<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for Grains become fuel at the world’s first cellulosic ethanol demo plant]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by Biodiversivist http://www.grist.org/article/boddy/ Wed, 13 Dec 2006 05:54:07 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/boddy/1 I hope cellulosic becomes competitive

as soon as possible and crushes its competition--ethanol made from cane sugar grown on razed rain forests and corn grown as we grow it today--thus ending the accelerating environmental destruction taking place in the meantime.

Although apparently highly effective, the argument being put forth by power brokers that you must accept environmentally destructive means of producing ethanol in order to get to cellulosic, is pure bullshit. To ice the cake, if cellulosic fails to compete, then what?

In general, it would be nice if cellulosic ethanol didn't have to compete against subsidized crops as people make choices about what to plant.

Even he is worried about government crop subsidies that could keep cellulosic from being competitive. It is unlikely they will disappear just when he is ready to start producing.

My hunch is that it will generally be cheaper to retrofit a corn ethanol plant than to build a new one from a greenfield site.

A hunch is one notch up from a guess. As an engineer who has been around a while, I know how complicated retrofits can get. Tearing down a factory (or a house for a remodel) often costs less than retrofitting it. Location is also a big factor. Refineries now are located to take advantage of corn crops, corn storage facilities, and railroad lines. Unless our farmers are going to start growing switch grass instead of corn in their fields, then these refineries are not optimally located. On the other hand, if Midwest farmers do plant grass instead of corn because it is more profitable, well, I guess we can all learn to eat grass. It is a moot argument in any case. We don't need to build refineries unless or until cellulosic technology gets cost competitive. We can build them then.

We need to do more to develop new crops and cropping systems.

The above statement should be a big hint to all of us. Not only is the chemistry not there yet, but he seems quite concerned about the other problems as well. Like, what are we going to grow, where will we grow it, and how do you transport bulky sources of cellulose?

]]> I hope cellulosic becomes competitive

as soon as possible and crushes its competition--ethanol made from cane sugar grown on razed rain forests and corn grown as we grow it today--thus ending the accelerating environmental destruction taking place in the meantime.

Although apparently highly effective, the argument being put forth by power brokers that you must accept environmentally destructive means of producing ethanol in order to get to cellulosic, is pure bullshit. To ice the cake, if cellulosic fails to compete, then what?

In general, it would be nice if cellulosic ethanol didn't have to compete against subsidized crops as people make choices about what to plant.

Even he is worried about government crop subsidies that could keep cellulosic from being competitive. It is unlikely they will disappear just when he is ready to start producing.

My hunch is that it will generally be cheaper to retrofit a corn ethanol plant than to build a new one from a greenfield site.

A hunch is one notch up from a guess. As an engineer who has been around a while, I know how complicated retrofits can get. Tearing down a factory (or a house for a remodel) often costs less than retrofitting it. Location is also a big factor. Refineries now are located to take advantage of corn crops, corn storage facilities, and railroad lines. Unless our farmers are going to start growing switch grass instead of corn in their fields, then these refineries are not optimally located. On the other hand, if Midwest farmers do plant grass instead of corn because it is more profitable, well, I guess we can all learn to eat grass. It is a moot argument in any case. We don't need to build refineries unless or until cellulosic technology gets cost competitive. We can build them then.

We need to do more to develop new crops and cropping systems.

The above statement should be a big hint to all of us. Not only is the chemistry not there yet, but he seems quite concerned about the other problems as well. Like, what are we going to grow, where will we grow it, and how do you transport bulky sources of cellulose?

]]> Comment #2 by billyx2 http://www.grist.org/article/boddy/ Tue, 25 Dec 2007 17:27:28 -0800 http://www.grist.org/article/boddy/2 Iogen

Hello all,
This is my first posting. Any idea when Iogen, based in Ottawa, will go public? I'm expecting it some time in 2008.

]]> Iogen

Hello all,
This is my first posting. Any idea when Iogen, based in Ottawa, will go public? I'm expecting it some time in 2008.

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