Immediate Release:
Friday, January 23, 2009
Nebraska Corn Board contacts:
Kelly Brunkhorst: 800.632.6761
Study: Corn-based ethanol significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions, oil use
LINCOLN, NE – A report released by the University of Nebraska yesterday (January 22) shows that the advances in corn and ethanol production over the years have significantly improved the biofuel’s environmental performance and energy balance.
“It is just tremendous to have this peer-reviewed report back up what corn growers have been saying for some time. When examining ethanol production it is important to look at modern production practices for both growing corn and producing ethanol. You simply can’t look backwards,” said Kelly Brunkhorst, ag program manager for the Nebraska Corn Board.
The report, published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology, shows that corn ethanol directly emits an average of 51 percent less greenhouse gas than gasoline. That is as much as three times the reduction reported in earlier research. The publication is one of the top peer-reviewed journals for research on lifecycle analysis.
“Moreover, if the goal is to reduce dependence on imported oil, we estimate that the typical corn-ethanol system produces 13 gallons of ethanol for every gallon of petroleum-based fuel used in the production life cycle for corn ethanol,” said Ken Cassman, director of the Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research and one of the report’s authors.
A Heuermann Professor of Agronomy at the University of Nebraska, Cassman said it is important to understand that ethanol also has a substantial net positive direct energy balance. The study notes that corn ethanol’s net energy ratio, which averaged 1.2 to 1 in earlier studies, is 1.5-1.8 to 1 in the recent research. That means that for every unit of energy it takes to make ethanol, 1.5 to 1.8 units of energy are produced as ethanol.
“Using dated information simply doesn’t work in a world where the technology and efficiency of corn and ethanol production are rapidly improving over the years,” Cassman said.
The report is available free online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1530-9290.2008.00105.x
Brunkhorst said the dramatic improvements shown in the new report come from the fact that corn growers have gotten more efficient at what they do and newer ethanol plants use improved technologies and techniques.
“Ethanol plants today don’t use near the amount of energy they did in the past. Many are also located in close proximity to livestock operations, which allows ethanol plants to reduce energy use even more by transporting wet distillers grains shorter distances than drying the corn co-product and shipping it further,” Brunkhorst said.
As for corn production, crop genetics and agronomic management practices increase yields and the amount of corn produced versus the amount of fertilizer used. “Many more farmers today have also adopted conservation tillage practices that significantly reduce diesel fuel use by reducing the number of passes farmers make across the field each year,” he said. “That too, is an important consideration when examining the efficiency of corn production and greenhouse gas reductions.”
In fact, Brunkhorst said, the study notes that the improvements move corn-based ethanol closer to the hypothetical performance of cellulosic biofuels. “The big thing to note there is the word ‘hypothetical’,” Brunkhorst said. “Cellulosic ethanol may offer important benefits in the future, but it is not yet available. Corn ethanol is here today and this study by the University of Nebraska supports its use on many levels, from energy security to environmental improvements. Plus we need to remember the important contributions of ethanol production to rural communities across the state.”
The Nebraska Corn Board is a self-help program, funded and managed by Nebraska corn farmers. Producers invest in the program at a rate of 1/4 of a cent per bushel of corn sold. Nebraska corn checkoff funds are invested in programs of market development, research and education.
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