Advanced BioFuels USA

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)  When headlines run dire, ask yourself: are they real?   In today’s Digest, we give you a guide to managing the myth minefield — and the roaring trade in disinformation about biofuels, feedstocks, and social impact.

…Myth #1. 40 percent of the US corn crop is used to make biofuel.

Reality. Actually, it’s more than percent, if all you are measuring is the volume of corn passing through biorefineries — including both dry grind and wet mills. But those refineries make a heck of a lot more than ethanol. They make most of the cattle and swine feed. They make corn syrup, and CO2 for soft drinks, and whiskey, and corn meal, and all kinds of ingredients and flavoring.

…About 13 percent of the US corn crop is used to make, specifically, fuel ethanol.

…Myth #2. “Now that the United States is using 40 percent of its crop to make biofuel, it is not surprising that tortilla prices have doubled in Guatemala.”

Reality. The confusion here is that there are two types of corn. There’s the type grown in the US for biorefineries and animal feed — #2 Yellow Corn. Then there’s the type of corn used to make tortillas, in Guatemala and elsewhere. That’s White Corn. They have completely distinct markets – and their own, independent supply and demand drivers.

…Guatemala is part of CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement), and many of the participating countries put high tariffs on imported corn. Guatemala’s current tariff rate on corn and other grains is near 10%, which significantly discourages imports. According to the non-profit agricultural organization Semilla Nueva, “…for the most part Guatemala’s corn is from Guatemala.”

…Myth #3. The world is going to climate hell and there’s nothing anyone can do about it, except starve. If you don’t die of thirst, first.

Reality. The world is certainly heading for more climate stress, but industry and science is responding.

…Myth #4. Biofuels cause higher carbon emissions, instead of lowering them.

Reality: According the EPA, corn ethanol reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent, compared to the use of fossil fuels, and every other biofuel in use in the United States (which required qualifying for the advanced, or non-corn, pool) results in, at least, a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuels. Does this include both direct land-use change, and even a component for the controversial indirect land-use change? You bet it does.

Myth #5. Biofuels have lower fuel economy.

Reality: On mileage. Bio-based gasoline and renewable diesel, as identical fuel molecules, have exactly the same fuel economy as their counterparts. Due to the way that particulates found in fossil fuels behave in jet engines, bio-based aviation fuels generate 2-7 percent better fuel economy than their counterparts. Ethanol is generally in the 70 percent range in terms of mileage per gallon, compared to gasoline – the energy density is a little lower than that, but the impact is mitigated by some other favorable properties of ethanol, including higher octane levels.

…Myth #6. Biofuels use more energy in their production than they provide as a transport fuel.

Reality. Generally, the consensus energy return for corn ethanol is 1.3 to 1, sugarcane ethanol (primarily from Brazil) is at 8:1, biodiesel is at the 2.5:1 mark, and the range for cellulosic biofuels runs from 2:1 to 36:1.  READ MORE

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