A Research Report on Cellulosic Ethanol Investment

by Russell Hasan

Altenews.com

2008

If cellulosic ethanol can be commercially viable, if it can be cheaply massproduced,

then it may solve all of the problems of corn ethanol. First, cellulose is found

in the inedible parts of the plant, so there will be no competition between biomass for

food and biomass for fuel. Cellulose can be found in agricultural wastes, such as corn

stover, sugarcane bagasse, rice straw and wheat straw, all of which are naturally

occurring byproducts of farming those crops. It can be made from wood chips, which can

easily be found as waste products in logging and on construction sites. It can be made

from energy crops such as switchgrass and fast-growing trees. It can also be found in

garbage and landfills. All of this provides an abundance of feedstock that will not

compete with the food supply.

Second, the environmental benefits of cellulosic ethanol, according to the science,

will far surpass that of corn-based ethanol.

There is also a third way in which ethanol from cellulose is better than ethanol

from corn. Because of the limits to corn production and competition from corn for food,

corn-based ethanol can only ever replace a small percentage of petroleum-based gasoline,

perhaps 10%. But because there is so much available biomass, because cellulose is one of

the most abundant biological substances on the planet, it may be possible to make enough

cellulosic ethanol to make a serious bid at replacing gasoline as the nation’s favored

automotive fuel.