Thursday, January 08, 2009

By Leslie Reed
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Ethanol supporters attending a national conference in Omaha learned the latest Wednesday about new technologies that could allow fuel to be made from switch grass, sugar cane and even corncobs.

But they continued to defend corn-based ethanol as a key component to reducing American dependence on gasoline.

Gov. Dave Heineman said the federal government has been slow to address an issue that affects national security.

"For 25 years and maybe more, the federal government has talked about reducing our reliance on foreign oil -- and they haven't done a doggone thing about it,'' he said. "It's time we did something. America needs leadership when is comes to energy, and ethanol is particularly part of that future.''

He said military personnel at Offutt Air Force Base have stressed to him the importance of the issue.

"Those young men and young women are putting lives on the line every single day in places like Iraq to defend our freedom, and it's all about reducing our dependence on foreign oil,'' he said.

"The military more than any other group appreciates the need to reduce our reliance on foreign oil -- they wouldn't be over there in the Middle East.''

Bob Scott, an executive with POET Ethanol Products, compared the battle to promote ethanol to the American Revolution.

He criticized the oil and grocery industries for spreading "misinformation'' that corn-based ethanol has boosted grocery costs and wastes energy and water.

"We have the fuel for the revolution -- and it's not just the ethanol that we produce and that we market,'' he said. "It's in the power, the faith and the spirit of the people in this room.''

About 1,200 people -- farmers, renewable energy experts and people working in the ethanol industry -- are attending the American Coalition for Ethanol conference at Qwest Center Omaha. The event includes a trade fair featuring about 200 businesses that serve the ethanol industry.

It was standing room only for sessions focusing on cellulosic ethanol, a fuel created by breaking down the fibers of grass, corncobs or other biological materials.

Earlier Wednesday, an official with POET, a South Dakotabased ethanol manufacturer, announced that his company would begin manufacturing ethanol from corncobs and corn fiber at a Scotland, S.D., pilot plant by the end of 2009.

The company is one of four manufacturers nationwide working with the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a manufacturing process for cellulosic ethanol, said Sam Tagore, an Energy Department official who appeared at the conference.

Jeff Broin, POET's chief executive officer, said his company plans to open a full-scale commercial cellulosic ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa. That plant would produce 25 million gallons of ethanol per year using corn fiber and corncobs.

"I am more sure of the future of cellulosic ethanol than I ever have been before,'' Broin said. "It's no longer a question of if we will produce cellulosic ethanol, but when we will produce it."

Cellulosic ethanol answers
several criticisms of corn-based ethanol, said Brendan Plack, an aide to U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.

A perennial crop like switch grass or sugar cane reduced the amount of fuel needed to plant and till fields each year, making it more efficient to produce cellulosic ethanol, he said. Corncobs and switch grass are not used in food production and thus would not affect food prices.

Thune and Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., authored a provision in this year's farm bill to encourage farmers to experiment with feedstocks to be used for cellulosic ethanol.

Although most field corn in the United States is not grown for human consumption, it is used for animal feed. Livestock producers have said ethanol has significantly increased costs for feeding their animals and will increase meat prices.

Corn growers and ethanol manufacturers, however, say distillers grain, an ethanol byproduct that is widely fed to cattle, significantly decreases ethanol's impact on cattle production.

POET plans to purchase corncobs from 10,000 acres of corn this fall for the pilot project, Broin said.

It will pay farmers $30 to $60 per ton for the cobs, which normally are left to rot on cornfields. He said that removing the cobs will not harm soil quality. The company is developing equipment to be used to collect the cobs.

The company also will use corn fiber derived from a patented "fractionization'' process that breaks the corn kernel down into its component parts. Most of the fiber comes from the kernel's hull.