Today in Biofuels Opinion: “A lack of understanding of the dynamics of the agricultural markets that governed feedstock prices.”

Philip Brasher, Des Moines Register: The ethanol industry is in a slump, and the biodiesel business is all but a standstill. Are there some lessons that could be learned from this that can be applied to next-generation fuels? Ross McCracken, editor of Platts Energy Economist, thinks so and he’s laid them out in an analysis. “Three elements appear to have been missing in the assessment of market risk; a lack of understanding of the dynamics of the agricultural markets that governed feedstock prices; a complimentary lack of focus on the differential between oil and feedstock prices; and an underestimation of the increased impact that even seemingly marginal activities would have on an already stressed supply chain.”

ScienceDaily: “In an analysis of the water required to produce ethanol from various crops, Dr. Joel G. Burken, a professor of environmental engineering at Missouri S&T, and colleagues from Rice University and Clarkson University find that ethanol could become a costly proposition in terms of “gallons per mile” and other water quality issues. The researchers report that ethanol derived from corn grown in Nebraska, for example, would require 50 gallons of water per mile driven, when all the water needed in irrigation of crops and processing into ethanol is considered. Fuel derived from irrigated sorghum grown in that state would require even more water to produce – as much as 115 gallons per mile.”

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