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A new voice and a look at the ethanol industry around the globe

Posted: April 13, 2009 at 02:33 PM CST

An introduction is in order. My name is Ryan Christiansen and I am the Assistant Editor for Ethanol Producer Magazine (EPM). This is a relatively new position for me, but I hope that someday we might become old friends.

I joined BBI’s media division as a staff writer in July 2008 and have been a regular contributor to the print and Web editions of EPM, Biodiesel Magazine, and also Biomass Magazine.

Previously, I was a technical writer for Microsoft Corp., a military journalist for The North Dakota Air National Guard and the editor for a small town newspaper, The Cass Lake Times in Cass Lake, Minn. I am also a freelancer. I am a graduate of Minnesota State University in Moorhead, Minn., with a degree in English.

Today, I have begun writing for this blog.

One of the things that I enjoy most about this job is finding news. Fortunately, the tools available to journalists and the amount of information that is published on the World Wide Web makes this job much easier than it was for reporters typing away in the cigarette-smoke-filled newsrooms of yesteryear. When I read the morning Web, I usually come across many stories about what’s happening in the ethanol industry across our national borders. Most of the news is related to what’s happening in the sugarcane ethanol industry in Brazil, but there is plenty to go around. In fact, there is too much going on to be able to cover it in much depth. I plan to periodically use this blog to share a digest of what has been going on internationally. Here we go.

The Jamaica Observer has reported that at $175 million annually, ethanol is Jamaica’s number two export, behind aluminum oxide. JB Ethanol Ltd., a subsidiary of Jamaica Broilers Group Ltd., has a 120 MMgy hydrous ethanol dehydration plant at Port Esquivel in the parish of St. Catherine, Jamaica. The hydrous ethanol feedstock supplier is Bauche Energy of Brazil. Meanwhile, the Associated Press has reported that factories of The Sugar Company of Jamaica have lost $283 million since the Jamaican government took them over in 1998. The government has been trying to sell the factories since 2004 and last year, Brazilian company Infinity Bio-Energy signed a $39 million agreement to lease Jamaica's sugar plantations for 25 years to produce up to 36 MMgy of ethanol by 2013. However, Infinity backed out of the deal in late January, the AP reports. The Minister of Energy there, Clive Mullings, has stepped down from his office. During his tenure, Mullings pushed for the development of a viable local bio-fuels industry and officially launched using an E10 blend in Jamaica.

Radio Fiji reports that the fuel bill for the island has surpassed the $1 billion mark and so the government there is working with China to iron out plans to begin replacing their fuel habit with ethanol.

Down under, Reuters has reported that Australian company Ausagave says it has 10,000 agave plants in pots ready to be planted as a feedstock for ethanol production. The company says it believes up to 1,680 gallons of ethanol can be produced per year per acre of agava at a cost of less than U.S. $1.10 per gallon. That’s a whole lot less than the price of tequila! Because agave is a “water efficient” plant that can be grown in the desert, the company notes that ethanol from agave might be a sustainable option. Meanwhile, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation has reported that the South Australian Farmers Federation Grains Industry Committee is calling on state and federal governments there to mandate the use of grain-based ethanol fuels.

In the Philippines, the Manila Bulletin reports that ethanol producer San Carlos Bioenergy Inc. has shipped its first 450,000 gallons of ethanol to buyer Petron Corp. Meanwhile, the Philippine government reports that ethanol producer Leyte Agri Corp. produced 200,000 gallons of ethanol there last year and, while an E5 blend became mandatory in the country in February, E10 is already available at 273 gas stations nationwide. SEAOIL Philippines Inc. has said it wants to build an ethanol plant in Negros, the country’s sugar center.

In Japan, Dow Jones reports that Petróleo Brasileiro S/A (Petrobras) has started selling ethanol in E3 blend at its retail fueling stations in Japan. The ethanol is produced by Brazil Japan Ethanol, a joint venture formed by Petrobras and Japan Alcohol Trading, at its 9 MMgy plant in Sodeguara in central Japan.

Multiple outlets have reported that Iran plans to begin producing ethanol within a year. Seriously.

In the U.K., CNN reports that Mytum & Selby plans to open the Maltings Organics Treatment Company, a 25 MMgy ethanol plant in South Milford, England, sometime in 2011. The ethanol plant will use technology provided by AqueGen to convert waste to ethanol. Meanwhile, the Punj Lloyd Group engineering team working on the construction of the Ensus ethanol plant in Middlesbrough, England, has rewarded its 1,000 construction workers at the site for completing one million accident-free hours by donating £20,000 to a baby hospital.

Back in Brazil, Reuters reports that ethanol producer Santelisa Vale has agreed to sell a 40 percent stake for an undisclosed sum to Swiss-based trader Louis Dreyfus Commodities.

-Ryan C. Christiansen