Thomko Petro Chemical Blog

Thanks to all who sent e-mail from our last post about soaring oil prices. From analysts, politicians and just about everybody weighing in, there are many opinions about the cause and ways to solve our dependency on oil. Here's my personal thoughts on some of the major causes of why oil has risen to all time highs
 . . . CT

For the past 20-25 years, this country has obviously neglected to find other sources of energy and fuel, and instead opted to stay dependent on foreign oil. Now we come to a time when as Thomas Friedman's book title "The World Is Flat" hits us squarely in the face.

This is a global economy - and the rest of the world wants what we have. We are no longer the driving force on the oil & gasoline prices worldwide. Even if we cut back on gasoline consumption - drivers in the rest of the world (China, India, etc) will continue to consume more gasoline. So the answer lies not just in finding more oil, the big pill to swallow is a real alternative energy policy.

While we have been living the "American Dream", much of the rest of the global world is catching up. They want the cars, homes and a lot of the technology we have become accustomed to. There are just not enough resources to supply the demand. Actually from my point of view they are falling into the same trap we now find ourselves - but that's another story . . .  

The facts are crude oil production has remained rather flat - while the need for oil continues to rise - especially from developing countries. The American dollar is at an all time low, and let me state once again that oil is priced worldwide in dollars.

Terrorist activity around the world can send oil souring at any time as we have seen in Nigeria, and threats remain throughout the Middle East. 

Oil speculators also have to be figured into the equation of the rising oil prices. Many institutions playing the market for their investors own far too many oil contracts - and when they announce oil price expectations - prices continue to rise. It's easy to control the price when you own most of the contracts!

And the war in Iraq has dramatically cut their pre-war production of approximately 4 million barrels per day to less than 2 million barrels per day. So in reality this war has also added to the reduction of the global oil supply - and I won't even go into what the threat of war with Iran will do to the world oil market prices.

But there's more bad news . . . Russia, the world's second largest oil exporter is having production problems. Russia's lack of investment in their infrastructure and many aging oil fields has led to their first production decline in 10 years.   

At the end of the day, it's all of us who pull up to the gas pump each week who are the losers. Obviously the elected politicians for the past two decades have not had the country or our best interests at heart. So, it's up to us to make changes in our lives, and try to ride out this economic chaos.

I certainly don't have all the answers, but I do know that we are facing a very bad economic time in this country. It's going to take sacrifice, and hopefully this time we will come out this with a new outlook on alternative energy - but it's not going to happen overnight. 

That's my take . . .

SAN FRANCISCO - A few years ago, drums of used French fry grease were of interest only to a small network of underground biofuel brewers, who would use the slimy oil to power their souped-up antique Mercedes.

Now, restaurants from Berkeley, California., to Sedgwick, Kansas., are reporting thefts of old cooking oil worth thousands of dollars to rustlers who refine it into barrels of biofuel in backyard stills.

Some say it's like a war going on right now over used grease. More people are stealing grease because they have converted their cars to run on grease collected from local area restaurants.

Grease is transformed into fuel through a chemical process called transesterification, which removes glycerine and adds methanol to the oil, leaving a thinner product that can power a diesel engine.

Biodiesel can also be blended with petroleum diesel, and blends of the alternative fuel are now sold at 1,400 gas stations across the country.

As the price of diesel soars ($4.79 currently in Northwest Indiana), so, too does the value of grease.

In three years, the price of soybean oil, the main feedstock for biodiesel made in the United States, has tripled. Last week, a gallon of crude soybean oil fetched 66 cents on the open market, according to the National Biodiesel Board.

Those numbers have encouraged biofuel enthusiasts to plunder restaurants' greasy waste, and have even spurred San Francisco to get into the grease-trap cleaning business.

Drivers for Blue Sky Bio-Fuels, which manufactures bio-diesel for San Francisco's municipal program, often find their 300-gallon Dumpster outside the Oakland Coliseum nearly dry, despite the dozens of concession stands that dump there. Losses there alone have cost $3,700 in lost oil revenues in the last year.

In Kansas, Healy Biodiesel reports thousands of dollars in losses from used cooking oil heists from restaurants near Sedgwick, about 20 miles north of Wichita.

Standard Biodiesel in Seattle started working with police to try to catch fly-by-night home-brewers pilfering up to 30,000 gallons of the oil they collect from restaurants every month.

To manufacture the renewable fuel legally, biodiesel producers must register with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Also, biodiesel consumers must pay the government taxes to help with road upkeep.
 

Source: Newsday

Continental Airlines, Boeing and GE Aviation have announced plans to conduct a biofuels demonstration flight in the first half of 2009 in an effort to identify sustainable fuel solutions for the aviation industry.

Continental is the first major U.S. carrier to announce plans to highlight technological advancements in sustainable biofuels that can help to further reduce carbon emissions.

The biofuel flight will use a Boeing Next-Generation 737 equipped with CFM International CFM56-7B engines. CFM is a 50/50 joint company of General Electric Company and Snecma (SAFRAN Group).

In the months leading up to the flight, Continental, Boeing and GE will work together and with an undisclosed fuel provider to identify sustainable fuel sources that don't impact food crops, water resources or contribute to deforestation, and which can be produced in sufficient quantities to support a pre-flight test schedule that includes laboratory and ground-based jet engine performance testing to ensure compliance with stringent aviation fuel performance and safety requirements.

As part of a broader industry effort, Boeing and other industry thought leaders, including airlines and engine manufacturers, are helping to guide the aviation sector toward sustainable biofuels produced through advanced biomass conversion technologies and processes that have the potential to reduce greenhouse gases throughout their lifecycle.

For more information, visit www.continental.com, www.boeing.com or www.ge.com

Flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs) may soon be more flexible, thanks to research at U.K. based group Lotus Engineering.

Researchers at the company’s headquarters in England, are converting a Lotus Exige to run on gasoline, ethanol and methanol, according to Tim Holland, director of motor sports initiatives. He said the company’s U.S. office in Michigan is likely to follow suit this year.

The conversion is on the heels of the company’s similar work by both offices to convert a Lotus Exige to an Flexible fuel vehicle (FFV).

The standard Exige has a supercharged 1.8-liter, 4-cylinder Toyota engine that has been fitted to the sports car body. “The addition of ethanol was part of a joint research and development promotional project to show that an alternative fuel vehicle doesn’t have to be boring,” Holland said.

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Stopped by ENN this morning, and one of their news posts is about GreenBiz.com, which has just launched its "State of Green Business 2008" report - Charles

In it, you will find a wealth of information on green business trends with a cross-sectoral approach. Over the next week, ENN is posting a synopsis of some of those trends.

To start off, here's a list of the "Top Green Business Stories of 2007."

1. Corporate Climate Commitments - Major companies are making public commitments about their strategies to address climate change in record numbers.

2. Automotive Industry Finally Gets It - Major carmakers are bringing us more fuel-efficient and hybrid vehicles, with plans to launch plug-in hybrids soon.

3. Planes, Trains, Trucks, and Ships are Going Green Too - Other players in the transportation sector are also implementing eco-efficient tech to reduce their environmental impact.

4. Green Marketing/Greenwashing - Just as companies are increasingly catering to the "green consumer," mainstream consumers are increasingly skeptical of such claims.

5. Toxic Product Reduction - Manufacturers and retailers faced a public backlash this year concerning toxic materials in their products. As such, they are making amends to reduce or eliminate them in future production.

6. E-waste - The computing industry got serious this year about energy use and disposal problems associated with technology.

7. Big Companies Get Real about Sustainability - More Fortune 500 businesses announced plans to incorporate company-wide initiatives to engender smarter resource use.

8. Green Buildings Skyrocket - Green buildings become the norm in major urban centers across the nation.

9. Banks Pull Out of "Dirty Investments" - Shareholder activism pressure large banks to invest in clean energy production instead.

10. "Zero" is Where It's At - "Zero-waste," "zero-carbon," and "zero-emissions," are the rallying cries from the new initiatives emerging from the corporate sector.

Source: ENN
http://www.enn.com/business/article/30576

Ford Motor Company announced today it is adding three additional vehicles to its E-85 flexible fuel vehicle (FFV) line-up for the 2009 model year -- Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator full size sports utility vehicles and Ford E-Series full size van and wagon.

These latest entrants are yet another example of Ford’s aggressive plan to bring more products that customers want and need to market faster.

The Ford E-Series will be the first over 8,500 lb. full size van to provide E-85 capability and also the first full size van to offer two V-8 engine alternatives with E-85 capability – a 4.6-liter and a 5.4-liter. Redesigned last year to provide even greater functionality, the E-85 E-Series demonstrates Ford's commitment to delivering customer focused features that have made it America's best-selling full size van for 28 years.

The Expedition and Navigator are also popular with customers due to their passenger and cargo space, towing capabilities, on- and off-road performance and safety features such as AdvanceTrac® with RSC® and five-star safety ratings from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration.

The Expedition, Expedition EL, Navigator and Navigator L will be available with the 5.4-liter flexible fuel engine.

The addition of the Expedition, Navigator and E-Series to Ford’s flexible fuel line-up now brings the total to seven. The other models include Ford F-150 and Crown Victoria, Lincoln Town Car and Mercury Grand Marquis. Beginning with the 2008 model year, Ford began offering the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor and taxi with E-85 capability.

Customers can begin placing orders for the Expedition, Navigator and E-Series in May 2008 with vehicle production slated to begin in July 2008.

Last year, Ford achieved 50-state certification for all of the Ford, Lincoln and Mercury 2008 flexible fuel passenger car models. Achieving 50-state certification means Ford's flexible fuel vehicles meet both emissions rules set by the Federal government, as well as California. The evaporative standards in California create some unique challenges for FFVs.

By certifying to both standards, automakers can sell their vehicles nationwide and reduce complexity.
Ford has placed more than two million flexible fuel vehicles on the road, and has pledged to make half of its production capable of running on alternative fuels by 2012, provided the necessary fuel and infrastructure are in place.

Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles in 200 markets across six continents. With about 250,000 employees and about 100 plants worldwide, the company’s core and affiliated automotive brands include Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo and Mazda. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company.

For more information regarding Ford’s products, please visit www.ford.com.     
    
Source: World Wire

Ethanol's Environmental & Economic Concerns

The push for more corn based ethanol is raising environmental and economic concerns.

A new energy bill was passed by Congress last week, but instead of looking at additional alternative fuels, the bill is more concentrated on ethanol as the alternative fuel of choice.

The ethanol boom in the Midwest by corn farmers is already having a negative impact on the environement and the economy - and this new energy bill calls for double the corn ethanol output.

One of the main environmental concerns is the use of nitrogen based fertilizers, which runs off the cornfields into the Mississippi River, and eventually reaches the Gulf of Mexico.

The nitrogen based fertilizer has already been linked to what is called a "dead zone" in the Gulf. Almost 8,000 miles along the northern and western Gulf area has been depleted of oxygen, which kills of fish and other sea life.

As for the economic impact, we already see that in the grocery store with rising food prices. Currently the price of corn is about $4, double the price of five years ago. Farmers have more incentive to grow more corn, and neglect the growing of other crops. Since their are fewer crops, this is causing a boost in the price of those products.

Cows and chickens are fed corn based feed, and since the price of feed is rising, so is the cost of meat. And this also affects the price of all processed foods which contain corn based sweetners.

The problem becomes global as we continue to use more corn to fuel cars, there is less food available to feed the rest of the world.

So, as we try to find alternative fuels to wean ourselves from the dependence on oil, we need to be mindful of the environmental, economic and global problems associated with becoming dependent on yet another fuel source. 

As we have become solely dependent on oil, we should look at more biofuel sources such as sugarcane, citrus and other plants - rather than a dependence on corn which is a much needed food product. 

Since President Bush declined to join other countries in implementing the 1997 Kyoto Protocol's mandatory caps on emissions, instead emphasizing voluntary approaches to tackle climate change, states across the U.S. are making their own policies.

Last Thursday, Governor's from the Midwest signed agreements designed to cut greenhouse gases, promote energy conservation and fight global warming. The governors are in agreement that wind power, water and other renewable sources could eventually provide up to 30% of the region's electricity.

According to the World Resources Institute, these new energy initiatives mean that almost half of Americans will be living in areas covered by agreements designed to combat global warming.

Midwest regions include the state of Ohio west to the state of Kansas. If these states were their own country, they would be the world's fifth largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions.

States on both coasts have formed regional pacts to cut emissions. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in the East seeks to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. California, which is seeking to cut greenhouse emissions 25% by 2020, and five other states have formed the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative.

Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin signed one agreement setting greenhouse gas reduction goals which allows companies to buy and sell pollution credits to meet the targets.

A broader agreement was signed involving nearly all states in the region calling for 15% of all gas stations in these regions will be selling ethanol by 2015, and one in four stations by 2025. This initiative will take advantage of non petroleum-based energy sources such as wind power and grain-based ethanol.

I admit I am very disappointed that my state of Indiana is not mentioned. What is Republican Governor Mitch Daniels doing about new energy initiatives for our state? Opps I forgot our man Mitch is a Bush supporter.

As a Ford retiree, I was interested in the latest news from the chairman . . . CT

William Clay Ford Jr., Chairman of Ford Motor Company, expressed his frustration at the slow pace of alternative fuel development, and stated that industry leaders expected more progress by now.

Ford also expressed concern about congestion in cities around the globe, saying it could be as big a problem as air pollution. He also agrees with critics that alternative fuel needs to be from other sources other than corn based ethanol, and the shift to cellulosic ethanol has been far too slow.

Ford went on to say that if alternative fuels are harder to come by, the cost will be prohibitive to many drivers, who will opt for cheaper gasoline.

With government efforts in places like South Africa, India, and other parts of Europe to persuade people to use public transportation, bikes and mopeds instead of automobiles, Ford says he believes the American idea of individual car ownership may be different as we know it today.

Ford Motor Company, as well as other Detroit auto companies have emphasized flexible-fuel vehicles, which can run on fuels other than gasoline, and has made a pledge that half of the vehicles it produces can be flexible fuel if those fuels are available by 2012.

Researchers at Japanese carmaker Mazda think cars will in the future will run on a water component - hydrogen.  

"We have to prepare for sustainable zoom-zoom," Mazda executive Nobuhiro Hayama said on Monday. Mazda uses the term zoom-zoom in its marketing for fun driving, or "the exhilaration and liberation that come from experiencing sheer motion."

I read another article relating to hydrogen fuel at ENN which states that bacteria that feed on vinegar and waste water zapped with a shot of electricity could produce a clean hydrogen fuel to power vehicles that now run on petroleum, researchers reported on Monday.

The bacteria does most of the work - breaking the organic material into subatomic particles, so all the electricity does is juice these particles to form hydrogen. These cells are too large to be put into cars, so the gaseous hydrogen fuel they produce must be made in a factory.

Although it sounds futuristic, microbial fuel cell technology is available now. The researchers have filed for a patent on this work.

U.S. Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana has named Carl and Lorrie Lisek of St. John as the October 2007 Lugar Energy Patriots.

The Liseks are co-coordinators of South Shore Clean Cities Inc., which is part of a nationwide network that develops public/private partnerships to promote alternative fuels and advanced vehicles.

Clean Cities is a nationwide network sponsored by the Department of Energy of approximately 90 volunteer coalitions that develop public/private partnerships to promote alternative fuels and advanced vehicles, fuel blends, fuel economy, hybrid vehicles, and idle reduction.

Read full story at Indiana Business

Automakers around the world are showing their interest in creating cars with low to zero tailpipe emissions through concept cars.

Toyota and Honda led the way in production hybrids, and other companies are seeing the advantages.

Many of the concepts at the Tokyo Motor Show use hybrid power trains, while quite a few others advance research into hydrogen as a fuel, either through fuel cells or combustion.

See Car Slide Show at CNET.com

For the past few years, ethanol has been touted as the alternative fuel of choice. In this time farmers rushed to plant more and more corn, which drove food prices sky high. Most of us did not stop to think that just about everything we eat contains corn, in some form or another.

On the other side of this equation, the companies and farm cooperatives built distilleries at the speed of light. I could not even keep up with pace, and finally gave up postings on hundreds of new plants in just a four month period. I like the idea of ethanol, but this is not the "ethanol blog", so I can't, or even want to post on it every day.

So, what's the problem? Well it seems we have too much of it, and the industry planners did not put transportation into the equation. Most of the ethanol is grown here in the Midwest, and who needs it the most - the coastal areas of the country.

Aside from not being able to get out of a transportation bottle neck, the price of ethanol has gone down about 30% since May, and is still falling. And that would be good for consumers, however they can't get it.

In fact, the only winners in this are the farmers. Even if they lose their investment money on the production of ethanol, the fact that food prices have gone through the roof will tide many of them through.

So now new distillery construction has stopped, and we will have to wait to see how this all works out. We will also wait to see exactly what price ethanol will average, but before we know what that price will be, the transportation of the product has to be addressed.

Chrysler LLC's new top product strategist said today that the auto maker plans to eventually introduce alternative-fuel versions of every model it makes.

James Press, the Chrysler vice chairman recruited last month from Toyota Motor Corp., told The Detroit News today that Chrysler "absolutely" expects to provide a hybrid, diesel or other environmentally-friendly version of each of its cars and trucks."

Read full article at The Detroit News

On a blackboard, it looks so simple: Take a plant and extract the cellulose. Add some enzymes and convert the cellulose molecules into sugars. Ferment the sugar into alcohol. Then distill the alcohol into fuel. One, two, three, four — and we're powering our cars with lawn cuttings, wood chips, and prairie grasses instead of Middle East oil.

Unfortunately, passing chemistry class doesn't mean acing economics. Scientists have long known how to turn trees into ethanol, but doing it profitably is another matter. We can run our cars on lawn cuttings today; we just can't do it at a price people are willing to pay.

Read this lengthy, but informative article at Wired

Hello!

Good to be back blogging again. Had to take a rest, but all is well. Just needed some R&R. I stopped by Petroleum World and saw this article . . . CT 

"Think beyond petroleum" is a lofty thought. Sidewalk pundits endorse it. It smacks of high-tech. And that got my attention.

Think of fusion. That's the energy-producing concept which uses the hydrogen in heavy sea water. In other words, sea water becomes the fuel for the process. But fusion was not on the list "beyond petroleum." Windmills were high on the list, as they are with most people, except Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who suffers from the NIMBY syndrome. It seems strange to me that windmills were high on the list. My first reaction was that windmills were high-tech in Biblical times and that was before petroleum.

Solar energy was identified as a source to think about. Solar, like wind energy, is limited by location. The Southwest desert areas provide a greater opportunity for the use of solar power, which in these regions may be used to advantage.

Finish reading article at Petroleum World

Bio Willie Nelson is writing about biodiesel in his new book On the Clean Road Again: Biodiesel and the Future of the Family Farm.

The 90-some-page pocket-size book is divided into two parts: the past (or the history of petroleum) and the future (biodiesel). Wind, Solor and Hydro are also mentioned for future alternative fuel needs. There is also a recipe for petroleum vs. biodiesel. 

It's a good read with lots of Nelson humor - CT 

Just when you think you've heard just about everything . . . CT

Jonathan Goodwin's career is a combination of vehicle fanatic and environmentalist.

He recently opened H-Line Conversions - a custom diesel engine conversion business that converts Hummer engines to use alternative fuels.

Goodwin said he has converted more than 60 H2 Hummers from gas to diesel and 100 H1 Hummers, including one that will burn hydrogen, natural gas, ethanol, biodiesel and vegetable oil.

He said the conversion increases a Hummer's mileage from 10 to 24 miles a gallon and doubles the horsepower from 325 to 650.

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