[Tanada]

What kind of progress would we make if the Government wasn't so bloated that it gets in its own way? Not just in alternate liquid fuels, in wind power, nuclear power, pretty much anything you name in the energy sector.

[Pops]

The problem with the EFS is basically that .gov bought into the cellulosic hype and set a minimum that couldn't be met, probably read too many of G's P2RPR postings.
LOL
(Instead of pleas to authority, these are pleas to Public Relations Press Releases - P2PRPR)

[Graeme]

The Obama administration has found an unlikely ally in OPEC

The Obama administration has found an unlikely ally in its efforts to keep pushing more biofuel into the nation’s gasoline supply: OPEC.

The lowest oil prices in over six years have fuelled a resurgence in U.S. gasoline use in recent months as more Americans take to the road.

Demand is expected to climb 1.5 per cent this year to nearly 139 billion gallons (526 billion litres) according to the government’s most recent forecasts, enough to easily accommodate small increases in ethanol quotas without breaching the so-called “blend wall” that refiners say puts a cap on blending at around 10 per cent of total gasoline and diesel supply.

It may be even higher, based on data from the first quarter, when gasoline use surged by more than 3 per cent, the fastest in over a decade.

Those calculations help explain why biofuel backers are up in arms over the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed renewable fuel goals unveiled on Friday, which reaffirmed the agency’s stance that ethanol use in fuel has hit a saturation point until more infrastructure and equipment is installed.

businessinsider

USDA to invest up to $100M to boost infrastructure for renewable fuel use; seeks to double number of higher blend ethanol fuel pumps

[Graeme]

Revolutionary microbe for biofuel production developed

Biofuels pioneer Mascoma LLC and the Department of Energy's BioEnergy Science Center have developed a revolutionary strain of yeast that could help significantly accelerate the development of biofuels from nonfood plant matter.

The approach could provide a pathway to eventual expansion of biofuels production beyond the current output limited to ethanol derived from corn.

C5 FUEL™, engineered by researchers at Mascoma and BESC, features fermentation and ethanol yields that set a new standard for conversion of biomass sugars from pretreated corn stover -- the non-edible portion of corn crops such as the stalk -- converting up to 97 percent of the plant sugars into fuel.

Researchers announced that while conventional yeast leaves more than one-third of the biomass sugars unused in the form of xylose, Mascoma's C5 FUEL™ efficiently converts this xylose into ethanol, and it accomplishes this feat in less than 48 hours. The finding was presented today at the 31st International Fuel Ethanol Workshop in Minneapolis.

sciencedaily

[isgota]

Cellulosic continues to be a diversion. All the schemes depend on the invention of genetically modified super-organism that will magically expel a super-enzyme to break apart the lignin glue and long-chain cellulose molecules . . . at no or little energy cost. Don't you think the paper industry would be interested? The liquor industry?

I don't think they'll be interested.

If you put that super-enzyme in cellulose you'll convert all to glucose, no cellulose, no paper, bad idea. And liquors depend a lot of the feedstock source for public acceptance, I don't think corn stover whiskey will have much appeal for consumers.

[isgota]

Cellulosic ethanol commercialization is the process of building an industry out of methods of turning cellulose-containing organic matter into fuel. Companies such as Iogen, POET, and Abengoa are building refineries that can process biomass and turn it into ethanol, while companies such as DuPont, Diversa, Novozymes, and Dyadic are producing enzymes which could enable a cellulosic ethanol future. The shift from food crop feedstocks to waste residues and native grasses offers significant opportunities for a range of players, from farmers to biotechnology firms, and from project developers to investors.[91]

I doubt any of these companies exists anymore or is involved in the production of cellulose fuel. The damn scam tanked (pun intended) years ago.

Actually, all of them have or are finishing building cellulosic ethanol plants at comercial scale with the exception perhaps of Diversa (now Verenium) that don't look very active in biofuels lately.

[isgota]

Pretending something does not exist does not make it cease to exist.

I never said cellulosic doesn't exist.

The French chemist, Henri Braconnot, was the first to discover that cellulose could be hydrolyzed into sugars by treatment with sulfuric acid in 1819. The hydrolyzed sugar could then be processed to form ethanol through fermentation. The first commercialized ethanol production began in Germany in 1898, where acid was used to hydrolyze cellulose.

So it is a simple process that has not changed in almost 200 years. Problem is; it is a very energy-intensive process that will always cost more than petroleum. Always. Like duh.

Yeah, because sulfuric acid and modern enzymes have a lot in common

Just an example, take a look of the evolution in Novozymes since 2009:



In hemicellulose as well:

[Tanada]

Stumbled across something interesting while researching home Kefir brewing. One of the strains of yeast that make up the complex set of yeasts and bacteria used in Kefir brewing specializes in converting Lactose/Galactose into Ethanol. Most yeasts can only digest single sugar compounds (Glucose, Fructose, Galactose) but not disaccharides like Sucrose or Lactose made up from them. The yeast strain Kluyveromyces marxianus however specializes in breaking down the Galactose half of Lactose freeing up the Glucose half for energy and releasing an Ethanol molecule from the broken down Galactose.

Lactose is the sugar that naturally occurs in Milk and millions of gallons of Whey byproduct produced in the process of making cheese average 4.5% Lactose dissolved in the liquid. Testing in 2013 with Kluyveromyces marxianus demonstrated a high efficiency at converting Lactose in Whey byproduct into Ethanol. The resulting material contained 8.64 g/L Ethanol and 3.122 g/L Lactose residue after just 16 hours of fermentation. For comparison 4.0 Beer sold in the USA has about 32 g/L ethanol so the resulting liquid is about 1 percent Ethanol.

Conclusions
The yeast was able to metabolize most of the
lactose within 16 h to give 8.64 g/L ethanol, 4.43
g/L biomass, and remain the 3.122 g/L residual
lactose

http://www.researchgate.net/profile/H_H ... 000000.pdf

[ROCKMAN]

Speaking of US LNG that isn't being exported to Europe: old news from last March but just stumbled on to it. It wasn't "natural gas" that was exported...IOW not methane but ethane. Might not sound much different but ethane, as a component of manufacturing processes, is more valuable then methane. Thus the theory that METHANE exported from the US shale plays is going to keep our cousins warm (and less dependent on Russian methane imports) didn't actually start out as such:

"The INEOS Intrepid today left the Marcus Hook terminal near Philadelphia bound for Rafnes in Norway carrying 27,500m3 of US shale gas ethane. This is the first time that US shale gas (no...shale ethane) has ever been shipped to Europe and represents the culmination of a long-term investment by INEOS. Jim Ratcliffe, chairman and founder of INEOS, says, “This is an important day for INEOS and Europe. We know that shale gas economics revitalised US manufacturing and for the first time Europe can access this important energy and raw material source too”

This is the first time that US shale gas has ever been imported into Europe and finally gives the continent the chance to benefit from US shale gas economics which did so much to revitalise manufacturing in the USA."

BTW the US has been exporting increasing amounts of ETHANE to other countries since late 2014. The shipment from Marcus Hook is not the first exports of ethane or LNG to anyone as one might assume from the headlines.

IOW we shipped LPG and not LNG across the Big Pond. That one different letter makes a huge difference in the market and end use: "With the recently completed Enterprise’s terminal expansion, total US LPG export capacity is at 1.045 million b/d. With strong production growth in the US and flat demand in Europe and the Americas, US LPG is increasingly reaching distant markets like Asia. Additionally, US ethane will also fulfill global demand as the first cargo of US ethane is set to leave this March from Sunoco’s Marcus Hook export facility in Pennsylvania. Sunoco’s 70,000 b/d Marcus Hook terminal in Pennsylvania and Enterprise’s 200,000 b/d Morgan’s Point terminal in Texas will serve to satisfy export demand, currently contracted to Europe and India."

[AdamB]

OK, can we please stop pretending biofuel made from corn is helping the planet and the environment? The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released two of its Working Group reports at the end of last month (WGI and WGIII), and their short discussion of biofuels has ignited a fierce debate as to whether they’re of any environmental benefit at all. The IPCC was quite diplomatic in its discussion, saying “Biofuels have direct, fuel‐cycle GHG emissions that are typically 30–90% lower than those for gasoline or diesel fuels. However, since for some biofuels indirect emissions—including from land use change—can lead to greater total emissions than when using petroleum products, policy support needs to be considered on a case by case basis” (IPCC 2014 Chapter . In 2013 the U.S. used 4.7 billion bushels of corn (40% of the harvest) to produce over

It’s Final — Corn Ethanol Is Of No Use

[Tanada]

DuPont Industrial Biosciences has announced the launch of Synerxia Thrive Fermentation System, the newest innovation in the company’s synergistic fermentation system technologies. The new fermentation system will deliver higher ethanol yields, incomparable robustness during thermal excursions and improved performance.

“With the new DuPont Synerxia Thirve Fermentation System, ethanol producers can now expect up to 4 percent higher ethanol yields in dry grind fuel alcohol facilities, when compared to conventional systems,” said Joseph DeSalvo, North America regional industry leader, DuPont Industrial Biosciences. “Synerxia Thrive is the result of a multiyear investment in yeast technologies focused on improving performance in ethanol fermentation to deliver increased value to our customers.”

DuPont Synerxia Thrive Fermentation System consists of a new active dry yeast (ADY), Synerxia Thrive ADY and Synerxia Thrive LC, a glucoamylase liquid complement. The new system blends the right combination of yeast and enzymes to deliver up to 4 percent additional ethanol versus a conventional yeast and glucoamylase combination.

Synerxia Thrive ADY incorporates a patent pending, carbon-efficient pathway that redirects a portion of the carbon that would go into CO2 and glycerol into ethanol production. In lab and plant results, the Synerxia Thrive Fermentation System outperformed conventional yeasts during thermal excursions and demonstrated increased robustness in the presence of organic acids.

“The launch of Synerxia Thrive Fermentation System gives ethanol producers the opportunity to integrate an unparalleled fermentation system into their business,” DeSalvo added. “We are thrilled to bring the technology to commercial scale to revolutionize the industry with our current and future partners.”

LINK

[GHung]

“Synerxia Thrive is the result of a multiyear investment in yeast technologies focused on improving performance in ethanol fermentation to deliver increased value to our customers.”

Probably something like this:

http://aem.asm.org/content/64/5/1852.full

[Tanada]

Trump administration to deny pending retroactive U.S. biofuel waivers

Stephanie Kelly and Jeff Mason and Jarrett Renshaw

Sep 09, 2020 • Last Updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump has instructed that dozens of oil refiner requests for retroactive waivers from U.S. biofuel laws be denied amid concerns the issue could cut into his support in the Farm Belt, three sources familiar with the decision said.

The move, in the form of a direction to the Environmental Protection Agency, marks the end of an effort by the refining industry to come into compliance with a January court decision that said the Trump administration should not have given out some waivers in previous years.

The waivers have been a battleground for the influential oil and corn lobbies, both major constituencies for Trump as he seeks re-election in November.

The people familiar with Trump’s direction to the EPA wished to remain anonymous so they could speak candidly about the decision.

The EPA did not immediately comment.

Under the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), oil refiners must blend billions of gallons of biofuels into their products, or buy credits from those that do. But refiners may also seek an exemption from those obligations if they prove the requirements would cause them financial harm.

Biofuel advocates say the waivers hurt demand for corn-based ethanol. The oil industry says the obligations are too pricey.

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

U.S. renewable fuel credits for 2020 rose on Wednesday to their highest since March 2018. Creditstraded at 55 cents each, up nearly 18% from the previous session.

The Trump administration has quadrupled the number of exemptions have given out to refiners, causing outrage in farm states, such as Iowa.

In January, though, an appeals court ruled that waivers granted to small refineries after 2010 could only be approved as extensions of pre-existing waivers. Most recipients of waivers in recent years have not continuously received them, and refiners sent in waiver applications to come into compliance with that court ruling.

In Iowa the federal administration’s expansion of the waiver program has complicated Republican Senator Joni Ernst’s reelection bid.

In recent weeks, Iowa officials argued that without action, Ernst – and perhaps Trump – could be in trouble come November.

Ernst has been a staunch defender of Trump but has been working behind the scenes to argue that his administration should deny the pending retroactive waivers, according to one of the people familiar with Trump’s direction to the EPA.

The biofuel industry welcomed the news. “Now, more than ever, our nation’s farmers and ethanol producers are counting on the RFS to provide market stability and certainty during an incredibly difficult and tumultuous time,” said a coalition that included the Renewable Fuels Association and the National Corn Growers Association. (Reporting by Stephanie Kelly, Jeff Mason and Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Tom Hogue, Kenneth Maxwell and Steve Orlofsky)

LINK

[Subjectivist]

I saw in one of the linked articles recently that DME is an isomer of Ethanol with the exact same number of the exact same component atoms just arranged in a different structure.

Does that mean with the proper enzyme we could cheaply convert Ethanol into DME and vice versa? If so I see a lot of possibilities for Ethanol as a DME source I had never thought of.