Drink it or Drive it: The Promise of Agave for Ethanol
Corn has given ethanol a bad name and scientists are searching far and wide for alternative feedstock. Agave has been getting attention lately and looks very promising, although tequila connoisseurs may not be cheering. Here’s why agave is so much appealing:
High Yield Per Acre
Soybeans generate a measly 60 gallons of biodiesel annually from an acre of land and has an energy balance of 2.5. Corn generates about 300-400 gallons of ethanol per acre and has an energy balance of 1.3. Sugar cane can generate 600-800 gallons of ethanol per acre annually and has an energy balance of 8. Sugar cane unfortunately is very labor intensive to cultivate and could contribute to deforestation.
Agave however can yield an impressive 2,000 gallons of distilled ethanol per acre each year annually. Cellulosic ethanol from agave has 6 to 9 times the yield per acre. This would significantly reduce the quantity of land needed to produce the same quantity of transportations fuels.
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Thrives in Wastelands
Agave fixes nitrogen in the soil and actually improves the soil quality where it is grown. 95% of the Agavacea family calls Mexico home and 50% of the country is ideally suited for agave cultivation. Dry, arid, and steep terrain typically have fewer economic opportunities and greater poverty. Ethanol from agave would open up new markets in marginalized lands.
Few other ethanol feedstocks grow well on marginalized lands. Sugar cane, which is used widely in Brazil for ethanol production, is grown in tropical regions and can drive deforestation.
Low Water Requirements
Agave does not require much water for cultivation, making it favorable over many of the alternatives because it does not need to be irrigated. Dependence on irrigation brings a myriad of problems. Water scarcity can cause competition between irrigation and drinking water. Farmers with crops reliant on water are more vulnerable to droughts. Increasing water costs can create more volatile crop prices. Because agave doesn’t need agrochemicals, it also helps protect water quality.
Doesn’t Require Cellulosic Technology
Although the ethanol yield from agave increases dramatically when the cellulose is used, this evolving technology is not essential. This should help shorten the time needed for ethanol from agave to hit the market in large quantities.
Opportunity for Farmers
Agave production was estimated to have decreased by 25%-35% in 2007. High global tequila demand had previously caused agave prices to increase. As a result, production increased and prices fell. As a result, many Mexican farmers began cultivating corn to satisfy the U.S. demand for corn-based ethanol. Unfortunately corn is considered a “prima donna” crop and requires considerably more fertilizer and water than agave.
Ethanol from agave will open a new market for the agave plant and increase economic opportunities. It doesn’t need agrochemicals or irrigation and is not labor intensive, lowering the overhead costs to growers.
On the downside, what effect will this development have on the price of tequila? Hopefully tequila riots will not ensue.
Dude ethenol is good all the year around isnt it! I love it.
Jt
http://www.Ultimate-Anonymity.com
Show me Ethanol with the same or greater fuel power as Gasoline, and I’ll buy it. Ultra forced induction, high compression fossil fueled engines would benefit us more than research into what is essentially (imo) a way to increase food prices further. And don’t forget about Electric. Tesla has shown recently that you don’t have to sacrifice power or drivability to be eco-friendly.
I don’t believe it. Agave does not require much water, but it grows much slower than corn and sugar cane. For example, the variety of agave used for tequila takes about 6 years to grow and become useful.
Of course if they start growing millions of acres of agave in Mexico or any other country, imported ethanol will be taxed so heavily that it wouldn’t make an economically viable fuel source. Why do you think everything in this country is made with corn syrup instead of sugar cane juice? The US corn farmers will pull the same stunt that US sugar cane growers did to prevent foreign competition.
Someone needs to pull their head out of the dark smelly place and realize that the best renewable source for energy is right above our heads. The sun will continue to provide power until the day the Earth turns into a cinder or freezes into a giant ice cube, which for all human intents and purposes is *forever*. Take that ludicrous profit from oil companies and force it to be invested in solar energy collection and storage before it’s too late.
Did you considered how long it takes to grow agave? it takes about 6-8 years before harvesting, and you need to cook and crush the hearts of agave before fermenting them. Agave alcohol it’s usually more expensive than grain based alcohols, at least for human consumption.
“The USA had 2,263,960 acres of farmland in 2002.”
This you are missing like 3 zeros its more like 2,263,960,000 acres of US farmland.
wow thank you so much for this wonderfull post
“If the U.S. had chosen to be a moral people, and leaving Iraqi oil alone, and following Al Gore, decided to develop the South Western deserts, with the technology of the times - solar/thermal-molten sodium - electricity installations, for the same amount of money as that war cost, ($650 Billion), today, we would be tapping into the largest, renewable, sustainable, energy source the world has ever known. It would have paid every energy bill in the U.S.A. for maintenance fees only - FOREVER! It would be equivalent to an oil field that can NEVER run dry! Low cost electric power, and storeable hydrogen gasoline replacement from the electricity, for all!
After the millions of murders, and $650 billions of dollars, borrowed from our children’s futures and pissed away, with thousands of our own and others maimed and disfigured for life, millions of families utterly destroyed, ours and theirs, we are no closer to Iraqi oil production than the Iraqis are!
The next time you hear a blithering idiot spoiled brat, drunken, drug addicted, sociopath, rich Arabic saber dancing daddie’s boy oilman, stand at a microphone and threaten YOUR safety with someone ELSE’S weapons, remember what you lost America, remember, and weep! (also see http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-solar-grand-plan)”
A bunch of what ifs. Way to think for yourself. Now that you have made a time machine, go make the world perfect, start by telling your mom to swallow.
The fact that agave fixes nitrogen may “improve” soil quality, but increasing the concentration of nitrogen in soil actually promotes the establishment of invasive species - the most common cause of plant and animal extinctions… after habitat destruction.
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