Oregon-based recently opened its second company-owned biofuel station.

The new station, located at West 18^th Avenue and Chambers Street in Eugene, opened this month. The station sells four types of fuel: 10 percent ethanol, 85 percent ethanol, five percent biodiesel and a 99 percent biodiesel blend.

As a collector, producer and retailer, Salem-based SeQuential has been able to push the envelope on every level of the supply chain. The company in September 2006 opened the country’s first all-biofuel and biofuel-blend fueling station in Eugene, on McVay Highway near Lane Community College. In addition to featuring a solar canopy, a living roof and bio-swales, it pumps fuel derived almost entirely from used cooking oil and ethanol waste streams.

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The amount of biodiesel and biofuels in the U.S. transportation fuel mix will increase again in 2012, but the amount of cellulosic biofuel, which is made from non-edible plant materials, falls short of original projections.

The Environmental Protection Agency recently finalized the percentage of renewable fuels that all gasoline and diesel refiners and importers will have to blend into their products in 2012. As part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, the EPA sets fuel standards that steadily increase each year in order to meet a target of 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2022.

The 2012 standards for biomass-based diesel and advanced biofuels are in line with the EPA’s original projections, but a lack of commercial biorefineries for cellulosic fuel contributed to the agency lowering its projection in that category.

Oregon will provide a bit of a boost to the fledgling industry, however. Colorado-based in 2010 broke ground on a 250,000 gallon-per-year biorefinery in Boardman, expected to come online this year. Once the demonstration plant is up and running, the company plans to build another facility across the street that will produce up to 25 million gallons per year. The commercial-scale plant is expected to come online in three years.

But the 2012 standard for cellulosic biofuels, at 8.65 million gallons, is drastically below the 500 million gallons originally planned for 2012. Still, the new target is 2.65 million gallons over the 2011 mandate.

The total volume of renewable fuel proposed for 2012 is 15.2 billion gallons, up from roughly 14 billion gallons in 2011.

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Gas stations may not be known for sustainability, but that could change in the near future if two businesses in Oregon continue to pump up their efforts.

Bob and Katy Barman, who recently opened what is being billed as the nation’s first green Chevron station, have never met the founders of . But they’re all linked by a common cause – taking the lead in setting what could become the standard for sustainability in gas stations.

The Barmans’ station at the corner of Allen and Murray boulevards in Beaverton features an eco-roof, a geothermal system, a solar array, and a free electric-vehicle charging station. The owners bill the new station as the first of its kind for a major oil company franchise, and the green systems may point to a shift in the industry standard.

A capital investment of approximately $2 million was supplied by the Barmans, who hope their effort will encourage other owners of gas stations and properties to limit their environmental impacts.

Bob Barman, who previously worked as a sales representative for Union Oil Co. of California and whose father worked for Texaco, said he was inspired by his 10-year tenure on the board of the Lake Oswego Corp. The organization manages lakefront property on Oswego Lake, and it was during those meetings that Barman for the first time learned about the environmental dangers associated with impervious pavement and storm-water runoff.

“Once I learned about it, I had to do something – that’s just in my DNA. And it’s not just the oil industry that’s a step behind,” said Barman, who owns three gas stations in Oregon. “Why aren’t chains of grocery stores putting grass roofs on every building?”

Meanwhile, Oregon’s leading biofuel company is already several steps ahead when it comes to fuel station innovations. It’s planning to continue pushing existing practices at its second station in Eugene.

As a collector, a producer and a retailer, Salem-based SeQuential has been able to push the envelope on every level of the supply chain. The company in September 2006 opened the country’s first all-biofuel and biofuel-blend fueling station in Eugene. In addition to featuring a solar canopy, a living roof and bio-swales, it pumps fuel derived almost entirely from used cooking oil and ethanol waste streams.

CEO and founder Ian Hill would welcome more competition.

“From a large perspective, we would love to see the whole industry shift,” he said. “We’re not threatened, but are really excited to see baby steps happen and hope it’s a precursor for more of the industry to move toward sustainable offerings and sustainable design.”

SeQuential has worked with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to incorporate gray-water recycling into its on-site irrigation system. The plan to reuse the station’s sink water is on the edge of being permitted, according to Hill. The DEQ recently passed a program dealing with use of gray water.

The new fueling station is not under construction yet, but Hill hopes it will open in the first quarter of 2012.

“Whenever you’re trying to do something different, there’s an education curve for everybody,” he said. “We’re trying to do something different, and that will always take a bit of work.”

Barman also faced challenges in pushing for features that were new to the city of Beaverton. Planning the “green” rebuild took almost two years in part because the city’s building code did not have rules for the living roof.

“We looked at the code, and our staff worked with Bob to make this possible,” Beaverton Mayor Denny Doyle said. “It’s just a fascinating business decision he and his wife made, and when we have a citizen who wants to do something and is willing to spend a lot of money to make it happen, we are glad when we’re able to help.”

But the Chevron station won’t include the highest available blends of biodiesel. When Barman looked into the possibility, he said, industry professionals cautioned that the market wasn’t ready for a blend higher than 10 percent biodiesel.

“We’re offering one pump with B10, and we have the piping and ability to take up to B99. We can switch it over tonight, and we’ll ratchet up the percentage as the market allows,” Barman said.

Barman expects to accumulate $2,000 in monthly energy savings, and intercept 43,000 gallons of rainwater annually. He hopes it will send a message to other corporate managers who may otherwise remain unaware of their opportunities.

“If you went into many corporate board rooms of many companies, they wouldn’t know of these procedures or practices,” he said. “I didn’t.”

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Scientists at Tulane University in New Orleans announced they have discovered a new strain of bacteria than can break down cellulose, the difficult-to-tear- down fiber present in plants.

The end result? Butanol, a fuel source that is more energy rich than ethanol and less corrosive.

And the place where strain of bacteria was found hiding out? In animal droppings, proving yet again that science, while rarely glamorous, is vital for the survival of the human race.

In a press release sent out by the university, Harshad Velenkar, a postdoctoral fellow in David Mullin’s lab in Tulane’s Department of Cell and Molecular Biology Department, :

Cellulose is found in all green plants, and is the most abundant organic material on earth, and converting it into butanol is the dream of many….In the United States alone, at least 323 million tons of cellulosic materials that could be used to produce butanol are thrown out each year.”

The newly discovered bacterial strain, which goes by the scientific nickname of TU-103,  is the only known strain of bacteria that can produce butanol in an oxygen environment (processes that use bacteria strains that require oxygen-free environments bump up the cost of production).

In addition to being less corrosive and more energy rich Butanol can be used in current automobiles without any requiring any engine modifications and can be transported in existing pipelines.

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Major biofuel producers are investigating research that recently came out of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The details are still confidential, but chemical engineer Yong Wang said a large company is looking into licensing and commercializing a new catalyst material that could replace the petroleum-derived chemicals currently being used in biofuel production.

In one step, the catalyst converts ethanol into a chemical called isobutene, which can be converted into fuel components, including jet fuel. Currently, isobutene is only produced from fossil fuels, which makes this discovery particularly significant.

Wang, who leads the research at PNNL in Richland, Wash., and at Washington State University in Pullman, Wash., said the catalyst also has the potential to be used as a renewable alternative in making rubber tires and industrial solvents.

“The most important aspect is that ethanol is going to become cheaper and cheaper, while the availability will continue to increase,” Wang said. “This discovery opens a different path for molecules which can be produced from ethanol, which will further diversify ethanol’s applications and increase the value of the products.”

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Two biofuel refineries in Oregon are planned to increase production as part of federal efforts to develop renewable energy crops, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced Tuesday.

Portland-based Beaver Biodiesel and  Colorado-based ZeaChem would both receive more crops as sponsors of new project areas in the federal . The program has four new project areas with a combined $45 million for renewable energy crops. The new project areas include farmland set aside for crops in Oregon, California, Kansas, Montana and Oklahoma.

In Beaver Biodiesel’s project area, farmers will be given subsidies to grow camelina, an oil seed that can be used to create a jet fuel substitute. Beaver Biodiesel will refine the camelina at its refinery in Albany, though it will make biodiesel, not jet fuel. Another project area sponsored by AltAir Fuels of Seattle will also focus on camelina. The two camelina project areas include two other refineries, one in Bakersfield, Calif., and one in Tacoma, Wash., and 51,000 acres for crops spread among the three refineries.

In the other Oregon project area, GreenWood Resources will grow 7,000 acres of hybrid poplar trees that will go to a cellulosic refinery ZeaChem is building in Boardman. The fourth project area will focus on growing 20,000 acres of switchgrass in Kansas and Oklahoma.

The federal program has $45 million in subsidies for those who grow the crops in the four new project areas. Annual payments may be made for up to five years for grasses and up to 15 years for woody plants.

The funding will help Beaver Biodiesel increase its production, which is currently about one million gallons per year, according to principal manager Daniel Shafer. The main constraint on the biodiesel industry in the Northwest is the availability of affordable feedstock, he said.

“The farmers are making more money on wheat than anything, so even though introducing a rotation crop increases yield, they are reluctant to ever not grow wheat,” Shafer said. “So the Biomass Crop Assistance Program really supports good agricultural practice.”

Camelina was only introduced into the U.S. about five years ago, so the market is not well established. Beaver Biodiesel contracts directly with local farmers, and Shafer hopes the subsidies from the federal government will help support the farmers’ economics in producing camelina, which then will provide more vegetable oil to convert into biodiesel.

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President Obama was slated to speak on reducing oil imports and increasing domestic energy production at Georgetown University this morning. In addition to a spiel about reducing dependence on foreign oil – and looking for more of that oil here at home – there were some points of interest to the renewable energy industry here in Oregon:

• The Obama Administration set a goal of breaking ground on at least four commercial-scale cellulosic or advanced bio-fuel refineries over the next two years, and will look to update  biofuel incentives.
• Commercial truck, van and bus fuel standards for 2014-2018 models will be finalized in July. Standards for consumer cars built in 2012-2016 are already in place.
• In Obama’s proposed budget: $7,500 proposed tax credit for consumers and competitive grants for communities to encourage electric vehicle use. The president’s budget also includes funding for R&D in battery technology – all part of the administration’s goal of putting 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.
• Obama called for all new federal government vehicles to be powered by alternative fuel (including hybrid or electric cars) by 2015. The federal fleet includes more than 600,000 vehicles.

Much of that is good news for Oregon’s renewable energy sector, which is currently a little shaken by state-level budget cuts and some critical examination of the Business Energy Tax Credit.

Oregon is uniquely situated to take advantage of some of the biofuel emphasis, as the second state (after California) with a low-carbon fuel standard in process. DEQ officials say that implementing the fuel standard could boost economic development in the state, and federal support couldn’t hurt.

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President Obama was slated to speak on reducing oil imports and increasing domestic energy production at Georgetown University this morning. In addition to a spiel about reducing dependence on foreign oil – and looking for more of that oil here at home – there were some points of interest to the renewable energy industry here in Oregon:

• The Obama Administration set a goal of breaking ground on at least four commercial-scale cellulosic or advanced bio-fuel refineries over the next two years, and will look to update  biofuel incentives.
• Commercial truck, van and bus fuel standards for 2014-2018 models will be finalized in July. Standards for consumer cars built in 2012-2016 are already in place.
• In Obama’s proposed budget: $7,500 proposed tax credit for consumers and competitive grants for communities to encourage electric vehicle use. The president’s budget also includes funding for R&D in battery technology – all part of the administration’s goal of putting 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.
• Obama called for all new federal government vehicles to be powered by alternative fuel (including hybrid or electric cars) by 2015. The federal fleet includes more than 600,000 vehicles.

Much of that is good news for Oregon’s renewable energy sector, which is currently a little shaken by state-level budget cuts and some critical examination of the Business Energy Tax Credit.

Oregon is uniquely situated to take advantage of some of the biofuel emphasis, as the second state (after California) with a low-carbon fuel standard in process. DEQ officials say that implementing the fuel standard could boost economic development in the state, and federal support couldn’t hurt.

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Research into sugar-based biofuels requires sugar not sold at a grocery store.

Corvallis start-up Trillium FiberFuels for the last five years has been developing cellulosic ethanol technology that uses xylose, a sugar contained in biomass. Trillium could purchase the thousands of liters of xylose it needs from a chemical company, but doing so would cost tens of thousands of dollars. So Chris Beatty, Trillium’s president, founded his own company to provide xylose and a dozen other carbohydrates at affordable prices.

is a web-based business intended to serve researchers working on advanced development of biofuels and other products. To keep prices down, Beatty worked with suppliers to independently analyze and certify their chemical products for quality. By buying in bulk directly from a supplier, Beatty was able to reduce costs by 25 to 50 percent, depending on the product.

“The niche we see is people like us in the first stages of scale-up,” Beatty said. “We’ve already sold a few thousand orders just by word of mouth. Sugars are the basis for all living things, which makes them popular for all research. We saw an immediate opportunity to help people like ourselves, and to allow some growth.”

Unlike other plant-derived sugars, such as glucose, there are no inexpensive sources of xylose, according to John Holladay, energy and environment directorate with the Pacific Northwest National Lab. While glucose is easy to break down from plant starches, xylose maintains plant structure and is not designed to break down.

“You need to separate the xylose from other components,” Holladay said. “And that’s an expensive thing to do.”

CARB’s prices are competitive, but its product selection is limited; only 12 are for sale on the company’s website. But as orders come in, Beatty is hoping his team can start to certify more, or even make some of its own products in the lab. The tricky part, he said, is identifying which chemicals have commercial pull.

Carrie Atiyeh, spokeswoman for Zeachem, a cellulosic ethanol company building a demonstration facility near Boardman, said CARB’s service is needed.

“This is a great step forward for our industry and for Trillium,” she said. “We need all sorts of solutions to make things easier and more cost effective.”

And the cellulosic ethanol industry needs all the help it can get, Holladay said. Despite gains in research, ethanol made from grain and corn is still more cost competitive with petroleum-based fuels. An infrastructure issue also could limit the value of cellulosic ethanol.

“We have a trillion-dollar infrastructure in place to make our liquid fuel and get it to people,” Holladay said. “Ethanol doesn’t fit into that as readily as it might. It can’t go into a pipeline. You need to change engines and fuel distribution systems. When you’re talking about the real cost of a biofuel, you have to think about that.”

Nevertheless, sugars will continue to play a role in advanced fuel development – ethanol or otherwise, Holladay said. And Beatty hopes researchers will keep his newest start-up in mind. CARB products are available at .

“It’s an experiment,” Beatty said. “When it’s four times more expensive to order elsewhere, that adds up.”

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A Northeast Portland facility that would convert food waste to electricity has been approved by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and regional government Metro.

Columbia Biogas was issued air quality and solid waste permits by Oregon DEQ last week, the first step toward construction of the $40 million facility later this year. Metro, which manages solid waste disposal for the Portland-metro area, approved construction of the facility in December.

The new plant would be built on an 11.3-acre site at 6849 N.E. Columbia Blvd. and feature anaerobic digestion, a process in which bacteria breaks down organic materials, to produce methane gas. The facility would process up to 100,000 tons of food waste each year, according to John McKinney, president of Columbia Biogas.

The company will spend the next six months locking down construction bids and power purchasing contracts and partnering with food distributors who wish to dump their waste at the new facility.

“Our work in the coming months will include contracting with larger generators of food waste for our supply,” McKinney said. “The goal is to close financing at the end of May and start construction in June.”

Construction is anticipated to last for nine to 12 months.

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