How corn ethanol will fare under new energy bill
Following the passage of the Senate energy bill, what's the future of corn ethanol in the U.S.? We already know that the marketplace is not too keen on corn ethanol these days, thanks to a glut of the stuff. According to this article in the Chicago Tribune, corn ethanol's declining role will be hastened by the bill - in favor of ethanol made from the non-edible parts of the corn cob and other cellulosic feedstocks. As Tribune reporter Joshua Boak writes, "Of the 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels ordered for vehicles by 2022, 21 billion would come from biomass diesel and cellulosic sources that are still under development." That's almost 60 percent of the expected biofuel. Good news for, as Boak says, creating "commercial opportunities for finding new ways of unlocking ethanol from a harvest's remainders, reinforcing a young industry that views its chief adversary as big oil." There are plenty of companies already trying to make cellulosic ethanol in a commercially-viable way (Range Fuels and Mascoma, for example), and if this legislation can make that happen sooner, you can trust it will shift the ethanol debate once again. E85 haters get ready.
[Source: Joshua Boak, Chicago Tribune]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
GreyFlcn 8:55PM (12/15/2007)
You do realize that Range Fuels is nothing more than a glorified Fischer Tropsch process, right?
i.e. The same one used for Coal-to-Liquids.
(Also they have little to nothing to do with Corn. They use wood milling waste)
http://greyfalcon.net/cellulosics.png
http://greyfalcon.net/cellulosic
Furthermore, according to Nobel Prize Scientist who brought us the Ozone hole theory, both corn ethanol and cellulosic corn ethanol are worse than petroleum in GHG emissions.
http://greyfalcon.net/n2ostudy.png
greyfalcon.net/n2ostudy
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TX CHL Instructor 4:25PM (12/16/2007)
Political Correctness makes for poor science, bad economics, and even worse public policy. The reason that there is a glut of ethanol is that nobody really wants to use a mediocre and costly fuel.
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GreyFlcn 10:34PM (12/16/2007)
Well also part of that glut has to do with the fact that if you transport it any significant distance.
1. The cost goes up.
2. The emissions go up.
And as the GAO mentioned, the railway capacity is already maxed for carrying ethanol.
And the rest has to be trucked. This results in a VERY centralized distribution network.
http://greyfalcon.net/e85stations.png
As a result, it's very hard for the fuel to get where it'd actually be consumed. And to still maintain it's "Green" credentials (assuming it even had any to begin with)
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