Straw Converted to Gasohol in Canada

An anonymous reader writes "The Government of Canada announced that its vehicle fleet is the first in the world to use cellulose-based ethanol. Iogen Corporation produces the ethanol from wheat straw at its leading-edge demonstration facility in Ottawa."

Comments

Northern neighbors

[SilverspurG]

For all the grief the US people give Canada, they're really kicking our butts on the reality checks. The lobbyists and SIGs would have the US tied in knots trying to move any significant bulk of vehicle fleet to something like this.

At least I think so. I'm sure someone will find some obscure example of some community in CA that does it...

Re:Northern neighbors

[Smidge204]

Uh, no... I think he means 12% of all the gasoline sold in the US contains ethanol, not gasoline is 12% ethanol. In fact, the article you linked to says exactly that: In the United States, one out of every eight gallons of gasoline sold contains ethanol. (1/8 = 12.5%)

Thanks for the link, though. I find it interesting that MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether), which is used during the winter to reduce air pollution, in turn increases groundwater pollution. Where I live our only source of water is groundwater, so the local governments are SUPER DUPER anal about pollution control like septic/chemical waste systems and fuel storage... but the pumps say that the fuel is oxygenated with an ether from November to February. I wonder if it's the same stuff...
=Smidge=

Re:Northern neighbors

[dave1g]

I'm all for nuclear, wind, solar, power etc... as well. But its a problem that needs a multipronged attack until we are sure which one is the best economically and ecologically.

That does it. I'm moving back to the U.S.

[Anonymous Coward]

I moved to Canada after being placed on the US no-fly list by trying to bring flammable materials on board an aircraft just by stepping aboard. Now Canada does this! They might as well declare open seasons on me.

I'll never know when I'll go to sleep one night and wake up in a gas tank on a highway in Hamilton, Ontario, powering a Pontiac Firefly. I'm sure I'll have nightmares of this "straw to fuel" scheme. It took me years to get over nightmares of that damn green witch.

Sincerely, the Scarecrow of Oz.

duh.

[Knights who say 'INT]

About one fourth of brazilian cars have been running on cellulose-based ethanol since the late 80's.

The whole system is only economical when we subsidize sugarcane farmers though :-|.

Re:duh.

[Anonymous Coward]

About one fourth of brazilian cars have been running on cellulose-based ethanol since the late 80's. The whole system is only economical when we subsidize sugarcane farmers though :-|.

Uh, no.

Brazil uses standard fermentation from *sucrose* not *cellulose*. That's why you need sugarcane - to get the sugar. If you are just using cellulose, you can use anything with cellulose: straw, cornstalks, paper pulp, old cotton clothes, grass clippings, etc.

Innovation will have to come from outside the US

[Hamstij]

With the American government completely owned by the governments of oil producing countries and the management of oil producing companies, our dependence on fossil fuels will only be broken by a foreign nation. They at least have the freedom to innovate!

Good on you Canada, I hope other nations pick this up and help run with it.

Re:Innovation will have to come from outside the U

[Tanktalus]

Both the US and Canada are oil producers, too. The difference? The US is "led" by Texas (sitting president is from which state?), while Canada's leaders cannot consistantly point out "Alberta" on a Canadian map.

It's the economics stupid.

[rider_prider]

Since oil is now more expensive than alternative fuels, the alternatives will now be used... There many are groups in Canada's prairie provinces (Saskatchewan, Manitoba, yes even Alberta) trying to get ethanol plants built. They are trying to catch up to states like minnesota, the dakotas. On a recent trip through the Dakota's nearly every truck stop sold bio-diesel.

Many important data points missing

[justanyone]

There are huge numbers of data points missing from this article:

• What is the production cost of the ethanol in CDN$/litre (or gallon, whatever);
• What is the capacity in millions-of-liters/year of a plant of x cost (fixed vs. variable costs);
• Is there new technology at work here?
• (advanced)What is the experience curve coefficient for cellulose ethanol?
• What is total number of gallons (or litres) of gasoline used by Canada per year
• what is the total number of liters per year of Ethanol?
• what is the difference between cellulose-based-ethanol and other ethanols in (production cost, production capability, capacity, etc.).

I know no one here will know this stuff necessarily, but it would be great if science articles like this could give the geeks in the room a nod and give __SOME__ of this info...

-- Kevin

That's all well and good but...

[azav]

How does it taste?

I'm looking for a smoothness without that old straw taste.