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While ethanol from the starch in corn kernels is a bad thing - less energy-efficient and with a bigger carbon footprint than  gasoline - ethanol from the corncobs that usually are plowed back into the ground may provide a way for corn-for-fuel farmers, and corn-ethanol producers, to stand tall again.


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Corncobs, now jettisoned from the rear of corn harvesters, or combines, could become a major source of cellulosic ethanol and a new source of income for "fuel farmers," reducing need to increase acreage devoted to corn when only kernels are used for standard ethanol.


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Ethanol from the woody, non-food byproducts of food crops such as corn and sugar cane is called cellulosic ethanol - made from cellulose - and while its is more costly to produce than regular corn ethanol, the department of energy estimates that its carbon footprint is about 90 percent less.
 
That's got the nation's largest ethanol producer, Poet LLC, thinking corncobs rather than corn and is why the South Dakota-based company has just earmarked a $6.9-million Energy Department grant for the purchase of corncobs from farmers near a proposed Poet cellulosic plant near Emmetsburg, Iowa.
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Tags: Ethanol, Cellulosic Ethanol, Ethanol From Corncobs, Poet LLC

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Corn Cobs, Not Just Kernels, Are On Ethanol Giant Poet's Shoppng List These Days was originally published by Green Car Advisor. Read the full story by clicking here.