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Can a Tiny Bug Solve the Ethanol Dilemma?

July 17th, 2006 · by Tim Minahan · 3 Comments · enviro/social sustainability

Last month’s posting on Julie Murphree’s interview with the CEO of the National Corn Growers Association uncovered concerns that ethanol’s growth as a primary energy source could be stunted due to insufficient feedstock and refinery capacity, and high production costs. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal suggests that these issues could be resolved within the next few years thanks to an unlikely hero: bacteria. 

A new concept called “cellulosic ethanol” involves training armies of bacterium to transform a myriad of materials and byproducts — including crop residues, wood chips, switchgrass, and plain old garbage — into ethanol.

While the idea of tiny microbiotic bugs munching on cast off coffee grounds and banana peels may seem more science fiction than real science, the article predicts that cellulosic ethanol plants could be mass producing cost-effective ethanol by 2009. If it works, the technology could double the amount of ethanol produced by a single corn field — not to mention other biodegrable materials.

Multiple factors are conspiring to accelerate the fesiblity of mass produced cellulosic ethanol:

  • Public policy changes: Last year’s energy bill set a goal for industry to be producing 250 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol annually by 2013, allowing federal loan guarantees for new cellulosic biorefineries. President Bush upped the ante this year, doubling funds earmarked for the cellulosic research effort and setting a goal of making the fuel competitive within six years.
  • Rising energy costs: Rising oil prices and uncertain oil supplies and refiniery capacity have accelerated investments in alternative energy sources.
  • Economic incentives: In addition to federal tax breaks and funding, new approaches to cellulosic ethanol have pushed the cost of producing ethanol from to $1.35 per gallon. And this cost will only go lower with more investment in this area.

Such factors have sounded the starting gun for the great cellulosic ethanol race. And the event is attracting the world’s top energy athletes, with DuPont, Archer-Daniels Midland (ADM) Co., Royal Dutch Shell Group, British Petroleum, Chevron, and Iogen racing to captialize on the opportunity.

The cellulosic ethanol race serves as a case study in what it takes for sustainable energy and enviromentally and socially responsible supply management practices to go mainstream: a mix of public policy changes, changing business pressures, and economic incentives. Expect similar dynamics to emerge in other sectors, such as metals recycling and reuse, where supply market constraints and inflation are forcing policymakers and industry to think different.

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3 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Michael // Oct 11, 2006 at 2:22 pm

    I felt your post on cellulosic ethanol didn’t cover the issue completely. The need for a sustainable fuel source is certainly obvious but your post included no thoughts on the possible negative aspects of this particular possible energy source.

    While I support alternative fuels development as a way to diversify our need for a fuel source that comes from politically and economically unstable areas of the world, I am uncomfortable with the thought that my food sources could be competing as my energy sources. This means somehow a decision will have to be made regarding how much bio product goes to food and how much goes to energy. In a free market economy (and remember, there aren’t really that many of them) it would be allocated based on a “highest and best use” approach. In other words, the resources would flow to the source of the greatest profits (not revenue, but profits). In command economies, some central planning committee will make decisions about who gets food and who gets light and heat. Ask the Russians and Chinese how central planning has worked out for them.

    In addition, prices are a function of supply and demand. If the demand for grain, grass, etc. increases, you would expect their prices to increase. These same food stocks are fed to our animals as well as used for other ingredients consumed by humans. This translates into higher meat, poultry and food costs.

    Remember too, those soon to be developed bacteria are capable of breaking down ALL biogenetic material. They cannot distinguish between the Rain Forest and used coffee grounds.

    If I was a poor farmer or rancher in Latin America, Africa, or Southeast Asia who needed fuel for the generator, and I could throw in a few cords of wood, or bushels of rice, or that bag of grain donated by the U.S., I wouldn’t think twice about it.

  • 2 Tim Minahan // Nov 13, 2006 at 3:04 pm

    Michael:

    I agree that in its current state, ethanol production does rely on corn stock, which competes with food supplies.

    But that’s the point of cellulosic ethanol, which can be made from any plant matter — including wood chips, switchgrass, or waste from food production. In short, it would be symbiotic to food-bearing plants and could actually increase the value a farmer gets per plant by allowing them to get paid for non-food offshoots (pun intended), such as stalks.

  • 3 Supply Excellence » Forget the Oil Crunch. Biofuels Feed Global Inflation Fears. // Jan 15, 2008 at 11:12 am

    [...] No doubt the tightening of crop markets has been influenced by the new energy bill President George Bush signed into law before the holiday recess. The new rules call for production of 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel by 2022, including doubling the current ethanol production capacity to 15 billion gallons. The law also includes incentive for biodiesel from soybeans and cellulosic fuels from switchgrass, wood chips, and other agricultural byproducts. (As noted in previous posts, cellulosic fuels hold the greatest opportunity to generate alternative fuels with minimal impact on global food supplies. However, this new power-generation method is less mature than other biofuel generation approaches.) [...]

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