BioFuel Articles
Organics and Ethanol. December 31, 2006
Organics and Ethanol.
Production of ethanol from corn, sugar cane and other biomass could compete with the use of these crops for food in the near future.
The situation would be even worse if organic farming was imposed or adopted to any large extent.
The Economist magazine highlighted Why Ethical Food Harms the Planet.
The Green Revolution of the 1960’s that relied on greater use of fertilizer and pesticides resulted in tripling of grain yields with very little additional cultivation of land.
The Economist goes on to say;“Organic methods, which rely on crop rotation, manure and compost in place of fertilizer, are far less intensive [i.e., productive]. So producing the world’s current agricultural output organically would require several times as much land as is currently cultivated. There wouldn’t be much room left for the rainforest."
Genetically engineered products can perpetuate the green revolution and allow more ethanol to be produced before impacting food supplies.
Cellulosic ethanol can also mitigate the impact of ethanol on the food supply.
Organic farming requires much more land and impacts the world’s ability to produce food. Ethanol production, from any biomass or any process, would compete with food production if organic farming were to be imposed to any large degree.
Sources: Economist Magazine and Center for Global Food Issues.
December 31, 2006
Butanol versus Ethanol.
For fifteen years an American company, Environmental Energy Inc. (EEI), has been proclaiming the benefits of Butanol, only to see Ethanol become the darling of Washington politicians.
Now, in June, DuPont and BP announced a joint venture to produce and distribute Butanol: With that announcement, Butanol gains credibility.
Butanol is superior to Ethanol for the following reasons:
-
It contains more energy than Ethanol.
-
It can be transported in pipelines while Ethanol must be shipped by truck, rail or barge.
-
There is no need to modify Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) as is the case with Ethanol.
Butanol contains 110,000 BTU’s per gallon versus only 84,000 BTU’s per gallon for Ethanol. Gasoline contains 115,000 BTU’s per gallon so Butanol is virtually a 1 for 1 replacement. This translates into essentially the same mileage per gallon as gasoline while Ethanol gets fewer miles per gallon.
There is no need to manufacture special Flex Fuel vehicles since Butanol does not attack the piping etc. of the ICE. Ethanol is limited to around a 10% mixture with gasoline before ICE modifications are required.
Investors in Ethanol plants should be looking over their shoulders at Butanol. Fortunately Ethanol plants can be modified to produce Butanol.
Similarly, investors in Cellulosic Ethanol plants should be concerned because Butanol plants can also use a wide variety of cellulosic materials as feed stocks.
Both EEI and DuPont claim that they can produce Butanol so that it is price competitive with Ethanol.
Sources: Environmental Energy Inc. www.butanol.com and DuPont/BP
July 2, 2006
Cellulosic Ethanol.
For
twenty years ethanol has been made from corn. Ethanol from corn has
provided benefits to farmers but has been
controversial: it has involved large tax payer subsidies with an ethical
cloud hanging over using food to make a gasoline additive.
Cellulosic ethanol may be able to eliminate the negatives associated with ethanol.
Cellulosic ethanol is made from unused corn stalks or other fast growing plants such as switchgrass. The process uses enzymes to convert the cellulose into sugars and has been proven in a demonstration installation making a million gallons a year. A commercial plant is now under construction in Canada that will be able to produce 45 million gallons of ethanol a year.
Clearly there is a long road ahead before cellulosic ethanol can begin to compete with the use of corn for making ethanol.
There
are 78 plants in the U.S. making ethanol from corn (not stalks) and this has been a boon
for farmers. Ten more plants are being built. More than 3
billion gallons of ethanol (from corn) is expected to be
produced in 2004. This will represent approximately 3% of the
gasoline used in the U.S. It is sold nationwide as a high-octane additive to improve
vehicle performance and reduce emissions.
The
commercial plant being built in Canada has approximately the same capacity as the average of the 78
plants currently in operation making ethanol from corn. Once the
first commercial plant operates satisfactorily, cellulosic
ethanol production will be able to compete; perhaps without
subsidies.
The
major advantage of cellulosic ethanol is that there will be a
market for corn stalks that now have to be burned or processed.
In
the future there may be an opportunity to grow switchgrass as a
crop solely for the purpose of making cellulosic ethanol.
Copyright © 2002 - 2008 TSAugust