Innovation Pipeline

Scientists have decided corn-based ethanol might not be the emerald bullet once thought. Last week, the journal Science reported findings which show that if corn-based ethanol were used as a substitute for petroleum-based fuels it would nearly double the output of greenhouse gas emissions. Earlier projections had estimated a shift to corn-based ethanol would reduce the level of greenhouse gas emissions by a fifth. But the earlier study didn’t account for the effect of changes in land use.

For investors who have placed big bets on biorefineries for corn-based ethanol (and farmers) this is yet another blow. Already ethanol biofuels have been blamed for pushing up corn prices and placing strain on water supplies.

The land-use consequences are not so obvious but they’re very real. Carbon is released when forests or grasslands are converted to agricultural use.

Is there an alternative? Experts believe the most promising direction is fuels produced from various kinds of waste and nonfood crops, like switchgrass grown on degraded land.

The U.S. Department of Energy expects U.S. ethanol production to reach about 7.5 billion gallons this year, nearly double the level of 3.9 billion in 2005. But considering the detrimental effects of corn-based ethanol there’s good reason for the government to create incentives for other biofuels.

The DOE plans to invest $114 million over the next four years in first round of cellulosic-ethanol research projects. The four recipients are: ICM, which plans to build and operate a plant in St. Joseph, Missouri, using corn fiber, corn stover, switchgrass and sorghum as feedstocks; Lignol Innovations, which will operate a plant in Commerce City, Colorado, using a process it calls “biochem-organisolve” to convert hard- and softwood residues into ethanol and other products; Pacific Ethanol, which proposes to build a facility in Boardman, Oregon, that will convert agricultural and forest-product residues into ethanol; and Stora Enso, which will use wood waste as a feedstock for the production of Fischer-Tropsch diesel fuel at a facility in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. –Lee Bruno