Tweet
Size of US ethanol market
(automatically updated/inserted from The Big Biofuels Blog)
The US ethanol market is growing rapidly, according to the US Corn Refiners Association in its report Corn, Part of a sustainable environment, production has increased from 1.1.bn gallons (4.2bn lires) in 1996 to 5bn gallions in 2006, with around 106 plants on line capable of producing 5.8bn gal/year, and 45 are in the construction or expansion stage, which could add 3.4bn gal to capacity. In addition, 114plants are proposed, which could add a further 7bn gallons of ethanol possible taking the total to around 15.5bn gallons
If I were being pessimistic, I'd suggest that this will be just enough to disrupt the market, up the price of corn, damage aquifers and make almost no difference .The density of alcohol is 0.7856 so the weight of a litre of ethanol will be 785.6 grammes. This gives a total weight of alcohol that could be produced, if all the new capacity comes on stream, as 46bn tonnes, about 10% of the total volume of gasoline that the US uses annually at themoment.
But ethanol contains less energy than gasoline about 25MJ/kg compared to about 45MJ/kg for gasoline, comparing the two we find that the volume of ethanol will replace about half that of gas. In energy terms its about 5% of the volume of gasoline.
Assuming that other markets -- like food -- aren't more attractive for corn growers, that the price of oil stays pretty high and that no new technology comes along...
More (from The Big Biofuels Blog)...
The US ethanol market is growing rapidly, according to the US Corn Refiners Association in its report Corn, Part of a sustainable environment, production has increased from 1.1.bn gallons (4.2bn lires) in 1996 to 5bn gallions in 2006, with around 106 plants on line capable of producing 5.8bn gal/year, and 45 are in the construction or expansion stage, which could add 3.4bn gal to capacity. In addition, 114plants are proposed, which could add a further 7bn gallons of ethanol possible taking the total to around 15.5bn gallons
If I were being pessimistic, I'd suggest that this will be just enough to disrupt the market, up the price of corn, damage aquifers and make almost no difference .The density of alcohol is 0.7856 so the weight of a litre of ethanol will be 785.6 grammes. This gives a total weight of alcohol that could be produced, if all the new capacity comes on stream, as 46bn tonnes, about 10% of the total volume of gasoline that the US uses annually at themoment.
But ethanol contains less energy than gasoline about 25MJ/kg compared to about 45MJ/kg for gasoline, comparing the two we find that the volume of ethanol will replace about half that of gas. In energy terms its about 5% of the volume of gasoline.
Assuming that other markets -- like food -- aren't more attractive for corn growers, that the price of oil stays pretty high and that no new technology comes along...
More (from The Big Biofuels Blog)...