Carnegie Mellon Researchers Say Solution to America's Energy Crisis Could be Found Down on the Farm

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Scientists have long known how to use enzymes and microorganisms to mine the carbon from carbohydrates to make industrial products. But for decades the technology didn't go very far commercially because fossil fuel - hydrocarbon - was a far cheaper carbon source. Now that oil prices have climbed roughly 35 percent during the past year, though, cellulosic fermentation technology is becoming economical. In fact, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization said last week that biofuels may supply 25 percent of the world's energy needs in 15 to 20 years.

"This shift from using hydrocarbons to carbohydrates could revolutionize many industries, including the nation's huge agricultural sector," Griffin said.

While the Carnegie Mellon researchers think switchgrass could be the source of large volumes of inexpensive ethanol in the future, they are concerned about the potential costs and siting concerns of using pipelines, the most cost-effective way to deliver fuels. The U.S. has 100,000 miles of pipelines dedicated to transporting petroleum. But Carnegie Mellon researchers say those pipelines can't be used efficiently because impurities from the petroleum would adversely mix with the ethanol.

"In the long run, our goal would be to make petroleum pipelines obsolete; which raises questions about whether ethanol pipelines should ever be built," Matthews said.

To avoid potential issues with pipelines, the authors expect regional solutions to dominate, such as widespread adoption of 85 percent ethanol delivered by rail or truck in the Midwest. American automakers already sell flexible-fuel vehicles (that can run on ethanol or gasoline) in the U.S.

Much of today's discussions about alternatives to gasoline, such as hydrogen, have similar issues related to infrastructure. "Unfortunately, most of the research time and money is being spent on the fuels, without adequate consideration to how we will get it to consumers cost-effectively," Griffin said.

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Scott Matthews
Green Design Institute

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