Today in Biofuels: Scientists send letters to Bush, Pelosi over Science magazine articles; Malaysia’s $103 billion renewables investment plan; two-year study gives thumbs up to B100 on power, performance

Top Story:

A group of scientists have sent a letter to US President George Bush and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging them to revise US biofuels policies in light of studies published this month in Science magazine.

Meanwhile, American Progress published a thoughtful interview with Alex Farrell, associate professor in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley. Farrell said: If we want clean biofuels, then we need to demand or incentivize clean biofuels. And recent policy decisions are moving in that direction.”

Producer News:

In New York, GreenShift announced an agreement with United Ethanol to extract up to 1.5 Mgy of crude corn oil from distillers grain co-product at United Ethanol’s new dry mill ethanol plant. GreenShift’s extraction technology reduces plant utility costs by up to $1 million per year for a 100 million gallon per year ethanol plant that dries 100% of its distiller’s grains.

In Indiana, Xenerga will open a 5 Mgy biodiesel plant in LaPorte next month, as a joint venture with Indiana Flex Fuels. Xenerga targets small regional plants, recruits a local investor vase, secures permitting, constructs the plant and tranins the staff. The plants use waste oils and animal fats as feedstocks, and distribute product locally to reduce transportation and logistics issues.

In North Carolina, East Coast Ethanol has canceled plans to develop an ethanol plant in Selma. The company withdrew an application for re-zoning, but did not announce the reasons for the decision. East Coast Ethanol had proposed a 110 Mgy corn ethanol plant in Selma last December.

International News:

In Singapore, China Agro-Technology has signed an agreement with Boulevard Holdings to acquire 494,200 acres in Indonesia for jatropha cultivation. The company valued the jatropha revenue stream at $300 million based on the expected demand and pricing for jatropha oil, ranging from a projected $650 to $750 per ton. The company expects to commence harvesting in 2010.

In England, a jatropha-based biodiesel plant has been proposed in Besthorpe, Nottinghamshire and an application for a land use variance has been submitted with local authorities. The developers did not disclose plant capacity, but said they would obtain jatropha oil from suppliers in India and Africa, and supply biodiesel to the market in the 90-95p range, a 15 percent savings over current petroleum diesel prices.

In Malaysia, the national government has proposed a $103 billion “Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy” (SCORE) development plan, which includes heavy investment in jatropha and palm-based biodiesel production. The government made the annoucnement after plans were revealed for a $308 million development in Sarawak by a Malaysian-Japanese consortium that would develop 220,000 acres of oil palm and jatropha plantations to produce 240,000 tonnes of biodiesel per year.

In India, the head of the country’s national biodiesel association said that the lack of a national policy has put India behind China in biodiesel development. Sandeep Chaturvedi, head of the Biodiesel Association of India, said that disagreements between ministries over subsidies have stranded existing oilseed plants with the capacity to handle 1.2 million tonnes of jatropha, and stymied future investment. India consumes 4.5 times as much diesel, 40 million tonnes, as gasoline, and said in 2003 that it would use a B5 jatropha blend in petroleum diesel to reduce imports.

Research News:

In Montana, researchers from Montana State University say that they have realized yields of 1200 pounds of camelina oil per acre, by optimizing nitrogen and phosphorus inputs. The high cost of camelina had been preventing further investment in the crop’s production.

Policy and Policymakers:

In Washington, Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee, said that “There is some concern that the RFS as enacted risks taking the biofuels industry backward rather than pushing it ahead. First, yearly biofuel requirements could be too aggressive; second, mandates for specific technologies and feedstock could prove to be overly prescriptive; finally, the environmental restrictions could be too narrow,” he said.

Consumer and Fleet News:

In Pennsylvania, a two-year study by Penn State University researchers has shown no signs of degraded performance or power with B100 biodiesel. Penn State began converting to B20 in 2002, and began a small-scale trial of B100 in 2005.

In California, Monterey-Salinas Transport will commence making its own biodiesel, and will convert to B20. MST will use mustard seed, grown as a cover crop, as a feedstock, and will test production from a 30-acre plot where two varieties of mustard seed will be tested with barley as a control crop, on lands donated for the study by San Bernabe Vineyards.

Financial News:

The Biofuels Digest Index™ (BDI), a basket of public biofuels stocks, rose 1.09 percent Monday to 123.73 as ethanol stocks rebounded sharply. For the day, diversified agribusiness The Andersons (ANDE) gained 1.50 percent to close at $45.39 after shaking off a downgrade from Banc of America analyst Eric Brown. Among ethanol stocks, Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) rose 6.93 percent to $6.17, while VeraSun Energy (VSE) gained 4.73 percent to reach $9.75.  Among small caps,  Bio Solutions Manufacturing (BSLM) fell 13.04 percent to $0.01 while Environmental Power closed at $4.67, up 6.86 percent. Overall, advances led declines 2 to 1.

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