Panda sells Hereford ethanol plant

Panda Ethanol's Hereford facility which filed for bankruptcy in January, has been sold for $25 million to it's creditors. The plant is in the final stages of construction.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas-Dallas Division finalized the sale of the plant to senior lenders of the company for $25 million in credit.

The sale price represents about 12% of the cost to construct the plant.

Source : Amarillo.com

American Coalition For Ethanol's E15 Petition

The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) has set up an online petition to show support for raising the ethanol content in gasoline to 15%.

A waiver is being considered at the U.S. EPA to allow up to 15 percent ethanol per gallon of gasoline, raising the now 30-year-old limit on having only 10 percent ethanol per gallon. ACE wants to gather as many signatures as possible to demonstrate to Congress, the White House, EPA, and the media that Americans want more ethanol.

Please help demonstrate America's grassroots support for ethanol by signing the petition today.

E15 Petition

Producing Ethanol And Cleaning Waste With Duckweed

Researchers at North Carolina State University have found that a tiny aquatic plant can be used to clean up animal waste at industrial hog farms and potentially be part of the answer for the global energy crisis. Their research shows that growing duckweed on hog wastewater can produce five to six times more starch per acre than corn, according to researcher Dr. Jay Cheng. This means that ethanol production using duckweed could be "faster and cheaper than from corn," says fellow researcher Dr. Anne-Marie Stomp.

"We can kill two birds – biofuel production and wastewater treatment – with one stone – duckweed," Cheng says. Starch from duckweed can be readily converted into ethanol using the same facilities currently used for corn, Cheng adds.

Large-scale hog farms manage their animal waste by storing it in large "lagoons" for biological treatment. Duckweed utilizes the nutrients in the wastewater for growth, thus capturing these nutrients and preventing their release into the environment. In other words, Cheng says, "Duckweed could be an environmentally friendly, economically viable feedstock for ethanol."

Source : NCSU Press Release

Congressional Budget Office Studies Ethanol's Contribution To Last Years Food Price Increases

The Congressional Budget Office has just released a report on ethanol's contribution to last years food price increases.

CBO estimates that from April 2007 to April 2008, the rise in the price of corn resulting from expanded production of ethanol contributed between 0.5 and 0.8 percentage points of the 5.1 percent increase in food prices measured by the consumer price index (CPI). Over the same period, certain other factors—for example, higher energy costs—had a greater effect on food prices than did the use of ethanol as a motor fuel.

So they concluded that ethanol was responsible for 10 to 15 percent of the overall increase in food prices during the period studied. The other 85 to 90 percent of the overall increase came from other factors, such as increased energy costs, the strength of the dollar and increases global consumption of meat.

Source : The Impact of Ethanol Use on Food Prices and Greenhouse-Gas Emissions (PDF)

January Biodiesel Production Falls Sharply

January biodiesel production fell sharply to about 33.4 million gallons, the lowest monthly total since April 2007.

January 2009 - 33,394,510 gallons
December 2008 - 48,584,837 gallons
November 2008 - 62,218,170 gallons
October 2008 - 61,718,000 gallons
September 2008 - 64,134,000 gallons
August 2008 - 66,696,000 gallons
July 2008 - 67,410,000 gallons
June 2008 - 63,378,000 gallons
May 2008 - 52,500,000 gallons
April 2008 - 52,836,000 gallons
March 2008 - 49,056,000 gallons
February 2008 - 43,260,000 gallons
January 2008 - 50,736,000 gallons

2007 - 489,804,000 gallons

Source : U.S. Census Bureau

Senators Harkin, Thune, Johnson Introduce Legislation To Promote Biofuel Pipelines

April 3rd, 2009 - Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), John Thune (R-SD) and Tim Johnson (D-SD) today introduced legislation that authorizes loan guarantees for the construction of renewable fuel pipeline projects. While the Midwest and Plains states produce the majority of the biofuels in the United States, the nation is currently lacking the infrastructure to efficiently transport these liquid fuels to population centers in the East and elsewhere. This bill will address this issue by encouraging the construction and use of pipelines which can easily transport these fuels in a clean, safe and cost efficient manner.

"We must seize control of our energy future and take major steps towards the use of clean, renewable home-grown sources of energy," said Harkin. "Promoting the planning and development of projects that transport renewable fuels efficiently and inexpensively helps enlarge the market for biofuels like ethanol, reduces our dependence on foreign fuels and will provide good construction jobs."

"Pipelines are the safest, most reliable, and cost effective way to move biofuels from the areas they are produced to the markets where they are consumed," said Thune. "These pipelines will reduce energy costs across the country as well as create an estimated 25 jobs for every $1 million of construction. Access to ethanol-dedicated pipelines will benefit both consumers and the ethanol industry for years to come."

"Many experts believe that a pipeline network to transport biofuels is necessary to achieve the aggressive renewable fuel requirements. But limited transportation options of truck, rail and barge will only get us so far. Pipelines are necessary to get this fuel moving to where the people are. These loan guarantees will spur pipeline development and help create new jobs and lower our dependence on foreign sources of energy," said Johnson.

When compared to other forms of biofuel transportation, pipelines have the lowest energy input requirements and produce the least amount of carbon emissions. In fact, pipelines produce 30 percent less emissions than railcars and 87 percent less than trucks. Pipeline transport of biofuels is also safer than using trucks or trains. In addition to these efficiency and safety advantages, it is estimated that the construction projects related to the renewable fuel pipelines will create up to 25,000 jobs nationally.

January Ethanol Production Drops

January ethanol production dropped to just over 820 million gallons, the lowest level since September of last year.

Ethanol Production Numbers in Gallons
	Production	Imports	Stocks	Consumption
January 2009	820,890,000	15,582,000	595,812,000	837,858,000
December 2008	854,364,000	19,446,000	597,198,000	916,146,000
November 2008	842,268,000	11,676,000	639,534,000	852,474,000
October 2008	842,016,000	25,830,000	638,064,000	901,530,000
September 2008	806,274,000	103,572,000	671,748,000	863,142,000
August 2008	842,478,000	81,102,000	625,044,000	852,348,000
July 2008	799,764,000	57,120,000	553,812,000	819,840,000
June 2008	736,848,000	65,982,000	516,768,000	791,910,000
May 2008	778,806,000	36,372,000	505,848,000	793,968,000
April 2008	708,456,000	60,942,000	484,638,000	763,182,000
March 2008	730,674,000	15,456,000	478,422,000	707,238,000
February 2008	631,050,000	20,286,000	439,530,000	660,114,000
January 2008	664,356,000	20,790,000	448,308,000	679,308,000

Source: - Energy Information Administration

E85 Stations Finish March At 1990

The number of E85 stations across the country continues to grow reaching 1990 by the end of March. For the month 21 new locations were added.

April 1 2009 - 1990
March 1, 2009 - 1969
February 1, 2009 - 1927
January 1, 2009 - 1899
December 1, 2008 - 1868
November 1, 2008 - 1837
October 1, 2008 - 1782
September 1, 2008 - 1743
August 1, 2008 - 1663
July 1, 2008 - 1627
June 1, 2008 - 1579
May 1, 2008 - 1560
April 1, 2008 - 1521
March 1, 2008 - 1501
February 1, 2008 - 1475
November 9, 2007 - 1378
May 7, 2007 - 1200

The current number plus the locations of all E85 stations can be found at the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition.