Switchgrass fuel costs as low as 44 cents per gallon, says research team after five-year study

In Nebraska, a research team at the University of Nebraska released more details on a five-year, 10-farm study on switchgrass production. The research team determined that five farmers achieved average costs of $50 per ton for production, translating to a feedstock price of as little as 58 cents per gallon for switchgrass ethanol. The research team also found that greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by 94 percent in switchgrass production, compared to gasoline emissions. Two farmers in the study, with previous experience growing switchgrass, achieved costs of $39 per ton in the five-year study, or 25 percent below the average for the group, indicating a potential to produce fuel at as low as 44 cents per gallon.

In Illinois, researchers at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign surveyed local farmers and report that the major challenge in developing cellulosic ethanol will be to persuade farmers to grow the crop. Farmers indicated in the survey that they would only grow cellulosic crops if they could be persuaded that the cellulosic crops such as switchgrass and miscanthus can compete with soybeans and corn in terms of profitability.

Switchgrass has  received a green light recently as a biofuel feedstock on the nitrogen front. A report has been published comparing the impact of additional biofuel production on nitrogen levels in Chesapeake Bay. The report found that corn production increased nitrogen in the Bay by 16 pounds per acre under production, versus 8 additional pounds per acre of soybeans. The report found that switchgrass production would reduce nitrogen levels by 27 pounds per acre under production.

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