Corn ethanol aux USA

[energy_isere]

Poet fait part des bons résultats de son usine pilote de conversion des rafles de maïs en bioéthanol

Par Raymond Bonnaterre LeBlogEnergie

Poet, Société non cotée américaine, est le premier producteur de bioéthanol aux Etats-Unis avec des volumes de plus de 100 mille barils/jour (1,54 milliards de gallons ou 5,8 millions de m3 par an). Son objectif, à l'aide d'un investissement limité, est de modifier la plupart de ses 26 usines pour les rendre aptes à produire une partie de l'éthanol (15 à 20%) à partir de rafles de maïs. Pour cela, il a démarré depuis un an, avec une subvention du DOE, une usine pilote de conversion en alcool des rafles et autres déchets cellulosiques du maïs. Poet fait le point sur l'avancement de ce projet qu'il avoue avoir fait largement progresser.

Ses efforts ont porté sur les économies d'énergies et sur l'utilisation du biogaz et autres déchets qui assureront la totalité des besoins en énergie de la partie cellulosique et 80% de l'énergie de la partie traditionnelle de ses usines.

L'autre point important qui bloque l'apparition de bien des projets est le coût des enzymes. Poet assure avoir réussi à réduire le coût de ces additifs indispensables avec son fournisseur.

Enfin une remise en cause de certaines étapes du process lui permet de réduire ses investissements de 40%.

L'ensemble de ces actions permettent à Poet d'atteindre un prix de l'éthanol cellulosique de 2.35$/gallon aujourd'hui et de prévoir un prix de 1.90$/baril en 2011 (FIG.). Pour information, le gallon de fuel éthanol se vend autour des 2,1$/gallon en ce moment.

Cette démarche d'un grand réalisme qui grâce à un investissement marginal et à l'apport de tous les progrès technologiques réalisés jusque là sur la conversion de maïs en éthanol, va faire de Poet le premier producteur d'alcool cellulosique américain à l'échelle industrielle. Mais ce qui est rentable marginalement ne l'est peut-être pas encore pour les "pure players" de la voie cellulosique, surtout par ces temps d'investisseurs rendus prudents.

http://www.leblogenergie.com/2009/11/po ... A9tha.html

[kercoz]

Qd on connait la "qualité" des sols ricains deja ruinés , leur supprimer les pailles en retour de MO , ça fait pleurer.

[energy_isere]

Gros probléme aus USA avec l' éthanol.
Le congrés avait "ordonné" une plus grande production d' éthanol avec en ligne de mire l'introduction jusqu' au mélange à 10% dans l' essence.
Or la production d' éthanol a bien monté , mais la consommation de carburant diminué à cause de la crise.

Seule solution pour écouler l' éthanol en 2010, augmenter le taux d'incorporation d' éthanol dans l' essence, ce qui pose quelques petits problémes techniques .... (réduit la durée de vie du pot catalytique)

ou encore, promouvoir les véhcules flex fuel qui peuvent ingurgiter le E85 à 85% d' éthanol, mais la encore probléme, le E85 est pas compétitif avec l' essence en cout tant que le gallons d' essence ne remonte pas à 4$ le gallon.

Dans le New York Times :

U.S. Unlikely to Use the Ethanol Congress Ordered

November 26, 2009

WASHINGTON — Two years ago, Congress ordered the nation’s gasoline refiners to do something that is turning out to be mathematically impossible.

To please the farm lobby and to help wean the nation off oil, Congress mandated that refiners blend a rising volume of ethanol and other biofuels into gasoline. They are supposed to use at least 15 billion gallons of biofuels by 2012, up from less than seven billion gallons in 2007.

But nobody at the time counted on fuel demand falling in the United States, which is what has happened during the recession. And that decline could well continue, as cars become more efficient under other recent government mandates.

At the maximum allowable blend, in which gasoline at the pump contains 10 percent ethanol, updated projections suggest that the country is unlikely to be able to use all the ethanol that Congress has ordered up. So something has to give.

“The market is full,” said Jeff Broin, chief executive of Poet, a company in Sioux Falls, S.D., that produces ethanol.

In theory, the Environmental Protection Agency has the power to solve this problem by tweaking the mandates imposed by Congress, and it may act as early as next week.

Each potential solution would anger one interest group or another, so the agency has been subjected to fierce lobbying, including from members of Congress lining up behind various factions. One possibility is to raise the maximum proportion of ethanol in gasoline to 15 or 20 percent.

But that idea is opposed by some carmakers and pollution experts. They contend that high ethanol blends can cause damage to cars, including making catalytic converters run hotter.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers says it believes this could cause the converters, components that help control pollution, to fail at around 50,000 miles. They are supposed to last for 120,000 to 150,000 miles. “We are sensitive to the issues facing the ethanol industry, but the government must make decisions based on sound science,” said Dave McCurdy, president and chief executive of the alliance, in a letter to the E.P.A.

Another possibility is that the agency could waive the mandates requiring use of a large volume of biofuels. But that would anger farmers, who sell a great deal of corn to ethanol factories, and the members of Congress who represent them. It might also undermine the efforts of companies that are investing millions in factories to make ethanol from waste materials, like corncobs, straw and garbage.

“Ethanol is the only viable, competitive alternative to foreign oil,” said Tom Buis, chief executive of Growth Energy, the ethanol trade group that filed the petition with the E.P.A. to increase the blending percentage. “If we’re going to become less dependent on foreign oil, we’ve got to move forward.”

A third possibility is that the E.P.A. could announce that it is waiting for more data on how cars perform at higher blends, but that would merely put off the hard decision.

When Congress wrote the rules, in 2007, gasoline consumption had been growing for years, and it looked as if the nation would be able to use considerably more ethanol in the future. Gasoline consumption hit a peak of 3.4 billion barrels that year.

But gasoline demand fell in 2008, after soaring gas prices early in the year were followed by the economic crisis. Consumption was slightly less than 3.3 billion barrels last year, and it could end 2009 at about the same level.

With consumers buying more fuel-efficient cars these days, and carmakers rushing to bring even more of those to market, gasoline demand may not recover much in coming years, even as ethanol production soars.

As of yet, not all gasoline is blended with 10 percent ethanol, but that saturation point is rapidly approaching. Under the present rules, the nation could hit the upper limit of its ability to consume ethanol in 2011.

Mr. Buis and others argue that Congress or the E.P.A. must do something if the country is to move to a new generation of biofuels that do not compete with food crops. The possibilities include ethanol made from wood chips, waste paper or agricultural waste like straw and corncobs.

Congress has also passed mandates for the blending of this type of fuel, so that the nation’s total consumption of all renewable fuels, in vehicles and other equipment, is supposed to reach 36 billion gallons in 2022.

Perhaps the easiest way for the country to absorb all the excess ethanol would be to make wider use of an ethanol blend called E85, which contains 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Most cars on the road cannot use it, but in recent years, millions of “flex-fuel” cars have been sold, especially by General Motors. (Any car with a yellow gasoline cap can use E85.)

The problem is that at current prices, E85 does not make economic sense for drivers, and most of them use regular gasoline in their flex-fuel cars. That means gasoline stations have little incentive to install pumps for E85. The fuel can be found in the Corn Belt but is not readily available elsewhere in the country.

Gasoline was selling on average Thursday for $2.63 a gallon, while E85 was selling for $2.23 a gallon. That might make E85 sound like a bargain, but cars go fewer miles on a gallon of ethanol than of gasoline. Adjusted for that factor, E85 on Thursday was effectively 31 cents a gallon more expensive than gasoline.

A return of $4 gasoline might change things, by making E85 a relative bargain and spurring wider use. So would an unexpected spurt in total fuel demand. Otherwise, it is not at all clear how the nation’s coming surplus of ethanol can be absorbed.

Gregory M. Scott, executive vice president of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, drives a flex-fuel car in the Washington area, but said he had never put E85 in it.

He said the amount of renewable fuel that Congress had mandated refiners to use, and the amount that can be blended for conventional automobiles, were on a collision course.

“At some point,” he said, “those two lines cross.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/27/busin ... .html?_r=1

[energy_isere]

suite du post précedent.

Les producteurs d' éthanol US veulent que le mélange passe de 10% à 15% d' éthanol avec l' essence.
Pas sur que ca abime pas les moteurs disent les constructeurs automobile et les distributeurs de carburant.

The Environmental Protection Agency said December 1 that it will decide by the middle of next year whether to increase the ethanol "blend wall" for gasoline.

The ethanol industry wants the blending limit raised from 10 percent to 15 percent in order to expand the market for ethanol coming out of biorefineries. Ethanol producers are concerned that the market will be saturated unless the blend wall is raised.

Last year, 9 billion gallons of ethanol, almost all from corn, were produced in the U.S. Production capacity totals nearly 10.6 billion gallons per year, but 1.9 billion gallons worth of capacity are idle.

EPA also may consider raising the blend limit only for vehicles from model year 2001 and newer.

EPA's announcement drew criticism from the Renewable Fuels Association, whose CEO, Bob Dinneen, said: "This delay threatens to paralyze the continued evolution of America's ethanol industry."

Dinneen said there is no evidence that increasing the ethanol blend would damage automobile engines. He called for EPA to make an immediate intermediate decision raising the blend limit to 12 percent.

Opponents, including automakers, petroleum refiners, and environmental organizations, argue, however, that more testing is necessary to determine whether autos can safely burn a fuel mix of 85 percent gasoline and 15 percent ethanol.

The American Petroleum Institute applauded EPA's decision. "Thorough vehicle and engine studies that develop robust, scientifically supported data are needed to ensure that adverse impacts, such as engine damage, are avoided," API said.

http://www.examiner.com/x-23959-Seattle ... in-mid2010

[energy_isere]

Ethanol : oléoduc de 2900 km en préparation aux USA

(src : UPI)

La semaine dernière, deux compagnies régionales américaines de l'énergie - Poet Ethanol Products (PEP) et Magellan Midstream Partners - ont dévoilé un projet de construction d'un nouveau pipeline long de 2.900 km qui devrait transporter de l'Ethanol aux Etats-Unis.
L'avancement du projet d'un coût de 4 milliards de dollars dépend encore de l'obtention d'un prêt qui sera garanti par le département américain de l'énergie. En cas d'approbation, ce sera le premier pipeline à longue distance aux États-Unis reliant des usines de production d'éthanol situées dans le Middle-Ouest et se terminant à Linden dans le New-Jersey, sur la côte Est.

Le chantier devrait durer 4 ans, créer plus de 50.000 emplois dans la construction et 1100 emplois permanents une fois terminé.

"Ce projet présente l'avantage de réduire fortement les émissions de carbone provenant du transport traditionnel de l'éthanol", a déclaré pour finir le directeur de PEP, Jeff Broin.

Enerzine

http://www.enerzine.com/6/9041+ethanol- ... -usa+.html

[energy_isere]

USA : un quart des grains et céréales sont transformés en carburants (Guardian)

vendredi 22 janvier bréve de contreinfo

One-quarter of all the maize and other grain crops grown in the US now ends up as biofuel in cars rather than being used to feed people, according to new analysis which suggests that the biofuel revolution launched by former President George Bush in 2007 is impacting on world food supplies.

The 2009 figures from the US Department of Agriculture shows ethanol production rising to record levels driven by farm subsidies and laws which require vehicles to use increasing amounts of biofuels.

The grain grown to produce fuel in the US [in 2009] was enough to feed 330 million people for one year at average world consumption levels," said Lester Brown, the director of the Earth Policy Institute, a Washington thinktank ithat conducted the analysis.

Last year 107m tonnes of grain, mostly corn, was grown by US farmers to be blended with petrol. This was nearly twice as much as in 2007, when Bush challenged farmers to increase production by 500% by 2017 to save cut oil imports and reduce carbon emissions.

More than 80 new ethanol plants have been built since then, with more expected by 2015, by which time the US will need to produce a further 5bn gallons of ethanol if it is to meet its renewable fuel standard.

According to Brown, the growing demand for US ethanol derived from grains helped to push world grain prices to record highs between late 2006 and 2008. In 2008, the Guardian revealed a secret World Bank report that concluded that the drive for biofuels by American and European governments had pushed up food prices by 75%, in stark contrast to US claims that prices had risen only 2-3% as a result.

l' article original du Guardian : http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... fuels-food



En 2009, 107 millions de tonnes de grain de Mais US furent transformés en ethanol !

[energy_isere]

L' agence US EIA prévoit une augmentation des production d' ethanol US de 11.1 milliards de gallons en 2009 à 12.95 milliards de gallons en 2010.

US ethanol market projected to grow

26 January 2010

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicts a reversal in fortunes for the US ethanol industry this year.

From 2008-2009 a decline in ethanol-blended petrol consumption struck a blow to the industry, but now the economy is set to bounce back, and the rising requirements of the federal Renewable Fuel Standards will further assist this.

‘Ethanol production continues to grow to meet the volume requirements of the Renewable Fuel Standard from 11.1 billion gallons in 2009 to 12.95 billion gallons in 2010,’ EIA states.

California has already raised its mandatory biofuel blend from 5.7% to 10% this year, and the industry awaits a decision from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to approve an increase in the allowable fuel blend in conventional vehicles from the current level of 10% to 15%.

While most ethanol plants in the US operated in the red during the first half of 2009 their average margins improved to about $0.40 (€0.28) a gallon in the last six months of this year on lower corn prices and rising demand.

Iowa is the nation’s largest ethanol producer, accounting for about 3.5 billion gallons of the 10.5 billion gallons produced in the US last year.

http://www.biofuels-news.com/industry_n ... em_id=1669

[energy_isere]

Après un été arrosé, la récolte américaine 2009 de maïs a été excellente

leblogenergie le 24 janvier 2010

L'année 2009 pour la récolte de maïs aux Etats-Unis aura été dans la lignée des bonnes années précédentes. Les tortillas seront abondantes sur le continent Nord-américain. Cette récolte qui a nécessité 35 millions d'hectares (70% de la surface de la France métropolitaine), a atteint le record de 13,2 milliards de boisseaux, en progression de près de 9% par rapport à la récolte précédente. Le rendement moyen de 408 boisseaux à l'hectare, grâce à un été pluvieux sur la Corn Belt, aura écrasé l'ancien record de 2004 qui avait affiché un score de 396 boisseaux à l'hectare. Dans les faits, examinées sur une longue durée, les récoltes de maïs américaines progressent en moyenne de 2,5% par an, essentiellement en raison des progrès réalisés dans les rendements (FIG.).



Sur la base d'une conversion de 2,8 gallons d'éthanol par boisseau, 38% environ de cette récolte devraient permettre d'alimenter les productions de bioéthanol qui devraient atteindre en 2010 dans les 330 millions de barils d'alcool (0,9 million de barils/jour soit 10% environ des consommations d'essence). Cela veut dire qu'il restera, après les productions de Bourbon dans le Kentucky, plus de 8 milliards de boisseaux maïs pour les consommations de tortillas, de corn-flakes et autres dérivés ainsi que pour l'exportation.

Les cours du boisseau de maïs oscillant entre 3 et 4 dollars, ces récoltes assureront un CA autour des 46 milliards de dollars aux paysans américains.

http://www.leblogenergie.com/2010/01/ap ... lente.html

[Silenius]

les récoltes de maïs américaines progressent en moyenne de 2,5% par an

Maintenant, j'en suis convaincu : les Ricains utilisent le BRF, en cachette !

[energy_isere]

Les USA veulent vendre davantage de sous produit de l' industrie du mais-grain-ethanol aux Chinois.

Ce sous produit est ce qui reste des grains de Mais dont il a été prélevé ce qui est utile pour la distillation et fabrication d' étahnol.
J' ai du mal à traduire ca, les USA appellent ca "starch" ce qui veut dire fécule / amidon.

Ils veulent passer les exportations de 5 millions de tonnes à 11 millions de tonnes annuel.

Ca sert à nourrir le bétail.

Voir ici : http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-0 ... ate1-.html

.....
Total U.S. exports of dried distillers’ grains with solubles, or DDGS, a high-nutrient feed used in the livestock industry, may jump to as much as 11 million metric tons a year, from 5 million tons now, U.S. Grains Council President Thomas Dorr said in an interview in Tokyo yesterday.
.......
It’s cheaper for feed mills in southern China to buy DDGS from overseas than to buy corn from the nation’s growing region in the north, Wei said. China remains a net corn exporter under the government’s policy of maintaining grain self-sufficiency.
.......

Au sud de la Chine, il est plus rentable d' acheter ca aux USA que de s' approvisionner au Nord du pays !

[Silenius]

J' ai du mal à traduire ca, les USA appellent ca "starch" ce qui veut dire fécule / amidon.

C'est les drêches, qui sont constituées des composants non fermentescibles.

[energy_isere]

J' ai du mal à traduire ca, les USA appellent ca "starch" ce qui veut dire fécule / amidon.

C'est les drêches, qui sont constituées des composants non fermentescibles.

Merci ! J' aurais jamais trouvé ce terme.

[Raminagrobis]

Ca fait très longtemps qu'on utilise ça pour nourir le bétail, si la production comme coproduit de l'éthanol carburant est récente, c'est aussi un coproduit des brasseries.

[energy_isere]

Augmentation de la production d' éthanol US pour le 4iéme mois consécutif

US ethanol output up for 4th month in January -EIA

* U.S. ethanol output up 3.9 pct from December

* Supplies also rose as blending slipped (Adds blending and overall supply numbers)

WASHINGTON, April 8 (Reuters) - U.S. daily ethanol output rose in January for the fourth month in a row as distillers took advantage of relatively low prices for corn and natural gas, the Energy Information Administration said Thursday.

Monthly output of the alternative motor fuel rose about 3.9 percent in January to 818,260 barrels per day, the EIA said in its Petroleum Supply Monthly Report. January was the latest month for which data was available.

The January number was up from 787,870 bpd in December, and 786,400 bpd in November.

Most U.S. ethanol is made from corn starch, while natural gas fires most boilers at distilleries.

Motor fuel blenders and refiners mixed about 690,516 of ethanol into gasoline in January, down from 718,838 bpd in December. That helped push stocks up to about 17.8 million barrels in January, up about 6.5 percent from the previous month.

U.S. mandates call for increasing amounts of ethanol to be blended into gasoline to help reduce demand for foreign oil. The mandate for ethanol made from corn and other grains hits a maximum of 15 billion gallons a year by 2015.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKN0822933820100408

[Alain75]

Et on en est où pour l'EROEI de cet éthanol ?
Wikipedia donne 1,34 en citant un article de 2002 pour l'éthanol de maïs US :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol
http://www.transportation.anl.gov/pdfs/AF/265.pdf

mieux maintenant ?