Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Corn Is Fuel in More Ways than One
CEH ^ | February 3, 2009

Posted on 02/04/2009 7:06:44 AM PST by GodGunsGuts

Feb 03, 2009 — There’s been controversy lately about the diversion of corn crops from food for humans to ethanol for engines. Why not both? A new pilot program announced by Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft saves the corn cobs for eating but makes ethanol out of the straw. If so, this would make the whole plant an energy factory for the human and the car he or she drives...

(Excerpt) Read more at creationsafaris.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: biomimetics; climatechange; economy; energy; ethanol; globalwarming; obama; oil

1 posted on 02/04/2009 7:06:44 AM PST by GodGunsGuts
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: GodGunsGuts
saves the corn cobs for eating

Yum, corn cob chowder - twice the fiber without all that pesky nutrition.

2 posted on 02/04/2009 7:13:08 AM PST by Damifino (The true measure of a man is found in what he would do if he knew no one would ever find out.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GodGunsGuts

For God’s Sake, Corn is for eating and drinking. Corn cobs are for wiping your a**.
That’s it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


3 posted on 02/04/2009 7:19:51 AM PST by Tupelo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GodGunsGuts

Ethanol has screwed over so many people in so many ways it isn’t even funny.


4 posted on 02/04/2009 7:21:16 AM PST by pnh102 (Save America - Ban Ethanol Now!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GodGunsGuts

Why not both you ask????? One answer is that best possible from corn is around 20 gallons/acre/year while algae offers more like 20,000. Producing ethanol from corn is basically a criminal activity; anybody caught doing it ought rightly to be hanged.


5 posted on 02/04/2009 7:23:54 AM PST by varmintman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GodGunsGuts
Judging by the terminology used the author is no Illinois farm boy. I don't think anyone has ever found a use for the cobs except emergency personal hygiene.

An old joke around here; What food do you remove the outside, cook the inside, and throw away the inside?

6 posted on 02/04/2009 7:24:52 AM PST by CrazyIvan (If you read only one book this year, read "Stolen Valor".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pnh102

Wait until the mandates for cellulosic ethanol are phased in. You ain’t seen nothin yet when it comes to subsidies. Cellulosic ethanol (switchgrass, lumber scraps, corn stalks, etc.) is 10x farther away from being economically viable than corn grain fementation was 30 years ago.


7 posted on 02/04/2009 7:26:06 AM PST by rusty millet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: varmintman

20 gal/acre/yr? Ethanol? Current corn-based yield in high corn-yield areas is at least 500 gal ethanol per acre per year with about 2,500 lbs of high-protein animal feed/acre as a by-product.


8 posted on 02/04/2009 7:34:24 AM PST by hlmencken3 (Originalist on the the 'general welfare' clause? No? NOT an originalist!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Tupelo
If we were really going to be as careful with corn as our legendary* Native American were with the buffalo, then we'd make ethanol from the stalk extractions, feed the leftover fiber to our livestock, eat the kernels and use the cobs not only to make great pipes, but tampons and butt-wipe.

* BTW, I say legendary because I was tutored in a former life by a Sioux scholar who showed me the recorded history of one tribe, about 150 years in a pictographic winter count. About 1825 (when white incursions into Sioux territory were still limited to an occasional explorer or fur trader), there is a pictograph of a cliff drive, where he explained that only the buffalo needed by the tribe were actually used, less than 1/10th of those killed.

While the tribal elders strongly disapproved and warned against this wasteful method of hunting, the young bucks thought the buffalo so numerous at the time that the herd needed thinning, lest they overgraze or, worse yet, provide a magnet for enemy tribes to move into their hunting area.

9 posted on 02/04/2009 7:44:30 AM PST by Vigilanteman (Are there any men left in Washington? Or, are there only cowards? Ahmad Shah Massoud)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Damifino
saves the corn cobs for eating

The ingested corn cob automatically cleans up after itself when it comes out.

10 posted on 02/04/2009 7:57:01 AM PST by paulycy ("BEWARE the LIBERAL/MEDIA Complex")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: GodGunsGuts
A new pilot program announced by Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft saves the corn cobs for eating but makes ethanol out of the straw

The author of this article knows practically NOTHING about the process. Look at his terminology. Several have mentioned the traditional use for corn cobs,,, there is also corn cob jelly (made from cobs not previously used in the outhouse). Other than that, cobs were often used as a quick fuel source in Grandma's cookstove when she was getting a fire started. But I've never heard of anyone actually eating corncobs, altho I'll bet it happened during the Depression and the Dust Bowl.

I think what the author intended to say was the GRAIN would be used for human consumption; or the kernnels would be used for livestock feed.

And most likely the author intended to imply that the STOVER would be used for celulosic ethanol, rather than the hay.

What I'm trying to say is no one with any knowledge about raising corn would use the terminology we see in this article. Makes me wonder what else in the article is wrong.

11 posted on 02/04/2009 8:27:59 AM PST by Iowa Granny
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Iowa Granny

Makes perfect sense to me. All he’s saying is that growing corn for ethanol no longer has to impact that part that we eat. It’s a win-win situation, as far as I can tell.


12 posted on 02/04/2009 9:57:11 AM PST by GodGunsGuts
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: paulycy
The ingested corn cob automatically cleans up after itself when it comes out.

That is just wrong; and I am jealous I didn't post it first!

13 posted on 02/04/2009 10:00:47 AM PST by Damifino (The true measure of a man is found in what he would do if he knew no one would ever find out.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: varmintman

Your ethanol yield estimates from corn are addressed rightfully above. In addition, algae is being proposed as a source of biodiesel, not ethanol. I will believe the yield estimates once pilot experiments are scaled up.


14 posted on 02/04/2009 10:02:16 AM PST by rusty millet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: rusty millet

One thing which was NOT addressed is that algae farming does not require farmland at all and is best done in desert areas. Other than that the yield differential is many to one and the idea of turning corn into fuel is still basically insane and criminal.


15 posted on 02/04/2009 11:03:01 AM PST by varmintman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: GodGunsGuts

Well some serious city slickers wrote this article. Corn straw? How ‘bout stover?

Not a fan of ethanol for other reasons, but we need to start breaking corn down better into it’s oil, protein and sugar components, selling the first two and fermenting the last into some useful chemical. Might hurt the soda pop industry a bit but that’s about it.


16 posted on 02/04/2009 11:50:13 AM PST by Free Vulcan (No prisoners. No mercy. 2010 awaits.....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GodGunsGuts

Ethanol fuel mandates don’t make much sense right now. We need the ethanol for human consumption.


17 posted on 02/04/2009 10:27:25 PM PST by CowboyJay (Don't tread on me)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson