""However, temperate regions are still very productive, note that the American Midwest is one of the bread baskets of the world. You over look the fact that biomass, such as corn stover (Stalks, Cobs, Shucks), Newspapers, wood waste, straw (wheat, grass, rice, etc.) can be converted to sugars through a relatively cheap process using sulphuric acid or specially manufactured enzymes.""
Are you overlooking the fact that biomass as above must be gathered and transported and processed mostly using gasoline which consumes almost twice the BTU's per gallon you get back from methanol?All inputs into production of methanol must be considered including production costs and transportation costs of chemicals to breakdown biomass.As to ""About 6% of contiguous United States land area.."means to me "marginal lands" close by and connected to existing farmland but further away from infrastructure ...so more costly for transportation costs.
Is this fact or opinion?..
""Utilization of timber, farm and municipal waste products can more than supply the US with enough ethanol to replace all petroleum used in the US.""
According to the American Automobile Manufacturers Association, a gallon of typical gasoline contains 114,132 btu’s. However, even this amount of energy content changes from summer to winter as gasoline’s volatility is seasonally adjusted. For the purposes of this summary, we assume the following:
1 U.S. Gallon of gasoline contains 114,132 btu
1 U.S. Gallon of no. 2 diesel fuel contains 138,000 btu
1 U.S. Gallon of ethanol contains 76,000 btu
1 U.S. Gallon of methanol contains 56,800 btu
1 U.S. Gallon of propane contains 84,500 btu
1 U.S. Gallon of compressed natural gas contains 19,800 btu
e85fuel.com
1 gallon of water equals 8.33 lbs.
1 gallon of gasoline equals 5.8 to 6.5 lbs.
1 gallon of ethanol equals 6.59 lbs.
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