USDA helps Iowa ethanol plant switch to biomass fuel

The Lincolnway Energy plant will have its boiler converted to take wood and other biomass fuels (photo: freddthompson/flickr)

The US Department of Agriculture has awarded a $1.9 million grant to a biorefinery in Iowa to help wean it off fossil fuels.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the award today, as part of a program to encourage the use of renewable biomass as a fuel for production of biofuels.

The grant will go to Lincolnway Energy, LLC, which is based in Nevada, Iowa, and currently produces between 55 and 60 million gallons of fuel-grade ethanol each year.

The USDA payment will support the modification of a boiler to burn wood and other biomass.

The USDA’s Repowering Assistance Program was introduced with the 2008 Farm Bill, and offers funds for biorefineries built before June 18, 2008, to convert to biomass energy sources.

Secretary Vilsack said the funding represented a step toward reducing fossil fuel consumption.

He said: “The Repowering Assistance Program, along with the other renewable energy provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill, promote the creation of green jobs, combat climate change and provide economic opportunities to rural workers and rural businesses.”

Energy balance

Ethanol plants in the US use energy sources including natural gas and grid electricity, while some plants use coal and several are already using biomass.

A report issued by the USDA back in June, looking at the ethanol industry in 2008, said on average the ratio of energy used to produce ethanol compared to the energy in the ethanol itself was about 2.3BTU of ethanol for every 1BTU of energy inputs.

The report noted that where plants used 50% biomass power, they could produce nearly 2.8 times the energy in ethanol compared to their inputs.

It suggested that when the industry becomes more familiar with the logistics of handling biomass, the energy balance ratio could reach 26BTUs of ethanol per BTU of inputs.

“Ethanol has made the transition from an energy sink, to a moderate net energy gain in the 1990s, to a substantial net energy gain in the present. And there are still prospects for improvement,” the report concluded.

source: brighterenergy.org