Another Boost for Biomass

Earlier this year, despite loudly expressed views about the costs of new farm provisions, a South Dakota lawmaker set out to include incentives for biomass ethanol in the upcoming 2007 Farm Bill.

South Dakota Senator John Thune announced Oct. 24 that these provisions, known as the Biofuels Innovation Program, have been included in the Senate version of the Farm Bill.

The provisions are designed to provide producers incentives for growing biomass-derived crops such as switchgrass and fast-growing trees for use as feedstocks for a series of grassroots biorefineries throughout the nation.

“Basically, what it’s trying to do is guarantee steady production of (biomass) feedstock to spark the development of a biorefining energy sector,” says Dr. Jim Novak, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System economist and Auburn University professor of agricultural economics, who monitors farm policy.

The program will provide a cost-share payment and per-acre rental payment to producers who have committed to growing dedicated crops for a local biorefinery. Moreover, farmers also would receive payments to collect, store and transport biomass (also known as cellulose) to biorefineries. Overall, the program would provide almost $160 million to producers — part of an ongoing federal effort to jumpstart the biomass industry.

Thune believes the per-ton payment alone would help secure roughly 60 million gallons of biomass ethanol production.

“It’s going to, dramatically, I think, geographically diversify ethanol production around the country,” Thune predicted.

While virtually every bioenergy specialist readily concedes the vast potential for cellulose, the challenge has been finding a way to break down this woody fiber into sugar to make the ethanol. Until now, the technological hurdles have been high and costly, forcing most energy entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to opt for corn, which, for now, is a more convenient ethanol source.

This is partly the reason why Thune is convinced that incentives such as these are the only way for cellulose to attain its potential as the basis for the next generation of renewable fuels. In fact, Thune believes this sort of jump start is essential “if we are serious in this country about reducing our dependence on foreign oil.”

At least one other lawmaker agrees, stressing that a biofuel sector will not be possible unless incentives are provided for the production of critical feedstocks.
"Celluosic ethanol has always faced a chicken-or-the-egg problem: it's difficult to start commercial production without a guaranteed supply of biomass, but it's hard to encourage farmers to grow the biomass unless they know they'll have a market. This legislation will help resolve that problem by the encouraging the construction of biofuel facilities while simultaneously pushing the production of biomass," said Senator Ben Nelson, a Democratic supporter of this bipartisan bill.

Many renewable energy experts also agree that the incentives outlined in Thune’s provision are the types of steps needed to jump-start the industry.
If one or more of these jump starts ultimately succeeds and cellulosic biorefining becomes a common practice, Alabama could reap huge benefits, says Mark Hall, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System renewable energy specialist.

“Alabama constitutes a treasure trove of cellulosic energy when we finally figure out how to capitalize on this type of energy,” Hall says, citing the state’s long growing seasons and usually ample rainfall as key factors.

Even in periods of prolonged drought, as Alabama is experiencing now, cellulosic crops would be more adaptable than the crops commonly grown in the state.

“It will grow when we get rain, but it won’t die when the rain stops,” Halls says.
In addition to offering more cropping options, cellulosic crops such as switchgrass could put Alabama farmers in a more ideal economic position.
“Americans have been used to cheap food and high energy prices for a very long time,” Hall says.

From the farmer’s standpoint, cellulosic crop production would turn the current status quo inside out — not necessarily a bad thing, Hall says. Instead of raising feedstocks for cheap commodities, he says farmers would begin growing crops for one of the most expensive commodities on the market — energy.

Posted by Jim Langcuster at October 25, 2007 02:39 PM