With gas prices crossing $4 a gallon, the EPA says cheaper, more ethanol-rich fuel will ease the pain. The math doesn't really add up—but the risks sure do.
from what I understand there are only a few ways to make ethanol that is decently net positive. This was why it was huge in brazil because it works well with sugarcane but that is because the fiber is burnt to provide the energy for the distinllation and such. using corn or sugarbeets is anemic and you use the waste product as animal feed to up its anemic returns. I remember swtich grass being a thing but looking into it it seems like they have not really solved the problems of breakdown.
I remember swtich grass being a thing but looking into it it seems like they have not really solved the problems of breakdown.
There’s two ways main bases to make ethanol at scale:
sugar
cellulose
The sugar path is what we’re doing everywhere with corn and elsewhere with sugar cane/beet waste. The switch grass is a cellulose path, but switch grass isn’t the only feedstock that can be used. Its talked about the most because switch grass is really easy to grow.
Industrial cellulose ethanol is still only a tiny industry with only 3 commercial scale plants in operation today in the world (2 in Brazil, 1 in China). It has promise to be more, but its been small for decades.
The biggest push for cellulose approach is for making Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
from what I understand there are only a few ways to make ethanol that is decently net positive. This was why it was huge in brazil because it works well with sugarcane but that is because the fiber is burnt to provide the energy for the distinllation and such. using corn or sugarbeets is anemic and you use the waste product as animal feed to up its anemic returns. I remember swtich grass being a thing but looking into it it seems like they have not really solved the problems of breakdown.
There’s two ways main bases to make ethanol at scale:
The sugar path is what we’re doing everywhere with corn and elsewhere with sugar cane/beet waste. The switch grass is a cellulose path, but switch grass isn’t the only feedstock that can be used. Its talked about the most because switch grass is really easy to grow.
Industrial cellulose ethanol is still only a tiny industry with only 3 commercial scale plants in operation today in the world (2 in Brazil, 1 in China). It has promise to be more, but its been small for decades.
The biggest push for cellulose approach is for making Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
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