Topic: White House report: Develop more crops for biofuels

[Dan M]

Washington, D.C. — The nation won't meet its biofuels goals unless the government accelerates the development of biofuel crops and products, the White House says.

In a report being released today, an administration task force said the government needs, among other things, to set targets for commercializing new types of fuel crops, such as switchgrass.

The government also needs to work regionally to develop fuels and feedstocks that make sense in each part of the nation, the report said.

In the Midwest, where corn ethanol production is concentrated, the government could focus on increasing sales of E85, a combination of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. In the Southeast, the focus could be on making ethanol from sugarcane.

The 14-page report makes some recommendations that could raise concerns in the industry, including a suggestion that federal agencies identify environmental and social issues that may confront biofuels development.

The report also says new biofuel refineries must have guaranteed markets. The industry says that requirement has made it virtually impossible for companies to obtain federal loan guarantees.

A 2007 law requires the nation to use 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022, but all but 15 billion gallons of that will have to be products other than conventional corn ethanol.

Many companies are working to produce ethanol from switchgrass, crop residue and other nonfood sources, but they have been stymied in part by the economic downturn and lack of credit.

President Barack Obama will be discussing biofuels policy today with a bipartisan group of governors and key Cabinet members, according to an administration official.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100203/BUSINESS01/2030370/-1/SPORTS12/White-House-report-Develop-more-crops-for-biofuels

[Thumpin455]

They go down 2" to 6" usually, depends on what the marsh they are growing in is like. They wont grow in deep or fast moving water. I am working on a small scale so the liner would work for me. I can use a plastic sheet like a painters drop or a cheap tarp. 500 gallons would be more than enough for my needs every year.

Taters grow in rows, cattails spread in every direction, and they have a thick root structure. Just find a marsh in the spring that has them and go dig a couple up. The longest root I pulled was over 6' in length with 7 plants popping up off it, it broke otherwise it probably would have gone much farther. Its not a big deal, but the wet ground and the way they grow doesnt lend itself well to common agriculture harvesting methods, gotta think outside the box. Its not insurmountable, just something that hasnt gotten enough attention at this time. If we were to need ethanol in huge volume overnight, then cattails would get plenty of interest very quickly. As it is most people have no idea they are so valuable for making fuel, or even for cleaning water.

[1outlaw]

What is the max depth they root Thumpin?

If one can drain the area and let it dry, a potato digger will go down to about 8-10 inches in sand. What might be more appropriate for always wet areas with a sandy bottom (a liner would be expensive but would help) might be a flat bottom boat similar to that used on lakes to remove excess plant growth, but instead equiped with dividers similar to a corn head that cover rubber covered powered wheels pressed together to pull the entire plant up out of the water/sand. Would this work? - or is the tuber so well held by the soil that the stalk would break? IF it did work- it still would not be practical for small operations unless it was a custom harvestor that moved to every operation in the area.

[Thumpin455]

I have made a little with them, this summer I will have more funds to put into the project and I am doing some testing over the winter. The hard part for me is starch conversion, I am trying to figure out how to use malted corn to do it. The way they grow sort of negates using a potato digger or some other method like that, you never know what direction the root is going so you could miss most of it. While that is good for the next crop to start, it really would cut the yield down since you would be leaving most of it out there. I use shovels and a back hoe, then I lay it out in my driveway and spray the dirt off, that wont work if I want to make more than a gallon of fuel at a time.

The shallow pond with a root barrier is the way I am headed. I have a couple acres out back where we will try it out. The main drawback for me is I need moving water, not standing water, so if it doesnt rain enough they wont grow as well as I would like and I would have an insect problem. I hate skeeters.  Some livestock would really make a difference in how fast and thick they grow, so I am talking to some of the farmers near here who have cattle or chickens to see if they want to make some fuel. So far everyone is skeptical, so I need more of my project up and running, not just the fuel.

Peggy Korth and her group is working with a few municipalities to utilize cattails for water remediation as well as ethanol production. Talk about dragging their feet, the cities are second and triple guessing everything, but she is persistent. Something so simple being so effective is hard for most people to grasp. Also it would be inexpensive since cattails are a weed that will take over if they have flowing water and some nitrates to grow on, so it would be difficult for someone to make money on a resource like that. If nobody can make money on it it wont be put into use even if it saves money. If the city had two or more flows that could be alternated, they could harvest one flow per year and make ethanol with it. Even at the low yield of 1000 gallons an acre they could stand to make quite a bit of fuel. You would really have to screw things up to only get 1000 gallons from a waste fed cattail system though.

[fleebut]

How about a holding pond? Plastic or pool liner with protective sand base. Since the roots can not anchor well in earth, just hook tangled mess of root stock and drag into a shore side washer, chopper.

Regulators wouldn't allow messing with natural river or lake waters? This technology should be implemented, small scale, within municipalities. It's sound science. Just no one wants the liability. We have regulated our waste disposal to strict expensive solutions. To many making money on current solutions. To many careers and colleges setup to promote traditional degrees and careers. It would make the "system" look bad for some country folk to beat them and stop the gravy train. Regulators will prevent that. 

[rusty70f100]

How's that coming along anyway?  Have you produced any actual ethanol from them yet?

I might try growing some in the swamp across the road this year.  I'll see how it goes.

I'll have to do some thinking on how to harvest the cattails.  Maybe something with rotating discs, that pulls the whole thing up out of the ground and flips it up onto a container or conveyor of some sort?

[Thumpin455]

That which the government giveth, the government can taketh away.

Anyway, energy cane?  Who came up with that name?  More importantly, why not just grow sugarcane?
OBTW, I still think these are the answer:

Even if cattails arent the answer for anyone else, they are my answer.  We just need a more efficient way of harvesting them and its game on.

[fleebut]

Agree with expanding the corn limit as that seems to be a sweet efficiency spot. Meaning the process, plant technology, and marketing seems to be very capable. We needn't push a stick in the spokes of this job creating infrastructure because of some "scientific" wild ass speculation or wondrous artificial intelligence of regulators.  Around here, most of the fields lie dormant. Owners just mow hundreds of acres just to keep the weeds down. Also, residential zoned to 5 acre mini farm size and owners just buy those big mowers and plant huge lawns. Something wrong with this? Would think after a while these guys would realize they could make some money planting corn or other feed stocks.  Around here they could double corn acres and no the wild life wouldn't suffer. Heck, if they stopped mowing and used the fertilizer and water for corn a big improvement. Isn't corn a very big form of grass?

[SacramentoE-85]

Dan, I truly hope you are right that we can quickly and economically ramp up the "advanced" forms of ethanol.  I continue to assert that were this not to happen soon, there is ample ability for corn ethanol to move beyond 15b gallons in the medium-term.  And that if these other forms are not ready at that point, it makes sense to change the cap to something higher than 15b gallons of corn ethanol.

As well, there is 140b gallons of fuel demand, and if these advanced forms can't provide at least 125b gallons in very short order there's no reason to keep using petroleum when we can use more than 15b gallons of corn ethanol.

[HuskerFlex]

Dan, I just finished reading that exact same article. 

You are very correct.  Each region should have their own feedstock, depending on what grows there, and what is available.  May be corn in the midwest, may be garbage on the east coast, "energy cane" or sweet sorghum in the south, wood scrap/slash in the west...

[Dan M]

Every acre of energy cane, said Mr. Riva, should yield on the order of 1,800 to 2,000 gallons annually (compared with 800 gallons for conventionally produced ethanol from sugar cane in countries like Brazil).

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/ethanol-from-energy-cane-and-someday-orange-peels/

are you beginning to see why corn ethanol wont ever expand much past 15 billion gallons ... IF ..the costs are right ..who in their right mind would grow 400 gallons per acrea corn when you can grow almost 2000 gallons s per acrea  of energy cane (outside the midwest)


We don't need no stinking middle man ethanol pipeline from the Midwest to the coast .. we need Local regional ethanol plants using regional feedstocks


again this is nothing against corn and everything about securing multitude of diverse feedstocks

[SacramentoE-85]

...develop fuels and feedstocks that make sense in each part of the nation.

Well that makes sense, but remember that unintended consequences are rampant in governmental intervention.  For example, California could all but stop using today's biofuels since soybeans and corn from the Midwest have to be transported here (although some corn is grown here also).  If this part is not carefully worded, California could use it to weasel its way out of using the massive amounts of biofuels that are available today, in deference to "promising" technologies that may take years to come on the market in any significant volume.  In light of LCFS, I am very concerned by the above statement coming from the WH.  Watch for unintended consequences.

It may be that California finds itself importing MORE foreign petroleum, and increasing its CO2 footprint, than LESS.  Especially since LCFS of gasoline is set at that of California's domestic petroleum, not taking into account the CO2 footprint of imported petroleum.   

[Jonny Energy]

 Obama will announce new plans to raise the national profile of biofuels, the AP reports, and will release a report about how the country can better invest in green technologies. The focus on biofuels such as corn-based ethanol may help woo some skeptical senators toward supporting a climate bill, since many coal-reliant states are also rich in corn, but Obama also said on Tuesday that the Senate may go for a politically safer energy bill this year instead of renewing its battle over cap-and-trade.

http://www.mnn.com/home-blog/green-news-roundup/blogs/daily-briefing-wed-45

[rusty70f100]

That which the government giveth, the government can taketh away.

Anyway, energy cane?  Who came up with that name?  More importantly, why not just grow sugarcane?

OBTW, I still think these are the answer:

[Dan M]

The report also says new biofuel refineries must have guaranteed markets. The industry says that requirement has made it virtually impossible for companies to obtain federal loan guarantees.

I wonder if that is a message meant for the EPA ?  (E15)



Am I reading that correctly?  The ethanol industry has had a difficult time obtaining Federal Loan guarantees (to set up plants) because there isnt a guarnteed market for production

[HuskerFlex]

thanks for the story Dan...  very cool!