“Farm Bill energy programs are working and BIO member companies are beginning to put steel in the ground,” Greenwood said. He highlighted several companies that have biorefineries today as a result of these programs, including INEOS Bio New Planet Energy in Florida, Myriant in Louisiana, and ZeaChem in Oregon.
Greenwood urged the committee to reauthorize the Farm Bill energy programs, such as the Biorefinery Assistance Program, BCAP, and the Biobased Markets Program, with meaningful mandatory funding to allow them to continue to spur America’s energy and agricultural future.
Farm Bill energy programs have had a tremendous positive impact in revitalizing rural America, helping new agricultural markets emerge, and reducing the need for direct payments to farmers. These programs have unlocked private capital for construction of the nation’s first cellulosic and advanced biofuel biorefineries; put more than 150,000 acres of underutilized farmland in more than 150 counties into production raising next generation energy crops; and led to an explosion of renewable chemicals innovation, demonstration and early commercialization here in the United States. For a modest federal investment a high rate of return has been achieved in terms of viable projects funded and operating.
Renewable energy is cleaner, safer and healthier. We cannot afford to wait to fund renewable energy projects that can create permanent jobs in rural America. Now is not the time to abandon these forward-looking, high return programs.
Other panelists echoed Greenwood’s sentiments in their testimony that energy program funding is necessary to continue bringing these innovative technologies to market and are a vital component to the bipartisan all of the above energy strategy of the United States. Stroschein of the Agriculture Energy Coalition warned that not funding these programs leaves other countries poised to leap ahead in clean energy technologies undermining our national and economic security.
Greenwood added that these energy programs allow American farmers and foresters to play the role they can – and must – play in producing domestic energy and therefore improving national security and rural economic prosperity.
Goodyear Tire is working with Genecor to produce high quality synthetic rubber largely from renewable raw materials that would replace the seven gallons of crude oil required to produce a single passenger tire. They hope to have the tires on the commercial market in the next year, and David Benko, Goodyear’s Director, Materials Research & Development, said that while performance is still the top criteria for consumers, that the environmentally-friendly factor comes right after that as a huge selling point.
Robert Sturtz, Director of Strategic Sourcing for United Airlines, shared some staggering statistics on the airline industry’s fuel use related to cost. The industry uses 17.5 billion gallons of fuel in a given year and just a one-cent increase per gallon in the price of fuel can drive their costs up by $175 million. Speaking in terms of barrels of oil, a $1 increase per barrel increases costs by $420 million per year. While not all of these costs are passed on to the consumer, customers could certainly benefit just as the airlines could from a decreased dependence on the volatile petroleum market.
Scott Vitters, Coca Cola’s General Manager of their PlantBottle Packaging Platform talked about their PlantBottle technology, which is a packaging approach that replaces up to 30 percent of the PET in bottles with plant-based materials. The goal is to eventually create a bottle from 100 percent plant materials, and Coca Cola plans to replace its entire line of plastic bottles with PlantBottles by 2020.
Drivers behind this decision for Coca Cola are cost, trust and product differentiation. They hope to achieve a cost advantage by lessening their dependence on volatile fluctuations in petroleum prices, enhance customer trust with increased environmental performances and set themselves apart from other brands with this technology.
Vitters said they’ve had a terrific reception from customers so far including customers like Walmart and McDonalds where they’ve seen the conversation shift away from cost back to quality. End-use consumers have responded very positively as well. Heinz ketchup, who has partnered with them in using this packaging, placed a QR code on their bottles for more information on PlantBottle technology that received more than a million hits in its first month. He said that it’s important to create awareness of what they’re doing to really connect with consumers and differentiate their brand.
At BIO’s 9th Annual World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology & Bioprocessing, BIO awarded Steen Riisgaard, Novozymes President and CEO, with its 2012 George Washington Carver Award honoring the vision of Carver, an originator of the “chemurgy” movement who, more than a century ago, achieved world renown by combining agriculture and science to produce everyday biobased products, changing the nature of farm economics and sustainability. Industrial biotechnology is the modern-day equivalent, combining biotech innovations with renewable biomass to create solutions that can revitalize manufacturing and energy.
Steen’s innovation and commitment to research in renewable chemicals has revolutionized industrial biotechnology today, said Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO’s Industrial & Environmental Section. He added that Steen demonstrated a tireless dedication to finding new enzymes that reduced cost and increased effectiveness advancing the industry as he was extremely committed to sustainability and an ardent believer in promoting innovation.
Riisgaard accepted the award saying it wasn’t just him, but all of his employees at Novozymes that should share in this honor. He said the world is just beginning to realize how much it needs industrial biotech with an ever-increasing population adding pressure for people of the world to enjoy clean water, safe housing, food and energy as resources dwindle. He sees industrial biotech as the solution, and believes in five to 10 years, this industry can transform world society with its technology the same way that ag biotech transformed farming.
Renewable chemicals continued to be a focus of the conference in an afternoon breakout sessioncalled “Building Blocks to Consumer Products.” Moderated by Steve Tuttle of the Dow Chemical Company, panelists included representatives from Gevo, Coca-Cola Company, EcoSynthetix, and XLTerra, a subsidiary of Reluceo.
Gevo’s Bob Bernacki highlighted the end markets of their isobutanol production including solvents, coatings, materials, plastics and fibers. Isobutanol is naturally occurring and has applications as a drop-in product that should allow customers to replace petroleum-derived raw materials with isobutanol-derived raw materials without modification to their equipment or production processes. Coca Cola showcased their PlantBottle technology, which is a packaging approach that replaces up to 30 percent of the PET in bottles with plant-based materials. The goal is to eventually create a bottle from 100 percent plant materials, and Coca Cola plans to replace its entire line of plastic bottles with PlantBottles by 2020.
Ecosynthetix specializes in using renewable chemicals to produce a broad range of biobased end products including adhesives, paints, coatings, ink resins and surfactants. They have used their EcoStix technology to develop adhesives and labels, including an ecostamp, that offer total biodegradability. XL Terrais developing high performance renewable engineering bioplastic (PXLK). PXLK plastics will have exceptional performance, be devoid of toxins and be sustainably produced.
Bernacki summed up the benefits of renewable chemicals and industrial biotech processes well saying, “To get environmentally cleaner products, you start with a cleaner process.”
Moderator Don Schenk of ACA Associates called agriculture the foundation for green aviation and stressed the importance of sustainable, non-food feedstoks as well as utilizing the existing global agricultural research networks. He said North America consumes more than $50 billion worth of fuel per year so demand is not in question – making sure biofuels are cost competitive and can be delivered in a sustainable way is the issue.
Chris Tindal, U.S. Department of Navy, highlighted some of the Navy’s lofty goals involving energy including increasing alternative energy use. By 2020, 50 percent of the Navy’s total energy consumption will come from alternative sources. He stressed that oil dependency degrades our national, energy and economic security. Total Navy fuel consumption amounts to 30 million barrels per year compared to 582 million barrels per year used by the U.S. jet fuel consumption on commercial airlines. While that may be a small portion, he said, it is big enough to make a difference and showcases the opportunity and importance of partnerships between the Navy and the commercial sector. Tindal talked about the unique partnership established in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Navy to help establish commercial advanced, drop-in biofuel refineries.
Nancy Young of Airlines for America (A4A) echoed Tindal’s sentiments about the importance of increasing energy security and reducing dependence on oil. She also highlighted the environmental benefits of cleaner energy and said when it comes to biofuels, “for airlines, the future is now.” United Airlines and Alaska Airlines both flew commercial flights powered by biofuels in 2011. She called aviation the perfect candidate for biofuels because of the concentrated demand as fewer airports than gas stations exist across the country; drop-in fuels require no new infrastructure; and unlike other modes of transportation, aviation doesn’t have alternatives beyond liquid fuels. Young said that the airlines are ready for biofuels and they know how to do it, they just need to make it commercially viable and cost-competitive to become reality and believes we are on our way to accomplishing that.
