Several years ago, there was substantial debate on whether corn ethanol produced more net energy relative to the amount of fossil energy required to manufacture it. This ratio, the amount of energy produced divided by fossil energy input needed, often is referred to as ethanol’s energy balance. For years, scientists argued whether the ratio exceeded one to one.

Two recent studies, one by Hosein Shapouri of the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and a second by Stephan Mueller at the University of Illinois in Chicago, confirm that ethanol’s energy balance now far exceeds one to one and is closer to 1.4 to one. Both studies relied on survey data obtained from operating ethanol plants.

The USDA’s study provides insight as to where the energy efficiencies have been realized. Of the total energy required to produce a gallon of ethanol (53,785 British thermal units), most of the energy is consumed in the plant during the conversion process at 40,019 Btu.

The amount of energy required to produce the corn is the second- largest component at 9,811 Btu. Remaining energy claims are for transporting the corn and distribution of the ethanol to retail consumers.

Here is where it gets interesting. While the farm’s share of energy use for ethanol production is substantially lower than the amount of energy used in ethanol plants for manufacturing, it’s the farm level that has led to the overall gain in ethanol’s energy balance. The USDA has monitored energy use in corn production since 1991. During that period, energy use at the farm level has declined almost 30 per cent.

Expensive N

The largest use of energy at the farm level is nitrogen fertilizer, which accounts for almost half of all the energy consumed. Energy for other fertilizers, drying and tractor operations are less than one-fourth of the nitrogen fertilizer energy used.

Several factors are responsible for the steep decline in fertilizer use in corn production. New corn hybrids utilize fertilizer more efficiently, application technology has improved and producers are more aware of an environmental run-off following excessive applications.

However, during the past few years, farmers have reduced fertilizer applications because of record-high prices. Therefore, one has to question if the downward trend in fertilizer application, farm energy use and the resulting increase in the ethanol energy balance is a long-term trend or just a temporary situation.

If fertilizer prices moderate in the future, are farmers once again going to be applying more nitrogen fertilizer, which eventually will result in a lower ethanol energy balance?

To the extent that farmers have “mined” soil nutrients for the past couple of years, it may take several years of fertilizer applications to restore prior productivity.

While most scientists now concur that ethanol contains more energy than is required to produce it, the final energy balance statistic still is open for debate.

The post Will Farmers’ Actions Improve The Ethanol Energy Balance? – for Aug. 2, 2010 appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Agronomically, field peas fix nitrogen, which lowers production costs and reduces the crop’s carbon footprint.

Corn has become the mainstay of ethanol production. However, many firms are investigating new feedstocks, such as switchgrass, forest products and algae, to produce cellulosic biofuels that meet pending federal and state regulations.

Biofuel production from most of these alternative feedstocks has not been commercialized as yet. Moreover, numerous agronomic and environmental challenges also exist, given rotational restrictions, fertility needs and residue management.

One crop that has potential as a biofuel feedstock and is well adapted to small-grain rotations in the northern Plains is field peas. Two NDSU graduate students, Abhishik Goel and Andrew Wilhelmi, recently completed research projects investigating the potential of field peas.

Agronomically, field peas fix nitrogen, which lowers production costs and reduces the crop’s carbon footprint. If you recall, greenhouse gas considerations are an important aspect in future biofuels. In addition, field peas can break disease cycles prevalent in traditional small-grain rotations.

Field peas must be fractionated before being used for ethanol production. Fractionation is a process where raw field peas are ground and then separated into component parts, which primarily are starch and protein. The protein portion is sold in traditional marketing channels as livestock feed. The starch portion is blended by up to 10 per cent with corn and fed directly into an ethanol plant.

There are two advantages of utilizing more field pea starch, which is more concentrated, when producing ethanol. First, because the feedstock is concentrated, less material has to be handled. This increases plant efficiency and leads to higher throughput and productivity. Second, our research found that the addition of pea starch to corn accelerates the fermentation process, which again increases plant capacity.

Field peas are price competitive when corn rises above US$4.34 a bushel. The graduate researchers also found that local field pea availability reduces corn supply risk. While North Dakota has considerable corn acreage, a significant portion of the crop is fed to livestock and marketed out of state. Therefore, in a short crop year, ethanol plants periodically have to purchase corn elsewhere and incur high rail freight charges. An increase of field pea acres could diversify ethanol plant feedstock supplies.

At present, the investment cost of fractionation equipment is a significant financial impediment. Commercial-scale equipment to support a 100-million-gallon-per-year ethanol plant is not available. In our study, three small systems were included, but their cost was much higher than one large machine would have been. If industry demand for larger fractionation equipment evolves, investment cost per dry weight of peas processed likely will fall, which in turn would increase field pea biofuel profitability.

The post New Energy Economics: Field Peas As An Ethanol Feedstock appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

EISA was landmark legislation for the biofuels industry because it set a national goal of producing 36 billion gallons per year of renewable energy. Following passage, a national debate ensued on whether our country had enough land available to produce this quantity of biofuels and its impact on food supplies (food vs. fuel).

The original EISA legislation defined three types of biofuels – conventional, advanced and cellulosic. Conventional biofuel is traditional ethanol produced from cornstarch (grain). Advanced and cellulosic biofuels were defined based on their ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Advanced biofuels must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 50 per cent, while cellulosic must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 60 per cent.

EISA included a specific column for production of conventional biofuels and eventually increasing production to 15 billion gallons per year by 2022. Advanced and cellulosic biofuels only included ranges of five to 21 billion gallons per year and three to 16 billion gallons per year, respectively, because the federal government was uncertain how rapidly these new technologies could be commercialized. The legislation charged the EPA with reviewing and updating these guidelines annually.

TRADITIONAL PLANTS DON’T QUALIFY

The EPA now has provided more clarity. Conventional biofuels in the future must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 20 per cent. In determining this calculation, the EPA now includes both “direct” and “indirect” causes during the lifecycle of production. The latter component commonly is referred to as indirect land use change. However, the EPA finds that any new traditional corn grain ethanol plant would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by only up to 16 per cent, so it would not qualify as a conventional biofuel.

In its proposed regulations, though, the EPA is grandfathering in traditional corn grain ethanol plants built before Dec. 19, 2007. Therefore, existing ethanol plants will be able to continue to operate and produce ethanol that conforms to the federal guidelines for the time being. It is uncertain how long this grandfathering provision will last, especially as new technologies arise and production of conventional biofuels with a greater than 20 per cent greenhouse gas emissions reduction occurs.

Existing corn grain ethanol plants are investing in new technology, such as fractionation and changing plant energy sources, in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In doing so, the plants increase their chances of being able to meet the tighter EPA regulations being proposed.

To ensure compliance with new EPA regulations, each gallon of biofuel produced will have a unique 34-digit renewable identification number. Blenders will have to document that they have purchased appropriate quantities of each type of biofuel when producing their final consumer products.

The greatest challenge the biofuels industry now faces is finding capital to construct new advanced and cellulosic plants. With unproven biofuels conversion technology, changing EPA regulations and weak financial markets, new investment capital is going to be difficult to procure.

The post New U.S. Regulations Upset Ethanol Applecart appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.