New technolgy could change fate of ethanol
DES MOINES, Iowa - After decades of talk, the ethanol industry is building multimillion-dollar refineries in several states that will use corn plant residue, wood scraps and even garbage to produce the fuel additive.
The breakthrough comes at a key time for the industry, after the drought heightened criticism about the vast amount of corn used to brew up ethanol rather than be transformed into animal feed or other foods. The corn crop already was smaller than expected because of drought, and livestock groups were especially critical of how 40 percent of the crop being diverted toward ethanol caused corn prices to soar.
The new cellulosic ethanol technology could quiet that criticism while also making use of material largely seen as worthless.
Experts said it hasn't been easy.
"You're fighting against millions, perhaps hundreds of millions of years of evolution, and that's sort of the secular equivalent of going against the word of God," said C. Ford Runge, a University of Minnesota professor of economics and law.
Making ethanol from corn is relatively simple, as kernels are cracked and fermented. But to produce ethanol from the woody and fibrous parts of plants, scientists had to figure out a way to break lignin - the tough fibers that plants have developed through evolution to stiffen stems, trees and cornstalks - from the cellulose. They must then extract the plant's sugars and convert them into ethanol.
Efforts to make that leap have made for a punch line in the industry since the 1980s. Cellulosic ethanol, everyone would say, is just a few years away. But high oil prices eventually drove companies to spend more on research and development.
Scientists found enzymes that more efficiently break down the plant material and better yeast strains to convert sugars to alcohol, clearing the way for cellulosic production.