New Zealand starts selling milk ethanol
Pictured is Helen Clark, New Zealand's Prime Minister, getting ready to pour e10, 10 percent ethanol gas blend with ethanol produced by Fonterra... a dairy cooperative. They made the ethanol from milk. Yes, milk.It will be sold by Gull, which is family owned and has 30 petrol stations in New Zealand. The Fonterra plant produces 30,000 litres of ethanol a day. Helen says "Gull's new fuel provides motorists with real choice, helps New Zealand to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and takes New Zealand a step further towards achieving sustainability."
If that's not strange enough, Fonterra also makes alcohol that's used in vodka and gin. New Zealand set a target of 3.4 percent biofuel mandate by 2012. New Zealand also aims to be the world's first carbon neutral country.
This is very cool but does not help the fuels vs food debate. The rising price of milk is already blamed on ethanol. Literally selling ethanol made from milk can only fuel the... fuel vs food debate. I can wait for orange juice ethanol. Then cereal. Cars need a balanced breakfast :D
[Source: Stuff]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
GregR 12:52PM (4/21/2008)
They use Whey, not Commercial Milk and Cream. It is a by product of milk production.
Here is their presentation
http://www.eeca.govt.nz/eeca-library/renewable-energy/biofuels/report/tim-mackle-biofuels-conference-05.pdf
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gnoble 9:36AM (8/20/2007)
I'm not sure about New Zealand, but I know worldwide there is way more milk produced than be used. Millions of litres are dumped out every day largely because it can't be sold and also to prevent the market from being glutted. If this excess could be diverted to making fuels w/o effecting the market price of milk that would be great - but things are never that simple!
The good thing is, finding out the true costs of producing ethanol from milk in New Zealand should be comparatively easy; there are no farm subsidies there.
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Tim 9:58AM (8/20/2007)
Why feed your kids or the starving in Africa when you can just give it to your SUV? I just love the greenies! They are SO smart!!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm
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Kardax 10:30AM (8/20/2007)
If the milk was destined to be dumped, then I suppose there's no problem here... but in terms of EROI, I think even corn is more efficient...
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Ian Bruce 10:38AM (8/20/2007)
Better than pouring it out I suppose. I see they're point -- Milk doesn't have much of a shelf life. It's mostly water, and impossible to export cost-effectively. Nothing to do but turn it into fuel through a highly inefficient process, and through more gas (sorry, ethanol) on the "food into fuel" debate.
Wait... I seem to recall another technology that increases the shelf life dramatically... some kind of advanced polymer... at a much higher density... making it highly profitable for export. What WAS it?! Oh, yeah! CHEESE!
Back on the subject of fuel... "3.4 per cent biofuel component for gas and diesel by 2012"? Wow. At that breakneck pace, our species will have evolved into beings composed of pure energy around the time the Kiwis reach E85.
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Tim 10:40AM (8/20/2007)
Kardax- Why dump it when they could just powder it and feed someone? Food is good! I'd even venture to guess that many would consider it MORE important than oil, money, or even power!
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steven 11:03AM (8/20/2007)
Let's see... if there is no market for the milk, I think that means no one wants to buy it. So some would suggest that the milk be dehydrated (at no cost?) and shipped (at no cost???) and provided free (???) to people who are need the food. This all seems like a good idea and a very Noble Cause (not the same as True Love, but still Very Noble indeed). But if dairy farm that is in business to turn a profit (or at least cover costs) does not have the wherewithall to provide the services for free and is unable to find someone willing to pay what it costs to get thier soon to be spoiled milk to those that need it for food, why CAN'T they make it into something folks are willing to pay for? Granted that is one of the cornestones for capitalisum, but other than that....
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Ian Bruce 11:28AM (8/20/2007)
Steve. Take one look at Helen Clark's smile, and tell me again there isn't a larger market for milk in New Zealand. ;)
Seriously... I'm all for capitalism, but less fond of straw-man arguments. No one's suggesting doing anything for "free" -- just that there are a hundred better uses, ethically and economically, for a surplus of food. Churning it into gasahol is hardly an optimal solution.
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rgseidl 12:29PM (8/20/2007)
As in the case of bread, those who sell perishable foodstuffs are trading off the risk of presenting their customers with empty shelves vs. the cost of unsold goods. In rich industrialized nations, the balance typically falls on the side of excess production.
By the time these particular foodstuffs are past their "best before" dates, it's too late to export them to starving children in Africa. Turning the sugars and starches in them into fuel may be better than fedding the rats in the landfill or burning them for electricity.
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Kardax 3:17PM (8/20/2007)
I think the real solution is to grow less cows and more grains :)
Cows need a lot of food to make, a lot more than they'll ever produce in meat and milk. If we really wanted to provide food far all, we'd get off meat entirely.
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Chris M 5:30PM (8/20/2007)
Jeez, you city slickers don't know nuthin bout the dairy industry! Fonterra doesn't make ethanol from whole milk, that would be incredibly inefficient and produce a lot of waste that would be difficult to dispose of.
In the cheese making process, the milk is treated with rennet and separates into curds and whey. The cheese curds ends up with most of the nutrients, and the whey ends up with most of the water and lactose. The market for whey is very limited, most whey is discarded, and whey disposal has been a major headache for dairies. It's the lactose in the whey that is used to make ethanol, thus they are using something that they would otherwise have to pay to dispose of!
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GregR 5:36PM (8/20/2007)
Forterra is the largest exporter of dairy products in the world. Although NZ dairy industry is not subsidized it suffers because countries like US heavily subsidize it's farmers.
All credit to them to look for new ways to use dairy by products in different ways. I thought thats is what commercial R&D is for.
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pamela lorraine 1:58AM (8/22/2007)
milk can also be heat treated as in uht will keep for years why waste food products?
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