Bismarck Farm & Ranch Guide
02/16/06
Iowa Legislature gets lesson in ethanol
By GENE LUCHT, For Farm & Ranch Guide
DES MOINES - With education and ethanol the leading issues coming into the
2006 legislative session, perhaps it was fitting lawmakers recently invited college
professors to lecture them on the facts and myths surrounding ethanol.
The collection of experts from the state's three public universities brought their
best lecture hall power-point presentations to floor of the House chambers,
where they offered a variety of facts and figures for more than an hour.
The group then walked downstairs to the former Iowa Supreme Court Chambers
to answer questions from legislators.
The informational session was designed as a precursor to this year's planned
debate of ways to promote the E10, E85 and biodiesel industries in the state.
“I think it was a really good presentation,” says House Agriculture Committee
Chairman Jack Drake, R-Lewis. “It was very balanced and factual.”
Senate Agriculture Committee Co-Chairman David Johnson, R-Ocheyedan, says
ethanol and biodiesel have the potential to change Iowa's economy.
“Would it make sense that the Midwest becomes the engine that drives this
country?” he asked some of the professors.
They didn't directly answer his question but said ethanol is a factor in boosting
Iowa's economy and added its effect should grow.
Greg Carmichael, a professor of chemical and biochemical engineering at the
University of Iowa, told lawmakers current and planned ethanol production
should add up to 1.6 billion gallons by the end of 2006 as more plants come
online.
That will include 5,855 jobs in the various wet- and dry-milling plants in the state.
That effect should only grow, adds John Miranowski, Iowa State University
economist, who says as the technology changes it should lead to more jobs in
the ethanol industry.
Still, the experts say government subsidies likely will be necessary in the near
future.
“The petroleum industry did not develop without a lot of government subsidies,”
Miranowski says, adding, “It's not only biofuels that are getting subsidized.”
Larry Johnson, director of the Center for Crops Utilization at ISU, told
lawmakers technical problems with using a 10 percent blend of ethanol in
vehicles - sometimes referred to as E10 or as just simply ethanol - have been
addressed.
He said the product has been safe to use in vehicles for many years.
But, E85 (85 percent ethanol and only 15 percent gas) should only be used in
flex-fuel vehicles, Johnson explained.
He also told them there are fewer than 30 E85 pumps in Iowa and only about 400
nationwide. About 200 are in Minnesota.
Expanding the market would require a sizable investment, he said.
There are costs to gas station owners to install new tanks and equipment to store
and use E85. The reason is higher ethanol content makes the fuel corrode some
steel tanks and rubber or polyurethane adhesives.
There are about 100,000 flex-fuel vehicles in Iowa, Johnson adds. Also, there is
a fuel mileage difference between different blends of gasoline.
Johnson told lawmakers a car that gets 25 miles per gallon using regular
unleaded gasoline usually will get about 24.1 miles per gallon using E10 and
about 20 miles per gallon using E85.
That means for E85 to be economically viable, its prices need to be about 20
percent lower than regular gas.
But, cars using ethanol produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions than those
using regular gas. Vehicles using E85 produce less emissions than E10 vehicles.
The professors also talked about a number of other issues.
They said production of ethanol still isn't as efficient as production of gasoline,
but it is improving. Ethanol makers are looking at different manufacturing
methods and fuels.
Most ethanol plants in the state are powered by natural gas and use corn as the
raw product to make ethanol.
In the future, more plants are looking at using coal, biomass or other sources to
power the plants.
Some may look at using biomass, such as switchgrass or cornstalks, as the raw
product to make ethanol or as part of that raw product along with corn.
They talked about co-products, such as distillers dried grain with solubles
(DDGS), which is used primarily as a livestock. About 86 percent of DDGS is fed
to U.S. livestock with the rest going overseas.
But, the professors say DDGS eventually could be used for other products.
One additional problem facing ethanol is the use of pipelines.
While much of the nation's oil is transported via pipelines, ethanol does not lend
itself to that mode of transportation because of the problem of water in pipelines.
Also, most pipelines run North and South, bringing oil from the Gulf while ethanol
requires pipelines going East and West to transport ethanol from the Midwest to
the coasts.