Malaysia-based Pioneer Bio Industries Corp Sdn Bhd claims it will be able to produce a startling 1.7 billion gallons - roughly equal to 780,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day - of nipah (a.k.a. nypa fruticans or mangrove palm) palm ethanol per year when its planned refineries in Malaysia’s North-Western Perak State begin operations in 2009.

Ethanol can be obtained from fermenting the sugar-rich nipah sap that can be tapped continuously from the trees’ inflorescence, and nipah has a very high sugar-rich sap yield.  Some studies estimate potential ethanol yields to be as high as 20,000 liters once plantation management is optimised.  The tapping technique, however, is labor-intensive and it remains a question whether production can be scaled up that easily.

At a media briefing, the “National Biofuel Project based on Ethanol from Nypa Palm - Industrial Project Investment and Solution for Solving Global Warming,” Pioneer Bio Indistries chairman Md Badrul Shah Mohd Noor put the venture into a larger perspective, indicating that U.S. ethanol demand alone stood at 22 billion liters last year, and that the biofuel is forecast to provide 30% of global energy by 2020, up significantly from only 2% last year.

Giving details about the nipah project, Badrul Shah said the Perak state government has awarded the company the rights to harvest nipah sap on 10,000 hectares of land, for which it has to pay 324 million ringgits (€70/US$94 million) per year.  PBIC, a subsidiary of Pioneer Vaccination Biotech Corp Sdn Bhd, holds the patent to produce ethanol from nipah palm sap.  Badrul Shah said the company will sign a multi-billion dollar contract with a major international company in July to supply nipah-based ethanol over a five-year period.

The Alexandria Daily Town Talk reports that the next big alternative fuel crop and boon for Louisiana farmers may very well be sweet sorghum, a cane-like plant with a high sugar content grown primarily for forage, silage, and sugar production.

 
Lee McClune, president of the Iowa-based Sorganol Production Co., has presented research to the AgCenter from Iowa State University that shows sweet sorghum can produce more than six times the ethanol, about 3,037 gallons per acre, than the 450 gallons per acre produced from corn.  Sweet sorghum also can be grown and turned into ethanol a lot cheaper than corn, McClune said, returning about $1,000 more per acre than corn.

 
McLune explained that Louisiana’s sub-tropical climate is ideal for growing sweet sorghum, which, he said, can be grown in Louisiana 9-10 months during the year, compared with 4-5 months in midwestern states such as Iowa. 

 
AgCenter engineers, however, are waiting to see if the technology McClune is touting lives up to expectations: “I have to take a much closer look at the technology. If it can do what he claims, it’s a very promising thing,” said Dorin Boldor, an agriculture engineer with the LSU AgCenter in Baton Rouge.

 
Sugar cane is better for ethanol production than both sweet sorghum and corn, with varieties producing as much as 3,299 gallons of ethanol per acre. It cannot, however, be effectively grown in the state much farther north than Alexandria.

 
Sweet sorghum, on the other hand, can be grown all over the state, and research is needed to determine which variety of sweet sorghum grows the best in central Louisiana.  A smaller variety of sorghum, used in animal feed, is already being grown by Louisiana farmers.

Despite the ongoing drama of the war in Iraq and the firings of U.S. attorneys, the president is focusing in energy, converting switchgrass and wood chips into ethanol.

 
The president is scheduled to visit a U.S. Postal Service plant today, where he was to stand near vehicles that run on alternative fuels and hail them as a way to reduce reliance on oil.  He also touted his energy plan on a Midwestern tour of auto plants last Tuesday.

 
“We want people to know that we’re doing a lot on energy, and we think energy is an issue where there’s an interest in getting it done on the Hill,” said Kevin Sullivan, the White House communications director. “The only way to break through and build some momentum is to do two or three events in a short period of time.”

 
Karlyn Bowman, a public opinion analyst from the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, says it is not surprising that Bush is spending so much time on energy.  Energy, especially the shift to alternative sources of fuel, is a hot topic in America today.

 
Bush wants to reduce U.S. gasoline consumption 20% over 10 years, so he promotes cars that run on batteries or on alternative fuels such cellulosic ethanol, which can be produced from cornstalks, woodchips and switchgrass.

 
After announcing his plan, he first went to a high-tech ethanol lab in Delaware to focus on the science.  Next, he toured Ford and GM plants in the Kansas City area to show people that hybrid vehicles are becoming sleeker and more common.  Last Tuesday, he was showcasing how big delivery companies use alternative fuel technology.

 
But is Bush coming off as oblivious or tone-deaf, especially since Americans (and Congress) are paying attention to other issues?  Sullivan says Bush won’t let that happen.  On the day Bush toured the auto plants last week, for example, he returned to the White House earlier than expected to give a statement on the Gonzales matter and take questions from reporters.

President George Bush said yesterday that the key to keeping U.S. cattle and hog farmers from feeling the pinch from rising feed-corn prices is a breakthrough in cellulosic ethanol production technology.

Critics of the President’s energy policy say that Bush’s strategu of offsetting 35 billion gallons of gasoline use a year by 2017 with alternative fuels such as ethanol is unrealistic and could make feed-corn prices significantly more expensive.

Nonetheless, President Bush said he was confident in his goal, but it would require continued government funding. Cellulosic ethanol “is coming to fruition, and the role of the government is to stimulate thought and investment.” 

The Bush administration has asked Congress for up to $4 billion in loans guarantees for biofuel projects, which would include plans to build biorefineries and cellulosic ethanol plants, which produce motor fuel from biomass such as wood chips, switchgrass, and corn stover.

The President says his 35 billion gallon goal is supposed to help cut U.S. dependence on foreign crude supplies and address climate change through cleaner-fuel. The Administration is aiming that 20 billion gallons will come from cellulosic ethanol, with only around 15 billion gallons likely to be supplied through corn-based ethanol due to market constraints.

Presently, however, it’s technically unfeasible to produce cellulosic ethanol commercially because of the high cost of enzymes that break down the corn starch into sugar for fermentation, and some energy analysts wonder if a breakthrough is possible within the timeline set by Bush.

“I know it sounds like a pipe dream to some…(but) we’re on the verge of some breakthroughs that will enable a pile of woodchips to become the raw materials for fuels that will be able to run your car” he added.  If cellulosic ethanol doesn’t become commercially viable in time, the Buch administration is hoping to use coal-to-liquid production, another alternative fuel, to help meet the 35 billion gallon goal.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has approved a policy urging the Bush administration to phase out government subsidies for ethanol production, to scrap the 54-cent-per-gallon tariff on imported ethanol, and to transition from corn-based to cellulosic ethanol.

At Saturday’s Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns told U.S. cattle producers that the government would encourage alternative methods of making ethanol to protect them from rising corn prices.  “That is why we propose to accelerate our research into cost-effective ways of producing cellulosic ethanol from biomass,“ he said, noting that ethanol can be made using grasses, woody plants, wood waste, and sugar beets.

The proposed 2007 Farm Bill recommends spending $1.6 billion over the next 10 years on the development of cellulosic ethanol and proposes $2.1 billion in guaranteed loans for cellulosic projects as well as construction of production plants in rural areas.

Last week, energy experts told U.S. senators they should restructure renewable energy subsidies to focus less on corn-based ethanol and more on new, advanced technologies that could be used to produce biofuels from agricultural waste.

 
Speaking at a biofuels conference held by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, David Conover, director of the U.S. Climate Change Technology Program, said subsidies should be reserved for efficient biofuel technologies that need help entering the commercial market.

 
“We certainly don’t want to demonize corn ethanol, because it’s certainly better than gasoline,” Conover told the senators, referring to ethanol’s air quality and energy independence benefits. “But federal subsidies really ought to be targeted to…the valley of death.”

 
Cellulosic ethanol — a motor fuel that can be produced from biomass like wood chips, switchgrass and corn stover — is one of those ”valley of death” technologies, Conover said. Conover pointed out that cellulosic ethanol plants are expensive and can’t compete with corn ethanol. Thus, subsidies would help boost the technology, he said.

 
“You ought to consider directing the subsidies where they are needed the most,” Conover added, later noting that the corn ethanol industry is “very mature.”

 
Although the corn ethanol market is growing quickly, most experts say that there’s a limit to how much corn can be used for motor fuels before there’s a serious conflict between using corn for fuel and using it for food. Cellulosic ethanol, which uses inedible parts of crops, is seen as a the next step needed to further reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil.

 
Conover argued that subsidies for corn ethanol should be pulled and instead put toward cutting edge technologies like cellulosic ethanol.

 
Reid Detchon, director of the Energy Future Coalition also suggested a need to rework ethanol subsidies.

 
“You have to assess what additional tax incentives are needed to help cellulosic ethanol in the near-term,” he told Dow Jones after speaking at the conference.

 
Subsidies for both fossil fuels and renewable fuels should be related to market prices, he said. “If oil is $70 (a barrel), probably neither industry needs support of any kind.”

 
Two critical ethanol subsidies expire in 2008 and 2010 and Detchon suggested that instead of simply renewing them, Congress should restructure them. Because market problems for corn ethanol could occur if oil prices drop, the new structure should include a sliding scale that ties subsidies to economic conditions, he said.

Federal EPA scientists want to tighten smog standards, allowing tens of millions of Americans to breathe easier, but clashing with President Bush’s plan to reduce projected gasoline consumption by 20% over 10 years by substituting alternative fuels, mainly smog-causing ethanol, in its place.
 
Despite Bush’s goal, the EPA scientists will recommend allowing less smog-causing ethanol. The smog is produced mainly when tailpipe and smokestack pollutants react with summer heat, the official said.  More than half the nation, or nearly 160 million people, breathe illegal levels of smog.
 
EPA scientists are due to recommend day a range of options for healthier air. Last year, EPA identified hundreds of the nation’s most populated counties that were polluting the air with too much smog, and ordered them to clean it up.
 
What the scientists will recommend has stirred up a fair amount of controversy within EPA and could complicate Bush’s push for more ethanol use, said a senior government official speaking on condition of anonymity (because the announcement had not yet been made).

Yesterday, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced plans to propose $1.6 billion in new funding for renewable energy, with a focus on cellulosic energy research and production, as part of the Administration’s 2007 farm bill proposals.

This funding will support President Bush’s goal of reducing gasoline usage by 20 percent in the next ten years and will compliment an array of renewable energy-related efforts underway at the USDA.

USDA spent nearly $1.7 billion on energy-related programs between 2001 and 2005, and last year alone, USDA spent over $270 million on these programs in areas such as commercialization, research, infrastructure development, and technical support. Currently, there are 110 operational ethanol plants in 19 states with another 73 under construction and new proposals at an astounding rate.

USDA’s Agriculture Research Service (ARS) scientists have developed improved fermentation organisms and are making other significant steps toward achieving the technology needed for commercial production of cellulosic ethanol. ARS scientists have genetically modified a strain of lactic acid bacteria that produces increased levels of ethanol from cellulosic biomass. The research findings demonstrate that metabolic engineering has the potential to create new biocatalysts to convert biomass to biofuels.

Johanns plans to provide additional information about the proposal to provide $1.6 billion in new funding for renewable energy within the next few weeks when he unveils the Administration’s full package of 2007 farm bill proposals.

Because of the ethanol industry’s meteoric growth, scientists are working on turning crop residues such as corn stover into ethanol, and experts say demonstration plants could begin using such materials within the next year.
 
The stover - all of the corn plant except the ear - is abundant and can provide added income to farmers already supplying the ethanol industry, said Susan Andrews, an ecologist with the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service.
 
One problem, however, may be that stover already plays an important role in corn fields by combating erosion, adding organic matter and nutrients to soil, and increasing biological activity.  Researchers are focusing on what percentage can be removed without hurting yields.
 
More residue can be removed from no-till land than from conventional plow fields, and cooler wet climates can tolerate removal better than dry fields. Low residue crops such as soy decompose fast, so farmers using a corn-soybean rotation should only remove stover and leave behind soy plant residue.
 

Residues such as corn stover and wheat straw comprise just a fraction of the potential sources of cellulosic or biomass fuel, said Bruce Jamerson, president of VeraSun Energy Corp. (VSE), a Brookings-based ethanol producer.
 
Energy crops, which include switchgrass, elephant grass and fast-growing trees such as aspen and willow, can produce higher tons per acre for the industry.  “There’s more energy in those plant materials than in residues,” Jamerson said. Other potential alternative fuel sources include garbage and forestry resources such as chips, bark and sawdust.