China enlarges bio-ethanol fuel coverage

[Finer in China]

Oh my home State of Michigan! Bless you and hoping for the best. Make some lemonade.

[DMikeS4321]

Awesome!

 

What's awesome is that the price of food is skyrocketing while the price of fuel soars, all so we can 'grow our fuel'. Too bad nobody thought this out beforehand.

 

I posted before; Lao Po won't eat corn anymore because it costs too damned much. Beef, pork and chicken are through the roof because of the shortage (and subsequent increase of price) of feed grains. Rice is going up rapidly and there are stories about social unrest among the poor who can no longer afford their dietary staple.

 

Truly awesome!!! Talk about unintended consequences...

[DMikeS4321]

SugarBeets! acre for acre, compared to CORN and soybeans, makes MORE ethanol. No need to clear cut anything, just plant SUGARBEETS !

 

 

 

Corbin, you probable know that Bay City was talking about a sugar beet facility. I think they wanted to use the sugar beet waste and the actual beets both to make the ethanol. So a celluose and a normal sugar process. Plus, they might be able to burn some of the beet waste for fuel.

 

One thing that them ethanol boys forget -

SUGARBEETS can be grown hydroponically.

 

So - You Gots a WasteWater Treatment Plant ? Redirect yer 'flow' to a section o sugarbeets, use that sh|t-filled water to yer own advantage (yes, past the bacteriophage-dying segment, surely).

 

 

So Bay City can use the water from the Dow facility!

 

And pump the waste into Saginaw Bay!!! Let's REALLY do this right! Yippeee!!!!

Edited April 7, 2008 by DMikeS4321 (see edit history)

[lostinblue]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13406453/

This article has to do with the amount of water involved in making ethanol. A resource china is lacking

[Corbin]

SugarBeets! acre for acre, compared to CORN and soybeans, makes MORE ethanol. No need to clear cut anything, just plant SUGARBEETS !

 

 

 

Corbin, you probable know that Bay City was talking about a sugar beet facility. I think they wanted to use the sugar beet waste and the actual beets both to make the ethanol. So a celluose and a normal sugar process. Plus, they might be able to burn some of the beet waste for fuel.

 

One thing that them ethanol boys forget -

SUGARBEETS can be grown hydroponically.

 

So - You Gots a WasteWater Treatment Plant ? Redirect yer 'flow' to a section o sugarbeets, use that sh|t-filled water to yer own advantage (yes, past the bacteriophage-dying segment, surely).

 

 

So Bay City can use the water from the Dow facility!

 

And pump the waste into Saginaw Bay!!! Let's REALLY do this right! Yippeee!!!!

Oh, believe me even the people that work for Dow chemical don't want to see that happen. They know that the waste water is bad and needs to be cleaned.

 

Though the waste from Sugar Beats could be put to use and not effect things like the cost of corn or wheat. Is it the answer not by a far shot, but it does try to address the question some.

[DMikeS4321]

Oh, believe me even the people that work for Dow chemical don't want to see that happen. They know that the waste water is bad and needs to be cleaned.

 

Though the waste from Sugar Beats could be put to use and not effect things like the cost of corn or wheat. Is it the answer not by a far shot, but it does try to address the question some.

 

I agree. I have several relatives that have worked for Dow. I think Dow was/is the largest employer in the Midland/Bay City area and they have been good 'corporate citizens'.

 

You're also right about sugar beets, but leave it to our government to subsidize (with our tax money) something that has such a huge impact on our food prices (corn), leaving us with a double-whammy effect.

 

Food crops should be used for just that. There are more sensible alternatives. See links below:

 

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn3464

 

http://www.jojoba-oil.org/jojoba-future.html

 

Quote from above article:

 

"As if this isn't enough to put jojoba right up there with some of the greatest discoveries of all time, probably most remarkable is a discovery by a team of Indian scientists reported in New Scientist in 2003. The team made an alternative to regular diesel fuel by mixing methanol and a catalyst with raw jojoba oil. They then successfully ran an engine on the fuel and found not only did it match the efficiency of diesel; it produced lower carbon emissions and was completely free of sulfur emissions. That means less pollution thrown into the atmosphere to fuel global warming and acid rain. For those keeping score, that's another one... make that two for the environment."

 

Another link:

 

http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_yield.html

 

Jojoba yields 194 gallons of oil per acre and can be planted in desert conditions that won't support most other crops. It yields approximately the same BTU per acre as ethanol without the high cost of cultivation while not distorting feed grain markets and food supplies dependent upon them. It's safe to assume it would yield more BTU per acre with even rudimentary cultivation, thus making it much more efficient than ethanol.

[Trigg]

SAW GRASS!!! Grows wild with little water and is an excellent source for ethanol. It's the grass that used to be on the plains when there was Buffalo and Antelope playing. Less polluting than oil based gas and CHEAPER!!!! And as long as we don't let the Bison make a comeback-very plentiful--Of course we may need to ax a golf course or two!

[IllinoisDave]

Of course we may need to ax a golf course or two!

[Robert S.]

There are such vast square miles of land in the US not being used for anything.

[pbatt]

As was stated before, ethanol is a huge waste of water. It is a quick fix to a long term problem. Over a year ago an article in the Singapore Straits Times, stated China and India could both not afford ethanol. Corn takes 8 gallons of water to produce a gallon of ethanol, sugar cane takes 11 gallons. Not sure about beats.

Water is one of the scarcest resources in these two countries.Not to mention the high rise in food prices from diverting corn and sugars to ethanol production.

The US will see a large increase later this summer from these very problems.

It has been said that wars will soon be fought over water, not oil.Some political ones have been in US already. The state of Texas bought land in SE New Mexico to drill a large water well to pipe to dallas. New Mexico got wind of it and put a stop to it.

 

We can live without oil, but cannot go to long without water.

[Randy W]

There is as much water today as there was 2 billion years ago and will be 2 billion years from now. Water is never actually "consumed". Oil, on the other hand, can never be replaced once consumed.

 

Ethanol plants can be built where there's an adequate supply.

[IllinoisDave]

There is as much water today as there was 2 billion years ago and will be 2 billion years from now. Water is never actually "consumed". Oil, on the other hand, can never be replaced once consumed.

 

Ethanol plants can be built where there's an adequate supply.

There's a lot of water walking around in the form of 6.6 billion humans.

[Randy W]

There is as much water today as there was 2 billion years ago and will be 2 billion years from now. Water is never actually "consumed". Oil, on the other hand, can never be replaced once consumed.

 

Ethanol plants can be built where there's an adequate supply.

There's a lot of water walking around in the form of 6.6 billion humans.

 

 

I've got a big chunk of that myself!

[IllinoisDave]

There is as much water today as there was 2 billion years ago and will be 2 billion years from now. Water is never actually "consumed". Oil, on the other hand, can never be replaced once consumed.

 

Ethanol plants can be built where there's an adequate supply.

There's a lot of water walking around in the form of 6.6 billion humans.

 

 

I've got a big chunk of that myself!

Me too.

[Guest Mike and Lily]

As was stated before, ethanol is a huge waste of water. It is a quick fix to a long term problem. Over a year ago an article in the Singapore Straits Times, stated China and India could both not afford ethanol. Corn takes 8 gallons of water to produce a gallon of ethanol, sugar cane takes 11 gallons. Not sure about beats.

Water is one of the scarcest resources in these two countries.Not to mention the high rise in food prices from diverting corn and sugars to ethanol production.

The US will see a large increase later this summer from these very problems.

It has been said that wars will soon be fought over water, not oil.Some political ones have been in US already. The state of Texas bought land in SE New Mexico to drill a large water well to pipe to dallas. New Mexico got wind of it and put a stop to it.

 

We can live without oil, but cannot go to long without water.

 

It's not just a waste of water. It costs more energy to produce ethanol than you get by using it. I wonder why the Chinese are messing with it? It's subsidized in the USA only for political reasons. It has no future as a cheap energy source.