“Kitchen Stove” Biorefinery Goes from Grass to Gasoline in One Hour



Now im generally against the idea of using agricultural land for fuel instead of food - and indeed the additional carbon footprint of many biofuels, but this seems like a great leap forward.

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Forty-two gallons in a barrel. About a quarter of the petroleum is turned into gasoline. World consumption of petroleum is about 80 million barrels per day, or about 1.25 trillion (1.25x10^12) gallons per year. That means that it would require about 125,000 sq. miles of cropland (a little less than the area of California) to meet world gasoline demand -- spread out over the entire world, of course.
A daunting prospect.

On the other hand, Miscanthus giganteus tolerates many kinds of soils, is moderately drought resistent, and can tolerate cold and snow. So it might grow on land that is unsuitable for food crops.
It would still require a lot of land. What effect would that have on ecosystems?
Moreover, it would require fertilizers. Most fertilizers today come from petroleum -- SIGH.

there is no doubt in my mind that thsi si an extremely important technology that will provide a significant part of future energy demands.

That said, I doubt that time i now, as was implied by the breathlessly enthusiastic PR news release

Ethanol Produced from Perennial Grass Could Offset 20% of Gas Use with 9.3% of Cropland
Miscanthus: "still in its infancy"


Since the grass grows from perennial rhizomes, once it has been established, one need not re-plant it year after year. That is a considerable advantage over maize.

No arguments here.

There are 42 gallons in a barrel of oil, not 72. The consumption of 88 million barrels of petroleum is not the same as 88 million barrels of gasoline.

"1 barrel of crude oil = 42 US gallons (159 liters or 35 imperial gallons). It produces from about 21 percent to 35 percent of gasoline or petrol, plus many other products such as kerosene, etc."

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_gasoline_can_be_made_from_one_barrel_of_crude_oil#ixzz1nWw8C98w

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Oops! That's what I get for relying on my memory!

Thanks for the correction, Churl. I shall amend my original posting.

But then again an enterprising individual with a few extra acres of land could indeed set up his own little neighborhood coop where members could avoid the price hikes by making their own fuel, yes?

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I think they might be defeated by their lack of economies of scale. On the other hand, they might be ingenious in their use of fertilizers.

Chances are pretty good that I will end up living very close to this company as we are scouting homes in that exact area (Camarillo, Ventura, Santa Paula etc) so it might be interesting to see how all this shapes up.

It would be nice to be able to pull up to an N100 fuel pump and pay less.
I love competition, it's an all American idea and the petroleum industry needs competition.