I read that from planting the corn to the finished product, ready to be added to gasoline. That’s it only a break even process saving very little oil.
I also understand that the fertilizer used to grow corn is made mostly from oil. I’m hoping that maybe a crop that doesn’t need added fertilizer could be used instead.
It’s better than break-even, but not by much. And there are additional problems that will make ethanol-from-corn a losing proposition; the worst of those is the fact the it takes a food product that a) feeds us, and b) is sold world-wide, which helps slightly to balance our horrible foreign-trade deficit, and turns it into fuel to feed the maws of gas-guzzling SUV’s. It is a near-certainty that ethanol from corn will be a disaster in the long run.
That said, the fault is not ethanol’s. If we could make ethanol from cellulose or garbage or any organic waste we could solve multiple problems at the same time. This will eventually happen, but probably not soon enough.
November 7th, 2009 at 4:48 am
depends on the method of distillation what’s used as a heat source for the boiler and what the biomass is. again why does the corn kernel always become the focus for biomass and inevitably someone will say it takes to much away from starving people. there are a lot of other sources starting with silage the corn stalk and cob that’s wasted, not to mention switch grass and sorghum.
ethanol is renewable oil is not and rapidly running out, all the easy to get to oil is gone whats left is ANWR and farther into the arctic ocean which wasn’t accessible till the ice started melting.
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November 7th, 2009 at 5:30 am
Jeff is correct, if ethanol is to be a true supplement to reduce oil consumption, it needs to come from places that are not as energy intensive as corn production.
Corn has another down side. It takes much more fertilizer than other crops and much of the fertilizer that is applied to corn crops ends up in the runoff from the fields. In the US the majority of that works its way to the Gulf of Mexico where is causes a dead zone every summer.
The only benefit is to Archer Danies Midland and the corn farmers.
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November 7th, 2009 at 5:50 am
It’s better than break-even, but not by much. And there are additional problems that will make ethanol-from-corn a losing proposition; the worst of those is the fact the it takes a food product that a) feeds us, and b) is sold world-wide, which helps slightly to balance our horrible foreign-trade deficit, and turns it into fuel to feed the maws of gas-guzzling SUV’s. It is a near-certainty that ethanol from corn will be a disaster in the long run.
That said, the fault is not ethanol’s. If we could make ethanol from cellulose or garbage or any organic waste we could solve multiple problems at the same time. This will eventually happen, but probably not soon enough.
References :
November 7th, 2009 at 6:13 am
It’s a dumb idea producing only a little half of the energy in the same quantity of gasoline. Using our food supply for a poor fuel is a politically motivated "feel good" sham.
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