Biofuel... just the beginning!

[TOM4CWB]

Charlie,

A very good article in DTN's latest series...

Can get to it @ http://www.webercommodities.com/index.cfm?show=4&id=0702BF50

In part...
"Cane-based ethanol now powers more than 80 percent of the country's automobiles and costs less than half the price of gasoline, and that's without any government aid or subsidies."


the last part of the article says this:

"LOWER COSTS

And while the biodiesel industry will help boost soybean demand, farmers are hoping it will also help lower costs.

Finnish tractor manufacturer Valtra, the second most popular brand in South America, has said all its tractors are guaranteed for use with B-20 diesel and the company is currently testing some models with B-100 diesel.

In fact, analysts believe that Brazil's entire fleet of 350,000 tractors and 50,000 combines could soon be running on 100 percent biodiesel, made directly on the farm, once technical issues have been resolved.

"In places like Mato Grosso, where they import diesel from the south of the country, it would make more sense to produce biodiesel for their own use," said Sergio Kocziceski, an agronomist at agricultural research institute Emater. "It would cut out a lot of freight costs and middle men."

Brazilian farmers use around 5 gallons of diesel an acre to produce soybeans, and with diesel prices currently at $5.00 a gallon this means fuel costs of $25.00 an acre.

"The cost of fuel has tripled in the past three years," said Erechim farmer Samuel Bleshiareni. "We could probably halve this by producing and using our own biodiesel."

COMPETITION

While the soybean sector looks to sugarcane for inspiration, it may soon face competition from that very same sector.

U.S. biotech company Amyris recently stumbled across a formula to produce biodiesel from sugarcane juice using microorganisms.

The company has already formed a partnership with Brazilian sugar and ethanol giant Crystalsev and they have invested $10 million in a pilot plant in Sao Paulo.

Commercial production should begin in 2010, with estimated production of 1 billion gallons over five years. The company also plans on making the technology available to other sugarcane mills.

"Given the current global demand for biofuels I think there is room for everyone," said Emater's Kocziceski. "They may even teach us something new."

Kieran Gartlan can be contacted at kieran.gartlan@dtn.com

[charliep]

Agree some interesting times ahead. Presentations I have seen indicate 2nd and 3rd generation biofuel technology is not all that far away.

[Kodiak]

Comparing Energy to Energy
By Charlie Martin

((Charlie is a 1970 graduate of the University of Missouri, BSME. After completing a six year hitch as a naval aviator, he returned to Northwest Missouri and pursued an agribusiness career these past 30 years, specializing in grain origination and merchandising. Most recently Charlie has been the commodities manager at Golden Triangle Energy in Craig, Missouri and is now the plant manager.

GTE is a 20 mgy ethanol plant, which began operation in 2001 and is a grass roots,member coop.))

(

Gasoline

Did you know it takes 23 per cent more fossil energy to create a gallon of gasoline than that gallon of gasoline itself contains?

Ethanol

Did you know it takes 22 per cent less fossil energy to create an equivalent amount of energy in ethanol? An added plus is that the higher octane in ethanol allows it to burn more completely, therefore cleaner.

In either case, it is all about converting one form of energy to another that is useable and in demand in the market place.

[Kodiak]

One more piece from Charlie Martin....

SOME PERSPECTIVES ON WATER USE
By Charlie Martin

Here are some numbers on water use taken from the US Geological survey and from the US Environmental Protection Agency fondly known as the EPA. The Anti-ethanol crowd loves to pound us on water usage-----here are some facts/comparisons on water usage in US.

>62,000 gallons of water per ton of manufactured steel

>39,090 gallons of water to manufacture a new car/tires.

>28,100 gallons to process a ton of beet sugar

>1,500 gallons to process a barrel of beer (I've heard a lot of good reports about this beverage and may have to try it sometime)

>107,000 gallons used in the average home each year

>24 gallons used to produce a pound of plastic

>101 gallons to produce a pound of cotton

>300 million gallons used each day to print US newspapers---150 gallon per Sunday paper

>3 gallons of water used per gallon of ethanol produced.

Also, In aggregate, corn returns more moisture to the atmosphere than it withdraws from ground and surface water. The entire US corn crop is returning nearly 290 billion gallons of water per day to the atmosphere through transpiration. (The process by which water vapor escapes from the living plant, principally the leaves, and enters the atmosphere.)