Biofuel Production: a Drink-Or-Drive Issue?

Federal requirements to increase the production of ethanol has developed into a "drink-or-drive issue" in the Midwest as a result of biofuel production's impact on water supplies and water quality, says an environmental engineering researcher at Missouri University of Science and Technology in the latest issue of the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

In an analysis of the water required to produce ethanol from various crops, Dr. Joel G. Burken, a professor of environmental engineering at Missouri S&T, and colleagues from Rice University and Clarkson University find that ethanol could become a costly proposition in terms of "gallons per mile" and other water quality issues. They describe the Midwest's water needs and impacts as the 'water footprint' in their cover feature for the May 1 issue of Environmental Science & Technology. The researchers report that ethanol derived from corn grown in Nebraska, for example, would require 50 gallons of water per mile driven, when all the water needed in irrigation of crops and processing into ethanol is considered. Fuel derived from irrigated sorghum grown in that state would require even more water to produce - as much as 115 gallons per mile.

Moreover, increasing production of biofuels from row crops will likely result in more water pollution due to soil erosion and the increased use of pesticides to grow enough crops to meet federal mandates for more ethanol, the researchers say. The mandated production using the current technology has driven the use of ethanol production from corn and biodiesel from soybeans as these are the currently available technologies.

In their Environmental Science & Technology article, the researchers suggest that federal regulators take a closer look at how a push for bioenergy will affect water resources.

"Developing a sustainable national biofuels program requires careful consideration of logistical concerns ... and of unintended environmental impacts," write Burken and his co-authors, Rosa Dominguez-Faus and Dr. Pedro J. Alvarez of Rice University and Dr. Susan E. Powers of Clarkson University, in their article, "The Water Footprint of Biofuels: A Drink or Drive Issue?" The article is online at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es802162x.

To arrive at their gallons-per-mile figures, the researchers first looked at the amount of water required to produce a single gallon of ethanol. In Nebraska, for example, it takes 800 gallons of water - from crop irrigation through final processing into ethanol - to create a single gallon of the corn-derived transportation fuel. Divide that by an average mileage of 16 miles per gallon (or two-thirds the average for gasoline-powered cars, a standard average for ethanol-powered vehicles), and the result is 50 gallons of water per mile.

While previous studies have examined biofuel production's impact on air quality, land use and net energy value, "the effect of increased biofuel production on water security has not been subjected to the same scrutiny," the researchers write. The main focus of previous studies looked at environmental trade-offs to fossil-fuel usage and not other aspects of biofuel production, according to the researchers.

"The overall water footprint associated with biofuels must recognize the impact of increased agricultural activity on water quality as well as water consumption," they write. With the federal Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 calling for a dramatic ramp-up in ethanol production by 2015, Burken and his colleagues foresee additional water quality problems due to "increased agricultural activity such as tilling more land for row crops and higher fertilizer and agrichemical application."

The Energy Independence and Security Act requires the United States to produce 15 billion gallons of corn-derived ethanol annually by 2015 and 16 billion gallons of fuel from cellulosic crops, such as switchgrass, by 2016. The researchers note that 44 percent of all the corn produced in the United States from 2007 would be required for ethanol production to meet the 2015 goal.

"The decision to mandate ethanol production may look great initially as we all like the concept of biofuels," Burken says, "but really our difficult energy position and reliance on foreign oil is the result of our lack of an energy policy and investing a decade ago in biofuel technologies. Biofuel production is part of our energy future, but it needs to be considered as part of a portfolio of energy sources and technologies."

While it's unlikely the EISA will be repealed, Burken hopes lawmakers and regulators at the state and federal levels "consider a life-cycle analysis before implementing future mandates" for energy sources. Lawmakers and regulators need to consider all of the economic and environmental trade-offs - not just reducing greenhouse gas emissions, for instance. "Otherwise, we may be thinking we're addressing one environmental issue while in fact sacrificing another," Burken says.

Burken and his colleagues suggest that "drought-tolerant, high-yield plants grown on little irrigation water" would have less impact on water resources. One such crop, Burken says, is miscanthus, a fast-growing perennial grass that "grows so dense you can't walk through it and grows about 9-10 feet a year." Currently, however, no technology is available to convert the cellulosic biomass and produce it in large quantities. Once alternative biofuel production crops and processes are developed, selecting the best crop for individual settings will help to optimize biofuel production and minimize the environmental impacts of the production, Burken says.

"Developing the crops and distribution of crop production took about 100 years to get to where it was a few years ago," Burken says. "Redeveloping this production with the goal of biofuel production will take time and effort of farmers and engineers. While miscanthus may or may not be a part of our biofuels future, we at least need a little time and investment to develop the best solutions for our future."

Quoting Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, whom Burken met on April 22 during the Missouri Energy Summit, Burken says, "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, but the next best time if you didn't is today."

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Most Popular: "First Economical Process" for Making Biodiesel Fuel from Algae

Chemists have developed the first economical, eco-friendly process to convert algae oil into biodiesel fuel. Turning algae into biofuel was previously a high-cost process, but this new process utilizes a re-usable, waste-free catalyst that reduces production costs by about 40%.

This new process makes algae, "the most promising source for mass biodiesel production to replace transportation fuel in the United States," says Ben Wen, Ph.D., lead researcher on the project.

From the article:

Chemists reported development of what they termed the first economical, eco-friendly process to convert algae oil into biodiesel fuel -- a discovery they predict could one day lead to U.S. independence from petroleum as a fuel.

One of the problems with current methods for producing biodiesel from algae oil is the processing cost, and the New York researchers say their innovative process is at least 40 percent cheaper than that of others now being used. Supply will not be a problem: There is a limitless amount of algae growing in oceans, lakes, and rivers, throughout the world. Another benefit from the "continuously flowing fixed-bed" method to create algae biodiesel, they add, is that there is no wastewater produced to cause pollution.

"This is the first economical way to produce biodiesel from algae oil," according to lead researcher Ben Wen, Ph.D., vice president of United Environment and Energy LLC, Horseheads, N.Y. "It costs much less than conventional processes because you would need a much smaller factory, there are no water disposal costs, and the process is considerably faster."

A key advantage of this new process, he says, is that it uses a proprietary solid catalyst developed at his company instead of liquid catalysts used by other scientists today. First, the solid catalyst can be used over and over. Second, it allows the continuously flowing production of biodiesel, compared to the method using a liquid catalyst. That process is slower because workers need to take at least a half hour after producing each batch to create more biodiesel. They need to purify the biodiesel by neutralizing the base catalyst by adding acid. No such action is needed to treat the solid catalyst, Wen explains.

He estimates algae has an "oil-per-acre production rate 100-300 times the amount of soybeans, and offers the highest yield feedstock for biodiesel and the most promising source for mass biodiesel production to replace transportation fuel in the United States." He says that his firm is now conducting a pilot program for the process with a production capacity of nearly 1 million gallons of algae biodiesel per year. Depending on the size of the machinery and the plant, he said it is possible that a company could produce up to 50 million gallons of algae biodiesel annually.

Wen also says that the solid catalyst continuous flow method can be adapted to mobile units so that smaller companies wouldn't have to construct plants and the military could use the process in the field.

The National Science Foundation funded Wen's research.

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Most Popular: Top Ten Tech Cars: Carmaggedon

With these difficult economic conditions, automakers face what some gearheads call carmaggedon.

In IEEE Spectrum's annual survey of trends in car technology, experts predict there will soon be fewer car companies making fewer kinds of cars. For example Volkswagen's dozen separate models, totaling well over 1 million units a year, on the basic components of its Golf/Jetta/Rabbit line. Or the upstart Chinese automaker BYD, the offspring of a battery company that began making cars only five years ago, and has already launched production of the world's first plug-in hybrid.

Spectrum is predicting that the day of electric-drive cars seems to have come round at last, and they welcome this trend toward radical experimentation, new electronic goodies, and some high-tech mechanisms to supplement or even supplant the driver's judgment.

This year, IEEE Spectrum's survey of the hottest new car technology shows a trend toward radical experimentation. Desperate times mean that even today's most outrageous concept cars may soon seem tame, even quaint.

As the price of oil shot up only to crash down, the credit markets imploded, and consumers closed their wallets, automakers faced what some wags call carmaggedon. Overnight, Detroit's giants were pushed to the edge of insolvency, and even mighty Toyota recorded its first operating loss in 70 years. Consolidation is in the air. Soon there will be fewer car companies, and they will be making fewer kinds of cars. For a glimpse of that future, consider Volkswagen. It builds more than a dozen separate models, totaling well over 1 million units a year, on the basic components of its Golf/Jetta/Rabbit line. For another view, look at upstart Chinese automaker BYD. It is the offspring of a battery company that began making cars only five years ago, yet in December BYD launched the world's first production plug-in hybrid.

The day of electric-drive cars seems to have come round at last. Even Europe's diesel diehards seem to be throwing in the towel, and the Chinese government appears to have shifted its development priority from diesel to electric drive.

Of course, all sorts of new electronic goodies continue to crop up inside the passenger compartment. The delivery of data via cell-phone technology is getting better, media and other entertainment systems are getting more sophisticated, and there are signs that mechanisms can begin to supplement or even supplant the driver's judgment. Still, many of these goodies seem to come from a time that suddenly looks very distant, the time before the twin meltdowns of the automotive industry and the world economy.

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