<POLL: CLM08 closed around $127 today..so, in the next 60 days, the front month price of CL will... The Oil Drum DrumBeat: May 18, 2008>

133 comments on Technology moves us forward and should be recognized

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Engineer-Poet on May 17, 2008 - 5:37pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Corn yields perhaps 2.8 gal/bu and averages ~150 bu/acre, so you're going to see around 420 gal/acre.  Anyone claiming 3000 gallons from corn is smoking something.

Credible algae claims are in the region of 5000 to 10000 gal/ac.  Even 2000 would be pretty darn good for a cheap process.

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Hans Blix on May 18, 2008 - 8:22am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I'm probably stating the obvious or asking a stupid question, but...

Corn is a solid, is it not? So you ned to add the liquid, do you not? If making ethanol is anything like brewing drinking alcohol, then you need sugar, water, yeast. So wouldn't making ethanol have an impact on the water supply?

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Engineer-Poet on May 18, 2008 - 9:37am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I'm sure it takes far more water to grow the corn than to process it, but the issue of contamination from wastewater can't be ignored.

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Petrus on May 19, 2008 - 2:20pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Corn yields perhaps 2.8 gal/bu and averages ~150 bu/acre, so you're going to see around 420 gal/acre. Anyone claiming 3000 gallons from corn is smoking something.

That is for oone crop. Maybe some areas can have 3 crops a year, assuming 350 bushsls/acre and 3gal/bu, that would work. But it seems to be a stretch.

BTW, How much biomass is in the cobs and stalks, compared to corn kernels?
To me it seems that there is more potential in processing the "waste".

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Engineer-Poet on May 20, 2008 - 9:30pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

That is for oone crop. Maybe some areas can have 3 crops a year

What strain of maize can come to maturity in 120 days at that yield?  With enormous amounts of water, phosphate and nitrate I suppose you can do anything, but algae seem cheaper.

How much biomass is in the cobs and stalks, compared to corn kernels?

Around half (maybe more if cobs are included, I haven't checked lately).  A bushel of corn is 56 pounds, so 150 bu/ac is 4.2 tons.  The Corn Stover Collection Project found roughly 2 tons/acre of harvestable stover, after allowing for erosion control.

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133 comments on Technology moves us forward and should be recognized

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