There is a mounting backlash against grain-based ethanol and a corresponding push to speed the development of its cellulose-based alternative.
Critics of grain-based fuel are coming out of the woodwork as the ethanol debate heats up with the introduction of proposed new mandates in Canada and the United States.
“I think you’re seeing a lot more of that,” said Rick Kment, ethanol and biofuel analyst for DTN, a commodity information service.
One of the biggest knocks against grain-based ethanol is that it steals raw material out of the food system, a charge levied by environmental groups like Worldwatch Institute.
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Governments are also keenly aware of the food versus fuel debate. China recently announced it would allow no increase in corn-based ethanol pro-duction due to the needs for starch in the food chain.
Another criticism is that the potential greenhouse gas reductions from starch-based ethanol are meagre compared to sugar and fibre based fuels.
Others say ethanol production is simply uneconomical. Tad Patzek, professor of geo-engineering at University of California, Berkeley, said at today’s corn and natural gas prices it costs about $2.14 US per gallon to produce ethanol, which is exactly what it wholesales for.
That is only the cost of the raw ingredients. It doesn’t include capital and equipment, labour, utility or transportation costs.
Reformulated gas is selling for $1.41 per gallon. Since ethanol delivers about 67 percent of the energy of gasoline the plants are paying $2.14 for 95 cents worth of energy.
“You cannot run a business based on this model even with the tremendous subsidies they are getting,” said Patzek.
Many researchers and environmentalists say cellulose-based ethanol has several advantages.
Since it is made from agricultural and forestry waste there is no food security issue, it provides significant energy efficiency compared to grain-based ethanol and uses cheaper and more plentiful feedstocks.
So where are all the cellulosic ethanol plants?
“We believe in the next five or six years the United States will have the first fully integrated biorefineries that produce ethanol from cellulose,” said Gary Schmitz, spokesperson for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the lead U.S. lab for federal research into cellulosic ethanol.
Researchers have made major strides in developing enzymes that break down cellulosic mass. Now they must refine the manufacturing process in which those enzymes will be used.
Schmitz said the National Renewable Energy Laboratory is building its first large-scale pilot plant, with the aim of perfecting the technology before 2012 when the first commercial plants are expected to be in operation.
The work taking place at NREL’s lab in Golden, Colorado, represents a shift in government policy.
“The federal effort on ethanol hasn’t been on corn grains, it has been solely on cellulosic ethanol,” said Schmitz.
U.S. president George Bush recently called for 35 billion US gallons (132 billion litres) of ethanol production by 2017, following that up with an announcement that the new farm bill will include $2 billion for funding of cellulosic plants.
By some industry estimates, corn ethanol would only be able to meet 15 billion gallons (57 billion litres) of that proposed mandate.
“It is clear that cellulosic ethanol will be required in massive quantities in order to fill that 20 billion gallon (76 billion litre) per year gap,” said SunOpta Inc., one of the companies expected to be first out of the gate, in a news release.
SunOpta has a cellulosic ethanol plant in operation in China and has announced plans to build facilities in Spain, the U.S. and Canada in the next couple of years. Company officials did not return requests for an interview.
It is unclear how SunOpta is proceeding with commercial-scale plants when the technology is still being refined at leading research institutes and by companies like DuPont, which hopes to build a pilot plant in the next couple of years.
“Whether (SunOpta) has some different technology and they’ve been able to prove it or they are still working out the kinks, I can’t tell you,” said Schmitz.
Despite all its inherent advantages over grain-based ethanol, the new technology has detractors. Patzek wonders why people are putting so much faith in cellulosic ethanol when a viable version of the technology does not exist.
“It is much more difficult to produce ethanol from cellulose than it is from starch,” he said.
He noted that there is one viable solution to the greenhouse gas emissions problem that is easily attainable yet completely ignored.
“That solution is to cut down on the use of fossil fuel energy. Nobody talks about this one,” said Patzek.
