Oil is a serious problem for all of us: it costs too much,
supplies are unreliable, and its use as fuel increases greenhouse-
gas
emissions leading to global warming. In this article, John Demont
examines two Canadian entrepreneurs who are attempting to alleviate the
problem and make a profit by using agricultural bi-products to
produce ethanol – a high-octane alcohol produced by fermenting sugar made from
grain starch. When mixed with
gasoline, ethanol lowers
greenhouse-gas emissions and the cost of fuel.
Demont is careful to point out that not all scientists agree.
Some, such as David Pimentel of Cornell University, believe that
producing ethanol uses more energy than is saved. Pimentel is
supported in that view by the David Suzuki Foundation and Greenpeace
Canada. Nevertheless, the Canadian government and gas companies
disagree and continue to subsidize ethanol research and production.
The first of the two entrepreneurs Demont introduces is Pound-Maker
Agventures Limited, which runs a combination feedlot and ethanol plant
near Lanigan, Saskatchewan. Pound-Maker uses about 3,500 bushels
of
wheat to produce about 40,000 litres of ethanol a day.
Leftover solids, called ‘wet distillers grain’, are used as
high-protein cattle feed, while the wastewater or ‘stillage’ is used as
a protein supplement for cows – a perfect fit in cattle country.
The second company is Iogen Corporation, located just outside Ottawa,
Ontario. Iogen is working on producing ethanol by using
genetically-modified microbes to break down the cellulose in leftover
wheat stalks, a process which takes much less energy. One of the
bi-products of this process is lignin, which can be burned to make
electricity. Since cellulose ethanol is produced using the
leftovers from last year’s crops, farmers stand to gain.
Moreover, it may be possible to produce this product using hardwood
residue, natural grasses like switchgrass, or even solid waste and
sewage sludge.
The government’s target is to have at least a third of the gasoline
sold in Canada contain ten per cent ethanol by 2010, which would be the
equivalent of removing 400,000 vehicles from the road. To achieve
that, it is willing to invest heavily in new
technologies, including
homegrown ethanol production.
Demont points out that Henry Ford originally designed the Model T to
run on ethanol, converting it later to run on gasoline. Greener
fuels are not only possible, but necessary. Although current
ethanol-producing technologies may not be perfect, they are better than
the status quo, and there are unexpected benefits.