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Sustainability of ethanol discussed at ethanol meeting in St. P Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Agri News staff writer
ST. PETER, Minn. -- The sustainability of the ethanol industry was one of the topics at Farming Our Fuel: Growing a Sustainable Ethanol Industry, an event hosted by the Minnesota Environmental Initiative at Gustavus Adolphus College.
The industry can be sustainable, said Cecil Massie of Sebesta Blomberg in Minneapolis. But changes need to be made.
Reducing the energy consumed per gallon of ethanol produced will help to sustain the industry, Massie said. The ethanol plants also need to reduce the amount of water used per gallon of ethanol produced and maximize the value of dry distillers grains produced.
"Roughly 40 percent of energy is input into drying DDGs," Massie said. By finding a different process, the industry can save energy and become more sustainable.
Vernon Eidman of the University of Minnesota said the industry needs to become geographically dispersed to be sustainable.
To do so, ethanol must diversify feedstocks. Most current ethanol plants are located inside the corn belt.
The ethanol industry saw an increase in demand and production in the past year because ethanol is replacing MTBE as the blend agent in gasoline as MTBE is phased out. Eidman said ethanol production increased from 3.9 billion gallons in 2005 to an estimated 4.8 billion gallons in 2006.
Per gallon, ethanol costs about $1.63 to produce when corn's $3 a bushel, Eidman said. The fuel also allows blenders a credit of 51 cents per gallon until 2010, which lends to its sustainability.
"I don't think there's much chance of that being taken away," he said. |
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