U.S. Biofuel Startup Turns to Brazil
High corn prices have driven Amyris out of the country in search of cheaper feedstocks.
Kevin Bullis 04/23/2008
- 6 Comments
High corn prices are driving next-generation biofuel startups out of the country, and that could be a good thing. Today, Amyris, a company that's genetically engineering microorganisms to convert sugar into hydrocarbons such as diesel, announced partnerships that will pave the way for it to use sugar that's derived from sugarcane grown in Brazil rather than sugar derived from corn. Recently, corn prices have skyrocketed, reaching record levels of over $6 a bushel. That's made it very difficult for ethanol producers to make money. Sugarcane provides a cheaper alternative to corn, and that's one of the reasons that Amyris is turning to Brazil, says Jeryl Hilleman, the company's chief financial officer.
The move to Brazil could be a good thing for the environment, because sugarcane requires less energy to process than corn, resulting in less carbon dioxide emissions. But ultimately, neither sugarcane nor corn is an ideal feedstock. What's needed are nonfood cellulosic sources, such as grass and wood chips, especially given the abrupt rise in food prices worldwide that have recently prompted riots in Haiti and elsewhere. (See "Battling Ethanol-Propelled Food Prices.") But so far, processes for turning such sources into sugar have been too expensive.
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RD
212 Comments
Ethanol Still is a Terrible Fuel
Cellulosic Propanol should be developed instead and only implemented when cost effective. Not only is the food-to-fuel ethanol program ultimately going to be used against the US by jihadists seeking recruits among the 100 million additional starving poor, ethanol is a waste of our taxpayer and consumer dollars. We will have to pay tens of tens of $ billions to China to replace all the equipment where ethanol destroyed the fuel system components. We will have ethanol leak into ground water, streams, oceans, and lakes from the leaking fiberglass and metal fuel tanks ethanol dissolves (yes, ethanol eats rubber, fiberglass, and various metals (acknowledged by e85 group). We will have increased formaldehyde X4, acetyldehyde X22, and ozone pollution caused by ethanol. We will have increased N2O (296X worse than CO2 as global warming gas) emissions from the fertilizer used to grow crops for ethanol. We will have bigger kill zones in the Gulf of Mexico. Want to see sanity return to the market place, Kill the proposed Farm Bill now! Get your Legislatures to immediately cease all ethanol mandates, loans, and subsidies. Save the Planet, open up ANWR. ANWR oil can be recovered with much less pollution than oil sands. Increase our domestic oil supply AND greatly expand the alternative energy plans that have been blocked or scaled down because of environmentalists concern over "the view".
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MakeSense
99 Comments
Re: Ethanol Still is a Terrible Fuel
ANWR is not the answer either. Unfortunately, its recoverable reserves are only equal to what we consume in a single year. It's a valuable resource that we might consider using, but don't expect it to change our oil picture much. Proven oil reserves, including ANWR and all others, are about 22 billion barrels. That's only three times our annual consumption.
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SaltyDawg
1 Comment
Re: Ethanol Still is a Terrible Fuel
What we need is an Apollo Project-type governmental program to coordinate R&D.
Let's see some sources that back up your indictment of ethanol.
From what I can tell from your statements, you're extrapolating worst case scenarios based on total idiots making decisions.
Some of your assumptions may be warranted, given the last eight years of political corruption and stupidity. At some point the electorate will demand at least competence from the next administration.
For instance, I doubt that government and private enterprises will collectively adopt a new technology that will destroy storage containers and engines.
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