Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
(and again in summer 2008) the government announced restrictions on ethanol made from food
grains, corn in particular (Koizumi and Ohga 2007). Even so, approximately 80% of ethanol pro-
duction in China is made from cornstarch, with most of the rest derived from wheat and rice. Other
feedstocks are now getting greater attention, such as cassava, sweet potato, sweet sorghum, and sug-
arcane, and a demonstration plant that converts corn stover to ethanol (Leng et al. 2008; Solomon
2009). However, short-term ethanol production goals are not being met because of a shortage of raw
materials during this transition period. India has also been a major producer of sugarcane-based
ethanol, but its industry has fallen on hard times and output has dropped dramatically since 2006.
Several countries in Southeast Asia have growing biofuels industries. For example, Indonesia,
Malaysia, and even Singapore are all planning major expansion of palm oil production to make
biodiesel. Serious concerns have been raised in Europe and elsewhere about these plans because of
their contribution to tropical deforestation (Koh and Wilcove 2008; Danielsen et al. 2009). A fourth
country in the region, Thailand, is also expanding it biodiesel capacity, as well as ethanol produc-
tion, from sugarcane and cassava feedstocks (Solomon 2009).
12.3 economIcs
Recent years have seen a spike of oil, crop, and seed prices. From the beginning of 2007 to the
middle of 2008 global seed prices and oil prices doubled, and meal prices also experienced a sharp
increase (FAO 2009). At the same time, the global recession caused numerous biofuel producers to
file for bankruptcy and others to not produce at full capacity (HGCA 2009). For biofuels to be com-
petitive on the market, crude oil prices need to be between $50 and $100 per barrel (Lange 2007), a
level they have been at since March 2009, following 3 months below that range.
12.3.1 u
nitEd
S
tatES
The primary bioenergy crop in the United States is corn, accounting for over 95% of total ethanol
production (RFA 2011). As discussed in the aforementioned policies, the United States has seen
widespread implementation of a corn-based ethanol market, an increasingly common additive to
gasoline. In 2010, ethanol production totaled approximately 50 × 10
9-
/L, or 9% of all gasoline-type
fuel sold in the United States (EIA 2011). This accounted for just over half of the global output,
and there is capacity to produce over 54 × 10
9
L/year (RFA 2011). In September 2011 there were
2442 E85 fuel stations, mostly in the Midwest, an increase of over 1000 in the past three years
(DOE 2011; Solomon et al. 2009).
Since the late 1970s, gasoline has consistently been less expensive than corn ethanol. This has
been the case although the price of grain ethanol has been partially offset by the production and
sale of co-products, such as distillers dried grains with solubles. Over 80% of U.S. production,
including the most recently built plants, has come from anhydrous mills with the rest made in
the more costly hydrous mills (Urbanchuk 2006). However, the actual price differential between
ethanol and gasoline has been relatively small, mainly because of the large government subsidies
noted earlier, especially the federal excise tax exemption and the fact that most ethanol sold in the
United States is through a 10% ethanol blend with 90% gasoline (E10). Even if the retail price of
the ethanol blend is less expensive than gasoline, as is typically the case for E85, the real economic
efficiency of corn ethanol is much lower because the energy density of ethanol is only two-thirds
that of gasoline (Lide 1992).
Perhaps the largest controversy involved in the large quantity of corn-to-ethanol production is the
impact this has had on food prices. The increase of ethanol production has come with an increase of
corn production—from 9.5 × 10
9
bushels produced in 2001 to 12.1 × 10
9
bushels produced in 2009
(DOA 2009). Approximately 11 L (2.8 gal) of ethanol is produced from a bushel of corn (de Gorter
and Just 2009). Corn converted into fuel alcohol from 2001 to 2009 expanded from 0.7 × 10
9
bushels
to 4.1 × 10
9
bushels. Thus, the additional ethanol production came largely from an increase in crop
