SWITCHGRASS STUDY

Switchgrass-to-biofuel test now in second year; Successful stands are more than three feet tall; no harvesting for now
September 14, 2009 (AP via MSNBC)

"…[R]esearchers in the Oklahoma Panhandle…[want] to determine if making ethanol from switchgrass is cost effective…[and if] small-scale experiments of using the tall, thin plant native to the Great Plains to make ethanol can be duplicated on a large scale…[and if those] involved in its production could make a profit…[C]ellulosic ethanol is likely years away from commercial use, especially at the level of traditional corn-based ethanol… Ethanol, an alcohol obtained from the fermentation of sugars and starches, is used as an additive to or a replacement for petroleum-based fuels.

"The $2.2 million [1,000 acre] experiment, a project of the Oklahoma Bioenergy Center…began last year with the planting of switchgrass on three fields [some fallow, some recently harvested, some irrigated, some not, using 4 different types of seeds, is] near Guymon, a town 100 miles north of Amarillo, Texas…"

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"Unlike corn, switchgrass doesn't need to be replanted each year. It also takes less tractor fuel and fertilizer to produce, can be grown on marginal land and doesn't require as much water…[and] switchgrass isn't used for food…[which] means it wouldn't drive up grocery prices…a sticking point in the wide-scale production of corn-based ethanol…Cellulose, the main ingredient in a plant cell's walls, is the most common organic compound in the world…

"The nation's [2007] renewable fuel standard [calls for 11.1 billion gallons of renewable fuel to be blended into gasoline in 2009 and 36 billion gallons by 2022, ensuring] demand…[T]hat standard caps the amount of [corn] ethanol…at 15 billion gallons in 2015. By 2022, 16 billion gallons have to come from cellulosic feedstocks…"

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"…[T]he type of feedstocks used in production of cellulosic biofuels could differ by region…switchgrass [is] viable in the Great Plains, wood chips could be used in the Pacific Northwest…[A May EPA analysis found] the production of 900 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass is economically feasible by 2022…[most from] Oklahoma…[and some] from West Virginia and New Hampshire.

"…The [3 varieties of] successful switchgrass…are now 3 to 3 1/2 feet tall, and researchers likely won't cut the grass this year. In the first year after planting, about a quarter to a third of the switchgrass stand's eventual yield can be harvested. That number jumps to about two-thirds after the second year and 100 percent after the third year, which would be 2011…Abengoa Bioenergy Corp., the North American division of a company based in Spain, plans to start construction early next year on a $300 million biorefinery in Hugoton, Kan., about 35 miles from Guymon. Completion is expected by early 2012…"