Removing corn from the biotech (Ethanol) equation

While the ethanol craze puts the squeeze on corn-based staples like cornmeal, consumers are reacting negatively to the price increase for these items at the retail level. That being the case, biotechnologists are attempting to remove corn from the ethanol equation by engineering microscopic bugs to extract fuel from a variety of non-corn sources such as those found in the human urinary tract, termite guts, and the plant responsible for Tequila.

However, researchers are running out of time to come up with alternative fuels, as there are already 114 US ethanol biorefineries in operation with another 80 under construction. The existing refineries produced five billion gallons of ethanol last year, nearly all of it from edible corn kernels. While this is good news for
U.S. farmers, the prices of corn-based products, a fundamental staple in products from soft drinks to cough syrup, has doubled in the last two years and are expected to continue to climb as demand for corn increases. Additionally, as farmers plant more corn to meet this rising demand, they will reduce production of other products causing their prices to rise as well.

Researchers who advocate alternative methods argue that a technological change is needed soon before the need for corn-based ethanol increases to the point where other methods will be squeezed out of the market. For example, researchers from DuPont are currently working with the DNA of an agave-loving bug in a bid to make ethanol from corn waste rather than from the kernel. DuPont’s hope is to have a pilot plant for production of this type of ethanol up and running by the year 2010. If these microscopic bugs prove effective in removing ethanol from other plants, it will fulfill President Bush’s initiative to support flexible-fuel vehicles in the hope of cutting gas consumption by 20% in ten years. One must wonder, however, if awarding $385 million in grant money to six companies dedicated to making this type of technology possible is intended to make sure that Bush’s cronies are set up to make even more money before he goes out of office.  On the other hand, this technology has been being studied for the last fifty years but the expense has been so daunting that most ethanol producers had to rely heavily on government subsidies.

However, today’s cellulosic Enzyme costs have fallen about $5.00 per gallon to a mere 20 cents per gallon making it closer to the production goal of 10 cents per gallon. If this goal is reached, Per Falhoit with Novozymes Inc., we will concentrate our efforts on increasing production with the knowledge that this product has the potential to transform the country and our heavy reliance on foreign oil.

[tags]Ethanol, fuel alternative, foreign oil dependence, cellulosic enzyme, ethanol biorefineries, Per Falhoit, Novozymes, alternative energy[/tags]