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Politics : Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (10971)	7/17/2010 12:19:20 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24240

Report sees need for 500 additional biofuels plants By PHILIP BRASHER • pbrasher@dmreg.com • June 24, 2010 Washington, D.C. — More than 500 new biorefineries will be needed around the country to meet the nation's goal of tripling biofuel consumption by 2022, according to a government study. The Agriculture Department estimates in the report that the plants would cost about $168 billion, a price tag the USDA termed "substantial." There are about 200 corn ethanol plants now in operation nationwide, including 40 in Iowa. A 2007 law required that refiners use 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022, with all but 15 billion gallons coming from sources other than corn. Meeting that target will require building facilities that can convert a wide range of new biofuel feedstocks, including crop residue, forest thinnings, municipal waste, perennial grasses and other sources of cellulose. The industry is expected to easily reach 15 billion gallons of corn ethanol production by 2015. "The bottom line here is that we need to make a commitment to this industry," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Biofuel developers have proposed a range of facilities that would make ethanol from material as diverse as wood, garbage and corncobs, but few of the projects have gotten off the ground. Industry officials say it has become virtually impossible to find investors willing to put money into the projects. Poet LLC, the nation's largest ethanol producer, has proposed expanding a plant at Emmetsburg to produce the gasoline additive from cobs as well as the grain. The Renewable Fuels Association and other industry groups have been pressing the administration to relax restrictions on loan guarantee programs. The USDA has been requiring developers to have a bank apply for the guarantees. "Right now few if any banks are willing to work with biofuels," said Matt Hartwig, a spokesman for the association. The cellulosic ethanol plants would cost more than four times as much to build as a conventional corn ethanol facility, based on the USDA's estimate. Researchers at Iowa State University, funded by oil giant ConocoPhillips Co. and the Energy Department, have come up with similar cost estimates. It would be cheaper to build facilities that could convert feedstocks directly into gasoline or diesel through a thermochemical process, said Robert Brown, director of Iowa State's Bioeconomy Institute. Although corn ethanol production has been concentrated in the Midwest where the grain is grown, the USDA study estimates that the Southeast will be the biggest producer of advanced biofuels because of its long growing season. More than 11 percent of the region's cropland and pasture will be needed for feedstock production, the report said. Another challenge facing the ethanol industry is having an adequate number of cars and trucks capable of running on the biofuels. The USDA study suggested targeting the ethanol-capable vehicles and service stations in high-population states. desmoinesregister.com