Molson Coors ethanol fueling DNC
By Jerd Smith, Rocky Mountain News
Published August 21, 2008 at 6:56 p.m.
Updated August 21, 2008 at 6:56 p.m.
GOLDEN — Molson Coors may be a small player in the ethanol world, but at the Democratic National Convention, it may as well be ExxonMobil.
All of the estimated 40,000 gallons of ethanol being used in DNC alternative fuel vehicles is coming from the brewer's unique ethanol distillery.
Here, some 3 million gallons a year of the fuel are manufactured from beer waste, a process that shrinks the brewery's traditional waste stream, while creating fuel for the fast-growing E-85 fuel market on Colorado's Front Range.
The liquid that is extracted from the beige-colored beer sludge is tranformed into a clear, glistening, 200-proof alcohol, stuff so strong that the brewer keeps the outside test tap on the still locked so that thirsty college students — Colorado School of Mines is just a couple of blocks away — don't swing by for tastings.
The ethanol production facility is owned by Molson Coors' partner Merrick & Co., and each year the partnership sells every ounce of ethanol it can produce to Colorado refineries, according to Molson Coors Vice President of Public Affairs Al Timothy.
The refineries add 15 percent traditional gasoline to the brew to create the fuel known as E-85.
Demand for the fuel, at about $2.85 cents a gallon, is soaring, thanks to a new federal mandate pushing alternative fuels.
"It's growing quickly," said Andy Aden, a senior research scientist at the National Renewable Energy Lab. This year about 7 billion gallons of ethanol will be used, Aden said. By 2022, the goal is 36 billion.
Molson Coors promotes its boutique ethanol as the most efficient on the market in terms of purity and cost, because it's produced from an existing manufacturing process and uses materials that would otherwise be thrown away.
But few breweries have this capability because they don't have an on-site facility that can do all the processing required, such as on-site yeast drying.
As a result, more than 90 percent of America's ethanol comes from a more traditional corn-based manufacturing process, while other world supplies are created from sugar cane.
But other U.S. food industries are beginning to enter the ethanol fray, with Idaho producing the fuel from potato waste, and the giant dairy co-op Land O'Lakes, producing the fuel from cheese whey, NREL's Aden said.
In Golden, of course, the emphasis remains on beer, as it has for more than 100 years. That the DNC has given Molson Coors' small-scale operation a moment on the alternatives fuels stage is just added foam.
Rick Paine, who oversees the ethanol production at the plant, delights in the notion that beer is finally getting its share of the ethanol limelight.
Says Paine: "I tell people it's OK for your car to drink this product and drive home."
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August 23, 2008
9:55 a.m.
Suggest removal
SacramentoE85 writes:
Similar to beer being produced along with ethanol, in the corn ethanol process there are other products such as livestock feed (dried distillers grains), CO2, corn oil, and others produced in the process-adding up to 30% or more of the original volume of corn! It is good to see many ways to produce ethanol being used, to more efficiently use all the resources we have. I look forward to when E85 pumps open this year in Sacramento to fill up our Flex Fuel Vehicle (and reducing our gasoline consumption to 15%!).
August 23, 2008
10:02 a.m.
Suggest removal
SacramentoE85 writes:
From Forbes.com: "The Farm Bill that Congress passed in June calls for production of 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2022, including 21 billion gallons from sources other than corn and soybeans.
Bumping that total production to 42 billion gallons would displace 1 billion barrels of oil that wouldn't have to be imported, Schafer said.
"If we do that, it would double the farm income in this country," he said.
Congress will consider legislation covering the use of forest residue from places such as the Black Hills (nyse: BKH - news - people ) National Forest for cellulosic ethanol production, Thune said.
For the short term, the promise of bumper corn and soybean crops will help ease concern over the role renewable fuels has had on higher food prices, Schafer said.
"This level of production should ease some of the pressure on retail prices and cool down that debate about whether we're making the right choice about food versus fuel with our corps," Schafer said.
Biofuels already have saved motorists about $100 billion in fuel costs at the pump, and removing them from the mix would do nothing to ease food prices, he said."
"As fuel prices wane, Americans must pursue domestic sources, Thune said.
"The reason we get 70 percent of the energy from outside the United States is because Americans and some of its leaders got complacent," he said."
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/0...
August 25, 2008
7:29 a.m.
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RobertLee writes:
Good for Molson Coors. The more we can be doing to promote renewable biofuels the better, as continuing to rely on foreign oil is no longer an alternative from a national security, environmental, or economic perspective.