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Food Price, ILUC Studies Released In Run-Up To EU Biofuel Vote

According to information published by the European Parliament on Sept. 5, draft legal measures to cap traditional biofuel production and accelerate the switch to advanced biofuels will be debated on Sept. 9 and put to vote on Sept. 11. The notice specifies that the legal measures aim to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that result from the increased use of farmland to produce biofuel feedstocks. One proposal from the Environment Committee, drafted by Corinne Lepage, a MEP representing France, calls for a 5.5 percent cap on first-generation biofuels. The Environment Committee also wants new biofuels policy in the EU to include ILUC impacts. Alternatively, the Energy Committee is advocating for a 6.5 percent cap on first-generation biofuels, and is against including ILUC in the legislation. Within the report, the authors assert that their analysis has determined that ILUC emission calculated using the latest version of GTAP—a model that is undergoing near constant revision—are much less than those calculated by International Food Policy Institute (IFPRI). The lower results are attributed to higher yields of new cropland than assumed by IRPRI and the fact that less forest land is converted. EBB Secretary General Raffaello Garofalo said the results of the study questions the validly of including ILUC science in policy making. “Policy makers can no longer deny the immaturity of science to serve for policy making,” he said. According to ePURE, the study examines the casualty between biofuel production, global crop commodity prices and implications for food security, with particular focus on poor regions of the world. The study determines biofuel demand in Europe through 2010 only increased world grain prices by 1-2 percent, and would only increase world grain prices by another 1 percent through 2020 if no cap is placed on first-generation biofuels. The study also stresses that because commodity prices are only a small component of actual food costs, and that local food markets are often disconnected from global markets, the actual impact of biofuel on food prices is far less than 1 percent. Continue reading

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Fuel’s Gold – Biofuel From Unwanted Plants

A team of engineers and ecologists in the USA are looking into the viability of converting woody plants on uncultivated land into a useable biofuel. Like many grasslands and rangelands around the world, the Southern Great Plains region in Texas is suffering from encroachment of woody or brush plants, in this case honey mesquite ( Prosopis glandulosa ) and red berry juniper wood ( Juniperus pinchotii ). These plants are regarded as noxious plants whose proliferation can ruin grass forage production for livestock, increase the potential for erosion by reducing grass cover and deplete soil moisture. Trying to remove them has proved costly, and such efforts have met with only marginal success. Yet if kept in check, they can benefit wildlife species, provide soil nutrients and increase grass species diversity. Now, researchers at Texas AgriLife Research and Texas A&M University are looking at converting these species into biogas while managing the ecology sustainably. Both species grow across 20 million hectares in Texas alone, and can achieve a biomass density of up to 50 dry tonnes per hectare. Mesquite thicket: Redberry juniper tree Previously, there has been no data on the gasification of mesquite and juniper wood, so the team set out to determine factors such as their gas compositions, heating values and yields. Samples were harvested, chipped and sieved, then put through a small-scale batch-type updraft fixed-bed gasifier, using air as the gasification medium. The team found that the gases consisted of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, CO 2 , hydrogen, oxygen, methane and ethane. Juniper’s contained slightly more carbon monoxide and methane, while mesquite’s had more nitrogen, CO 2 and ethane. Both had low levels of nitrogen though, about one-third to one-half that of coal. The heating values of mesquite and juniper were 20,128kJ/kg and 20,584kJ/kg respectively, equivalent to medium grade sub-bituminous coal and better than cattle manure biomass, for example, which has an ash content of 14–45%. However, the ash content of mesquite and juniper is less than 2%. What this means is that for every 100g of unburnt material you are left with 14.5-45g of ash with the biomass but only 2g of ash with the juniper and mesquite. For the end-product gases, the heating value was higher in the juniper than the mesquite, at about 3,447kJ/kg and 2,966kJ/kg respectively, while filtering out the nitrogen from them more than doubled these to about 8,316kJ/kg and 7,585kJ/kg. These figures are about 10–15% of the value of pure methane and, without the nitrogen, 27% and nearly 25%. Gas yields reached about 2.4 and 2.2m3/kg for the juniper and mesquite respectively, but Dr Jim Ansley of AgriLife Research warns against extrapolating these figures to arrive at a total resource figure. As he explains, ‘These are naturally growing, uncultivated plants, so biomass densities will be variable. We don’t know how much of the 20 million hectares is at 50 tonnes per hectare, it may only be 5–10%. Plus, there would be almost no chance that all 20 million hectares would be harvested.’ Any patches or clusters of sufficient density will therefore be scattered around, he says, so one option could be to develop small, local gasification facilities to avoid the high costs of transporting the woods to a main processing facility. Before then, he wants to develop a portable gasifier and move the technology from the lab to the field. ‘We also need to explore more ways of increasing gas yields’. Author : Guy Richards Materials World Magazine, 24 Jul 2012 – See more at: http://www.iom3.org/…h.w2oJoHFY.dpuf Continue reading

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Sharing The Risks/Costs Of Biomass Crops

Sep. 4, 2013 — Farmers who grow corn and soybeans can take advantage of government price support programs and crop insurance, but similar programs are not available for those who grow biomass crops such as Miscanthus. A University of Illinois study recommends a framework for contracts between growers and biorefineries to help spell out expectations for sustainability practices and designate who will assume the risks and costs associated with these new perennial energy crops. “The current biomass market operates more along the lines of a take-it-or-leave-it contract, but in order to encourage enhanced participation and promote a more sustainable, stable biomass supply, a new kind of contract needs to be created,” said Jody Endres, a U of I professor of energy and environmental law. Endres said that a good contract gives everyone more certainty. “Incomplete contracts are the hazard,” she said. “We need to develop contracts that nail down all of the details and are transparent about who’s taking on the risk and who’s paying for it. If we get these considerations into the contracts, those who finance this new biomass crop industry will have more certainty to invest.” The study identifies considerations that should be included in the framework for a biomass contract, including a control for moral hazard, risk incentive tradeoff, existing agricultural practices, and risk and management tools to make the industry more sustainable financially and environmentally. Endres said that if biorefineries receive money in the form of carbon credits for reducing pollution, incentives for farmers should be included in contracts because they are the ones who are bearing the risks associated with sustainability practices. “Suppose a sustainability contract lists that the default should be integrated pest management rather than application of traditional pesticides,” Endres said. “The farmer takes on some risk to provide a sustainable product, but the biorefinery gets carbon credit for those sustainable practices. This should be worked into the contract — that if the farmer assumes the risk of IPM as opposed to traditional pesticide options, there has to be some sort of up-front payment or incentive in the contract to account for this risk. Due to the power relationships in this industry, the onus is on the biorefinery to be the leader in developing contracts in this new landscape.” The perennial nature of biomass crops also makes developing contracts challenging. “We’re in a unique environment, and traditional agricultural contracting structures just don’t apply,” Endres said. “Crop insurance is not currently available for farmers who grow biomass crops so they take on additional risk. Likewise, landowners see high prices for traditional commodity crops and do not want to be locked into a multi-year contract with a lessee to grow a perennial biomass crop. It’s complicated,” she said. Endres said that although sustainability requirements are important, having an adequate supply of biomass is important as well. “We’re trying to envision a future in which we have a lot of biomass and one way to secure that is to recognize all of the risks and costs, especially when it comes to sustainability practices. It’s unique, and we do not yet have contracts for this aspect of the industry,” she said. A newly forming biomass standards group, in which Endres holds a leadership role, is looking at how the value of sustainability practices can be measured at the watershed, eco-shed, or air-shed level rather than on the scale of individual farms. Endres said that the working group will examine how to ensure that balance is achieved between producers and consumers of biomass, including through contracts. “I’m optimistic that it can be done,” she said. “Growers and refiners right now are concerned with the industry being financially sound. “There’s also a real need for education in both developed and underdeveloped countries about biomass contracting,” Endres said. “We’re trying to shift the paradigm from traditional agriculture to something that’s more sustainable–and that takes knowledge. If we don’t have that knowledge here in the United States and we’re trying to draft contracts in our very developed system, how is this going to be rolled out in say, Africa, or other areas where the use of production contracts are much more rare, especially in the small farm context?” The research was supported by funding from the Energy Biosciences Institute and USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Hatch Project No. ILLU-470-309. Continue reading

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