Biofuels Seen as a Luxury China Cannot Afford

Grain should not be used, I agree, but all the wasted wood, leaves, stems and other cellulose can be enzymatically degraded into sugars and oxidizeded with tethered enzymes to a higher concentration of alcohol than living yeast can tolerate(alcohol kills yeast around 15%).

These tethered enzymes work at higher temp than yeats and have a higher end point of alcohol. In final stages of lab testying now, in 5-10 years they will be mainstream

All I can say is - and I hate to have to do this as an Engineer - but "DUH!"

The main reason anyone builds a new plant to produce ethanol from corn is short-sighted economics...it's easy, cheap, and the same players like Archer DM which get the money burning on both ends of the political and market candle.

As I have probably posted more times than I care to, cellulosic biomass is THE long-term solution to producing ethanol, and every objective study I've seen over the years points that direction, irrespective of the interests of government subsidized companies looking at increased profits from their further-subsidized corn farming...and we in the US are still PAYING farmers more $ than excess corn would get for pricing on any kind of 'free' market, or else paying land owners to NOT farm corn to "keep the price up?" Sheez - great use of tax dollars, that. At least we're seeing the Dept of Ag fund more of this alternative research. We've GOT to give the farmers incentive to get off the gov. welfare check system. If it's an alternative crop that lets small farmers survive and compete, so much the better.

Right up the road from us the University of Illinois has been studying (and continues to study, as do many others) both the yield of various crops, as well as supporting labs doing related research into enzyme treatment of various bio-mass (corn stalks, sawdust, prairie grasses, and other harvested crops) and ethanol yields, and has been openly publishing their results for the industry.

Corn loses.

Something called "Miscanthus Switchgrass" which grows in US climates but is apparently a cousin to sugar-cane, wins. It grows ~4 times the mass of regular grasses and produces about 3-4 times greater energy ratio - even when simply burned as a pellet fuel (than ethanol or biodiesel) - as well as a greater yield of ethanol per acre if used for that, though it does require enzyme treatment to unlock the sugars, as do all other cellulosic sources. It will be interesting to see of the subsidy and set-aside programs can be redirected somewhat to take advantage of the 'conservation' and 'wildlife' advantages of growing a tall grass as a crop, which still has energy and profit potential - assuming plants are built nearby to provide a market for them.

So why would a huge country like China with a population-feeding problem even LOOK at wasting corn to make ethanol?

Might as well ask "Why is the US wasting tax money funding further building of corn-based ethanol plants, and is not yet even scratching the surface of urging non-farming-farmers to stop taking payments for not-farming and grow Switchgrass instead?"

That would mean the US would have to invest more into small enzyme production labs and build bio-mass ethanol plants instead. So who would then NOT be getting that tax money, grants, and so forth? That's the interesting question. I wonder as well how much those companies donate to campaigns? Or even "what percentage of state polititicians own land that is 'not-farming-set-aside' and are voting for their own Christmas bonus every time the farm subsidy comes up for allocation votes?"

It's not even a 'conspiracy theory' folks, it's just the way it has been allowed to develop in the public sector funding of these things. We'll get there more quickly now, though, with Chavez and Islam helping keep oil prices high...there's just too much money to be made in Cellulosic Biomass for the private investment community to ignore this MUCH better avenue for developing economic ethanol.

Find one in your state and invest! (most of them are not 'publicly' traded stocks, unfortunately)

*You are always welcome to take a portion of your windfall in a few years and donate to this lowly engineer's college fund for my daughter...