Ethanol production faces challenges, bright future

By SCOTT McMILLION Chronicle Staff Writer

BIG SKY - Ethanol production is good for the economy and the environment, but it can and should get even better, proponents said at a conference here Monday.

There are 6,000 ethanol plants operating around the world, said Phillip Madson, president of Katzen International, which designs advanced technology for the fuel based on corn, other grains or cellulose.

The efficiency of those plants varies greatly. Modern plants produce at least 1.25 energy units for every unit they consume, Madson said at the annual meeting of Ethanol Producers and Consumers. But in Brazil, where sugar cane is converted into the ethanol that powers most of the nation's automobiles, the efficiency rating is 9-to-1, he said.

"The Brazilians are way ahead of us," he said.

But the United States, even using fossil-fuel dependent technology to raise the crops, can boost its efficiency to a 5-to-1 ratio, he said.

Some environmental and human rights groups raise ethical questions about converting food crops into fuel, a process that also consumes large quantities of water.

Others point to increasing food prices as a problem, because corn is being diverted to ethanol. Due to the increased demand, corn prices rose by 50 percent last year, said John Urbanchuk, an agricultural and alternative energy consultant who spoke at the conference.

That affects agricultural markets in a variety of ways, but the markets will adjust, he said.

"The world will not end and you will not see tremendous, significant increases in food prices," Urbanchuk said.

The challenge will come in producing enough grain to meet all of the needs, he said, adding that 30 million acres of agricultural land have been taken out of production in the United States in recent decades.

Increased corn production, partly through better plant genetics and farming methods, will provide the basis for 17 billion gallons of ethanol expected to be produced annually by 2017, he said.

However, wheat and barley will play increasing roles as well, he said, and technology is on the cusp for commercial production of ethanol from cellulose, which is found in grasses and wood.

"We're going to need cellulose," he told about 100 people gathered for the conference.

Turning grass into motor fuel is technologically feasible, said Murray Burke, president of SunOpta Bioprocess Inc., which has built cellulose plants in Louisiana and Europe.

"Cellulose ethanol is ready right now," he said. "It can be done."

But it also faces a lot of challenges, many of them involving transportation of vast amounts of raw materials. In addition, Burke said, cellulose ethanol relies to high degree on economy of scale, which means small plants, though more easily financed, have a hard time making a profit.

Using wood in such plants could be easier than using straw or grasses because a transportation infrastructure already exists, he said. However, "soft hardwoods" such as aspen and poplar are more efficient than conifers, he said.

Solids left over from cellulose-based production can be burned to fire the boilers that power ethanol plants, Madsen said. Solids left over from grain ethanol can be fed to livestock in nearby feedlots, and methane from the manure can then be used to heat the steam the plants need.

"We should not be fueling a cellulose fuel industry with gas or coal," Madsen said.

The conference ends Tuesday.

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