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Marketplace |
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| Biofuels show promise in helping environment, reducing oil dependence |
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| By Bryan R. Butler, Ag Today |
Sunday, July 08, 2007 |
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Corn and soybeans may be the current "go-to" crops for producing ethanol and biodiesel, respectively. But two other crops, switchgrass and hybrid poplar, could steal the show in the future when it comes to curbing greenhouse gases, according to Agricultural Research Service and collaborating scientists.
And if South Dakota Republican Sen. John Thune has his way, there will be incentives for farmers to produce switchgrass, fast-growing trees and other cellulosic crops and to deliver them to an emerging network of cellulosic ethanol plants. Cellulose is the woody fiber that accounts for a plant's hardness.
While virtually every bioenergy specialist readily concedes the vast potential for cellulose, the challenge has been finding a way to break down this woody fiber into sugar to make the ethanol. Until now, the technological hurdles have been high and costly, forcing most energy entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to opt for corn, which, for now, is a more convenient ethanol source.
Under Thune's bill, the U.S. Department of Agriculture would target feasibility studies to biorefineries with the best prospects for success. The USDA's formula would be based on the likelihood of construction of a biorefinery, the local potential for bioenergy crop production, the number of farmers likely opting to raise these crops and the biorefinery's economic impact.
The bill likely would fund 10 to 12 feasibility studies, costing about $50,000 each. If a project is approved, farmers then would be entitled to enroll eligible land in the program.
During the contract's first five years, while biorefinery construction ensues and the cellulosic crop is established, farmers would receive a cost share and a per-acre rental payment. Once biorefinery production begins, rental payments would end and farmers then would receive matching payments of $45 for each ton of delivered biomass for the next two years.
Thune is convinced that incentives such as these are the only way for cellulose to attain its potential as the basis for the next generation of renewable fuels.
In the view of Mark Hall, the Alabama Cooperative Extension System's renewable energy expert, that's just what the industry needs: a jump-start. If one or more of these jump-starts ultimately succeeds and cellulosic biorefining becomes a common practice.
Growing any type crop for fuel production is not without energy inputs, like operating a tractor to plow, plant, fertilize and harvest all require gasoline or diesel fuel. This, in turn, releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases tied to global climate change.
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Bioenergy crops, however, offset their greenhouse gas contributions in three key ways: by removing carbon dioxide from the air and storing it in crop roots and soil as organic carbon; by producing co-products like protein for animal feed, which saves on energy to make feed by other means; and by displacement, whereby replacing a fossil fuel with a biobased one "recycles" rather than adds more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
Together with ARS scientist Stephen Del Grosso of Fort Collins, Colo., and William Parton of Colorado State University, Adler predicted a 40 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions if ethanol and biodiesel from corn-soybean rotations were used instead of gasoline and diesel. This reduction was about two times greater than using ethanol produced from corn grain alone.
However, the team predicted that using switchgrass and hybrid poplar would produce nearly a threefold greater reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to corn-soybean rotations.
This research shows biofuels do indeed have potential to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere while helping reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil.
Bryan R. Butler is an extension educator in commercial horticulture for the Carroll County Cooperative Extension.
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