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USDA Officials Continue To Look To Cellulosic Ethanol
By Mr Ethanol | March 6, 2008
Brownfield:
So will cellulosic ethanol really live up to its promise and relieve the pressure on corn demand and price that the conventional ethanol industry is applying? Top U.S. officials at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC 2008) from President Bush on down have said cellulose is the future of ethanol.
U.S. Ag Secretary Ed Schafer told Brownfield yesterday about President Bush is correct in his assessment of cellulosic ethanol’s promise. And Schafer added that cellulosic ethanol couldn’t get off the ground without the success corn-based ethanol has enjoyed.
“You wouldn’t get there if you didn’t have grain-generated ethanol today,” Schafer said. “The target, the long-term, what the President is focused on, is the cellulosic ethanol which will change the way we develop alternative energy in this country.”
But making cellulosic ethanol commercially viable will be no easy task. That’s according to Dr. Gale Buchanan, USDA Undersecretary for Research, Extension and Education.
“Not only do you have to produce something that really works, you have to learn how to harvest it, how to process it, how to harvest it, how to store it, how to transport it,” said Buchanan. “So there’s a lot of researchable issues that’s got to be addressed before we can be successful.”
Answers are starting to emerge, however. USDA’s Ag Research Service and the University of Nebraska at Lincoln on Thursday issued results of a joint five-year study on actual switchgrass production costs. The study found lowest-cost producers can currently grow switchgrass for $39 per ton. But that figure will go higher, the study said, because more than half the cost of switchgrass production comes from renting land. More.
Topics: Ethanol, News, Science |
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