By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

CHICAGO, Ill. — As support for homegrown, bioenergy fuel sources are growing in increments equal to the widening of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In turn, biofuel supporters are touting the release of a new University of Chicago study showing vast gains in energy efficiency at U.S. corn ethanol production facilities.

“Policymakers rightfully pay attention to life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of fuels. Biofuel refineries, including corn ethanol plants, are in a rapid innovation phase,” remarked study leader Steffen Mueller, principal research economist at the University of Chicago’s (UIC) Energy Resources Center. Mueller’s study, which surveyed the nation’s 150 dry mill ethanol plants between November 2009 and January 2010, found that the energy required to make a gallon of corn-based ethanol has decreased by an average of 30 percent within the past decade.

Mueller feels the study’s findings are of use to state and federal energy policy makers debating fuels based on their “full life-cycle,” or the amount of energy needed to create a fuel compared to its energy output, water usage and GHG emissions.

“This (study) underscores the importance of using current data when it comes to estimating the life cycle analysis of ethanol production,” stated the Nebraska Corn Board’s Randy Klein. “Using outdated data just doesn’t work, nor does the assumption that today’s estimates will be valid tomorrow. The ethanol industry continues to develop, which is why one cannot label today’s ethanol industry as mature.”

The adoption of new fuel technologies by corn ethanol producers, Mueller said, is driving the increased efficiency of refineries. “The challenge for policymakers will be to keep up with these developments so that regulations are meaningful and reflect state-of-the-art industry practices,” he said.

Bob Dinneen, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Assoc., agreed that the ethanol industry is still in a state of evolution. “Existing grain ethanol producers are continuously investing in the latest technologies, retrofitting older facilities and incorporating these technologies in new construction. As a result, the industry is perpetually improving its efficiency and enhancing the environmental benefits it already offers,” Dinneen said.

The UIC study, which was published in the May 15 issue of Biotechnology Letters, found that today’s dry mill corn ethanol plants use 28 percent less thermal energy – including natural gas, coal, biomass and landfill gas – and 32 percent less electricity to turn corn into ethanol as did production facilities in the 1990’s.
The results of Mueller’s report were compared to the most recent comprehensive survey commissioned by the USDA in 2001 for analysis.

Since the publication of the 2001 study there has been a ten-fold increase in the number of U.S. ethanol plants.

Dinneen pointed out that the UIC study dovetails nicely alongside a recent report from Purdue University, which examined corn ethanol’s possible land use impacts. The Purdue study charges that potential land use impacts are actually one-half of what the EPA and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) determined.

“Taken together, these landmark studies of American ethanol production should re-inform and redirect the current debate about ethanol’s carbon footprint,” Dinneen said. “As more scientists look into the issue, they are finding that ethanol is an increasingly cleaner and greener alternative to oil. I encourage EPA, CARB and any other entity seeking to evaluate ethanol’s environmental profile to review these studies thoroughly.”