Wallaces Farmer

Quad County Corn Processors in northwest Iowa is helping pave the way for making E15 ethanol blend more available

September 6, 2016

3 Min Read

On August 31, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst and Gov. Terry Branstad met with staff and board members from Quad County Corn Processors (QCCP) and representatives from Syngenta, the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association and the Iowa Corn Growers Association at the QCCP plant at Galva, in northwest Iowa. They discussed opportunities to grow demand for Earth-friendly American ethanol. QCCP is the site of the world’s first commercial cellulosic ethanol facility that uses the entire kernel, including corn kernel fiber, as feedstock to make ethanol.

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Discussion items on the agenda for the visit by the Iowa officials included the need for high compression engines to be manufactured by automobile companies. They also discussed the need for a Reid Vapor Pressure waiver for E15. That waiver would have to come from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Both of these topics are seen as critical to making the benefits of renewable fuels more broadly available.

Cellulosic ethanol is key to defending the need to keep RFS

Cellulosic ethanol progress is seen as key to defending the federal Renewable Fuel Standard, to keep the RFS robust and intact. According to Gov. Branstad, renewable fuels are a valuable key to the state’s economic development, as well as the country’s energy independence.

“Renewable fuel is something I’m very passionate about,” Branstad said. “Renewable fuels are important for Iowa and they are important for America. A robust Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is needed to continue to diversify our nation’s transportation fuels, add value to commodities grown in rural America, reduce emissions, and provide consumers low-cost choices at the pump.”

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst pointed out that Iowa leads the nation in ethanol production, producing enough E85 each year to drive a pickup truck around the Earth’s equator 2.4 million times. “The RFS ensures our national fuel supply provides increased consumer choice, decreases dependence on foreign oil, improves the environment, and creates jobs for those in Iowa and across the country,” Ernst said.

Cellerate process is making ethanol even more sustainable

According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, ethanol reduces greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 34% compared to gasoline. Moreover, advanced biofuels have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 100%.

Today, advances in cellulosic technology are helping to make ethanol even more sustainable and produce more ethanol from the same kernel of corn. “Adding corn fiber-to-cellulosic ethanol technology at every existing dry mill ethanol plant across the U.S. would have a significant effect on greenhouse gas reductions,” said Delayne Johnson, the CEO of the QCCP ethanol plant at Galva. “The potential reduction would be equivalent to removing as many as 2.98 million passenger cars from the road, or 4.1 average coal-fired plants, or the amount of carbon sequestered by as many as 13.3 million acres of forest.”

Passes 5-million-gallon milestone for cellulosic ethanol production

To date, QCCP has produced 5 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol, which represents 90% of total U.S. cellulosic ethanol production (D3 RINs) in the last three years. The Cellerate process is now marketed to ethanol plants in North America exclusively by Syngenta along with Enogen corn enzyme technology. Enogen corn is an in-seed innovation that features the first biotech corn output trait designed specifically to enhance ethanol production.

“Ethanol is helping America reduce its dependence on foreign oil, improve the environment, lower prices at the pump and grow the economy with jobs that can’t be outsourced,” said Jack Bernens, head of Enogen at Syngenta.  “QCCP helped kick off a new era for the biofuels industry when it opened its commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facility. By helping to squeeze more ethanol from the same kernel of corn, Cellerate technology enhanced by Enogen corn can help make ethanol even more sustainable.”

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