Bismarck Tribune - North Dakota News - Ethanol's answer isn't complete

Ethanol's answer isn't complete

Dec 18, 2008 - 04:06:07 CST

Trying to make sense out of the ethanol industry, corn ethanol refining in particular, suggests trying to catch a greased, corn-fed hog. The industry faces out-of-whack pricing due to up-and-down spikes in corn and gasoline prices, and other issues, such as:

n Refiners faced with debt and credit issues not unlike those looming over the auto industry.

n Environmentalists in favor of ethanol, except for corn-based.

n Federal mandates that seem to ignore all of the above.

In North Dakota, three big corn ethanol operations have siphoned from state coffers all the funds set aside for them from farm vehicle registration revenues and ag fuel refunds. The money was there to help them through a start-up phase in an uncertain industry. The parent company of VeraSun Hankinson, one of the three, recently announced it's filing for bankruptcy.

Where should we be going with ethanol?

Where we would like to be going is to cellulosic ethanol, which would use non-food crops such as switchgrass. crop waste or material like wood chips as raw materials. But the technology and industry isn't there yet for commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol refining.

Corn ethanol production becomes part of the learning curve, stepping stones toward cellulosic ethanol production. There's a certain value in that effort. And, too, farmers and investors in the ethanol industry deserve a modicum of consistency from federal programs.

President-elect Barack Obama has said he wants to keep the federal mandates for ethanol production in place - moving from about 7 billion gallons today to 36 billion gallons by 2022. And he wants to make that shift to cellulosic ethanol. Well, we have some research, development and learning to do.

In the meantime, there's an expectation that there will be a sorting out and a consolidation in existing ethanol operations, and the recent move to bankruptcy by VeraSun Energy would bear those predictions out. There's also a need by the auto industry - on which notice has been served - that cars and trucks take ethanol, biodiesel, electricity, hydrogen and other alternatives into consideration as fuel sources. And a national energy policy needs be laid out, one in which everyone can see the role that ethanol might play.

Western North Dakota isn't traditional corn country. But the demand for corn in ethanol production and expanded livestock production based on steady and solid prices, has encouraged an increase in non-irrigated acres of corn west of the 100th meridian. This part of North Dakota would be able to better serve cellulosic ethanol production.

Certainly, the North Dakota Legislature will have to reconsider its support for ethanol.

Where are we going with ethanol? We're going forward. One step at a time.

News > Opinion

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Comments

starving ND wrote on Dec 19, 2008 3:32 AM:

" Not the same nutrition wise, how so, I think your confused.
What good is corn anyways, it is merely a filler in its original form. The tiny tiny bit ethanol takes from corn the cows will never know the difference, at a fraction of the cost.
I have worked in the ethanol business, I doubt you have. Keep spreading lies and sending your money to the middle east. "

lutefisk wrote on Dec 18, 2008 3:37 PM:

" Staving - Dried Distiller's Grain is no where near the original product in nutrition and energy levels. It is used as little more than a filler in the livestock industry. And the effects of grain prices and availability will be slow to impact matured nations. You will have to step out of the North Dakota box to see the grain market's effect on the world. In Asia they are converting palm oil into biodiesel for the Europeon market. You don't use palm oil you say - no, but they do. Ethanol ignorance - not hard to find in ND. "

Starving ND wrote on Dec 18, 2008 2:49 PM:

" Yeah, people are starving all over for our greed of using feed corn to make fuel out of. But the cows still eat the corn, it is called DDG's. Somebody is feeding people with lies about ethanol.
Just keep pouring money into Middle eastern countries. If it wasnt for ethanol, alot of locals would be in the hurt bag.
But there is people starving. I forget. "

lutefisk wrote on Dec 18, 2008 10:15 AM:

" What most people don't understand about cellulose based ethonal is that it will have to be heavily managed and controlled. If the corn stover, grass and/or wheat straw are not left to degrade there will be heavy losses in top soil, increased erosion, reduced water quality and the need for increased fertilizer usage. Several Universitys have conducted very disturbing studies regarding this. It is a better alternative for some areas of North Dakota to be players in the ethanol market, but we need to be care also. "

Just thinking wrote on Dec 18, 2008 10:00 AM:

" We need to be looking for a better fuel to move us around. Ethanol is just a small temporary bandage on a hemorrhaging wound.

Ethanol is carbon based. When ethanol is burned in an engine it produces carbon dioxide; a major cause of global climate change.

It also, contrary to some popular thinking, does not provide good mileage. That causes the buyer to buy more creating an expensive and vicious climatological cycle.

Corn is food whether you or livestock are eating it; to use food to move many of us around in our gas guzzling vehicles seems to me to be a moral dilemma when there is so much human starvation on our planet. "

A reader wrote on Dec 18, 2008 7:45 AM:

" There is also a misconception that ethanol is inferior for a fuel. For conventional engines designed for gasoline, yes that is true. If you run ethanol in a turbo charged or high compression engine, you can get the same gas mileage as 91 octane, better power, and MUCH better torque. If you make a 1 to 1 swap into an engine normally run on low octane gas (e85 is at least 105 octane), yes it will cost you a little mileage. "

Snap wrote on Dec 18, 2008 4:15 AM:

" We gotta keep them sunflower farmers employed! "

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