethanol into water in the tube. Other membranes then separate the ethanol from water. Economics, efficiency gaining. The tube, called a hollow fiber membrane, is used today to purify water. But Coskata is patenting its new use for making ethanol. Altogether, Coskata's innovative process will generate up to 7.7 times the energy put into it and will cut carbon dioxide emissions up to 84% compared to gasoline, says an analysis by Argonne National Laboratory. Coskata says it can make ethanol for $1 a gallon, based on a current $50-a-ton price of wood biomass. "Ultimately, some of the energy crops could come in lower than that," says Coskata's CEO, Bill Roe.The company plans a 40,000-gallon test plant this year. It expects to ramp up to 50 to 100 million gallons by 2011. It has partnered with ethanol plant builder ICM and hopes to one day own and license more plants. Cellulosic ethanol once seemed a distant dream. That's no longer the belief of industry leaders such as Bob Dinneen, head of the Renewable Fuels Association. "As the industry has grown and new capital has come into it, new intellectual capital has come in as well," he says. "I think you're going to see commercialization of cellulosic ethanol real soon." THE FOLLOWING IS FROM BIOMASS MAGAZINE!! DO NOT DARE TO TELL ME OUR FARMERS CANNOT BE IN THIS POSITION THAT U.S. FARMERS ARE RIGHT NOW!! From the July 2008 Issue ‘Sustainability’ the watchword at BIO event By Jerry W. Kram Farmers can produce both food and fuel for the world, according speakers at the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing held in Chicago in late April. The overall message from the meeting was that biotechnology is the key to meeting the world’s rising demand for food and alternative fuels by boosting agricultural production, producing biofuels from energy crops and increasing the efficiency of biofuel production. Jeff Broin, cofounder and chief executive officer of Poet LLC, said biofuels provide incentives to increase agricultural production around the world. “Farmers, in addition to harvesting a crop for food and fuel, can harvest biomass,” he said. “We see advancements that are significantly increasing productivity and yields. Farmland around the world that has sat unproductive for decades—and I’m not talking about rainforests— can now be used for food and fuel.” Also at the conference, John Heissenbuttel of Heissenbuttel Natural Resource Consulting announced the launching of a new industry initiative to ensure that advanced biofuels are produced in a sustainable manner. The goal of the Council for Sustainable Biomass Production is to establish voluntary industry standards that will ensure the growth and harvest of cellulosic biomass “in a sustainable manner, balancing economic, environmental and social imperatives.” BIO presented the inaugural George Washington Carver Award to Patrick Gruber for his work in creating and commercializing a new plastic made from renewable resources. As vice president and chief technology officer of Cargill Dow LLC and NatureWorks LLC from 1997 to 2005, Gruber spearheaded the introduction 5 of NatureWorks PLA plastic and Ingeo fibers. He is currently CEO of Gevo Inc., a company creating renewable, cost-effective alternatives to fossil fuels and chemicals. A George Washington Carver scholarship will be given in Gruber’s name to Iowa State University. The award is sponsored by Biowa and the Iowa Biotechnology Association. Advanced Biofuels Workshop to feature author Zubrin By Jerry W. Kram Leading-edge speakers and topics will be the focus of BBI International Inc.'s Advanced Biofuels Workshop & Trade Show to be held Sept. 28-30 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Because the federal renewable fuels standard requires that 21 billion gallons of advanced biofuels be consumed by 2022, the event will address where and how these biofuels will be produced and marketed. Robert Zubrin, author of Energy Victory: Winning the War on Terror by Breaking Free of Oil, will be the keynote speaker at the workshop. In his book, Zubrin shows how the United States could be using money spent on fuel to help domestic and international farmers instead of sending it to countries with ties to terrorism. He will offer a new vision of how switching to alcohol-based fuels could help safeguard homeland security, and provide solutions for global warming and third-world development. Leading companies in the biochemical and thermochemical conversion of biomass into fuel are invited to present how they have brought their technologies to the edge of commercial viability. Breakout sessions will also address managing feedstock logistics, future feedstock options, markets for advanced biofuels and biofuels technologies of the future. The workshop is aimed at giving investors, project developers, engineering companies, technology providers, feedstock suppliers and policymakers an opportunity to examine leading-edge biofuel technologies. Robert Zubrin, author of Energy Victory: Winning the War on Terror by Breaking Free of Oil, will be the keynote speaker at the Advanced Biofuels Workshop to be held in Minneapolis on Sept. 28-30. THE FOLLOWING STORY GOES TO SHOW US JUST ANOTHER OF OUR POTENTIAL USES FOR A REALY NASTY CHEMICAL WASTE! ONE MORE REASON TO EMBRACE ALGAE TO BIODIESEL! From the August 2008 Issue Carpet industry wastewater able to grow algae By Ryan C. Christiansen Web exclusive posted July 29, 2008 at 2:20 p.m. CST Nitrogen, phosphorous and other nutrients that are present in carpet industry wastewater may provide a 6 perfect environment for growing algae, according to researchers in the University of Georgia Biorefining and Carbon Cycling Program. They are examining whether that wastewater, which is plentiful in nearby Dalton, Ga., can be leveraged to grow oil-producing algae, which would ultimately be used as a feedstock for biodiesel production, according to Senthil Chinnasamy, postdoctoral research associate in the biological and agricultural engineering department at the university. Chinnasamy said the carpet industry in Dalton, a city which has been dubbed “The Carpet Capital of the World,” produces 30 million to 35 million gallons of wastewater daily. During the past year, university researchers have been working with the local power company Dalton Utilities to assess the potential for using treated and raw wastewater from the utility to cultivate microalgae as feedstock for biodiesel. Using wastewater samples from the utility, Chinnasamy and his colleagues have been isolating natural strains of microalgae from the wastewater to look for microorganisms that have good biomass, lipid, and carbohydrate production potential. Those microorganisms are then grown in a mixed culture. Initial research indicates that the carpet industry wastewater is a good candidate for being used in feedstock production for biodiesel, Chinnasamy said. The next step for university researchers is to conduct a study using a pilot-scale facility with a total capacity of 5,000 liters and algae bioreactors to produce a minimum of two pounds of dry algal biomass per day. The researchers will also look at the potential for using other industrial and agricultural wastewaters for algae production. From the September 2008 Issue Adkins Energy, EPIC Team Up By Timothy Charles Holmseth With the price of gasoline rising and no end to this trend in sight, consumers may be considering trading in large gas-guzzling vehicles for smaller, more economically friendly ones. Flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs) are one option that Adkins Energy LLC and the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council want consumers to know more about. To help educate consumers about E85 and FFVs, the 43 MMgy ethanol plant in Lena, Ill., and EPIC recently teamed up to organize a promotion consisting of information, incentives, contests, golfing and pizza that aims to educate consumers around Lena about ethanol, engines and what their best vehicle options are. EPIC also invited eight local auto dealerships to participate, representing General Motors, Ford and Dodge, along with several used vehicle lots. The promotion began May 1 and at press time was slated to end July 31. Michelle Gibilisco, promotions and inventory specialist for EPIC, says the campaign was designed to get information to car dealerships that sell FFVs and consumers who buy FFVs. “The goal was to educate everybody on every level so they knew where they could find [ethanol] and get the information they needed," she says. EPIC recognized that FFV purchases start at the dealerships. “We created a quick sales guy reference,” Gibilisco says. “[We prepared information] so [the salespeople] could have it there at their desks. When customers were asking questions, they could just look it up.” The decision to purchase a new vehicle is not a small one, she points out. “When you buy your Sony plasma TV, you’re going to research it before you buy it because you’re making a large purchase and you don’t want to make the wrong decision,” she says. “If consumers knew more about [FFVs], they will be more likely to purchase that car.” AFTER 25 YEARS THE U.S. & NOT BRAZIL NOW LEADS THE WORLD IN BIOFUELS! WE HAVE THE GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN FROM THEIR MISTAKES! TO START AT THE TOP FIRST! 7 From the August 2008 Issue of Ethanol Producer Magazine Report: U.S. leads biofuels production By Ryan C. Christiansen Web exclusive posted August 4, 2008 at 10:20 a.m. CST According to a new report, the United States will continue to lead the world in the production of biofuels, especially ethanol, through 2017. The report, titled “U.S. Biofuel Market Analysis,” was produced by RNCOS, a market research and information analysis company in Delhi, India. In recent years, U.S. ethanol production has reached 4.9 billion gallons per year in 2006, an increase of 1 billion gallons over 2005. According to the report, the United States will continue to grow in ethanol production capacity due to rising domestic demand for the fuel, continued support from the federal government in the renewable fuels standard (RFS) policy, an increase in the number of new ethanol plants and projects, and the expansion of existing plant operations. As well, increasing concern about feedstock prices “has opened a smooth growth path” for cellulosic ethanol projects, the report said. While ethanol production will continue to thrive, U.S. biodiesel production will require new technologies for producing the fuel and stronger support from the federal government if it is to continue to grow, according to the report. Ultimately, however, the report said biodiesel prices will decline and the United States will see an increase in commercial usage of the fuel through 2015. NEXT GMC IT SEEMS HAS COMMITTED ITSELF TO A BIOFUEL FUTURE! ALREADY IT PRODUCES A RANGE OF FFV’S ABLE TO RUN ON ALL BLENDS OF ETHANOL Experts discuss biomass-based ethanol future By Kris Bevill Web exclusive posted August 4, 2008 at 10:41 a.m. CST General Motors Corp., the largest auto manufacturer in the world, hosted a “biofuel backgrounder” in Thousand Oaks, Calif., on July 31, offering attendees insight from experts specializing in the various areas of biomass-based biofuels production. The day-long event, held at Ceres Inc. headquarters in Thousand Oaks, Calif., included a tour of Ceres’ genomics laboratory and presentations by Ceres President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Hamilton, Mascoma Corp. co-founder Charles Wyman, BlueFire Ethanol President Arnold Klann and GM Technical Fellow Candace Wheeler. GM has a vested interest in the future of biofuels. The automaker recently invested unspecified amounts in start-up cellulosic ethanol producers Coskata Inc. and Mascoma, and is planning to expand its line of flexfuel vehicles from 11 to 18 models in 2009. As part of her work at GM, Wheeler has focused the past 12 years on sustainable transportation. She told the attendees that in her viewpoint, “biomass is critical” and that GM believes biofuels, in particular E85, offer the most significant near-term solution for energy independence. She added that despite GM’s recent cutbacks, the company remains committed to its “advanced technology strategy”, which begins with biofuels and advances towards a greater use of hydrogen and electricity. Hamilton spoke at length on the work being done at Ceres to create the “perfect” energy crop. “Agriculture is not perfect, so we should be trying to get better at it,” he said, adding that the concept of agriculture is a recent phenomenon, created by humans. Hamilton believes the company is getting close to that perfect crop and Ceres will be offering three varietals of switchgrass seed for sale this fall. Ethanol Producer Magazine 8 will be featuring a closer look at Ceres in its October issue. Klann and Wyman presented overviews of their individual company’s processes to produce ethanol from biomass feedstocks. While BlueFire Ethanol is focused on utilizing municipal solid waste as its primary feedstock, Mascoma is working on the use of wood waste and other agricultural residues. Both companies have made recent advancements toward building commercial-scale cellulosic facilities. Mascoma, which is planning for its first 40 MMgy cellulosic facility that will be built in Michigan, announced in early July it has partnered with Michigan companies for feedstock and that state legislation had been passed which will result in additional financial incentives for Mascoma. The company expects the Michigan facility to be operational in 2012. Last week, Los Angeles County unanimously voted to allow permits for BlueFire to proceed with its plan to construct and operate a 3.2 MMgy cellulosic ethanol facility near Lancaster, Calif. Klann expects the plant, which will be colocated with a municipal landfill, to be operation in late 2009. The company also just received its first installment of a U.S. DOE grant it was awarded last year for the development of a commercial-scale facility in Southern California and also signed an agreement with Amalgamated Research Inc. for the use of its concentrated sulfuric acid and simple sugar separation technology. Despite all the recent advancements, Klann and Wyman agreed that financing remains the largest hurdle for cellulosic ethanol companies. No financial institution wants to be the support behind the first of any kind of technology, said Klann. “They all want to be the first to finance the second plant.” WASTE TO ENERGY 2008 CONFERENCE COMING UP IN EUROPE This is where the industry meets! "waste to energy" is all about waste as a resource, biofuels, economical plant operation, and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. For the fourth time in 2008, Europe's leading trade show for energy from waste and biomass opens its doors. More than 160 exhibitors and 2,000 delegates from around the world are expected to come to Bremen. The technology showcase in the exhibit hall presents state-of-the art machinery, engineering and services for the generation of power, heat and mobility from waste materials and renewable resources. The conference offers hands-on information on new technologies, strategies for plant optimization, news from the lab, and much more. As an exhibitor at "waste to energy" you present yourself in the right environment. This is where you meet your customers and keep an eye on your competitors. As a visitor you will find the exhibition and conference a highly competent, time-saving resource of product information, industry intelligence and networking opportunities. Partner Country USA! The United States have been selected the partner country for the 2008 "waste to energy". On the show floor, vendors and research labs from the US showcase their technologies and developments in a special area. At the conference, one focus is on the American market, government programs and private enterprise projects. Numbers Don’t Lie By Timothy Charles Holmseth Ethanol Producer.com On June 12, the average price of gasoline at the pump was $4 per gallon. Many Americans understand the age-old adage that “nothing is so bad that it couldn’t get worse.” So although $4 gas is bad news, the prices could be higher and the situation worse. According to the U.S. DOE, the price of gas could be as much as $4.35 per gallon under different circumstances. So what’s keeping the extra 35 cents off each gallon of gas at the pump? According to the DOE, it’s biofuels. The department says that without biofuels—ethanol in particular—gasoline prices would be 20 to 9 35 cents higher. In a letter sent to U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, by Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman and Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer, the secretaries concurred that biofuels are moderating gasoline prices. Statistics from the DOE reveal that for a typical household, the average savings being realized annually is $150 to $300. The overall significance of biofuels to the United States is laid out in the letter’s statistics that say the country has seen a $28 billion to $49 billion savings based on an annual gasoline consumption of roughly 140 billion gallons. A study conducted by Xiaodong Du, research assistant at the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development at Iowa State University, and Dermot Hayes, professor at ISU’s Department of Economics, shows similar numbers compared with those quoted by the DOE. “Estimation results show that over the period of 1995 to 2007, ethanol production had a significant negative effect of 29 to 40 cents per gallon on retail gasoline prices,” the study summary says. “The results suggest that this reduction in gasoline prices came at the expense of refiners’ profits. These results are statistically significant across a range of model specifications and across all regions.” The study also states, “The availability of ethanol essentially increased the capacity of the U.S. refinery industry and in doing so prevented some of the dramatic price increases often associated with an industry operating at close to capacity.” The ISU study concluded: “Had we not had ethanol, it seems likely that the crude-oil refining industry would be slightly larger today than it actually is, and in the absence of this additional crude oil refining capacity, the impact of eliminating ethanol would be extreme.” The ISU study can be viewed at www.card.iastate.edu/publications/DBS/PDFFiles/08wp467.pdf. The “E” stickers on gas nozzles at many gas stations nationwide indicate the percentage of ethanol mixed with the gasoline (i.e., E10, E85). Everyone in the ethanol industry knows that if you remove that percentage of ethanol from the gasoline, more gasoline is required. It could just as well stand for Easy-to-understand. From the August 2008 Issue SOUTH CAROLINA PASSES LAW TO PROTECT SPLASH BLENDING OF E10 POSTED: JUN 27, 2008 A new law has been passed in South Carolina requiring oil companies to offer unblended gasoline in addition to pre-blended E10, thereby protecting independent marketers' ability to purchase ethanol and gasoline separately and pass along the ethanol savings and tax credit beyond the refiner. "We want to stop the big oil takeover of ethanol," Ron Lamberty, ACE Vice President / Market Development notes in an interview with the Associated Press. "We need an independent product to keep the refiners honest." Read the entire AP article here: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hmEcp6fChJI0XNEVIVB5cKC3FrUwD91I2LOG1 NEW REPORT DETAILS THE $33 BILLION IN SUBSIDIES BIG OIL WLL RECEIVE OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS POSTED: JUL 31, 2008 A report released by the Friends of the Earth organization is urging Congress to remove the tax benefits, royalty relief, research and development subsidies that the major oil companies are currently getting. Their analysis shows that Big Oil is slated to get nearly 33 billion dollars in taxpayer handouts over the next five years. The report also breaks down how much and why the oil companies are getting the fiscal breaks in the time of nearly four dollar a gallon gas. You can read the full report here. American households are paying $83 a week for gas, up 335% since 2002. Food prices are up also, but only 23% in the last five years. read more 10 "Ethanol is one of the most compelling American success stories of our lifetime. With its benefits for America's agriculture, economy, environment, and the nation's quest for energy independence, ethanol is reshaping the way we approach America's energy supply. It is imperative that ethanol's story be told, and the Ethanol Fact Book is a key component in the industry's efforts to communicate this message," said Brian Jennings, ACE Executive Vice President. American Coalition for Ethanol Finally whilst awaiting for a date to be set for a return meeting with Tamworth farmers & hopefully sitting Federal member Tony Windsor, it seems I may also be asked to travel to W.A. at the request of the W.A. Dept. Agriculture if discussions with relevant interested parties are fruitful! This will be a giant step in my campaign & one that could see the ball finally rolling on its way. I will keep you all informed of both dates if & when they eventuate. Kevin Mitchell Coordinator One Nation NSW Farmer Ethanol Awareness Campaign 11