Rex Trulove
One of the biggest uses of corn in the US is to produce ethanol, a kind of alcohol that is added to gasoline. I don’t have a problem with adding alcohol to gas, despite the questionable reasoning for doing so. My issue is that I contend that this is the most absurd use for corn.
Corn is edible and nutritious. It grows easily and it is good for both humans and several animals, notably beef, pork, and poultry. In fact, even corn cobs have nutritional value and are often ground and given to livestock. The US is also a major exporter of corn and in 2017, about 66 million tons of corn were exported.
Ethanol has also been produced for a long time, both as drinking alcohol and as a fuel. It has been used as a fuel since the early 1800s. I suppose that with so many people drinking the stuff that when they thought of adding alcohol to gasoline it was only natural that they would think of ethanol first.
The absurd part is that although corn has some great nutritional uses, there is an alternative to ethanol that can be made from something that has no real use, currently. The alternative alcohol is methanol, which is not drinkable but which has almost the same properties as ethanol. Methanol can be made out of tree branches, bark, leaves, and needles. This material is a byproduct of the number of trees that are harvested in the US for use in lumber and paper products each year.
Currently, thousands of tons of this wood waste is piled and burned every year. Burning the slash doesn’t even help the forest, it drops the air quality, and at times, slash burns get out of control and end up as forest fires, costing hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars in damage.
In other words, corn is being used to produce alcohol to add to gas, though corn has many other valid and current uses. Wood slash, which currently has no value, is being destroyed, though it could be made into alcohol to replace ethanol and though the destruction of the forest waste often results in a huge amount of damage.
Am I the only one who sees a problem with this picture?
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Were you aware that forest debris could be made into an alternative for ethanol?
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Yes
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No
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reducing fuel consumption was the driver for ethanol, but now the congressional folks from Iowa, Nebraska and others are ardent they need their protections for farmers.
Its like the US reality of tobacco. Farmers in NC are paid not to plant tobacco.
Unfortunately, it is at the expense of vehicle owners. Ethanol absorbs moisture readily, which can damage engines if a stabilizer isn’t added. It also does damage to gaskets and seals. However, it’s been done long enough now that many corn farmers could go broke if the artificial support for ethanol production wasn’t there.
Meanwhile, forest debris that could be made into methanol is literally being destroyed instead of being used. Methanol has the same problems ethanol has, in regard to engines, but people generally don’t eat trees when they are hungry.
You really aren’t supposed to use it on boats. It wreaks havocs on small motors.
In many states, including Montana and Oregon, I think, all gas sold has ethanol in it. For small motors, like the lawnmower, weed trimmer, and chainsaw, I have to buy a stabilizer to add to the gas for those engines. Stabilizer is expensive, but the damage costs would be a lot more expensive.
we have the same problem – it really is very frustrating. I am a big fan of making the world’s climate better.
If, there was even a remote chance that ethanol was effective I would be all about it.
It actually costs more to produce than people realize.
Cost of production is the main reason the tree slash isn’t being made into methanol. Yet, it isn’t all that much more expensive than ethanol production.
That is absurd and I also see that in the ads above Amazon is offering variations on ethy. I would rather have my corn with butter.
I agree with you. Now, corn farmers could go broke if they didn’t have the artificial support of the government buying the corn for ethanol.
I was also wondering why the need for ethanol when we have lots of other fuel around. For me, corn is for the stomach.
I agree and there are strong downsides to using ethanol. Supposedly, it lessens the polluting emissions when gas is burned. However, it also absorbs water, which doesn’t burn, and erodes gaskets and seals in an engine, shortening engine life.
You make too much sense to be hired by the EPA.
LOL…yeah, they don’t want common sense. That would be asking too much. 🙂