Cellulosic Ethanol Production: Benefits, Progress, and Challenges

 The EPA has mandated that in 2012 Cellulosic Ethanol production hits 8.65 million gallons

What is Cellulosic Ethanol anyways? Cellulosic, unlike Corn Ethanol, is a second generation Biofuel (corn ethanol is a first generation) which means it comes from cellulose contained in non food plant material, either remnant products of food crops, or entirely non food crops.

A drawback of first generation Biofuels is that since they come from food crops, they potentially stand to impact food prices due to increased demand.  Today there are headlines on the news regarding the drought in the Midwest, and other natural events driving up the cost of food – the impact of events like this could become much more pronounced when there is a competing demand for the same commodities like soybeans, corn, and so on. Second generation Biofuels, being from non-food crops or remnants, take the food price issue out of the equation.  Additionally, from an environmental standpoint, although Corn Ethanol stands to reduce emissions up to 52% over gasoline, Cellulosic Ethanol could drop greenhouse gas emissions by up to an impressive 86%.

I wrote a piece this past month for Oil & Energy Magazine discussing the positive moves the Cellulosic Industry has made towards production, the science behind production, and obstacles in the way of moving forward.  You can read the article in Oil & Energy HERE 

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